Author's Note: Thanks for your reviews!

Chapter 7

On Thursday afternoon, Castle spotted Johanna standing near the door outside the café. She had her phone in hand, studying something on the screen as he approached. "You're early," he stated, his voice startling her and making her flinch.

"Well I was late the last time," Johanna replied. "I figured I better make up for it."

"It wasn't intentional though," he said as he pulled the door open for her.

"But still," she said as she stepped through the doorway; "I was trying to break the threat of being a stereotypical female."

"Well, when you put it that way," he said lightly, nudging her toward the booth near the window where they had set on Tuesday.

"How's your car?" Castle asked.

"It's fine; Jim took care of the problem."

"Did you enjoy your girl time with Kate?"

"I always do," Johanna replied. "Even Scarlett was happy to have her company."

"Have they called a truce?" he asked lightly; still amused to no end that Kate did seem to harbor some jealousy in regard to her mother's cat.

"It seemed like it the other night but we'll see if it lasts."

A thought popped into mind and he spoke it before he could properly think about whether it was the right thing to do or not. "Are you as suspicious of her making a truce with the cat as you are with me for inviting you to lunch?"

Johanna's gaze flicked to his. "No, I figured it was because she felt bad that we clearly didn't have a good session the other day…should I be suspicious?"

"Of course not; and what do you mean by session?"

"Well…it kind of feels like therapy."

"How would you know, you only went once."

"I was very observant at my one session," she replied. "Why does it bother you so much?"

"Because I think if you had gone and kept going, you'd be better by now."

She frowned. "You make it sound like I have some kind of disease."

"You do suffer from depression."

"I actually haven't dealt with a bout of depression in awhile; I've felt pretty good in a lot of aspects for a good while now."

"Are you sure about that?"

Johanna nodded as the waiter approached and asked them what they wanted to drink. She ordered her usual soda while Rick gave his usual coffee order before they accepted their menus.

"How can you be sure that you're better?" Castle asked. "Because some people might beg to differ."

Johanna sighed. "Well then those people are probably only looking at one side of me…and perhaps allowing their personal opinions to color their judgment of the situation. I know I'm better because I feel better; I haven't had any panic attacks in a long time, I haven't been depressed, I haven't been overly wrought emotionally. I go out nearly every day without over thinking it and awaiting doom at every turn. I go places without Jim and I feel secure in the knowledge that I'll get back home to him. When Katie and I have our squabbles, I don't dwell on it. I either apologize or I wait for her to be finished being mad. I don't let it bother me anymore that some friends and family still haven't come around…"

"Can you really say that in regard to your sister? Because that still seems to be a huge sore spot."

Johanna's gaze flicked to the window for a moment and then back to his face. "I don't want to talk about my sister."

"Which would imply that it does bother you."

"I miss her but I don't lose sleep over it."

"Do you still try or have you given up on her? Because you mentioned that I don't know everything…although I do know that you bake her a birthday cake and leave it on her porch with a card…and a few days later she leaves the empty container on your porch with a note," he stated. "And at Christmas time, you do the same dance with cookies. No one seems to know what those cards and notes in those containers say though."

"That's because it's between my sister and I," Johanna remarked.

His brow rose. "Do you meet her secretly somewhere so her husband doesn't know that you communicate?"

"No."

"Talk on the phone at safe times?"

"No."

"There must be something."

Johanna sighed a little. "I have a separate email address that she can contact me at if she wants to; it's not connected to my name or anything anyone would know about me except Colleen. That way if Paul would stumble across it in her contact list, he'll think it's some client of hers or a friend from school, whatever lie she wants to tell."

"Something only she would know?" he asked; intrigued by this secret network she must've created.

"When we were little girls we each had a favorite baby doll…and we named them after the movie stars in Mom's magazines. Colleen named her baby Rita and I named mine Ava…so the name on the account is Ava…and since McKenzie would throw up a red flag and so does Beckett; I used my mother-in-law's maiden name, since it's the name you used for Erica in the Nikki Heat books. So the account is under Ava Bradley."

"Clever," Castle remarked.

She shrugged. "I try to make the effort…I leave the door open if she wants to walk through it. Once in awhile she sends an email. Once in awhile I'll get a text…it's not often, and I haven't seen her in a long time, but I guess it's enough and I can make do with it. I've got my brother, he's been very good to me since I came home; the best brother he's ever been. There's Valerie too; she's a wonderful sister."

"But not the sister you grew up with," Castle remarked.

"The choice is Colleen's, not mine," Johanna remarked. "She knows that she could show up on my porch today and I'd let her in…but I know I wouldn't get so much as a toe across the threshold of her home. It's not how I wished things would be…but I've had to learn to deal with it."

"Maybe you could invite her into a public setting; maybe that would take the pressure off."

"Public settings have been the stage of our few face to face meetings…and they weren't the good kind of meetings."

"Some time has passed since the last one…"

"Rick," she said firmly; "I'm not discussing my sister anymore today."

"Okay," he remarked; figuring that he better learn when not to push an issue. "Kate will be glad to know that you actually wear the jacket that she made you accept as a mother's day gift," he said with a nod at the sky blue leather jacket that she hadn't taken off yet.

"I don't want to talk about that either," she remarked, reaching for the smooth silver zipper pull. She unzipped the jacket and shrugged out of it, laying it beside her in the booth with her purse.

"Why not?" he asked as the waiter delivered their drinks and hurried away with the promise to return.

"Because it felt more like a guilt gift than a mother's day gift…especially considering that we had an agreement not to buy gifts for any occasion since that's how she wanted it previously."

"It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind."

"Especially when her mother is seriously considering skipping her wedding, right?" Johanna asked.

"We had faith that you would forgive us and come," he remarked; "And you did…and we're glad."

She picked up her glass and took a long sip. "I don't really want to talk about that today either."

"Something wrong today?" Castle asked.

"No; Jim had to leave early this morning to go Albany with Zach for the case their working on. I got up at four to make sure he didn't sleep through the alarm at 4:30. I made him breakfast and made sure he had everything he needed. Zach picked him up at six."

"You should've gone back to bed for awhile."

"I tried; I couldn't get back to sleep."

"Too awake by that point?"

"No; I just don't like when he leaves the city. I can't sleep when he isn't in the same city as me."

Castle regarded her with a raised brow. "You make monthly pilgrimages to Jersey to shop at the malls with your sister-in-law or your friend."

"I know…and I enjoy it but I also don't like not being in the same city as my husband. I'm sure you can understand why."

"Of course," he murmured; a commotion in the kitchen seeming to announce that there might be a delay in lunch. "When will he be back?"

"Late this evening; probably around eight or eight-thirty."

"You could come over with us until he gets home."

"I appreciate the offer but I want to be there when he gets home. I'll make dinner a little later tonight so I can keep a plate warm for him in the oven."

"He'll probably eat in Albany with his friend," Castle replied.

"Probably and yet he'll come home still needing fed," she remarked. "Jim always wants a home cooked meal when he gets back from a trip."

The waiter reappeared to take their order before Castle could comment and he frowned as he was forced to hold on to the thought until they had ordered their meal. Finally Fredrick was explaining that there might be a slightly longer wait than usual and then he hurried away when he was assured that they weren't in a hurry.

"I was kind of surprised that you weren't more reluctant about spending six weeks in London," he stated.

"I was with Jim; Jeff and Maggie were there too."

"But you were far from home…I thought that would bother you."

"As long as Jim is with me, I'm fine," Johanna replied. "Besides; I was more than ready to get away from here. I missed my cat but Gabby posted pictures and videos of her to my Facebook every day."

"Did you enjoy your time there? I'm afraid Kate and I have dominated travel conversations with our gushing about Bora Bora."

"That's how newlyweds are," his mother-in-law replied. "It sounds like a beautiful place."

"It is," he agreed. "But London is nice too."

She nodded. "It was very nice; we briefly thought about staying but we missed our house; and I could never live somewhere else full time again."

"You thought about staying?" Castle repeated.

"Yeah; we talked about it one night. Jim and Jeff worked during the week but in the evenings and the weekends we'd go do things and we were having such a great time that we were tempted to stay; but New York is home. I don't want to leave my brother and sister-in-law or my nieces and nephews; my friends. Jim doesn't want to leave his brother or his friends either. We also wouldn't be guaranteed jobs over there…and it would be hard to start over in another place; it would bring back bad memories. The idea was dismissed quickly."

Castle met her gaze. "You didn't mention Kate."

"Oh we discussed Katie a great deal. We would've missed her madly but we figured she would've liked it if we lived in a different country…which Jim said was the biggest reason why we couldn't move."

"Because she might like it?"

"Yeah," she said with a soft laugh. "We don't want to give her a gift like that."

"She wouldn't like it; she'd worry herself sick," Castle said, his tone sharp.

Johanna gave him an odd look. "Rick, we discussed it and dismissed it all in the same evening. We were just having a nice time; it was peaceful and relaxing after a very long few months. We liked the city, the atmosphere, the history; but it could never be home. I have been trying to convince him that we need a beach house though."

"Where?" Castle asked.

She shrugged. "I don't care; anywhere. I'd like it to be in North Carolina but Virginia Beach would be closer...or we could go to Long Island near Bridget; that would be nice as well."

"You could just use my house in the Hamptons," he replied.

"It's not the same."

"Why; it would save you money."

"We've got money," Johanna told him. "We don't need a mansion; just a nice little beach home for numerous summer trips."

"You could use mine for free."

"But what if you're using it when I want to go to the beach?"

"You'd wait until the next week," Castle remarked.

"That's why I want my own beach house; I want to go when I want to go…and I can't decorate your house."

"What's wrong with my house?" he asked, a defensive note in his tone.

"Nothing; it's beautiful; but part of the fun of me having a beach house would be decorating it. I've always known exactly how I'd want to do it; soft, light colors; thin gauzy curtains to let in the light. It would be so pretty…and there is a house near Bridget that's for sale."

"But Jim said no?"

"Yeah," she sighed; "He said no…he said we have a house and a cabin in the mountains…but I don't really think that's fair; that was in his family before he was born; he didn't have to buy it…and although I love the cabin and have very fond memories there, I'd always pick the beach for a vacation."

"You can still use my house and save the money," Castle said.

"Don't tell Jim that; I'll never get my own beach house," Johanna remarked.

"You don't need one when there's one in the family!"

"Don't tell me what I need," she replied as she picked up her glass for another drink; "You have no idea what I need."

"I could probably think of a few things," he muttered.

Johanna eyed him. "Rick; don't ruin this by going down that road…because there's a chance that there might be things I think you need."

"Right," he said with a nod. "We don't need to go there. Let's go back to the original topic; you can still come over for awhile…I'm sure Jim will let you know when he's on his way; you could have dinner with us and still get home in time to put something in the oven for him. I'm sure you have leftovers in the freezer, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Then it shouldn't be a problem."

She shifted in her seat, wishing the waiter would come with their lunch and spare her from answering but he was nowhere in sight. "I'll think about it."

Castle met her gaze. "Okay, let's do this; if you want to come, you show up at 5:30; we'll have a place for you…if you don't, just let Kate know you're staying home so she doesn't worry about you."

"Alright," she relented; wishing the waiter would've appeared and kept her from feeling like her hands were tied and she'd have to show up; which meant driving home in the evening alone and going into a dark empty house alone, with the exception of Scarlett. That thought always unnerved her.

"What bothers you about the idea, Johanna?" Castle asked; seeing unease seep into her posture.

"Nothing."

"Truth," he stated.

She sighed, her gaze flicking toward the kitchen but their waiter was still nowhere in sight. "I don't like going home alone to a dark empty house."

"Leave a light on," Castle replied; "And Scarlett's there."

"Yeah; she can really protect me if there's someone hiding in the house," Johanna remarked.

"I thought you were over your fears?" he replied.

"Getting over one set of fears doesn't mean that I can't be afraid of other things. I'm a woman in a dangerous world, Rick. I've already had too many close calls…and I'm not the only woman in the world who feels leery about going home to a dark house in the evening. It's not so unnatural."

He was supposed that was true; and really it would seem odd for her not to have some small sense of fear. After all that she had been through, was it fair of them to expect her to be fearless when everyone else in the world was allowed to be nervous or afraid of one thing or another? "Okay; new deal," he replied. "If you want to come over, leave a light on at home…and when you're ready to go, I will follow you home and I'll go in with you and make sure all is well…will that help?"

"Yes…but it seems like unnecessary bother for you," Johanna replied.

"I volunteered so I must not mind," he remarked. "You'll think about it?"

"I'll think about it."

"Good," he said; allowing silence to fall, figuring they could both use the time to prepare themselves for the next topic of their lunch.


"So," Castle said, breaking the silence that lingered as they continued to wait on their meals.

"So what?" Johanna asked while reaching for her glass.

He shrugged. "I don't know; I'm kind of afraid to say anything about list topics; you might get mad and report me."

Johanna sat down her glass of soda and pushed her phone across the table. He gave her a puzzled look. "You can hang on to it, if it makes it easier," she told him.

Castle shook his head and pushed her phone back across the table. "That's okay."

She picked up her phone and tucked it into the pocket of her purse, figuring out of sight and out of mind. "Pick a topic and let's get on with this, Rick."

"No small talk first?"

"Didn't we already do that?"

"That doesn't mean there can't be more," he said, his list of topics looking slightly unappealing at the moment.

"If you insist," Johanna replied. "How is the book coming along?"

"Which one?" he asked.

Interest flickered in her eyes. "I wasn't aware that you were writing more than one."

"Yeah; I'm working on one for Nikki; another e-book series for Derrick Storm and a book for a new series."

"A new series? Are you getting rid of Derrick again?"

"No."

Johanna's gaze stayed pinned upon him. "Surely not Nikki…I mean if you have to get rid of one, it should definitely be Derrick."

"No, I'm not getting rid of Nikki."

"You swear?"

"I swear; I just signed another deal for Nikki; four more books plus e-book novellas for her, I want to do some holiday tie-ins."

"I'll look forward to those…any chance of a ghost story for Nikki at Halloween?" she asked hopefully. "I like ghost stories."

His eyes sparkled merrily. "It's already written."

Johanna smiled. "When is it coming out?"

"The week of Halloween," Castle answered. "I'll make sure you know in advance."

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

"You were quick to vote for Derrick's demise," he remarked.

Johanna shrugged. "I'm partial to Nikki; not just because of Katie, but as I told you before, because she's a woman and it's easier to relate to a female character."

"Understood; but don't worry, Nikki isn't going anywhere."

"It's a good damn thing," his mother-in-law answered. "What's your new series going to be about?"

He hesitated, choosing his words with care. "I can't really say much about it right now."

Her brow rose, her interest piqued. "Not even a little hint?"

"Well…it's a little different from my usual characters."

"How so?"

"It's not a cop or a CIA operative…but it's still in the crime genre."

"F.B.I. Agent?"

"No."

"Secret Service?"

"No."

"U.S Marshals?"

"No."

"What else is there?" Johanna asked.

"Oh there are plenty of options," Castle told her; surprised that lawyer hadn't been one of her guesses.

"Is the new lead character a man or a woman?"

"A woman."

"Oh, good; it can sometimes be hard to find women in lead roles in the crime genre."

"I think she'll be a nice addition," Castle remarked, hoping that Johanna would still like the idea once she found out who the character was.

"Is she a completely new character or one from one of your established series?"

He faltered for a moment, he hadn't expected that question. "I can't say right now."

Johanna frowned. "Just give me a little hint, I won't tell anyone."

"I can't…you know, because of publisher's rules."

She nodded. "Legalities; I understand. I know how it goes."

He smiled. "Yeah…I think you'll like the new book though; at least I hope so."

"I'm sure I will."

He really hoped so…because if she hated Erica's new status as a lead character in her own right, he wasn't sure he could handle that type of rejection from inside his own family.

The waiter appeared and put their meal down in front of them and then hurried away. "Can't we go to McDonalds next time?" Johanna asked. "I need chicken nuggets in my life every once in awhile."

Castle laughed. "You need chicken nuggets in your life?"

She nodded. "It's one those guilty pleasure and weakness things rolled into one."

"I picked this spot because it's not as overly crowded as your local fast food place."

"I realize that…but I still like chicken nuggets."

"We'll get you some chicken nuggets sometime soon," he promised; "Because now I'm craving a cheeseburger, thank you."

She laughed, and he realized it was her real laugh; not the forced one or the humorless one or the one that spoke of bitter anger. It was a pure laugh; one that was very similar to Kate's and he smiled in response as she regarded her chosen entrée, clearly still wishing that it was chicken nuggets.

"I'd apologize for your sudden craving but I know how you feel about that," Johanna said, but her tone remained light.

He smiled and reached into his pocket. "Speaking of apologies," he said; "Please accept my apology and this gift as a sincere gesture for the way our last lunch went."

Johanna eyed the small gift card sized package. "You didn't have to get a gift, Rick."

"Kate and I felt that you deserved one."

"Rumor has it; you bought Katie some suck up gifts."

"Yes, I did…her gift card was delivered to her email…which she didn't check until last night."

"And was she receptive to her email gift card?"

"She looked like she had plans to use it," he said with a nod. "Please open yours, because I'm not taking it back."

"Fine, Rick," she said as she accepted the small box, noting the Coach name and logo on the lid before she lifted it to peer at the card inside. "You didn't have to be so extravagant."

He gave a shake of his head. "I don't consider peace offerings extravagant; please buy whatever handbag your heart desires…rumor has it that they also have shoes and sunglasses."

"Thank you," Johanna replied as she tucked her gift into her purse. "But it wasn't necessary."

"I don't care," he said; "Just take it and enjoy it."

"Alright," she sighed. "Have you picked your topic yet?"

"No…do you want to pick this time?"

"No," Johanna told him; "You're the one with a list, you pick."

Castle drummed his fingers on the table. "Well…Alexis has been mentioned a few times."

His mother-in-law wrinkled her nose and kept her gaze on her plate.

"You're not feeling that topic today?" he asked.

"I'd rather not," she said. "It might get back around to that grandchildren topic and I'm not ready to go there again."

"You know I didn't mean what I said," Castle said gently. "I'd never stand in your way…and I'm pretty sure Kate would shoot me first if I even thought about it. She told me that you two talked about it; that she gave you her personal assurance and guarantee…surely you believe her more than me."

"Of course."

"Pretty quick with the confirmation," he quipped.

"You asked."

"You're right; I did."

"So what's it going to be?"

Castle blew out a breath. "How about we just put the list on hold for today?"

Johanna eyed him. "Then what are we going to talk about?"

He shrugged. "Anything that comes to mind; we've been doing alright so far…maybe you can help me with some things for the new series; although I can't give a lot of details."

"What kind of things?"

"Like about the 70s…because I have an interest in that decade for this book."

Johanna's brow rose. "Really?"

"Yeah…and I'm not taking a dig at your age, but you were a young woman in the 70s…you had to look into things for your job and you didn't have Google to help you with that."

"That's the truth," she laughed.

"So how did you do it?"

"Basically the same way it's done today, Rick; leg work. As a lawyer, I had to interview witnesses, sometimes more than once, find evidence to back up their claims if they couldn't provide the evidence themselves. Computers were still a new thing and not widely embraced so if you were working on something that involved a business who wasn't using a computer system to store data, you had to wait until they dug through their archives for what you needed and a lot of times that was the case. You had to make a lot of phone calls, knock on doors, dig for what you need…but again, that's still true today."

Castle gave a nod. "When did you start using computers in your office?"

Johanna thought for a moment. "I want to say early 80s…I was still with Roche when we started using them…I left there when Katie was three and we had already been using them for about a year."

"Why did you leave that firm?"

"They were downsizing and there was a list of people being let go; Jim was on the list to stay, I was on the list to go," she replied.

"Why?"

"It's a long story but to make it short; some of the new senior partners weren't big fans of me," Johanna said with a smile. "Of course, the feeling was mutual. A couple we were friends with were also on the list to go; Mark and Cathy decided to start their own firm and they invited me and a few others to go in with them. I agreed and finished up my caseload and went ahead and left on my own; I spent the summer at home with Katie."

"What about your clients? Did you have any clients that kept you on retainer or didn't that apply to your work?"

"Oh, no; I handled a lot of different things at Roche's firm; I had some steady clients who kept me on retainer. I informed them about what was going on and they chose to go with me."

"So you weren't only focused on civil rights?"

Johanna shook her head. "No; when I started out, I handed all kinds of things, civil rights, criminal, family law, contract law. Really the only thing I didn't handle was real estate law and estate law. When I went in with Mark and Cathy, I narrowed down a little more, focused a lot of my energy on civil rights; but I still had those clients who kept me on retainer and a lot of that was contract law so I stayed in that for them and because it brought in more clients than civil rights at times. I also took the occasional family law case."

"But you stayed away from criminal law?"

"Well…a lot of civil rights cases are wrapped up in criminal law, Rick; so I wouldn't say I stayed away completely. But when it comes to the criminal aspect of civil rights law, you're usually working on an appeal."

"Why did you pick civil rights as your main focus after leaving your other firm?"

"Civil rights were always important to me; but at a bigger firm you have to do a lot of things; you don't really get to specialize as much as you'd like. For me it was something I believed in a lot, I still do…and with a more narrowed focus, I could have more regular hours and didn't have to worry about how to get out of out of town cases. I believe that's one of the reasons I was on the list to be booted out of Roche's firm; once I became a mother, I refused to work on any cases that involved out of town travel and I left at four instead of five…Roche didn't mind that…but he retired and things changed. At Mark and Cathy's firm, I could come in at 8:30 and leave at four and there wasn't any issue…just like no one said a word if I needed to juggle my schedule to have time off for field trips and doctor's appointments. I had a lot more flexibility at the smaller firm and that was exactly what I needed…it made me feel like I had a good balance. When work was slow there, I'd teach a class at Columbia to stay busy; but I felt like I had the best of both worlds; I had my career but I was also there for Katie."

"She's always said that," Castle remarked; "She said you always put her first."

"That's what mothers do," Johanna murmured as she added a little more dressing to her salad.

"Do you think it's easier to be a lawyer in this day and age compared to the 70s?" he asked.

"I think that's kind of a double edged sword, Rick; it's not easy in any decade. On one hand, the technological advances of today does make a lot of things easier; but on the other hand, privacy laws are also tighter because of those advances, which can be an added difficulty. In the 70s there were things you could dig into that you didn't need a court order for but today you need one for just about everything. The law is always changing; the lawyer I was when I started out in the 70s wasn't the same lawyer I was in the 90s. It wasn't that I had changed; it was that times had changed and I had to evolve with them to keep up with the job. Laws change, technology advances; there are certain rules and regulations, more paperwork; you have to keep up or you'll drown."

He nodded; wondering if she'd be suspicious if he took notes. He figured thought that it wouldn't hurt to ask; she seemed to be at ease. "Do you mind if I take a few notes about the things you're telling me?"

Johanna shook her head. "I don't care; I'm not sure I'm being very helpful though."

"No, you are; it's interesting," he stated. "Something that comes to mind when I see shows that portray lawyers is that the lawyer in question works one case at a time, or at least that's what we're allowed to see. I know it's not like that in reality…"

"Definitely not," she laughed. "If it was, the court system would be even more backed up than it is now."

Castle chuckled lightly. "That's true. My question though is back when you were starting out, how did you juggle your case load?"

"Well, the first thing you have to remember is that it isn't a job that's done alone. It helps to have a good secretary; Sharon was a great asset to have. She of course managed the office and my schedule; but she was also a part of the deposition taking process, she filed court documents, collected information that was brought in for me when I wasn't in the office. She helped keep things organized, made phone calls; anything I needed that she was capable of taking on, she did. For me, when it came to juggling multiple cases, it helped to set a certain block of time to work on each one; if I had a client coming in about Case A at ten, then I spent my first hours in the office working on that case and making sure I was ready for that meeting. Then I'd work on the next one and so on. If I was in court all day, then I worked on the most urgent one at home. You just learn to manage your time and delegate tasks. If I was stuck on something, I'd ask Jim to look over it, if he couldn't, Maggie might take a look or Jeff and I did the same for them. If I was working on a case with a colleague, like a lot of times in the early years, I worked on cases with Jim; we'd make a list of tasks and divide it up between us and we'd divide up the list of items our secretaries could handle; it made it an easier, smoother process."

Castle was scribbling notes across his page as quickly as he could. "Did you ever encounter times when there was information you needed to get that you couldn't take the risk of looking for yourself?"

"What do you mean by risk?" Johanna asked.

"Like if you needed information from a certain place but you knew they wouldn't give it to you because they knew you were a lawyer; or even just something you weren't sure how to go about collecting and maybe you were up against the clock? Things like that…does that make sense?"

She nodded. "Yeah; I know what you mean now. Every lawyer has those occasions; that's when it's good to know a discreet, capable private investigator."

"So television doesn't exaggerate that?"

"No; we do use them; but on that note, we also make sure they're properly licensed so that any evidence they bring in can't be thrown out of court."

"Good point, I hadn't thought of that."

Johanna eyed him. "Is your new character a private investigator?"

"Still can't tell you."

"I know; legalities."

"Right," he remarked; "Now; tell me, 1970s…probably a lot of harassment, right?"

"Oh yeah, all kinds," Johanna said with a nod, reaching for her glass and realizing it was empty.

"I'll get you another drink," Castle said, signaling for the waiter, he didn't want to give her a chance to end the conversation when they were doing so well.

"You don't have to do that."

"I don't mind; I'll get another drink too," he said as Fredrick, their waiter approached.

"Something else, Mr. Castle?" he asked.

"Can we have our drinks refilled, Fredrick?"

"Of course, I'll be right back," the waiter said as he collected their glasses.

"While we wait on our drinks, my character is a woman so I'm guessing she's going to get a taste of harassment in the work place."

"If she's a woman in the 70s she is," Johanna replied; "Not that it doesn't still happen today, but I think it was more rampant and accepted back then."

"In your case; was it colleagues or clients…or both?"

"Both," she answered.

"Did you suffer from a lot of harassment?"

"It depended on what day it was," she replied.

"Can you elaborate on that for me; because I want to be authentic to the era," Castle explained.

Johanna swallowed the bite of her salad she had taken and busied her fingers with opening the small pack of crackers that had came with her salad. "In those days there were still men who didn't believe that women belonged in the legal field. I admit, most of those men were from the same era as my father but there were also men in my age range that felt the same way. I had some clients who upon first glance at me, said I was more suited to be a cocktail waitress or a hairdresser. There was a time when I was working on a case with Jim and we were working for this pompous jackass who thought he owned our personal time after business hours. He would call a meeting every day after court and it was the same thing over and over. My first nephew was born during that case and I could never get to the hospital in time to see him because of that client. One day I got fed up with the nonsense of these meetings and said I wasn't going. He told me that whatever date I had could wait and I said it wasn't anything like that; that I wanted to go meet my newborn nephew."

"How did he take that?"

"Not well; he said it was an example of why women shouldn't be lawyers; that if I wanted to play house with a baby, I should go get married, have my own babies and stay home where I belonged. I ended up going to the meeting because he threatened to tell my boss. He made life hell for the rest of the case. Another time I worked on a case with Jim, the client said I was a distraction; that I wasn't good enough; that I had probably slept with someone to get my job. If I lost a case, I'd some clients would say that if it had been handled by a man, the outcome would've been different. I had male clients who requested dinner meetings and then thought they could ask for way more than legal advice."

Castle's brow rose. "Seriously?"

She nodded. "Yeah; I had two of those my first year…one wanted to keep demanding those 'meetings' so I went to Roche and asked him to give him to someone else; which he did, thankfully. The other one only had to feel the heel of my shoe grinding into his foot to get the message that I wasn't going to be anything but what I was hired to be."

"Did you ever wonder if you made a mistake getting into that business?"

Johanna nodded. "Many times…but I stuck with it."

"What kind of things did you deal with in regard to male colleagues?" Castle asked.

"A lot of pinching, a lot of name calling, a lot of hands trying to get where they didn't belong…Charles alone would fill up one whole notebook for you."

"Charles?" he asked.

"Charles Patterson; womanizer, jerk, disgrace to the legal profession," Johanna remarked. "We called him the octopus."

Castle's brow rose, a snort of laughter spilling from his lips. "The octopus?"

"Mhmm."

"Why?"

"Because it seemed like no matter how many hands you were slapping away, he always had another one trying to get up your skirt or your blouse. I threw my coffee in his face one day for putting his hands on me."

"Did he leave you alone after that?"

"No; that wasn't even my first experience with him. I tried to slap him once but he was used to that and blocked me…I jammed my heel down on his foot."

"I'm starting to understand why I rarely see you without heels."

Johanna nodded. "They come in handy sometimes…but mostly I just like them."

He smiled. "Like mother, like daughter."

"You should've seen all the shoes I bought Katie when she was a baby…I still have some of them."

"I imagine that you kept her closet well stocked."

"Definitely."

"Getting back to the octopus," Castle remarked; "He was like this to all the women in the building?"

"Pretty much; he's been kicked, slapped, punched, had hot liquid thrown in his face, and it never deterred him. We'd turn him in upstairs; they'd have a so called chat with him, he'd cool his heels for a few days and be right back at it. The same with a few others. Of course it was always made out to be our fault; we were overreacting, or one of them would claim that the woman came on to them, or we'd be blamed for enticing the men."

"Enticing?"

"Yeah," Johanna replied. "There was a time when I was working a case with Jim and Antonio and Jim was being very competitive with Antonio and very jealous because I went to a few business lunches with the man, and before you ask, Jim and I weren't dating at the time…"

"But he had already laid claim to you in his mind?"

"Yes; and he didn't want me having lunch with any man that wasn't him. It wasn't a good time for us during those days of working that case; the bickering and jealousy and the competition got to be a little much, I went off on both of them and went upstairs and told Roche I was taking myself off the case. While I had his attention, I decided to tell him about all the men in the office because I was fed up with everyone that week. He made a statement about my colleagues being like every other man in the world and how could they not be tempted; I had a pretty face and look at how I dressed…"

"How you were dressed?" Castle repeated. "This sounds so wrong to ask my mother-in-law but what were you wearing?"

She smiled a little. "I was wearing a skirt and a sweater…the thin kind I always wear in winter, you've probably seen me in a similar one."

He thought for a moment. "Like the lavender one you wore to my last book signing?"

"Yes; and the hem of the skirt I was wearing that day was right above my knee, but it was fitted, I believe they term it a pencil skirt…so apparently that and the sweater were taken as me showing off my figure which made any harassment my fault."

"So your boss didn't do anything about it?"

"Eventually during that confrontation he decided to take me seriously instead of continuing with the opinion that I was a hysterical female. He asked for a list of names so he could talk to those people; I gave him plenty of names…I wasn't very popular for a week or two after that but it had to be done…not that did much good; they stopped for a few days and then get back to what they usually do. Charles always liked coming after me, not only because he hadn't checked me off his book, but because he hated Jim."

Castle nodded. "I get the idea."

"Then there was Stanley…he's a cross between a weasel and goon."

Castle had to spit his drink back into his glass to keep from choking as he laughed. "Weasel and goon; I so want to use that," he said as he scribbled the words down. "What was Stanley's issue?"

"What isn't Stanley's issue?" Johanna replied. "He used to stand in front of a mirror in his office and give himself pep talks."

"Seriously!" he laughed.

"Oh yeah; Jeff was the first to catch him doing that. Stanley thinks he's king of the world…really he's only king of jackasses. He always hated me; I called him out for botching a case and it pretty much put a target on my back. He called me all kinds of names, said I'd never amount to anything in that firm. I had to work on another case with him and he literally blew our case just to humiliate me by allowing me to call a witness who told him that morning that she was recanting her testimony if is she was called. He didn't inform me of that; he let me call her and the whole thing crashed and burned and he had a big laugh about it. He found out I was afraid of heights and tormented me all through a fourth of July picnic."

"Sounds like a real prince."

"Yeah…now he's a senior partner of the firm. I'm still sorry I wasn't at the bar the night Jim punched him in the face."

He smiled. "I think I recall hearing about that fight one day when you were living with Kate."

Johanna nodded. "I finally found out what that fight was about."

"I thought Jim wouldn't tell you."

"He won't; and he doesn't know that I know now; but Maggie got it out of Jeff long ago and finally confessed."

"What is it about?" Castle asked; "I promise I won't tell him."

"Well Jim was already pissed at Stanley for humiliating me in court that week and making a big joke out of me; apparently a lot was said about that and somewhere along the way, he called me a whore and Jim punched him."

"Good for Jim," he remarked.

"I just wish I could've seen it," she said wistfully. "Stanley's best friend Steve was also an ass; he and Charles tried to get Jim to take a bribe to throw a case once."

Castle flipped to a clean page in his notebook. "What happened with that?"

"Jim turned them in to the boss and they were suspended for awhile. Charles, Steve and Stanley were never above some shady dealing."

"Shady dealing," Castle repeated as he wrote the words in his notebook. "Can you give me some other examples besides bribes?"

Johanna listed some things that she recalled various colleagues getting into trouble for and then told him about some other issues that had plagued her law firm in the 70s. She watched as he jotted down phrases or keywords, underlining certain points, his scrawl somewhat messy as he hurried to fill lines. "Am I being helpful?" she asked.

He nodded. "It's a gold mine of information; I might want to ask more about your experiences at another lunch if that's okay."

"I don't have a problem with that…are you going to be able to read all of that; it looks a little messy…no offense."

"None taken, but I'm used to reading the mess of quick writing," he said with a grin.

"It's a good thing," she said lightly.

Castle was about to close his notebook and allow the rest to wait until another day but a thought struck him and he decided to run with it. "One more thing, if you don't mind?"

"I don't mind."

"After work; did colleagues get together; if so what kind of atmosphere did you seek? Although it's probably silly to ask if you got together, how else would you and Jim have created such a deep relationship?"

She laughed softly. "The law firm seemed to be split into little clusters of friends…kind of like high school when you think about it; but my little cluster did go out on Friday nights; we all went to Atlantic City together once too. We'd usually go to a bar because by the time Friday rolled around, everyone needed a drink. But once everyone started pairing off into couples, that dwindled and Fridays became date nights. Sometimes we'd all go out on another night; sometimes there were double dates, birthday parties that sort of thing. Oh and our firm always had parties; if there were several high dollar wins, they'd throw a party to celebrate; there was always a big gala in May; we had Christmas parties, fourth of July gatherings, New Year's Eve parties."

Castle hurriedly made note of those things. "While we're on the topic, any other law firm events?"

"The men always participated in a sporting event with the Devonshire firm; usually it was a basketball game but sometimes our firm would talk them into baseball."

"What was the sporting event for? Did it have a reason?"

"Charity," Johanna replied; "Proceeds were split between a charity that helped provide legal aid for those in need and a children's hospital."

"Both worthy causes," he remarked.

She gave a nod; her fingers toying with the edge of her napkin. "Those were good times."

"How about some dessert?" Castle asked; noting that their plates were empty. "I still have a few questions."

Johanna's gaze drifted across the room to the dessert case. "I guess a small piece of cake wouldn't hurt."

It felt like a small victory, Castle thought to himself as he waved Fredrick over and ordered them each a slice of a cake. He looked down at his notebook; the lines filled with notes and he thought he should probably save some questions for another time but he hated to stop when she was being so forthcoming…so relaxed and at ease. She liked to remember the past…her glory days, he supposed. She had been in control then, even if she hadn't known it at the time…and suddenly it struck him that maybe she still felt at odds and ends at times; like she didn't have the control over things that she'd like. Unfortunate circumstances had made her wary…they had helped her build walls; and the people in her universe had handed her the locks to put on the doors that were set into those walls.

Johanna and Kate weren't as different as they thought, he mused; the difference was in how to break through. It had taken time to find a way with Kate but he had prevailed. He was starting to get a semblance of an idea of what might be required for Johanna. Hope wasn't lost; he could bring her around.

"What's your next question?" Johanna asked, breaking into his thoughts as Fredrick put their dessert on the table and left them alone.

Castle quickly shook off his reverie and gave his attention back to her. "A lot of places, even back then, had policies against co-workers dating. Did your firm have that policy at any time? Did you and Jim or your friends Jeff and Maggie have to hide your relationship status for awhile?"

"No; Roche always said he'd have to be a fool to try and enforce a rule like that. That was the truth; the rule would've just made it more appealing."

He gave a nod. "So there was a lot of…fraternizing, so to speak?"

"Oh yeah," she laughed; "More than Temptation Lane."

"That's a lot of fraternizing."

"You don't know the half of it," Johanna remarked. "Roche thought Jim and I were together long before we were."

"How do you know that?"

"He mentioned it when I wanted off that case. He said that Jim and I needed to leave our lovers quarrels at home…but we weren't at that stage then."

"Maybe that was the problem," Castle quipped.

"I'm pretty sure it was," she agreed.

"So a lot of colleagues dated?"

"Yes; but there was a strict rule against so called fraternizing with clients...not that it stopped Melanie."

Castle smiled. "I'd probably need another notebook for Melanie."

Johanna scoffed. "You'd probably need a case of notebooks for Melanie…that conniving bitch," she stated as she stabbed her fork into her cake.

He chuckled lightly. "Where is she now?"

"Last I heard, she had picked up husband number six and was on a yacht in the Mediterranean."

"Seriously?! She found another husband?"

"Yes…and fittingly enough, he's a plastic surgeon," Johanna replied.

"Love at first liposuction?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Rumor has it she was in the market to have her eyes done once again. If she gets her skin pulled any tighter, they're going to be in the back of her head."

Castle couldn't help but laugh. "Well that would be unfortunate; then she'd see you coming if you ever got another chance to go after her."

"Oh I'd get her, trust me, I would."

"I have no doubt," he replied as he closed his notebook so that he could concentrate on his cake. "So, did you make a decision about me sitting in on your class?"

Johanna swallowed the bite of cake she had taken. "I suppose it'll be okay if you want to."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Great," he said with a smile. "What time should I come?"

"How about the class I have at ten? They're my favorite group."

"Okay; ten it is," he replied; still somewhat shocked that she had agreed.

"Rick?"

"Yes?"

"Don't take this personally but if you're in my class, you have to follow the same rules that my students follow," Johanna told him.

"That sounds reasonable," he said slowly; "But what exactly are those rules?"

"Rule number one is that I don't want to hear any ringtones going off in class. I don't demand that phones be off completely but I do want them on vibrate or silent…since Katie will be at work, I'd prefer you to just put yours on vibrate."

"No problem; I understand," Castle replied.

"I allow my kids to have some fun when the moment is right but I don't want constant distractions…that's rule number two."

"I won't distract the class, I promise."

"Okay; the rest of the classroom rules wouldn't reply to you; they're about deadlines and lateness and all that," Johanna remarked; "Just as long as you follow the first two, everything will be fine. I have an extra book in my classroom that I'll let you use so that you can follow along with what we're doing tomorrow."

He nodded. "Thank you; I appreciate it."

"You're welcome," she murmured.

"I won't make you regret it," he promised.

"I should hope not," Johanna replied. "I can text Katie at any moment and have her come collect you if you get unruly."

He almost made a sharp retort, instinctively taking the comment the wrong way but just in the nick of time he noticed the mischievous sparkle in her eyes and the hint of a smile playing on her lips. She was only teasing him; it was a good sign.

Castle smiled. "That wouldn't be pretty."

"No it wouldn't; her wrath can be vicious."

"Tell me about it," he quipped.

Johanna finished off her piece of cake and glanced at her watch. "I better be going; I need to finish my lesson plan for tomorrow. Thanks for lunch."

"You know the rule," Castle stated.

"I haven't gotten up, Rick."

"You're learning," he quipped as he signaled for the check.


Once the bill was paid, they made their way out of the restaurant and began the trek down the sidewalk.

"I think we had a much better lunch today," he remarked casually.

Johanna's head bobbed in agreement. "Much better than last time."

"Maybe it's a sign of changing tide," Castle remarked.

"Maybe…but we also didn't talk about anything on your list."

"True; but maybe an easier conversation in between the hard ones is the way to go about things? What do you think?" he asked.

"I suppose it could be…kind of like a reset button?"

"Yes," Castle remarked. "I'm willing to give it a try, are you?"

Johanna paused by the driver's side door of her car. "I guess so…does that mean we're adding a day to the calendar of lunches?"

"Maybe," he answered. "We could say that Thursdays can be used if needed and we don't have prior commitments."

"So what you're saying is that if a Tuesday lunch is bad, then we call for a Thursday to reset things to keep hard feelings at bay?" Johanna asked.

"Exactly…are you willing to do that?"

She thought about it for a moment and then gave a nod. "Yeah; I'll try."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear that. What about dinner tonight?"

"I'm still thinking about it."

"Okay," he said; not wanting to push his luck too much. "But if you want to come, just show up at 5:30 like I said."

"Alright," she replied as she unlocked the car door and pulled it open. "Have a nice day, Rick."

"You too; drive safely."

"I promise. Give Katie a good report."

"Okay; but you have to do the same," he quipped.

Johanna smiled. "Okay; this time I will."

He smiled as he took hold of her door. "We hope to see you tonight."

"We'll see," Johanna said as she put her key in the ignition.

Castle closed her door for her and then stepped back; returning the small wave she gave him before pulling into traffic. He felt like he was starting to breakthrough in small ways…but maybe he needed a grand gesture to bring around a bigger breakthrough in a quicker way. It was something he was going to have to think about.


"Do you think she'll come?" Castle asked as he handed the plates to Kate so that she could set the table.

"I don't know; I guess we'll see here shortly," Kate replied. "I haven't heard from her but you said you told her to just show up if she wants to come."

"I was hoping that would take the pressure off of her."

"I get that," his wife said with an indulgent smile. "Why are you getting uptight?"

"Because we had a successful lunch and I want to keep the momentum going."

"I understand that; but one good lunch doesn't mean you crank up the speed of things," Kate replied. "You'll send her running."

"Honestly, Richard; I don't know why you let her bother you so much," Martha remarked as she poured a glass of wine. "Why are you so intent on catering to her?"

"I'm not catering to her," he remarked.

"Fine; why are you sucking up to her?" his mother asked.

"I'm not."

"You are," she replied. "The question is still why?"

Castle sighed; mothers were apparently the bane of his existence. "I'm not sucking up; I'm healing the family."

"Uh huh," Martha said as she studied him. "Why?"

He dropped his arm around her. "Because we're going to be a happy family and your contribution would be greatly appreciated."

"Richard; some people just can't be changed and that woman seems to be one of them," his mother replied. "She doesn't like us; she thinks she's better than us and no matter what anyone does, she just doesn't seem moveable. She's far too stubborn. Why torment yourself seeking approval from someone who is clearly never going to give it to you?"

"Mother," he said, squeezing her shoulder. "If you're not going to be a part of the solution, then please, at least don't add to the problem."

"I'm not the one with a problem; Johanna is," she remarked as she pulled away from his grasp. "And we all know it."

Kate turned from the table to face them. "My mother isn't that bad and she doesn't think she's better than anyone. She likes both of you, she just believes that no one here besides me likes her and it makes her uneasy."

"I think it's just an excuse," Martha stated after another sip of wine. "We've never done anything to her."

"Actually, we have," Castle replied. "Does the wedding planning sessions ring a bell to you, Mother? The accusation that she was trying to steal your granddaughter? That misguided day you went to her door and called her ridiculous, among other things? Those are just your contributions by the way; my list is far longer and I don't have time to go into all of it; I'd like to get some writing done tonight."

"Then we should eat," his mother said; "We all know she isn't coming."

"We don't know that," Kate remarked; feeling like she had to defend her mother. She had hope that being home alone would inspire her to seek their company, especially with a successful lunch on the books for the day. She had hope and faith in her…and as they heard the distant sound of the elevator, they all held their breaths and waited to hear the sound of footsteps nearing their door.