Chap 14

I am soooooo sorry with how long it took me to update this! I just haven't been able to get into the right headspace to write this particular story (in case you haven't noticed I have posted a few new stories in the past week).

The long awaited dinosaur conversation is finally here! Hope its okay! Sorry to those of you that I pestered asking for dino ideas ;)

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Castle. You already knew that though, didn't you?

RC

"So, Dad," Alexis says to me, from her position lying opposite me on the other side of the Scrabble board.

"Yes, my darling daughter?"

"Well, you know how it's your fortieth this year?"

"Argh! Don't remind me!" I hear Beckett begin to giggle from her side of the board, but ignore her.

"Well, don't make any plans. You're not allowed to organise a party of any description." Alexis says.

"Why not?" I ask nervously.

"Because Hannah and I are going to organise a party for you. Well, two actually. On the actual night of your birthday we're planning one for just us, the boys, Lanie, Jim and Grams. And then on the Saturday night we're doing a big one. Think, the whole homicide floor, Patterson and co, actors, singers… Any CIA agents we can get our hands on."

"You – my very grounded daughter – want to organise a party and invite celebrities?"

"It is a party for you." She says, smiling sweetly at me.

"Was this your idea?" I ask, turning to look at Hannah.

"No, actually, it was not. I'm offended you would even think that!" She says, aghast but mocking.

"So, it was your idea?" I ask, turning my head back to Alexis.

"No, it was Santa's idea." She says sarcastically.

"What is this? They've brainwashed you! You're turning into one of them!" I exclaim.

"One of what?" She asks, confused.

"A Beckett." I say the name with distaste and get a sharp jab in the arm from the woman sitting cross-legged on my right hand side, and a punch to the side of my stomach from the girl lying on my left.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Kate says.

"Weren't you a rebel teenager?" I ask, raising my eyebrow at her.

"Ooooh, you were? Why didn't I know about this?" Hannah asks excitedly.

"Ummmm, probably because we didn't know each before yesterday." Kate says.

"Huh. Good point." Hannah says, thinking about it and nodding her head in acknowledgement of her sister's reasoning.

"Dad!" Alexis clicks her fingers in front of my face. "It's your turn."

"Oh yeah. Right." I look down at my letters and grimace. They really aren't very good: R, H, P, A G, H, X, R. Fantastic. It's a good thing I'm an imaginative writer. I grin as an idea comes to mind and I place 6 of my letters beside an A that Kate put down, to spell AARRGHH.

"No. There is no way that's a word." Kate says.

"It is so!" I exclaim.

"I'm pretty sure it's not." Alexis says, agreeing with Kate.

All eyes immediately turn to Hannah to get her opinion, as she will no doubt have one.

"What?" Hannah says. "I don't think I know anyone enough to take sides. I'm Switzerland!"

"I took your side over his this morning!" Kate exclaims. "You're my sister! You have to take my side!"

"Okay, I'm on his side." Hannah says, pointing a finger in my direction and I watch as the two sisters stare each other down, both daring the other to blink.

I stand up abruptly. "I can settle this!" I exclaim and work towards my office.

"Here we go." I hear Alexis grumble as she realises what I'm getting.

I walk to my desk and pull the large book out of the drawer, before going back to the others in the lounge room and dropping the book on the ground with a loud thud before sitting down.

"Really Castle? You have the Scrabble Dictionary?" Kate asks, looking at me.

"No, I have the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary." I say. "Now we can see who's right."

I start flipping the pages and Hannah leans over and whispers in my ear, "I'm glad I chose your side. You know that it's in there, don't you?"

I smirk at her and nod my head slightly and Hannah smirks back at me before looking across the board and smirking at Kate.

"You're a little backstabber, aren't you?" Kate says to Hannah.

Hannah shrugs and opens her mouth to answer, but I cut her off with an "Aha! Found it! Look!" I wriggle over to Kate and point at the word. "I told you it was a word!"

"You are such a pain." Kate says, shaking her head at me.

"Yeah, so? You knew that ages ago."

"I know. I just didn't feel the need to voice that opinion until now."

"Oh, but you have, my dear detective. So many times. 'Castle stop being a jackass!', 'Castle, you're annoying me!', 'Castle, you're a creep!', 'Castle, go away!', 'Castle…'"

HB

"So, you know how earlier you asked me what sort of dinosaur you'd be?" I ask Kate as we enter her apartment and immediately both head towards the couch.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, I've been thinking about it all day, and I've figured out what you are, along with Rick, Alexis, Martha, Ryan, Esposito, and Lanie."

"Really?" She asks, looking over at me, slight curiosity hidden in the depths of her eyes.

"Yes."

"So, what have you come up with?"

"Well, I decided that Rick would be a baby T-Rex or some other carnivore…"

"Why?"

"I'm getting there! Jeez! Someone has patience issues! Anyways, he'd be a baby carnivore because he thinks he's all dangerous and badass, but really he needs everyone else to protect him or he'd be dead."

Kate starts laughing at that, almost hysterically. "You're a genius!" She laughs.

"Yes I know. So he's either that, or a brontosaurus." Kate looks at me, raising an eyebrow as she waits for an explanation. "Brontosaurus' are large herbivores. Not interested in killing at all, but if you annoy them, they get really dangerous, cos they're so big and all. Basically it's the dinosaur version of… um… a teddy bear? Generally harmless, pretty smart, very protective, get's aggressive if threatened."

"Ohhh… I see. I think they're both him. They're different aspects of him." Kate says, nodding her head. "You're a pretty smart kid."

"Thank you. Do you wanna hear what I came up with for the others?"

"Sure."

"Okay. So, I already said Captain Gates is a T-Rex. I think Alexis would be a triceratops. Again, another herbivore, which is very smart, protective, and people think it may have been as strong as, if not stronger than, the T-Rex. I was moreso thinking that if she needed to be, Alexis could be mentally stronger than our personal T-Rex, dear Captain Gates."

"Okay, yeah, I see how that works, but aren't triceratops' big?"

"Yes. But a baby T-Rex is small, and we both agreed that was still Rick."

"Fair enough. Keep going; this is kinda interesting."

I smile happily at her. "Okay, so… Ryan would either be a pterodactyl or a stegosaurus. He would be a pterodactyl cos he's relatively harmless unless annoyed, or someone he cares for is threatened, and he watches over everyone from above, and he would be a stegosaurus cos that's another sweet, harmless herbivore, that again is awfully protective and can turn aggressive if a member of its herd is in danger. Ummm… Esposito… He could also be a pterodactyl, but for a different reason. He's a pterodactyl because he's a bird of prey, watching over everything, thinking things through, getting the best angle, before he swoops. Or he could also be an Allosaurus because they're really dangerous, especially when they hunt in packs, which they did to take down dinosaurs which were way bigger than themselves. Lanie would be an ornithomimus because she's small, feisty and quick, but instead of literally quick, Lanie's quick with her tongue."

"And you can work all this out after having known them for what, a day?"

"Two, actually." I correct

"Yeah, but you didn't see any of them at all today."

I roll my eyes at her. "I have good character judgement. You know how, during your first case, Rick could tell that something had happened to someone very close to you, and that had made you want to become a cop?"

"How did you know that?" She whispers at me.

"He told me last night on our walk back to his loft after I decided to go for my little run. Anyway, I was saying that how he worked all of that out after having known you for an hour, I can work out what sort of a person someone is – their personality, their character traits, their relationships – by having a ten minute conversation with them."

"How do you do that?"

"I don't really know. I've just… I've been able to do it for as long as I can remember. Comes in handy, when a new family shows up to foster me out."

"Yeah. It would. Sooo…What dinosaur would I be?"

I laugh at her. "I'm getting there. I'm saving yours til last. I still have Martha to do. Okay, so Martha could also be a metaphorical pterodactyl, in that she has sky high dreams. For her, the sky's the limit. I wish I could find something better for her, something more literal, but I've been wracking my brains all day and haven't come up with anything else." I sigh, slightly frustrated.

"Well there wasn't exactly a melodramatic, diva dinosaur was there?" She asks, trying to soothe me.

"No, I guess not."

"So," She says after a minute or two of silence. "Can you tell me what I would be?"

I look up at her and roll my eyes. "Okay then. Kate, I've decided you would be a Velocoraptor. Clearly, they're a raptor. Basically, they are really, really fast and athletic, really dangerous, smart, tactical, sneaky, not scared to take on a dinosaur bigger than themselves, and super protective of their families. But that could be slightly too aggressive for you, cos Velocoraptors are pretty mean."

"And what about you? What dinosaur would you be?"

I shrug my shoulders and look down at my knees. "I dunno." I mumble, wringing my hands.

"Well, do the same as what you did for the rest of us. Think about all of your characteristics and place yourself with the one you're most like."

"I know how to do it. I just can't."

"Why not?" She asks, her tilting with the question.

I sigh. "Because I don't know myself well enough to be able to categorise like that."

So… What do you think?

Hope it was kinda what you were hoping for…

Anyways, it's my school social this Thursday and I am in love with my dress!

Pre warning you, I may or may not get another chapter up later in the week.

Does anyone have any inspirational Castle quotes? Eg. "Everyone needs a fairytale." Beckett (Once Upon A Crime), "Life should be an adventure." Castle (A Flower For Your Grave), etc.