hey guys! So I'm on holidays at the moment so I've had tonnes of time to write! Hopefully more chapters will be comeing soon as I have a very long car trip awaiting me! Enjoy:)

disclaimer:I definetly don't own Castle.

She woke in the morning to the smell of pancakes and bacon wafting up under her door. She felt across the bed for her daughter but she wasn't there. She quickly jumped up and went to the bathroom then started down the stairs.

She walked towards the kitchen where she saw her daughter and Rick cooking pancakes and had batter all over both of their faces.

"Morning Kiddies" Kate said taking a stool out from under the bench and sitting on it.

"Who are you calling the kid?" Rick exclaimed and gave Rory a wink.

"Yeah Mum! Who are you calling the kid?" the little girl exclaimed and had both of her hands on her hips with a frustrated pose which made both adults start laughing.

"Coming from the two with pancake batter all over their faces?" She winked back at Rick who was laughing at Rory's more than serious face.

"Oh yes, the pancakes. Well we made all the pancakes that were needed and there is no way we were going to waste perfectly good batter"

"So you decide to rub it all over my poor defenceless daughter?" She was smiling and it was melting Rick's heart.

"Kate she is far from poor and defenceless! You should see my pants!" He then stepped out from behind the bench to reveal himself fully to Kate. He was covered from his knees down with a thick sticky layer of cream coloured batter.

"Oh god Castle!" she said unable to contain her giggles. "I'm so sorry but this is one of the funniest sights I've ever seen."

"Hey don't thank me; all I have got from this morning is that I know your daughter is going to be a boy slayer when she's older. That smile can and will get here anywhere."

"Where do you think she got it from Castle?" she said and gave him a seductive smile. It was all going a little weirdly for Kate and she was starving and wanted some of these pancakes that she had be hearing about.

"I will go clean off Rory and then we come back and eat breakfast" she smiled down at her little girl.

"We've already eaten sleepy head. I will take Rory and clean her off." Rick reached into the fridge and pulled out a plate of pancakes, berries and ice-cream then pulled four pieces of bacon out of the fry pan with a pair of tongs.

"Wow, thankyou Castle" Kate said as she looked down at the plate that was over flowing with food.

"No problem. Let's go princess" he said and took Rory's hand in his and started up the stairs.

Kate turned around quickly in shock at the whole 'Princess' thing. When had it become Princess? When had her daughter become so close to Rick? Could it of happened in just one short night? Surely not. But she'd have to admit, she didn't mind the thought of Rory finally have a male role model.

Rick was in the bathroom with Rory cleaning her off with a wet washer. Her PJ's were completely covered in batter so after she was fully clean, he dressed her back into her dress from the night before.

"All good Princess?" he asked and tapped her on the nose.

"Yep" she exclaimed with the sweetest voice that melted Rick's heart.

"Okay lets go down and find mummy" he said and picked her up and placed her on his hip.

Kate saw them walking down the stairs, Rick still in his PJ's and Rory in her dress. She had finished her breakfast and she had to admit it, they were possibly the most delicious pancakes she had ever tasted.

"Wow someone looks beautiful this morning" Kate said with a smile.

"Well thankyou Kate" Rick said with a wink.

"Hmmm very funny big guy" she laughed.

"Mummy! Come sit on the couch with me and I will show you Ricky's book he wrote! He's like you mummy!" little girl exclaimed while grabbing onto her mums leg and urging her towards the couch.

"Just like Mummy hey?" Kate said and looked to Rick and winked. Winking had become a big recurrence in there day to day talking.

As Rick was doing the dishes he overheard the whole mother/daughter convosation going on. Mostly it was just Rory blurting her guts about last night and how he had bought her ice-cream and PJ's. As soon as the cute three year old opened her mouth Rick received a concerning glance from Kate.

Kate turned on the TV and put on ABC for Rory to watch. Instantly she became consumed in the show and drowned out the rest of the world. She walked over to Rick and stood there with her hands on her hips, a concerned look washing across her face.

"Rick you didn't need to go the store and buy my daughter PJ's" she was being dead serious but Rick was just glad she wasn't bringing up the ice cream. "She could've slept in her dress or just in her underwear.

"I know" he smiled, "But your daughter is adorable and she is a princess. Princesses deserve cute PJ's" he winked at her.

"You so wanted to spoil my child didn't you?" she said with a sly tone.

"Would you judge me if I said yes?" he chuckled.

"No, it just might make me like you a little more." She smiled at him with that smile of hers that could charm any guy into doing anything. "Thank you, and thank you for asking about the whole allergy thing, it's true when she said that I don't let her have ice-cream."

"That's ridiculous!" he exclaimed but the smile never left his lips. "Well I guess it can be our special thing."

"Are you saying that you want to be seeing my daughter more often Mr Castle?"

"That and other things" he said with a wink.

Kate rolled her eyes, oh how he could be so childish, but she wasn't about to admit to him that she wanted to see more of him too.

"Come on Rory we better get home and leave Rick to clean up. Weren't you meant to work today?" she asked.

"Captain rang this morning, got today off too. Will I be seeing you tomorrow?"

"Sure will be" she assured, "Probably at about nine."

"Sounds good" he laughed. Rory had wrapped herself around his legs and was squeezing them as hard as she could.

"Bye, bye Ricky" she cried. Rick was running his finger through the girls` blonde locks like it was the most natural thing to do in the world.

"Bye Princess" he said and knelt down to be eye level with the girl. "See you soon." He then got closer to her ear and whispered into it, "For more ice cream okay."

Rory giggled and her mother knew exactly why.

"Bye Rick and thank you again for letting us stay here last night and bringing Rory here." She smiled at him and leant in to give him a kiss on the cheek.

They opened the door and the two women left his loft and hoped into the elevator and waved to Rick as the door closed.

"Crap" he yelled to himself. He wasn't just in love with girl; he was in love with the girls' mother.

Kate and Rory were in a taxi in the middle of peak hour traffic trying to get through Manhattan.

"Mummy" Rory asked quietly. It was obvious that she was up way too late last night and awoke too early. "Can we see Ricky again soon?" Her voice was so soft and so innocent that Kate got butterflies in her stomach. Had her daughter really just attached herself to a man she had only met twelve hours ago? Kate could barely leave her at her parents' house without tears being spilt; now she wanted to go on play dates with her mother's new co-worker. She hadn't made up her mind yet if she liked the idea, there could be no harm right? Rick was an awesome guy and spending more time with him could benefit her writing, finding out about the man behind the badge.

"Yeah we can go see Rick again" she mumbled back after finally realised that she took forever to reply to her daughter who was slowly falling asleep on her lap.

"Castle" he answered with his usual procedural tone.

"Hello officer Castle there's been a murder downtown and Detective Montgomery is asking for you." The person behind the phone was an officer from the 12th but he couldn't quite place a name to the voice.

"Yeah, where abouts?"

"54th street" the man answered.

"Yeah okay, what address?"

"Sir it just says 54th street"

"Crap. Okay tell him I will meet him there."

"Will do officer."

Rick hung up the phone and quickly got changed into his uniform. It was all creased and dirty but it would have to do for today. He then went to the safe and grabbed his badge and gun and holstered them to his waist. He grabbed his keys for his police issued car and started towards 54th street.

He was about two blocks away from the street when his phone rang.

"Castle" he said with anger. The traffic was pissing him off.

"Yeah Rick its Kate, are you there? At 54th I mean. I heard it's all hands on deck"

"Oh hi Kate" he replied while parking his car, getting out then he started running the two extra blocks towards the scene. "Yeah I'm just about there. Are you coming?"

"Yeah, if that's alright with you?"

Rick turned the corner onto the street. All Kate heard on the other end of the line was a huge gasp. They weren't kidding when they said the whole street was involved. Rick was still a good twenty metres away from the police tape, but he could still see the damage. Men, women, children all gunned down. Rick guessed that there was about twenty that were dead and even more wounded. Ambulance and Morgue vans lined the street picking up the victims.

"Rick, what's up?"

"Don't come down here okay, don't come down" he yelled into the phone. Kate didn't need to see this, god, he didn't need to see this.

"Why? What's up Rick?"

Just don't come down okay. You have to promise me that."

"I promise Rick, what's going on?"

"Will fill you in later" he said right before he hung up.

He flashed his badge and the uniform that was on duty.

"Det. Montgomery?" Rick asked.

"Over there Officer" he answered while pointing to a truck a little to the left of them.

"Thanks" Rick replied before running off towards the van.

Rick finally found him and his co-worker's there. Kate was right when she said "all hands on deck", everyone was there even Demming the reporter.

"Oh officer Castle you made it" growled Detective Parish. She was mad, Rick made a mental note to try and stay on her good side today, he had felt the wrath of a cranky Lanie one too many times.

"Well I wasn't going to miss a mass murder down at 54th street, but somehow the guy that called me left out the part where I might need counselling." He was joking but several glares from around him said that this wasn't a time to joke.

They spent the rest of the day picking up and finding evidence that would help solve the case. Luckily for Castle he didn't have to go running after the mad men that did this, although sometimes he wished he'd just be promoted to detective already.

After seven hours working nonstop at the scene he then had to go back to the precinct to sort through evidence and find which bits belonged where, and which detective it belonged to. Cliff notes version, there was a hell of an amount of paperwork. He worked until 1am when he realised that he had to be back here at 7. So he packed up his stuff and left the precinct. He was in no state to drive but he didn't have a choice, he couldn't leave his car here.

Rick stumbled through his door at a little after 1:30 and stripped down to just his jocks and jumped into bed, he didn't care about anything else he just wanted to sleep. He instantly fell into a deep slumber.

Kate was flustered. What was going on? He hadn't called to tell her, he promised her that he would. She hadn't had time to watch the news or read the paper; she'd been too busy with Rory.

She decided to call him. She didn't care that it was six in the morning; he would just have to answer and tell her everything that was going on. Something this juicy would be marvellous for her next book. She picked up her phone, went to her contacts and pressed call.

Rick was awakened by his phone ringing.

'CRAP!' he thought to himself. Had he slept in? Was this his boss about to rage at him for being late? He decided to stop guessing and pick up the phone.

"Castle" he yelled into his phone that was now on speaker. He was attempting to get into his pants and his shirt simultaneously; it wasn't working out for him.

"Hey Rick its Kate." She sounded nervous, like she was worried about something.

"Oh god, it's just you" Rick sighed and finally looked at the clock. It was only six o`clock, he didn't have to be at the precinct for another hour.

"Oh just me?" she laughed. "You never called to tell me what was going on."

"Oh" Rick sighed. "Sorry I only got home five hours ago. Major mass murder down on 54th, a lot of people killed. A lot of paperwork."

"Oh…." She felt really bad. He had only slept for five hours and here she is waking him up and straining him for information. "Sorry Rick, I didn't mean to wake you up. I didn't know."

"It's fine" he yawned. "You still coming in today could use someone to help me?"

"Yeah I will be there. See you around nine?"

"Yeah ok, I will be there in an hour but you have Rory so it's fine. Will see you at nine. Bye Kate" he whispered. He was drifting off to sleep. He had never been this tired before.

"Bye" she mumbled back.

They both hung up their phones and sighed. "Oh god" they said simultaneously.

Rick swore humans were never meant to write this much. He had so much paperwork to do and he was barely half way through his pile. It was ten o'clock and Kate still wasn't there, she probably just got caught up with her parents or something he thought to himself.

It wasn't until eleven o'clock he finally got a short break from the endless amounts of paper that surrounded him. He picked up his phone and read the message that displayed itself on the screen.

K: I'm really sorry Rick. I can't make it in today, Rory is sick and she refuses to go to my parents' house. Sorry:(

R: It's fine, not much you could do here anyway. Tell Rory I said hi and I promise to visit her next week.

K: Will do. Thankyou Rick.

Had Rick really just organised a play date or a 'visit' with her daughter like it was the most natural thing in the world. 'Wow this is weird' she thought to herself.

All day he did nothing but paperwork and by five he was well past his five cups of coffee per day limit. Most of the other detectives had gone home, mostly to their families but all of the officers were still here to do the paperwork. If Rick finished tonight Montgomery said he didn't have to come in tomorrow. He liked the idea, but he knew it meant another late night.

The precinct was silent; the only noise that was made was the sound of paper being shuffled or the occasional pen click from their biros. There was only three guys left and Rick had worked with them briefly before but had no idea what their names were.

"YES!" Rick exclaimed as he got two very dirty looks from the other two officers. "Sorry, I just finished my last sheet of work."

"Congratulations" one of the officers said sarcastically and picked up a large folder filled with paper. "I've still got this left. Enjoy your day off tomorrow."

"I will!" Ricks sighed, finally realising that it was all over.

"Rory sweetie you need to go to sleep" she pleaded.

"I can't" the little girl cried.

"I know sweetie but its past midnight and you need to get some rest." She was begging now. Rory hadn't slept all day and she was refusing to even shut her eyes and try to sleep.

She crawled into the little girls' bed and snuggled up beside her daughter.

"Okay Ror, I want you to at least try to close your eyes. Mummy will stay here and close her eyes too. Have we got a deal?"

"Okay, we have a deal."

Kate sighed in relief. Finally they could both get some rest. She still didn't know if she could get to the precinct tomorrow, it all depended on how Rory felt. It wasn't a very good start to her 'following the cop around' campaign. Truthfully she hadn't even started the outline for her next book. Maybe Rick could babysit for a day; she could maybe clean the house then and get her outline done. It was due in less than two weeks; it would be an amazing idea. No, it would be a stupid idea. Rick and Kate had only known each other for a little over a week, and yes there definitely was a connection between the two of them, she couldn't deny that. But to ask him to babysit for her, that was ridiculous. He had said that he wanted to spend time with Rory. It seemed that he had bonded extremely well with her child and she realised that because of that reason, nothing could happen between the two of them because there was now a child involved. She would just have to supress the urge to tear his clothes off next time she saw him. It sure was going to be a challenge.

She felt the little girl next to her relax and go limp and the movement of the little girls' chest rising and falling was the only sign that she hadn't just mysteriously died. The rhythm was soothing and slowly sent Kate to sleep.

so guys what do you think? The chapters are slowly getting longer which is good! Are you all liking it? Please leave a review:)

Ror is going to be her nickname just incase people thought it was a type. I didn't want it to be roar. Um... I will update the next chapter as fast as possible:)

-Ainsley