A/N: WARNING! Triggers for suicide within this chapter. Read with caution.

Rick looked at his daughter and his daughter looked at him both wondering who is at the door.

"Did you order anything?" She asked in an uncertain tone.

"Not me, did you order dinner and forget to tell me?"

"Dad, I just got home, how could I have ordered dinner?"

"Well you do have a cell phone and I know how you like to surprise me sometimes so I thought it might have been you."

"Okay, then I'll go answer the door." She volunteered.

Rick had second thoughts about her answering the door so he said,

"Alexis, let me handle this one."

Rick slides out from behind his desk and rises from his chair. When she sees this she stops walking to the door when he walks around his desk and heads toward the doorway telling his daughter with his eyes to sit down. She does so by sitting at the kitchen island counter so she can keep an eye on the front door just in case.

Rick steps up to the door, looks through the peephole, and sees a beautiful brunette waiting patiently on the other side. Before he can answer the door she knocks again keeping one hand behind her back when she finishes knocking she places her left hand back behind her back, sort of standing at parade rest.

He takes a deep breath and opens the door.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Richard Edgar Castle?"

"Yes. Are you a fan?" He said hopefully.

Rick knew from time to time that Eduardo had let up fans who were very persistent and as cute as this one was, he made the right choice in his mind.

But everything starts to go in slow motion when the woman pulls out an envelope from behind her back and extends her hand. Only as a reaction to her movement does Rick extend his hand and grab the envelope she has in front of him.

"Mr. Castle, you've been served! You are in breach of contract with Black Pawn Publishing. The court proceedings for the trial of the immediate return of money or monies granted to you which you are now in default for are owed. The date is listed in the subpoena. Have a great day!"

All he could do was simply stand there dumbfounded and watch her walk away. It wasn't until he was broken from his stupor by a hand pulling him back into the loft.

"Dad snap out of it!" Alexis demands as she tugs his shirt backward.

"I can't believe that she would do something like this!" Rick says.

"What did you expect? You were contracted to provide a service and you didn't. She's just as vindictive as I thought she was." Alexis said sadly.

The first thing Rick does is head back to his office. He picks up the phone and calls his longtime attorney and high school friend Barry Levanthal.

"Good afternoon law offices of Leventhal and Smith, how may I direct your call?" The receptionist asks.

"I need to speak to Mr. Leventhal as soon as possible." Rick gets out all in one quick breath.

After a brief time on hold, Barry answers the phone.

"Hello, Barry Leventhal how can I help you?"

"Hi Barry, It's Rick Castle. I might need some legal help."

"When don't you need legal help, Rick?" Barry shot back.

"This is serious this time Barry. Gina has demanded the return of the advance for the outline and the first few chapters of the new book I was supposed to give to her a couple of months ago."

"Breach of contract I'm guessing? You knew one time it was going to come back and bite you in the ass didn't you Rick? You procrastinate too much, that's your problem."

"Yeah, that's what the server said. She was beautiful too …"

"Rick, please get your mind off the beautiful woman who delivered the paperwork to you. That's how they get you to take the paperwork without expecting you to refuse. Breach of contract can be serious. Not only can they make you return your advance but they can legally take you for just about everything you have. So you have two choices: you can give them the outline and chapters that you owe them and pay a slight fine for not doing so in the allotted timeframe or you can face them in court."

"When you say take me for everything I have, how much are we talking here?" Rick asks.

"Rick, as much as I'd like to soften the blow for you, they could probably take everything you own including your loft, your house in the Hamptons, all of your cars, and even your private jet. Let's hope they don't want to play hardball. But what I need you to do first is email me the legal papers they just served on you. Give me about two hours and I'll read over the lawsuit and give you your best options."

"Okay, Barry. I'll scan the documents and email them to you in the next 15 minutes."

Rick ended the call and his daughter was looking at him hopefully.

"It'll be alright Alexis I promise. They're just covering all their bases."

"Dad, you've never been sued for breach of contract before. I just hope that you can't get past your writer's block and start writing again."

He did too. Even with everything that's going on he still can get a solid idea in his head.

Barry knew one day that he would be called by his friend and his legal services would be needed. In a way, he feels like he's taking advantage of Rick since he is charging him about a thousand dollars a month to be retained. Now he gets to show his client what he can do for that retainer. The paperwork is in his inbox and he prints out everything Rick sent him. It looks like a straightforward breach of contract lawsuit. And from it, he reads that Gina, who might be a bit upset that she hasn't received what the contract provided for, thinks this could be a scare tactic to get Rick motivated to write.

In the lawsuit, it's just asking for the 1.6 million-dollar advance to be returned and the return of $250,000 for travel expenses for the first three-month book tour of the final Storm book. Now that he's involved he will call Black Pawn's legal team and see if he can reach an agreement with them that keeps everything as it is. But he's going to have to do some very careful maneuvering to allow Rick to keep the money he received. Black Pawn is not a company to be trifled with in any way. He's glad he doesn't have to deal with Gina because she can be a strictly no woman. Every answer to the question you asked her the answer would be no.

He makes notes for the lawsuit and sees that the court date is set for next week. He'll give Rick a call back and let him know what is going on.

The phone rings in Rick is quick to jump all over it. He picks up the receiver and says hello.

"Rick, it's Barry Leventhal."

"Barry so tell me how bad is it?"

"Well, any legal action is bad for the party who is being acted upon, that's you, but I think there is some wiggle room here if you are agreeable to some terms I'm going to suggest to you."

"Okay, Barry what are they?" Rick tasks

"You need to give them what they want. That's about all I can suggest to you. Now if there is a legal standpoint as to why you can't give them that I need to know about it."

Rick is very reluctant to give the real reason why he can't write a single word. But to move this along, he decides to trust his friend.

"I can't write. There I said it."

"Wait, what?" Barry asks. "You're a writer why can't you write?"

In a very low whisper so only Barry could hear Rick tells him the reason.

"I haven't been able to write anything since I killed off Derek storm. I have no clue why I can't write, but everything I think of either sounds stupid or doesn't work on the page. It's like writing is something I have to relearn all over again and even then I can't put a sentence together that makes any kind of sense."

"Ouch! Is there anything I can do to help?" Barry suggests.

"Not really. It's more of a switch in my head that decided to turn itself off for a while."

"Okay, Rick so that brings me to the next part of what's going to happen. You're going to have to appear in court next week. They are demanding the advance for the next book to be returned as well as the monies that were paid out for transportation costs for your book tour. What I'm going to try to do is get you some more time to see if we can extend the contract deadlines thus keeping the payment they initially paid to you. Now the big question is how long should I ask for the contract to be extended?"

"Barry, Alexis, and I were supposed to go to Cancun next week. We were supposed to leave this Monday morning. Is there any way to postpone this?"

"Rick, I'm pretty sure that if you don't show up in court they will take everything you have just for spite because they can. So it's up to you if you want to enjoy one more week of paradise with the money you do have left and not go to court, then by all means be my guest. But don't be too surprised when you see an eviction notice on the front door of the loft. All of your assets will be frozen and you won't have a pot to pee in."

"She's that mad huh?"

"Well, let's put it this way if she was my boss I wouldn't want to be dealing with her."

"All right I'll reschedule." Rick sadly says.

"Rick come by the office on Tuesday morning. The court date is set for Wednesday the 3rd. That's in five days just so you can add it to your calendar so you won't forget." Barry said as a joke.

Rick ended the call and had to break the news to his daughter about their trip.

Muses are spirits that are meant to be free. They are mischievous and can sometimes get into more trouble than they are sent to solve. This is not the case with Kate. Even though she was sent to help people she hasn't wavered from that duty since she's been a muse. On her way to the writer that was having blockage issues, she became sidetracked as another issue presented itself. It was on a much grander scale than she's used to working on.

It seems that there was an editor who decided that the book that they were publishing by the author in question wasn't as good as they originally thought. When the writer of the book was told this after it went to print she became upset. First off there was the fact that they stopped the print run before they printed a thousand copies and weren't printing any more copies of her book. They decided that the ones that were printed already were going to be donated and not sold. The publisher had sent out her book to a select group of readers all totaled, about fifty people. When the thoughts and reviews came back from what they read, they decided to pull the plug. Printing ceased and the author was informed of their decision.

She became much more than upset. She had thoughts of ending her life all because her publisher decided to not print her life's work. She had been working on this novel with a passion for the last decade and felt that it was her best work ever. Her contract that the publisher had offered her thought it was a great book too. She just can't figure out where she went wrong.

Kate was walking down 8th Avenue had heard the thoughts of this author and responded to help her. Kate approaches Washington Square Park and looks around to find the author. She can kind of hear her thoughts but doesn't have a good location on where she could be. Since the weather is pleasant she will take a stroll around the park to see if she can locate her.

She walks around the park and sees children playing happily. It's one thing she misses when she's under her father's house arrest for years at a time. As she continues to walk through the park she sees a park bench that has the person sitting on it. She knows this is who she is here to help. But the blank stare on her face tells her that she's beyond staying in this life. She can tell just by the look on her face that she is going to take her own life, only because a publisher had decided not to publish her work. She cautiously walks up to the bench and starts a dialog with the woman.

"Hi! Is anyone sitting here?" Kate asks.

The woman just stares blankly straight ahead not even acknowledging Kate's presence. She decides to sit on the opposite side of the park bench and looks intently at the author.

"Hi, my name's Kate. Isn't it a beautiful day?"

The author simply keeps looking straight ahead not even cracking a smile. Kate has her work cut out for her with the author. She tries something else something that she hopes will get the author to notice her.

Kate slid over a little closer to the middle of the bench park bench. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices the author watching her move closer from the corner of hers. When she thinks she's in a position that is not really invading her personal space, she does something that will break that personal space. She extends her hand and takes the author's hand into hers.

The author does nothing to stop her. But for a split second, Kate thinks that she sees relief in her facial features.

"Can you tell me your name?" Kate asks hesitantly.

In the faintest of whispers, she tells Kate her name is Jill. She can barely hear her but she doesn't want her to repeat the question causing her to stall the progress they've already made.

"Jill I think you need a friend. I can be that friend if you let me in. I have a feeling I know what's going on with you but I want to get it straight from you."

Jill just stared blankly looking at the seesaws. There were no children playing on them so Kate knew she wasn't watching anyone in particular. She waited for what felt like 15 minutes before she'll actually acknowledge her question.

Again in a very low whisper, Jill told Kate,

"I'm a failure."

"Why would you think that?" Kate asks trying to get her to open up a little more and giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Because it's true and what's the use in going on with life any longer if they don't like what I write?"

"Jill I know people like you who think exactly the way you're thinking. What they needed to do was talk to someone, but the problem was that there was no one for them to talk to and I think that you will be a statistic just like they were. But I'm here to tell you that ending your life solves absolutely nothing. Of course, people will mourn you and you will be missed by friends and family but think of all the good things you won't be able to do if you do end your life."

For the first time, Jill actually turns and faces Kate. Kate can tell that she is intrigued by what she just said and hopefully she wants to keep talking.

"How could you know so much about rejection? You can't be more than twenty-five!" Jill exclaims.

"Jill rejection affects everyone. I've been around long enough to experience rejection firsthand. Just ask my father. But enough about me. Let's talk about why you think just being rejected by one publisher is a good reason to throw in the towel."

Jill looked at Kate with a stunned look on her face. She'd never told her what had happened with her book deal and why she was thinking about ending her life.

"Jill what I'm trying to say is if you do what you're thinking about doing you'll never find the answers you're looking for. I believe that you will be a best-selling author and I don't make that statement lightly. I promise you that with all of my heart."

"But Kate I'm not perfect. I have flaws more so than anyone else. Why would I subject myself to disappointment and ridicule? I don't take rejection very well."

"Okay, how about if we do this. There has to be someplace where we can sit down and talk. I think that a good meal will make you see things differently. This way we can continue a plan for your future because honestly, I think you have a lot of potential."

Jill turned and looked back at the seesaws for about a full two minutes. Then she turned to face Kate and said,

"I know that there is a diner not far from here where we can sit and talk."

"Great!" Kate rises from the park bench with Jill in tow. They take a slow walk to the diner where they will discuss how valuable her life is no matter what the consequences are.

The diner that they selected was not as busy as they thought. They were able to sit and enjoy a good meal and the conversation was exactly what was needed.

"Jill, I see good things for you and your future. I know this because I have total faith in your abilities. Now since the publisher that you have been working with decided not to print your book, why don't you bring your ideas and book that's already printed to another publisher? I know you're just starting out writing and you have a passion that is absolutely amazing but maybe trying to find a person to represent your interests like a manager could be what gets you published. I have some contacts here that could give you a head start."

Kate takes a piece of paper and a pen and writes down the name and number of a talent manager in Manhattan. This talent manager specializes in helping authors get better contracts than they can on their own. Jill takes the number folds it up and puts it in her purse. They finish up their meal and Jill needs to know one thing.

"Kate, how did you know how to find me? How did you know that I was going to take my own life?" Jill asked.

"I was just walking through the park and I saw someone who looked like they could use a friend. I can be a good listener if you give me a chance. So would it be okay if I came to visit you every once in a while to see how you're doing?"

"I'd like that," Jill says. "But how about if I give you my cell phone number so you can call me whenever you want?"

well that would be good but I don't have a cell phone so I can't call you. Even though I'm 25 my father won't let me have one."

Jill just stares at Kate with a blank look on her face across the table.

"Wait, you're telling me that your father won't you have a cell phone? Kate this is the 2020s everybody has a cell phone."

"Tell me about it! But these are his rules and I need to obey them because he is my father."

"Kate are you in some kind of crazy cult? Does your father keep you grounded at home?"

This is the first time that Kate's ever been questioned about her father by anyone who needed her help (and the fact that he really does confine her to a room) and that she is a muse. She knows she has to end the conversation quickly because if she does start answering questions about Zeus it will ruin all the work she has already done with Jill.

"Jill my dad is kind of a touchy subject so why don't we just move on. I know you mean well but this is what my life is. I promise you I'm fine. I will look in on you from time to time to make sure you're doing okay. I consider you my friend and I would like for you to consider me a friend as well." Kate reaches over and gives jill's hand one last squeeze of encouragement and then she stops and talks to the waitress who served them looking her intently in the eye and the waitress nods in the affirmative.

Joe watches the exchange and in less than 15 seconds the conversation is concluded. The waitress then walks over to Jill and tells her,

"Your friend took care of the bill for your meal. The only thing she asked is that you leave the tip." The waitress told her.

Jill who saw the whole conversation with the waitress never noticed Kate paying cash or using a credit card for their meal. She found it odd that Kate would not pay for the food they ate but if the waitress said the bill was taken care of she will leave the tip.

TBC