Another Second Chance

by Castlefan6

Authors Note: Another What If based on the episode, A Deadly Game, what happened if Rick didn't return to the precinct after leaving and this was really their last case. What would each other's lives have looked like? The story starts with Canon dialog, courtesy of Dust Jackets Dot Com, then goes quickly and completely AU. The journey continues with a new Kate and Rick, hope you enjoy!

I don't own Castle; I use the characters for amusement purposes only, except the ones I create.

Also, we may take liberties with the timeline from Canon and use events to make this a more believable fiction, thanks.

Chapter 18

Castle's Residence

Pismo Beach, California

/_/

Rick wiped his palms on the towel and hurried to answer the door, the anticipation was over, there she stood, just as beautiful as ever.

"Hello Rick," she kissed him sweetly,

"Hi Gina, right on time, as always," he glanced into the eyes of his ex-wife, lost temporarily in the could have been moments between them until he heard her voice,

"Hey BoomPa, I'm down here, you can smooch Nana later, you promised this would be our day" she hung on his leg, just like her mother used to do, what seemed like centuries ago.

There stood almost a duplicate copy of his pumpkin at age 4, even the red hair and style, sassy, smart, and not afraid to tell you what she wanted. She took his little finger with her little hand and started leading him back in the door, dragging her roll behind suitcase behind her with her other hand. "Come on Nana, Papa Peter will come when he finishes work, that's what Mommy and Daddy said." A little bossy voice said,

Gina looked at Rick with a huge smile and kissed him again quickly before Lisa Marie Harper had time to interrupt again. Gina and Peter had been married now, almost 4 years, one month before Alexis gave birth to their first granddaughter. The three Grandparents were thrilled and volunteered to babysit any time Mike and Alexis wanted to get away, which was not often enough for them.

"How was your trip, did you help nana to not get lost?" Rick asked since both Gina and Alexis lived a few hours north of him,

"BoomPa, you know that nana has a PGS system she uses so we don't get lost, not like when you and I go someplace, I don't know how you get home when I'm not here to help you." She said as Gina turned to hide her laughter,

"Well, that just means you have to come to help me find my way home more often, OK princess?" Rick asked as his granddaughter was still pulling him by his finger to the room, he had designed for her.

Gina looked over with love in her eyes at the little girl that had brought so much love to all their lives the last 4 years. Honestly, she gave Gina and Peter a glimpse of what life would have been like had Alexis come into their lives earlier, and let Rick relive some of the happiest days of his life. He really didn't worry about anything but making sure everyone in his family, especially his princess was happy.

Still, with his little princess with him, he still couldn't shake the memory lane tour,

FLASHBACK Continued

Two Weeks After the visit from Jordan Shaw.

Rick, Marcy, Brittany, and Brianna left Presbyterian Hospital in style. Rick had arranged to have a helicopter take them to the Hamptons where for the next three weeks, he had to work on his therapy, running, and allowing Mom and Daughters the summer of their lives.

Jordan had texted him, that things were progressing and she would be in touch once he was at the Hamptons for a week or so. Mike had completed the sweep of the property, and the last two weeks hadn't turned up any suspicious activity.

Paula had employed 5 Rick impersonators and had them placed in Arizona, Wyoming, Nevada, Nebraska, and Alabama, complete with scripts to attend physical therapy sessions, daily. The daily reports of Richard Castle sightings were amusing, if not comical.

Those responsible for the attempted murder of Beckett were convinced that the writer had stumbled into a scenario to make him look like a hero and that he had no further knowledge of the operation at hand, and now were concentrating on Beckett's rehab center. Unknown to them, they were also being watched, recorded, and about to become part of the "Boss" downfall, courtesy of Jordan Shaw and her crew.

"Well, you ready for this Rick? I mean you're sharing your home with not one but three females, are you sure you can stand to have the toilet seats left down in the bathroom that long?" Marcy laughed as she rolled the wheelchair into his room, Brittiany, and Brianna right behind her, wearing huge smiles.

He was greeted with hugs from the twins, and a sweet short kiss from Marcy, and hugged by all, as hard as they dared. He was still wearing a sling, for another week, but he was feeling stronger each day.

"Hi Uncle Rick," he was greeted in unison from the twins looking so grown up since the last time he had seen them a few weeks ago.

"Good morning ladies, and to answer your question Marcy, did you forget that I was the only male in my house for all of my life, I'm used to checking the toilet seats" he laughed, "Hey, I don't need that thing, Marcy, you and I have walked around this entire floor three times, I think I can make it to the elevator without being pushed like some old man" Rick objected,

"Yeah, Gina and Alexis told me you would say that, so to repeat them, get in the chair or we aren't leaving," Marcy said,

"It's the rules Uncle Rick, the longer you argue the more time we lose on our vacation, traffic is already bad, Brianna just checked," Brittany said,

"OK, OK, but I'm doing this under protest" he replied as he reluctantly sat down in the wheelchair.

The twins pushed him to the elevator together as Marcy was only a step behind, she looked different this morning Rick thought, then it dawned on him. She had great legs, hell all he had ever seen her wearing were her scrubs, but her shorts and top really showed off just how good a shape she really was in. As the elevator doors opened,

"Where did you tell the car to pick us up at Rick? Your driver already took our luggage so we wouldn't have to drag it around, and well the rumors are going to swirl anyway, but it cut down on some of them" Marcy asked,

"Actually, he wasn't my driver, press the roof please," Rick said without further comment,

Marcy looked puzzled but pressed the button and when the doors opened, she saw who she thought was Rick's driver, now in a flight suit, standing near a helicopter. It wasn't a small one, but one she knew cost some money.

"Rick, I don't understand, what are we doing up here, and that man took our luggage, what's going on?" Marcy asked,

"Just a little surprise, traffic is always terrible this time of year so we're taking the chopper, it should get us there in about 35 minutes or so, a lot better than sitting in a car, even a limo for hours. Brittany was right, why waste a minute of your vacation", as he stood shook hands with the man, now known as David his pilot, and assisted the ladies in boarding.

Once they were settled, well the twins were going crazy, taking pictures of the helicopter, inside and out to post and send to their friends already green with envy, the seatbelt sign came on,

"Well ladies, are you ready for a vacation? Buckle up and we're on our way" Rick said, it wasn't lost on the twins that Marcy helped Rick buckle his belt so gently, ending it with a kiss on the cheek. They just looked at each other and smiled, it had been a long time since they had heard their Mom sound so happy.

All that was heard for the next thirty minutes were the oohs and aaahs of the twins as they looked down on the traffic crawling out of the city towards the Hamptons. Once they got closer the conversation changed to "Britt, look at that one or Brianna, that one is even bigger until finally, they set down at a small landing strip near Rick's home. His limo came around and stopped as the driver got out, looking like a carbon copy of their pilot,

"Oh girls, this is Dennis, he's David's twin brother and they change off from flying or driving, the house is about five minutes from here", as Dennis loaded the luggage, and held the door for his passengers.

"How was your flight Mr. C, I trust my brother didn't try to kill you this time" Dennis laughed,

"No, no he was good Dennis, the flight was good, we didn't come close to any military choppers that came out of the blue this time" Rick laughed, "You're never going to let him live that down, are you?" Rick asked kiddingly,

"No sir, I even told him to check to see if the Guard was going to be in the area, but no my brother knows best, he started to laugh. Brittany and Brianna looked at each other then at Marcy, with a look of "Oh No we don't do that, do we?"

"Now you girls know how it sounds to me" Marcy laughed; her girls loved each other but that didn't stop the competition between them.

Just then they turned onto what the ladies' thought was another road, it was Rick's drive and a few moments later two huge iron gates, R on one side, C on the other gate swung open slowly as the continued another 300 yards to the house, where all three of the ladies gasped, Marcy had been holding Rick's hand the entire trip, he changed his grip to interlace their fingers and raised her hand to kiss the back, then said

"Ladies, this is my humble abode, your home away from home for the next several weeks, don't worry about your bags, they'll be taken to your rooms. Would you like a brief tour now?" he asked more to get them back to reality than anything else,

"Rick, you said beach house, this is a phreaking mansion, my God, how big is this place anyway?" Marcy asked, still holding Rick's hand, his other arm back in the sling to keep it mobilized.

"Oh, it's big enough, I really don't remember, Alexis and I bought it together when she was about 8 years old, she liked the gates and the sound of the ocean from the back veranda. She's on the deed, and one of my fondest memories her signing the final papers for her Wamptons House, she couldn't say Hamptons then." He glanced off as if remembering the memory,

The B's as he started calling the twins brought him back with "Uncle Rick would you show us the house please, we're afraid we'll get lost if we go in alone" as they laughed,

Rick gave the ladies the tour, complete with the upstairs guest rooms, Brittany and Brianna had their own suites and bathrooms, Marcy was closer to Rick's bedroom, and had her own patio overlooking the ocean, a hot tub, bath, and shower, as well as walk-in closets, all were furnished with King sized bedroom sets, and matching décor on the walls and windows.

When they reached his room, Rick pointed out that he often would get up in the night and start to work on an idea that came to him. It disturbed Alexis who was a light sleeper so he had his entire suite soundproofed, including his smaller office off the bedroom suite, with a set of four sliding glass doors leading to a wrap-around balcony that connected to the one from Marcy's room.

"You mean this entire space is just your bedroom suite Uncle Rick?" Brittany asked,

"Yes, sweetie it is, I expanded it when I bought it, and sometimes pumpkin, I mean Alexis and I would spend the entire summers out here, me writing, and her having fun with her friends," Rick said,

"Wow, that must have been incredible, I mean this is a palace Uncle Rick," Brianna added,

"Well you haven't seen the gym, pool, or the private beach, come on, I'll show you then we'll have some lunch, I'm having it set up now." Rick smiled, Marcy still holding his hand, fingers interlaced,

"You have your own gym and weight room, Rick? Why didn't you tell me, I was afraid you would try to skip therapy, while we were here with you." Marcy said,

"Oh no, not at all, in fact, Georgine, my physical therapist will be here tomorrow for our first session, I'm sorry but she wants you to observe to be sure what she wants me to do won't damage anything, I hope that's OK?" he said,

Marcy tiptoed, and kissed his lips gently, "Of course, whatever you need, remember I'm still your nurse." She smiled,

He smiled back, the twins were picking up on something, so Marcy quickly changed the subject, "you owe us the rest of the tour before lunch, I'm getting hungry." She laughed,

The tour was completed and the twins fell in love with the library attached to Rick's main office, it included works from all sorts of writers, some modern some classics, but if you wanted to read a book, Rick probably had it.

"I take it you ladies love to read, feel free to grab anything you wish as you lay out by the pool or ocean, just be careful the sun will burn you if you don't take the right precautions, I know I was stupid more than once" as they all laughed,

They enjoyed a lunch of their favorite sub sandwiches and pizza, Rick had inquired so everyone had their favorites, and when they were all stuffed, Rick asked,

"Well are you ready for your graduation presents yet girls?" he was greeted with stunned looks,

"I thought this was our present Uncle Rick, our friends are already green with envy that we're your guests for three weeks here in the Hamptons, and they couldn't have imagined how great the house is.

"Not to mention you have a private beach, I mean my God Uncle Rick who owns their own beach?" the girls were talking intermittently finishing each other's statements,

"No, this was a present to your Mom, she's worked too hard for so long, she needed to relax and let people take care of her, and she wanted you, girls, with her. Your present is just outside the door there, inside the double garage door." He said, never letting on what lay in store for the young ladies.

Marcy held his hand a little tighter, and looked at him with such beautiful eyes, he had to be careful or he would misread her emotions he thought quickly. He didn't know that in her mind she was going through the same emotion, to be careful, not to get to close, he's in love with Kate.

Rick pressed the garage door opener, and there were the matching Mustang Bullitt models, the only difference was the vanity license plates on the front, one reading Brittany, the other Brianna. The cars were identical, as were the twins,

"Here are the keys girls, if you want to start them up, I would suggest you stay in the drive and use the turnaround since you haven't got the gate code yet"

Marcy watched Rick's face light up, literally, the happiness came all over his face as each of the girls kissed his cheek and ran to their new cars. Inside was the certificate of insurance for five years, the title, registration, and a card in his handwriting to each of them.

Marcy had tears in her eyes, no one had ever done anything so nice for her or the girls, she gently took his face, kissed him deeply, and whispered, "Thank you, Rick, they love their present, and when they can talk again, I'm sure they will tell you, you're making it harder and harder not to fall in love with you" she kissed him again as the girls began their run back up the drive to hug and kiss their Uncle Rick.

The phones came out and the pictures were being taken, him with the girls, the house, the ocean, and finally the big sign that had sat across the hood of the two cars, "Congratulations Brianna and Brittney, Love Uncle Rick"

"I take it I got the color right" Rick laughed,

"Uncle Rick, that was far too expensive, it's fabulous, but really what did we do to deserve such a great gift?" Brittany, the more serious twin asked,

"Well for one, I think you know that money isn't an issue with me, I enjoy making people happy. Next your Mom worries about you, so this was as much an insurance policy for her, you need reliable transportation now that you are young ladies starting your life out on your own.

"I also remember a very bad night I was having in the hospital and you two blackmailed your Mom into coming back to the hospital, she spent the entire night keeping me safe, I never thanked you for that, but this is just the start" Marcy's hand had found his and this time her fingers interlaced with his, as she shed a tear.

"So, when you're out, you can be safe, and know that it's never wrong to think of others, in fact, my biggest joy comes from seeing others enjoy something they wouldn't or couldn't buy themselves. Like in your Mom's case, she doesn't know that I know her car is in the shop more than it's home so girls would you press this button and look in the other garage please?" Rick asked

They all turned 90 degrees to see the garage opening and there was beautiful blue BMW Series 8 Car with a huge ribbon wrapped around it, the vanity plate read SUPRNURSE for SUPER NURSE, the girls screamed with excitement, Marcy threw her hands over her eyes, and cried as Rick pulled her into him,

"Mom, you didn't even see your vanity plate, Uncle Rick nailed it, your favorite color, and the plate is you." Marcy opened her eyes, as Rick dabbed her tears away, and read Super Nurse right away, she pulled him down and kissed him long and hard, she didn't care now.

TBC