Chapter 4: Falling slowly


Rick's POV

Their ride back home was a short one. During the ride, Alexis went on and on about her first day of school.

As he had predicted and assured her, she had an amazing day in school. She loved her new teacher Miss Lanie and almost all of her new classmates were nice to her which made her love school even more.

She even made a friend today. Her name was Paige, she was the same age as Alexis and she loved Disney movies as much as she did.

Alexis told him about all the cool stuff they had learnt and the things that they had painted. She promised him to draw him another picture soon so that he could put it on his wall, next to all of her other paintings and drawings for him.

His bundle of energy couldn't wait to get to school tomorrow.

He had been worried about Alexis as he left her this morning. Alexis needed some time to warm up to people and after this morning he was quite worried that her fears would stand in her way. But luckily that hadn't been the case.

He still blamed himself so much for picking her up of school 1.5 hours after it ended... this wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to lose track of time when it concerned his daughter. She was his first priority and she had to come first, no matter what. And today he had failed… failed her… and failed himself.

He promised himself that it wouldn't happen again.


As soon as they arrived at their loft, Alexis ran into her room to do her homework which consisted of choosing her favorite animal and drawing it.

Rick headed to his office to pin Alexis' drawing onto the wall.

He promised Gina to get some writing done… It's going to be such a great night, he thought.

After pinning the picture onto his wall, he headed to the kitchen to get the ingredients for their pizza out.

Alexis loved homemade pizza because she could actually help him doing it by adding her own toppings on her pizza. She tried to help him with everything and Rick couldn't be any happier. He simply loved to spend time with her.

Luckily he had a flexible working schedule so he could be there for Alexis as often as possible. Just on some event-evenings, her babysitter or his mother had to jump in. But he tried to keep that occasions on a minimum.

'Daaaaaaddyyy,can we make pizza now?', a happy Alexis asked him once she appeared in the kitchen. 'I've already done my homework and I even started painting a picture for you, Daddy."

"Of course we can, pumpkin. Just go and wash your hands and we will get started."

An excited Alexis ran towards the bathroom to wash her hands.

"So pumpkin, I've already started on the dough when you were doing your homework upstairs. Do you want to roll out the dough?"

Of course Alexis wanted to do so. An hour later their home-made Pizza was ready to eat.

While sitting on their dining table, Alexis kept going on and on about her first day of school. Apparently the car ride had been way too short to tell him all the things that happened in school.

Seeing Alexis that happy, made him happy. He gladly listened to Alexis' rambling. She seemed to be totally smitten by Kate.

She told him how she found her and how she took care of her and Monkey-Bunkey. And even offered her a chocolate chip cookie which she hadn't accepted because she already had some with Miss Lanie. She told him the last bit in such a serious tone that he had a hard time to suppress a chuckle. Sometimes Alexis was more mature than him.

"Daddy, Miss Kate is great! She is a great hugger and she calmed me down and told me that you love me and she waited with me. And she smells good, Daddy…", she paused for a moment and seemed to be thinking.

"How did you like ?', she asked all of a sudden while looking at him innocently.

Rick nearly choked on his pizza. He definitely wasn't expecting this question from his daughter.

The beautiful brunette, that he had just met one hour ago, had been occupying his thoughts since then. He simply couldn't get her out of his mind. Her smile could lighten up the darkest of places and her laugh… it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard, beside his daughter's laugh. And he had only talked to her for about 5 minutes.

'Rick, what is wrong with you? You never go on and on about a woman, especially one who've met for such a short time. You don't even know her. She most likely must have a boyfriend. What woman looking like that wouldn't?', he tried to calm his thoughts.

"She seems nice, Pumpkin.", he said trying to hide the smile that kept forming on his face.

"Daddy, she is amazing and don't you think that she is pretty?"

Oh Lord Alexis.

"Yes, Miss Kate is pretty, Alexis. But do you know who's prettier than her?", he asked Alexis, smiling at her.

Alexis shook her head no and looked at him with her big blue eyes. This girl was so pure and innocent. He wished she would always stay that small and stay Daddy's little pumpkin.

"You, of course, pumpkin. Look at you! You are beautiful."

Hearing that Alexis started smiling, got up and hugged her dad.

"Even with my red hair?", she asked quietly. This question broke his heart. In her young age she had experienced so much negativity which lead to self doubt.

"Pumpkin, your red hair is beautiful, just as beautiful as you. You like Grams' hair, right?", he asked. Alexis nodded her head once again.

"Don't tell Grams but I even like your hair better than hers.", he whispered, which made her laugh.

"Okay Daddy. I will love my hair more now.", she assured him. "I love you, Daddy!" She hugged him again.

"I love you too, Pumpkin. Never ever forget that!"

"Will you pick me up from school tomorrow?", she asked carefully. Rick still felt bad for his failure today.

"Of course, Pumpkin. I'll try to pick you up every day. Sometimes I won't be able to but then Grandma will pick you up and we'll get ice cream the day after, okay?"

Alexis smiled and nodded. She was happy that her Dad promised her to pick her up from school. She didn't even mind waiting for him because after today she knew that she could wait with Kate. And she liked Kate a lot and wanted to see her more often.


Meanwhile

After her encounter with her favorite author, Kate went to the teachers lounge to grab her bag and jacket and finally head home. Esposito was already gone, he befriended another teacher called Kevin Ryan who volunteered to drive him home after they grab a snack. Kate had just met him briefly but he seemed to be likeable.

In the teachers lounge she met Lanie Parish again. They were introduced to each other during lunchtime and she was pretty sure that they would be fast friends.

"Girl, wanna grab a coffee? I need some adult around me.", Lanie joked. She told her that them girls have to stick together.

So Kate went to grab a coffee with Lanie. Lanie Parish seemed down to earth and they got along perfectly. Even Espo seemed to like her quite a lot but of course he wouldn't ever say that out loud.

Lanie lead her to her favorite Café. They got their order pretty fast, a grande skim latte with two pumps of sugar free Vanilla for Kate and a peppermint tea for Lanie and enjoyed their time away from school and their students.

"So Kate, how are you liking your new class and the school?", Lanie asked. She'd been teaching there for about 2 years now.

"You know Lanie, the school is pretty great and my students are okay. Some of them are little monsters but I guess I have to get used to them. Might just turn them into little Angel's.", she said while slowly sipping on her coffee.

"You never know", Lanie grinned. "Let's talk about the more important stuff, have you spotted any single father yet that got your attention? You aren't in a relationship are you? I might have asked Javier if you were dating each other cause you seemed so cozy with each other…"

Kate choked on her coffee. She definitely wasn't expecting Lanie to be that straightforward with her thoughts. Nonetheless they just met today. Her and Espo, whaaat the hell?! She would have loved to see Espo's facial expression when Lanie asked him that question.

"No and no, I haven't spotted someone...", she slowly told her, trying to hide her blush.

"You totally have! Look at you, you are blushing.", Lanie grinned, "Girl, tell me, who is it? Do I know his kid?

What should she tell Lanie now? She would think that Kate was insane for having a crush on the one and only Richard Castle, playboy extraordinaire.. But she couldn't lie either, Lanie would see right through it.

"You might know his kid...", Lanie just kept staring at Kate, waiting for her to reveal some information.

"Shemightbeinyourclass", Kate rambled out fast.

"What was it?"

"She might be in your class.", Kate stated quietly.

"That's some information I can work with. Let me think. There are only two parents that I met that weren't wearing a ring. Mr. Malley does not seem like your type and he might just be a little bit too old by the looks. That leaves… MR. CASTLE WITH HIS ADORABLE DAUGHTER ALEXIS" , she screamed.

"It's him, isn't it, Kate?", she grinned cheekily.


While saying that she kept staring at Kate and as soon as she mentioned Alexis and Rick, her blush intensified.

"Gotcha, you so have the hots for a certain . Just say it. I think I even saw a Castle book in your desk drawer don't deny that, Miss."

Kate could feel her blush even intensifying more. Damn Lanie, why can't she mind her own business. She was right though, Kate had brought Castle's book with her in case her first day of work would be awful and she had to spend her time between classes alone. Now that she knew that Castle could appear any day, she definitely had to get that book back home. No way is he going to find out how big of a fan she is. His ego must already have problems to fit the door with all the big-breasted bimbos throwing themselves at him. She certainly didn't want to add to it.

"He's nice. Doesn't hurt that he is easy on the eyes.", Kate tried to play it down but Lanie saw right through her.

"With the amount you are blushing you must find him more than just nice, Kate. You, girl, have a huge crush on writer-boy."

Kate knew that she couldn't get out of this. Screw it, she needed a friend, other than Espo, to confide to and Lanie seemed trustworthy.

"Okay. You might be right. I might like him little more than I should.", she told Lanie and somehow trying to get her blushing under control although she knew that this did not work that way.

"Finally Kate Beckett is admitting that she likes Richard Castle!", Lanie exclaimed while still grinning from ear to ear.

"I know this is stupid. He's famous, he's from another world and I'm just me… but a girl can dream, right?", Kate asked sadly.

"Girl, you don't know what could happen in the future so don't rule this out. Okay?"

Lanie was way too optimistic for Kate's liking. So she decided to change the topic immediately. Two could play this game and it was time to embarass Lanie.

"Sure.", she said unconvinced, "But speaking of men. Have you spotted anyone?..."

She paused for some seconds, watching Lanie, giving her the same treatment Lanie had given her just moments ago. She was pretty sure that Lanie liked Espo. When she mentioned him at the beginning of their conversation she started to fidget with her blouse.

"… maybe a certain Hispanic guy who started working at school today as well and you seemed to have some great conversations with today?"

Now it was Kate's turn to grin. Just minutes ago Lanie was drilling her about her little crush and now she seemed to be tongue-tied.

"Just admit it, Lanie. It's pretty obvious, at least for me."

After some minutes Lanie seemed to find her words again.

"Okay girl, you got me. Javier is a decent man who is easy to talk to. I would love to get to know him better. As friends… or more.", Lanie stated and all of a sudden she started to grin cheekily.

"Kate, my girl, you are his best friend and now we are friends too, so you can find out if he has the hots for me as well. Girl, I'm so happy that we get along perfectly and not just because of this matter."

Both of them had to laugh at that comment. It had been hard to befriend any people after her parents had died but surprisingly Kate befriended Lanie easily. She hadn't noticed it before, but a good female friend was what she needed badly.


After spending the afternoon with, Lanie, she finally got home and couldn't wait to get into the bathtub with some good red wine and a good book.

A good book, meaning one of Richard Castle's books. She still couldn't believe that she'd just met him today.

'Hopefully I didn't make a total fool out of myself in front of him…' she thought to herself.

Never would she have thought that he would have a daughter as precious as Alexis was. She knew better than to believe everything that's portrayed on Page Six but he just exceeded every expectation she had.

She had had a crush on him the second she started reading his books. She even got to meet him on one of his book signings. She had stood in line for hours but in the end it was worth it. She just had less than 1 minute with him but he tried to engage her into a short conversation. The words he had written into her book kept her standing on her worst days… on the days when she missed her parents the most.

She could feel a tingling feeling in her stomach when she thought of him.

'Kate, you've been through this. You don't know him. The only thing you know about him is that he is a caring dad. And a best-selling author who's been pretty nice to you at a book signing years ago. He probably doesn't even remember you... But yet he is pretty easy on the eyes!'

Secretly she hoped that she would see him way more often in school when he picked up Alexis. Although she knew that the chances weren't pretty high and that he might have a nanny to do that, she just couldn't help but get her hopes up.

She knew there was some kind of connection between her and Richard Castle, one that could be dangerous for herself and the walls she built up. She wanted to let people in but did she really want to let Richard Castle in?


AN: First of all, I'm so sorry for this late update... but better late than never, right? :D Now with me being super motivated, I'll try to post the next chapter at the end of this week, fingers crossed.

Hmmm Alexis seems to be quite smitten with her new friend Kate and so does Rick. And Kate seems to be thinking quite alot about Rick and Alexis as well. So they just should get together, get married and be a family, right?

If it just was that easy... Stay tuned for the new Chapter! Caskett meeting Numero 2.

Like always: Reviews and your thoughts on this chapter or this story in general are always wanted and make me happy, See ya xx