A/N - Largest chapter on this story, so far. It's my way of making up to you guys for the delay. I had this idea while dreaming wide awake during Spanish class. Couldn't stop writing! Hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. Don't hesitate to review!

-Nina K.

Rick woke up to a cold and empty bed. It was weird. Kate usually slept through the whole night - unless she had one of those extremely bad nightmares, but he always knew when she did, because she tossed and turned, whimpered and screamed.

'Maybe she went to the bathroom' he thought, but after a long time waiting, he started to consider other possibilities.

He got worried and stood up, clearing each and every room of the house. Where the hell was she? It was a bit after 3am, there was no way she had gone out.

He climbed the stairs to the rooftop deck. She wasn't there either. He looked around and caught a glimpse of someone at the beach. He rushed out, thinking it might be Kate. Whoever that was, seemed to be out cold. He ran past the porch and followed the path to the beach. He actually found Kate, but it wasn't her laying there. Kate was knelt by a young girl, whose blonde hair was spread on the sand beneath her, her skin painfully blank under the light of the nearest pole.

"Is she okay? What happened?" Kate was startled by Rick's questions, she hadn't noticed him there.

"I don't know. I was on the porch, drawing, and then I noticed her and came here right away."

"Why were you drawing at three in the morning?"

"I couldn't sleep." she shrugged.

Kate sighed in relief when she found pulse. She tapped the girl's cheek lightly and brushed a lock of hair away from her face. The girl stirred a bit at Kate's touch and slowly opened her bright blue eyes. She looked dazedly at Kate, who smiled down at her. "Hi, sweety. My name's Kate. Can you tell me your name?"

"I'm Nora. What - What happened?"

"We don't know, sweety. We just found you here. How are you feeling?"

"I'm a bit dizzy. Wait, did you say we?" the girl, Nora, looked around and found Rick standing a couple feet away. "Oh, my God! You're Rick Castle." she turned back to Kate. "And you're Kate, Kate Beckett. Nikki Heat."

"You read my books? Aren't you a bit young?"

"I'm thirteen, I'm not stupid. And you're books are great by the way."

Kate helped her stand up slowly and she shook the sand of her clothes. "Thanks for your help, it was nice meeting the two of you, but I gotta get going." she spun around, but Kate's hand stopped.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine" she said and Kate knew the girl was one of hers. She was definitely not okay. She was rushing and still deadly pale. "I just have to get to Noel soon." Kate raised a brow, obviously not knowing who that was, so Nora explained. "He's my little brother. I promised him I'd be back in an hour and I have no idea what time is it. If he starts to worry, he'll move from our hiding place and -"

"Whoa, there! Hiding place? You guys are hiding? From whom? You know I'm a cop, right? I can help both of you." Kate said, disregarding the fact that she was on leave - but, anyway, she could get her friends at the 12th to help the kid.

The blondie stopped a minute and thought about it. Her favorite author and his muse were willing to help. She couldn't take care of her brother - and his needs - by herself and, it'd be nice to have somewhere to stay until it was all sorted out. "Okay." she said, barely above a whisper.

"Good." Kate approached and held both of the girl's hands in hers. "Now, take us to where your brother is."

Kate had not expected to see that.

As she walked along the shore, one hand clasped in Rick's and the other in Nora's, she spotted a camping tent. Nora quickly let go of Kate's hand and ran towards it.

She knelt in front of it and opened her arms widely. A cute, brow-haired 5-year-old in dinosaurs PJ's ran out of it and threw himself at her. "Nory, you here!"

"Yeah, baby boy. Sissy is here. Do you see those people over there?" she pointed her index finger at Kate and Rick, who stood nervously about a yard away. The kid nodded and smiled at his big sister, fisting her shirt as she lifted him of the ground. "They're going to help us, okay?"

"Okay." he buried his chubby face on the crook of her neck as she walked towards the couple.

On the walk back to Rick's house, little Noel risked looking up at the woman standing beside his sister. She was beautiful and looked nice. He had never met his mother, but daddy had said really bad things about her. He was afraid this lady would be the same way.

They reached the house at 4:30ish and, as Rick went upstairs to set the guest bedroom, Kate sat in the living room with both kids and tried to make the situation less awkward. The little boy would look up at her from time to time, but when he caught her looking back, he'd blush and bury his face in his sister's neck again.

"My dad drinks a lot. Mom died right after Noel was born and he blames him. He'd hit us sometimes, but we learned to stay out of his way when he got home with a bottle. Today, though, he was furious when he found Noel asleep on the couch and I... I couldn't let dad hit him. He'd kill Noel and not even remember doing it when he woke up, so I just took off."

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I know what it feels like to see a parent in this kind of situation. I'll make sure he never gets close to either of you again, if that's what you want."

"See, little Noel? I told you she'd help us. Isn't it nice of her and Mr. Castle? They're letting us stay here tonight."

"Ms. Kate nice?"

"Yeah, baby boy. She's really nice, just like our mommy was. Dad used to say bad things, but they were not true. Mommy was really kind and pretty, just like Kate."

The kid smiled widely at his sister and turned to Kate as the smile grew. Then, he held his little arms up, for Kate to take him to her lap. She slowly reach up for his and held him close to her chest. She smiled down at him. "Hello, little Noel. It's very nice to meet you."

He smiled again, playing with a lock of her brown hair. "What colour is that, Noel?" Nora asked.

"It's brown, just like mine!" he replied excitedly.

"The room is ready!" Rick said coming down the stairs. He smiled at the view of Kate holding an infant in her arms. He wanted that with her. A son, or maybe even another daughter, maybe both. She was good with kids. He remembered very well the first time he saw her interact with a child. The Angela Candela case, little two-year-old 'kidnapped' by her aunt, just so her mother wouldn't share custody when getting a divorce. Than there was the kidnapping of a boy at Central Park...

Noel yawned loudly and rested his head on Kate's chest as he closed his eyes. "I guess it's time for bed, baby boy."

She took the 5-year-old to the guest bedroom and tucked him in, placing a soft kiss to his forehead. Rick handed Nora one of Kate's large T-shirts and she changed into it before sliding in bed beside her little brother. "Thank you Kate. Thank you Mr. Castle."

"No problem, kiddo." they said in unison and Rick continued. "And, call me Rick." the girl nodded and rested her head on the pillow as the couple closed the door.