A/N: A little delay in posting this, sorry about that.

One thing Kate had to admit was Rick did not lie about the perfection of the roast he cooked. Not being much of a cook herself, the dinner at the Castles' home was the first home cooked meal she had had in a long time. Since leaving New York, Kate relied upon microwaved housewarming casseroles from her new neighbors and while they were homemade, they weren't fresh from the oven when she ate them. The beef roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, and glazed carrots Rick had made warmed her in ways the casseroles didn't or maybe it was the people she ate with that warmed her.

After Rick served everyone a couple slices of beef, Kate sat beside the father and daughter, feeling the love that had filled every room of the four-bedroom house on Cherry Blossom Lane. It felt like the home she once had with her mom and dad before tragedy shattered their lives. While the relationship she had with her father was better than it had been, she doubted it could ever be the way it was when her mother was alive.

"Tell me Kate, why did you move from bustling New York to our quaint little town of Hawthorne?" Rick asked, popping a carrot into his mouth as he waited for her response.

Rick noticed Kate's gaze lose focus like she was fighting a memory from taking center stage. When their eyes met again, Kate's vacillated between a warmth and desire to share herself and a cold hesitation of self-preservation.

"I needed a change," she stated.

Rick waited, hoping she would reveal more, but when she didn't he said, "you are a mystery, Kate Beckett, and I'm determined to figure you out."

"Maybe you can get James Patterson to help you solve the mystery."

Rick smirked, "I think I can handle it on my own."

Kate's eyes flickered as warmth took over the initial coldness and she felt comfortable enough to continue, "My boyfriend was leaving for another Doctors Without Borders mission in Botswana," she paused, "and I had recently found out that someone I thought I could trust betrayed me. I ended things with Josh and realized I needed to leave too. I found the job posting for the head librarian position online the next day, applied and here I am."

"The little backstory for the mysterious Kate Beckett has me even more intrigued. You'd make an interesting character study," Rick teased.

"Dad writes books," Alexis announced, stuffing a spoonful of potatoes in her mouth before continuing. "He's trying to get published."

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Pumpkin."

"Is that true?" Kate asked, glancing back and forth to father and daughter.

With a reluctant sigh, Rick admitted, "Yes, I have an agent helping me and she believes I'm getting close to getting signed with at least one of them."

"That's wonderful, Rick!" Kate's genuine and encouraging smile, sent a spark up Rick's spine that he hadn't felt in quite some time. "I'd love to read what you've written sometime, that is if you'd be willing…"

"Of course! Remind me and I can email you the file later."

"You guys moved from New York too, right? What made you embrace small town life?"

"I wanted to focus on writing, and my job in the city wasn't allowing me a lot of time to do that and to be with Alexis. As you know, New York is very expensive and cutting my hours wasn't an option if I wanted to keep a roof over our heads. My mother offered to move in to help save money, but as a grown man, I could not live with my mother. We packed up and left."

"Dad! That is not at all what happened," Alexis chastised. "Gram offered to move in and Dad thought about it, but he knew everyone's routines weren't going to mesh well in such a small place…"

"Living with her adult son and seven-year-old granddaughter put a big crimp in my mother's wild lifestyle," Rick added throwing Kate a playful wink.

"Dad asked how I felt about moving and I told him that I'd be sad to leave all my friends, but it might be a fun adventure."

"She has always been so mature."

"Well someone has to be in this house," Alexis quipped.

"Do you see the abuse I am put through with this one?" Rick said to Kate.

"Elder abuse is on the rise," Kate said, masking her teasing behind a serious tone.

"Ouch! If I had known the both of you would be ganging up on me during dinner, I would have driven out to pick up Kevin and Jenny."

The trio continued their conversation through dinner and dessert before Alexis decided she needed to finish her homework before it got too late. Not wanting the evening to end, Rick asked Kate if she'd like to move to the living room with some wine to continue talking, to which she agreed.

Sitting on one end of the couch, Kate moved one of her legs beneath her and turned to face the opposite side where Rick was to sit after pouring the wine. Kate laid her arm across the back of the couch and Rick took a seat beside her, a cushion's length between them, and handed her wine glass.

Rick cleared his throat, then gulped down a mouthful of wine, "I hope I'm not prying too much, but you said earlier that you left New York because someone betrayed you, and don't feel like you have to share, but I was just curious about what happened."

Kate swallowed her own mouthful of wine before answering. "Well, when I was nineteen my mom was murdered," she paused, her free hand grasping the ring that was on a necklace she wore. "The killer was never caught. My dad took her death hard and coped with alcohol. I was twenty by the time I realized that my desire to become a cop to find my mom's murderer was not practical. My dad lost himself in whiskey and I couldn't justify the long hours I would be working as a cop then leaving my dad to wallow in his misery while I was away. I put my goal on hold to help my dad and by the time he finally got sober, I was a few months shy of graduating from college."

Rick watched as Kate told her story, every heartache and triumph she experienced was etched in the lines on her face. Rick wanted to lay his hand on her knee for the little support he could give her, but felt it was too forward.

"While in college I had this wild idea that I could solve my mom's murder. I got access to my mom's case file and secretly took pictures of everything in it. While I was in the records room, a detective named Roy Montgomery walked in and asked me what I was doing. I told him about my mom. He gave me his card and we kept in contact over the years. He helped me out when he could and gave me advice and information I needed to keep pursuing the case. I obviously couldn't do as much being only a citizen, but he was willing to look more in depth with anything I found." Kate wiped away a tear that had decided to spring up. "A couple of months ago, I found out Roy, who's now a precinct captain, knew more about my mom's case than he initially told me. He knows who is responsible but he won't tell me because he thinks my not knowing will keep me safe."

Rick let the gravity of the conversation settle before saying, "it sounds like this person is powerful if Roy thinks you need protection."
Kate nodded in agreement then looked away from Rick. "When I found out he has been leading me on for so many years, I just needed to get as far away from the case and New York as I could. I needed to escape the temptation of having the answer within my reach but being unable to actually get it, so here I am in Hawthorne."

Feeling brave, Rick placed his hand over Kate's which was resting on the cushion that separated them. "I'm glad you felt comfortable telling me these things. I can imagine it wasn't easy."
Kate returned her gaze to Rick and gave him a whisper of a smile before thanking him.

"You went from a college student hellbent on becoming a cop to somehow deciding to become a librarian. What made you choose a more scholarly career?"

Kate hesitated only briefly reasoning that she had already bared her more devastating secrets to him. "When I was in high school I wanted to be a lawyer like my parents, but after my mom died things changed. Once my dad got sober I considered going to law school again, but my heart wasn't in it anymore. I researched my options and I settled on library science. I initially wanted to be a cop so I could help others find answers, so in a way by being a librarian I'm doing the same thing. I'm not catching murderers or solving crimes, but I'm helping people find information. I'm introducing kids to adventures in books or giving people access to resources that they otherwise wouldn't have because they lack the money or the time. I'm probably not making a big difference in the world, but a part of me hopes that I have changed someone's life in some way."

As Kate finished, Rick stared at her in awe. This woman who had been through so much in her life already, still seemed to see some good in the world and wanted to help others find the same optimism. Kate Beckett wasn't who he expected her to be and the little crush he had on her before she arrived at his home only a few hours before, had grown into a greater appreciation of the girl she once was and genuine admiration of the woman she had become.

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