Chapter 11

Kate and Rick walked of the elevator and into the homicide floor of the 12th precinct together, Rick still pushing the pram but Kate standing tall on her own. Rick did prefer her tucked against his side, but he understood, this was her work place and she was a woman in a man's job. She has an image to live up to in front of her co-workers, she was a tough hard nose detective in front of them but in front of him she was the soft kind hearted woman and mother.

"Hey Beckett" Esposito called from his desk. He wasn't waiting for her to show up, of course not, he was managing just fine with Ryan, Beckett wasn't an essential part of their clearance rate.

"Hola, chica's" the Spanish detective cooed at his nieces. "And who is this, Beckett? You must trust him a lot to let him take the girls anywhere without you" the detective enquired.

Rick's interest peaked at the mention of Kate's trust levels "What does he mean by that, Kate?" he whispered when she moved closer.

"I mean, she never lets the girls out of her sight. Only once and that's when Lanie dragged her out shopping for an hour about 2 weeks after they were born and Ryan and I looked after them, that's it" Esposito laughed, until he saw the glare Kate was giving him, if looks could kill Beckett would be up for a murder charge.

Kate introduced him as Rick, not Rick Castle, he guessed so not to attract attention to them but what surprised him was that she openly admitted that he was her boyfriend. After introductions were made Kate got down to business, Rick could see Beckett mode really kicking in now.

"So what's the problem, boys, Can't live without me?"

"Nah, Yeah… I mean…. Anyway… Looks like the boyfriend drugged his girl and shot her multiple times in the chest. Lanie said he used the pillow as a poor man's suppressor. We found the murder weapon at the band's rehearsal space. Nobody entered the apartment before the boyfriend and the victim and the alarm system was deactivated around 9am when the boyfriend was spotted leaving the place. He says he didn't do it but he can't remember anything from that night, but he woke up with a gun in his hand, saw all the blood and ran." Ryan said as he walked up to them, quickly.

"So, what's the problem? Arrest the boyfriend" Beckett asked, confused at what they couldn't understand.

"Problem is, both of them were roofied when they got back to the apartment." Esposito answered.

"Oh" Kate said leaning on her desk, facing the murder board. The boys still hadn't moved it since she left, she kinda thought it was sweet.

Rick push the pram over to the desk, pulling a chair up next to it to sit down and listen in but still keep an eye on the babies for Kate. They started to stir a little so he pushed and pulled the pram gently with his foot.

"So it had to be the boyfriend. You said no one left or entered the apartment between 10pm and 9am. What other explanation is there? The boyfriend has to be the shooter" Ryan chimed in.

"Unless.." Kate pointed with a pen, thinking if her theory makes sense

"Unless what?" the two cops and a writer asked.

"Unless, The killer was in the apartment the whole time" Kate suggested biting on her lower lip at the looks the three men were giving her. Breaking them out of the stunned silence the babies gurgled. Rick turned and picked up Michie and Kate walked over to pick up Mac.

"Nwah, how are you baby girl, did you enjoy your little sleep? Mummy missed you this morning, gorgeous." Kate cooed bringing her daughters head to rest on her shoulder and her bum to rest in the crook of her arm. Rick cooed Michie, trying to get her to smile again, but she wouldn't.

"When they went home, they thought they were alone' Rick started to theorize, attracting the attention on the detectives.

"Meanwhile, while they're out of the room the killer silently slips out, spikes their drinks and then slips back into his hiding place where hee" Kate continued until Rick interuptped

"Or She"

"Waits for them to pass out"

"And then a couple of hours later, he slips out again, grabs the pillow, then Bam, he…"

"Or She" it was Kate to interrupt this time

"Wipes the gun clean and puts it into Dale's hand" Rick continued. By this time Kate and Rick were standing, facing each other, each holding a baby, in front of the murder board. All the boys could do was watch as the theory flew between the two.

"He wakes up, panics, he runs. All the while our killer bides his time; waiting til the body is discovered before he makes his…" Kate continued the theory, pausing in time for Rick to interrupt again.

"Or her"

"Escape" she finished. "Boys, go back to the room, check under the bed. There was enough blood on that mattress for it to soak through, by the looks of things. Check round the edging for bloody prints that may have been wiped clean."

"Then BAM, you've found your killer" Rick finished off for her.

They turned to look at the other two detectives, there standing there mouths open at the interaction between their boss and her new found love, there is definitely something between these two, they thought.

"Look boys, Look for the killer, not at us. The girls are getting hungry so Rick and I are going to go back to the apartment and I'm going to give them a bottle. Ring me to let me know how everything goes or if you need anymore help. K?"

"K" they said in unison, turned and walked towards the elevator.

Rick went to get up and strap Michie in her seat when Kate interrupted "Hold on Rick. I just want to go see the Captain about something before we leave"

He nodded, she walked away with Mac.

"Captain?" she asked, knocking on his door.

"Beckett, nice to see you back, and you bought one of your junior detectives. Come here little bubba" the Captain walked over and clapped his hands toward the baby in Kate's arms.

"Michaela is out by my desk with Rick, the boys called me for help on a case" she explained handing the baby over to her adopted father. Montgomery took Kate under his wing after finding out her about her past.

"What can I do for you, Kate?" he asked

"Sir, I would like to talk to you about my maternity leave again"

"What about it, you are not coming back earlier than we discussed" he stated.

"I know sir, I was hoping to extend it, use it all up for these two"

"What's with the change of heart, I'm not saying it's a bad thing; don't get me wrong, it's excellent. But you were so set on coming back the week after their 2 month appointment"

"Well, I've been thinking about it since they were born, but Michie smiled at me for the first time today. I almost missed it because Rick had taken them to the park to let me relax for a bit and it got me thinking about how much I would miss if I came back to work now. And I don't want to miss either of their milestones. I was thinking about maybe after the maternity leave is over, just coming back part time until they turn one. If you don't mind, sir"

"Sounds like a plan, detective. You enjoy the next few months and then we can discuss it. I'm sure you won't be left completely out of the loop, Espo and Ryan will certainly need your brilliance. Now.. Call this Rick, fella, in here. I would like to meet the new man in my best detective's life. Plus I want to see my other very cute, very bright granddaughter"

Kate went just outside the door to call Rick over when she heard "Who's my brilliant baby girl… Yes who is my very clever baby girl" as he had her lying on her back across his flat knees bobby her up and down. Kate wandered further out of the captain's office, leaving Mac in there with him.

"What are you doing to our daughter?" Rick just looked at her.

"Our Daughter?" he repeated.

"Well, you were just calling her yours, can't have her growing up confused now can we?" Kate flirted.

"I was ahh, trying to get her to smile again. But I don't think it's going to happen for me. But she was lifting her head up and following my hands with her eyes before"

"Well, the Captain wants you in his office. He wants to see Michie." Rick went to hand Kate the baby "Nuh uh" she shook her head "He also wants to meet you, seeing as you're gunna be sticking around for a while"

Rick stepped in closer and whispered "I plan on sticking around as long as you let me". Kate shivered at his breath across her ear but was seemingly unaffected, just walked towards the coos of her baby girl in the other room while Rick followed up close.

Rick walked into the Captains office, he was a little nervous, this is just as bad as meeting your date's real father, except her Captain has a gun. Rick stands close to Kate, a baby in one arm and his hand resting on her lower back, she could tell he was nervous.

"So, this is the boyfriend" Montgomery said in a serious tone. "Do I have to give this one a warning, Kate? You have two babies to take care of now, you can't be worried about what he's doing behind the scenes" Rick gulped.

"No sir, I plan on treating Kate right, sir. Kate and her babies are a part of our family, loved equally by myself, my mother and most of all, my daughter"

The captain nodded, a smile cracked on his face. "I'm kidding, but you hurt our Kate and there are a room full of detectives and a Medical Examiner that you will have making your death and excruciating one but it will look like an accident. Got me?"

Kate smiled, trying not to laugh while Rick stood frozen and nodded. "Roy Montgomery" the captain said, holding out a hand "nice to meet you"

"Rick Castle" the writer stated shaking the hand on offer "nice to meet you too, a little scary but it's good to know Kate has some good people looking after her when she comes back to work"

"Well, Captain. We better let you get back to work, the girls a getting hungry and we have a few things to do before we pick Alexis up in…' she looked at her watch, 12.30, in 2 and a half hours. Don't we, Rick?"

He just nodded as Kate went to take her baby from her boss and father figure.

~CASKETT~

An hour and a half later the pair returned back to the loft with groceries and some necessary baby items in the back of Rick's SUV, they had take a cab back to the loft and picked it up. Kate had been staying at the loft the last few days and thought it might be a good idea to pick up some nappies, a couple of extra bottles, baby wipes and a couple of extra dummy's each. Rick insisted on paying for it all with the grocery bill but also picked the out a stuffed toy and a little book to read them before bed each night.

"I used to do the same thing with Alexis, when she was good at the grocery store she knew she could pick out a book. Still do sometimes, when I do the shopping during the holidays or on a weekend. That's why her nursery and bedroom are full of them and why she loves reading so much now. Got to start early with these bright little chickens"

"All I can say is thank-you, Rick. In this short amount of time you have done so much more than I could ever re-pay you for"

"Just being here, you and them, is enough repayment, love" Rick was caressing her arm gently. Kate was pushing her weight onto her toes to gain some height, kissing his cheek she repeated her "Thank you". When the girls started to grizzle, they had been fed before going into the shopping centre and they really were ready for bed, they had been awake for all that time. It was the longest they had ever stayed awake in one session.

"I'll put the girls into bed and then come down and help you unload the groceries. You bring them from the car and I'll unpack, yeah?"

Rick kissed her forehead "Sounds good".

~CASKETT~

With the two of them it didn't take much to unload the groceries but because the girls had just been put to bed one of them really needed to stay at home rather than waking them while the other picked Alexis up. Kate wanted to spend some quality girl time with Alexis but felt bad asking for Rick to look after her kids.

"Rick?" she asked nervously

"Yes?"

"Would you mind looking after them, they should sleep for most of the time, but I would really like it if I could take Alexis out for ice cream, just the two of us. You know, girl time, keep my promise that just because she isn't really mine I wouldn't love her any less and not only spending time with her when I'm with you"

"Sure. She will love that Kate. You know, I'm not the only one doing more than necessary. You are going above and beyond with Alexis as well"

"Well, if we are going to give this relationship thing a go, Alexis needs to be okay with it. I can't start off in her bad books by breaking promises, can I? The twins, they don't know any different at the moment, but Alexis, she does. The last thing I want to be is more heart break for that little angel"

Rick nodded and gave her another peck on the cheek "How bought we talk about that date of ours when you get home, sort some things out so then we can let mother know our plans? She will kidnap your kids if you don't let her baby sit them, you know. She did it to Alexis a couple of years ago. Spoilt her rotten and no other babysitter was good enough for her" Rick smiled and Kate nodded.

"K, but I gotta get going if I'm going to find a car park and get there on time"

"Here" Rick threw her a set of keys "Take the SUV, her car seat is in there, makes it a little easier"

She caught them and nodded. 15 minutes later in was 10 minutes to 3 and Kate was pulling up into a spare car space. Alexis knew that either one of them would be waiting at the front gate, but she was not to go outside the school grounds until Kate or Rick had come and gotten her themselves, even if she saw a car that looked like any of theirs. So out Kate hoped and she walked along and leant on the fence.

Another parent was out the front too, except there was a big difference between her and Kate. She was all dolled up, make-up caked on, 6 inch heels, what looked like thousands of dollars worth of jewellery and very expensive, branded clothing. Kate was in her converse sneakers, a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She still had no make-up on from her hurried preparation this morning.

"Who are you here for? I haven't seen you around before, is your child new here at Belmount Elementry?" The posh lady asked.

"Ahh, I'm here for Alexis Castle. Doing a favour for a friend, you know how it is"

"Ohh, Ricky hanging out with the new flavour of the month that he's too busy to pick up his own daughter" the lady said, rather snobbishly.

"Ahh, No. I'm picking up my BOYFRIENDS daughter and taking her out for ice cream because he is at home looking after my twin girls, who are sleeping. That is why, Ricky, isn't here to pick up his daughter" at that moment Alexis ran out the school door

"KATIE!" she yelled as she jumped into the waiting detectives arms. "Hi Juliana" the little girl turned to the lady that was talking to Kate. "Katie, this is Evan's mum" the name of the little boy came off Alexis tongue as if she was just burnt, she didn't like this kid, Kate could tell.

Kate gave Alexis a kiss and a raspberry on her cheek "That tickles, Kate" the little girl shrieked "Juliana, this is Kate, she's Daddy's girlfriend. She's a detective and gets to chase badies when she goes back to work"

Juliana just nodded as Evan ran out the door. Kate turned with Alexis still on her hip. Come on sweetie, we are going out for Ice Cream, just us."

Alexis looked excited but still curious, she really was her father's daughter "Where is Daddy and the babies, Kate?"

"They are at home, daddy and I did some shopping and they were really tired so they went to sleep but they will wake up before dinner time tonight, you'll be able to play with them while Daddy and I cook"

Alexis nodded in understanding.

"What did you do at school today, honey?"

"We did some painting in art. We learnt about the animals of Australia, did you know they have animals that jump everywhere called Kangaroo's and Koala's are commonly known as Bears but they aren't, they're mar..mar..Marsupials? I think that's how you say it. And they have an animal called an Echidna. It's covered in spikes and that is how they protect themselves and they eat ants."

"That is very cool and you did get the word right, Koala's are marsupials. You are just too clever, you know that" Kate replied buckling Alexis into her seat, which was now between 2 spare baby seats that Rick bought, and hopping in the driver's seat herself.

Kate drove them to a little place near W Houston St in Soho, not far from the loft or the school.

"Kate?" Alexis asked quietly

'Please don't be going shy on me again, baby' Kate thought before answering the young girl "What's the matter, sweetie?"

"Why are we going out for ice cream without Daddy? Normally Daddy's girl friends don't want to play with me, they are only nice to me because of Daddy" Alexis asked quietly, getting more nervous.

"Because, I want to spend some time with you, I want to hear all about your day at school and all about your friends and even about the kids you don't get along with. I want to hear about, ev-er-y-thing" Kate said, emphasising the word 'everything' making Alexis giggle.

"Honey, I don't love you just because of your Dad. I love you because of you, your sweetness and liveliness and the fact that you are more grown up than Daddy sometimes. Lexi, even if your Daddy and I have a fight or something happens at my work always remember that I will always, ALWAYS love you. Nothing will stop that, okay?"

Kate knew that she had told the little girl this before but that was in front of Rick and in Alexis' mind that could have all been for show, saying it to her now with no witnesses meant something more.

"Okay, Katie. Can I tell you what happened at school today when we pick out our ice cream flavours? There is this girl in my class that I want to tell you about" Alexis had realised they were almost outside the parlour as Kate started to slow and steer the car towards the curb side parking spots.

"Of course you can; I would love to hear about your day and classmates" Kate replied. Alexis unbuckled her seat belt and waited patiently for Kate to open the back door to be able to exit the black SUV.

For the next hour they ate their ice cream and Kate listened to Alexis tell her about her teacher, her friends, the things they do in class, Kate knew that Alexis was a clever kid but with the with work the little girl can do in Maths and English and Music Kate realised just how clever she was.

"I can do all the work all the other kids do in class. It's so easy, I ask my teacher for harder stuff but she won't let me. She tells me that I have to do the same work as all the other second graders but it's really boring" Alexis complained.

"Have you told Daddy that the work is too easy?"

"I tried to one day but Gina was yelling at him for not getting his chapters written and she got up me for distracting him so I went back to reading the wizard of oz in my room"

"Well, how about I say something to Daddy and he can come ask you about it?" Alexis nodded.

"Thank you, Kate"

Alexis continued eating her ice cream but Kate could tell she was thinking about something, her brow furrowed and she was staring off into space, just like Rick.

"Katie? You know the lady you were speaking to at school? Evan's mum?"

"Yea, what about her?" Kate knew that there was something wrong back at the school when it came to this woman, she could tell Alexis didn't like her or Evan.

"Juliana tried to get Daddy to date him. She didn't like it when he told her no. She invited him out to dinner before he met you, so we went. I wasn't friends with Evan but I didn't not like him. But daddy decided he didn't want to go out to dinner with her anymore times but she wouldn't listen to him. She kept trying and when Daddy told her it wasn't going to happen because he was seeing someone else she got really mad and Evan became really mean to me"

"Why, what does Evan do, honey?" Kate was becoming a little concerned with the whole situation. She didn't like that other mothers were hitting on her boyfriend but she didn't like the fact that another kid was being mean to Alexis because she was dating the little red head's father.

"He says mean things to me. Things like you only like Daddy for his money and that you don't really like me you're just pretending to get in Daddy's pants. He says you won't become my new mummy because once Daddy gives you what you want you'll leave us. But I tried to tell him it wasn't true, that you loved me and you loved daddy but he said you must be a really good liar because nobody really loves a kid that isn't their own." Alexis was looking down at her hands underneath the counter fiddling with her napkin.

"Honey, look at me" Alex looked up towards Kate and Kate took a pair of tiny hands in her own "You know that's not true. I will never ever lie to you about anything. You know this, you are my daughter as much as Michaela and Mackenzie are, I may not have given birth to you but you are my daughter. I won't ever leave you, never. Evan is just jealous because he wants your Daddy to date his mummy. He's just telling you these things so that you won't trust me. And I can't make you trust me, I don't want to. But I can only prove these things to you over time, okay. But you have no reason not to, If you want to know something or you want to talk to me like we've done today, you only have to ask me."

"I know, Katie. But I still don't like it. I know you won't do these things and so does daddy but nobody else thinks that and I don't want you and daddy to break up because of the mummies at my school"

"We won't honey, that won't happen. How about we head back home now"

Alexis nodded and hopped up off the stool, she waited for Kate to stand and grabbed the woman's hand. They walked back to the SUV, Kate buckled Alexis in and they drove back towards the loft. Traffic wasn't as bad as usual and before they knew if they were riding the elevator up to the loft.

Hi guys,

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you are having a great time. Loving all your reviews and pleased you are loving the story. As usual, let me know what you thought of this chapter, what you think is going to happen next and what you would like to see through the reviews

See you all soon xx