It's nearing 1:00 when she finishes the last bit of paperwork stacked on her desk. They haven't caught a case yet, surprisingly, but maybe they'll get lucky and make it to the end of their shifts without a body drop.
"Yo, Beckett," Esposito calls as he steps off the elevator. "Lanie said to tell you she's ready to kick your ass."
She laughs. "What?"
"Something about her niece and a certain something she never received."
Oh. "Right," she says with a small huff. "Well, you can call her off. I'm on it."
Grabbing her phone, she chooses the video she'd taken of Annie opening Lanie's present and presses send. She'd intended to send it days ago, but it slipped her mind.
Espo nods. "Ann doing better?"
"Yeah, she's feeling a lot better. Almost seems to be back to her normal self, wit and all."
"She gets that from you, you know," Ryan laughs as he joins the duo at her desk. "All you."
She rolls her eyes. "I might've contributed to it, but it's not all me."
"Come on, Beckett, it's not like Will had a good sense of humor. Or any sense of humor, really," he adds, groaning when Esposito elbows him in the ribs. He grabs onto his injured side and rubs at it. "Sorry."
But she just chuckles, shakes her head. "It's fine, guys. You're right," she admits, looking up at the two of them. "Humor wasn't his strong suit."
"Neither's being a father," Espo mumbles quietly, angrily, and Kate reaches up to grab his forearm. "We're still pissed, you know."
"I know," she nods. "And I appreciate the solidarity. But it's a holiday, so let's focus on something more pleasant, yeah?" They both agree with twin nods. "Good. What are you boys doing to ring in the new year?"
"I'm taking Jenny out to a nice restaurant for dinner. We'll probably just go back to the apartment and sit on the couch with some champagne to watch the ball drop."
"How romantic," Espo teases, dodging Ryan's slap. "I'll be with Lanie. I think she wanted to go into Times Square but I managed to talk her out of that; no thank you. So we'll probably head to the Old Haunt."
"What about you, Beckett?"
"Yeah, you could come with me and Lanie if you wanted."
She smiles at the offer, but quickly shakes her head. As much as she loves her friends, loves hanging out with them at the Old Haunt, playing third wheel on New Years Eve doesn't sound at all appealing. She knows those two; they'll be all coupley (despite Esposito's constant nonchalance when they're in public) and she'll have to sit alone at a bar stool, vodka soda in her hand and eyes glued to the television above the bar.
"Thanks, Javi, but I actually... I have plans."
The boys give each other looks, brows raised, before turning back to her with smirks plastered on their faces.
"Ooh, plans," Ryan teases.
"Hot date, Beckett?"
"So what if it is?" she tosses back.
Ryan and Espo grin at one another. "Beckett's gonna get a little New Years—"
"Before you finish that sentence in the way I'm sure you're about to finish that sentence, know that Annie will be with me the entire time."
They deflate at that, Esposito's mouth clamping shut and she just laughs, knowing she's thwarted whatever ideas they just had about her so-called hot date. It's not a hot date, she tells herself; it's not even a date. He didn't ask her for it to be a date.
Annie will be there and he knows that, had insisted it be the two of them to begin with; he wouldn't plan their first date when her daughter was with them.
(It may not be a date, but that doesn't stop her from thinking about what would be their first date.)
By 4:00, she's going crazy. She's had probably six cups of coffee from the break room (it's not good but it's better than no coffee at all) and she's redone her paperwork twice. It's neater now. Her shift ends at 5, and they're still murder free.
When her phone rings at 4:43, she holds her breath, sighs as she picks it up and expects it to be a call about a body and for her plans to go pick up Annie and head over to Rick's to be scratched.
"Beckett," she answers, already standing, but she sits back down when the voice comes through. "Annie? Are you all right, is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine, Mommy!"
That soothes the knots in her chest. "What's going on, sweetheart?"
"Are you coming to get me soon?" she asks. "Grandpa said you were gonna call."
"I'm coming to pick you up as soon as I get off work, baby," she assures her daughter, smiling at the impatience. "Fifteen minutes and I'll leave, okay?"
Annie sighs in a way only a seven year old can and she chuckles. "Okay," the girl agrees.
"Mommy has to make sure she finished everything so I can leave on time, so I'll see you very soon, okay?"
Her daughter says her goodbyes, gets distracted by the sounds of her father in the background calling about what sounds like a game of monopoly, and Kate laughs, hanging up when the phone line goes dead.
"Go, Beckett," Espo says, rolling over in his desk chair. "There's only 10 minutes left."
She shakes her head. "There could be a body."
"There won't be," he says, as if he has any say in the matter. "And if there is, we can deal with it. Go."
"Yeah, go get Ann," Ryan joins. "Consider it a New Years gift from us to you."
"You don't get presents on New Years."
"Do you want the present or not?"
She chews on the inside of her cheek, looking between her two boys. "Okay," she breathes, fixing up her desk and moving to stand. "Thank you, guys."
"Give your girl a hug and kiss from us," Espo says, to which Ryan nods.
"Will do. Happy New Year," she smiles as she grabs her jacket and walks out. "Don't do anything too wild!"
They grumble and she laughs, shuffling her way into the elevator. It's time to go get her kid.
"Mommy!"
She's met with Annie colliding into her legs the second she walks through the door and her arms band around the girl.
"Hi, baby," she says. "Easy, speed demon. Don't wanna jostle your side."
"I know, I was careful!"
And then she's off again, tugging Kate with her into the kitchen where her father stands by the counter, a smile on his face.
"What'd you give her?" she asks with a laugh, nodding to the girl who looks like she's had an armful of sugar. "A basket of candy?"
"Of course not. Only a handful," her father teases. "She takes after you, Katie. All the energy in the world."
Shooting her dad a smile, she turns back to Annie. "You have fun with Grandpa today?"
"Uh huh! We baked cookies!"
"Did you now?"
She follows Annie's lead, weaving behind her dad to find two trays of chocolate chip cookies sitting on the stove.
"Grandpa said we can take some with us," her daughter grins, bouncing on her heels. "We can eat them tonight!"
Kate brushes Annie's hair away from her forehead, gently dipping her head backwards. "That's nice of Grandpa," she says, turning to the man in question, who's watching along with a look of pride on his face. "Thanks for watching her, Dad. And for the cookies."
"Anytime, Katie. You know I love spending time with my favorite granddaughter."
"She's your only granddaughter," she points out with a roll of her eyes.
"Doesn't change facts, you know."
Laughing, she concedes. "What time are you heading up to the cabin?"
Jim looks to his watch and hums. "In about a half hour. A few of my buddies want to go to the lake, spend some time fishing like we used to."
"That'll be nice," she nods. She's glad her dad's finally getting back out there, spending time with the friends he'd been so close with back before her mom died. This will be good for him, and she takes it as a huge step forward, especially considering it's a holiday. "I'm glad you'll get to see them again."
"Me too," he smiles. "I have pictures of my girls in my wallet. They'll be shocked to see how Little Katie's grown, and that she has a baby of her own."
"Not a baby," Annie pipes up, half a cookie stuffed into her mouth.
The adults laugh and Jim raises his hands before squeezing her shoulder. "My apologies. They'll be surprised to see that Katie has a big girl of her own."
"Thank you."
"They haven't seen you since you were, what, 15?" Jim asks, and she thinks for a second before nodding. "Crazy."
"It is," she agrees. "Tell them all Happy New Year for me."
She doesn't remember much about her father's friends, but she does remember what a nice group of guys they were; always greeting her, including her in their fishing when she was hanging out with her dad and they'd run into them. She's pretty sure one of them let her use their rod and she hooked it onto a rock, snapped it in half.
If she ever sees them again, she'll apologize for that one.
"Okay, you," she says then, leading Annie away from the baked goods. "Go grab your jacket, we have to get going."
"Mom!"
"Grandpa has somewhere to be and so do we," she says with a pointed look, and she watches as Annie's brows raise. Kate taps her nose. "I'll tell you when you have your coat on." She turns to her dad again, wrapping him in a hug. "Thanks again, Dad. Happy New Year."
He presses a kiss to her head. "Happy New Year, Katie." Annie runs over next, wraps her little arms around his torso. "Happy New Year, Ann."
"Happy New Year, Grandpa!"
Kate guides Annie out of the kitchen with one last wave over her shoulder.
(But not before her father taps her on the arm, hands her a container filled to the brim with cookies and a grin).
Annie makes it approximately 5 minutes, waits until she's in the car and buckled in before she leans forward, pushes her face between the driver and passenger seat and looks over at her mother.
"Where are we going?"
Kate smiles through the rear view mirror. "Where do you think we're going?"
"Are we going... home?" she asks, but Kate shakes her head.
"Nope."
Annie thinks for a few seconds before she gasps. "Are we going to Rick's? Mom, are we going?"
"Yeah, baby, we're going," she confirms, watches as her daughter beams, the smile stretching across her face. "We do have to stop at home, actually, so I can get changed, but then we'll go over."
Once in the apartment, Annie doesn't even bother taking off her jacket. She sits on the couch, bundled in her winter coat and even keeps her beanie on as she waits for Kate to get changed. Her kid's already dressed for New Years, with her maroon dress and thick tights.
She strips from her work clothes, the dress pants and blouse she'd put on that morning, and decides to switch into one of the dresses from the back of her closet that she never touches. Holding two in her hands, she bites her bottom lip in thought.
She chooses the black dress with long sleeves and a sheer panel between the breasts, dipping a bit lower, and tries not to think about it too much. A quick look in the mirror tells her that her hair's fine; turns out doing a lot of nothing in the bullpen keeps the curls in tact.
Striding from the bedroom, she gets a grin and a thumbs up from Annie as she passes.
"You look so pretty!" she gushes, jumping from the couch to trail behind her mother. "Rick will think so too."
Her heart stutters. "Why do you say that?"
"Because he already thinks you're pretty and now you look extra pretty," she says as if that's obvious. "So he'll think you look even prettier!"
She doesn't ask why she thinks Rick thinks she's pretty, just bends, wraps one arm around Annie's shoulder and presses a kiss to her forehead.
"Thank you, baby."
When she straightens, Annie's already in front of her, grabbing a pair of heels from the closet and handing them over. Funnily enough, they're the pair she was going to choose.
"Excellent choice," she tells her daughter with a smile. "I'll be ready in a second, okay?"
With shoes on, she slips into her jacket and hooks her bag over her shoulder. Annie wastes no time and leads the charge out the door, leaving a laughing Kate to lock the door and trail behind the excited seven year old.
Rick had given her the address soon after the invitation, just in case, and so they take a taxi there. She travels behind Annie as she skips into the lobby.
"Ann," she calls, stopping the girl before she can get to the elevators. She stalls, and Kate turns to the front desk man. "Hi, we're here to see Rick Castle."
The man, whose name tag says Eduardo, smiles. "He had mentioned he might be expecting company," he says warmly. "Go right on up, ma'am. Top floor."
"Thank you." Turning to move towards Annie, she nods. "You can press it now."
The elevator takes them all the way up, dings at the last possible stop and she's not sure she's been breathing the entire ride. She's suddenly nervous, which is stupid because this is no more significant than their last outing. Yes, it's New Year's Eve, a holiday typically spent with loved ones or significant others, but it doesn't matter. She knows how much Annie wanted to accept the invitation, and so she did, so her daughter can have some fun.
She'd be lying if she said she didn't want to come, too, if she didn't think she'd have some fun. She finds Rick... well, yeah, fun. And after so long being on her own, doing what she needs to and not much else, she's finally realizing she deserves some fun.
Maybe she should've called ahead of time, though, told him they were coming. Maybe he has someone else over.
She's jolted from her thoughts when Annie grabs onto her hand and tugs her from the elevator. "Come on, Mommy," she sighs, dragging her down the hall. "We have to go inside so I can take off my coat. It's hot."
"If you'd have taken it off at home instead of waiting you wouldn't be so hot."
The girl shakes her head. "Couldn't."
They're standing outside his apartment 30 seconds later and she pauses, takes a deep breath. Before she has a chance to contemplate leaving, turning around and saying that she feels ill, Annie's already knocking on the door.
So much for that.
The door swings open and they're greeted with a surprised Rick, eyes wide but happy, and a wide grin on his face.
"You guys made it! Please, come in," he says, pushing the door wider and stepping back. "I'll hang your coats."
She looks around as she takes off the peacoat, her jaw dropping at the space. It's... huge. She'd expected it to be nice, of course; this is Richard Castle and it's no secret he has money, but... wow. The decorations take everything to the next level, Christmas themed decor still hanging proudly along with some New Years specific streamers and banners.
"This place is beautiful," she breathes, eyes still scanning until they get to his. "Really, Rick, this is lovely."
He shrugs. "I do okay." He turns his attention to Annie, taking the jacket from her hands to hang it on the hook. "Can I get you two something to drink? I have soda, hot chocolate, tea, juices."
"Can I have apple juice please?" Annie asks.
"One apple juice coming right up," he smiles. "You can go check out the living room if you want, Annie. I have a bunch of movies and games in the entertainment center."
Her daughter's off at the mention of games, and Kate follows Rick into the kitchen.
"Wine?" he asks, and she nods.
"A glass would be nice." She doesn't like to drink when she's around Annie, but because of the holiday she'll allow herself a glass now, and maybe some champagne when the ball drops. "Thanks again for inviting us. Annie's been excited since she knew it was a possibility."
"Really?" he asks, grabbing the preferred drinks and putting them on the counter. "I'm—I'm glad. Thank you for coming. The night's already better."
She dips her head, bites at her lip. "Thanks," she murmurs, taking the wine from his hand. Remembering the container in her grasp, she holds it out. "Oh, we come bearing baked goods."
"Oh, you didn't have to do that," he says, but takes the cookies anyway, places them on the counter. "They look delicious though."
She smiles. "Annie baked them with my dad, so she'll be glad to hear that."
"You've got quite the little chef on your hands." He grins. "Should we join her?" he asks then, apple juice in one hand and his own glass of wine in the other. "I really do have a lot of games, I'd be more than happy to open one for her."
Kate nods. "That sounds great."
Drinks on the coffee table, they sit on the carpet with Annie, perusing the game options. She eventually decides that she wants to play either Monopoly (even though Kate's pretty sure she just played it with her father), Candy Land, or Clue.
Rick hums. "How about Candy Land? That was always one of my favorites."
Both Becketts agree and they begin, the three of them huddled around the board and grabbing their appropriate pieces. Annie giggles every time she gets further than both of them, and they take turns nudging the laughter out of her.
Kate sits back at one point, watches as Rick and Annie whisper to each other, seemingly conspiring but the way her daughter laughs, keeps smiling as Rick gestures dramatically to her, it has her heart on fire. She's almost surprised he doesn't have kids with the way he's so good with them, treats them not like babies but like a normal person: with respect and kindness.
It makes him even more attractive.
It's been a while since she's seen a man interact so well with her daughter, or at all (aside from the boys), that she can't help the warm smile that curls at the edges of her mouth, the way her hand lifts to her chin, fingers delicately landing on her lips.
"You okay?" Rick asks after a few minutes of her zoning out, a look of gentle concern and amusement playing on his face.
"Yeah," she assures him, trailing her gaze between the two of them. "Yeah, everything's great."
At 11:50, she stands at the window in his living room, the vast expanse of New York City visible to her. The lights on the buildings and from the cars on the streets, the horns from down below, sounds of people outside, all of them enjoying the night.
Her arms cross over her chest, wine in her left hand as she stares out at the city she calls her own. It's so peaceful like this, lit up and not overrun with murder.
She feels Rick creep up to her side and turns her head, gives him a smile. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Extremely," he whispers, and when she looks back he's staring at her, not out the window, and a flush creeps from her chest to her neck. "I don't think I said it when you guys came in, but you look stunning, Kate. That dress... incredible."
"You look pretty dapper yourself," she murmurs, a smirk on her lips.
At 11:55, Annie tugs the two of them away from the window and tells them that it's almost time.
"Only five minutes!"
"So close, Ann. It's gonna be a new year," she smiles. "Are you excited?"
"Uh huh! I'll be eight this year. That's big."
Kate chuckles, warmth spreading throughout her chest. "I know," she breathes, bending down to her level. "You're growing so fast, baby. Can't you stay little for a bit?"
Annie shakes her head on a giggle. "No, Mommy. I'll be eight and then nine and then ten and then—"
"Okay, kiddo," she cuts her off with a laugh. "One year at a time, all right? You'll always be my little baby."
When she stands back up, she finds Rick watching them, admiration clear in his eyes.
At 11:59, the three of them stand in front of the television waiting for the signature countdown to begin. Annie nearly squeaks when it starts at 10, and she joins in, yelling out the numbers as they dwindle down.
"Nine," she yells. "Eight!"
"Seven."
"Six."
"Five."
Kate and Rick make eye contact, share a knowing smile that sends her stomach flipping all over the place.
"Four."
"Three."
"Two."
She grabs hold of Annie's shoulder and shouts the last one with her, their voices mixing with Rick's as he joins.
"One!"
"Happy New Year, baby," Kate grins, bending to kiss her daughter on the cheek.
Annie squeals. "Happy New Year! Happy New Year, Rick!"
"Happy New Year, Annie," he says, ruffling her hair. He turns to Kate. "Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year, Rick."
They hold each other's gaze for a few seconds. Her tongue darts out, wets her bottom lip as her eyes flicker down to his lips. His breath hitches; she can hear it, see it in the way his throat bobs, and she bites the inside of her cheek.
The two of them seem to move in slow motion, but they gravitate towards each other, her hand finding purchase on his shoulder while his lands on her cheek. His lips slant over hers, his hands moving into her hair. It's soft, delicate, and she's certain they're both hyper aware of the child in the room, but it's perfect.
When they pull back she bites at her lip, lets her forehead rest against his for a few seconds.
"That was..."
"Yeah," she murmurs.
So, maybe it doesn't have to be completely a non-date.
When they say no more, he grabs his glass from the coffee table and holds her out for her. "To... new beginnings?"
Annie hits her glass of apple juice against both of their glasses, a wide smile aimed up at the two of them, and Kate tugs her into her side. Her eyes find his once more, finds hope swimming in them and offers him a shy smile.
"To new beginnings."
A/N: Thank you all so much for sticking with this little story, your kind words mean so much to me. I'm sad to see it end, but I had always planned for it to end on New Years and I think it's a nice place to finish.
There is an epilogue to follow, but it needs a little reworking and the rest of this month is verging on insanely busy, so please bear with me as it may take an extra week or so to get up.
