Thank you for all the reviews. Posting will slow down due to Beta arangements and I have a lot of College course work at the moment.
I do plan on having flashbacks of that weekend at a time when they seem significat...
I know there is a time gap between season 1 and 2, but I'm just going to continue. I'll expand the time a bit in future chapters for it to seem more realistic of Heat Wave being published.
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.
Chapter 8
Kate ground her teeth together, hating how she was forced into having an interview about Rick's book. It had only been a few days since they properly spoke – argued – and now here she was being asked questions about him. The only time they did speak was yesterday when Anna wanted to see him again. At least she knew that he wouldn't mention Anna in the interviews.
"Given all his best-sellers, it's obvious Mr. Castle has tremendous insight into the criminal mind. I'm told in many occasions, his participation was essential to solving your toughest cases." The reporter said to Kate's shock.
"Really? You were told that? By who?" She couldn't believe this women, couldn't believe she was sat here forced to do this. But soon he would be gone, leaving the precinct and only being around for Anna.
"By Castle." Kate looked over to him now, posing with ladies for the photographer. She clenched her fists, angry with him beyond words. If her daughter came across the newspaper and saw her daddy with ladies posing like that, what would she say? One thing was for sure, she was keeping all copies of the newspaper out of the house.
Not even Montgomery would stop this. It was good press. Even Esposito and Ryan were enjoying themselves. Kate sat at her desk after, burying her head in her hands. Everything was messed up and she needed to fix things for Anna. The girl loved Rick, loved spending time with him, even after the two of them having met twice alone. But Kate didn't know how to fix this so they were both able to be civilised with each other.
"I had nothing to do with this. I mean, it was the magazine. Well, the mayor thought it would be good press," Rick said behind her. "How's Anna this morning?"
Not a single apology, again. Kate knew she had kicked him out without giving him a chance, but she had hoped he would come back to apologise. "She's fine. All happy and bubbly about your meet up yesterday. Wanted to come to the precinct to see you, but I'm glad I didn't bring her."
"No, maybe that was for the best," he said.
"Yeah, I'm sure she doesn't want to see her dad with women all over him." Kate mumbled.
He didn't respond for a moment and Kate thought he had left. She turned, seeing that he was still standing behind her. "You know, Alexis was forced into being around that for years as much as I tried to keep her from it."
"That's why I'm trusting you to keep Anna out of the media all together." Kate said.
"Sorry to distract your parenting talks," Esposito said, looking between the two. "But we have a body."
"Good," Kate said. "I think its time Rick leaves anyway."
Leaving was just too easy, it had to be good press for the reporters to follow them on the case together, seeing them work together. Clearly, the tension was there and everyone moved away as they spoke to each other. It was nothing like working together before, the partnership and relationship they had was completely broken. Then there was Lanie refusing to speak to Rick. And, let's not forget, the reporter who was praising Rick with everything he knew.
Rick had ended up going with Lanie and the reporter. Leaving Kate alone, using the time to calm herself down. She had a case to work on. Another late night away from Anna. Kate sighed, getting into the car with Esposito following her.
"If you're driving with me instead of Ryan then it better not be about Rick," She told him.
"I came to ask you if everything was alright," Esposito said. "And don't just brush us of this time. We're both here for you."
Kate felt herself smiling. "Lanie told you, didn't she?"
"You know, what he did to you, excuses or not, was a real jerk move. Ryan and I had hoped you would tell him, but we didn't want to question your parenting. What the hell did we know?" He let out a laugh. "You know you did wrong, but you also did right. Don't keep beating yourself up over it."
"Thanks, Espo." Kate said, shocked with him. They hadn't had a conversation like this before. Kate had grown close to the boys, they were her partners and they had always been there for Anna. She smiled, the conversation going silent. They had always been there looking out for her, more than she thought. Anna hadn't just changed Kate, she had changed them all. Her little girl gave her that purpose she needed in life, other than her work. Rick didn't know about her past, didn't know about when Anna was born, they needed to talk.
When they got back to the precinct, Kate was shocked when Lanie, Rick and the reporter turned up with no body. The body had been stolen. They were fine, thankfully. But Kate didn't understand why the body was taken, it didn't make any sense. It wasn't the body being taken that annoyed her the most, it was the fact Rick had used it as an excuse to work on the case.
Montgomery had given Kate a sympathetic look, the decision was out of his hands. Having Rick around was good press, making the mayor and Montgomery happy. Kate didn't have a choice but to let Rick join them on the case again. But just this case and then he will be gone, right?
Kate had told him they were done, but they had a daughter and she had realised that kicking him out was wrong, but at the time she had been hurt and angry. Both of them needed to talk out what they were going to do, how they can both be there for Anna. Kate wanted to try for Anna.
It wasn't until the next day, where the body turned up again. His body taken to remove his organs, later proving that drugs was removed. Evidence led to a tattooed Russian, where the victim was in debt to him.
"Well, Bigby says that the Russian hangs out at the club in Chinatown. Why don't we just go there?" Rick said as the four of them sat before the murder board. It was already getting late into the day, by now her dad would be picking up Anna from nursery.
"The games are word-of-mouth, bro. They don't just share with cops." Esposito said.
"Well, luckily, I'm not a cop." Rick said. Kate whipped her head around, glaring at Rick.
"Rick," she warned.
"What? It's perfect. I go in, scope the place out until I ID the Russian." He explained.
"Yeah," Kate said. "And don't forget that you now have a four year old daughter at home, who is expecting to see her father again. Let's not forget about Alexis, either."
"Its perfectly fine for you to go in then?" He asked.
"Hey, you know, Castle's plan isn't that bad," Esposito said, looking between the two. Ryan had shrunk back in his chair.
"And if you go in and something happens to you, what am I supposed to tell Anna?" Kate asked, not wanting him to do this.
"Nothing's going to happen, Kate," Rick said. "I've just got that girl in my life, do you really think I plan on losing her so soon?"
"No! But you're not a cop!" Kate snapped at him.
"Guys," Ryan sighed. "We still have to find the game before anything can happen."
"Leave that to me." Rick said, looking away from Kate.
She ground her teeth together. Kate packed her bag up, deciding it was time to leave. There was nothing they could do until Rick had found the game like he said he could. Just this case and then he will be done here.
"Kate!" Rick called behind her. "Can we talk?"
"Talk about how you're putting yourself in danger or how you betrayed me?" Kate asked him, her voice hard.
"I actually wanted to talk to you about Anna," he said.
The anger flared up inside Kate again, she wanted him to come to her to talk to her about what he did wrong. For him to do the apologising now before they could try to move on. Kate had explained, apologised and tried to fix things, but now it was his go.
"My day off is on Friday, I want that day with her," Kate told him. "But then you can have her an afternoon at the weekend sometime."
"I want to see her more than an afternoon every other day," Rick told her.
"I know," Kate sighed. "But let her get to know you first."
"Fine," he said. "Is it to soon for her to meet Alexis and my mom?"
"Rick, I know they both want to get to know her more and have her in their life as well," Kate said. "But can we hold that of for a few weeks? I don't want to keep them from each other, but I don't want to overwhelm Anna."
"No, I understand." He said. Finally, they had come to an agreement over something.
"Can we hold this conversation of until after the case?" Kate asked.
"Sure," he nodded his head. "Tell Anna I say hi."
"Will do," Kate said.
Anna was in the kitchen with her dad when she got home. The two of them were cooking dinner together. Powdery white hands of her daughter waved at her, it seemed they were cooking pudding as well.
"What are you cooking?" Kate asked her, kissing the top of her head.
"We baked a cake," Anna told her. "And we made pasta for dinner."
"Smells good," Kate said.
"Did you see daddy?" Anna asked.
"I did," Her dad raised his eyebrows as she shook her head. She hadn't told him about what Rick had found, Kate couldn't put him through it. But he knew how their relationship and partnership had ended up. "He was asking me if he could see you again at the weekend."
"Can he?" Her daughter looked up at Kate, a look of pleading.
"Well, you're coming to the precinct on Saturday morning," Kate told her as the girl cheered. "And then you and daddy can go out after."
"Can we make cookies to take on Saturday?" Anna asked.
"We have those police cookie cutters, don't we?" Kate told her, pushing a stand of hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear. For Christmas Esposito had found the cookie cutters, having to get them for Anna. The whole month of January was spent with cookies always coming in. She and Anna had made enough to feed an army.
"Can we decorate them as well?" She asked.
"We'll go to the shops and buy all sorts of toppings and icings. Friday will be our cooking day." Kate smiled, already excited for the day.
"I can't wait, mommy," her daughter said.
They ate dinner together, it had been a while since all three of them sat at the table together. Anna had told them all about her new friend at nursery, Lauren, telling them how the two of them were going to be best friends forever. Kate smiled, listening to her daughter with great interest. After they had watched a film with a slice of the cake Anna and her dad made.
"Mommy, will you and daddy ever be friends again?" Anna asked as Kate helped her get into her pyjamas. The question took Kate of guard. She had spent the last few hours with her daughter and dad, the worries of her and Rick pushed aside. How did her daughter even know that they weren't getting on?
"One day," Kate said.
"If you give daddy cake maybe he'll be your friend again," Anna said with a smile.
"I'll take in some cake for everyone tomorrow then," Kate said. "Now lets get you into bed."
Anna climbed into bed, pulling Mr Lion close to her as Kate pulled the quilt on top of her. She kissed the top of her head. "Stay, momma."
"Always," Kate whispered to her girl, sitting on the edge of her bed, stroking her daughters face as she fell asleep. Anna couldn't have stories read to her, they kept her wide awake instead of sending her to sleep. They would be up for ages, her intrigued and asking questions. When she was asleep, Kate brushed the hair from her face. "I love you, baby girl."
She couldn't believe he had really gone through with this. To make it worse he had to go against the plan, playing poker with the Russian's instead, hinting to the murderer. Now he was in danger, resulting in Kate having to save him. A mother shouldn't be dressing like the way she was, but then again, a mother shouldn't have to go undercover to save the fathers ass.
Before she would have grinned at Rick's reaction on seeing her, but she was mad at him for being so stupid, so reckless. She arrested the guy, glad that another family could have its justice and closure.
"Thanks for saving my life," Rick told her back at the precinct.
"I did it for Anna and to avoid the paperwork." She told him.
"Ah. We make a pretty good team, you know. Like Starsky and Hutch. Tango and Cash. Turner and Hooch." He said.
"You know, now that you mention it, you do remind me a little of Hooch." Kate looked up with a small smile, maybe they could work things out, learn to forgive each other.
"I think its time for that talk," Rick said. "Do you want to go and get a coffee?"
Kate bit her lip. "Yes. I actually have a slice of cake for you."
"Really? I wasn't expecting cake." Rick smiled.
"Anna and my dad made it," Kate explained.
The café was still open next to the precinct and given the late hour, the café was deserted. Rick ordered them both a coffee, bringing them over to a small table in the corner. She smiled as he passed hers to her, hope that things could work out. Kate brought out two slices of Anna's cake for them. They both sat staring at their coffees for a few minutes. The silence echoing around them.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I've done wrong as much as you have. I shouldn't have left without leaving a note or something, no excuse would ever make up for that, even a frantic father needing to get to his daughter. I know how you came to the signing, ever since I found out I've beaten myself up over it. God, if I'd had just opened my eyes wider then everything could have turned out different. Even Gina, I know how that must have looked to you and I never even thought it through. I'm so sorry, Kate."
She waited, knowing the apology wasn't completely done yet. Kate could see how bad and guilty he felt, his blue eyes reflecting the pain she had felt for everything she had done to him.
"Then I have to mess it up again, going through your mothers case behind your back. I violated your trust, Anna's trust and opened wounds again. If I'd have known I wouldn't have touched the case, but I didn't respect your wishes. We've both messed up, but I am so so sorry." Rick finished, his eyes meeting hers.
Tears blurred her vision, they have both broken each other and now here they were trying to put the pieces back together again.
"Johanna Hope Beckett." Kate said.
"What?" He questioned.
"That's Anna's full name," She watched him smile a little.
"I thought Anna was short for Johanna." He said.
Kate nodded her head. "And Hope since she gave me the hope to be happy at the time, she's my hope." he watched her, knowing there was more. "After the signing I had decided to give Anna up for adoption. She was born on January ninth, the day of my mothers murder. The nurse let me hold her and she was just so small, so perfect," Kate found the tears spilling from her eyes. "Her tiny fingers wrapped around my finger and I promised her that I would fix myself, that I would try to be the best mommy I could for her. I wasn't alone any more."
"God, I'm so sorry Kate," Rick ran a hand through his hair. "I just wish I'd have left you my number behind or had studied every face for you. You shouldn't have had to gone through that alone."
"I wish I had just told you," Kate said. "But I wasn't completely alone. Everyone from the precinct and my dad turned up."
"That's why you're so afraid of losing Anna," Rick said. "Kate, I would never take her from you no matter what."
"I know," she whispered with a small smile. "Where do we go from here?"
"I want to move on from this," Kate nodded her head. "But we're going to have to learn to trust each other again. To forgive each other. I don't know how long that's going to take, but I want to try."
"You don't hate me?" She asked.
"Hate you?" He seemed confused. "I was mad - still am - but I could never hate you, Kate. I understand more now and I believe that you thought you was doing the right thing. I just need time."
"I need time, too," Kate said.
"Now what?" Rick asked.
"Now, I think you should drop by at the precinct on Saturday. You don't want to miss an Anna day after all."
Hope you liked the chapter. I'm really happy with how their talk turned out. Please do reveiw. I'll try posting soon.
