A/N: I'm going through a EVERYTHING I WRITE IS A PILE OF CRAP phase, so I really honestly apologise if this is not good (it's not) but whatever. BLERGH WHY CAN'T I WORDS.

But yes, have at it.

Disclaimer: MARLOWE CAN WRITE, I CAN'T.

"Mommy catches bad guys." Harry sniffs, noticing both Rick and Alexis's fascination with the room. "Her and Uncle Kevin and Uncle Javi. It's cool."

"Murder isn't cool, Harry." Kate sighs, as if this was a conversation they've had before, and probably will have again. "Killing people isn't cool."

"No..." she said, looking slightly abashed. "But you get to catch them. Like you're a superhero. That's what Lily says, anyway."

"And anything Lily says is cool, right? Her parents are dentists. She's bound to say that."

Rick nodded in agreement. "Dentists are boring. Cops are cool."

"I'm not a cop. I'm a detective." Kate says, glancing over at Rick, who is looking from her, to the name plate on her desk and over to the murder board. It wouldn't be long before he put it all together. Surely it couldn't take that long. Kate was surprised it's taken him as long as it has done already. Wasn't he supposed to be clever? She pulled Harry onto her lap so she could reach for a pen and paper, scribbling down notes. Eventually, she sat back and sighed. "Alright, we're not going to get anywhere else until the forensics comes in. We'll call it a night."

Ryan and Esposito soon make their departures, waving at Harry who waves over-enthusiastically back. Kate pins her arms to her sides until she giggles. "Shall we go home?"

She nods in response, sliding from her lap to the floor. "Can Rick and Alexis come?"

"Er..." Kate looks to Rick. "I don't know..."

"Please? I want to show Alexis my giraffe!" she turned to Rick. "Please come home with us!"

Rick looks at her, and though she can't quite read the look in his eyes, she can see the cogs working in his brain, ticking over and over. Putting puzzle pieces together. Working things out. Maybe not regarding Harry, but he almost certainly knows that something happened between them. A while ago.

"Alright, we'll come home with you. Maybe I can persuade your mother to let me treat you all to take-away."

Harry gasped. "Mooooom!"

"Yeah, maybe he'll persuade me to let him buy take-away. We'll see."

"Can we get pizza?" Harry turned to Rick, eyes pleading. "Pizza's my favourite. Mom's is Chinese. But that's too fiddly for me."

"Maybe you and Alexis can share one." Kate sighs, shrugging her coat on. "I remember the last time you tried to eat a whole pizza by yourself. Even though I told you not to."

Harry pulled a face. Clearly she remembers too, remembers far too well. "When I'm older I can have a whole pizza, right?"

"When you're older." she confirms, pushing Harry in front of her. "A lot older."

Technically they're breaking the law by squishing all four of them into the back of a cab (something Rick very eagerly pointed out) but the taxi driver is charmed by Alexis and Harry and happily lets it slide. She definitely knows he knows when they pull up outside their apartment building. He's looking from her to the building to Harry and back to her, his brow furrowed. Harry is dragging her along, chatting easily to Alexis, eager to get inside. Kate releases her hand from Harry's and falls into step beside Rick.

"We've... met before." he asks, not wasting anytime.

"Yeah. In a bar."

"I was the only one who got to buy you a drink."

"And I told you nothing was going to happen." She replies, sifting through her bag for her keys.

"I have that way with women."

"I expect that's the celebrity status, not you." she smirked. "No offence, or anything."

He shrugged. "None taken. But you're acting very nonchalant for something this big."

"What do you mean? So we slept together, big deal."

"That's not what I'm talking about." he says in a hushed whisper now that they're in the lift. "Harry. She's what, five and a half?"

"Your point?"

"And apart from looking exactly like you, she's like a mini version of me."

Kate shepherds the two girls out of the lift. "Still not seeing your point."

"Jeez, Kate. Do you need me to spell it out for you? Just admit it already."

Kate forced her key into the lock, twists it and pushes the door open with more force than is necessary. It doesn't take long for Alexis and Harry to have taken their coats off and run off into Harry's room. Kate sighs, leans her forehead against the wall. "Of all the ways I imagined this conversation to go... it was never like this. I never imagined I'd bump into you in the park of all places, let alone for my daughter to make friends with your daughter when they're actually half-sisters. I mean honestly, how coincidental do you want to get?"

"So... what do we do?"

"There's not a chance I am letting you introduce her to the public. I am not letting her be paraded around and labelled as "Richard Castle's lovechild."

"Do you honestly think I would do that to my own kid?"

"I don't know! You get ridiculously drunk at parties, you go home with a different woman every night, you get arrested for stealing a police horse while naked, so what am I supposed to think?"

"Point taken, but jeez Kate. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh, right, and just how many women have come up to you demanding that you are the father of their baby? You would have laughed in my face and told me to go away. Besides, she looks nothing like you. I have no proof."

"I want to be a part of her life."

"I think you would be anyway, considering the girls are well on their way to being practically inseparable." Kate ran a hand down her face. "I'm gonna have to explain this to Harry."

"I'll talk to her... if you want."

"And say what?"

"Well, I've never known who my father is. I might have an idea of how to go about it."

"What about Alexis? What is she going to say when you tell her?"

"I... she's surprisingly easy going. I mean... I don't think she'll mind. Her and Harry get along like wild fire."

"Yes, but she's not having to share her father at the minute. Have you never heard of a story where a young child gets upset when there's going to be a new baby? They think their parents are going to love them less because they have to share. They have to share everything. And in their eyes that includes love. And easy going as Alexis seems to be, I don't think she's going to be as okay with it as you think she is."

"You don't know my daughter."

"No, but I know little girls. Whatever, I'll let you deal with both of them. I'm going to order pizza."

It's not a conversation he imagined ever having. Or at least, not until Alexis was far, far older. And he'd have been in an actual relationship first. Not six years after a one night stand. He pushed open Harry's door, leaning against the jamb and listening to the two girls play for a moment.

"Hey, Harry?"

The brunette looks up from where she was tangled up in the duvet on the bed, eyes wide. "Yeah?"

"Can we… talk a moment?"

Harry's brow furrows, and she really does look so much like her mother it's quite unnerving. Alexis looks up at him too, all blue eyes and innocence and he grins at her, some of the tension in his shoulders relieved when she beams back at him. Harry's already up and scrambling over the bed, babbling at Alexis to keep the giraffe warm and don't forget his medicine or he'll die and a promise to be back soon. Alexis nods solemnly, takes up the role of vet with the utmost sincerity. He can't help but chuckle.

He motions Harry over to the sofa, away from Kate (though he's pretty sure she's listening in anyway), and away from the not quite closed bedroom door. Harry sits next to him, all bright eyes and eager and he looks over at Kate. She's not looking their way, is too busy with whatever it is she's doing.

"Are you going to tell me about your intentions?" Harry asks impatiently, fixing him with a glare.

He hears Kate choke back a laugh, has to stop himself from laughing too. "No, no I'm not talking about that."

"Well, I've got a sick giraffe that needs tending to."

He opens his mouth to promise that he'll be quick, but Kate gets in there first. "Harry, Rick's trying to talk to you about something important. Don't be rude."

The girl pouts, glaring at her own mother this time. "Sorry."

"Harry." Kate fixes her daughter with her own glare, and he watches as they try to stare each other down. He shouldn't be this amused, especially when Harry looks away, all sheepish and embarrassed. "Sorry, Rick."

"It's okay, kid. I'll make it quick so giraffe can get better. Though between you and me, Alexis is a very good vet."

Harry looks uncertain, as if a three year old should not be trusted with a sick animal and glances towards the bedroom door. "He'll be okay for a few minutes."

"If he isn't, I'll buy you a new one." He sighed. Right. "You know that it's just been you and your mother for the past few years?"

Harry's eyes narrow further. "This sounds like intentions to me."

"No, no. It's not. Sort of. What I'm trying to say… is how would you like it if I was there too? And Alexis? Be a part of our family."

"But… mommy's my family." Harry says, eyes widening. "I'm not leaving mommy."

"No, no, I'm not asking you to. You'll just have two families. Kate will still be your mommy, and I'll be your..."

"Are you trying to tell me you're going to be my daddy?" The five year old huffed, fixing him with another impatient glare.

Oh. He wasn't expecting that. Damn smart this five year old. "I… urm, yes. I suppose. If you want?"

Harry sighed, rolling her eyes. "You could have just said that." she thought for a moment. "Does this mean Alexis is my sister?"

"Yeah, sure."

Harry grinned and jumped off the sofa. "Cool! Can I go and look after the giraffe now?" She looks up at Kate, who's sat watching them over the counter.

"Off you go, but tea should be here soon, so don't get too caught up."

"Okay!" She hightails it out of the room, leaving Rick alone with Kate.

It's silent for a few minutes, both of them working through their thoughts and neither inclined to break the slightly awkward silence that had descended on them. He's pretty sure Kate's reeling from Harry's easy acceptance of now having a father figure in her life, and he'd be lying if he thought it would be as easy as that. He'd have never have guessed that she'd be one to simply state out the obvious, let alone accept it.

"That went better than expected." He said, sitting back against the sofa.

Kate nodded in agreement, still leaning against the worktop, eyes downcast. "She has the habit of surprising you at unlikely moments."

"Is that you or me?"

"If it's not you, then it's just her. Definitely not me."

"You too easy to read?"

"Not exactly. I just… don't let my emotions get the better of me."

Rick shrugged, trying not to smirk. "I don't know, you seem pretty easy to read to me. For example, right now, you're shaking in your boots. Only you've trained yourself not to let it show. Whether it's because you're trying to hide it from Harry, or whether that's just who you are, I don't know. And I think if you could get away with it you'd chuck me and Alexis out of the apartment and you'd make sure you never saw us again. But you can't, because of your daughter. She's the most important thing to you, and you'd do anything to keep her out of harm's way. So that means you don't trust people easily. Or that's part of being a detective. But you don't let people in because you don't want to get hurt. Not again… not like you were the last time." Kate's glaring at him, anger and fire and an unreadable amount of sadness in her eyes and he swallows hurriedly. "Sorry. I didn't mean… I'm a writer. I'm used to observing. I'm just… good at reading people. Feel free to hit me, or something."

Kate opens her mouth to say something, but there's a knock on the door startling them both. "Do that again, and I will shoot you."

"Noted." He stands up, reaching for his wallet. "You get the girls, I'll get the pizza."

Kate looks like she's about to argue, but he's already marched over to the door and is pulling it open before she can say anything. She presses the pads of her fingers against her temple, trying to get rid of the headache that's developing and pushes Harry's bedroom door open with her shoulder. "Pizza's here, you two. Leave giraffe to get some sleep. I'm sure he needs it."