AN: Is it time for their first encounter? Like always: Enjoy & Review.
Chapter 3: Someone like you
Rick's POV
Gina was an evil, evil person, coming right out of hell. You just couldn't satisfy her.
"Rick, that's all you've got right now?! Your script was due last week… and this isn't much.", she was yelling at him.
"Try writing a book on your own then, Gina. It's not as easy as it looks like and inspiration strikes when it strikes, you can't rush it. You know that I have a little kid at home that I have to care for and she is and will always be my first priority. So I'm sorry that I couldn't give you what you wanted.", he told her angrily.
"Rick, I just want what's best for you and your career. You have to understand that. Nevertheless you are Richard Castle, one of the best known crime authors and playboys extraordinaire."
Of course she had to emphasize his playboy-reputation. Gina and Paula had come up with that idea. They hoped that this would make him more interesting for the press and get more people, especially females, to read his books, which it did indeed. Nonetheless he disliked the fact that he had to go with it. He hated to put on his fake personality, just so that people would like him even more and buy his books.
Every public event he attended he was surrounded by fake women Gina had chosen for him. Most of them just wanted their hour of fame, that was why they agreed to be his date. He couldn't even engage them into a proper discussion, they were just so dull. All they wanted was to spend a night with the famous Richard Castle. His former self would have agreed to that within seconds. But after Alexis was born, she became his first priority. He hadn't had a one night stand since then.
All he wanted was a real woman, who would accept him for who he was, not for who he pretended to be. But every time he got closer to a woman, she backed off as soon as he told her that he had a kid and as soon as she saw that he wasn't that playful and cocky man the press portrayed him as. He had given up finding the right woman for him a long time ago. But sometimes he caught himself hoping that the right woman would be somewhere out there, waiting for him.
He spent the whole morning and a part of the afternoon discussing with Gina and Paula, agreeing to more public events and writing some more pages, so that Gina wouldn't tear off his head.
Kate's POV
'This day can't get any worse, can it? My class is full of little monsters... they won't even listen to a word I'm saying to them. They don't take me serious and they seem to hate me! How am I going to survive one whole year with them... Life simply hates me...', Kate thought and slammed her head into her hands. 'At least this cruel day is almost over and my students are at home and I can rest in my classroom and go home in a bit...'
All of a sudden she heard a sobbing sound. As Kate looked up, she noticed a little girl with beautiful, waist long, red hair leaning shyly against the door frame and looking at her with teary eyes.
Immediately she got up and went to that girl.
"Hey there", she said while bending down so that she was her height. "What are you still doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at home by now? School ended 1 hour ago.", Kate asked that girl in the softest voice.
The girl began tearing up and tried to hide her face behind the little stuffed pet she was holding in one arm. Kate took one of the girl's hands in between her hands and softly drew little circles with her thumbs on the back of the girl's hand. Even though she didn't know that girl, the girl captivated her with its blue eyes and red pigtails. This gesture seemed to calm the girl.
"Hey, hey, it's okay! Come here. Let's sit over there", Kate tried to comfort the girl and guided her into her classroom.
"I'm Kate and who are you, little one?", she smiled at Alexis.
"Al..Alexis", the little girl murmured while sitting down on the couch in the back of the room.
"What a beautiful name.", Kate told her while she kept smiling at her.
"I want my Daddy!", she cried in between sobs, holding tightly on her stuffed animal.
Kate didn't know what to do but out of intuition she simply pulled Alexis into a hug to comfort her. The girl didn't seem to mind and even snuggled into her while holding onto her stuffed animal tightly.
"It's okay, Alexis. Your Daddy's gonna be here soon!", Kate assured her while stroking Alexis' beautiful hair.
They stayed like this for a couple of minutes. Slowly Alexis seemed to calm down.
"Do you think Daddy forgot me and that he doesn't want me to be with him anymore?' Alexis looked up at Kate and tears were rushing down her cheeks once again.
"No Alexis, no... Your Daddy loves you! He loves you a lot. Every parent does." Kate gulped... She missed her own parents so much and wished that she had had more time with them. They missed so much of her life, they would have supported her all the way. And if they were still alive, she would have become a lawyer, just like them.
But she couldn't tell a 5-year old about her problems. This girl seemed to be going through a lot at this young age...
"Alexis, everything's gonna be alright. I'm gonna wait with you until your Daddy comes to pick you up! Okay?", Kate smiled at her. Alexis looked up at Kate, still embracing her tightly, and returned her smile for the first time.
"Okay Miss Kate!" After saying that she snuggled back into Kate. With one hand Kate drew little circles onto Alexis' back and with the other she stroked her hair carefully.
"So, this is your first day of school here?", Kate asked and she felt Alexis nod against her side.
"Tell me about your day, Princess." This pet name just slipped out from Kate's mouth. It seemed to fit her. Kate had just known this little girl for less than an hour but Alexis had already captured her heart.
When her father would finally turn up, she would reprimand him for being late on Alexis' first day of school. What a careless jerk!
"Me and Monkey-Bunkey had a great day", she pointed at her stuffed monkey while saying that. "Ms. Lanie helped me paint a picture for my Daddy", she smiled proudly and played with her Monkey-Bunkey.
"That sounds like a great first day, Alexis. Miss Lanie must have taught you quite a lot of interesting things as well."
Alexis nodded excitedly, "Yeees, we learnt so much. Do you know that penguins …"
She was interrupted by a loud, deep voice.
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE MY DAUGHTER IS?", an angry but concerned voice was heard from outside the room.
"Miss Kate, that's my Daddy! He came!", Alexis' face lightened up and she ran out of the room in search of her dad. In the process she lost her cuddly toy. Kate picked it as well as her pink bag up and followed Alexis. What she saw on the hallway, melted her heart.
A man, that most likely was Alexis' father, picked Alexis up and swirled her around while Alexis was giggling. He held her up into the air and bathed her in kisses all over her face which made her giggle even more. Her giggle was such a beautiful sound to listen to. You could tell that that man loved Alexis more than anything in the world. She was his everything. They made such a great family.
Sadly she couldn't see his face from the spot she was standing at. All she could see was that the man had dark brown hair and was pretty tall.
He hugged Alexis closely and stroked her hair.
"I'm sorry I'm late, Alexis-Princess. I love you", she heard him saying to his little girl that he hold securely in his arms.
"To the moon and back?", Alexis asked carefully. Her father made her look at him and said: "To the moon and back. My love for you is infinite, my little beautiful Alexis."
This man couldn't be real. He just couldn't. He was like one of the princes in the fairy tales... His words were incredibly cute and he knew for sure how to make his little girl happy again. This guy simply couldn't be real. He was too perfect. Kate couldn't believe her eyes. Every guy she had met was quite the opposite of that guy standing just a few meters away from her. 'His wife had to be one hell of a lucky woman', she thought sadly. Remembering she still had Alexis' belongings in her hands, she neared the father-daughter duo.
Alexis saw her approaching and whispered something into her father's ear, which she couldn't hear.
Before she realized it, the man turned around and walked towards her with Alexis in his arms.
As Kate saw the man's face, her world seemed to stop for a bit. Holy shitballs, Richard freaking Castle, who happened to be her favorite author, was walking towards her. She knew that he had a daughter but never had she thought that he would be that lovely and caring towards his daughter. And never had she ever thought that she would meet him on her first day of work, at her workplace. 'Breathe Kate, just breathe', she tried to calm herself down.
Richard Castle was a world-renowned crime author whose books had helped Kate to get through the hard times after the death of her parents. If it wasn't for his books and Espo's support, she might have lost it way back then. All those years she had a secret crush on him. She had even stood at one of his book signings for hours, just to get his new book signed by him.
But unfortunately Richard Castle was no stranger to Page Six either. Every week his face would be plastered on there, every time holding another blonde, big-breasted woman in his arms.
'Get a grip on yourself, Kate. You cant be fangirling about him now, he might be your favorite author but he is just another playboy, get over this crush Kate...', Kate thought.
"Hi, I'm Richard Castle. Alexis' father.", he smiled at Kate with a dreamy and warm smile while reaching out one hand. Alexis slung her arms tighter around Rick's neck and looked at Kate happily.
"Kate Beckett", she said shyly and shook his hand. Their hands just touched for a moment but she felt sparkles rushing down her spine. His hand was so warm and his smile was making her weak to her knees. Now she knew from whom Alexis got her cute and adorable smile.
Alexis told her father to let her down which he did. She walked over to Kate and took her backpack and Monkey-Bunkey from her.
"Thank you.", she said to her. Then she turned towards her father: "Daddy, I have something for you!', she opened her backpack to get it out. After some time she gave up on searching for it
"Daddy, I will be right back. I just forgot something in my classroom." With that she ran away, leaving Kate and Rick alone in the hallway.
"I know what you are thinking... you think I'm a horrible father to pick up my daughter almost 1.5 hours too late. You think I should have tried to be on time especially on Alexis' first day of school...", Richard Castle started.
Kate was shocked... This was exactly what she had thought before she had met Richard. But now after she had witnessed how he bathed his daughter with his love and had apologized that often she knew that he was anything but a bad father.
He cared for Alexis so much and loved her limitless.
Kate opened her mouth to say something but was immediately interrupted by Richard Castle.
"You don't need to say anything... I'm really trying here. I know how bad this looks." Richard said sadly. Kate felt bad for him. He didn't do anything wrong. Okay, he let his daughter wait for him to pick her up for 1.5 hours but he appeared and bathed her in kisses while telling her how much he missed her and how sorry he was.
"No!", she exclaimed, " , you are a great father to her. She adores you so much. She told me all about her amazing daddy. I'm not supposed to tell you but she painted a picture for you and can't wait to give it to the best daddy in the world! That's probably what she is getting right now.", Kate assured him and giggled.
Where did that giggle come from? She barely smiled anymore, let alone giggled, especially around strangers. This guy was doing something to her, something that she'd never felt before, not after she lost her parents. She just needed to look at him and she could feel her heart beat faster, her hands became sweaty and her knees went weak when he just smiled at her. And she'd just met him minutes ago... She was screwed... 'Kate, he's a player. He is probably living his best life with a girlfriend or a bimbo every week. He's way out of your league. He is a world-renowned author and you are just a teacher... so out of her league… Just calm down, Kate."
Castle smiled at her. 'Alexis is my everything. She's an angel. I don't know what I would do without her."
"I can see that. She is so lucky to have such a caring dad like you.", Kate said and all she wanted was to stroke his arm, to feel his biceps beneath her fingers. By the look of it, his arms seem to be well-trained.
She didn't realize it at first but they were standing dangerously close next to each other. It was like a force was pulling them towards each other.
Kate looked up into Castle's piercing blue eyes. He was staring at her. The time stopped for a moment and they moved closer and couldn't stop staring into each others eyes. They were just inches away from each other and he reached out one hand...
"Daddy, DADDY! Look what I've painted for you!", Alexis innocently came running towards them. They broke apart immediately. Richard pulled himself further away from Kate and knelt down to receive Alexis with open arms.
"Princess, this is the most beautiful picture I've seen.", he said while hugging his daughter. "Do you know where I'll put it?"
Alexis shook her head no.
"I'll hang it up in my office at home, next to all the other pictures you've painted for me, so far. So every time when I need some inspiration, I just need to look at your paintings, Princess. What a happy father I am to have such a great and talented daughter!"
Alexis smiled. "I love you, Daddy. You are the beeestest Daddy!"
Richard Castle lifted her up again and grabbed her bag.
'It's time for us to have some Daddy – Daughter time at home. How does that sound, Alexis-Bee?", her father asked, smiling from one cheek to the other.
"Yeeeessss! Make pizza, pleaseeeee", Alexis exclaimed excitedly.
Kate laughed. This kid was a handful, but extremely cute as well. Somehow Alexis reminded her of herself as a kid... just without this perfect and good-looking and world-renowned author as a father.
Just as Kate wanted to turn around to reenter her classroom again, a small hand grabbed hers and she turned around, surprised.
Alexis was standing next to her, looking up to her.
'Thanks, Miss Kate for waiting with me! You are a great hugger!', she said sweetly. Kate's just melted some more.
Before Kate could say anything, Alexis hugged her midsection tightly. Kate immediately lifted Alexis up and hugged her even closer.
"Alexis, you don't have to thank me. I'm happy I met such a great girl!", Kate whispered into Alexis' hair so that her father couldn't hear a word she was telling his daughter.
After some time Kate let go of Alexis and Alexis walked up to her Dad.
"Can I see you tomorrow, Miss Kate?", Alexis asked her softly while holding her dad's hand.
"Of course, Sweetheart. You know where my classroom is now, right?," Alexis nodded. "So, if you have some problems or just want to talk to me, you can come to me."
Hearing that, Alexis smiled big time. Kate had to smile in return. This girl had the skill to turn everyone she met happy. Kate hadn't even noticed that she used a pet name for Alexis again, until now. This little girl had captured her heart in that little time they had spent together.
"Daddy, you have to thank Miss Kate as well!", she lectured her father in a serious voice, which made him chuckle.
"Okay, ", Rick closed the space between himself and Kate and hugged her tight, breathing in her sweet cherry scent. "Thank you so much, Kate!"
The hug was pretty short and ended within a few seconds, leaving Kate yearning for more of this... of him.
Kate was screwed.. she couldn't fall in love with him... she couldn't imagine herself being a part of this family, when she was so damaged. Moreover he was sooo out of her league. Never ever could he develop some feelings for someone as simple as her.
AN: Oh Alexis, why did you ruin their moment? :D
I wasnt quite satisfied with this chapter, so I couldn't post it right away. But I hope you guys like how it turned out now. Please reviiiiew and tell me your thoughts on it. See ya next week xx
Uhh if you wanna talk about Castle characters or episodes, feel free to message me. Same goes with Absentia and Bones.
