Espo had watched Kate exiting the interrogation room with fast steps, her head held low. He'd watched as Castle had excused himself to him, Ryan and the girls and followed Kate into the direction of the ladies bathroom. He'd also watched uncle Kevin get a game of Go fish to play with the girls. And then he watched that asshole Josh exiting the interrogation room, heading for the elevator.

„I'm gonna get some fresh air" Espo said to his partner. Ryan looked up from the game he was playing with Claire and Alexis and immediately noticed the fury in his eyes. He looked around and caught sight of Josh in the elevator before the doors closed.

„I don't think that's a good idea, Javi" Ryan said, he immediately knew what his partner was about to do. But he didn't think it was their place to act. Sure he was angry at Josh too but he was confident that Kate had ripped him apart already.

„Yeah, I don't care" Espo said and went to the door.

Ryan sighed, he knew he could do nothing to change his partners mind. „Just don't do anything too stupid, Javi"

„It's your turn uncle Kev" Claire said and distracted Ryan for a moment. Espo quickly slipped out of the break room and headed for the stairs which he ran down to catch up with the elevator.

He reached the ground floor right in time to grab Josh's shirt the moment the doors of the elevator opened. He shoved him into a quiet corner, not wanting anyone to witness their little chat.

Espo glared at the tall man. His fist was under Josh's chin. „Listen jackass. Kate may have been gentle with you but I'm not gonna be" he threatened quietly.

Josh's eyes were wide but he didn't try to yell for help or break free. He didn't say anything either. He wasn't that dumb.

„You know, Claire is like the precinct's baby. Everybody here loves her. Every single person here would give their own life to protect hers. EVERY SINGLE PERSON. So be a smart boy and don't hurt her again. Because next time I'm gonna kill you and I guarantee you that I'm not going to jail for it. Because it will be written down as an accident. Are we clear?" Espo asked, his fist shoving him further against the wall behind him. Josh couldn't breath but he nodded.

„Yes" he rasped and Espo took his fist back.

„Good" he said and then he hit him with his fist. The hit came unexpected and Josh stumbled against the wall. His hand went to his left eye.

„Take that as a reminder" Espo said again and then walked back towards the stairs to go back up to the homicide floor.

O-o-o-o-o

"Oh, um, sorry, detective?" Rick corrected himself. Obviously considering if she maybe wasn't comfortable with him using her first name.

„Detective Beckett?" he tried when she still didn't answer.

"or just Beckett?"

"Miss Beckett?" Then there was a pause in which he probably considered what to try next.

"Claire's mom?" He asked hesitantly with a hint of humor in his voice.

Kate actually chuckled despite her still flowing tears. It sounded more like a choke than a laugh. But it was closer to laughing than she would have thought she'd come today.

"Was that a laugh?" Castle asked through the door and Kate couldn't help but smile a little.

"Um, so none of the above? Maybe Katherine?"

Kate grimaced but kept quiet. Castle of course couldn't see it.

"Um… Houghton?" Ugg, where did he know her middle name from?

"Katherine Houghton?" he tried.

"Katherine Houghton Beckett?"

Then there was a pause.

"I think I ran out of ideas" he said and she chuckled again. "A little clue as to what to call you would be really nice, you know?"

Kate shook her head. He was kind of adorable. She didn't know why he even cared about her. It wasn't like he did know her. He should probably be annoyed that he had had to watch her daughter the whole afternoon. But there he was, standing in front of the bathroom she had locked herself in to cry about her break-up.

Surprising herself Kate tiptoed to the door, ignoring the mirror on purpose. She would only change her mind if she saw the traces of her make-up all over her face.

She unlocked and opened the door and then turned immediately to take her previous place on the floor again. She pulled her knees to her chest.

"You can call me Kate" she told him but didn't look up from her knees.

He quietly closed the door behind him and locked it again. Then he walked over to her and sat down beside her. Careful to leave her some space.

"Yes. Of course. Kate. The first thought is almost always right. I'm Rick by the way."

Kate nodded and then they both fell quiet for a while. The amusement Kate had felt over Rick's antics faded off and soon the tears started to fall again. To her own surprise she didn't care Rick seeing her cry. Normally she hated when other people saw her cry, strangers, friends and family alike. She hated it even more when they tried to comfort her. She didn't really understand why she didn't mind right now that he saw her cry. Maybe it was because of the little something she'd seen in his eyes earlier. The something that made her think that he'd been in her place once.

He didn't make any attempt to touch her either which she appreciated very much. He just sat there, looked around the room and just kept quiet. She was grateful that he didn't touch her because she really really hated to be touched when she was crying. She knew it was meant to comfort but it made her lose all of her control and there wasn't a person in the world she felt comfortable doing that with.

How was she going to tell Claire that her daddy was moving out? How did she explain that they broke up? How was she going to manage being a single mother? This was going to be so difficult. With her job and all she depended on Josh taking turns with her to care for Claire. But look how that had turned out. How could he care so little? She was his daughter. She should be what he loved most in this world. She should be more important than his work.

Claire would be so devastated. Of course she loved her daddy and she was going to miss him. She wouldn't really understand why he wasn't going to be there anymore. Maybe she'd even blame her mother. Kate didn't want to be blamed for his faults. But she wouldn't talk badly about Josh in front of Claire either. He still was her dad and she still loved him. Kate didn't want Claire to feel like she had to hate him in order to be loved by her.

But how was she going to explain this? She'd screw it up. She would totally screw it up and then Claire would be terribly unhappy, thinking she was unloved by both her parents.

"I don't know if it is any comfort to you but Alexis' mother isn't any better than Claire's father" Rick broke into her thoughts after what felt like hours. She'd been so entangled in her thoughts she'd totally forgotten that he was even here.

Kate snorted. "How could she be worse than Josh?" She couldn't help but feel a little bitterness.

"I didn't say worse, I said not better" Castle corrected her.

"Still" Kate argued, knowing that she was being bitter right now but she couldn't help it. "If she didn't leave Alexis with a stranger in a park I don't know how she could compete with Josh"

"Hm." Rick made and they fell into a strangely comfortable silence again in which both of them thought their own dark thoughts.

"Want to hear the story?" Rick said after a while and found himself surprised that he offered to tell her this. He didn't really like talking about the messiness of his private life. But then again, Kate didn't seem to be the type to run off to the press and tell them about it. And there was just something about her that he found immensely fascinating.

"You don't have to tell me" Despite her words Rick could see that she was curious. And her tears had stopped running down her face. Her breathing was almost back to normal too. There were no deep sighs and suppressed sobs any more.

"I want to" he said. Then he made a pause to collect his thoughts before he started. "I was on a book tour. It was supposed to be four days. But since it was my first one without Alexis I missed her so much that I ended it after the third day and flew back earlier then I had originally planned. When I got home at 2 am the first thing I heard was Alexis crying in her room. I ran upstairs to comfort her. It took me a long time to find out what was wrong. But when I did…" he stopped for a moment. „She thought her mother had been murdered."

At this point Kate gasped and looked at him with wide eyes, entangled in the story.

"She had heard Meredith scream after a man had come to the loft. And since Meredith wouldn't come looking for her the next 12 hours Alexis assumed she had been murdered like the people in my books."

After that Rick fell silent, thinking his own dark thoughts.

"What had happened?" Kate asked, too curious to care about prying.

"Meredith's screams…" Rick pressed out. Thinking about it still hurt like hell. "They weren't from pain"

"She cheated on you" Kate concluded. It wasn't a question. Rick nodded once nonetheless.

"I'm sorry, Rick" Kate said compassionately.

"I just wish she could have done so quietly. Alexis was so scared. And Meredith didn't even check on her for over 12 hours!"

They fell silent again.

"I guess I was wrong" Kate said after a while. Now trying to smile. It really was time to collect herself and look what her daughter was doing. "Meredith obviously can compete with Josh"

Rick let out a pained laugh. "Told you so"

Kate's heart stopped for a beat at his use of this sentence. Her mother's favorite line. But she found that out of his mouth it didn't bother her so much as it used to. For a moment she wondered why that could be but she shoved the thought to the back of her mind. Now really wasn't the time to think about it.

They smiled at each other for a few moments until Rick grinned a little mischievously.

"I picked this out of your desk drawer. It looked like a make-up bag. I thought you could use it. And I've been right. You really could use it, you little panda bear." Rick hold up the little purple bag and grinned teasingly, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

Kate felt her cheeks flush. She hadn't thought about her appearance since the moment Rick sat down beside her. She probably looked worse than a panda bear. But Rick hadn't seemed to mind. He hadn't stared at the remnants of her make-up on her face. She had totally forgotten about her appearance because he hadn't made the impression like he cared.

"Thanks" Kate muttered and grabbed the bag from his hands. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. That probably didn't make it any better.

"You're welcome" his smile was honest, his eyes warm. "I just thought you might want to reapply your make-up before you face all your male-colleagues again"

Kate stared at him. That was very thoughtful of him and sweet. She didn't know if any guy had ever done something this sweet for her. And she barely knew him.

"Yeah. Thanks"

Before Kate could walk over to the mirror and start cleaning her face, there was a knock on the door.

"Yo Beckett" Espo called. "Ryan and I want to go home. So if you please could stop making out with Castle and take your child that would be great."

Kate's cheeks flushed the deepest of red. Rick thought it was adorable. He chuckled.

"Stop laughing" Kate rolled her eyes.

"Very funny, Espo" she said sarcastically but shooed Rick out so she could get her make-up done faster. As good of a friend as Espo was she didn't need him to see her like this. Rick was totally right about male-colleagues. If she came out of here looking like that she wouldn't hear the end of it.

O-o-o-o-o

Five minutes later Kate emerged from the bathroom and once again found Rick reading to Claire and Alexis. The girls were hanging on his lips and he was so focused on them and the book that he didn't even notice her. It was heart melting. She stopped to watch them. Listening to his reading. He was a very good story teller and though it was only a children's book and not that exciting she found herself drawn in by the story just because of his reading voice.

How could it be that she found herself immediately comforted by hearing his melodic voice? It was like every word that left him was soothing her heartache just a tiny little bit. Just like every book of his had done after her mother's death. It was just something about this man's words.

The spell was broken when someone jostled against her. Kate shook herself out of this strange state of admiration. She really shouldn't stare at him like this in the middle of the bullpen. Her colleagues would be mocking her like crazy when they noticed and she really didn't need this right now. Or ever.

But he was her favorite author and she couldn't help but feel a little awe-struck. Now that the adrenaline from her fight with Josh had subsided, it came crashing into her that she has met bestselling-author Richard Castle. In person. And not just for half a minute at a book-signing. No. Richard Castle was sitting on her chair in the precinct and reading to her little girl who was apparently now best friends with his daughter. After he'd sat with her through her crying session in the precinct bathroom. Life felt very surreal.

"Can we read another book, daddy?" Alexis asked and shook Kate out of her thoughts again. This time she walked the last steps towards them.

"This was the last one" Claire said regretfully. "I don't have any more books here. They are all at home."

Then she looked around and saw her mother. She sprang from Castle's lap and ran to her. Rick stood up with Alexis in his arms and approached her too, a soft smile on his lips.

"Mommy, can Alexis and Mr Castle go home with us now? We want to read more books. But we already read all of the ones I have here and rereading is boring" she said in a rush. She was talking in a rush most of the time. She got easily excited and it always showed in her voice. Kate found it adorable. But it was kind of hard to follow her and Josh hadn't bothered to try to do so most of the time. Ugh… Josh.

"And mommy?" Claire stared at her with wide sparkling eyes, full of joy. Kate immediately smiled back.

"Yes Claire?" she asked grinning.

"Mr Castle has the best reading voice EVER." Kate silently agreed with that. „It's like watching a movie in your head. He can do all these funny voices. He can speak like a princess or like an animal or like an old lady or like a dragon. And it's so funny. Please can he read more books to me and Alexis?"

Kate was a little overwhelmed by her daughter's excitement over Richard Castle. Not that she could blame her. He was her favorite author after all. But it was kind of difficult to tell her that this probably wouldn't be possible. She doubted that they would see each other all too often after today.

Claire was looking up at her mother with big pleading eyes. Kate inwardly sighed. This would probably end in a tantrum.

"Sweetie, Mr Castle and Alexis can't come home with us. It's already pretty late and almost time for bed. And they probably have things to do themselves. But I can read to you when we get home, baby"

The corners of Claire's mouth turned further down with every word her mother was saying. And now her eyes were full of frustrated tears, glimmering furiously. She was on the edge of a tantrum. Great, Kate thought. Exactly what she needed right now.

"You can't read like Mr Castle, mommy! You are doing it all wrong! And I want to play with my best friend in the world!" Her voice was raised but she wasn't screaming yet. She pointed at Alexis. The girl shifted uncomfortably, looking between Kate and Claire while holding her dad's hand. Kate intentionally didn't look at Rick.

She kneeled down in front of Claire to be on her eye level. "Claire, I understand that you want to play with your friend some more but it's already pretty late and we still need to grab something to eat. And then we need to go home pretty fast because you have school tomorrow. But maybe we can schedule a play date with Alexis soon."

Rick coughed slightly. Kate looked up at him. He looked somewhat sheepish.
"We haven't eaten yet either" he stated but didn't suggest that they got dinner together since he didn't want to get the idea in Claire's head if that wasn't what Kate wanted.

Kate contemplated his hidden suggestion for a second. On one side she didn't want to bother him, especially after he had already taken care of her daughter the whole afternoon and gone to the trouble of finding her. On the other side she was really excited about meeting her favorite author and getting to know him better. Plus it would satisfy Claire, at least for tonight.

She gave him a small secret smile and nodded slightly.

"Well, if that's the case…" Kate started and smiled at her daughter conspiratorially. "Why don't we show Mr Castle and Alexis our most favorite burger restaurant? If that's okay with them?" Rick nodded when Kate looked up at him questionably.

"Yeah!" Claire cheered and wanted to run to the elevator.

Kate held her back. "Claire wait" she said, taking her daughter's hands in hers and making sure that Claire looked into her eyes. "If we do this, you promise me that we will go home after dinner without arguing."

"Yes mommy. I promise. But we can have a play date soon?" She asked.

"If that's okay with them, sure." Kate agreed and let go of Claire's hands, confident that they'd be able to go home without any tantrums tonight.

"Let's go to Remy's!" Claire shouted and ran to the elevator, calling for Alexis to join her. The girl looked up to her father questionably and waited for his nod before she followed Claire.

Rick fell into step with Kate when they walked towards their enthusiastic kids.

"Sorry" Kate started. "You probably had other plans today." She was feeling kind of guilty about stealing best-selling Richard Castle's time again.

"Nope" he disagreed. "The only plan I had today was make my daughter happy. And now look at her" Kate did and saw Alexis and Claire giggling over who knows what. Yeah. Alexis looked happy. And so did Claire. Kate hasn't ever seen her this comfortable with another child. Not that Claire had no friends but most of them didn't seem to be able to keep up with her. Alexis appeared to be able to do that, even while she seemed to be a little shy in comparison with Claire.

"Besides" Rick added grinning. "I remember someone telling me she owed me because I returned her child to her"

Kate let out a laugh. He was cute. She had planned to pay for dinner anyway. So it fitted perfectly into her plan.