Author's Note: See notes on Chapter One for a more complete introduction. This chapter encompasses episodes 2.2 The Double Down through 2.11 The Fifth Bullet; it's a large group of episodes, but as far as Castle's growth goes, there wasn't a lot to write that couldn't be taken as a whole. I'll be slowing down considerably in the next few chapters.

Disclaimer: Castle and its characters do not belong to me, I make no money from this, and no copyright infringement is intended. I'm just enjoying some time with a few of my favorite characters. The story is mine, however, except where I'm directly quoting the episode.

Richard Castle, Grown-Up

Chapter Eight: A Better Man

Things will get back to normal, he thought, whatever that looks like.

Largely, they had. He'd continued to shadow Beckett and their verbal sparring had returned. He breathed a sigh of relief. She'd given him a second chance and he wasn't going to mess up this time.

Their relationship had actually improved somewhat from where they had been before this past summer. Contrary to what he'd feared, Beckett had forgiven him completely. He comprehended that fact when she didn't avoid mentioning her mother around him, even drawing comparisons between her own experience and that of a family who found themselves in a similar situation. "I guess you could say 'what does it matter, the person that you love is dead,' but knowing why matters." He'd wanted to say something, to somehow just fix it for her, but was afraid of the wrong thing coming out. Rather than hurt her more than he already had in regards to her mother, he shut his mouth. Rick was learning to control himself when the situation required it.

Castle began to notice that his experiences with Kate Beckett had changed him; her compassion for others seemed to have produced those same feelings in him. Rather than everything always being about him, he gradually had become concerned about other people. It didn't just extend to Alexis and Martha, either; it reached to those wholly unconnected with himself, people he wouldn't have even noticed a year ago.

Twice in the past few months, he'd been presented with opportunities from the fairer sex and not taken the bait. One was a model named Rina. When he found out that she had been Alexis' babysitter not so long ago, Rick had switched from lothario to father, giving the girl a safe place that she could retreat to. He hoped she would never find herself friendless with nowhere to go for help; to him providing that had been worth more than what would have surely ended up as a meaningless fling.

The other opportunity turned out to be a narrow miss that had showed him the value of restraint. Scarlett Price had appeared to be a victim in every sense of the word: lost in the allure of the big city only to then face the hard realities of New York, she'd fallen in with an escort ring as her money had run out. Beaten up by Knox and scared, she'd waited for Rick at his apartment. Rick reassured her that she was safe and stopped her when she'd kissed him as some twisted form of payment, telling her that she didn't need to be that person around him. He found her attractive, but would not take advantage of a vulnerable woman. His gentlemanly behavior had saved him; while she appeared to be a victim, she surely was not. In fact, she turned out to be the murderer even as she tried to place blame on Knox, whom she had killed as well. Women!

In some ways, his life had become anything but normal. He had a teenage daughter and that guaranteed an absence of whatever might be considered typical, at least for a few years. A struggle lately, their relationship had hit some bumps, largely due to his overprotective nature. He remembered all too well what it was like to be a young man and was certain that Alexis' violin teacher was entertaining thoughts of his little girl. Of course, it didn't help that at the time they were working on the case of a dead con-man who may have been bilking an heiress. Just to be on the safe side, he'd done some checking up on Dillon.

Alexis found out about what he'd done and confronted him, in the precinct's interrogation room! Beckett had accurately described it as Alexis taking him apart like a pro. The most painful part of it all was that his daughter had been right. She deserved his trust, even if the world at large did not; Alexis had a good head on her shoulders and she should be able to find someone that inspired her as a violinist without her dad losing it on her. Growing up was hard to do—even for a grown man.

Castle had also wrestled with his writing. What did he want to write? A James Bond offer had come his way, but that would mean leaving Kate Beckett—Nikki Heat his mind corrected—behind. His mother seemed to think the detective would be happy if he moved on, thrilled even. While the comments had stung his pride, they did seem to be at least partially accurate given the fight they'd had at the launch party for Heat Wave. She certainly appeared ready to show him the door, ready to be done with Nikki and all of the attention that came with her. The argument had ended with his deciding to write Bond and leave the precinct behind. But thankfully, the sales for Heat Wave had been so strong that he instead ended up committing to write three more Heat novels, and of course that meant that he needed to do further research. Rick had been afraid that she would be reluctant to take him back once she'd finally been rid of him, but her simple question as she headed out to the next crime scene had set his mind at rest. "Are you coming, or what?"

He wasn't sure just exactly why he had been so relieved. Writing Bond had been a dream of his; he'd loved the character since childhood. Somehow, though, when put alongside Nikki Heat, his own creation inspired by a truly remarkable—and very real—woman, he was glad to continue her story. Bond would always be there, after all; he was ageless.

There was still some selfishness left in him, though. Everything came back to what Kate had told Elise at the end of that con-man case. "He changed his ways because you made him want to be a better man." Maybe that was a little bit of what was happening to him: this extraordinary woman had created a desire within him to be a better man. No one had made him feel like that before, and he didn't want to lose his chance to see where all of this might lead.