Xxx

Rome ran through the loft clumsily slipping in his trackless shoes as he headed towards his sister's room. He was running out of time and knew his sister could put him back on schedule.

He peeked into her room and was relieved to see she was reading, not talking on the phone or on the computer.

"Lex?" he said softly "Lex can you fix my tie please?" he pleaded, looking completely helpless.

Alexis looked up from her book and smiled, she was surprised and impressed with her brother's attire.

"Rome you look so grown up!" she exclaimed sliding off her bed to meet him in the doorway.

His ears went red as he ducked his head a little. Ms. Hawkins had strongly suggested that anyone participating in the art show come dressed appropriately. For the older kids she left that without an explanation, knowing that they should know what she was talking about without being told. She reminded them that since it was open to the public and the public was paying to come in, that they should treat this as if it was a real art gallery, not their school's gym.

Rome took that to heart, so on his own without being told he took out his suit that he usually wore for his dad's book parties. He used his own money to have it pressed at the dry cleaner around the corner and even had his dress shoes shined up.

The only problem was proving to be his tie, he could never get it straight to begin with and he was getting frustrated with it, hence why he went to his sister for help. He had a half hour before him and his dad were supposed to be there for the show.

Gram and Alexis would be joining them when the show opened its doors at six. Castle had volunteered to help out along with a few other parents and was down in his room getting ready.

"Thanks Lex," Rome said softly as Alexis carefully did the knot on his tie. She could not get over that he had decided to wear the suit all on his own, considering most times, her and gram had to remind him to wear a suit when the occasion called for it. Like the release party for their dad's last Derrick Storm novel, Rome had tried to walk out of the loft wearing jeans and a tee-shirt, which Martha put a quick stop to.

"Are you nervous?" she asked and Rome started to shake his head, but stopped, no point in lying.

"A little," he admitted.

"Why?" Alexis asked putting the finishing touches on his tie, she reached up to straighten his collar and helped him flatten his unruly bangs. "Rome your art is amazing, you should be proud to display it. I can't wait to see what you picked to show"

"I am proud," he started, "but this isn't the same as showing you guys or having it hang in the art room at school. This thing is open to the public; strangers are going to be coming in looking at my drawings. Most of my sketches aren't that good and some of them aren't even original designs, like my cartoon sketches, what if people think I traced those?" Rome asked, his heart was racing a little at the thought of being put on the spot like that, he hadn't thought this over before, but now it was all coming to mind.

Alexis chuckled a little at her brother's paranoia.

"Rome come on, don't think like that, everyone's going to love your work. I wish I could draw like you, you're super talented."

"I picked too many," he admitted, "aren't people going to think that I'm showy? Like I think that I'm better then my classmates. I'm not Lex, there's this girl in the seventh grade, she did two paintings that's all she's showing, one of Central Park in the fall and another one of her dog. She's way better than I am and is displaying less stuff. I've got almost fifteen hanging pieces and a bunch more in my portfolio. None of them are anywhere near Amy's two paintings."

Though Rome's fear was unfounded and made Alexis laugh a little more, she realized this was a very real fear for Rome as silly as it was. She knew she had to calm her brother down before he somehow talked himself out of going to the art show he'd been excited for and talking about for months.

"Rome, stop minimizing your work." Alexis reprimanded gently, she walked over to her desk and took a framed picture down from the wall behind it. She brought it back and handed it to Rome, it was a sketch of her that Rome had done for her birthday. "You did this when you were seven. Most people in high school or even grownups can't draw this well, let alone a seven year old Rome. You're good, you're better than good you're amazingly talented." She paused "remember what you told mom? Tonight is not about competing, it's about having fun and being able to show off."

Rome thought that over, he slowly nodded seeing his sister's point as he handed the sketch back to her, he wasn't completely convinced, but knew it was better to not argue with Alexis.

"Right, sorry Lex,"

She rolled her eyes at him and hugged him tight.

'You're going to knock everyone's socks off.' Alexis signed grinning at him and Rome grinned back.

He looked over at the doorway, peeked out just to make sure no one was coming, before running back into Alexis' room,

'you're the best big sister,' he signed back, he leaned up and kissed his sister's cheek before running out of her room, embarrassed.

Downstairs, Rome went over to his dad's bedroom and knocked on the door carefully. He was having a good hearing day and he hoped that it continued into the night, so he was able to hear his dad say come in.

Rome pushed open the door and grinned at his dad who was all dressed up too, suit and all.

"Hey Dr. Watson, looking sharp." Castle said

"Not so bad yourself Mr. Holmes," Rome replied

"You ready for tonight?" Castle asked slipping his jacket on

"'Bout as read as I'm going to be,"

"Ah," Castle grinned sympathetically "butterflies?"

"Little ones," Rome admitted "that are slowly morphing into turkeys."

Castle raised his eyebrow

"Turkeys kiddo?"

"Yeah, 'cause I read somewhere that they are really stupid and they can't fly very well so they crash a lot. So they're crashing around in my stomach."

Castle burst out laughing at that description and he patted Rome on the back.

"Romey that was a good one, I like that I might have to use that in a book someday."

"Really dad?" Rome asked grinning

"Really," Castle replied, throwing his arm around Rome's shoulders gently as they headed out into the main room. Martha came out of the kitchen and smiled at her boys proudly.

"There they are, my little Monet and my overgrown Peter Pan." Martha said hugging Rome then Castle.

"Overgrown Peter Pan?" Castle asked "really mother that's what you think of me as?"

"If the tights fit kiddo." Martha replied and Rome snorted back a laugh "Now, Romey Alexis and I will arrive at six, Gina called earlier she says she will be there."

Rome grinned wide at that, aside from his immediate family he had also invited a few other people to attend the show, Gina was one, but he had also invited Detective Beckett, but he wasn't sure if she would actually make it.

Since the show was open to the public, the art club was charging to get into the show. Family and friends with tickets could get in without paying, but the rest of the public had to pay five dollars a ticket with all the money collected going to fund an art club field trip.

Ms. Hawkins wanted to set something up for the following year with the high school art teacher to take certain students in the art club, ranging from grades six and up on a two weeks long trip to Paris and London to see the Louvre and the National Gallery in London.

Rome was extremely excited about that prospect and was hoping that they raised a lot of money with their show and that the high school kids did the same when their art show occurred before school let out.

What the kids didn't know and most of the adults did, was that the show would be giving out prizes for the artwork.

Ms. Hawkins made sure that the kids had no idea, because she wanted them to just focus on having a good time at the show and being proud of their accomplishments. But she had three friends, all professional artists who would be roaming the gym and hall looking at all the works on display. They had a number of categories to choose from and would be taking notes on which artist met the requirements for each category, such as cartoons, portraits, landscapes, impressionist, sculpture, oils, and things like that.

At the end of the show, when it was just the kids and their families; Mrs. Hawkins and her friends would give out the ribbons that were specially marked for each category. Ms. Hawkins, knowing she had kids from seven years old to twelve years old participating did the diplomatic thing and made sure there was ribbons for each child.

"you have your tickets right gram?" Rome asked, he had picked them up from Ms. Hawkins the day before, along with Gina's and Detective Beckett's, both of those being delivered personally by Rome.

Gina had said she would be there as soon as her meetings were done, but Detective Beckett had gently told Rome she would try, but she was working a case and didn't know if she'd make it. She had been trying show Rome that she didn't want to break a promise to him, but he told her he understood and he did, there was a big difference between not being able to go to something because you had something really important to do like catch a murderer and just not going because you forgot.

"Yes darling, right in my purse. We will see you there," Martha said kissing Rome's cheek and hugging him tight. "you look so handsome Romey, I can't get over it."

"Thanks gram," Rome replied hugging her back

"Come on Doc, we're going to be late if we don't get going."

"See you there!" Rome exclaimed as Castle herded him out of the loft. Once they were downstairs, Castle hailed taxi to take them to Marlowe Prep.

"I can't believe it," Castle said as the taxi headed towards the school, Rome looked over at his dad curious and Castle grinned "your first art show. I'm so proud of you."

Rome returned the grin

"Thanks dad," he said "and thanks for helping out tonight,"

"Hey I wouldn't miss this for the world."

"What about a dead body?" Rome asked carefully, he was grinning, but he was also partly serious. Castle ruffled his hair and shook his head

"Detective Beckett could call me right now saying she has the weirdest most out there case she's ever come across, giant lizard foot prints, scorch marks on the body, all the makings of a dragon attack in New York City," Rome's grin widened and he laughed "and I still wouldn't leave this art show. I've told you Romey, nothing, not shadowing Detective Beckett, my books, or anything else in the world will ever be more important to me then you and your sister." Castle held out his arm and hugged Rome's shoulders tight, Castle paused and let Rome go "speaking of which, Romey Alexis told me that you were missing two of your sketches?"

Rome made a face and nodded, he had torn his room apart looking for those two drawings, he had checked in every room in the loft, he had even hunted around school, no matter where he looked he could not find the sketch of gram nor the cover art for Derrick Storm. They had both vanished without a trace and Rome had come to the conclusion that someone had taken them, but he didn't know who and couldn't prove they were really taken.

His main suspect was Mitch, maybe finding a way around Alexis' friend Owen who had been looking out for the fifth graders especially Rome. Mitch was the kind of idiot to hold a grudge and would probably do something this stupid out of spite.

But Rome knew deep down that it couldn't have been Mitch, for one thing, he knew that Mitch would be bragging about the deed, it would be impossible for him not too and secondly Rome knew that Ms. Hawkins always locked the art room when she wasn't in it, even if she was just stepping out to get a drink or use the rest room.

If she didn't have a class and wasn't in that room, it was locked. She valued her student's art work and after a few projects had been stolen the previous year as a practical joke, she made it a point to protect the works entrusted to her.

So Rome knew Mitch or even another student was not a possibility, he just couldn't think who else would take his drawings, no one else he could think of and none of the other kids in the show had their projects taken, he was the only one.

"yeah," he replied sullenly

"I'm sorry to hear that pal." Castle paused and thought that over, he knew how Rome was when it came to his art work, he wasn't careless with it.

Rome was a ten year old kid so he wasn't exactly organized except on two fronts, his books and his artwork. It was typical to find Rome's toys all over the loft, his clothes all over his room, and his backpack and jacket usually on the floor near the door to the loft from walking in from school. But Rome never left his art laying around or his art supplies.

When Rome was eight, he actually invaded his father's office and used his father's clothes line to hang up some of his art that didn't fit in his art binder, much to Castle's surprise and amusement when he came home. So to counter that Castle purchased a large magnetic board for him to hang up his artwork.

So Castle knew how careful Rome was and the fact that two pieces of his work, had gone missing was a little disturbing.

"I must have put them somewhere," Rome said as the taxi pulled up at the school and him and his dad slid out, Castle leaned over to pay the driver and the pair of them headed towards the school.

"That doesn't sound like you Dr. Watson," Castle said even though in the back of his mind he knew the missing artwork was NOT Rome's fault, but he had no explanation that made sense.

"Whatcha going to do," Rome replied shrugging

"What pieces were they Rome?"

"The sketch of Gram I did last year and the rough draft for the Derrick Storm cover I gave you."

"I'm sure they'll turn up Doc," Castle tried to reassure Rome as they walked into the school.

Rome glanced over at his dad when they walked into the gym. He had been there helping Ms. Hawkins set up so he knew how the gym had been transformed, his dad hadn't seen it yet and he watched his dad's reaction when he finally saw it.

"Well?" Rome asked grinning

"Wow Romey, this looks amazing! You guys all did this yourselves?"

"Ms. Hawkins had some friends of hers who own an art gallery, they loaned us the boards and helped us set up. One of them even showed me how to display my sketches so they'll be eye catching."

"This place looks like a real art gallery." Castle hugged Rome's shoulders "so proud of you kiddo."

"Thanks dad,"

"Mr. Castle, Rome great you guys made it!" Ms. Hawkins came running up to the pair smiling. "Oh Rome look at you, you look so handsome."

Rome's ears went red, it was one thing to be told he looked handsome by his grandmother and sister, but from a teacher it was entirely different. Castle nudged Rome's shoulder amused by his son's random bit of shyness.

"Rome," he reminded "Ms. Hawkins is talking to you,"

"Sorry, thank you Ms. Hawkins."

"You're welcome Rome. Okay, why don't you go make sure your section is all set to go. Mr. Castle, would you feel comfortable helping Ben and Vicki at the door? They're juniors who volunteered to sell tickets. It'll only be for the first hour, then you'll have to opportunity to look around."

"Dad, you're going to be a bouncer," Rome summed up and Castle grinned at him chuckling.

"I think I can handle it."

"It'll only be for the first hour Mr. Castle, then you'll have the chance to enjoy the artwork."

"Not a problem Ms. Hawkins, it's my pleasure."

Ms. Hawkins nodded

"Thank you Mr. Castle," she said, turning to another student that had just walked in

"Have fun Rome," Castle said signing carefully and Rome nodded, grinning "and don't forget, I am so proud of you."

"Thanks dad," Rome replied waving at his dad, before running off to find his section. Rome had decided to be closer to the far end of the gym floor, it felt like a good spot and he knew Todd would be there too.

"ROME! Over here!" Todd shouted louder than he meant too and Rome grinned, speaking of Todd. He shook his head at his best friend and headed over to him, Todd tended to be loud on most occasions and this was no different as a couple of eighth graders rolled their eyes at Todd and told him to shut up.

"Hey Todd," Rome replied

"Dude we're right next to each other, this is so awesome! What was Ms. Hawkins thinking when she let us set up next to each other?"

"Clearly, she had a massive lapse in judgment." Rome said looking at Todd's display, he grinned "that set up looks great. I told you your stuff would be perfect, and you didn't even want to come."

"Yeah, but look at your stuff Rome, seriously you're scary good." Todd looked around for a second "your dad here?"

"Yeah he's over at the door. Ms. Hawkins has him playing bouncer tonight…" Rome grinned "or better yet the Black Knight." Todd looked utterly confused "Monty Python?" still nothing "dude come on I made you watch that movie last time you slept over. 'remember my dad was doing the voices?"

"Yeah sorry Rome I still got nothing."

Rome chuckled and rolled his eyes. He looked to make sure no one was watching, stood up straight, held his arms out like he was holding a sword in the ground, standing guard. He looked at his friend sternly.

"None shall pass," he said trying to deepen his voice.

Todd thought that over for a second then he grinned, understanding what Rome was talking about. He burst out laughing.

"Oh yeah, the legless guy!"

"Right," Rome replied, he was about to carry on the conversation when a sharp noise shot through his hearing aids and he winced trying to swat the noise away. "Ow, ow, ow,"

"It's the microphone Rome, hold on Ms. Hawkins is trying to fix it!" Todd said quickly, looking at his friend sympathetically, he knew Rome was hurting, but he also knew there wasn't anything he could do about it. Thankfully Ms. Hawkins got the mike under control pretty quick, and she apologized to the crowd of students and parents, many of whom were also wincing.

"I'm okay," Rome said as Todd looked worried

"Do you want me to get your dad?" Rome shook his head

"No, I'm okay, he'll only panic. I'm good now."

"You sure?"

"Positive," Rome replied grinning to prove he was okay "come on let's go see what Ms. Hawkins wants to tell us!" he hit Todd's arm and bolted through the crowd towards the portable stage that their art teacher was standing on.

"If I can have everyone's attention for just a moment please." Ms. Hawkins was saying, as the crowd slowly quieted down.

Rome could feel the vibrations on the floor and looked over at Todd. Up until the screeching noise with the microphone, Rome's hearing had been doing pretty good for the night, but Todd knew his friend and knew how hard it was for him to understand people with microphones to begin with, let alone after a screeching noise like that. He knew that Rome first instinct was to watch the speaker's lips, but with the distance it was tough for him to follow so he went for his second method, feeling the vibrations of a person's voice which didn't always match up well when they were using a microphone so Rome was usually unable to follow the conversation let alone keep up with it.

Rome hated to admit it, but there was certain times he had to ask for help to understand someone.

'Want me to sign?' Todd asked and Rome reluctantly nodded, thankful that Todd could act as a translator.

"Okay, In just a few minutes, Mr. Castle will open the doors and our first Spring Forward for Art Show will commence. You have all worked very hard with your projects and should be very proud of yourselves and I am very, very proud to call you my students. You have faced this art show like professionals and what you have created has blown me away at the talent this school possesses. Be proud of your accomplishments. If someone asks you a question about your art work tell them all about it, don't be afraid to brag, don't hold back. Tonight is the night to have fun and to brag a little." Ms. Hawkins paused a minute letting her speech sink into the students. "Now, without further ado…students to your tables, parents and volunteers to your posts…Mr. Castle, please open the doors!"

Todd signed as much as he could and the other parts Rome was able to fill in easily. Todd grinned at him and made a goofy face and Rome returned it trying not to laugh.

"Come on!" Rome exclaimed as the pair of them ran back to their tables, dodging the older kids, and trying not to trip over each other.

Both stopped dead in their tracks when they got to Rome's table, because they were not expecting who was standing there. Mrs. Blackstead, Rome's new sign language interpreter. She wasn't supposed to start until the following week, but now here she was standing at his art table.

Rome and Todd exchanged a look and Rome sighed, he had mixed feelings about having the interpreter. On one hand he knew it was becoming a necessity and it wasn't her fault that he needed her. But Rome was still pretty embarrassed by the whole thing and seeing her here at the art show just made it that much more real.

The meeting where it had been decided had only been a few weeks ago and Rome had tried to forget it, but he couldn't.

Mrs. Frazier had called the meeting out of concern for both Rome's educational future as well as his friends, Todd especially. Todd who wasn't the best student, but tried really hard was falling behind because he paid more attention to helping Rome out during class. Translating and pointing things out for his friend so Rome wouldn't fall behind and it wouldn't be obvious that he needed someone in the class room to act as a real interpreter. Of of all of Rome's friends and classmates at Marlowe, Todd was the best at ASL, there was no denying that and there was no denying that his heart was in the right place. But he was in trouble and Mrs. Frazier as well as Todd's IEP teacher Mr. Veneer saw it. So the meeting, consisting of Castle, Martha, Mr. Simmons, Mrs. Frazier, Mr. Veneer, Mrs. Goldberg Rome's teacher at Lexington, and Rome himself all meet in Mrs. Frazier's classroom to discuss their options.

Castle reminded Rome that his decision to not get the implants meant changes and this was certainly one of them. Rome had agreed to the interpreter only because Mrs. Frazier and Mr. Veneer brought up Todd and wanting to help his best friend, Rome reluctantly agreed and accepted that Lexington would find a suitable interpreter to attend Marlowe Prep with Rome.

Rome and Todd exchanged another look, Todd who had been really happy and goofy only minutes before was now sullen and angry.

'Hello Rome,' Mrs. Blackstead signed

"Hi Mrs. Blackstead," Rome replied softly

"Mr. Simmons thought it would be a good idea if I came tonight. We're still getting used to each other right Rome, this would be a good stepping stone before I'm in class with you."

Rome tried not to make a face at the prospect of Mrs. Blackstead being in his classroom…signing.

"Right," he said

"So tonight will be a good starting point. But only if you need me, if you are following along just fine, I'll make myself scarce. I will look at some of your friends' art work. Like yours Todd, magnificent."

Todd was extremely protective of Rome, he was a year older and bigger then Rome, so Todd took it upon himself to watch out for Rome's wellbeing. The whole fight with Mitch was the only time Todd wasn't able to protect Rome and he felt incredibly guilty about it, though he was impressed with how fearless Rome had been to attack Mitch.

Todd liked feeling useful, school was tough for him and he didn't feel like he was good at a whole lot, but he was good at ASL there was no denying that, and both him and Rome knew there were times that Rome needed Todd's help just like there were times that Todd needed Rome's help with school.

With Mrs. Blackstead coming into the picture, Todd felt like he was being replaced. He didn't blame Rome, but he did blame Mrs. Blackstead and the other teachers. He knew that everyone thought he couldn't handle school work and helping his friend and didn't believe that it was true, he could handle it. But both boys were in danger of falling behind in school, Todd was paying more attention to helping Rome then his own school work, and Rome was trying to keep Todd on task so he wasn't paying attention to Mrs. Frazier and was missing a lot of instructions.

"Thank you," Todd grumbled "anyways I should go to my table. My parents are bringing my grandmother."

"Have fun," Rome said and Todd nodded

'You too,' he signed making sure Mrs. Blackstead was watching, before he headed to his table.

"So Rome," Mrs. Blackstead brought Rome's attention back "I saw your dad, is your sister and grandmother coming?"

He nodded

"Yeah,"

"They must be so proud of you; I can't get over how talented you are." She said looking at the display, Rome in-spite of himself grinned with pride. "Do you have a favorite?"

Rome shook his head

"No," he explained "not really," he felt his stomach drop because that wasn't entirely true, one of the stolen pieces had been one of his favorites, his sketch of gram. Mainly because it was one of the first portraits he had ever attempted and because it was of gram and she had loved it too, very proud of her grandson's talent.

Rome!" his sister's voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he grinned as Alexis and Gram came over to him, hugging him tight.

"Hi guys!" he exclaimed

"Oh darling these are exquisite . I do not think you could have made a bad decision on these picks, but these are perfect Rome."

"Oh you did include the one of Washington Square!" Alexis exclaimed, "I was hoping you would that is probably one of my favorites."

Rome looked up at the cartoon sketch he had done of Washington Square, he liked going down there to watch the chess games with his dad and had sketched an intense speed chess match between two evenly matched players, he had made it into a cartoon scene and had Donald Duck playing Daffy Duck.

"Thanks Lex," he said softly, trying not to grin.

"Hello, I'm Martha Rodgers, and you are?" Martha said turning to Mrs. Blackstead, she hadn't been able to meet the interpreter before this. The only members of the family who had meet the woman, was Castle and Rome.

"Mrs. Blackstead, the Lexington school hired me for Rome. It's very nice to meet you Mrs-"

"Oh please call me Martha, no need for formalities." Martha said shaking Mrs. Blackstead's hand.

"Are you his interpreter?" Alexis asked looking at Rome carefully, she tried not grin at the face Rome was making.

"Yes honey, are you Alexis?" Alexis nodded "oh wonderful to meet you both." Mrs. Blackstead shook Alexis' hand and gave a wave "well I'm going to wander, Rome are you all set for now?"

He nodded

"Yes,"

Mrs. Blackstead smiled and wandered off to see the other exhibits. Rome sighed with relief.

"She seems very nice Roman," Martha said "what is with the face?"

"Nothing gram," he explained "just nerves,"

"Right," Martha replied, clearly not believing him "oh darling guess who we saw walking up as we were coming in?"

"Who?"

Martha smiled and turned Rome around, he grinned as he saw Gina walking down the aisles of displays

"GINA!" He shouted and ran to go meet her, she smiled and held her arms open as her former stepson wrapped his arms around her.

"Hi honey,"

"You made it!"

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world," Gina replied taking his hand and walking with him back to Martha and Alexis "thank you for the ticket."

"No problem,"

"Hi Gina!" Alexis exclaimed as their dad's publisher and ex-wife hugged her tight.

"Hi sweetie," then Gina turned to Martha, Martha wasn't too crazy about either of Richard's exes, but if she had to pick she certainly could tolerate Gina a lot more than Meredith. There was something down to earth and caring about Gina that Meredith just didn't have and Martha could never deny that Gina clearly loved both Alexis and Rome. "Martha, how are you?"

"Well Gina, so glad you could come." Martha replied cordially, hugging Gina.

"So Rome, show me what you've got. I've been so excited for this all day; my meetings could not end fast enough."

Rome grinned with pride and pulled Gina over to the display table to show her everything he had on display. Despite not having the rough draft for the Derrick Storm cover art, Rome did have a backup plan on that front and had borrowed the actual copy he had made for his dad to display. But unlike the rough draft, Rome wasn't taking any chances and was not letting this one out of his sight, so he actually carried it with him to the art show, now it was time to put it up. So with Gina's help he carefully set it up, Gina nodded with pride hugging his shoulders as she admired the other sketches and drawings that Rome had chosen to display.

"What do you think?" he asked carefully, Gina turned to him and smiled,

'Rome,' she signed 'I am so proud of you,' she paused and kissed the top of his head "I know this is your dad's copy, but I would love it if you made another. I would really like to show it off at Black Pawn, we could bring this to reality Romey,"

"Aw, come on Gina it's not that good,"

"Yes it is Rome. And it's a start; don't be so humble all the time. It really makes me forget who your father is," Rome grinned and shrugged "someday Rome you will be a famous graphic artist and I'll look at you and remind you of this day and you won't believe me when I say I told you so."

Rome was about to deny that would ever happen when Alexis tapped his shoulder and nodded towards the entrance. His mouth dropped open in shock, as Detective Beckett walked into the show nervously; she was looking around clearly trying to find the only people she would know at this show, the Castle family. When she spotted them, she seemed to sigh with relief and walked over to the family.

"Detective Beckett?!" Rome said, still stunned, he had been hopefully, but wasn't getting his hopes too far up. "you came?"

"Hi Rome," she replied smiling "I told you I would try."

"Thank you Detective Beckett," he said grinning

"I don't think we've met, I'm Gina Cowell, Castle's publisher,"

"Detective Beckett,"

"Oh, Nikki Heat I presume?" Gina asked looking down at Rome and Alexis for confirmation, Beckett seemed embarrassed by that, but she must have realized Gina meant nothing by it, just confirming suspicion.

"Apparently," Beckett replied shaking Gina's hand, just as Castle came running over to the group, he stopped short, realizing that Beckett had found Rome just find.

"Ah, great you two have met." He stumbled and Rome and Alexis exchanged a look, grinning at one another at how panicky their dad looked for a second.

"Yes of course," Gina said "it's wonderful to meet you Detective."

"Likewise," Beckett replied

"Rome was just about to show me his sketches and tell me why he picked them, would you care to listen in?" Gina asked and Beckett nodded

"Of course."

An hour or so later, most of the public had left, some of the families stuck around and the Castle family was no exception, Alexis had wandered off to check out some of the other exhibits and Martha after hovering for a while spotted a student who had done photography as their project of Broadway so she went to go admire that. Rome had talked to so many people that night he was glad that he hadn't needed Mrs. Blackstead, who had kept her promise and stayed away unless he needed her. But even with the whole incident earlier with the mike acting up and hurting his ears, Rome could still hear pretty well and was happy about that.

Castle had walked Gina and Beckett out when they left, Beckett first then Gina not long after and he was back at the door helping collect the money.

Rome was floating pretty high, humbled and happy by the fact that so many people in his life gave up their Friday night to come see him show off.

"Admirable work," a new voice broke Rome out of his thought, he looked up to see an older man standing near his table. Rome didn't recognize him, but he had seen so many faces at the show he had lost his initial shyness.

"Thank you," he replied

"Did you do all of these yourself?"

Rome nodded

"Yes,"

"You have talent my boy, amazing talent. Do you have any idea what you would like to eventually do with this talent?"

"Be a graphic artist," Rome explained, "write and illustrate my own graphic novel."

"Comic books?" the man asked, Rome wasn't good at reading tones even on a good hearing day, but he could read faces pretty well and saw the distaste in the man's face when he said the word comic book.

"No sir, graphic novels, they're different then comic books, a lot of famous books have been turned into graphic novels, not comic books." Rome replied politely, a little taken aback by the man's attitude towards graphic novels.

"Well, interesting career choice regardless," the man replied "seems to be a waste of your talent I believe."

Now Rome was really starting to feel uncomfortable, he looked around for someone to come over, Mrs. Blackstead was talking to Martha, he could see the pair of them not far, he couldn't see Alexis and Todd had wandered off.

"My dad doesn't think so," Rome replied softly but boldly

"Ah yes, Mr. Richard Castle, the novelist." The man said smirking a little "it was wonderful to meet you Roman, you have talent son, I would hate to see it be squandered by something as mundane and beneath you as comic books."

Before Rome could argue or say anything, the man walked off without another word. Rome let out the breath he had been holding and felt his heart racing as he looked around for his dad. He spotted Natasha a sixth grader who was stationed nearby.

"Natasha?" he called to her and she looked over at him curious "can you watch my table for a second, I gotta go ask my dad something." She nodded, still confused as Rome darted through the thinning crowd towards his dad, he hated to worry his dad, but the guy had creeped him out and since it took a lot to actually do that, it made Rome very, very nervous.

"Romey!" Castle called when he spotted his son, "having fun pal?" Rome nodded slowly, and Castle saw the look on his face "Doc?"

Pulling his dad away from the front entrance, Rome told his dad what had just happened. Castle listened carefully and nodded, he managed to keep a strong face, but he was a little nervous that someone had talked to Rome like that.

"Do you see him anywhere Romey?"

Rome looked around, then shook his head

"no," he pause "did he pay to come in?"

"We've had so many people coming through Rome I didn't even notice. What did he look like,"

Rome who was usually pretty good with details shrugged

"dunno, he looked regular, there wasn't anything special about him."

Castle rubbed his chin, trying to keep his own nerves in check, he didn't want Rome to think there was anything to be worried about, he just hoped that there wasn't, in an art show open to the public there was bound to be a few weird art people wandering in, and if there was anything to really worry about the multitude of adults walking around would have stepped in to help the kids out.

"Well, we've sold the last of the tickets, people are starting to file out Doc, why don't I stay over there with you and if you see him again point him out and I'll go have some words with him."

"Okay," Rome replied, Castle held out his hand and Rome took it as they walked back to his table.

"Rome?" Castle said and Rome looked up at his dad

"Yeah?"

"There is nothing mundane or low about being a graphic artist. You know that right?"

Rome nodded

"I know,"

"Good because whatever that guy said, you apply your talent to whatever makes you happy. I have said it so many times I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I am very proud of you and of your talent. Got it?"

Rome grinned and nodded

"Got it!"

xxxx

A/N: Okay so I was definitely not planning on uploading this chapter until the weekend, mainly because I didn't think I would have it done before then, but I got hit with a massive writing splurge last night into this morning and decided what the heck, upload it now get it out of the way and get cranking on chapter 22. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I apologize for the length of it. Also I want to apologize for the last chapter I posted, I think I went a little overboard with Meredith's character so I hope you guys can forgive me.

I also want to let you guys know I probably have about six maybe seven more chapters of this first in the series, then the summer fic Hug-Me and I are co-writing will be up and running for as long as that takes to get through that, I'm really proud of what we have gathered so far for that fic and I really hope you guys like it too.

Once that is finished I'll be able to start writing/uploading for the second season, it will be put into it's own fic as will the summer one just to keep these things from getting ridiculously long. But I'll let you know in the future when all that is happening.

So there's a timeline of sorts for you guys on where this is heading. I hope you guys continue to enjoy this fic and the ones that will follow! Thank you for all the continued support I have received for this fic! You guys mean the world to me!

Till next time!