A/N: This one is set after 'Heroes and Villains' (Ep. 4x02)
Jim called Kate as soon as he got home from his meeting. He'd been trying to pace himself, to give her space. He'd promised not to call too often. But he couldn't help it.
She picked up on the first ring. "Hi Dad."
"Hi Katie, how are you doing?"
"Good, thanks. How are you?"
"I'm fine." Jim could hear voices and movement in the background. He sighed. It was late. "Still at the precinct?"
Kate sighed. "Dad –"
"Katie, you know you're supposed to take it easy for a while. Don't push yourself too hard."
"I'm not, Dad. I'm just doing paperwork – we just wrapped up a case."
"Congratulations." He still felt pride each time Kate led her team to the solution of a crime. He knew how hard they worked to find justice.
"It was a really interesting case, actually," Kate said. "A particularly gruesome murder with some... surprising stories behind it."
"Sounds like you're fully immersed in work again," Jim observed, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing. He knew she loved her work, and that getting back to it was part of her healing process. He knew that the doctors had confirmed that she was physically fit to return to work. But if she chose to replace the cabin with the precinct as a hiding-place, the mental and emotional dimensions of her recovery could be stunted. Work might cover up the cracks, but the deeper wounds would remain.
"Don't worry, Dad," she said, as if she could read his anxious thoughts. "Honestly, I'm fine."
"Are you getting enough sleep?"
"I try."
"Are you eating properly?"
Another sigh. "Dad –"
"I just want to be sure you're okay, Katie."
"I know, Dad. And I am, trust me." She paused. "I have to go, Dad. Need to finish up here so I can get home at a decent hour."
"Alright. Call me back when you get home?"
"I don't want to keep you up," Kate said.
"Don't worry about that. I'll be up." Worried by the tiredness in Kate's voice, Jim was hoping that the prospect of the phone call would be added motivation for her to go home and get some rest.
He was sitting in bed, reading, when she finally called back. "Hey, Dad. Still awake?"
"Yes, just about to turn in. Thanks for calling."
"Well, I knew you'd probably stay up all night if I didn't call. Dad, you need to stop worrying so much. Trust me, I'm absolutely fine."
"I'll do my best, Katie." Feeling somewhat chastised, he decided to change the subject. "So how's the new captain?"
Kate sighed. "I don't know. I'm still trying to figure her out. Word is, she's very strict, very by the book. And because of her Internal Affairs background, she's not really seen as a 'cop's cop'. I don't know how much of that is real, and how much is just perception – there's a lot of prejudice against IA cops. So I guess we'll see how it goes."
"It'll take time for her to win over the precinct," Jim said, "to be as loved and respected as much as Roy was." He knew how much Kate and her colleagues had looked up to Roy Montgomery, how much they all missed him.
Kate laughed softly in response to Jim's comment, but her laughter was hollow. "I don't think that's even possible, Dad. But we'll all continue to work as hard as we always have. If Gates is as good as they say she is, there won't be any problems."
Not exactly a ringing endorsement, Jim thought to himself. He knew it would take time for Kate to trust Victoria Gates as a leader. But he also knew that if Gates succeeded in earning Kate's loyalty, she would never lose it. Kate's trust was never easily won, but it was a precious gift for those fortunate enough to receive it.
"So tell me more about the case you just closed," he said. "You mentioned something about 'surprising stories'."
"Yeah, the case was a weird one, Dad. A vigilante superhero, a wannabe sidekick, a criminal with a grudge, a cop trying to avenge her father's death... and a crime reporter."
"Sounds... interesting," Jim said thoughtfully. He was intrigued by the 'cop trying to avenge her father's death'. That was certainly something that Kate would understand. Jim was saddened when, immediately after returning to work, Kate resumed the hunt for her shooter – and thus, the hunt for her mother's killers. She had come much too close to death for Jim to ever be comfortable with the thought of her heading down that dangerous, obsessive path again. It was time for her to rebuild and move forward, not to dwell on the past. He was relieved when she later admitted to him that the trail had gone cold. He was still afraid that she hadn't completely given up on her mission, but at least she had run out of risky leads to pursue. For now. He couldn't help but wonder if Kate had learned something from this case – that the road to retribution could sometimes be a destructive one. He could only hope.
"Oh, it was definitely interesting," Kate said, drawing him from his thoughts. "There were some... parallels."
"To what?" Jim asked.
"To me and Castle, actually," she said. "And even the Heat novels."
Jim put two and two together. "The reporter and the cop."
"Yes," Kate confirmed. "Castle actually picked up on the connection before I did. It was totally his kind of case – the whole superhero angle. He loved that." For the first time since they'd started speaking, Jim could hear a happy note in Kate's voice.
"How's Gates coping with having him back at the precinct?" Kate had told Jim how Castle pulled some strings with the mayor in order to continue working with the team.
"She's not thrilled, to say the least," Kate said dryly. "She doesn't like him, or the fact that she's stuck with him. She'd kick him out again in a heartbeat if she could. But the mayor has spoken, so she's going to have to deal with it."
"And how's Castle coping with her disapproval?"
"You know Castle," Kate said, and it struck Jim that he really did feel like he knew the writer, despite only having met him a couple of times, and under very challenging circumstances. But those encounters, difficult as they'd been, had only strengthened the positive impression that Jim had formed of Richard Castle after many months of hearing about him from Kate.
"He's not letting the Captain's animosity bother him," Kate continued. "He tries to use his famous Castle charm on her now and again, but it doesn't work in the slightest."
"So now that you've been back at the precinct for a while, how does it feel?" Jim asked.
"Well," Kate said thoughtfully, "in some ways it's exactly the same, and in others, completely different. I can tell that the guys are still a little spooked by what happened to me, but they try not to let it show. They know how much I'd hate to be treated differently."
"It's okay if your friends are concerned for you, Katie."
"I know. I appreciate that, but I've been a cop for a long time, Dad. That part I can handle." She paused and took a deep breath. "The hard part is all the stuff on the inside. Everything that's happened, everything I've been through... Dad, I'm starting to see that there's so much that's been holding me back from having the kind of life that I want. And maybe it's time for me to change that."
She paused again, then laughed self-consciously. "Listen to me, I sound like a crappy self-help book."
Jim was moved by the yearning and sincerity in Kate's voice. "No, Katie, I think you're on the right track. Sometimes our worst experiences can be the springboard for something great."
"I – I started seeing someone," Kate said. "A therapist."
Jim was glad. There was a lot that Kate held tightly bound up within her, not just since the shooting but since her mother's death. She tried to cope with her deepest hurts by internalizing them, and Jim knew from his own painful experiences that burying her pain wasn't the solution. He'd once tried to do the same thing, and had ended up addicted to alcohol. Jim knew that Kate wouldn't find true healing from the past until she came face to face with it. Talking to a professional would help. "I think that's great, Katie. Really. How's it going so far?"
She laughed again, a little harshly this time. "Slowly. Painfully. I'd forgotten how difficult it is to spill your guts."
"Hang in there. It's worth it."
"I know. Remember when you told me never to be afraid to try? Well, I'm trying to take your advice, Dad."
Jim remembered it well – their talk at the baseball game, after Castle left the precinct for the summer... Kate's poignant disappointment and sadness. Was that really just a year ago? So much had happened since that day. When Jim spoke, his voice was husky with emotion. "I'm glad, Katie. I'm proud of you."
"Thanks, Dad. Listen, I should let you go. It's late."
"Yes, and you need your rest. Did you remember to –"
"Don't worry, Dad," Kate interrupted. "I'm being good and following all the doctor's orders."
Jim smiled. "Okay, Katie. I'm glad to hear it. Good night."
"Good night."
As Jim ended the call and prepared for bed, his thoughts stayed on Kate. The events of the last few months had been intense and brutal. He still wished that she could have relied on others when she needed them the most, that she hadn't been so stubbornly insistent on going it alone. But he was also thankful for the time they'd spent together at the cabin. And he was glad that she was talking to a therapist.
He hoped she would find what she was looking for, the freedom and growth that she so clearly wanted. And he hoped that she'd someday be able to open up her heart to love. Jim knew that the shooting had been a setback in that process, but he also believed, just as he'd told her, that she could find a way to make it a springboard.
A/N: As always, thanks for reading and reviewing!
