Chap 11
Disclaimer: You all already know I own nothing… Still working on winning money or forging adoption papers or something… I was thinking that maybe to shake it up a bit I could say I'm Nathan Fillion's kid and use his money to buy Castle from AM…
The two sisters sit in Kate's – currently stationary – Crown Vic at a set of red traffic lights.
"I thought you said you knew how to avoid traffic." Hannah says, looking over at Kate.
"I did and I do, but nobody can avoid red lights." She replies.
"You could always turn your sirens on." Hannah says, reaching for the button.
"Oh no you don't." Kate swats at Hannah's hand until the teenager retracts it, pulling it back towards the safety of her body. "You're as bad as Castle."
"Why thank you. I think he's pretty cool."
"You clearly don't know him." Kate says as the lights turn green.
"Ah, but you do and you like him. You like like him."
"Do not."
"Do to."
"Do not."
"Do to."
"Not."
"Do."
"Not."
"Do."
"We sound like the biggest kids ever."
"I am a kid." Hannah replies.
"An hour ago you told Castle that you weren't a kid and now you tell me you are. Which one is it?"
"Whichever reaps the best benefits for me."
"Okay, that is not something a kid would say."
"What can I say? I'm a smart kid."
Kate rolls her eyes, but laughs despite herself, at her little sister's antics.
"You're a weird kid, is what you are."
"The two aren't mutually exclusive."
"True."
"Can I put a CD in?" Hannah asks, a whiny tinge to her voice.
"What CD?" I ask, exasperated, "There's none in the car."
"I have one." She pulls a CD case out of her bag and holds it up.
My eyes flick over to it and I see the hopeful look on her face and can't not put it on.
But, I will not go down without a small fight: "Really? You want to listen to One Direction?"
She bobs her head up and down excitedly. "Pleeeeease?"
I look at her out of the corner of my eye before giving in completely. "Okay." I sigh.
"Yes!" She pumps her fist in the air and slides the disk into the player.
The familiar music of What Makes You Beautiful fills the car and Hannah's voice joins in with the music perfectly when the boys start singing.
"You're insecure. Don't know what for. You're turning heads when you walk through the door. Don't need makeup. To cover up. Being the way that you are is enough. Everyone else in the room can see it. Everyone else but you…"
"Can we play a game?" I ask, as soon as Stole My Heart – the last song on the CD – has finished.
"What sort of game?" Kate asks, looking over at me.
"Ummm… I was thinking that we'd take it in turns and have to say a name or a thing in our lives that start with each letter of the alphabet. It'll help us get to know each other."
"Okay, sure. You wanna start?"
"Yep. Okay, A. Ali. She's my best friend and has been for as long as I can remember. She got fostered out to a family that she really likes about four months ago. Your turn."
"Ummm… Always. It's something that Castle and I say to each other sometimes. It's kind of how we safely say…"
"I love you?" I finish, as Kate is clearly unable to.
She nods her head, eyes glued to the road. "Yeah."
"B… Balls. I love any sort of sport involving balls. Baseball, basketball, soccer."
"Bullet." One of her hands leaves the steering wheel and moves to rest on the middle of her chest. "From when I was shot. It killed me. Literally. But on the other side of the coin, bullets have always protected me."
"The irony of life." I mumble.
"Exactly. You're turn. You're up to C."
"Yep. Umm… C, c, c. Castle. I love his books. They are actually amazing!"
"Don't tell him that; his head might explode."
I laugh at Kate's comment. "Okay, you're turn for C."
"Well, Castle was going to be mine, too. So, it'd have to be him because he's such a huge part of my life now. He had been before we even met. His books kinda saved me after Mum died. They were like my solid ground, keeping me from falling over the edge of the cliff, and then he showed up and literally saved my life so many times. He's everything. He's the one that's always there. I can't picture my life without him in it anymore. I find myself wondering how I survived before he showed up."
"I have another C."
"Mmm. Go ahead."
"Celebrities." Kate's head flicks to look at me and I see her raised eyebrow. "Don't judge me. I've always liked the fact that celebrities give us something to look up to, something to aspire to be. A few set really bad examples, but the others are all amazing role models in so many different ways. They're like… the thing that holds the world together. They unite us all. It doesn't matter what they look like or what their background is. If they can act or sing or dance, they can use that to make people happy and to inspire people. And so many of them are just real people with good hearts who got this amazing opportunity and grabbed it before it could pass them by. I've decided that everyone could be a celebrity if they took those chances, the opportunities that came their way, but the ones we see, the ones we hear about, the ones that make it are the ones that were actually brave enough to do it. They were brave enough to take the chance, the risk. They were brave enough to dive in head first. And they were dedicated enough to put in the hard work. People always think that celebrities are overrated and stuck up and don't deserve half the money they have, but I think they are so wrong. They're just brave versions of everyone else. I think they deserve every penny they get, just for the fact that they actually got there, and that they give the rest of the world something to look at and say 'I want to be like them'."
"That's actually so true. I'd never thought about it like that before. You know, you're pretty smart." I smile at her and a small blush creeps across my cheeks. "So, seeing as you did two Cs, can I have another one?"
"Yep."
"Coffee. Other than Castle, it's my saviour. It's also another one of our things…"
"Like how you say 'always'?"
"Yeah. Castle always brings me a coffee every morning. I guess it's how we say good morning. And it's his way of saying, 'see, I'm here again just like I promised I'd always be'."
I nod my head and smile at her.
"So, you're up to D."
"Okay. Dinosaurs."
"Really? You go from celebrities to dinosaurs?"
"Yes, what's wrong with that?" I ask indignantly.
"Nothing, nothing at all. It just surprised me."
"So, D for dinosaurs, because they've always fascinated me. I don't know why, exactly, but they have. I used to do this thing where I'd decide which sort of dinosaur people would be depending on what they looked like and what their personality was."
"What would I be?"
"I'm not sure, but I've decided Captain Gates would be a T-Rex, 'cause she's scary and seems pretty ruthless."
"You have no idea."
"So, Detective Beckett, as you are Miss Beckett's biological relation, you are permitted to take her home now that you've signed this." The older woman holds up the form that now has Beckett's signature, along with her own. "We do usually conduct a thorough background check of anyone requesting to take one of the children home, but… I don't feel that that is necessary in this situation. You can take Miss Beckett home with you now, if that is what you both wish, but you'll need to come back in at some stage within the next month to fill out all of the guardianship forms. It would also be a good idea to bring your father with you. So, Hannah," The woman behind the desk turns to the youngest person in the room, "Would you like to go with Detective Beckett now?"
"No, I've been looking for her for half a year but I don't wanna go with her." She says sarcastically. "Besides, when do I ever have a choice about when I go home with people?"
"Hannah." The woman warns her.
Hannah rolls her eyes. "Yes I'll go with her now."
"Very well then. You can take as many of your things with you now as you like, and you can get the rest when Detective Beckett comes back." The woman stands and indicates for the two sisters to leave her office.
When Kate shuts the door behind them, Hannah leads her down the hallway.
"Stupid old hag!" Hannah exclaims.
"Hannah!" Her sister says, shocked.
"What? She is. She thinks she knows everything, when in actual fact, she's the only worker here that wasn't a foster kid, so she would know the least. And she's always hated me."
"Well, if you speak to her like you just did all the time, I don't blame her."
"You're supposed to be on my side!"
Kate rolls her eyes, "I am on your side. But she just let you go. She didn't even do a background check on me."
"Yeah, that's only 'cause she can't wait to get rid of me." Hannah says bitterly, opening the door of the bedroom she shares with Caitlyn, Christina and Letisha.
"Where the hell have you been?" Caitlyn screeches at me when I step into the room.
"I left a note." I reply.
"Yeah, saying you were going to find your sister. In New York!" Letisha adds.
"At least I told you where I was going." I shrug my shoulders.
"Yeah, and you didn't have to tell Alz that you'd run off!" Christina says.
"And your phone was off. We all tried calling you. You'll a zillion missed calls and texts from Ali. She was freaking out so bad!" Letisha exclaims.
"So'd ya find her?" Caitlyn asks, raising an eyebrow at me.
"Yes, actually, I did." I reach behind me and grab Kate's hand, pulling her into the room and into the three girls' view.
All three of their mouths drop open as they look at Kate.
"Uh. Hi." Kate says. "I'm Kate."
"Hi." Letisha says, the first one to snap out of her stupor. "I'm Letisha."
"Hey. Did you know about Han?" Christina asks Kate.
"No." Kate shakes her head. "My parents never told me about her. Apparently they came and visited, but I was never invited."
"Oh." The short, blonde haired, blue eyed girl nods her head. "I'm Christina, by the way."
Caitlyn is still staring at Kate and me, eyes flicking between the two of us at a speed that I would've thought quicker than possible. Christina elbows her sharply in the ribs.
"Uhhh. Hi. Wow. You're really pretty. And… Is it just me or are they almost identical?" Caitlyn asks, her head flicking back to Christina and Letisha, directing her question at them.
"Yeah, they are actually." Christina nods her head in agreement.
"Anyway, I'm Caitlyn. Funniest, smartest, prettiest, blondest, quickest, tallest, most rebel, most violent and youngest original Room 17 member." Caitlyn introduces herself to Kate.
"Yeah, that was all before Ali left and I took all of those off you. Except for tallest, blondest and most violent." I retort.
She pokes her tongue out at me. "No, I still hold all of those titles except for youngest."
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." I reply, dodging her hand as it flies out to punch my arm. "See what we mean about most violent." I say to Kate, who is laughing at our 'debate'.
"I am not getting involved in this." She replies, still chuckling. "I'm completely neutral when it comes to fights between hormonal teenage girls."
"It's not a fight." I state.
"It's a debate." Caitlyn adds.
"Also known as a heated discussion." Christina says.
"Or an argument. Which, yes, makes it a fight." Letisha says.
Kate laughs at the four of us again. "You guys are insufferable."
"You should see her and Ali." Christina says.
"Yeah, we might be insufferable, but they were unstoppable." Caitlyn adds. "When they set their mind on something – whether it be sitting beside each other for dinner or giving each other a black eye – there was no stopping them. It was pretty funny actually."
"You gave each other black eyes?" Kate asks, shocked, looking down at me.
I smile at her sheepishly. "Just once."
"Actually, I had it at about four times. Well, she gave you four black eyes. Haven't you given her five?" Caitlyn smirks at me.
I glare at her.
"Hannah! And you said Caitlyn was the violent one! Can I trust you to not break Alexis? I'm pretty sure Castle'd kill me if you did!" Kate says to me.
"Don't worry. I'm not gonna touch Lex, 'cause then Mr Castle'd hate you forever, and then you'd hate me forever, which in turn would make Lanie, Ryan and Esposito hate me forever. I can't cut all my New York connections… At least, not yet."
"I don't know if I'm gonna survive our new arrangement." She sighs at me.
"You can't get rid of me til after Mr Castle's birthday. It's gonna be epic!"
"Why?" She narrows her eyebrows at me suspiciously.
"Well, he doesn't know this yet, but Lex and I are organising a huge party for him, 'cause it's his fortieth and all."
"Wait, what? Who's Alexis?" Christina asks.
"My work partner's daughter." Kate explains absently before turning back to me, "You and Alexis are organising Castle's birthday? Is it gonna be a surprise party or something?"
"No. We just haven't told him yet. Anyway, he's not gonna have any input at all in it. He'll know that we're organising it, and he'll know the theme – which we still need to work out, actually – but everything else'll be a surprise. So I guess it's a semi-surprise party."
"Oh…"
"Wait, if your sister lives in New York, then this Mr Castle guy must live in New York, too. How are you gonna organise a party for him when your co-organiser is in New York and you're here?" Caitlyn asks me.
"I'm moving to New York to live with Kate." I answer. "I'm leaving today."
I close the trunk on Hannah's suitcase and duffel bag and turn around to watch her.
"Do you have to go?" Ali sobs into Hannah's shoulder.
"No, but I want to. I'll come visit, I promise. Besides, now we both have a family." Hannah replies, tears streaming silently down her cheeks.
"What about our birthday?"
"Well, either I can come here and visit you or you can come to visit me. Would that be okay?" Hannah releases her friend and turns to look at me.
I nod my head. "Of course. And if you want, during holidays she can come and stay with us for a week or vice versa."
"Really?" Hannah's face brightens immediately.
"Yeah." I nod my head at her.
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
I smile softly at her. "Always."
Her mouth drops open at the fact that I used mine and Castle's 'special' word, before she smiles softly back at me.
"I think I'm ready to go, now." Hannah says, as Ali was the last person she wanted to say goodbye to, walking over to me.
"Nannah!" Two small red-headed girls scream, running over to us, and each one wraps their arms around each of Hannah's legs.
"Don't go!" One of them cries, looking up at Hannah with tears sparkling in her small, clear blue eyes.
"Don't worry, Rhee, I'll come and visit you." Hannah says, squatting down and gently unwrapping the girls' arms from around her legs.
"Me too?" The other girl asks, this one with green eyes.
"You too, Nora." Hannah promises.
"Pinky swear?" The one that spoke first asks.
"Pinky swear." Hannah replies, linking both of her pinky fingers through the ones that the little girls hold up. "Bye, you two. Try and stay out of trouble. You're my favourite little Rugrats, remember?" She whispers to them, kissing the top of their heads.
Hannah stands back up and the two girls run over to Ali and latch onto her hands.
We go to the car and as we open the doors to get in, I hear a male's soft voice: "Hannah."
"Hannah." I close my eyes as I hear Jake's voice and his hand wraps around my wrist.
I'd noticed earlier that he hadn't come out to say goodbye to me, and I was hoping that maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he'd just let me go. I guess I should've known better.
"Please don't do this." I whisper to him, my eyes still closed.
"Don't go." He says.
"Why not?" I open my eyes and turn to him. "Why shouldn't I go? I finally have this chance at being happy and you want me to give it up? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't go." I challenge.
"Because I care about you. I don't want to be stuck in this hellhole without you."
I shake my head at him. "Not good enough." I whisper and slide into the car.
"Han!"
"I'm sorry." I say quietly as the tears track slowly down my face.
"Yeah, me too. I'm sorry about the things I said. I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I'm sorry I didn't trust you. I'm sorry that I hurt you."
I nod my head and look up at him. "I know. But it's too late. You always wanted me to be happy. Well, this is it." I shut the door and nod to Kate, telling her to go.
"Hannah!" Jake yells as we pull away.
Wow, that was really long! Anyways, what'd you think? Review away!
Oh, and does anyone have any ideas about what sort of dinosaurs Martha, Alexis, Lanie, Ryan and Esposito would be?