I just apologize. That is all.

Johanna stood alongside her grandfather, watching the floors tick over in the elevator of the 12th Precinct. She sighed with relief as it finally reached Homicide, straightening up as the doors slid apart, allowing her to step out confidently, Jim following close behind. Her eyes searched the bullpen, but she could not yet find her mother. Instead, she beelined for Detectives Ryan and Esposito, who, until she approached, were arguing pettily.

"Hey, Lil B, what's up?" Esposito greeted, holding up a hand for a high five. As Johanna went for it, his hand swooped, she scowling as he chuckled.

"Not fair, Javi," she said indignantly, before grinning and turning to Ryan. It was very rare that the two would share a verbal greeting; often it was simply a warm hug and an exchange of smiles. Today was no different, her head resting somewhere between his collarbone and jaw.

Releasing and taking a step back, she noticed her mother was still nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Mom?" she asked, looking between the two detectives.

"She's in an interview right now," Ryan replied, "but she won't be too long."

Behind her, Jim let out a sigh of discomfort, causing Johanna to turn. Whether it was her sheer intuition or just knowing her grandfather too well, she seemed to read his mind.

"It's okay, Grandpa," Johanna began, stepping toward him, "I'm good with Javi and Kevin until Mom gets out."

"Yeah, don't' worry Mr. Beckett," Javi chimed in, "Lil B is fine."

Looking down to Johanna, Jim raised an eyebrow, stifling a grin.

"I think I'm outnumbered," he whispered with a chuckle, Johanna giggling in reply.

"I think so too, Grandpa," she said, wrapping her arms gently around his waist and sighing into his embrace.

"Don't have too much fun at the doctors, okay?" Johanna warned, her favorite glint of sarcasm and humor in her eyes as she spoke.

"I'll try not to," Jim replied, leaving a kiss on the top of her head, "say hi to your mom and be good Miss Jo!"

Offering a smile as sweet as raspberry pie as he started to move away, Johanna was quick to reassure him, "I'm always good, Grandpa!"

With a chuckle and a wave, Jim was headed down the elevator, and Johanna was making for her mother's desk, plonking herself in the swiveling office chair. Taking her ceremonious spin, Johanna stared at her mother's haphazard desk. She had half and idea to clear it for her, but recalled the last time she had with a shudder. Needless to say, Kate had not been happy. Instead, she reached for the newspaper that sat on the edge, unfolding it and beginning to read.

Upon noticing Castle's picture, accompanied by the headline, she chuckled.

'Only number nine, Castle?' she thought to herself, scanning the text for his blurb.

Her jaw dropped. Taking the paper with her, she stood and headed over to Ryan and Esposito, who appeared to have resumed their argument from earlier.

"Uh, does my mom know she's dating Castle?" she asked, their heads jerking up to find her pointing at the front page of the Ledger.

"Nope," Ryan replied.

"Castle's doing all he can to stop her from finding out," Esposito added.

"But he seems to forget she's a detective," Ryan finished.

Johanna nodded in agreement, shrugging with a giggle as she returned to her seat. Her eyes were still glued to the blurb, and even when she put the paper back in its place, it was still floating around her head.

'Romantically involved with NYPD Detective Kate Beckett…'

As much as she knew her mother would be mortified, Johanna almost wished it were true. She liked Castle, and it was very evident that he liked her mom. Still, even though Johanna knew her mother better than anyone, except maybe Abi, she couldn't decide exactly how Kate might feel about this.

Either way, Johanna thought, it would be nice to have someone like a dad around, and then her mother would have something other than work to think about. Sighing, she resorted to doodling on a spare piece of paper, when the interview room door opened.

Castle stepped out, looking sheepish, followed by Kate, who looked furious. They were headed toward Johanna, but somehow, as she looked knowingly to Ryan and Esposito, she knew it wasn't her they wanted.

"Hey Mom," Johanna greeted tentatively, as Castle gingerly reached for the paper beside her. Kate returned a surprisingly warm and calm smile to her daughter, "Hey JoJo."

Johanna, being the product of her mother and under the influence of Lanie, sensing it was safe, couldn't help herself.

"So, Mom, why didn't you tell me you and Castle were an item?" she asked playfully, grinning.

"You knew as well?" Kate exclaimed with a mix of surprise, anger and hurt.

Johanna immediately retracted her coy behavior, her grin dropping, "I only just saw it now."

Her voice was quiet, her eyes downcast, but not so low that she couldn't see the infuriated look on her mother's face. Moments later, she and Castle headed to the break room, Johanna feeling like she knew exactly what Castle felt.

X

"So let me get this straight…" Johanna started, taking a bite out of the apple in her hand, munching it as she plonked onto her mother's bed.

Kate stood by her wardrobe wrapped in a towel, pondering over the dresses she had bought a few weeks ago. The last time Johanna was allowed into Kate's wardrobe, she essentially made fun of every dress she owned. Lanie had since fixed the issue.

As the young girl on her bed gulped down the apple, Kate turned to her expectantly, eyebrow raised.

"This morning you were dating Castle –"

"Ahem, I certainly wasn't dating Castle this morning or any other time –"

"Interrupting only makes this last longer," Johanna murmured nonchalantly, looking up at her mother through her eyebrows. With a curt sigh, Kate stopped, arms crossed, looking at Johanna, gesturing with her hand to continue.

"As I was saying," Johanna continued, "this morning you were apparently dating Castle, and tonight you're going on a date with a fireman?"

Wincing momentarily, Kate shrugged, turned back to her wardrobe, and tried her hardest to make it sound light as possible, "Sounds about right."

"And I know it's not Brad," Johanna added, "because he's proposing to that Lilly girl he's been dating for like, ever."

"Johanna, this really isn't any of –"

"And I didn't think you knew that many firemen. I know Lanie does, but –"

"Enough!"

Johanna stopped, apple halfway to her mouth, her mother's eyes intent and fierce on hers. She wasn't sure what she had said, but all she did know was her mother didn't look particularly happy with her right about now.

"First of all, it's really none of your business," Kate began, her tone stern though not yet angered, "second of all, don't be a brat, and third of all, it's not really a date."

Pursing her lips momentarily, Johanna took in a deep breath, Kate not sure whether she would be surprised or dread what her daughter was about to throw back at her.

"Doesn't the third point kind of contradict the first one?" Johanna said, "I mean, if it's none of my business –"

"How do you even come up with this stuff?" Kate interrupted, "You're nine!"

"I do middle school English," Johanna retorted lightly.

"Since when?" her mother demanded.

Johanna's face turned from amusement to disbelief, a hint of disappointment barely detectable, but there nonetheless, "Since I started the 4th grade."

"Oh," Kate murmured, taken aback by both her daughter's defensive voice and the information she apparently didn't know. Turning back to her clothes, she hoped the moment would slide, but at the same time, it did make her very aware of just how much she had missed in her daughter's life.

"But anyway, how'd you go from dating Castle to dating a fireman?" Johanna asked, "And what does Castle think about it?"

"I don't know what Castle thinks about it," Kate replied, sounding a lot more dejected than she had planned.

Knowing more perhaps than what her mother seemed to, Johanna watched her haphazardly throw a red dress onto the bed, landing only an inch or two from Johanna.

"Well, since you're going out, can I go to Castle's tonight?" Johanna asked, "Because Alexis and I are nearly finished To Kill A Mockingbird."

"Castle's, uh…not home tonight," Kate mumbled, pulling her hair out of the curlers they were in, absent-mindedly pulling part of it back and pinning it.

Johanna waited for a moment, expecting her mother to continue speaking, tell her what was going on tonight. She suspected she would either be going to her grandfather's or Lanie's, since she couldn't go to Castle's. Where was Castle tonight anyway?

"So…where am I going tonight?" Johanna asked timidly, the apple laying seemingly forgotten in her hand.

"Uh…" Kate started, knowing the answer, but somehow too involved in her hair to answer right away, "Lanie's coming over."

"Yes!" Johanna exclaimed, jumping up from the bed and bounding out of the room. She had new clothes she wanted to show her mother's best friend, and Lanie was also especially good at helping Johanna with her science homework.

Shaking her head, Kate sighed as her hands dropped, watching her reflection in the mirror.

Well, this is as good as it's gonna get tonight, she thought to herself, standing up and shimmying out of her towel, pulling on her dress in a matter of seconds. Turning to her wardrobe once more, she reached for the nearest heels she could reach, pulling them swiftly onto her feet.

Walking through to the living room, she grabbed her clutch from the hallway table, rummaging through it to make sure everything was in it. Johanna was sitting on the couch, the television on in the background, but her attention drawn to the novel in her hands, which was more than half finished.

"When'd you start that book, Jo?" Kate asked, sitting gently down beside her daughter, one arm around Johanna's shoulders, the other resting on her knee.

"Last night," Johanna replied, "I read at school today at lunch time."

"Is it a good book?"

"It's okay," Johanna began, "it took a little while to get interesting, but it's better now."

"If you finish that one tonight, we might have to go to the library tomorrow after school to get you some more," Kate said, "does that sound good?"

Johanna shrugged lamely, "I guess so."

Without speaking, Kate reached over, grabbed the bookmark, slid it between the pages of the novel before she gently tapped it closed, pulling it from Johanna's loose grip and placing it on the coffee table.

"Is everything okay, Jo?" she asked, her right hand gently caressing Johanna's shoulder, the little girl's blue eyes staring at the ground.

"Sure," she murmured, her hands gently pulling the ends of her sweatshirt in her lap.

A moment of silence passed, Kate feeling Johanna fidget under her embrace. Unsuspecting to her daughter, Kate tucked her left arm under Johanna's knees, her right wrapping tighter around her shoulders, lifting the young girl up onto her lap. Johanna fought giggles, shying away from the warm smile her mother offered, until she found herself settled again, both of Kate's arms enveloping her entirely.

"Listen," Kate began, her tone calm and gentle, Johanna's eyes still downcast, "I know I get caught up in work too much, and I miss out on all of the great things you're doing at school and with Grandpa…"

Her hands had stopped now, and she was staring intently at those of her mother's, which were joined and resting lightly on her thigh, their warmth reassuring in spite of her words.

"…but I promise you, I'm always here whenever you need anything," she continued, "even if it's just a hug."

She didn't meet her mother's eyes, but Johanna twisted in her place on Kate's legs, throwing her arms tightly around her waist, her head resting just below her collarbone. Kate wasn't sure how long they sat like that, but all she knew was she didn't want the moment to end.

"I love you, Mom," Johanna started quietly, "and even though sometimes I'm a brat, I never want you to be anywhere else but here. Ever."

X

So, it was a long time coming and kinda short but hey, I took advantage of my Easter weekend off. I will try my best to get more written as soon as possible, but no promises, as I have real life and three other stories to maintain.

Kayla x