A/N: And so begins a long, long four months until September...

Thanks so much for all the support thus far! I'm really enjoying writing this one, so I'm glad that people are having fun reading it too!

Chapter Four

In hindsight, Kate really shouldn't have told Rick Castle and his daughter to ask for her at the station.

She was a professional, a female cop who'd flown in the face of societal convention to dominate in a male-heavy field. The last thing she needed was a semi-celebrity bringing down her credibility simply by association.

In her defense, she hadn't really thought that Rick Castle would actually bring his daughter to look for her at the Precinct. In fact, she hadn't really thought that he or his daughter would remember her once the day of the incident had passed. After all, he was a semi-celebrity who probably had plenty of people to see and things to do, and she had no idea how long the memory retention span of a four-year-old was, but it seriously couldn't be all that long, right?

But remember they had, and now there was a uniform informing her that a Mr. Richard Castle and Alexis Castle were asking for her in the lobby.

Kate blinked at him unresponsively, her pen poised over the case notes for tonight's operation.

"What?" she finally managed.

"There's a Mr. Castle asking for you downstairs."

You have got to be kidding me.

"Are you sure?"

It was a stupid question to ask, and by the raised eyebrow the uniform slanted at her, he thought so too. "That's what they said."

"Huh."

"So…Are you going down? Or do I need to make excuses?"

"Ah. Right. Don't worry about it. I'm heading down now."

She dropped her pen and scooted out of her chair. She smoothed out the natural wrinkles sitting down had created on her button-down and took a discrete, deep breath.

She had absolutely no idea what she was doing.

…

Rick had no idea what he was thinking.

After that first meeting with Detective Kate Beckett, he hadn't been able to get her out of his head. He was completely taken with her beauty, yes, but more than that, he was entranced by her personality. She had that badass, self-assured detective vibe down to a tee, but what equally intrigued him were the glimpses of a shy, slightly awestruck girl meeting (what he liked to think) a favorite author.

It was kind of adorable—a word he never thought he'd associate with a woman as stunning as Beckett, but there it was.

She was adorable and saucy and sexy and caring and totally stuck in his head.

His endeavor to tone down his admiration to a level somewhere less than obsessive was made far more difficult by the fact that his daughter couldn't stop singing the good detective's praises. Ever since they got home from the mall that day, Alexis kept going on and on about how pretty and nice Kate was.

As if Rick could forget.

So, despite his resolve to wait a little longer before he caved in to the inevitable, Rick only managed three days before he couldn't take it anymore—both his own urgings and the incessant whining of his daughter—and scheduled a field trip to the 12th Precinct.

He'd been to other precincts before to do research for his books, but this was his first time at the 12th. Judging from the external structure and the layout of the lobby, this precinct wasn't all too different from the other police stations he'd visited.

There was one big difference, however, and that was that this was the only precinct that could call itself home to one Detective Kate Beckett. And that made all the difference in the world.

He winced at the melodramatic and terrifyingly sappy voice in his head. He really needed to find a way to tamp it down. It was getting distracting. And embarrassing.

Alexis tugged on his hand, and he bent down to address her. "What is it, pumpkin?"

"Does Kate really work here?"

"That's right."

"When's she gonna come see us?"

"Patience, grasshopper. The nice policeman has already gone to let her know that we're here. I'm sure it'll just be a few more minutes."

"I miss Kate."

He bit back the I miss her, too because it was entirely too illogical to miss someone he'd only just met and with whom he'd spent maybe a grand total of about fifteen minutes.

Then again, this whole situation was illogical and bordering on ridiculous in the first place, and he'd never been one to let logic ruin his stories before. No point in starting now.

So he let the truth in his heart speak for him. "I do too, baby."

Alexis turned indignant eyes at him. "I'm not a baby. I'm four years old."

Rick sucked in his lips to stop the smile that threatened to spread across his face at the sight of Alexis' mini scowl. He was about to respond, but a familiar voice spoke first.

"Four years old, huh? Wow, you really are a big girl, Alexis."

Alexis looked past Rick and let out a happy shriek when she caught sight of Detective Beckett headed towards them from the large, industrial-looking elevator.

Yeah, he needed to work on getting her to not scream like that. Or even just tone down the volume, at least.

"Kate!"

He didn't bother hiding his grin of affection and fatherly pride as he watched Alexis half-run, half-toddle her way to Beckett.

"Hey, kiddo," greeted the detective warmly as she bent to give his daughter a tight hug.

Ah, what he wouldn't give to be the recipient of that hug…

When Beckett straightened, she did so with Alexis in her arms and chatting with the little girl as if it was a normal occurrence.

Rick was once again struck by how difference this Detective Beckett was from the women that tended to flock around him. Most of them wouldn't have bothered to pick up Alexis. In fact, most of them tended to ignore the tot who wasn't yet tall enough to reach their hips in favor of turning their charms on him.

Beckett was different. She engaged Alexis as if she were a seasoned conversationalist; it was something Rick had tried to do from the beginning to ensure that Alexis knew that her thoughts were important and her creativity something to be treasured. He never would have imagined that Beckett would be the one to do the same without even having to think about it.

His smile was way too goofy for a second meeting, so he used the time it took for Beckett to reach him to school his expression into something a little less telling.

"Detective Beckett. So good to see you again."

"Mr. Castle. Shame I can't say the same," she smirked, one of her eyebrows quirked up in challenge.

Ooo! So that's how she wanted to play it. Okay. He could do that. Gladly.

"You wound me, Detective, with your disregard."

"I have a feeling that your ego is much more resilient than that."

"I'd be happy to let you stroke it to test that theory."

Whoops. That came out a lot dirtier than he'd meant it. By the narrowed glare Beckett directed at him, she'd thought so too.

He shrugged and fixed a charming grin on her. She rolled her eyes.

"So what brings you two to my domain?"

"Well, you did say that if we wanted to see you, we could come find you here."

"Yeah, I said that, and I meant it," she said to Alexis in an aside before turning her attention back to Castle, "but you weren't supposed to—That is—"

"You didn't think we'd actually drop by," he cut in.

She shrugged a little self-consciously. "Well, yeah. I'm sure you have better things to be doing than looking me up."

"Au contraire, my dear detective. I spend quite a bit of my time in police stations."

The corner of her lips quirked upwards. "Get arrested much?"

"That too. Ah, good times." His let the focus of his eyes haze over before shaking his head with a laugh. "No, no, I meant that I hang out at various precincts for research sometimes. You know, for those books that you aren't a fan of."

Her mouth pursed into a thin line while her glare intensified. Mm, yeah, that was a good look on her. Then again, did the woman even have a bad look? He highly doubted it.

He worked hard to keep his expression blissfully innocent.

Fortunately, before Detective Beckett gave into her visibly homicidal urges, his daughter felt this to be an opportune moment to ask the question they came here for in the first place.

"Do you wanna have dinner with us tonight?"

Rick tried not to look too eager for her answer, but he had a bad feeling about it when Beckett glanced at him briefly with an inscrutable look (she had a lot of those, he noticed) before brushing back a lock of Alexis' hair and tucking it behind her ear. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but I have something very important to do tonight."

Alexis' hopeful expression turned crestfallen in a heartbeat, and Rick kicked himself for not considering all the possibilities and ramifications first. He had always been one to indulge in his whims without really thinking them through, but he should've contacted Beckett himself first before letting Alexis get involved. Maybe it was arrogant or foolishly optimistic, but Rick really hadn't expected Beckett to just turn them down like that.

"Don't look like that, pumpkin. I'm sure Detective Beckett has a lot to do," he said, surprised by how strong his sense of disappointment was.

Beckett did that bottom lip tugging thing with her teeth, and he hoped that it wasn't a habit with her because if it was, she was going to kill him.

Hell, she was probably going to kill him anyway.

She nibbled it for a little longer (God, he just wanted to soothe that lip with his fingers and, oh yes, his mouth). Then she surprised him by asking, "Would you be free for lunch tomorrow?"

"Yes, absolutely," he responded before the question was even completely formed.

Fortunately for him, Alexis yelled, "Yes!" just as quickly.

Not so fortunately, Beckett didn't miss his eagerness.

She lifted one of those expressive eyebrows at him, and he willed the hot flush threatening to take over his face to stay below his neckline. He was Richard freakin' Castle, for god's sake. How was it that Beckett could fluster him so badly?

He cleared his throat and tried to play it cool. "So, we'll come pick you up at twelve?"

"Uh, no. I think it's better if I meet you somewhere."

"Embarrassed to be associated with us, Beckett?"

"Alexis, no. You? Hm."

She was joking, but he could tell she kind of meant it too. That…unexpectedly hurt.

He shook it off with a sardonic grin. "I am a best-selling author, you know."

"As you've reminded me both times we've met," she retorted, unimpressed. She changed the subject. "Do you know where Remy's is?"

"Sure. Just a couple of blocks from here. Excellent burgers."

"And shakes!" added Alexis.

"And shakes," Rick affirmed.

Beckett nodded. "The best. You want to meet there then?"

"Sure."

"Okay." She looked around and shuffled her feet a little. "Well, I guess…I should head back up. Lots of stuff to do."

"Right. Of course."

He held out his hands to transplant Alexis from Beckett's arms to his. Alexis wasn't ready to let go yet, though.

"We'll see you tomorrow then, Kate?" she asked.

Beckett smiled at her. "Promise."

…

Kate watched in stunned disbelief as Rick Castle and his daughter strolled cheerfully out of the precinct's large double doors.

Did that really just happen?

She surreptitiously pinched herself on the arm and winced. Ow!

Okay, so this wasn't some weird dream.

If it wasn't a dream...

What the hell had she been thinking to ask them to lunch?

The answer was that she obviously hadn't been. After all, people like her didn't get involved with people like him, even if she'd caved for Alexis' sake. (Somehow that reasoning didn't sound as convincing when the idiot fangirl part of her was still catatonic from glee.)

She shook her head as if that could erase her stupidity and headed back up to Vice.

The operation better go down smoothly tonight, or else she was liable to shoot something (someone) just for the hell of it.