I'm not feeling this chapter at all whatsoever, but I needed to get it written so here it is. I'm really not sure about the American education system IT IS SO CONFUSING so if the whole Kindergarten thing doesn't ring true then I apologise profusely.

Disclaimer: ENGLAND IS REALLY, REALLY COLD RIGHT NOW.

He reads about it in the newspaper the next morning. It doesn't mention any names, and the information is minimal, but it draws his mind back to what Kate told him last night. It kept him awake for a good hour after that, murdered mother spinning over and over in his imagination, the tale already starting to be spun. Isn't this what he wanted? Something new. A new start. He could easily kill Derrick. A bullet through the skull and it's done. But… would Kate let him? The woman is so very private about everything, Castle isn't exactly sure that she'd be happy to let him wonder in and out of her life, plucking details from here, taking details from there and mixing them to create this new character. Regardless of whether he's her favourite author (and unwilling mother of his child), he's more than sure that she'd resist every step of the way. And he can't exactly go around stomping through her private life without even letting her know. Could he? No. No, he couldn't. But. He growls and throws the newspaper down on the table. Alexis lifts her head and growls straight back at him over her bowl of cereal. "I am a tiger!"

"You don't look like a tiger." He mused, regarding his youngest daughter carefully. "Maybe we should make you look like a tiger. Face paint?"

Alexis's face lights up and she bounces up and down in her chair. "Paint! Paint!"

"Alright, alright. Breakfast, wash up, and then we'll get the paints out. That okay?" Alexis nods fervently, starts to shovel cereal into her mouth. "But take it easy, alright? I don't want you to choke on a cornflake."

Alexis is running around with a bright orange face waiting for the base layer to dry when there's a knock at the door. He hops over the traps that Alexis has set with the many and numerous toys that she absolutely insisted had to come downstairs with her and pulls it open. It's Kate, looking out of breath and rushed and frantic.

"I wasn't expecting you today."

"Yeah, yeah I know. And I'm sorry it's short notice, but my Dad's come down with the flu, and he says he's fine, but I didn't want to leave Harry there – and would it be possible-"

"Course it would be." He looked down at Harry who blinked up at him out from underneath her large hat. "We always have fun, don't we?" Harry doesn't answer, just clings onto Kate's coat. "I'm sorry for leaving early this morning – it was – I needed to get home."

"Kate, don't worry about it. I didn't expect you to hang around."

"Right. Okay. She's tired, and she's a bit grumpy, but – I've got to go, I've got – crime scene." She crouched down to Harry's level, pulled the hat off her head. "You be good, okay?"

Harry's bottom lip wobbled ominously, and she clung to the coat harder. "I want to come with you."

"You know you can't, Harry. I'll be home as soon as I can – I promise."

Harry's face screwed up. "I don't want you to go. I want to go home." She cried, trying to get closer to Kate. "I want to go home!"

"Harry, don't-" Kate started to plead, but Harry just screamed louder, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I don't want to leave you here as much as you don't want to stay, but you can't come with mommy today." She pulled her own hat from her head, a yellow woollen thing, pulled Harry's hat off and replaced it with her own. "Look, you've got my hat. And you know how much I love that hat. So while Daddy looks after you, you look after my hat. Yeah?"

Harry used to sleeve to wipe at her face, snuffling and blinking hard. "I want you to look after me." She mumbled quietly, looking at Kate with those big wide brown eyes. "I don't want Daddy."

"Course you do. Daddy will make sure you have lots have fun." Kate nods at Alexis who has appeared at the doorway, curious as to what is going on. "Look, Alexis is all covered in face paint. Maybe you could have your face painted too?"

"I'm a tiger!" Alexis shouted, followed by a loud roar. "You could be an elephant!"

"You like elephants, Harry." Kate prompted, giving the girl a smile. "You want to be an elephant?"

"Penguin." She responded, looking up at Castle. "Can I be a penguin?"

Castle grinned at her. "You can be anything you like. Why don't we let mommy get to work and we'll make you look like a penguin?"

Harry looked like she was going to burst into tears again, but she unclenched her fingers from Kate's coat and stepped back. She was working her mouth like nobody's business, focusing on that instead of crying, but she nodded. "I'll look after your hat, mommy. I promise."

"And I'll be back as soon as I can to take you home. And I'll phone you at lunchtime."

Harry nodded, stepped forward to throw her arms around Kate's neck. "I love you."

"I love you more." Kate replied, pressing a smacking kiss to Harry's temple.

Harry laughed, pressed her own kiss to Kate's cheek.

His couch is getting covered in black and white and orange paint, but he really can't complain. Alexis is focused on Dora the Explorer, oblivious to anything that is going on around her. Harry, on the other hand, is completely sacked out, sprawled on her front with her face smashed against a cushion. She's been asleep like that for the past hour after running around with Alexis pretending to be animals who have just escaped from the zoo. He had the fortune to play the zoo keeper who never seems to be able to catch them, and somehow gets hurt in some way or another every time he tries. It was then that Alexis had the bright idea of Dora the Explorer. And that's better for him because really he doesn't want to fall over legs and arms and be jumped on from behind and scratched on the head. It didn't take long for Harry's eyes to closed and Alexis is too engrossed for him to need to worry about her. So he heads towards his office and decides to waste the rest of his morning by staring at the last chapter of his book. He doesn't know what to do. Oh, he hates his job.

Harry wakes up with Alexis's foot in her back. She grunts and turns over, wipes a hand across her eyes. There's a streak of black and white across her arm. The loft is quiet, the disc having stopped playing a while back. Alexis is asleep, lying on her back with her hand flung out across the edge of the sofa. There's no sigh of Castle, and Harry stumbles up and walks across to the only open door.

"Daddy?"

Castle lifted his head up from the desk and smiled at Harry. "Hey, you. You okay?"

Harry nodded, made her way over to the desk and walked around I, trailing her fingers along the wood. "Is it lunch time yet?"

"Almost. Half a hour."

Harry leant against his leg and he reached down to lift her up onto his lap. She curled up into him, her head over his heart and her bare feet against his thigh. "What are you doing?"

"Me? I'm doing my work. Or trying to, anyway." He span around in the chair so Harry could look at his laptop. "I'm kind of stuck."

"Why?"

"I don't know what's going to happen next." He sighed, tapping a finger against the keyboard.

Harry twisted her head so she could look at him. "Have him kidnapped by aliens. The Great Overlord Vaylen, master and ruler of the Omniverse. And then he has to save the world from worldwide destruction. Write that."

"That's not the kind of story this is, Harry." Castle chuckled, spinning them around again.

"Well, it should be. Everybody wants to read about aliens and spaceships and planets and explosions."

"Not the people who want to read my books. Sorry to break it to you, Harry." He lifted her down onto the floor. "But come on, let's go get your sister and we'll get something to eat. Okay?"

"What are we doing tomorrow, Daddy?"

"I've got meetings, so Grams coming to look after you. That'll be fun, right? Maybe she'll teach you the piano."

"Loud piano!"

"Exactly. Reasons why I am glad I will not be here. You and Grams can smash up the piano to your heart's content, but not literally, of course. Harry, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"I'm going to school. I don't want to, but Mommy's making me."

"Kindergarten?"

"It smells, and I don't like the teachers and I don't like the kids." Harry pouted, pushing the crust of bread around her plate.

"Maybe you could move."

"There's nowhere else. Not until I go to big school."

"That won't be long. And then there'll be new people and new teachers and people that you can make friends with. Alexis is looking forward to going to school, aren't you pumpkin?"

Alexis nods eagerly while Harry continues to sulk. "No one wants to be friends with me."

"I'm your friend." said Alexis, from across the table.

"You're my sister." Harry grumbled, sitting back in her chair with her arms folded. "It doesn't count."

"I was your friend before I was your sister." Alexis replied, feeling a little put out. "I'm still your friend."

"You're not at my school. I don't want to go to school."

"I can't wait to go to school." Alexis begins. "I'm going to learn how to read and write and how to make two plus two equal four."

It's not until two that Kate finally manages to get enough time out to grab a quick snack from a vending machine and ring her daughter. Castle answers with a huffed hello – doesn't give her a chance to reply before Harry is babbling down her ear.

"Take it slow, baby. Can't understand you."

"I was a penguin! And we escaped from the zoo!"

Kate chuckled, scribbled a note on a piece of paper and stood up to place it on the murder board. "How did you do that?"

"We dug a hole! Me and Alexis, and Daddy tried to catch us, but he couldn't."

"Did you make him fall over a lot?"

"He did fall over a lot. And he never caught us. We still free. We run away."

"You still look like a penguin?"

"No, we in disguise. Daddy doesn't know it's us. Daddy's feeding us ice cream."

"Ohh, are penguins allowed to eat ice cream?" Kate stood back and leant against the edge of her desk, staring forlornly at the murder board. Something has to fit somewhere. Something has to make sense.

"Course penguins are allowed to eat ice cream. Why shouldn't they be allowed to eat ice cream? Penguins live on the ice. They're not allergic."

Kate's head jerked up, her eyes flying to the autopsy photos. Allergic. Allergic. There was the break that she needed. "Harry, you are an absolute star."

"Did I help? Did I solve a murder?"

"Maybe, Harry. Maybe you did."

Harry shrieked down the phone and Kate laughed. "Okay, Harry. I gotta go. If I can turn this into a proper lead I may be home sooner than you think. You go back to being an escaped penguin, okay?"

"Yeah, mommy. I'll be a penguin."

Three and a half hours later Kate's walking through Castle's front door, and she's barely two seconds in before Harry is barrelling into her legs. "Did you catch them, Mommy? Did you catch them?"

"Yeah, Harry. We caught him. All thanks to you." Kate grinned and lifted her to squeeze her tightly. "You ready to go home."

"Yeah. Home. But only if I don't have to go to school tomorrow."

Kate lowered her brow, gazed sternly at Harry from underneath. "Harry, you know you need to go."

"Then I'm staying here. Daddy won't make me go."

"Daddy will make you go, just as much as me."

Harry coughed. "Fine. I'm sick. I got flu."

Kate sighed and set Harry back on the floor. "You do not have flu. And you're going to school tomorrow."

"You're mean!" she stomped her foot, the noise echoing around the room. "Mean, mean, mean!"

"Yeah, yeah I know. Worst parent award. Now come on, coat. It's tea time." Harry stayed where she was, standing there with her arms folded and her bottom lip stuck out. "I'm not against carrying you out, Harry. I've done it before and I've done it again."

Harry sat down, head bowed and her hair falling across her face. Kate dropped her bag and coat on the floor with a bang, slid down the door. "Harry, listen to me. I know you don't like it there. I can understand that. But we've talked to your teachers, and they've tried, Harry, they really have, and there's nothing more I can do. There's nowhere else you can go."

"They haven't tried! Everything's still the same!" Harry screamed, fists pounding against the floor. "Nobody likes me!"

Kate sighed and tipped her head back against the door with a thump. She hated this. She hates that her daughter finds it so hard to make any permanent friends, hates that she spends most of the day on her own. And there is nothing she can do. She can't afford to send her to any of the other schools that are around, doesn't have the time to enrol her in a school elsewhere in the city. And really, what's the point? There's only a few months left of the school year, and moving schools will just be more of a disruption. It's just as hard trying to make friends in a completely new place where you don't know anyone, and when you don't have the experience of having and keeping a friend, hell, she wouldn't want to be in Harry's position. And yet, she'd swap in an instant if it meant her daughter would be happier.

"What if I came in with you one day?"

Harry lifted her head, relief sparking in her eyes. "You'd come in with me?"

"Yeah, yeah I would. You like the sound of that?"

Harry nodded eagerly before scrambling up and launching herself into Kate's arms. "Yes. You come with me Mommy."

Kate sighed, rested her forehead against Harry's crown. "Alright, Harry. I'll come with you."