AN: Guess who's back with a new chapter, wohooo! Enjoyy & please review!


Chapter 11


The following week passed by quickly. Kate's been equally anxious as excited for Saturday to arrive. She was going on a date with her favorite author, the man that she had looked up to for several years, the man that had saved her from drowning without even knowing it.
A date with her favorite author and his sweet daughter, who had captured her hard in an instant.

Except that it wasn't a date. So why was she acting like this. It'll just be a normal day at the zoo with her new friends. Castle and she had texted back and forth and had agreed to visit the zoo considering Alexis hadn't been there in forever. At this age everything that was more than a week ago seemed to have happened years ago. Kate gladly agreed to the idea, so their little date was arranged quite fast. When Castle had told Alexis that Kate would be joining them, she was over the moon and couldn't wait for the weekend to arrive.

Kate and Castle still had a lot to discuss. She still had to give him an appropriate answer on why she fled after their first playdate. Knowing she wasn't ready to trust him with her heart yet, she did what she did best. She avoided him for the week.

She needed some time and space to make up her mind about opening up to him, so she left school before Castle would arrive to pick up his daughter.

He made sure to arrive 10 minutes earlier so he could spend some time with Kate but she hadn't been in her classroom, so Castle left dejected. He had tried it on the next day, but she wasn't there again. After the third day with no Kate around, he gave up and waited for Saturday to arrive, hoping she would turn up.

Kate arrived at the zoo early, so she still had 15 minutes to spare until the Castles would turn up.

She was deep in thoughts when she saw Alexis running towards her. She crouched down to catch her favorite bundle of energy in her arms.

"Miss Kate, Miss Kate! I'm glad you could come. We will have so much fun!", she wrapped her little arms around Kate's neck and looked up at her adorably. Kate returned the hug and lovingly ran her hand through Alexis' long red hair.

"Alexis, how many times have I told you not to run away in crowded places like these?", Castle shouted breathlessly while running towards them. When he saw Kate, his face lightened up, "You came!"

She couldn't stop but smile at Castle's surprised face. He gave her a warm smile, but she could still detect some nervousness in there. So, after all she wasn't the only nervous one here and all of a sudden her concerns that she had been having on her way to the zoo washed away.
"Of course! I was promised some Castle fun at the zoo. So, let's get this party started, shall we?", she grinned and moved towards the entrance. Castle and Alexis were quick to follow her.

Alexis begged to see the penguins first, since they were her favorite animals. So that's were their tour started. They made it just in time for feeding and each of them was allowed to feed those little creatures. Alexis pulled a grimace when the zookeeper gave her the fish to feed causing Kate to laugh. Castle had brought a camera and took a lot of photos of his beautiful companions, especially when he thought that Kate and Alexis weren't looking and acting all goofy. While Alexis was busy feeding her favorite animals, Kate turned around to Castle and noticed he was taking photos of them. Feeling kinda weird, holding onto the dead fish, she turned around rather quickly, trying to hide the blush that was creeping up her cheeks.

At some point Alexis slipped her small hand into Kate's and held onto it which caught her by surprise. She looked down at their intertwined hands and noticed Alexis smiling at her shyly, so she gave Alexis' hand a squeeze reassuring her that she was okay with this.

Castle insisted on seeing the monkeys next, so they made their way to the ape habitat. He tried to imitate them by pulling faces, making monkey-like sounds and drumming his fists against his upper body. He would do anything and act like a fool if needed, just so he could hear the sound of their laughter.

"Daddy is being silly again, Miss Kate… just ignore him", little Alexis said while pulling her away from Castle. Kate tried her hardest to suppress her giggle as Castle's monkey imitation turned into a pout.

"Mean! At least my friends like it!", he said while turning towards the monkeys who were ignoring him because they had found a new occupation to kill time.

"They sure do!", Kate teased him and playfully bumped his side with her hip causing Castle's pout to turn into a soft smile.

"Okay… we've said Hi to my and Alexis' favorite animals. So which ones would you like to see?"

"The elephants?", Kate asked shyly, looking at the ground. "They are my favorite…" Observing her reaction Castle sensed that those animals might have a deeper meaning to Kate than she was willing to admit.

"I love elephants, Miss Kate! Yesterday in art class helped me paint an elephant. I'll show it to you on Monday!", Alexis exclaimed happily. She was still holding on to Kate's hand while skipping from one foot to the other, obviously excited that Kate, who was quickly becoming one of her favorite persons in the whole wide world, and she adored the same animal.

"The elephants it is then!", Castle said as he lead the way. They slowly walked towards the reserve and saw three Indian elephants. Two of them were standing close to the gate and were wagging their trunks in an attempt to greet their new guests.

"They are beautiful.", Kate whispered, admiring those majestic creatures. Alexis was standing right beside her and was looking up to them too.

"So beautiful.", Castle repeated. Instead of looking at the animals, his eyes never left Kate. He couldn't get enough of her. The way her eyes lighted up and her smile widened when the elephants moved closer, made him weak on the knees. Not ever wanting to forget this, he quickly took photos of this precious moment.

Unfortunately he had forgotten to turn the flash off, so Kate turned towards him. He gave her an innocent smile and kept his eyes glued to her frame. Right in that moment she noticed that he hadn't been talking about the elephants. He had called her beautiful! She could feel her cheeks heating up and turning crimson.

'Why would he say that? I'm nothing like the arm candy that he dates...', she thought and turned her attention back to the animals.
They stayed there in silence. Each of them enjoying the view.

After composing herself Kate took a deep breath and started talking:

"My Mom loved elephants. They were her all-time favorite animals and whenever we went to the zoo, we would go to the elephants first. Sometimes we got lucky and got to feed them. There was this one elephant called Luggard that seemed to hold a special place in her heart. He would always come as close as he could to greet us…"
It felt good to talk about the beautiful memories. Thinking about all the great zoo visits with her parents, put a smile on her face. Most of the time when she thought about her parents the happy moments were replaced by the darker moments, specifically the moment that changed her life. But this time it was different. Seeing Castle smile at her, pushed all the bad memories back and let the happy moments stick.

"After my parents got married, my dad took her to Namibia, so she could see them in the wild", she smiled at the memory. "They took a lot of photos there, so each time after we got home from the zoo, Mom would tell me more stories about the elephants there and show me photos. Oh Rick, I wish you could have seen her… she truly loved them." Kate sighed happily, still watching the elephants.

As much as he wanted to pull her into a hug, seeing she was so close to tears, he did not want to overstep so he reached over and pulled the hand that wasn't holding Alexis' into his and squeezed it softly.

"Sounds like your mom was an extraordinary woman!"

"She was. She did everything in her power to keep me happy. When I'm with them, I feel closer to her.", she said pointing towards the elephants. A lone tear ran down her cheek which she wiped away quickly. Subconsciously Castle's thumb was drawing small circles on the back of her hand. Kate faced Castle and they just stood there, gazing into each other's eyes while their face inched closer. Before something could happen, Alexis pulled on Kate's hand, drawing her attention towards her. Immediately Kate let go of Castle's hand and took a step away from him.

"Are you okay?" Alexis had watched Kate carefully and noticed she had been tearing up. Kate simply nodded and pulled Alexis into her arms. Wanting her to feel better, Alexis wrapped her arms around Kate in a tight hug.

After their emotional moment at the elephants', they wandered through the zoo and stopped at almost all of the other animals' reserves. Castle entertained them as much as he could making Kate and Alexis' laugh at his silliness.
The day flew by and by late afternoon they were starving.

"Daddy said we're gonna have dinner at the best burger and milkshakes place. Are you coming with us, Miss Kate?", Alexis asked carefully.

"Remy's!", Castle whispered.

Of course Castle would know Remy's! Lanie had introduced her to the owners of the restaurant the first time they went there for lunch. Apparently, it was THE place to go to for the best milkshakes the city had to offer. She didn't want the day to end since she was enjoying herself with the Castles pretty much, so her decision was simple. Plus, she hadn't tried the milkshakes there on her last visit, so she couldn't say no, could she…

"Sure, lead the way!"


When they arrived at the cafe, Alexis immediately lead both of the adults to her favorite table. Once they were seated, a waitress arrived and took their orders in. Alexis, who was sitting right next to Kate, was conversating with her, telling her about the first time they visited this place. Castle, sitting across from Kate, watched their interaction in awe. Alexis was an energetic girl but she usually needed more time to open up to people. It was different with Kate though. Alexis had loved Kate from the first day on, which simultaneously excited and freighted him.

On the one hand it showed him that Kate was good with his little girl and taking the way she interacted with his girl in account, she seemed to care about Alexis.

But on the other hand, it messed with his head that they've become this close in such a short amount of time. As beautiful the closeness was, there was always the risk of getting hurt. And he wanted to spare Alexis the pain. His little girl deserved all the love that she could get. He tried to keep her out of the tabloids and his dating life. That's why he had only introduced her to Gina, his evil publisher who he used to date some time ago. He had believed they could work it out and he could give Alexis the family she deserved but in the end, it had turned out that Gina wasn't it for him. She would put their work relationship before their personal one and would demand more chapters of his recent book while being out on a date. Moreover, she hadn't cared about Alexis at all. Alexis was a baby when he dated Gina, so luckily, she couldn't recollect that time. Since then, he swore to himself that he wouldn't date shallow women, resulting in the fact that he had stayed single since his break-up with Gina.

Kate was different. She inspired him, he wanted to be a better man for her… a better author. Thanks to her he had started writing a new book after a months-long writer's block.
Accepting that this couldn't go beyond friendship, he hoped that no hearts would get broken in this.

After a while the waitress returned with their burgers and milkshakes. They dug in and ate in silence. When Kate took a sip of her strawberry milkshake, she moaned softly.

"That good?", Castle gulped, chuckling with playfully raised eyebrows while trying to downplay the effect that she was having on him, by taking a sip of his chocolate milkshake.

"I'm never gonna drink any milkshakes anywhere else."

"Told you, Miss Kate!", Alexis exclaimed happily while wolfing down her chickenburger.

"I guess we have to come here more often then."
When Kate saw that Alexis' smile was widening, she knew she had said the right thing. "But we will have to leave your dad at home…", she added, winking at Castle who was displaying an adorable pout again.

"You wouldn't!"

"Try me!" Alexis giggled and Kate turned towards her to tell her something when a fry hit her square on her forehead. When she turned towards Castle in disbelief, she was confronted with a smug grin.

"Rick!"

"What? You were being mean." She rolled her eyes at him. This man could be such a child sometimes.

"Alexis, how do you do it? How do you raise this man-child?"

Alexis sighed playfully and said seriously, "It's a lot of work, Miss Kate. A looot. We are still working on his manners."

"You are doing quite some job there!" Kate tried her hardest not to burst out laughing.

After they finished dinner, it was time for them to part ways.

"Thank you for this beautiful day! I had a lot of fun! I'll see you on Monday, Alexis."

"See you in school, Miss Kate!" Kate knelt down to Alexis' level so she could wrap her arms around her neck and give her one of her wholesome hugs. When they pulled away, Kate pressed a light kiss on the top of Alexis' head.

'It's now or never', Castle thought, so he sandwiched little Alexis between them, enveloping Kate in a bear hug.

"Rick…", she giggled. They were so close to each other that she could smell his fragrant cologne.

"I wanted to join in on the fun", he whispered into her ear which caused that tingling feeling in her stomach to increase. It was beyond her comprehension how a guy could have such an effect on her. The hug ended too soon for all of their liking.

Saying their final goodbyes, Castle and Alexis started to walk away hand in hand, leaving a happy yet conflicted Kate behind.
'Òh good lord, what is happening?' She couldn't fall in love with him. She couldn't risk her heart. A relationship between them would come to an end too soon and leave her heartbroken, so friendship was the only thing she was willing to give.

If only love played by the rules…


AN: Alexis, stop ruining their moments! Just kidding, Alexis is adorable, isn't she?
Okay, as you can see, they are getting closer to each other and creating a bond! Kate still gotta tell Castle about her parents… But will she be able to do that or will this drive them apart? As you can see, it's not just Kate who has some inner demons to battle… So, will Castle be able to trust her with his heart?
How long will it take them to notice that they could be each other's bandaids... sooo many questions...

The New Year is slowly approaching, so Happy New Year to all of you! May 2022 treat you well!
See ya next week! x