A/N: You are oh! so lucky that inspiration kicked in right after Chapter 6, so I'll spoil you again, but don't get hopes up too high. As said, more updates will follow but with bigger intervals =) Typos, grammar mistakes are all mine. English is not my mother tongue!

Chapter 7

"So, you've been married…" Kate Beckett spoke nervously playing with the red and white checked paper napkin in front of her. They were sitting in the coffee house sipping on a latte macchiato for her, a coffee for himself and a piece of pie for both of them.

"Yep, twice...", he nodded. "Maybe third time will be a charm. You?"

"God, no!" Beckett interjected taking the last bite of her apple pie crumble. "No… I mean, not that I don't want to or anything, but I'm twenty-five, Rick."

"Got any sleazy boyfriend out there I need to protect you from?"

Her cheekbones instantly turned crimson. "No!"

"No, no boyfriend? Or no, no sleazy?"

"Both… I currently don't have any boyfriend", she spoke shyly still staring at the napkin in front of her. "I only moved back here a couple of months ago and as you know I have a lot of work with my new job, so I am busy trying to fit in and everything. I don't have much time for anything else yet right now. I barely make rent so going out and everything, it costs, and…"

"If you need anything, Kate, you know where to find me, right?" he grabbed her hand. This time he was more sure of himself than he was the first time when she had touched his hands two weeks ago.

She was tempted, but instead refused his offer, "Oh, I couldn't do that, Rick."

"Sure you can, Kate! You're like family, I mean, you are family. To my eyes you are, so if there's anything…. anything, just let me know. I'm here to help you, all right?"

She faintly nodded her head as another awkward silence settled between them. They both finished their crumble and coffee, ordering another hot drink at the bypassing waitress.

"What about you? Any good looking ladies wrapped around your arm?"

The words had left her mouth faster than she thought them. After all she had been Richard Castle's first fan ever and she still was to this day. She had probably read every single article in the newspaper of him, so naturally she knew one side of the story, but not everything.

"Right now? No, I'm a real bachelor. Sorry…" Rick quickly added, noting his faux pas, "This came out the wrong way… I…I mean no, no girlfriend right now. There's only one girl, sorry, woman I care about right now…." He grinned smugly, leaning back on the red bench, making her blush even further because she knew he was referring to her.

Looking at her he tried to remember the last time he had seen her that flushed. It had been a very long time ago to be true. Maybe around the time where the Becketts were about to move to Chicago. Yes, it was on the evening where she had stayed at his place for sleep over since her father had travelled to Chicago in order to set up their new home.

Flashback

Richard Rodgers walked down the staircase to meet his girlfriend Julie Edwards in the living room. She had already popped the rented movie tape into the VCR ready for their casual Friday night hang out.

"She asleep?" Julie wanted to know.

She actually came to like the young girl who was like a sister to her boyfriend, but she also was glad to know her finally upstairs and in bed, giving Rick and herself some time alone. Something they had been waiting for all week long.

"Yeah, I think so…"

"She's ten years old, Rick. Not a baby!" Julie sighed nonetheless since it had taken him almost half an hour to get her to bed.

"She just lost her mother, Julie, and she's going to move to Chicago soon. How would you feel?" Rick countered obviously hurt at his girlfriend's words.

She should know by now how much he cared for Kate. Rick understood that Julie knew, except that she couldn't comprehend the depth of it all. It was a lot to ask from a ten year old, leaving school and friends behind. Loosing her mother wasn't enough even though Rick also could understand Jim Beckett's reasoning. They didn't have any other family left in New York City and since he had to work, he needed somebody to take care of Kate during his absence. Hence moving back to Chicago where her paternal grand-parents could look after her seemed to be the best option.

"You're right. I'm sorry." Julie said, wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing him.

They laid down, relaxing into each other and by the time the movie was half way through the pair was heavily making out on the couch. A squeaking noise made them bolt up and all Rick managed to see was a pair of legs disappearing to the upper level.

"Hold on to that, all right?" As soon as he had spoken the words, he had jumped off the couch and chased after the young girl. He briefly stopped at her guestroom's door before he knocked. He heard some shuffling on the other side but still tried the doorknob. Peaking his head through the split open door, he found Kate with bed sheets covering her entire body, sobbing. On alert he closed the gap between them and sat on the edge of the bed. "Kate?" he waited but not getting any answer from her he pulled at the sheet, "Hey, sweet pie, talk me!"

"Go away! I hate you!" Rick heard her muffled voice out of the pillow. He sighed in defeat unsure what the next best course of action would be. Why was she upset? Because he making out with Julie? Well either way, it didn't make much sense, at least not to Rick's point of view.

"What's wrong, Kate? Why are you so upset?"

"You said you were my best friend! You promised!" she spoke, rolling onto her back as tears kept spilling down her face.

"I am… you'll always be my best friend, Kate. I love you, no matter how crazy you drive me sometimes."

"No, you don't! You like Julie better than me! You were kissing her!"

Rick thought about this for a while because obviously kissing Julie wasn't the real problem here. It's not like Kate was expecting him to kiss her the way he had his girlfriend! She was ten years old and from where Rick was standing, Kate hated boys.

"I really like Julie too, Kate! Both of you… it's just different, you know? That doesn't mean I don't love you any less. When you're older you will understand. Then you'll want to make out with your own boyfriend!"

"Eewww, no, Rick. Why would you say that? That's totally gross!" Kate cried out in disgusting, sitting up in bed. She grabbed her pillow and clutched it up against her chest along with her knees. The light of the hallway reflected in her dark green eyes as she seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. "Rick?"

"Hmm… is it true though?"

"What?"

Even in the faintest of lights he noticed blush creep on her face, "Well… kissing boys. I mean, Tina, she's in sixth grade, and she says that she and her boyfriend kiss with tongue" Kate shuddered at the thought of it, which made Rick laugh softly. "Really… just gross!"

"Katie, you're ten years old"

"Ten and half. Almost eleven!" she corrected him pointing her finger at him.

"Whether you like or not, some day you will… I don't like to think of you frolicking about at your age."

The idea alone of Kate having a boyfriend itched him. Too bad he wasn't going to be around to watch out for her. No matter how much she could drive him crazy sometimes, he loved her like a sister and he knew he was going to miss her dearly. It was even going to be awful without her. Who was going to drive him nuts now? Who was going to call him at eight o'clock on Saturday morning when all he wanted to do was to sleep in? Who was going to annoy him to no end rattling on and on about stuff he didn't even care about, and yet would put a smile on his face? Nobody…

"Come here!" They shared a long hug. "I love you, sweet pea."

"Love you more" Kate held out one of her favorite plus animals (Popples ®) out at him, "Here, for you. You may keep it. That way you will never forget me!"

"But…You… I could never forget you, Kate. Never! You may visit us any time." She was heart broken and seeing her so sad made it very hard for him to let go. "Okay… it's really time to sleep now, all right? You're all sleepy." He told her softly as she let out a yawn and helped her back under the covers. He leaned over kissed her forehead and wished her goodnight.

End of Flashback

"What's so funny?" Kate shook him out of his thoughts.

He told her what he remembered of that night. "I'm almost certain that I still got that thing lying somewhere. God, I cannot believe that you're actually here. I missed you. I really did." Rick added. "It really took me some time to get used to not having you around. I know mother missed you too. Back then she wouldn't tell me, but she did miss you. You were like the daughter she never had. I know it pained her to know you so far away. And you know what the worst part was?" Kate shook her head in the negative, "That we never got hear from you again. No phone call, no letter… nothing."

"What do you mean, no letter? I wrote you at least a letter per week! I never got any answer! You never wrote me back! I was so mad, torn and devastated!"

Utterly confused Rick replied, "You wrote me letters? I was swear I never got any!"

Tears welled up in her eyes as she couldn't quite believe what had happened. Her father used to take the mail to the post office. There's only one way and only one reason why her letters never reached their destination. Kate knew her father didn't allow her to make phone calls, so the only way for her to stay in touch was to write. She never got any answer and concluded that the Rodgers didn't care much about her in the longer run.

"Kate…" Rick sighed, caught her hand and brought it up to his lips, "I'm so sorry… if I had known…"

"I thought you'd… God, I really hate my dad. I just… I'm so mad right now… I cannot believe he'd do something like that. I know we were running short on money and that I couldn't call you, but this… if I had known… Nanny could have… and nothing of this would have happened!"

Kate eventually let her tears freely roll down her cheekbones. Right now she didn't care much about anything, except her long lost friendship with Rick. He had always been a big brother to her and she had missed him so much. She not only had missed her mother, but also Rick and Martha.

Ever since her mother had passed away, her life had turned into living hell. Moving to Chicago, getting pulled away from the only two people who actually cared for her, going to a new school, getting bullied, and the cherry on top of the cake was her drinking father. She only found some peace and quiet every time she stayed at her grandmother's – at least for as long as her grandfather wasn't around. All the way along Nanny was the one keeping her strong and giving her faith. Half a year later she also passed away, soon followed by Grandpa. Whatever money Jim Beckett managed to get out of legacy, he had turned it into money, which in turn was traded for alcoholic drinks. By the time Kate was sixteen she got away and moved in with a friend's family who gladly took her in. On and off she had tried to get help for her father, but he always got back to drinking… there was no end in sight to this day.

"You were just a little girl, Kate. How could you know? You're here, I'm here… and if you give me one of those loving smiles I have missed all these years you will make me a very happy man!" Rick spoke in his usual playful and teasing way.

Kate couldn't fight the smile forcing at the corner of her lips. He smiled back, simply because he was happy to have her back in his life. Right now, nothing else mattered anymore. Instinctively he knew that everything was going to be all right and that everything would fall back into place. And to know, to be reassured, that she had written him letters for almost a year before giving up… was just… He didn't have any words for it. He wanted to hug her, he wanted to take the pain that was nestled in both her eyes and heart away from her. He wished nothing of this had happened. He wished he had a time capsule just so he could turn back time. He wanted to cradle her up against his chest like he used to do when she was a little girl, bumping her knee or head, kissing the pain away. Sadly, the wound she had now was harder to heal than with a simply kiss to the injured body part. At least, now he was there, she was no longer on her own. She had somebody whom she could trust and confide in. He promised himself then and there, to always watch out for her.

"Thank you", Kate whispered.

"Always, Kate."

PS. Rick didn't have Kate's address before she moved to Chicago – just in case you are wondering because obviously, he would have written her! ;o)