a.n. This chapter gave me nothing but trouble and took more than two weeks to write. I didn't really know what to do in this chapter. Skipping to Alex's time with Kate while Rick is away didn't seem quite right yet. At one point I wrote a scene that had Kate, Espo and Ryan in a shootout that ended with Kate and Ryan seriously injured and Espo dead. Yeah. Needless to say I didn't know what I wanted to do. This is the final outcome. Whether it's good or not, let me know in reviews, cuz I have no clue.

Big thanks to Her Pegship who is my awesome beta. Check out her Castle fics, though good luck choosing one to read, they're all so good. Ah, just read 'em all.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle, like at all.

-:::-

May 9 2010 (Continued)

Happy Mother's Day? Kate stared at the little boy at her apartment door in shock. It was Mother's Day? She hadn't even considered the fact that Mother's Day now applied to her. For many years, it had just been another day that she had to live through.

"Thanks, Alex," she finally said, moving aside so he and Rick could enter her apartment. As it was Sunday, she had just been home doing chores, so she was dressed like she usually was at home, a overlarge sweatshirt and yoga pants. She thought she saw Rick's eyes drift down to her legs, but she was sure she imagined it.

"Hello, Kate. I know it's your day off, so we won't stay long, but our boy here was pretty excited this morning," Rick said with a smile.

"It's fine. I'm happy to see you guys."

"Mom!" Alex shouted, pulling on her hand. "Come on, I got you a really cool present!"

Kate heard Rick laugh as Alex pulled her into her living room. It was dawning on her that for the first time ever, she was going to be celebrating Mother's Day as a mother. It was surreal and exciting. There was a bit of sorrow there as well, as she thought about her own mother, but she quickly pushed that aside.

Kate took a seat on her couch beside her son and oomphed under the weight of the package he dropped on her lap. It was a small package, but it was definitely heavier than it looked. If she had to guess, she would guess that it was a really large book. There was also another small package on top of the suspected book. She grasped the smaller package first then unwrapped it slowly.

It was a comic book. A Batman comic book.

Alex laughed. "I thought you might like to read about a real superhero."

Kate scowled playfully then reached over and pulled her son into her side. "Thanks for that, Alex. Superman is still better, though."

Alex just groaned. "The other one is your real present. Dad helped me picked it out."

Kate looked over at Rick who had taken a seat at the other edge of the couch. He smiled at her, which she refused to admit did funny things to her stomach. She looked down at the other package that still sat in her lap and then slowly started to open it.

War and Peace had been her favorite novel in high school. She'd always wanted to have a first edition or something special like that, but had never actually gotten around to buying anything other than a mass produced paperback version. The present she had just unwrapped was something special. It wasn't a first edition (she would have been horrified about how much that would have cost). Instead, what she had was an illustrated version of the novel she loved so much.

"Dad said you really liked that book. So I found that on Amazon."

"I love it, Alex. Thank you so much." She hugged him tightly, pulling him even closer to her.

"I also have a card for you." He handed her an envelope.

Kate smiled and tried to keep herself from crying. She opened the card and found that it was a handmade card wishing her a Happy Mother's Day. The drawing was spectacular, and she knew that she would hold it dear to her for the rest of her life. It made her sad that this was the first time she had been able to celebrate Mother's Day, but quickly pushed aside the guilt that she knew would continue to haunt her.

"It's awesome, son, thank you." She hugged him again and sniffed. Dammit. She was crying.

-:::-

May 26 2010

Kate knocked on her father's door with one hand while holding a pastry box in the other. She smiled as she thought of how her father's face would look when she showed up with his favorite doughnuts in hand. As a rule, he wasn't much of a sweet eater. She could remember how her mom had made fun of him, however, over his infatuation with sugary doughnuts with rainbow sprinkles. For whatever reason, Jim Beckett couldn't ever get enough of them.

"Katie! You made it. Beth got called into the office, so it's just us this morning."

Oh, so sad, Kate thought insincerely but didn't say. She watched delightedly as her dad opened the pastry box and lit up with joy when he saw the sprinkled confections. The happiness on his face made him look years younger, which was something Kate was happy she got to see.

The breakfast that followed was nice. She was exceedingly happy that their relationship was better. They weren't back to where they had been before her mom died, and Kate was smart enough to realize that it was unlikely that she would ever be as close to her dad as she had been. But it was enough.

"Dad," Kate said after they had cleared the table. "Do you have any plans for next Wednesday?"

Jim cocked his head to the side. "No, not really," he replied. "Why?"

"IwantyoutomeetAlex."

"A little slower, Katie, I didn't quite catch that."

"I want you to meet Alex. That is...if you want to," Kate said more slowly. She couldn't really understand why she was so nervous, but she was. Alex had asked about his grandfather the previous week, and she knew that it was time to introduce them. But she worried that maybe it was too soon. That and she was worried that she was becoming too possessive of Alex's time. She didn't want to share him, even with her dad. Kate knew it was petty and irrational, but she couldn't help it.

Jim smiled. "I'd love to. Uh...should it just be me, or should Elizabeth come?"

"I...I don't know, really. Maybe it'd be best if this first time was just you, but it's up to you." Kate hadn't even considered her dad's new wife when deciding it was time to introduce her dad to his grandson.

"Okay. What time and where?"

"I actually thought that you could come to my apartment. I'll cook dinner and we can all eat together."

"That sounds really nice. Will Rick be there?" Kate could hear the teasing tone in his voice, which made her scowl.

"No, Dad, Rick won't be there."

"Why not?"

"Dad," Kate said firmly, trying not to whine.

"I just think it'd be good for the two of you to spend more time together, that's all."

Kate scoffed. "Your intentions are totally innocent, I'm sure. Besides, I have spent more time with him in the last month. We went bowling, we had dinner a few times, and we played laser tag. We're friends, or at least working towards being friends again."

And they were. Her relationship with Rick was much better in the last month than it had been prior to Rick's birthday. She wouldn't go so far as to call everything mended - she wasn't a fool, after all - but it was good enough. However, the way her dad was staring at her made her uncomfortable. It was no secret that Jim Beckett had always liked little Ricky Rodgers. Even when she had started dating Rick, back then, Jim had been nothing but supportive. He hadn't even gone through the whole threatening father routine. After her breakup with Rick, her dad wasn't so keen on any of the men she had mentioned (she'd never introduced her dad to any of them, not that there were that many).

She suspected that now that she and Rick were back to being friends, her dad would want her to be with Rick once again. That thought only made her blush. At age 20, Ricky Rodgers had still been a gangly kid with poor eating habits. In the ten years since then, he'd filled out. Really well. In the month since they had been back to being friends, she could admit (only to herself, of course) that she'd checked him out a quite a few times.

J

im smiled. "Your blush says something more than friends."

"It's not going to happen, Dad. It's just not. There's too much hurt there for us to ever be a couple again."

"But you want to." It was a statement.

Kate blushed. "We've gotten closer since the beginning of April. We're friends again. I...I admit that it's hard for me not to remember the feelings I once had for him." Kate shrugged. "If I hadn't hurt him and Alex so badly, maybe...but it doesn't matter, because I did. I did hurt them, and even though they're okay with me now, that doesn't mean it's all forgotten or forgiven."

"Maybe. But you never know what will happen."

-:::-

May 27 2010

Rick scowled at his publisher. "I've already agreed to the tour, Gina. I'll go for six weeks. I've got everything scheduled so that Alex isn't left alone, and I've already made some plans to do some research while I'm away. What you're asking now is just too much."

"Rick, you want to sell more books. We want you to sell more books. The whole playboy thing will help. You've got the looks for it, and with Paula's help you'll be on Page 6 every single week. She's a great agent, but you're not using all of her capabilities."

"I'm not going to go out and start flaunting myself just to sell more books, Gina. Absolutely not."

Gina sighed. "Rick. Authors are a resource that Black Pawn treasures. Right now, you're not doing all you can to bring back the investment we've placed into you. Your pseudonym is famous and your books sell really well. Six straight best sellers is nothing to sniff at. But it could be so much more."

"I don't care, Gina. I've never done this for the fame, you know that. I will start to do more tours now that Alex is older, but other than that, nothing changes. If you can't deal with that, then when I finish my contract, I'll see if another publisher will take on Derrick Storm for another few books."

With that, Rick stood up and left his publisher's office. He smiled at Gina's receptionist and made his way out of the building that housed Black Pawn. Ever since he had agreed to start touring, Gina and Paula had been pushing him to create a new image for himself - namely that of a philandering playboy. That didn't appeal to him at all. He had a young son who he needed to set an example for. He would not be going out on the town every night with a new blonde bimbo on his arm. He might have decided he wanted to start dating again, but he wasn't going to be doing so at the expense of his son's respect for him.

That was just never going to happen, even if it prevented him from selling more books.

-:::-

And there it is. Yes, we're seeing some turning points for our characters, especially Kate. But it won't be fast. For those of you worried, I'm a Caskett shipper through and through. But it won't be easy.

Up next we see Jim and Alex meeting for the first time. We also get some more history from Kate's pregnancy. After that we will see how Kate's first attempt at solo parenting goes when she gets to spend two weeks all alone with her son.

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