"We have gotten nowhere" Kate sighed in frustration.
"One to state the obvious" he snapped back at her. He didn't mean to. They had gotten nowhere in this new case.
"Hey don't snap at me. It's not my fault that we have to sort out evidence. Really it's your fault for not being a detective" she complained with a sarcastic tone.
"And don't expect him to any time soon sweetie" Fenton said with his usual cocky tone.
Everyone in the precinct hated the new arrival. They all agreed that he should have stayed in narcotics. The gossip around the precinct says that he's been undercover at Staton Island for fourteen months and is still in character. Well, everyone hoped that he was and he would soon pop out of it.
"Yeah you wish" she groaned. "And don't call me sweetie."
"Not keeping any promises" he laughed and walked off to the break room to get coffee. Luckily for Rick, Fenton was doing the night shift and had to finish shuffling through evidence.
"You're going to have fun trying to write this into your book" he chuckled. He was so tired. He was in the last fifteen minutes of a twelve hour shift and he was feeling the fatigue in its full force.
"Well I'm pretty good at what I do Mr Castle. I can put a twist on almost anything."
"Okay so try this." He laughed and was excited for her to take up the challenge. "A man is shot twice in the chest with a 44. There is no trace evidence, nothing to lead the detectives to who the killer is. The man was identified but has no family or friends so we cannot identify any enemies or past problems with people. He has no living arrangement on record and the only person who knew he existed was the garbage man who saw him a few times sitting in the street. Now Miss Beckett Mystery Writer extraordinaire, give me a twist that can lead to us solving this case."
She sat there thinking for a few seconds.
"I have nothing. Not even a simple twist that would make sense. Unless the killer simply comes forward?" She had a questioned grin on her face.
"That's never going to happen" he laughed. "Well Miss Beckett let's leave the rest of this mess to Officer O'Connor."
"Yeah maybe he can twist this sorry tale and solve the whole case!" she exclaimed.
"I doubt it" Rick mumbled under his breath so only Kate could hear.
"Yeah" she stated. It was true that Fenton wasn't a good cop, especially when it came to sorting through evidence, or really anything boring. He had to have action all the time or he would get overly bored and start to take apart stuff. Literally, Kate walked in the other day to Rick putting his chair back together because Fenton got bored and decided to pull it apart.
"Well let's go. Do you lift need a to pick up Rory?"
"No I'm fine with walking. My parents place is only like a half an hour walk from here." She picked up her coat and started towards the elevator. She was stopped by and large arm that was suddenly wrapped around her left bicep.
"Kate it's raining. I will drive you to your parent's house then I will drop you and my little princess home." He let off a huge smile and his intention was clear.
"Rick you just want to see my daughter don't you?" she questioned with a smile. "And since when has she been 'Your' Princess"
"Hey she's your daughter, my Princess. I pretty much have partial custodial rights."
"Rick, her own father doesn't have custodial rights what makes you think you do?" She was laughing but Rick wasn't. They had never talked about Rory's father before or his involvement in their lives. It was really none of Rick's business but he had always wondered what happened to Rory's father or where he was. An awkward silence filled the air and it was tense.
"Rick I'm sorry if that was awkward for you…." She trailed off until Rick interrupted.
"No its fine really. It's just….. Just that you've never told me about Rory's father before and I never really asked about him. Rory hasn't mentioned him either and I didn't know if he was still around or if you knew who the father was…." He said the last sentence with caution as he knew she wouldn't like the idea of her sleeping around with so many guys that she didn't know who the father of her child was.
"Rick I'm currently twenty-one. I got pregnant with Rory when I was under eighteen. I was still in high school!" she laughed but Rick was finding it hard to realise what was funny. "He ran off when I told him I was pregnant. We had only been dating a little under a year and neither of us was ready to have a kid, but I was stuck with the consequences and he ran. Not really a big deal. I then started to write and published my first book while I was pregnant with her. She the best thing that had ever happened to me but I haven't seen her father since the day I told him."
"That Bastard!" Rick cursed.
"What?" Kate questioned.
"If I was told that my girlfriend was pregnant I wouldn't leave them, I would propose or something! What could make a man walk away from his child, what kind of a man would do that?" He looked genuinely hurt.
"Rick he was hardly a man." She smiled at him, "He was only seventeen, and he wasn't ready."
"It shouldn't matter Kate because now that little girl doesn't have a father!"
"But she has you.." They were now in the parking lot about to get in Rick's car. Kate grabbed onto Ricks hand and forced him to face her. "She has you and she loves you more than anything else. Her real Dad may not know her but she loves hanging out with you and that's enough for me. So I hope that is enough for you."
"Yeah… I suppose" he mumbled. Right then he wanted to find that Bastard who abandoned her family and punch him square in the face, or better yet put him in lock up for a couple of days. A couple of Bikie guys did owe him a favour…
"Come on lets go pick her up. She hasn't seen you in over a week and I can't deal with any more complaining."
"Really? She asks about me?" He had the cutest smile on his face like he was proud or something.
"Only like every day!" she exclaimed. Rick guessed that the little girls complaining was annoying. "All I hear is Ricky this, or Ricky that. Why can't you be more like Ricky Mum? You're like her best friend now you realise that you will never be able to leave."
"I would never want to" he said as they both got in the car. Rick put the car into gear and reversed out of his parking spot.
(…)
"I told you that you could've waited in the car Rick."
"And wait for Rory to get to the car before I got to say Hi?" he asked. Something about that question screamed 'rhetorical' to Kate.
The door opened in front of them and two older people stood there, a little girl in the man's arms.
"Ricky!" the little girl exclaimed, wriggling out of her Grandpas arms. "I missed you!" she screamed while wrapping her arms around Rick's legs.
"Hey princess" he said then faced the couple standing in front of him. "And hello Johanna, Jim. Kate forgot to mention that her parents were some of the best lawyers in the city."
"And hello to you too Rick. Our daughter also forgot to mention that the 'Ricky' our granddaughter has been raving about was the one and only Richard Castle." Jim said and looked over to her daughter.
"Hey don't look at me!" she said defensively. "Well thank you for looking after Rory today. Love you lots! Bye!" She quickly turned around and headed off towards the car leaving Rick standing there with Rory in front of her parents.
"Well… Bye I guess" Rick said and turned around to leave.
"Bye" the older couple said in conjunction.
"What was that all about?" Rick asked when he and Rory finally made it to the car.
"I have no idea, I just kinda froze. I wasn't exactly expecting my parents to know who you were." She was blushing. She was so embarrassed and had no idea why. Was it because she loved him? Was that just like a 'Meet the parents' moment. She hoped to god it wasn't. It was like she was back in high school again, hiding her boyfriend from her Mum and Dad. But Rick wasn't her boyfriend and he sure wouldn't be anytime soon.
"Miss Beckett I think you were embarrassed." He then turned to the backseat where Rory was sitting in her capsule. "Rory, I think your mother is a little embarrassed." He gave Rory a wicked smile and she returned it back but added some giggles.
"I think she is too Ricky" she giggled into her hands.
"So now you are getting my daughter to help you gang up on me? I think that is a tad unfair" Kate asked. A serious look washed over her face.
"I don't think it's unfair." Rick stated, "Do you think it's unfair princess?"
Rory just shook her head. "Uh uh. I think it's perfectly fair."
"Well for the record I wasn't embarrassed. I just panicked and let's leave it at that."
"Okay, okay" Rick whined, "We will stop."
"Good, I'm glad. You don't need to teach my daughter how to gang up on me. She'll have plenty of time to do that when she is a teenager."
"Hmmm can't wait to see that" Rick asked
Kate was shocked. Was Rick really planning to stay around for that long? She really didn't mind, well truthfully she had no objections to it and after his reaction to their whole 'Rory's father' talk today she wasn't at all surprised.
"Yeah you're going to be in charge of keeping the boys away Rick. We will have to invite you over when she brings the new boyfriends over" she laughed. Just the thought of Rick scaring away Rory's future boyfriends was a pleasant feeling.
"Ewww Mummy" Rory said and cringed her face. "I'm not going to have a boyfriend!" she exclaimed. "I'll get boy germs!"
Both adults laughed at the little girl.
"So you think I have boy germs" Rick teased.
Rory had to think for a moment. "No you're not a boy Ricky so of course you don't have boy germs."
Rick had a shocked look on his face and was kind of hurt by Rory's words, but Kate couldn't control her laughter.
"Yeah Ricky you're not a boy" Kate teased and she received a light punch in the shoulder from Rick because of it.
"I am too!" he squealed back.
"No you aren't Ricky" Rory answered seriously. It was quiet for a while and both Kate and Rick were trying to hold in their laughter. They drove in a comfortable silence for the rest of the trip.
"Mummy can Ricky stay for dinner?" Rory asked as they were pulling into the garage under Kate's apartment building.
"Yeah sure sweetie, that's if Rick wants to stay."
"I would love to" Rick said with a smile. "But only if your mum allows me to cook."
Kate laughed at looked at Rick. "Yeah sure, anything to get me out of making dinner."
"Well it's settled then. We are officially having Castle's famous Pasta Cabonara."
"Yummy!" Rory exclaimed.
Kate unbuckled Rory from her seat in the back and she ran over the elevator leaving both adults far behind.
"Come on guys!" the little girl squealed.
"You heard the young girl Kate" Rick said, took Kate's hand and started running towards the elevator.
Kate squealed and struggled to keep up. Running in high heels was not a good idea and Kate thought that she was going to fall over at any second.
"Finally" the little girl sighed when they arrived in the elevator.
They arrived at Kate's apartment a soon time after and straight away Rick was impressed. Of course he had dropped Rory off there before but he had never seen the interior and it was amazing. From what Rick could see it was a four bedroom apartment with two bathrooms, a huge lounge room and a kitchen that Rick would kill for.
He walked over to her kitchen and stood there in awe.
"See something you like Castle?" Kate teased.
"Yes, yes I do." He then turned around to Kate. "You're actually going to let me cook in this kitchen?"
She laughed, "Yeah Castle but you're not going to find much food in there, and you're going to have to go shopping."
"I don't even care as long as I get to cook in this kitchen." He stared around the room in a similar way that Kate did when he showed her the morgue for the first time.
Kate laughed and walked to her bedroom to get changed. She walked back out in plain black tracksuit pants and an overly large, plain grey hoodie. She looked hot there was no doubt about it. Rick didn't know too many women that could literally look their worst but still be incredibly sexy. He also didn't know too many women that would be comfortable walking around in sweats with guests in their house. It made him like her just a little bit more.
"Well I'll be back soon with groceries" Rick called out to Kate as he headed for the door.
"Wait Ricky I want to come with you!" Rory exclaimed running after him.
"Only if it's okay with your mum" Rick said and gave Kate a questioning look.
"Sure but you have to come home and have a bath while Rick cooks us dinner" she replied.
"Okay" Rory replied and grabbed Rick's arm and pulled him out the door.
(…)
"What do we need to get Ricky?" the little girl asked.
"We need everything Princess. Especially ice cream and sprinkles" he laughed and picked the little girl up and sat her in the trolley.
"Ice cream!" she exclaimed and kicked her legs and flailed her arms around.
"Let's start shopping for the other things I need for dinner then we can get you some ice cream."
"Okie Dokie" she replied.
They walked around the shop laughing at the funny logos on the boxes and making up stories for people they saw. It seemed that Rory was quite the convosation starter with younger woman for Rick. For some reason though Rick didn't accept any of the woman's numbers. He told them that it wouldn't be too good to do that sort of stuff in front of the almost four year old, but Rick knew deep down that he simply wasn't interested in them.
They finished their circuit around the store and collected everything they needed for dinner. They just stood in front of the supermarket freezers staring at the large amount of various ice cream flavours that they could get.
"Wow" Rory said, her jaw was dropped.
"Yeah which flavour are we going to choose?"
"You can never go wrong with vanilla" Rory suggested.
Rick laughed, "Rory you haven't had anything but vanilla ice cream, let's try chocolate. It's my favourite."
"Sounds good to me" she added.
She was so adorable when she acted so mature. Sometimes Rick thought that she was more mature than him.
They proceeded to the checkout and bought all the ingredients for their delicious dinner that Rick was going to make for them.
(…)
Kate was sitting on her soft, leather couch with a glass of wine and a book she was meant to have reviewed over a week ago. It was a really good book but she couldn't get quite into it, her mind was in a million different places and was scattered even more by two immature people barging through the doors, both of them giggling.
"I'm guessing shopping went well then" Kate said while putting her book down onto the coffee table and getting up of the couch.
"Yes very" Rick said and started to unload the groceries onto the bench. "Hey Rory why don't you go with your mum and have bath and dinner will almost be ready by the time you are finished."
"Sure can Ricky!" she giggled and ran off into the bathroom and Kate wandered in after her.
Rick just stood in the kitchen cooking pasta over Kate's large stove and was making his famous homemade sauce in a pan over just one of the hot flames. He had been making this recipe for a very long time and had made it for his mother every week at the dinners that they used to share once he had left home. It was a long time since Rick had made this meal for someone else, and now he was making it for his makeshift family. He hoped though that they could remain to be his 'family' even if Kate and he just remained friends.
Kate and Rory exited the bathroom with Rory in a cute, little Tinkerbelle bathrobe.
"Right on time girls I'm almost finished" he mentioned to them.
"Good I'm starved" Kate complained.
"Same!" Rory exclaimed and started running around the house.
Both of the adults had to try to hold in the laughter but weren't successful, both of them letting out a fit of laughter.
"Hey Rory do you want to help me set the table?" Kate asked.
"Yeah okay" she said and ran over to the kitchen draws and started pulling out knives and forks.
"Whoa, whoa there princess. Let me get these out for you" he said and started to get three sets of cutlery out of the draw and handed them to the girl.
They sat at the table like a normal everyday family telling stories from their childhood and Rory raving on about her day with her grandparents. Rick told the story of how he once stole a horse from a police officer while naked in the spring before he joined the force. He told them how charges were dropped because his rights weren't read to him at the appropriate time.
Kate told the story about how she had to break through security at a publishers building to get a woman there to read her book. It turned out that she loved it and wanted to publish her book, Kate turned it down though because she got a better offer from another agency. She broke several different laws just to turn down the offer.
They laughed until they were all finished their meal and Rick got up and scooped up three bowls of chocolate ice cream and covered them thoroughly with multi-coloured sprinkles. They finished their ice cream and Rory was in need for another bath. Her face, arms and legs were covered in a sticky, brown goo that also had a mix of sprinkles that had stuck to her skin.
"Well I better get going and let you clean up… 'this' mess." He gestured to Rory and the sink full of dishes.
"Of course you would be the one who would leave me when I have such a mess to clean up" she laughed.
"Yeah that's me" he winked, "But I would help you but I actually have business to attend to. Have to go back to the precinct and check on O'Connor; make sure he hasn't started to pull stuff apart again.
He started to walk towards the door after planting a kiss on the top of Rory's head.
"Night princess" he told her.
"Night Ricky" she replied.
He stood just outside the doorway and Kate decided to join him.
"Thank you for cooking dinner" she said, giving him that smile that melted his heart.
"No problem, we will have to do it again sometime."
"Yeah definitely. What are you planning on doing on your day off tomorrow?" she asked.
"I have to go into work for a while and tie up some loose ends and maybe finish some literary work I've been working on."
"Have you been writing Mr Castle?" she questioned with a sly tone.
"Oh yes indeed Miss Beckett it seems that I have been" he laughed.
"Well I would love to read it once you were finished."
"And I would love you to read it." He reached in and gave her a small peck on her cheek. She blushed slightly but Rick ignored it. "Goodnight Katherine" Rick said.
"Goodnight Richard" she replied. It was the first time that he had called her Katherine and she had to admit that she loved it.
He turned around and walked off down the hallway towards the elevator. Kate had to admit she checked out his butt before turning around to go into her apartment and run Rory yet another bath.
Hey guys! Hope you like this chapter spent all day on it! If you have any questions or ideas feel free to PM me. Hope you all like me adding Fenton in, I'm going to try and have some fun with it.
School starts back in a couple of days so it will be back to one chapter a week. Please leave a review and tell me what you think:)
-Ainsley