AN: I know it's been a long time and I'm sorry! I hope you're still with me! And well... Here it is.
By now, Castle's party is already in full swing. He walks around the crowd as Esposito, dressed as a soldier, guards the door and Ryan, the bloody doctor, casually keeps an eye on his boss and the people inside the apartment.
He's a bit disappointed that his favorite bodyguard hasn't showed up yet, but he tries to brush it off and have fun with the people who are actually there.
He goes around the crowd for a while, talking with some of his friends as he keeps an eye on Alexis and her friends, who are hanging out in their own corner.
"Hey, look who decided an appearance," Castle hears Esposito say by the door.
The novelist turns around and smiles when he sees her at the door. All of the sudden, he's as giddy as can he be. Now the party has officially started.
As he walks toward her his smiles falters, though, at the lack of costume. "You're you," he says, taking in her usual long, black trench coat. Honestly, he preferred her earlier attire.
"And who are you?" Javier practically starts salivating when he sees the gal dressed as cat woman walking up to Beckett.
Lanie looks at the guy in the military costume appreciatively, throws him a taunting smile and then goes back to looking at her friend.
"You sound so disappointed, Castle," she tilts her head to the side as Ryan approaches them.
"Lookin' good, Dr. Parish," the writer nods at the ME.
"Hey, Castle. Call me Lanie."
He smiles before going back to his conversation with Beckett. "I said costumes are mandatory. I mean, dress up. You know? Be a little scary. Well, more so than usual."
"Yeah, well," she shrugs casually before looking him in the eye with just enough fire for his jaw to become slack. "I was going for… sexy."
She puts her hand in her trench coat belt and Castle looks her over eagerly. Though, to his dismay, after just enough buildup, she takes her hand away. "But that's for later."
He narrows his eyes, his curiosity piqued. "What's later?"
"Oh, Castle. Wouldn't you just love to know?" Beckett says, still eyeing him tauntingly before she walks into the party.
Mostly she stays close to Lanie and Ryan, but she also starts meeting some of her boss' friends. Some of them are writers, some work at Black Pawn Publishing and some just like to party.
She also checks on Alexis' gang. It seems like a nice enough group of kids. There's a zombie, a witch, a magician, a werewolf, a skeleton and several other standard Halloween costumes. And for some reason, their lack of imagination puts her at ease. It makes them a little less prone to having manic, psychopathic impulses.
Yes, when she's working she has to study everyone –even kids– just by getting a look at them to determine their possible murderous tendencies.
Hers is a beautiful world.
Sometime later, Castle approaches Lanie as she's about to take a sip of the bubbly punch on one of the numerous food and booze filled tables.
"Careful. That is a potion of my own concoction. Drink it, and who knows who or what you might become..." he says mysteriously. "Also, you might wonder what happened to your pants."
"Ooh. Sounds like my kind of party," she smirks, throwing yet another sideways glance at the guy at the door.
Castle notices and he narrows his eyes. "Did you use to work with him too?"
"No," Lanie shrugs simply, her eyes still glued on the Hispanic bodyguard.
The novelist hides a smirk behind his glass and before he has the chance to ask her what he's dying to know about Beckett, said bodyguard walks towards them and pulls the ME away from him.
"I have to go," Kate whispers to her friend, catching Castle's attention, which in turn, makes him casually eavesdrop. "Do you want me to drop you off?"
"You know what…" Lanie says, turning to look at Esposito again. "I might have other ideas for tonight."
"Oh, come on Lanie, I work with him."
"So? I don't," the ME casually shrugs and her friend just shakes her head.
"His name's Javier Esposito. Have fun," Beckett says, walking away.
"You too," Lanie waves her hand and next thing she knows, Kate's gone and Castle's standing by her side, curiosity etched all over his face.
"Where's she going?"
"I don't know… I think she has a date," the ME says casually and she narrows her eyes when she sees a clear flicker of disappointment in his eyes before he nods and goes away.
It's been a couple of days after the Halloween party, and this morning father and daughter are having breakfast together quietly.
"Dad?"
Alexis' voice breaks her father out of his reverie. He's spent all breakfast trying to figure out a way to get Derrick Storm out of his latest debacle, so he hadn't noticed the smile that has been plastered on her face and the unmistakable hopeful spark in her eyes the whole morning.
Come to think of it, she's been in a pretty good mood since she came home from school yesterday.
"Hmm?" He can't help the smile that creeps onto his own face at the adorable flush in hers.
"I was wondering..." She looks down on to her plate mid-sentence, suddenly very interested in the last few pieces of the colorful fruit left there. "Can I go to the movies tomorrow?"
"With your friends?"
"With... One friend."
"Who?" He asks casually, taking a swing of his orange juice.
She slowly lifts her gaze to gage Castle's reaction. "With Jeff."
Suddenly, the OJ takes the wrong path down the writer's throat, and he's caught in a coughing fit. "Jeff?" He more exclaims than asks, his voice several octaves higher than usual. "As in... A boy?"
"Mm-hmm," she nods, as if it wasn't a big deal.
But, truth be told, she's over the moon with excitement and nerves. This is the first time a boy has asked her out. And besides of squealing and smiling like a fool, which is what she really wants to be doing, she knows her father, and proceeding with caution is her best bet.
"You and him at the movies? Alone?" He asks, his mind running wild. His little girl alone with a boy? But she's so young!
"Yeah..." Seeing the obvious doubt all over his face, she narrows her eyes at him. She expected this kind of reaction, but if he doesn't let her go... Well, let's just say he'll discover a new kind of angry.
"But tomorrow we're going to dinner," he whines, finding an actual reasonable way to stall this important and most annoying milestone in his daughter's life. "You know how hard it is to get reservations there, even for me. And you know how much this means to your Grandmother."
She got the lead role in a play for the first time in years, and they decided to celebrate in one of Manhattan's most exclusive restaurants. It required calling in a few favors, but for his mother? He'd do anything.
Granted, it wasn't really necessary to bring Martha into the conversation, but he's already guilt-tripping his daughter, he might as well do it all the way.
Having planned for this, Alexis quickly comes up with a response. "We're going after school. We'll be done just before dinner."
At that answer he purses his lips, and just as he's about to say that it's too early for her to be alone with a boy, she sees right through him. When he feels the fire igniting in her eyes, he gives up. "Fine," he agrees begrudgingly, earning a triumphant smile from her. "Now finish your breakfast."
He doesn't like the idea of her first date, but he doesn't want to have her angry at him either, so he'll have to make it work.
Alexis grins brightly and does as is told.
Beckett decides to walk to pick Castle up the next day. It won't take that long and, besides, it's incredibly early for dinner. He just called her 20 minutes ago saying that he would need her earlier than expected, and she's pretty sure it's got something to do with Alexis' date.
She's seen him being overly protective of his daughter before –that's actually the reason why she's working with them– so she can only begin to imagine how much this new development is turning him inside out. So she'll take her time and just hope that he doesn't do something stupid. At least not something more stupid than what he's already done.
It's been a few days since his party, and he hasn't heard anything from him until now, which is not unusual, it's just that… Well… Whatever.
Hence it's also been a few days since her first date with Brad. He seems nice enough, and it's fun to have someone else to talk to than her judgmental best friend, or the guys she works with. And she has heard from him since, going as far as having planned a second date.
It's certainly refreshing, exciting and new. He's a gentleman, who's as much brain as muscle, who knows when to talk and when to listen. Plus he's a firefighter. A hot, puppy-saving firefighter. Who doesn't want one of those?
"Castle would you just stop pacing?" Beckett sighs, rolling her eyes. "Why did you call me so damn early anyway? Dinner's not for another couple of hours."
She's been at his loft for two minutes, he's already offered her a drink –which of course, she declined– and she can already see it's going to be a long afternoon.
"I need to get out. Otherwise I'm gonna go crazy," he says mostly to himself before he gathers his stuff and walks out the door.
"Too late," she mutters under her breath before following him outside.
After strolling for some time through the city, they end up at a coffee shop suspiciously close to the movie theater Alexis is having her date at.
"So," the novelist stares at his bodyguard over the brim of his cup. "You left my party early."
"Yeah..." She faces him carefully. Is he actually fishing into her personal life to distract himself? Well, it probably shouldn't surprise her.
He hums casually. "Lanie told me you had a... Date?"
Beckett rolls her eyes. Of course she did. "So?"
"Just sayin'," he shrugs, before he ventures into what he knows is dangerous territory. "How'd it go?"
"Castle," she warns him, shooting him a look as he lifts his hands in defense.
"Just wondering..."
A few minutes of companionable silence pass, and even when she's only looking at him out of the corner of her eye, she can feel his impatience levels sky-rocket, and sooner rather than later, he just has to start talking again.
"Where did he take you- or rather, where did you take him?"
She eyes him carefully. Is he actually feeling cocky, like he has some kind of power over anything, when he's the one asking the stupid questions she clearly doesn't want to answer?
"To the corner of none of your business and stop asking. Seriously, weren't you the one with the knowledge of psychology? Shouldn't you have sensed by now that I'm this close to shooting you?"
She didn't think it was possible, but that bastard looks even smugger now.
"Why do you think I keep asking?"
If looks could kill, Castle would be six-feet-under.
"You clearly have a death wish, don't you?" She tilts her head to the side and he just shrugs. "What's with your obsession with having to know everything about me?"
"I find you... Interesting," the smugness in his voice is enough to make the honesty in those words fall flat. "Most women would be flattered."
But she's not most women, his mind supplies.
She rolls her eyes and doesn't say anything for a while, until she leans ever so slightly over the table and closer to him.
He's intrigued by her move, and he does the same.
"What if I told you... That my date..." She lets him hang on her every word. Kate knows she shouldn't be doing it, but it's just so damn easy to tease him. "Was with one of your books?"
"Really?" He asks hopefully.
"No," she shakes her head and chuckles. "God, you're easy!"
He narrows his eyes at her, leaning back into his chair.
"You know I don't have to talk to you, right?" She crosses her arms.
His better judgment is yelling at him that this would be a pretty good time to stop talking but that particular part of his mind happens to be muffled at the moment. "And yet..."
She tilts her head to the side, giving him the hint of a daring smile before adopting a completely closed off posture, putting on a completely professional façade on her face.
"Oh, come on, Beckett," he whines.
"Yes, Mr. Castle?"
He pouts, narrowing his eyes. "I told you I don't like it when you call me that."
"Well, it's either that or kitten."
With that, he finally learns his lesson and shuts it, but he now looks restless. He can't focus and he keeps shifting in his seat, looking at the clock every 2 minutes.
Beckett is giving him a sideways glance and repressing a smirk when he suddenly gets up.
"I'm going to get Alexis."
"Castle, the movie's nowhere near done yet."
"Yeah, but there's bound to be traffic."
"We're walking and we're two blocks from the movie theater."
"Don't ruin my story with your logic," he says exasperated before he makes a move to walk towards the door, but she stops him, grabbing him by the coat.
"No way you're leaving now."
He throws her a look of annoyance and sits back down grudgingly.
Beckett looks at his pouting face and God, does he remind her of a child!
"It's sweet that you're worried, Castle. But you need to back off a bit. This is important for her. You need to be supportive."
He purses his lips.
"It's bad enough that you sent Espo to follow her."
He looks surprised, and then tries to look innocent. "I've no idea what you're talking about."
"Mm-hmm," she eyes him carefully.
"How did you-"
"It's in my job description to be aware of all the stupid stuff you do in order to be prepared to keep you from getting yourself killed. This qualifies," she pauses as he pouts. "If she finds out, she's gonna be pissed."
"Wh- why? I'm just looking out for her."
Her tone softens, finding his cluelessness endearing. "But in her eyes, it'll seem as if you don't trust her."
"But I do trust her! It's Jeff I don't trust."
"I'm just saying, Espo's military training better pay off, otherwise you'll face the wrath of a teenage girl, and not even we could protect you from that."