"You what?!" Kate exclaimed with shock written all over her face, and Castle couldn't help but chuckle at how adorable she looked. "Did you seriously put a cow on the school's roof?" her voice was very accusing but he was having too much fun to get the least bit offended.

"Yup, you should've seen the principle's face, priceless!" he laughed at the memory.

Kate started laughing too, because how could she not? His laugh was contagious and she really could picture the whole scenario in front of her. He was insane.

"Nah, I was a bit of a class clown but I was always fully aware of my pranks," he said and that's when she realized she'd thought out loud. "I was really making sure none of my plans ever hurt anyone... physically," he added when he saw her look.

But she just kept laughing, and Castle couldn't stop the growing warmth spread through his heart. Her laugh must be one of the most beautiful sounds he'd ever heard, and even though she'd laughed in front of him before it had never reached quite this level of... was it comfort? That she felt comfortable enough to be... well, just be?

"You really are something else, Castle," Kate hid her lips behind her hand as she tried to gather herself again.

For some reason she couldn't help but notice how true that sentence was. Somehow it felt a lot heavier than she had meant it. Deep down she felt so happy in his presence and she was just now starting to realize it, actually letting herself feel it. It was as though she could be herself with him without the worry of him judging her, especially since he hadn't even judged her about how young she'd been when she got Elisabeth.

Their eyes locked for a minute, both of them stuck in their own thoughts, not really noticing how they both stared until it became a bit weird and they both looked away at the same time.

"I should start put this in the dishwasher," Castle said in a shy voice and Kate immediately insisted she'd help.

He tried to wave it off by stating she was the guest and he was the host but she just snorted and helped anyway. As soon as they were done Kate thought about how to end the evening, how to say thanks but say they needed to get going.

"Do you want to watch a movie, let the girls play a little more?" he asked the second they were done, trying to come up with a valid reason as to why the two should stay, and for some reason Kate was grateful for the excuse.

"Well, as long as it's a movie we've both seen before I'm in," she said and when he raised an eyebrow she bit her lip, looking down. "I'm not sure how much longer we can stay."

"Oh, right," he nodded. "How about you choose the movie while I set up the projector," he suggested while walking towards the center of the room.

Kate was quick to follow and sat down on the floor where he pointed out his movie collection was. Without much thought we started looking through the movies, trying to figure out which one to pick. She didn't want any romance, and wasn't so sure about action either, she was't even sure she really wanted to watch a movie but at the same time she couldn't find it in her heart to leave just yet. During the dinner her daughter had gotten really fond of the older girl, and she didn't want her daughter to feel like she was taking her away from the chance at a new friend.

"So, you've chosen?"

She jumped at the sound of his voice so close to her ear, how the hell had he sneaked up on her?, and a shiver went down her spine.

"Uhm, no, I can't choose, you've got way too many!" she half-complained, half-teased. He chuckled and she turned her head in order to give him a mocking smile, "And you got a lot more chick-flicks than I do."

His smile turned down quick as he shook his head, "They're either Alexis' or mother's." That only made Kate narrow her eyes at him and his cheeks turned red. "Okay, okay, most are mine but I was raised by a single mother, what do you expect?" he gave in and she couldn't stop the genuine smile from growing on her lips.

Never in a million years had she thought Richard Castle, the famous writer slash playboy on page six, would admit to watching chick-flicks for his own enjoyment. "That's cute." It wasn't until it was already out of her mouth that she realized she'd said it out loud. The smile setting on his lips had her heart skip a beat and she had to look down at the movie collection again in order to avoid his blue eyes. She let her fingers run over the film cases and just took one out of the pile. Rising to her feet she took in a quick breath before turning to hand him the movie she'd randomly chosen.

"The Pacifier?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and she nagged at her lip, perhaps it was stupid. "Amazing, did you know they used the same duck throughout the whole movie? Ooh and that scene in the movie where Lulu tells Shane he's cute was actually inspired by the same incident happening between the two when they first met on set?" Kate had her mouth slightly open in shock. She shouldn't have been surprised though, not really.

Castle went to put the movie in, a great grin plastered on his face, which gave her enough time to collect herself and move over to the couch where she sat down and waited for him to join her. When he did, he sat down with only a small gap between the two, most likely not thinking about it at all but Kate couldn't help but wonder when the hell they'd gotten so comfortable with each other. As the movie started she relaxed in her seat, which strangely had moved her body a little bit closer to him. They were both quiet, watching the movie, for about twenty minutes and just when Kate thought it must've been the longest he had gone without saying a word she heard him open his mouth.

"How's everything going with Elisabeth?"

Kate turned her head to him with a confused expression. "What about Liz?" she questioned, and she saw his eyes slowly focus on her, a glimpse of shyness in them.

"About... what you called me about yesterday, she say anything more today? I mean, you don't have to tell me!" he quickly added, as if he remembered it might be too private for him to ask about.

"Oh, uh... no, she's been too busy with talking me into doing this dinner," she said honestly before she bit her tongue, why'd she say that? "It was actually her who answered you yesterday... I found out this morning," she told him the truth.

His eyes widened a bit, "You didn't... I'm sorry, I should've waited with the invitation, given you time to actually think it through."

"No, don't worry about it!" Kate shook her head. "I'm glad we came."

"Me too, and I'm sure Alexis is as excited to finally have met you," he answered and their eyes locked, just like they had at the table.

Only this time she took a deep breath before taking the biggest decision since she decided on keeping her baby. "I don't know who he is," she breathed out in a small whisper, and she could immediately watch the burning curiosity along with the understanding in his blues. Even though she could see the questions wanting to escape his lips he stayed quiet, giving her the space and decision as to whether she wanted to reveal more or not. She surprised herself by continuing. "I was at a party when I was sixteen... I don't remember much of it, I remember drinking with friends, I remember taking one shot too much, a shot I hadn't ordered myself but had no clue as to who gave it to me... thi-inking it was one of my friends, I downed it like nothing," her voice trembled as she relived every blurry second she could remember.

"You don't have to tell me unless you want to," Castle quietly interrupted but she just shook her head.

"It's not really much to tell..." she wiped her hands over her eyes in order to control the tears forming. "I don't remember anything after that shot, I remember waking up and just knowing it had happened, no memory... just the feeling that someone had... anyway, I found out I was pregnant a couple weeks later when my period was late."

"Did you ever call it in?" he asked and she chuckled with a sad tone.

"No, I don't remember, and so I don't even know if I gave my consent or not," she said with a tired sigh.

"But... they could've gone through a rape kit, at least you'd known who was behind it, you could've made a paternity test later to get them to help you with Liz," he went on, and she could feel her walls coming back up. Why had she even told him in the first place?

"I didn't want to know, couldn't stand the thought of knowing who'd... I didn't remember and so I let it go," Kate said with a conclusive tone, only he didn't seem to notice how it hurt her that he kept questioning her way of handling it.

"But didn't your parents make you try find out who it was? Maybe you could've gone to a psychiatrist and done some hypnosis to remember, sounds to me like you were drugged which means the guy who forced himself on you planned on it and probably did it more times."

Kate looked away from him, her heart beating hard in her chest. Her eyes clenched shut and she tried her best to shut out his voice. This was not the reaction she'd expected to get from him, she'd thought he'd stay quiet, too stunned to say anything. At least she'd thought he wouldn't judge her! He hadn't earlier so why would he now that he knew the truth?! And why the hell had she let her guard down?! Her walls down?! Without any indication whatsoever, she raised from her seat and walked to the chairs where she'd seen her daughter flee to earlier. Somewhere behind her she could hear him ask where she was going but she didn't care. Tried not to care.

"Elisabeth! Time to head home!" she yelled up the stairs and she felt his presence at her back.

His hand landed gently on top her shoulder but she was quick to turn around and brush it off, "Don't touch me," she threatened in a low whisper and he immediately pulled his hand back.

"I... I didn't mean to..." she cut him off with a stare as she heard her daughter's footsteps come closer.

"Don't bother," she whispered before she plastered on a small smile for the girls coming down the stairs.

"Do we need to go home now? Can't we stay a few more minutes? Please?" Elisabeth asked with her puppy eyes but Kate was too hurt to fall for it.

"No peanut, it's time," she only responded, tone restrained despite her effort at making it sound normal.

She could see the second it went through to her daughter, saw how Elisabeth within a second knew something was wrong, and the girl didn't ask more. The two of them went to the hall followed by the two Castle's and put on their shoes without a word. It wasn't until it was time to say goodbye that Kate was surprised to watch her daughter hug the older girl as they said goodbye, and she didn't have time to stop her when she turned to hug him due to the shock of Alexis coming to hug her.

"Bye Kate, it was nice to finally meet you, you're the only one my dad talks about," the redhead whispered quickly in her ear and Kate clenched her jaw at the stab she felt in her heart.

She quickly hugged the girl back, thinking this was the first and last she would see of her because there was no way she'd be able to come back after the judgement she'd felt coming from him. It didn't matter if he hadn't meant it that way, she was hurt and couldn't stand the thought of ever trusting him with her past again. The girls let go and Kate only just said the polite goodbye and thanked for the food and invitation before she grabbed her daughter's hand and walked out of the loft. She had seen the small hurt in his blues, but she was sure he could see hers too, and frankly she wouldn't let herself care. No. She was done opening up to him.