Once Lost But Now Found

Chapter 3 – Confrontations

"How did you find me?"

"I hired a PI, the best in the business of finding lost or missing persons."

"And why did you want to find me?"

"We had something that night, I felt a connection and so did you."

"Rick, it meant nothing, it was just a one night stand. We both needed to be with someone that night, that was all it was. Two people seeking to forget if only for one night."

"No Kate, it went beyond that. We connected; I know you felt it too."

"So what are you saying, you want to see me and establish a relationship."

"Yes."

"This is crazy Rick." She gives him her devil eye stare as if she is trying to find out Rick's hidden motivation. It is a long and silent pause. Rick feels that she is ready to throw him out of her townhouse, so he launches his most lethal persuasive argument at her.

"I know you are pregnant… and it's mine. The timing is right."

There is another long pause. After what seemed like an eternity, Kate speaks, "Did your hired PI tell you that?"

"Yes, but what does it matter, I have a responsibility here."

"I will not turn your life upside down because you got me pregnant. You have no obligation here. I release you from any sense of duty or honor that you think you may owe me, Rick."

"Kate, our child is part of both of us, that means I have a responsibility, like it or not. I am here for that child and the mother who bears the child. I'm here for you Kate."

"And what of your new girlfriend, Gina Cowl? What will she say when she learns you got me pregnant?"

Rick is stunned by her question. As much as he had shocked her with his knowledge of her situation, she shocked him back even more with what she knew of him presently. Seems she has been keeping up on him, despite her claims that their one night together meant nothing to her.

"First of all, I have no girlfriend. Whatever you may have read in some gossip column is just a publicity stunt for my next novel to induce curiosity and encourage sales. Secondly, I have been with no one since that night and I plan to be with no one else. There will be no one until you and I resolve this connection we have and decide what to do about it."

Kate is overwhelmed. She has tried to shut him down but he keeps beating her off. His strong determination and his persistent declarations to her just then makes her realize that he means all he has told her. Kate breaks down. She sheds some tears and starts to cry. Rick pulls her in with a tight hug and tells her, "If nothing else, I can at least be here for morale support and to give you comfort when you need it. But still, I want to give you so much more than just that."

Hearing his wish to be more for her than just comfort, she tells him, "It's been so hard Rick. I have had to do this alone except for the help of my best friend Maddy and her boyfriend. My father disowned me when he found out. He called me a slut for getting pregnant from a one-night stand. Then he fell off the sobriety wagon and started drinking again. He is back in rehab. I caused that Rick. My dad was doing so well until I told him. I could see the disappointment in his eyes when I talked to him. He told me my mother would be so disappointed in me if she was still alive. I have ruined my life and did not want to pull you into this mess I created."

"Kate, last I looked, it takes two people to get pregnant. So I am in this all the way. You will not shut me out, I will not let you."

Rick lets her cry it out, all the while continuing to hug her and squeeze her when she sobs. After what seems a long while she is quiet.

"All done, was it a good cry? Now tell me what you are doing about our child and how you are dealing with the pregnancy."

Kate liked the sound of those words, 'our child'. She commences to tell him what has happened to herself since finding out she is pregnant.

"Well, thank Maddy and Josh for their help, but the first thing I am doing is getting you a private doctor who can give you the best care."

"Rick, that will cost you lots of money, I do not…..."

"Stop it Kate. I am a millionaire from my writings, so money is not an obstacle. Now are you planning on staying here at your family townhouse? I was thinking my loft is available for you if you want it."

"My dad is in rehab for some weeks so I need to stay, there will be no one here if I am not present."

"No matter, we can work around it. I can as easily care for you here as I could at the loft."

"Rick, are you planning on staying here? How will that work, we are not even together! We are not a couple. I also have my dad to consider, he needs me here to look out for him."

"All the more reason I should be with you, to share in the load and ease your troubles. I could stay during the day when your dad returns, in the meantime, I will be here 24/7 for you. I can stay in your guest room which I assume you have. That can be it for the time being, until your father returns, then after that I can sleep at the loft and be here during the waking hours. I assume when your father returns, he will be here for you."

"As best as my father can, remember he has had a three peat on his rehab. I am as much here for him as he is for me."

"We'll play it by ear for now, get the lay of the land, so to speak."

"Rick, what did I ever do to deserve you?"

"Simple, you are just you and I would not want it any other way."

Being There For Kate

Rick was good for his words. The first thing he did was to make an appointment for her with the best doctor he could find. Then he filled her refrigerator, which was low on food since Kate had been on a tight budget. But despite her budget, she had not had time to go grocery shopping. Her current condition had not been conducive for grocery shopping, or any shopping for that matter.

He moved into her guest room and cooked her healthy meals three times a day and provided snacks when she craved them. His attention to her needs was more than she had expected and she marveled everyday how he cared for her. After dinner each night they would watch a dvd, or he would read to her, and some nights they would just talk about anything or everything that interested Kate. He took her to her appointments and had even gotten her a new maternity wardrobe. She lacked for nothing with Rick Castle.

When Kate's father finally returned to the townhouse, it had initially been a tense situation. When he met Jim Beckett, the first thing her father had said to him was, "So you're the bastard who got my daughter knocked up. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Rick explained that it was more than a one-night stand for him. He had felt a connection to her beyond just sex and being partially responsible for her condition, he was there for her.

"Does that mean you will marry my daughter and make her a respectable woman again?", Jim Beckett had asked him.

"Sir, that is entirely up to Kate. I have not asked nor has she insisted, but if this connection we both have felt, results in a relationship, I will propose to her if and when the situation is right. That however is entirely up to Kate to accept. If Kate will have me, I certainly had considered that option, being with her as man and wife."

After a couple of weeks of observing how diligent Rick was in caring for his daughter, tensions between Jim Beckett and Rick Castle had eased. Jim Beckett had been won over to Rick's side by the fact Rick cared for his daughter so well. That Rick did not want anything in return, but to be there for Kate and their child. Those actions had Jim Beckett reconsider his opinion of Rick. Jim also noted that Kate was growing fonder of Rick as time went by and she was happier than Jim had ever seen her be she since the murder of her mother. Kate had many a past boyfriend most of whom Jim Beckett did not approve of for his daughter. Rick was a far better man than any of Kate's past boyfriends and Jim was now secretly hoping that the two of them would indeed become a couple.

Rick had been steadfast and dependable and would make their child a great father. Jim had also come to realize just how wealthy Rick Castle is. His daughter confided to him that Rick was paying for the private doctor she was seeing and that Rick had already booked a private room for the birth of their baby at the closest hospital available for the delivery. Rick had also not asked anything for the groceries he bought weekly to prepare her meals. Rick had even bought various cook books that had meal recipes for pregnant mothers. Rick taken care of every detail to ensure that Kate would have a healthy and trouble-free delivery when their child came.

Since Jim's return to the townhouse, Rick would spend the day caring for Kate, cooking all her meals and attending to her needs, then late at night Rick would return to his loft to sleep. But the next morning he would be in bright and early to prepare her breakfast. Jim wondered when Rick got to write, which was his regular day job. It seemed that Rick always had his laptop with him and when inspiration came, he would write them down then and there. Jim noticed that during the days in the townhouse, Rick on occasion would go writing for hours on end. So that between his caring for Kate and writing when it came to him, this filled Rick's days. He also learned Rick did a lot of writing at night in his apartment loft.

Despite some of the crazy cravings his daughter had developed, Rick had managed to get all of them for her. One night she wanted sushi from a particular and popular restaurant in Manhattan, but she did not want to eat there for fear of being seen by anyone who knew her and would then see how big she had gotten! The restaurant was high end and did not do take out.

Rick knowing that Maddy, Kate's BFF, was in the restaurant business, had worked with Maddy to get a meal prepared for Kate from that Japanese establishment. Rick had even picked up the meal, taking a cab to and from the place. Jim knew from these efforts to please Kate, and to look out for her every need, that Rick was a decent and upright man. Rick would do anything for Kate, and as a father, that is all Jim ever wanted for his Katie; to be with a man of her choice who cared deeply for her. The more Jim saw of Rick Castle, the more he hoped that the relationship between his Katie and Castle, would morph into a more permanent and loving relationship, if it was not already happening.

Jim Beckett also knew that Rick Castle would be the best father for his new grandchild. Castle would be a far better father than JIm Beckett had been for Kate. It was at that moment of realization of his troubled relationship with his daughter, and his neglect of her when she needed it most, that Jim vowed to recover from his alcoholism and be there for Kate and his yet to be born grandchild. He simply needed to take Rick's example and adapt it to himself.

Rick Castle had made Jim Beckett want to be the best father and grandfather he could be. Rick's example of caring for his daughter made Jim steadfast in his determination to beat his alcoholism and be the man he could be, or once had been, before the murder of his wife. Jim would not fall off the wagon again, three times had been enough, it would stop at that number. Jim Beckett, like Rick Castle, would be true to his word. Jim would keep his vow of sobriety and be steadfast in his desire to be the best he could be for his family. Such was the influence Rick Castle had on Jim Beckett.