Chapter 2

Sitting at her desk at the Twelfth Precinct, Kate Beckett chewed on her left thumbnail while staring at her computer screen, trying to find the best way to word an email that involved calling in a favor from a DA she'd butted heads with in the past. She didn't have a bad relationship with the woman, but their relationship certainly could not be described as good, and since her evidence teetered on the edge of being enough for a warrant, she wasn't sure the DA would go for it. She was certain the arrest would be a good one but was less confident in the wording of her email. She had a tendency to be too blunt and matter-of-fact and had a feeling this DA would appreciate a friendlier tone.

After re-reading the document for a third time, Kate groaned and raked her fingers back through her hair. It was nearly mid-day and she had lunchtime plans. Perhaps she simply needed to let the email sit for an hour or two and then the perfect wording would come to her when she arrived back at her desk. Deciding this was the best plan, Kate saved the email draft and turned towards her desk drawers to retrieve her purse when she spotted a figure standing alarmingly close. She jumped, half-gasping as she pressed her hand to her chest. "Wha—ah—when did you get here?" she stammered out.

Richard Castle merely smiled as he sat down in the chair beside his desk—the chair he now thought of as "his" no matter how much she reminded him that it wasn't. Grinning, he rested one elbow against the edge of his desk as he slid over his usual offering: a take-away cup filled with a sinfully delicious vanilla latte. The only thing that differed that morning was that he'd brought her a small cup instead of a large one, which she could only assume was due to the hour.

"Good morning, Detective."

She arched a skeptical eyebrow at him. "You realize it's nearly noon, right?"

His grin grew wider—if that was even possible. "Missed me, did you?"

She grumbled at him. "Merely pointing out a fact, Castle."

He hummed. "Well on the off chance that you did miss me, I suppose I should apologize for my tardiness. I was in the writing zone last night and didn't go to bed until nearly four, so: I'm sorry; I will try to be prompt in the future."

Somewhat shocked, she shook her head. "You realize you don't have to be here. At any time. Ever. Right?"

He leaned back in his chair, folded his hands in his lap and said, "I completely and entirely disagree. I am exactly where I'm supposed to be."

That time, Kate rolled her eyes as she snagged the coffee cup and took a small sip. Damn, the man did know how to bring her the best cups of coffee. It was actually annoying how much better they were than once she made—or even purchased—herself, though that seemed entirely fitting given that nearly everything about Richard Castle was…well, annoying.

Even then, nearly five weeks after they met, Kate still found it hard to believe that Castle had become such a presence in her life. She honestly wasn't sure what was more shocking: that she saw one of her favorite authors nearly every day or that she saw a man so close to her age nearly every day. Truly, it was a tossup.

Thanks to the terrorist attack of a fifteen years prior, Kate generally went days on end without interacting with any men. She only knew of two male cops at her precinct and both were rookies, so she had little interaction with them; all her coworkers were female. Everyone who lived in her building was a woman. Nearly every shopkeeper, subway operator, and medical professional she interacted with was also female. Thanks to the population density of Manhattan, the male population had been cut down to less than a quarter of what it had been, so while she probably saw a man on a street or subway at least once a day, interaction was less common. In fact, in the prior fifteen years, she could confidently say she had never once interacted with a man as much as she had interacted with Castle over the prior month. As such, his presence in her life was confusing at best.

Immediately after rescuing him from the warehouse in which he was being held captive, Kate and Hastings began quizzing Castle on everything he knew about the so-called "Bonnie and Clyde" determined to recreate the crimes from his books. As it was viewed a matter of public safety, it seemed nearly half of Kate's precinct was brought on to the case by early morning. Fortunately, through everyone's diligent work, and no small amount of assistance from the writer himself, they were able to apprehend what turned out to be a brother-sister duo before they could kill anyone.

As they wrapped up the case, Castle continually expressed his gratitude for Kate and her team, for which she was very grateful. He invited her to his apartment for a celebratory dinner, but she declined thinking it would be unprofessional. After they said their final goodbyes, Kate simply thought of the incident as an amusing tale to tell in the future—particularly since no one had actually been grievously injured. In fact, she'd told her mother right away, and they'd both been amazed by the coincidence. At that time she honestly thought she would never see Richard Castle again. Then, three days later, he walked into her precinct well-dressed in a sharp suit and with a proposition on his lips.

When Castle first asked Kate if she would be willing to let him shadow her, she honestly did not know how to respond. She had never anticipated anyone making such a request and thus found herself completely caught off guard. While she stammered about regulations and procedure, hoping to give herself a moment to fully consider the inquiry, his smile grew a little wider and he said, "Don't worry; I've already discussed it with the mayor." As it happened, the mayor was a fan.

Two days later, Kate sat in her cruiser in a state of complete disbelief while the over-excited writer sat beside her asking if he could turn on the car siren for the third time that hour. She was completely alone with a man for the first time since she was sixteen, and the most prevalent thought in her mind was that he might have been the most annoying human being she'd ever encountered. Thankfully, his excitement level moderated over the next few weeks, but he certainly was a handful and she feared he would be for the duration of their time together—however long that ended up being.

"Anyway," the writer continued after a few moments of silence, "I thought you'd be happy to know that I've moved on to the second chapter of Nikki's tale and it's really coming along quite well."

"Oh. Great," Kate responded in a tone that did not match her words. That's right—she had almost forgotten about Castle's reveal from the prior week: he was writing a book with a main character that was inspired by her and her fellow female detectives. He'd named the main character Nikki Heat—a name that made her squirm every time she heard it due to the fact that it felt the complete opposite of what a character inspired by her lift should be named, but the writer seemed determined.

In general, Kate didn't think they were far enough along in the process for her really to have sorted out her feelings on being the inspiration for the lead character in Castle's next novel. On one hand, it was undeniably flattering, particularly since he was one of her favorite authors. But on the other, perhaps more prevalent hand, she felt deeply embarrassed by the entire situation. She didn't need anyone to shadow her for research. She didn't need to be "immortalized with the written word" as he had once described it. She was just trying to be herself—to be good at her job—and to help the citizens of her home city. And, true, that did make her a better person than someone who chose to live their life committing crimes, but she did not feel she deserved the high pedestal on which the writer had placed her.

Castle smiled and leaned his arm against the edge of her desk. "I know you're still a little skeptical."

She scoffed. "A little."

His expression softened. "More than a little, but I promise, Beckett; you're going to love it."

"Time will tell," she commented under her breath before continuing at a normal decibel. "Anyway, while I appreciate the coffee I'm afraid your trip was a waste because—Mom!" Kate gasped and jumped when she saw the elder woman approaching from the direction of the elevator. She was so startled that her hand knocked against her coffee cup, causing it to teeter on the edge of falling over. Thankfully, the writer's reflexes were quick, and he was able to pull the cup to safety before any coffee spilled out. Kate hardly noticed this, however, as she was too busy panicking.

"Hello sweetheart." Her mother greeted her just as pleasant as ever.

"Wha—I…I thought you were meeting me in the lobby!"

Her mother shrugged. "There was a…skirmish of sorts down there between two women; I didn't want to be in the way, so I thought I'd just come to your desk." Looking past Kate, she smiled to the man sitting beside her desk. Stepping around behind her daughter's desk chair, she extended her hand to greet him. "Hello. You must be-"

"Richard Castle; it's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Beckett."

"Please, call me Johanna."

"Johanna," he echoed with a smile so dazzling had they been in a cartoon it would have glistened with stars.

Clearing her throat, Kate stood from her desk and pushed herself in between the other two adults. While she was certain her mother would not think too much of the incident, she was deeply concerned that Castle meeting her mother would simply be another chapter in his book, which she already feared would be too personal for her liking. "Ah, yeah as I was saying Castle: I'm meeting my mother for lunch and then I've got court prep so-"

"Say no more; I completely understand," he said, nodding his head, "but I'm afraid I must disagree with your prior statement. My trip was not at all a waste if I get to greet two beautiful women. Let me walk you out." He swept his hand in the direction of the elevators giving them no choice but to follow him. While Kate grabbed her purse from her desk drawer, Castle led her mother towards the hall. "I believe Kate mentioned you're a lawyer; is that correct?"

"Yes, though I must also confess to being quite a fan of your works."

"Really?"

"Mmhm."

"I had no idea," Castle said while giving Kate a suspicious look.

Kate straightened her spine uncomfortably and snipped, "It's not a secret it just never came up."

"I talk about my books all the time!"

She rolled her eyes as they all stepped into the elevator. During the minute-long ride down Castle asked her mother if she had read all of his books (she had) and if she had a favorite (she didn't want to choose). Finally, when they reached the lobby, Kate turned to her new shadow and said in a curt tone, "Have a good afternoon, Castle."

He gave them a little wave as he hung back to let them walk out the door first. "Until tomorrow, Detective."

"You are so mean to him," Johanna commented when they stepped out onto the sidewalk and turned left.

Kate's jaw dropped at her mother's inaccurate observation. "Mean! No—I am the exact level of politeness I should be for a department consultant—or whatever we're calling him." She was never sure how exactly to describe the untrained, unlicensed man with a distinct lack of police badge whenever they showed up to crime scenes together. It was even more difficult explaining him to the victims or victims' families they were interviewing, but she outright refused to call him by the moniker he'd requested on two previous occasions. Richard Castle was never going to be her partner.

"I see."

Kate glanced over to look at her mother, who wore a peculiar expression. "What?"

"You like him," her mother said simply, though Kate reacted as though it was a horrific accusation.

"Absolutely not; he's so annoying. He is!" She added more emphatically at the continued amusement on her mother's face. "He makes me happy that I don't interact with more men."

"Oh Katie—you don't mean that."

"I absolutely do! If they were all like him…my god, how did you stand it." She grumbled and ran her fingers back through her hair, tugging at it with frustration. She certainly had clear enough memories of her teen years to remember interacting with the boys in her class and, in most cases, she remembered them as being irritating, disruptive, and raucous. True, that was standard fair for teen boys and supposedly they did grow out of such behavior as they matured (at least, that's what she had heard at the time) but interactions with Castle made her wonder if that was really true. He might not have been sending spit balls in her direction, but arguably some of the things he did were much worse.

"He seemed nice to me," Johanna pointed out.

"I didn't say he wasn't nice he's just… overzealous, pestering and…and he absolutely cannot keep his hands to himself!"

A smirk crossed her mother's face. "Really?"

Kate huffed, flustered. "Not like that! I mean at crime scenes—he touches things at crime scenes." In fact, the last time they'd gone to a home invasion investigation together she'd made him promise to keep his hands in his pockets at all times—and threatened to super-glue them there if he didn't heed her request.

They arrived at the restaurant a few moments later, placed their orders at the counter, and then found a two-seater table to sit at. Only once they had settled in did Johanna point out, "You realize I've heard more stories about your work in the past month than I have in the prior three years."

Kate knew she could not argue this point, because she found herself calling her mother practically every other day with a, "You won't believe what Castle did now," type story, but that didn't mean she was enjoying his partnership particularly since most stories were told from the standpoint of mild horror. "He is somewhat of a novelty I suppose, especially now that he's doing all this to research that book he's working on."

"Nikki Heat."

A shiver traveled down Kate's spine. "Don't say the name; the name is the worst part."

Johanna half laughed at and half scolded her daughter. "Oh, Katie you're so dramatic. It's flattering!"

Kate grumbled and propped her chin up with her fist. "It's something… I just have to keep telling myself just two more months…two more months…" That was the agreement that she and Castle came to the prior week when he brought up the subject of the book. He hedged and made excuses about not being able to control his creative process, but Kate insisted that they nail down a time frame, so they'd agreed upon two more months, after which point she hoped to have her job back to herself.

"May I make an observation?" Johanna asked as their salads were delivered to the table.

"You're going to do it anyway so go right ahead."

Smiling at her daughter, the wise lawyer said, "Is it possible that you're determined not to like him? That is: that you're looking for reasons to find him annoying or to put him down?"

Kate arched a skeptical eyebrow. "Are you saying I shouldn't be annoyed he's almost contaminated three crime scenes?"

"Not exactly. All I'm saying is: for nearly fifteen years, the men you've interacted with regularly have virtually all been criminals. Is it possible you're actively trying not to like him because of that?"

Twirling her fork between her fingers, Kate considered her mother's comment. She was right: the majority of males Kate interacted with were criminals. Of course, she didn't think Castle was a criminal. From their first interactions alone she could tell that he was a genuinely good person, but in thinking about it she realized her mother was partially correct.

"I wouldn't say I'm actively trying not to like him but… you're not entirely wrong. I guess… I guess maybe I've been thinking what's the point? He'll either be a disappointment like the others or he'll disappear in two months so why… I don't know. Why would I bother becoming close?"

Johanna frowned. "That doesn't exactly seem fair to Castle. Or, really, to anyone you'd treat with that kind of attitude. How do you know he'll be a disappointment if you don't give him a chance to prove otherwise? And considering he's been so insistent about the book being inspired by you, do you really think that he'll disappear in two months and you'll never hear from him again?"

"Why would I hear from him again?"

Johanna chuckled. "I don't know…I would think at the very least he'd send you a copy of the book."

"Right." Kate sighed and poked at the shredded carrot atop her lettuce while she considered her mother's statement. She trusted her mother's judgement and had for her entire life. Of course they had some spats and disagreements during her teen years like any mother-daughter duo had, but as soon as her father passed, everything changed. Losing a partner would have been difficult enough no matter the circumstances, but with everything in the country seemingly falling apart, they were bonded all the more.

Keeping her mother's thoughts in mind, Kate decided that maybe she was being unfair to Castle by being slightly unfriendly. He had been nothing but kind to her—more than kind, actually, considering he brought her coffee nearly every time they saw each other—and thus deserved more than the bare minimum required conversation. Besides, he was, after all, one of her favorite writers. Maybe she'd actually get something out of their partnership, too.

"Just think about it, okay Katie? Male or female I'd hate for you to miss the opportunity to make an acquaintance—or, dare I say it, a friend—just because you're afraid of what they may or may not do in the future."

Kate gave her mother a small smile. "Sure Mom; I'll think about it."

A/N: thank you all so much for your reviews & follows

quick note - in prepping this story to post i realized that i had 2 chapter 2's by accident, which actually means you get a bonus chapter! haha yay :)