Thank you for all the reviews. This one will be drama free, but a sweet awkward chapter. I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.
Chapter 9
"Cookies!" Anna shouted as the elevator doors opened. Everyone turned her way with a smile, happy to see Anna back again. "Mommy and I made cookies."
"Are those the police cutters I got you?" Esposito asked, bending to pick up a cookie from Anna's box.
"Yep," Anna said. "I decorated them."
"I can see that," Esposito said. "They look good."
Anna giggled and then saw Rick sitting in her seat. He greeted her with a smile, happily watching her come over to him. "Daddy, are we going to have to share this chair?"
"The chair is yours for the day," he stood, letting Anna hop on with a giggle. "I heard you made cookies."
"Yes!" Anna held up the box for him. "Look!"
Rick looked into the box, smiling at the shapes of the cookies and the colourful decorations. "I think these have to be the best cookies ever."
"I heard Anna was here with cookies," Ryan said coming over. "Quick before C- ugh, I mean – daddy eats them all."
Kate watched as they both picked a cookie, trying to catch the sweets that fell from the top. Anna had overdid it with the decorations, but how could you say no when she was enjoying herself? "The two policewomen are mine and Anna's."
"What ones mine?" Montgomery asked coming out of his office. Anna gave him her usual salute, making everyone laugh and smile. "Morning, Officer Anna."
"Morning, Sir!" She giggled. "I made you the policeman one."
"Oh," Montgomery picked his cookie up. "Isn't that just a work of art."
"I believe that was the best Christmas present ever," Esposito said, proud with himself. "Save one, Lanie's on her way up."
"And how would you know that?" Ryan teased.
"Shut up, bro." Esposito told him.
Rick sat on the edge of her desk, Anna in her seat. Montgomery had disappeared back into his office again, the other two bickering. "I think this is even cuter than the police car or Anna saying Esposito."
Anna leaned in closer to Kate, whispering. "Did the cake work?"
She bit her lip, knowing Rick had clearly heard. "Yeah."
Her daughters face lit up. "I knew it would!"
"You were right, baby girl," she said with a smile. "Now, you can stay at the precinct for a bit with mommy and daddy or you can go out with daddy now. What would you like to do?"
"I want to help you work, mommy." Her daughter said.
"Anna, you haven't shown me your pictures yet," Rick said offering his hand for her. "Where do your drawings go?"
Anna jumped down, taking Rick's hand. "They go on the wall." She pulled him along behind her, going over to show her the wall of her pictures.
"I see you and Castle made up," Esposito said, he and Ryan both rolling over to her desk on their chairs. "Is he coming back?"
"I think so," Kate said. "We're not completely out of the woods yet."
"At least you're getting somewhere," Ryan said with a smile.
Kate managed to get about ten minutes of paper work done, thanking Rick for entertaining Anna. She had come back over, wanting to start her next drawing with Rick. Anna sitting on top of his lap on the spare chair. She couldn't help smiling every time she looked out of the corner of her eye. Then Lanie turned up, making it time for Kate to have a break.
"Lanie!" Anna jumped down, hugging the M.E. "Mommy helped me make a cookie that looked like a doctor."
"She did?" Lanie looked down at her with a grin.
"Yeah," Anna giggled. "With the icing."
Kate sighed as Rick stood up, having a closer look at the cookie as well. She had only tried to draw Lanie's lab coat, then Anna covered it in all she could manage. "What a work of art." Rick said.
"Shut up," She told him.
"I see the two of you are friends again." Lanie sighed, Anna giggling.
A silence passed between Kate and Rick. They didn't know what they were. At the moment they were just parents trying to work things out for their daughter.
"Lauren said her mommy and daddy are in love," Anna said, everyone around them freezing. "But I told her my mommy and daddy stop bad guys together."
"We kick bad guys but," Kate said, breaking the awkward silence.
Anna giggled. "But daddy isn't a cop."
"No," Kate said not sure how to explain. "Daddy writes books."
"You do?" Anna asked in complete awe.
"Yeah," Rick nodded. "I write about mommy kicking but."
"Can we read it together, mommy?" Anna asked.
"Castle, wasn't you telling me about that one scene you was writing?" Esposito asked, making Kate's eyes widen.
"What scene?" She asked.
"Uh – not child appropriate." Rick explained.
"Can't I read your books, daddy?" Anna asked looking up at Rick with that look of hers that made you do anything for her.
"My books are a bit too grown up for you, sweetie," Rick said.
"Oh," Anna sighed. "Am I in your books?"
Rick paused for a second, Kate knowing he wasn't enjoying disappointing her. Hadn't he had conversations like this with Alexis before? "Yes, there is an officer that sometimes works with mommy's character called Anna." He looked up at Kate with a smile. Was there actually an officer or had he just made that up to please Anna?
"Really?" Her daughter squealed in disbelief and happiness.
"Yeah, mommy had to have her partner, didn't she?" He smiled.
"Thank you!" Anna hugged him, her face shining with a massive smile. Maybe it wasn't true, maybe it was true, but he had just made her the happiest girl alive.
Kate sighed, finally finished with her paperwork. On the floor below her, Rick was playing with Anna and her police car. The picture her daughter drew was on Kate's desk, she picked it up, seeing how Anna had drawn everyone again, but now Anna was stood inbetween Kate and Rick. She bit her lip, putting the picture back down.
"Mommy is all finished," Kate turned around in her seat to face Anna and Rick. "You wanting to say goodbye to everyone?"
"Yes," Anna disappeared, Kate watching her hug Ryan and Esposito. She shrieked as Esposito pulled her up over his shoulder, running with her dangling on his back as she laughed. People looked around at the noise, smiling as they realised it was Anna.
"She really gets on with them, doesn't she?" Rick said.
"Anna thinks of them like Uncles, you should have seen them with her when she only just started walking," Kate told him with a small smile. "I think I had pictures of them."
"Yeah," he said. "I looked through them with my mother and Alexis."
"How did they react when you told them?" Kate asked, feeling bad for never asking.
"They were surprised, of course," he said. "They're so excited to have her in their lives though."
"We'll let them meet properly soon," Kate promised.
"I know," he said. "They understand."
Anna came running up to them, wrapping her arms around Kate. She picked her up, kissing the top of her head. "Did you say goodbye to Montgomery?"
"Yeah," The girl giggled, holding up a small chocolate bar for Kate to see. "He gave me chocolate."
"Oh, aren't you a lucky girl," Kate said.
"Am I going with daddy now?" She asked, wrapping her arms around Kate's neck.
Kate looked over to Rick with a small smile, he was watching them both. "Yeah, sweetie."
"You and daddy are friends now," she said. "Can't you come with us?"
"Uh –"
"Mommy can come with us if she wants to," Rick said looking to Kate.
"Please mommy?" Anna asked, cupping her cheeks for an answer, the chocolate bar hitting Kate's face.
Kate laughed. "I'll come."
Anna cheered, squeezing Kate with a hug. "Where are we going?"
They both looked over to Rick, raising their eyebrows. "She's four and you've already taught her how to do your eyebrow thing."
"Who said I taught her?" Kate asked, raising a single eyebrow.
"OK," he said. "Where do you want to go, Anna?"
She thought for along time, her eyebrows drawn together in concentration. Both Kate and Rick exchanged a look.
"What are you still doing here?" Esposito called.
"Waiting for Anna to decide where we should go," Rick said.
"Pull yourself a chair then," Ryan grinned.
"Can we go to the aquarium?" Anna finally decided.
"Sure," Rick said. "I believe that's where Nemo now is."
"You've seen finding Nemo?" Anna asked him.
They started walking to the lifts, Anna and Rick talking to each other about finding Nemo. Kate gave one last smile to Esposito and Ryan, who was watching them with an amused look. Perhaps she was going to the aquarium with two kids instead of one.
Rick joined them in Kate's car, making it easier to travel and since Anna's car seat was already in it. Kate was nervous about joining them at the aquarium, she wanted so badly for her and Rick's relationship to go back on track, but she was worried about her daughter getting her hopes up. The mention of her friends parents and the pictures was already starting to worry Kate. Anna had only known her dad for a week.
Now she was joining them on their outing today. Things were still tensed between Kate and Rick, but when Anna was around they tried that little harder. As they reached the aquarium, Anna let out a cheer seeing the sign.
"Have you been here before?" Rick asked Anna.
"Mommy and I went before," Anna said. "We pretended to be mermaids."
Kate smiled at the memory. "We were police mermaids, weren't we?"
"Yeah," Anna giggled. "We went round making sure all the fish and animals were behaving."
"Were they?" Rick asked.
"The crabs kept pinching," Anna said. "And the jelly fish stung."
"But not all the crabs and jelly fish were bad." Kate said.
"No." Anna agreed.
"What about sharks?" He asked.
"Anna doesn't like sharks," Kate bit her lip. "That's the one we don't do."
"Sharks are bad," Anna told him. "They eat people."
"What? Where did she?" Rick questioned Kate.
"Don't ask," Kate shook her head, regretting that one time she left Anna alone with one of her old boyfriends, who thought it was a good idea to put jaws on. That was the last time she left a boyfriend alone with Anna, the girl had nightmares for weeks. "We'll go see Nemo, right?"
"Yes!" Anna said.
"Then let's go," Kate smiled, getting out of the car. She helped Anna out, the girl taking her hand. They walked towards the aquarium with Rick, Kate watching as her daughter's other hand found his. It was just like her picture.
Kate had insisted to pay for the tickets, but Rick had beaten her to it. They entered the park, walking through the tunnel under the water. Rick lifted Anna up, pointing to all the fishes that swam past them. Anna shouted when she saw Nemo, pressing closer to the glass. Kate stood the other side of her, smiling, watching the fish swim by and listening to her daughter talking to them.
"Look!" Anna pointed towards the clown fish. "There's loads of Nemo's!"
"Look at the flat yellow ones," Rick pointed out. "They look funny."
Anna giggled. "There's blue ones."
"That ones spotty," Kate pointed to the fish.
"There's Dory!" Anna pointed, somehow getting closer to the glass. "Just keep swimming."
Kate laughed. "Dory's going over to Nemo."
Anna giggled, carrying on singing Dory's song. They moved on round, the area becoming cramped. Outside, Anna jumped down from Rick's arms, going over to see the sea lions, laughing as she watched them swim behind the glass.
"What's her favourite sea animal?" Rick asked. "A part from Nemo."
"Penguins," Kate said. "Or sea turtles."
"Does she go all happy feet around the penguins?" He grinned.
"Gives a demonstration and everything."
"I'm going to guess and say her favourite film is Madagascar," Rick said with a grin. "Probably the lion king as well."
"Wait till you watch the first lion king with her," Kate said with a grin. "She can't watch the part where the father dies. We have to skip that part or she'll start crying."
"Seriously?" Rick asked.
"Yep," Kate said. "Ask her what she wants to do when she's older, other than be an officer."
Kate watched with a smile as Rick went over to ask Anna. The little girl smiled. "I want to go to..."
"Africa." Kate reminded her.
"Africa!" Her smile grew bigger. "And help the lions out there."
"Policewomen of the lions?" Rick asked.
"Yeah!" Anna giggled.
They moved onto the penguins after. Anna, like Kate said, doing her happy feet dance making Rick grin. He had missed so much, but now he was seeing what his daughter was like, seeing the parts of him.
"Baby girl," Kate said after. "If you want to see the octopus and seahorses after then we're going to have to go through the shark bit."
"I-I," Anna looked like she was about to cry.
Kate crouched down to her level. "What if mommy carried you?"
"You can close your eyes as well," Rick offered.
Anna nodded. "You won't let them get me?"
"Never," Kate said. "But, baby, the sharks aren't going to hurt you."
Anna wrapped her arms around Kate's neck, burying her head into her neck. Rick nodded his head, letting Kate know that she had closed her eyes. They entered the shark tank, moving through the crowds that stopped to look at the sharks.
"Don't you want to have a little peek?" Anna shook her head. "Their like the sharks in finding Nemo."
"But those sharks still went to eat Nemo," her daughter said.
"Fish are friends not food," Rick said making Anna laugh.
"You not going to look?" Kate asked her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Sharks aren't all bad."
"They're scary," Anna said.
"Mummy's here and daddy," Kate whispered.
"You won't let them hurt me?" Anna asked.
"Never," Kate told her again.
"They'll swim the other way facing me and your mom," Rick said. Kate raised an eyebrow at him, she had a feeling if a shark came their way, he would be the one to run first.
Anna laughed, peeking out from Kate's shoulders to look. They stood at the back, faraway from the sharks. She looked for a second before burying her head back into Kate's neck.
"They look scary," Anna's voice shook.
"Hey, baby girl," Kate said stroking her back. "We're going now. You're very brave for looking."
"You can look now," Rick told her when they left the shark tank. Anna looked up from Kate's neck, seeing the octopus swim in the tank in front of them. She smiled, putting her hand against the glass as Kate walked closer. The octopus swam in front of them, making Anna laugh, poking at its tentacle.
"How many legs do they have?" Kate asked her.
"Six," Rick said.
"No!" Anna laughed. "They have eight!"
"What about a seahorse?" Rick asked, leaning in closer to look at them.
"They don't have any," Anna said. "What do they have?"
"A tail," Kate said.
"That ones big," Anna pointed out.
"He's carrying a baby seahorse."
"I was in your tummy," Anna told Kate.
"You were," Kate smiled. "I could use to feel you kicking my tummy."
"How did I get in there?" She asked.
Rick snorted. Kate blushed, looking away. She thought for a while not knowing what to say, how could you explain it when your parents weren't together? Kate knew other moms who used 'when mommy and daddy love each other very much', but that wasn't the case with them. "Daddy gave mommy a seed that I swallowed. From that seed you grew."
"I'm a flower?" Anna asked.
"No," Kate laughed. "Its magic."
"I grew from a magic seed inside your tummy?" Anna giggled.
"Yes..." Kate said thinking that satisfied her daughter.
"Where did you get the seed daddy?" Anna asked him. Kate grinned, it was his go now.
"Um," he thought. "I liked your mommy very much and that created a seed."
"Magic?" Anna asked.
"Yeah," Rick nodded his head.
They carried on after that, going round to see the seals and then into the last part, where the crabs and jelly fish were. Anna walked around pretending to be a crab, laughing when Rick tried as well. They finished at the café, where they ate a late lunch.
Anna sat on Kate's lap after lunch, resting her head on her shoulder. She watched the penguins across from them, silently. Kate played with her hair, curling the long brown strands around her finger. Both Kate and Rick sat quietly, knowing that Anna was falling asleep.
"She gone?" Kate asked him after a few minutes.
"Yeah," Rick smiled. An awkward silence past between them. Now that Anna was asleep they didn't know what to say. "That was a – uh – good cover back there."
"You too," Kate said.
"Why doesn't she like sharks?" He asked again.
Kate sighed. "I was working late one night and my dad was out. James, a boyfriend at the time, had offered to watch her for the night. He thought she was asleep and put Jaws on."
"Oh," Rick said.
"Yeah," Kate rested her hand on Anna's head. "I haven't left her alone with anyone that I completely trust since then."
"You haven't trusted any previous boyfriends with her?" He asked shocked.
"I have," Kate said. "But only when someone else is around. No one has stayed long enough to gain that trust of Anna."
"Not even Will?"
Kate rolled her eyes. "He left us both."
They sat silently again, both watching the little girl in Kate's arms.
I watched finding Nemo while writing this. Hoped you enjoyed it. Inlcuding the awkward moments. My cousin is similar to Anna, she is obsessed with lions but is afraid of sharks. Next chapter will be Anna meeting her grandma and sister. I can't wait for it. I think there will be a Martha and Kate talk as well. Please do review.
