Chapter 5

Belle of the Ball

The day had started slow. Mickey Mouse pancakes, hot chocolate for Alexis and coffee for Castle.

He watched, as his no longer little girl, moved about the kitchen, picking up, cleaning and putting the dishes into soapy water. How had fifteen years passed with so little warning? Small yesterday, nearly an adult today.

He had relished in the friendship of this fellow-traveler and daughter. He knew not all parents and children got along. But with Alexis there had been a shared camaraderie. They had to make it happen, they had to survived. They'd been up to the task, and had lots of fun.

"Earth to Dad, come in Dad wherever you are!" She teased.,"You look like you're miles away."

"I was thinking about having to change your diapers, and now, you all big."

"Dad!" stretching the 'a' out, "You were not."

"Well sorta, I was thinking about how quickly you're arrived at fifteen, and now going to your first big dance." He paused, "Come give your Dad a time-slowing hug."

As he held her close, he savored just how thankful he was for this child. After a brief embrace he held her at arm's length. "So you excited?"

"I can't wait!" She beamed.

"So what time is Tom coming to pick you up?"

"Well, as you know his Mom is our chauffeur tonight and they'll be here at 7:15."

"I need to make sure my battery is charged on my camera." He looked and notice it was already plugged in.

He turned to see her smiling back, "Looks like you think of everything, my love." Alexis laughed.

"Bye the way, I have a surprise for you." He said with a slight taunt to his voice.

"What is it?" She pulled at his arm, like she could pull whatever it was out of him.

He was going to save it as a secret, and tease her a bit throughout the day, but he relinquished.

"Beckett will be here at 7:00, she wanted to see you and Tom before you left for the dance."

"Oh that's so cool. You know she really helped. I was hoping she could come by." Her smile got even bigger with the news. She wondered what sort of dress she would have ended up with if Beckett hadn't intervened for her with her Dad.

"You know Dad, I really do like Detective Beckett."

"I know you do, I like her too. It's been fun working this case with her and, I was glad she helped us on picking out your dress." He smiled and shook his head.

"Guess I'm not that good at dresses?" He looked over at his daughter.

"Ya think." She pushed at him and headed for her room.

XX

It had been a leisurely Saturday morning at Beckett's. After the drinks the night before, Josh had come home with her. They'd didn't eat anything because she'd told him she'd had a late lunch and was still full. She didn't feel comfortable in explaining Remy's.

Josh had asked about work and she'd explained some of the theories they were exploring on the bank-teller case.

"I haven't heard you talk about the bank case in a long time. Any new leads?"

"Yeah, we've been looking much closer at the bank records. We've issued some new subpoenas." She continued, excited by some progress on the case.

" Castle thinks we'll need a broader subpoena to get the whole picture."

"Castle, who's that?"

"You know the accountant on the train, the friend of Orletha's."

"You mean the pink-sweater toting cross-dresser?" She bristled at the description, but reminded herself he was just playing.

"He's none of those things. He's the one who may have uncovered our first real lead in almost a year." Beckett's tone was more defensive than she meant to sound.

"Gee Kate, step on your toes there?" Teasing her a bit.

"What does that mean, Josh?" Now actually defensive.

"It's just you talk about this guy like I should know him or like he's an old friend. You only met him a couple of weeks ago, and now he's the star case-buster."

"Josh, his is the only possible lead we've had this year, in an otherwise cold as dead case. It's been real frustrating, plus the family calls at least once a month for updates."

"Case-buster, whatever, we'll take what we can get, plus the Captain is pleased with Castle's help."

"How can he help much? He doesn't even work for the police."

"He been reviewing bank records and thinks he's found something." Hoping to sound as matter-a-fact as possible.

"When does he have time for that, doesn't he have a real job?"

Kate paused, realizing she'd painted herself into a corner. She'd spent more time with Castle in the last two weeks than with Josh, probably by a factor of about five. She'd gone shopping for him and his daughter, gone to dinner and frankly wished she was over there now being part of the preparation for the big night. Still, she'd done nothing wrong, so why was she feeling so guilty and trapped.

"He's come by the Precinct and reviewed records after he gets off work."

Josh looked at her and it dawned on him that he didn't want any more answers about this mystery man. At least not right now, he didn't like the vibe he'd been getting from Kate. She'd been distracted, a lot lately, she was here, but not really present. He needed to change course.

Beckett had already decided she would not be able to go over to the Castle's this evening. She could never explain her interest to Josh without setting off a full-scale fight, over nothing. But she paused, because the small voice in her head whispered, "Or maybe it wasn't, nothing."

Josh interrupted their parallel thoughts, "Well I hope he can help."

"Hey let's go find some seafood for lunch. That work for you?"

"I'd love that, let me get showered and pick-up somethings around here. I can be ready in less than an hour." She was off to the shower.

"Great, me too." He smiled, but he sensed her enthusiasm was forced.

After her shower she sent Castle a text apologizing and saying something had come-up unexpectedly and she wouldn't be able to make it by tonight. Reminding him to tell Alexis to have a great time.

XX

They took longer than planned getting out of the apartment, so the lunch ended up being a late one. The food was great and the weather warmer than usual, all they needed were light coats. They talked about the hospital and an upcoming trip Josh had scheduled for next month.

"I'm free this evening, what would you like to do?" Josh asked as he finished his coffee.

"There's a new movie, I'd like to see. You up to that?" She quickly replied but still fretting over her dilemma.

"Yeah, that would fun." He grabbed her hand.

"What's the movie?"

Before Kate could respond, his cell phone rang. She gulped, she had no idea what movie she was pretending to want to see. She was just trying to maintain the uneasy peace between them.

She heard Josh's end of the conversation, " Call Tony!" He listened. "Fine, of course. See you within an hour."

He turned, clearly not happy. "Sorry, duty calls. We'll have to do a movie some other time." He stood and grabbed his coat.

"That's OK," she responded. Disappointed, sorta.

"I'll call you later," he said after kissing her on top of the head.

XX

There was a knock at the door, it was 6:45, Castle pulled it open to see Beckett standing in the hall way. He was surprised.

"Hey! I got your text earlier saying you couldn't make it, and here you are?"

"Castle you gonna make me stand in the hallway all night?" She pushed on his chest, "I need to see how my girl's doing."

"You're girl? I think your confused Detective." She pushed past him.

He followed her laughing, "She's still getting dressed."

"Could you knock on the door and see if she'll let me in." She was bouncing on her toes.

Castle thought, this is one wound-up cop. He knocked on the door, "Pumpkin, Beckett's here, she'd like to help you."

The voice from behind the door was clipped, " Her only Dad, not you."

"Fine! He turned to Beckett, stepped away from the door and bowed. Beckett smirked at the performance.

"I think she wants you over there", pointing to the sofa.

Fifteen minutes later the two women exited Alexis bedroom. Laughing and acting like teenagers.

"Whoa, you look wonderful!" was all Castle could say.

"We did some last-minute tweaking," she turned to Beckett and like she was presenting someone swung out her arm, "and I'm good to go." Beckett beamed next to Alexis.

Beckett excused herself and slipped into the bathroom, as she did the front door bell rang. Castle answered it and invited Tom and his Mother in. They exchanged greetings and Alexis took Tom's arm and smiled at her date.

Castle turned to grab his camera but before he got set-up he felt Beckett bump into his side and take his arm with both hands. He could feel her rocking and jittering beside him.

Tom's Mom asked, "Are you Mrs. Castle?"

"No, I'm Kate Beckett, a friend of the family"

"Nice to meet you Ms. Beckett, I'm Tom's Mother, Samantha Enn." The women shook hands.

Castle moved around taking pictures of Tom and Alexis, the two kids looked so excited. When he was done Alexis took the camera, and asked for the three adults to stand together. Castle was in the middle with a lady on each arm.

Alexis then wanted some of Castle and Beckett. Kate again took his arm and leaned in to him for the picture. She then posed turning to face Castle with her hands clasped on his shoulder staring at him, ignoring the camera. Alexis laughed, Beckett and her Dad were clearly having a lots of fun. "These are going to be great."

"I got some good ones too!", Samantha chimed in.

"Wait," Let me get my cell phone." Alexis moved to the kitchen table and quickly returned. "OK Dad you and Detective Beckett again," she took two shots, "now all three of us together." They grouped together and Samantha took pictures with both her camera and Alexis' cellphone.

"Dad," Alexis handed him her phone, "Can you take a picture on my phone of Tom and I so I can send it to Mom, she'll be so excited."

After the pictures were all taken, everyone quieted down, Castle asked, "Samantha, Alexis tells me you're a nurse. Do you work in a hospital or office setting?"

"I'm at Manhattan General, in surgery." Kate almost asked if she knew Dr. Davidson, but thought that was probably not a good idea.

She heard Castle say, "How long have you been there?"

"Almost ten years, we have a great staff."

Samantha looked at her watch and said, "Hey kids, we gotta go or we'll be late."

She turned to Castle, "Is 11:30 OK for Alexis tonight?"

"That'd be fine." He beamed again at his daughter.

As they drove away from Alexis' apartment, Samantha said, "Your Dad and the Detective make a cute couple. They seemed very excited about you going tonight."

"Detective Beckett helped me pick out my dress, we had a ball. But she and Dad are just friends."

"Well they look like very close friends."

Alexis laughed at that, but had an idea. She grabbed her phone and sent her Dad a text with the picture just taken on the phone of him and Beckett. The text said, Thanks mom & dad. She smiled to herself.

When his phone beeped Castle picked it up. "Hey a text from Alexis," he handed the phone to Beckett. She laughed at the text, but her stomach fluttered when she saw how close and happy she and Castle looked in the picture.

XX

"So Castle, what's on your agenda while the Princess is off to the ball." In a teasing tone.

"Not much. Can I offer you something? Soda, wine, coffee?"

"How about a small glass of wine."

He smiled and she caught it, "What?" She asked.

"I'm a little embarrassed, I only have Charles Shaw Shiraz." He looked sheepishly around.

"Hey, Two-buck Chuck works fine for me."

"Then give the maître d' a moment to uncork his gourmet wine." He added a snobbish tone to his delivery.

They sat on the sofa and sipped the wine. Beckett was still jittery with excitement.

"Detective why are you so wound-up?" He twisted to look at her at the other the sofa.

"I don't know, it reminds me of that time in my life, which now seems like a hundred He stood but said nothing. He grabbed her coat and his, and opened the front ago." She paused," I guess I'm kinda re-living it through Alexis, as stupid as that sounds."

She added, "I hadn't really thought about it much since high school. Those were really fun days, innocent, full of expectations and mostly crazy."

"It doesn't sound stupid, in fact it makes plenty of sense to me."

"As a parent we want them to grow-up, to see how it will come out. Then they do just that, and we want to slow it down." He was lost in thought for a minute, so she waited on him.

Pensively he began again, "I would've never believed anyone, if 15 years ago they told me it would be just Alexis and me, that I would be a single Dad raising my daughter...it's just not exactly what I expected."

She didn't know what to say. He wasn't saying he was lonely, just surprised the time has passed so fast and now, his baby was out at her first dance. She considered it and those were big things.

The whole dance thing had jazzed her, made her think of things long forgotten. She smiled, but really to herself. At least they were in this stranger land together.

She decided to change the direction of the conversation.

"Castle, what's under the sheet," pointing over her shoulder with her index finger, "over there on the easel?"

"Beckett, you're a snoop!" Trying to look incensed.

She laughed, "A snoop is the best you can come-up with?" Now he laughed.

"Why do you care what I paint?" She was startled at the intensity in his eyes.

"I just wondered, what does a single Dad, whose an accountant, paint?"

He waited, studied his hands for a second and then looked up at her, "Do you know what Fata Morgana is?"

"Something, mirage like?" She guessed.

"That's a good answer." He stared down into the glass of wine, and swirled it around.

"When I was young, I was given a book on paintings by the Hudson River School of Artist. Do you know who they were?"

"I don't." She watched and sensed she was intruding on his private world, asking about thing he was reluctant to share. But before she could change subjects he continued.

"There were phases within the Hudson River painters...towards the end they added soaring mountains behind already giant ranges. Like adding a larger set of mountains behind the Himalayas. But these far off ranges seemed almost ethereal "

"When I think about painting, I want to create something between a Fata Morgana and that deeper-than-the-surface idea conveyed by the Hudson River artists."

"A picture of something hoped for, not necessarily tangible...not real but not unreal either. With watercolors, the faint and translucent characteristic lends itself to the goal of substance to things not really seen, a contradiction."

"Wow Castle, what's in your Two-buck Chuck." She teased, but immediately seeing his reluctance in telling her this. Maybe she saw a slight hurt or embarrassment at over-sharing.

"Hey, I'm just teasing you." She pushed at him again.

She wanted to let him off, "Castle, you don't have to tell me this." Figuring out too late that this was personal for him, and she a clumsy intruder.

He didn't stop, "I took a photograph, laid the image down as my basic form, you know the body or framework for the piece. Then start shifting it to the Morgana-Hudson River idea," again pausing, "Watercolors can create that illusive feel."

"So what you see is a picture taken at the Conservatory Water Pond near 5th and 74th in Central Park. Do you know the pond?"

"Where they do all the model boat sailing?"

"Yeah, that's it." He stood and walked over to the easel. He carefully pulled back the sheet that had covered a 20x30 inch painting, it looked about half complete.

She stood and studied the pond of deep blue water, dotted with boats, reflecting their bright white sails. There were people with colorful clothing along the edges, an orange ball was adrift and behind the scene were the sentinels, green ancient trees crowding the water's edge.

"Castle..." A sense of reverence in her voice.

She hummed to herself and then added, "This is beautiful."

She reached for his arm and bumped into him again.

They stood for a minute and just stared at the scene, neither said anything more.

He returned to the sofa, " And that Detective is what's behind the sheet."

She sat again, and finished her wine and then just smiled at the artist in the room.

They changed subjects and chatted about themselves as students and how life had taken them down different roads. Each told a crazy story about their college days and something stupid they'd done. After awhile they calmed down.

"Hey would you like more wine?" Before she answered he stood and walked into the kitchen to grab the bottle. When he returned she had a smirk on her face.

"What Beckett, what's so funny? He asked, looking confused.

"I was just thinking, this is my second Saturday night with you, it's becoming a habit." She smiled.

He sat up and turned to her, "Detective, you can spend as many Saturdays with me as you please."

Beckett felt an unexpected jolt at his comment, she took a deep breath. She wasn't trying to solicit that response, but he'd just offered it up with such ease. It was a simple statement, but now making it even worse she felt her cheeks begin to burn.

He gestured with the bottle, suggesting he add more to her glass.

"Castle, no more for me. I've gotta go, it's getting late."

He stood but said nothing. He grabbed her coat and his, and opened the front door.

"You don't have to walk me down," as he helped her into her coat. He ignored her comment, closed the door and they headed for the elevator.

When they stepped out on the street, he walked in silence with her. After a few blocks she stopped him. "Castle I can go the rest of the way on my own, it's well lit and I'm armed."

He just stared for a few seconds, she was squirming again.

"Beckett, I can't thank you enough for helping Alexis. She thinks a lot of you," He was quiet for a second, "I hope you don't make yourself scarce." He touched her shoulder, turned and headed back to this place.

Beckett made her way home. She'd had a wonderful evening. She was still excited for Alexis and this big night. She could hardly wait to hear how it went at the dance. She stopped and thought maybe she should turn go back and wait with Castle for the kids return. But then decided she'd be overstaying her welcome.

When she arrived at her flat, she saw light under the door. She reached back and unclipped her gun from its holster. She gently placed the key in the lock, turned the handle and opened the door a crack, pulled her gun and then gently swung open the door with her foot.

Josh sat on the sofa. His face was blank, "Where have you been Kate?"