Chapter 26
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"You're applying on behalf of Zoey Queller?" the passport agent asked Castle.
"Yes," he handed her the stack of forms, relevant photocopies, and identification documents.
"You're her father?"
Castle shook his head, "No."
Zoey, who was in his arms, decided at that exact moment to catch his attention. "Daddy! Look at the doggie!"
The agent raised her eyebrows.
"Okay," said Castle, "I'm not technically her father. It's complicated."
"Uh huh," she said. She picked up the adoption decree, "Her mother is Katherine Beckett?"
"That's right. She's my girlfriend," Castle responded, "She has sole custody of Zoey."
She looked behind them, "And where is she?"
"She was waiting with us but she literally just got called away," Castle said and then explained, "Kate's a police detective and she was notified of a case so she had to leave. We asked another passport agent if I could apply for Zoey since we didn't want to have to come back tomorrow and wait in line for another two hours."
She flipped through the papers. "Do you have a signed affidavit granting you authorization?"
Castle shook his head, "No, the other guy checked my ID and Kate had mistakenly filled out a Statement of Consent anyway so he told us it should be okay – I just had to explain the situation."
The agent shook her head, clearly annoyed – although at Castle or at her fellow colleague for dispensing erroneous information, he couldn't tell. "Well, he shouldn't have told you that," she said, "The Statement of Consent is only applicable in cases where a non-applying parent or official guardian isn't available to come in. Otherwise, the person with sole custody of the child must appear in person with the minor in question. Barring a notorized written statement authorizing you, Mr—"
"—Castle. Richard Castle," he supplied, hoping the woman would recognize his name. He wasn't normally willing to exploit his celebrity in this way but a two and half hour wait and their impending flight had made him desperate.
"Right, well, Mr. Castle, a written statement from the parents, or in this case the mother, is required. Otherwise, a third-party is not allowed to apply for a passport on the child's behalf."
"But—"
"—I'm sorry, Mr. Castle. Those are the rules. No exceptions."
Castle made a noise of frustration. "You're telling me that we have to come back tomorrow and line up again?"
She shrugged, "Unless you can prove that you also have legal custody of Miss Queller, yes, Ms. Beckett will have to return to the passport office with her daughter." She gave him an apologetic look and then added, "Love your books, though."
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"Are you excited? I'm excited," said Castle cheerfully, winding his way through the first-class lounge before settling on a table near the window so Zoey could watch the planes take off. After wasting five hours of their lives at the passport office, everything had finally gotten sorted out and they were currently waiting to board their plane.
"I've been to Europe before, Castle," Kate answered. She dropped her and Zoey's carry-ons on the floor. Alexis had run off with Zoey upon entering so that they could explore the snacks that were available. "But yes," she continued with a smile, "I'm excited."
"Because, this time, you're going with me, right?"
Kate shook her head, amused, "I'm more excited at the fact that I haven't had a real vacation in a long time."
"According to the Chief, you could stay in Europe for six months and still have unused vacation days."
"Well, I've never had a reason to use them before," she answered.
Castle smiled widely at Kate's coy implication, "Now you'll always have somebody to travel with."
Kate's attention was drawn away when Alexis and Zoey returned from their adventure.
"Really?" Castle said, looking at Alexis' plate of pastries, "We had dinner less than two hours ago."
Alexis grinned, "We didn't have time to eat dessert." She looked pointedly at Castle, "You know you want one, dad."
Castle didn't even try to deny it. "How much longer until we board?" he asked Kate after taking a huge bite out of a cherry Danish.
Their flight from JFK was due to take-off at 22:05.
Kate checked her watch. "It's nine o'clock so maybe another half hour?"
"Oh, Kate," said Alexis, "The guy said he'd bring over the milk after he's warmed it. He was super nice."
"Thanks, Alexis," Kate replied. She looked over at Zoey, who was leap-frogging back and forth in front of their table. She had been running on adrenaline all day – excited about going to the airport, getting on a plane for the first time, and the trip as a whole. Consequently, even though it was past her bedtime, Zoey still looked completely wired. "I'm hoping it works to get her to sleep on the plane. Otherwise she's going to be unbearably cranky when we arrive in London in the morning."
Kate didn't have anything to worry about. By the time they boarded, Zoey was struggling to keep her eyes open with her thumb in her mouth. Kate's fear of being one of those annoying people whose child cried throughout the entire flight was also allayed when Zoey – after a slight disturbance from the changing cabin pressure at take-off – fell asleep, not waking up until they landed the next morning at Heathrow.
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"Okay, I officially want a case of that Turkish Delight," said Alexis. They had spent most of the day at Tate Modern and had just finished dinner at a Turkish restaurant nearby. "That was, hands down, the best I have ever had."
"I think we should stock up on the chocolate here," Castle chimed in, "It tastes so much better."
"Let's go shopping tomorrow, Kate," said Alexis, "I'm going to ask the concierge tonight about the best places to go."
"That sounds good," said Kate, tapping Castle's shoulder to stop walking while she zipped up Zoey's jacket. They had decided to walk across the Millenium Bridge and the night had gotten chilly.
"I would ask you to come, dad," Alexis continued, "But—"
"—I have interviews all day," he finished with a groan, "Must you rub in the fact that I have to work?"
"It's nice to have the roles reversed, don't you think?" said Kate with a grin.
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On Wednesday, after visiting King's Cross Station so that Alexis could take a picture at Platform 9¾, Kate decided to go visit Castle at his book signing since it was nearby.
The lineup was massive, stretching around two corners. Kate remembered the last time she had gone to one of Castle's signings – she had been one of those fans standing in line, clutching his latest novel with clammy hands.
Kate was surprised when they were stopped at the entrance to the tiny bookstore. Not that she had expected people to know who she was but Alexis was easily recognizable, having gone on enough press tours with Castle to be photographed.
"I'm sorry," said the employee who was standing guard, "The store is closed for a book signing right now."
"We know," said Kate. "That's what—"
The guy rudely cut her off, "—Then you should make your way to the end of the queue."
Kate gave the middle-aged, balding man a staredown.
He didn't seem to register the threat. "These people have been camping out all day," he continued, "We're not letting anybody else in—" he gave her a once-over, "—no matter how hot they are."
Alexis responded before Kate could give this guy a piece of her mind. "I would watch what you say next," she said, "She's a cop. She could knock you out without breaking a sweat."
"And also," Kate said in disgust, "She might not be a minor—" she nodded at Alexis, "—but she is." She made sure the man looked down and saw Zoey holding onto her and Alexis' hands.
"What is going on here, Colin?" A woman, who had a nametag that read 'manager', approached the four of them.
"Your employee needs a lesson in respect," Kate snapped, still glaring at Colin. She directed her attention at the woman then, her tone no longer biting, "My name is Kate Beckett and this is Alexis Castle." She saw Colin's expression change into abject horror out of the corner of her eye.
"Yes, of course, Ms. Beckett, Mr. Castle has been talking about his family all morning. My name is Isabelle. I'm terribly sorry about the mix-up." She ushered the three of them in, shooting a venomous look at her employee. "I apologise for Colin," she said, "We've just been having a lot of people try to push their way to the front of the line."
"That's okay," said Alexis, even though she was still annoyed, "My dad does have a lot of crazy fans."
Kate felt Zoey's grip loosen from her hands. "Daddy!" she yelled, running across the store and nearly tripping over a wire.
"Be careful, Zo," Kate said, steadying her before reminding her to walk carefully.
Castle told the two girls at the front of the line to give him a second, capping his black Sharpie before standing up to catch Zoey and lift her into the air. "This is a surprise," he said with a huge smile.
"We were in the neighbourhood," Kate said, smiling back. Surrounded as they were by people, Kate leaned in to give him a quick kiss.
Castle raised his eyebrows at the anomalous behaviour, "Trying to make all of these women jealous?" he teased.
"I'm making an exception since we're in a foreign country," Kate quipped back.
Some of the people suddenly seemed to realise that Kate wasn't just Castle's girlfriend but also the inspiration for Nikki Heat. Alexis was the one who started to see the information getting passed down the line. "Uh, Kate," she whispered, "Maybe we should get out of here before they start asking for your picture."
Kate and Castle both turned around. "Guess you're not staying then?" he asked.
Kate shook her head. "We just dropped by to see how you're doing and how long you still had but—" she gestured to the door, "—judging by the amount of people outside, I'd say a couple of hours at least."
"Stay with daddy?" Zoey asked.
"Are you sure, Zo?" said Alexis, "It's going to be really boring."
Zoey pouted, "But I want to!"
Castle looked at Kate, "Where are you guys heading?"
"Alexis wanted to go to Covent Garden."
"Well, that's not too far, right? Why don't you two go, leave Zoey here with me, and then come back when you're done."
"She won't be too distracting?" asked Kate.
Castle shook his head. "She might even make this whole thing more entertaining."
"No more walking," Zoey stated resolutely, knowing she was close to getting her way.
Kate chuckled. "All right, Zo, you can stay here. Lexi and I will come back for you in a couple of hours, okay?"
"Promise I gonna be a good girl," Zoey replied, nodding earnestly.
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For the first half hour, Zoey sat in Castle's lap while he signed books, saying 'hi' to everybody and eliciting a lot of 'awws' and 'how lovelys'.
"Is this your daughter?" asked a woman who looked to be about mid-thirty.
Castle nodded.
"She looks a lot like you."
"Oh really?" Castle said, hiding a smile.
"The dark hair, definitely," continued the woman, "And the charming smile."
"Thank you," he said, handing the book back to her. He didn't even think to counter her assumption. It never entered his mind to do so. He often forgot that, on paper, Zoey wasn't legally his. To him, it didn't make a bit of difference that Zoey wasn't biologically related; she was his daughter and that was all that mattered.
A/N: I swear the bias that I have in choosing the cities that they go to only has to do with the fact that I am trying to write what I know so the places I choose are the places I've been! ;) (To the person who suggested Hungary, I desperately want to visit Budapest but have yet to!) However, two shout-outs to anonymous reviewers since I can't PM you:
Meme: Thank you for your awesome review and in fact, I will be sending them to (spoiler alert!) Switzerland – not necessarily to Basel but to a couple of other cities I have been…! And YES, Switzerland is GORGEOUS. I absolutely envy you! I need to go back – I spent a whole summer studying French in the mountains. *sighs… the memories…
Castellum: Thanks for your all of your lovely praise! And I can absolutely relate to that story about your friend – I've taken (still am…) creative writing courses where the prof. has told me exactly that… it's all about editing! Also, I am definitelynot a mum yet but I love that you thought I was! It means that I've managed to convince you with the details ;) As a writer, I just try to do a lot of observing… and googling.