a.n. We've turned the corner folks. If I had to guess, I'd say there are about six chapters left in this story (I'm not good at guessing, but we'll see). Thanks to everyone who reviewed this story. This chapter is a lot of filler, really. The confrontation I had planned did not work out, it just ended up being awkward...just wait and see.

Huge thanks to Her Pegship who has been the most wonderful beta an author could ask for. She doesn't even make fun of me when I fail to spell completely correctly (all those e's in odd places). Check out her Castle writings on this site, you won't be disappointed.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.

-:::-

January 7, 2011

"Go fish," Kate said with a smirk, looking at her son, who was sitting at the end of her bed on the other side of the table that had been pulled over her lap.

Alex sighed and picked up a card from the pile that lay on the middle of the table.

"Do you have a seven?" Kate asked, when Alex denied making a catch.

Alex sighed again and handed over a card. Kate grinned. Her son was so much like her it made her smile. Like herself, he hated to lose. They were on their second game of Go Fish, and she had bested him the first time. He'd scowled and then insisted on playing again.

Kate hadn't minded. She was having fun and it beat just lying back and staring at the ceiling, waiting for the doctors to finally let her do something – which they weren't going to do for at least another week. Besides, she was spending time with Alex, and he was awesome even if he got a little violent with his cards every time she took another card from him or made him pick up a card from the pile. Rick had left her with Alex when he'd had to take a call from his publisher. Now that she had been awake for a few days, the doctors were scaling back a bit on the high powered pain relievers, so she was staying awake longer; that meant that she was often quite bored, so she hadn't had a problem watching Alex for whatever amount of time Rick was out of the room.

"Do you have a king?" Kate asked.

"Go fish!" Alex said with a smile.

Kate grinned herself and picked up a card from the pile. Her grin widened when she saw the card was a king of hearts. She showed Alex, and he groaned as he knew that meant it was still her turn and that she was another step closer to completing her fourth 'book'.

She was about to call out another request when there was a knock at the door. With a grin still on her face, Kate looked towards the doorway. Immediately her grin slid off her face. Will Sorenson was standing at the door to her hospital room with a bouquet of red roses in his hand.

-:::-

Rick put his phone back in his pocket and looked around. The conversation with Gina had not been a pleasant one, but then he'd hardly ever had any good conversations with that woman. No matter how many chapters he delivered, how many book signings he agreed to do, it was never enough. She had never been a fan of his, simply because he wouldn't play ball with Black Pawn's plan to make him some arrogant playboy. Gina also hated the fact that he refused to do long trips out of town, which curtailed all of her plans for book tours around the country and abroad. This time Gina wanted him to go to a party to promote the next Derrick Storm novel and to start to build up hype for Nikki Heat, which had just been sent to the editors for final approval.

But Rick didn't do parties. He really, really didn't. Even in his younger days, he didn't really enjoy the idea of parties. And now there was just so much going on, going to a party really didn't seem like a good idea, but Gina wouldn't take no for an answer, going so far as to say that if he was worried about a date that she would lower herself and be his date. That had just pissed Rick off. He could get his own date.

That had led him to think about Kate. There was little chance of Kate being able to go with him, even if they were now officially together once more.

That thought made him grin a bit. They had spent a lot of time talking over the last couple days and they both agreed to give their relationship another shot. Rick knew that they were both anxious to jump right into a relationship, but both of them knew that would be a bad idea, so they'd decided to go slowly. Not that Kate's injuries would allow for much jumping into anything for the foreseeable future anyway.

But it was a nice thought, being able to take Kate to one of the parties he was often forced to attend. She would hate them just as much, if not more, than he did, and they could commiserate together.

With a final sigh of resignation, Rick walked back into the hospital and made his way back through the maze of elevators and hallways to Kate's room. As he was approaching, he heard an unfamiliar man's voice. At first, he didn't think anything of it; after all, Rick had seen a large number of doctors and nurses come and go from Kate's room in the previous days.

"This is your kid?" the voice asked.

"Yeah, uh, Will, this is Alex. Alex, this is Will, an FBI friend of mine."

Rick heard his son say hello as he entered the room.

"Rick, you're back!"

Rick almost smiled at the relief on his girlfriend's face. Whoever this was, Kate's tone made clear that he was someone Kate was not happy to see.

"Yeah, got that call over with. So who won that first game?"

"Oh, I did, of course," Kate said with a smirk. "Alex can't beat me at cards yet. Oh, uh, Will, this is Rick Rodgers, my boyfriend. Rick, this is Will Sorenson."

Rick froze. He knew the name Sorenson. Kate had told him about her FBI ex-boyfriend a few months ago. Rick finally took a good look at Kate's visitor and noticed the red roses in the man's hand. Obviously, Sorenson wasn't just here to wish Kate a smooth recovery. Rick almost laughed at the feeling of jealousy flowing through him. He hadn't felt jealous of anything or anyone in over a decade, and the emotion felt so foreign to him.

Deciding to at least be polite, Rick reached out his hand for Sorenson to shake. After the two men grasped and released each other's hand, Sorenson turned back to Kate.

"I didn't know the two of you were dating," he said flatly.

Kate looked at Rick and smiled. "It's a new development."

Sorenson cleared his throat, "Well, congratulations then. I just stopped by to see that you were okay and wish you well. I'll just leave these flowers on your table there."

"Thanks, Will. I'm going to be fine, but thanks for the flowers."

Rick moved out of the doorway so Sorenson could move past, which he did swiftly. Rick turned towards Kate who was staring down at the hand of cards she still held. "Well, that was a bit awkward," he said.

Kate laughed softly. "You can say that again." Rick watched as Kate looked over at their son who had watched the entire awkward encounter with interest. "So, where were we, Alex? Oh, yes, I was just about to finish kicking your butt for the second time."

"Mom, you are such a poor winner."

"She's an even poorer loser," Rick said, walking closer and taking a seat beside Kate's bed. "When we used to play poker, she could never stand to lose."

"That's not true!" Kate protested. "I'm a very good sport when I lose - it just doesn't happen all that often."

Rick laughed. "That is so totally not true. Remember when you were like fifteen or something, we went to the arcade and I beat you at Donkey Kong? You didn't speak to me for a week!"

"We had just started dating! You were supposed to let me win!" Kate said, completely serious. It lasted a moment before all three of them broke up laughing.

-:::-

Alex watched wide-eyed as his parents bantered back and forth. They had been getting closer over the last year, but this was something completely new.

When they had told him the day before that they were together again, Alex had broken down and cried. It wasn't something that he had ever told his dad, but he had always wanted to have his mom and dad together. Telling his father about his dream before his mom came back into their lives would have just been mean, so Alex had kept it to himself.

But now it had happened. They were together and were acting almost as if they had not spent ten years away from one another. Alex didn't know what would happen next, but he was excited and couldn't wait to find out.

-:::-

January 16, 2011

Kate blushed at the relieved faces on the nurses at the nurse's station. She had not been a good patient. She'd put on a good face for Rick and Alex, but when they weren't around, the pain and the constant nagging of the nurses and doctors drove her batty. She had not handled it well and had caused more than one nurse to actually transfer floors just to get away from her.

She rode in the wheelchair with as much dignity as is possible in such a situation, but Kate knew that she was going to end up getting revenge on Rick for making her ride in it when all she really wanted to do was walk to the damn car. She could walk. She was not an invalid. Even if it was only for a few steps, it was still walking.

"Stop scowling, Katie, your face will get stuck like that," Jim said from beside her. Rick was pushing her. Alex walked on the other side of her, holding her hand.

"That's what you always used to say, but I still have all of my facial expressions, thank you very much."

Alex laughed, which made Kate smile through the pain she was feeling. Sitting up for any period of time was torture, and she dreaded getting into Rick's hired SUV for the ride to her dad's apartment.

When they finally made it out of the hospital, Rick stepped around and helped Kate out of the chair. She knew that he wasn't looking forward to leaving her in her father's care, not that he didn't trust Jim. They'd talked about it and had both decided that it was better for her to stay with her dad, instead of at Rick's loft. Rick wanted her there, but Kate was worried that she'd end up ruining their fledgling relationship by being horrible to him for no reason other than her constant pain. She wouldn't risk it.

Kate groaned as Rick helped her stand and walk to the open door of the SUV.

After she was successfully squeezed into the car - there was no other word for it, as she couldn't really bend herself into the proper shape, even with the vehicle's larger proportions - she looked back at the hospital, breathing heavily. "I won't miss this place."

Rick leaned forward and kissed her on her slightly sweaty forehead. "I won't either. So, please try not to get injured again."

Kate just nodded. Rick grinned at her and then walked around to the driver's seat and got behind the wheel. Her dad got into the back seat with her, and Alex happily got to ride shotgun.

Kate snuggled back into her seat as much as she could and sighed. She couldn't get comfortable sitting up because of the wound in her abdomen, and she knew that it wasn't going to get better for weeks. The coming months were going to be terrible, and she wasn't looking forward to them at all.

But she would get through them. For Alex. And, Kate smiled, for Rick too.

-:::-

January 25, 2011

Alex sat on his grandfather's sofa with his sketchbook. His mom had been very ornery over the last few days.

He understood why, of course. When he was sick he was pretty ornery too. Alex could remember one time when he had been sick and had argued with his dad over stupid stuff just because he hadn't felt so great. His dad was cool about it though, so Alex tried to be the same with his mom. He could still hear her belting out expletives aimed towards his grandfather. Some of the words were things that Alex was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to learn about for a very long time.

"She's got quite a mouth on her doesn't she?" a voice asked from beside him. Alex looked up from the scene he was drawing at the woman who had just sat beside him. He wasn't quite sure what to think about his - step-grandmother? Was that even a thing? She had told him to call her Beth, but that seemed weird.

"She doesn't like to hurt."

"No, I'd say she doesn't," Elizabeth Beckett said.

"I'm like that too, when I get sick."

"Oh, you swear like a sailor too?"

Alex blushed. "Well, no, but I yell at my dad sometimes."

"Being hurt and sick sucks. Are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine. Just worried about my mom."

"We all are, sweetheart," Beth said.

"She's going to be okay, though, right?" Alex asked. "I mean it happened weeks ago and she still…"

"She's making progress, Alex, she is. But your mom's still hurting. I think in the next couple of weeks you'll see a lot of improvement because she's going to start her physical therapy." Elizabeth paused. "Are you drawing her a picture?"

Alex nodded. "I thought it might cheer her up."

"I'm sure it will. Will you show me what you have so far?"

Alex scooted closer and offered his sketchpad. He'd been at it for almost an hour and he had a good sketch of what he was working on. It was going to be an image of his and his mom's first outing at the skating rink. He had loved skating with his mom, even if they had only just begun getting to know each other at that point.

"Wow, Alex, this is really good. You have some real talent," Elizabeth said.

Alex blushed and looked down at his lap. "Thanks," he mumbled. His dad always told him he was good, and the art teacher at school liked his work, but it was still a bit much being complimented on his art by someone he really didn't know.

"Is this a good memory?"

Alex nodded. "We went skating at Rockefeller Center a couple of months after I met my mom. It was a lot of fun."

"I bet. What other fun things have you done with your mom?" Beth asked.

For the next hour, Alex chatted with his step-grandmother. He found that she was really easy to talk to, which was nice. When Alex went into his mom's bedroom to say goodnight later that evening, he mentioned how nice her step-mom was.

"You think so?" Kate asked.

"Yeah. We talked for a while and she seems really nice. You don't think she's nice?"

Kate looked away from her son. "I think she's nice, but it's a little weird to see my dad with another woman. I've gotten a bit used to it, but it just seems weird."

"It seems weird to see you and my dad together too," Alex agreed.

Kate looked back at Alex. "Does it bother you, that your dad and I are back together?"

"No. I think it's awesome. I always wanted...I mean it's great."

Kate closed her eyes, guilt overwhelming her for a moment. Alex had been about to say that he'd always wanted her and Rick to be together, she just knew it. It broke her heart that she had kept that from happening for so long.

"I'm glad you and Dad have worked things out. Do you think you'll get married now?" Alex asked.

Kate's head shot up, eyes wide. "Married," she squeaked.

Alex just giggled and stepped forward and gave her a gentle hug and a kiss on the cheek. Kate mechanically hugged back and then watched as Alex scampered out of the room.

Married? Alex wanted her and Rick to get married? Slowly a small smile started to form on her face. It didn't sound like such a bad idea, now that she thought about it. Maybe someday she and Rick could make that happen.

-:::-

a.n.2. There's that. Not much of note in this but we're coming to a close here, so the dramatic moments are going to be much fewer now than they were before.

No clue on when the next chapter will be here. Hopefully, I'll get started on it in the next week or so.