Here is the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy it.

Thank you: FelixtheSax

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.

Chapter 11

Kate groaned, her head pounding from the irritating case she was currently working on. A con man had been killed after posing as an Arctic explorer for school children. He filmed the broadcasts to keep the school from finding out, but she couldn't work out why he bothered writing such well written and well researched responses to the children.

"I'm calling it quits for the night," Kate said standing up.

"Give Anna a hug from me," Rick said. "And tell me what you think about the book."

She sighed in response. Rick had managed to finish the end of the book within the few days he had left, and now, a few weeks later, the advanced copies had been released. When he first gave her the copy, it took everything in her not to squeal and run home to read it. She had been holding back, reading it slowly, afraid to see how Nikki would be portrayed in the end.

"You try reading your book with our daughter around," Kate said. "She knows not to read them, but she just sits there, watching."

He grinned. "Does she sit with those wide puppy dog eyes?"

"Yes," Kate sighed.

"You know, Ryan and I were wondering why we didn't get an advanced copy," Esposito said. "Lanie was wondering too."

"Make that Jenny as well," Ryan added.

"And my wife," Montgomery said.

"You know advanced copies are restricted, right?" Rick said, looking up to see them all watching him. "I'm already in the bad books with Gina and Paula for being late. Now you want to give them another reason to be upset?"

Esposito grinned. "We'll really appreciate it, bro."

"Since when do you read?" Kate asked him.

"Since someone based a character on me," Espostio said. "I gotta check out this Ochoa guy."

"Fine, but please, keep them to yourselves," Rick said.

"I'm going to go," Kate waved. "I'll see you boys in the morning."

Kate left, thinking about how the boys were likely still bickering up in the precinct about getting a copy of the book. Only a few people had read his book and Kate was one of them – well going to be, soon. It made her smile how he had given her an advanced copy, but things were still strained between them. They were trying, Kate joining them as Anna visited them round at the loft and going out with them more. Without Anna, talking about her and the case was the only thing that kept them talking without the boys around. It felt like a glass wall had built between them. She could still see and hear him, but she could never fully reach him. Kate wanted to break down the glass.

At home, Anna and her grandpa were asleep when she she got home. Kate sighed, another case keeping her away from home. Heat Wave sat on her bookshelf, she tapped her fingers on the shelf, debating whether she should read some more or go to bed. Eventually, she picked it up and ran herself a bath. Slipping in, she allowed herself to continue with the book.

A gasp escaped her mouth, as she reached the scene she had been warned of, but had forgotten about until now. She read the sex scene over once more, catching the book before she dropped it into the water. He had taken one of their nights together that weekend. God, she hadn't been expecting that. Did he write that part before or after she told him about Anna? Kate closed the book, deciding that was enough for one night.

Arriving at work the next morning, she couldn't look Rick in the eye. Things may already be awkward between them, but reading a sex scene of characters based on them while they were going through problems made things even more awkward and uncomfortable.

"Uh-oh," Rick said. "You read more of Heat Wave last night."

"Your imagination is a little, um, interesting," she said.

"I know what part you read!" She knew he was grinning and couldn't bring herself to look up. "It's hot, isn't it?"

"You wrote it based on that weekend," she hissed.

"You talking about that sex scene you was telling us about last night?" Esposito asked.

Kate looked at the ground, hiding her blush. "Can we not talk about this?"

"Are you blushing, Beckett?" Rick asked.

"Castle..." She sighed.

"Woah," Ryan said. "You haven't called him that in a while."

She bit her lip. "Rick, lets just drop it."

"Fine," he said. "I wrote it before you told me, by the way."

Kate looked up, seeing his amused grin. She clenched her jaw, looking at the files to focus back on the case again. A smile threatened to show as she realised that for a second everything had seemed to be normal between them. But what did he mean, he wrote it before Kate told him about Anna? Did he have feelings for her before she messed things up? Did he not like Kate in that way any more? She shook her head, she couldn't think about this now.

Kate held the engagement album in her hands, noticing that it looked exactly like the Arctic brochure Fletcher had handed out. The answer was in her hands.

"Sue is Fletcher's partner." Kate said, looking up at Rick.

"It's the Undercover Lover con. Sue is the scout. She gets close to Elise first, learns everything there is to know, thus paving the way for Fletcher," Rick told her.

"Who comes in with a play book of all of Elise's hopes and dreams and voilà, it's love at first sight." Kate walked past Rick, a grin on her face.

"No, no, no. Something doesn't quite fit. Why would they fake Fletcher's death in such a public way? They had to know the police were gonna get involved, exposing their con to a lot of dangerous scrutiny." He walked closer towards Kate.

Kate looked up at him, moving closer towards him. "Unless Fletcher really is dead. If her dad is right and Fletcher really fell in love with Elise..."

Castle moved closer to her. "And was going to give up his con man ways..."

"Then Sue stood to lose a fortune by not finishing the con. And if Fletcher married Elise, then Sue had no chance of pulling off the con on her own," Kate said.

"So, Sue takes matters into her own hands. She kills Fletcher, shooting him in the face, making sure positive ID is impossible," Castle said.

"Bingo." She grinned.

"But what about the phone call from Steven?" They both turned to Gayle.

They thought about it for a second. "Well, she must've faked it somehow."

Kate turned to look at him.

"Why?" Gayle asked.

"Because..." Kate looked away, thinking.

They both turned facing each other, working it out. "The con is still on!"

Sue was arrested, conned into believing she had gotten away with a million dollars, only to find that the briefcase was full of newspapers. A satisfying ending to the case, Kate believed. It was still early, she could get home to Anna and still have a few hours with her before bed.

"What're you up to tonight?" Kate asked Rick as they got back to the precinct.

"Oh, probably listening to Alexis and Dylan," Rick said. "I should really get home and apologize to her about how I acted."

"Oh, yeah," Kate said. "Maybe you should try and get to know Dylan more."

"I guess I should," Rick smiled.

"If my parents really got to know some of the boys I brought home then I don't think I'd had have been allowed to date them for much longer," Kate grinned.

"Not helping," Rick said. "But just you wait, in ten years time, you'll be going through this with me."

Kate stopped. "Let's not jump that far ahead, let's stick to the single digit at the moment."

"Please," he groaned. "If she's anything like you as a teenager then we're in trouble."

"I wasn't that bad," Kate defended herself, watching as Rick looked up to her with a questionable look. "I wasn't. Anna hasn't even started school so let's worry about what school she's going to first."

No way was she going to let Anna do the things she did as a teenager. At the moment her daughter was still her little girl and Kate planned on keeping her that way for another ten years at least.

"You want me to help you chose a school?" Rick asked her, somewhat surprised.

"Well, you are her dad," Kate said. "But I'm not sending her to a private school."

"I'd be happy to pay," he said.

"No," Kate told him. "I'm sure they're great schools, but I'm sure there are public schools just as good. Plus I'm going to be looking into schools near the precinct. You can come and look at a few with me, if you want."

She wouldn't mention the fact that she simply didn't want them relying on his money. Rick might be Anna's father, but they had managed just fine before he came back into their lives. They may not be as wealthy as Rick, but they weren't doing too bad, either.

"Do they have a kindergarten at the police academy?" Rick asked.

"I doubt it," Kate smiled. "I'll give you the dates when I have the tours booked then?"

"Yeah, thanks," he smiled, happy that Kate had included him in the school decision making. "You bringing Anna in tomorrow?"

"Yeah, my dad needs a break," Kate said.

"You know, I can always pick her up on days when you're at work and there's no case," he said. "Or, my mom could, as well. You and your dad aren't alone any more."

Kate looked up at him with a smile. "That would be great."

"See you and Anna tomorrow then," he said.

"Yeah," Kate waved.

Kate closed the car door behind Anna, turning to help the girl put her lion bag on over the top of her leather jacket. The girl took Kate's hand, swinging it between them as they walked up the steps to the precinct.

Officers greeted her throughout the precinct, holding their hands low for a high-five and pulling faces. They took the elevator up, Anna smiling with excitement for the day.

"We beat everyone here," Anna giggled.

"Shall we hide?" Kate asked her.

"Yeah!" Anna said. Holding her hand, Kate hid in the break room with Anna. Anna on Kate's back as they looked out the window, watching the elevators as they opened with workers coming in to start the day. "We're spying."

"That's what partners do," Kate told her. "Our targets are Daddy, Javi and Kevin. We watch and wait for them to come. Then we hide before surprising them."

Anna giggled. "I have my handcuffs."

"Whoever looks guilty, use them," Kate said.

"Someone did eat my chocolate," Anna said.

Kate smiled at her daughter. Someone had eaten the chocolate she left in the fridge for Anna to have later. It was either Esposito or Ryan, but Kate was curious to see who she would arrest. Rick, perhaps?

Anna gasped. "They're coming."

Kate sunk lower, both of them looking out of the window as they watched the three of them walk down the hallway, talking. Anna jumped down from Kate's back, standing on her tiptoes to see out of the window. They watched as the three men looked at where Kate left their belongings, but not seeing where the mother-daughter pair had gone. Anna held out her handcuffs with a smile. As the three looked towards the break room, both girls ducked, grinning at each other.

"They're coming," Kate whispered.

Anna's hand covered her mouth, hiding her giggle. The door opened, followed by the footsteps and voices of the three boys, questioning where Kate and Anna were. As the door closed, Anna leapt up, running towards them. To Kate's surprise, Anna jumped onto Esposito, arresting him.

"Javi, you're under arrest," Anna said, concentrating on putting the handcuffs on him.

"What? Why me?" Esposito asked, letting Anna arrest him.

"You guys were good," Ryan said. "We couldn't see you anywhere."

"Partners are always good, right Anna?" Kate asked her.

Anna nodded her head. "I got the bad guy, mommy."

Kate grinned. "You certainly did."

"Why am I the bad guy?" Esposito asked with a slight whine.

"My chocolate went missing," Anna said.

"You stole her chocolate?" Rick asked, gasping. Kate could see that he was enjoying this. Rick obviously didn't expect this today.

"No!" Esposito said. "I didn't steal anything! It was Ryan!"

"Kevin gives me chocolate," Anna said. "You always eat the chocolate."

"I can prove I'm no bad guy," Esposito said. "Check my pocket."

Anna watched him curiously and then her small hand went into Esposito's jacket pocket, a smile stretching on her face. Her hand came out holding a new bar of chocolate.

"You're bailing yourself out with chocolate?" Rick asked amusedly.

"Like I said, I'm not a bad guy," Esposito said.

"Your free to go," Anna told him, taking her toy handcuffs of him again. Esposito rubbed his red wrists, the handcuffs being too small for him. They watched as Anna crossed her arms, glaring at Esposito. "Don't eat my chocolate next time."

He raised his eyebrows at Kate. "Have you been teaching her?"

"Nope," Kate grinned. "I guess it just runs in the family."

Esposito turned to Rick. "I wouldn't get on their bad side."

"Daddy is a good guy," Anna said. "Mommy told me."

Rick smiled, looking up at Kate. "I'm glad she told you."

"She thought you was the bad guy, but she was wrong," Anna smiled as Kate looked away. "Javi you're a good guy as well, I was just pretending."

"That seemed real to me," Esposito held his hand out, allowing Anna to give him a high-five.

"Kevin you're a good guy as well," Anna smiled at him.

"Good, I don't plan on being arrested any time soon," Ryan smiled receiving a high-five from Anna.

Anna asked Esposito to open her chocolate, which he did, messing up her hair at the same time. They all had to start on the paperwork for the case they had closed the day before, knowing there was going to be a lot, given the children that had witnessed the murder, on top of the cons that followed. As they worked, Anna played with Rick and occasionally came over wanting to help Kate. She would look out the corner of her eye, seeing them playing with her police car or drawing a picture together.

When Ryan took his break, he sat with Anna in the break room, him with a coffee and juice, respectively. Kate remembered when Anna was a few months old, Ryan holding her with a smile just like he had now, telling her a story. Even Esposito, who had said he wasn't good with kids or babies had held her and beamed when Anna gave him her first high-five.

One time, she had gone out on a date, the first since Anna was born. The girl was a year and a half old. This was before Will had come along. She had the boys come over to babysit, not wanting to stop her dad from going out. Kate had come home, finding blankets spread along the floor and both boys and her daughters asleep on top. They had chased her around the house, tiring her out until the girl had crashed. Then they soon followed after her. She hadn't had the heart to wake the boys or move Anna, so she had put the blankets on top of them, snapping a quick picture for Anna's book.

By the time the end of the day came, Kate sighed looking up to find Anna asleep on Rick's lap. The sight took her by surprise, a small smile showing. It was cute, the way her daughter snuggled up closer to him, holding Mr Lion.

"She looks comfortable," Kate said.

He looked down at her, watching as she slept. "I don't think she'll be waking up any time soon."

"You do tend to tire people out," Kate smiled.

"She actually looks more like you asleep," he said. "A mini you with longer hair."

"A mini me with your eyes," Kate said.

"You know, I keep thinking about how things might have have turned out if I had left my number with you, or recognised you at the signing," he said.

"I think we should focus more on the future then the past," Kate said.

"Which is what?" He asked.

Kate bit her lip, unsure. "Something I haven't worked out yet."

"Worked out as in?"

"Everything," Kate said. "Can we put off that conversation for a few months?"

They were just starting to get on again, learning to forgive each other through Anna and working together. It was small steps, but Kate could feel the pressure lifting and maybe soon the glass between them would break.

"And Anna?"

"I think we're going to have to end up talking custody and parenting stuff," Kate paused. "I just think we should take it one step at a time. She's been around your place, she's met Alexis and your mother, and she gets along with them fine. She loves you."

"She does?" He smiled.

Kate shook her head. "She loved you even before she knew you were her dad."

His smile grew wider. "The next step would be?"

"I guess in a few weeks we can try Anna staying at yours," Kate said. "But she's only ever slept in her bed."

"We'll do it slowly," he said. "One step at a time."

Kate looked up to him, his words were intended for more than just Anna. "Who knows where time will lead."

Hope you liked the chapter. Hinting Caskett, but they have a while to go yet. Next chapter will be Halloween. Please do review.