Title: Easy
Disclaimer: If I owned Castle they would definitely be together by now. But they're not, so obviously I don't.
Kate gripped the wheel of her car tighter, thinking that the stronger her grip was, the faster they'd get back to the precinct. When they were dating, she killed for time alone with Rick. In fact, on several occasions Ryan and Esposito called them out on taking longer to get places when they drove together. Of course, she never admitted to that, but they knew it was true.
But now, it was a little uncomfortable. And that made her feel horrible. She didn't want to feel uncomfortable with him. But they weren't together anymore, so how else was she supposed to feel?
"So how's-how's everything going?"
"Good. Great. Everything's great."
If she'd thought that he meant that, she would've felt horrible. But something in his tone told her maybe he was feeling the same way she was.
"And Alexis? She still doing alright at school?"
Out of the corner of her eye Kate could see Rick smiled, just how he always did when they talked about Alexis. It was so obvious how proud he was of her. Another one of the million things Kate missed about being with Rick was spending time with Alexis.
"She's doing really great. She loves it there."
Kate smiled. "Great. I'm really glad."
"Well, you had a lot to do with that decision you know."
Kate felt blush creep into her cheeks. She didn't think he'd actually give her credit for this. "I didn't do that much."
"You have no idea how much you helped."
"Is Alexis coming home at all tonight? I thought we'd been behaving ourselves pretty well lately," she joked, nibbling at his ear. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her below him on the couch.
"Speak for yourself," he murmured as he placed kisses along her jaw.
Just then they both heard the front door open and close. Kate tried to get up to make themselves look more presentable, but Rick didn't allow it before one more kiss. He sat up with her and looked over to see his daughter walking in.
"Hey pumpkin, where've you been all night?"
Kate saw the look of exhaustion all over the teenager's face. "I was just at the library researching colleges."
"Anything look promising?"
"Maybe. I don't know. There's just so many choices. And I don't even know what I want to study." She dropped her backpack on the floor before plopping down in a chair across from them. "Kate, how did you know you wanted to be a cop?"
The question caught Kate a little off-guard. She looked at Rick, who looked back at her and seemed as surprised as she was. He nodded, and she turned back to Alexis.
"Well, I um," she paused, trying to collect her thoughts. "I never really planned on being a cop." She looked up and saw Alexis looking at her, all attention and focus on Kate's answer. "I don't know, I guess I would've tried to go to law school or something if everything had worked out the way it should've. But after my mom died, my priorities changed, you know? I always wanted to do something that would help people, but this way I could help people who had gone through what I went through, except maybe I could give them better closure."
She felt Rick tighten his arm around her shoulder, helping her keep her composure.
"So you didn't always know what you wanted to do?"
Kate shook her head. "I chose law enforcement because it was something that was important to me at the time I had to make a decision."
"And do you ever wish you'd chosen something else?"
"There are a lot of things I wish I could change, but I love my career and I have so many good friends that I wouldn't give up for anything. I mean, how else would I have met your dad?" She smiled and felt Rick chuckle behind her. "Does that help at all?"
Alexis smiled and Kate thought she looked a little less stressed. At least she hoped so. "Yeah, it really does." She got up and came over to give Kate a hug. "Thanks. I really appreciate it."
Kate wrapped her arms around Alexis. "Of course. Any time."
After giving her dad a kiss on the cheek Alexis went to pick up her backpack and head to her room. "Night guys."
The second she was out of sight Rick had her pinned back down on the couch, but she didn't fight it. He kissed her before pulling back to look at her.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For helping Alexis."
"Of course." She placed a hand on his cheek. "You know I love her, right? I'd do anything to help her."
Kate felt as if she was melting into the couch when she saw Rick's face light up. Of course she meant it, but she'd say almost anything to get him to look at her like that.
"You have no idea how happy that makes me." He smiled before leaning back in to kiss her again. Kate was just thinking about how they were going to need to take this into the bedroom when they heard the front door open again, accompanied with a soprano greeting. She laughed as she felt Rick's head fall onto her shoulder.
"Your mother, however, I have different feelings for right now."
"Kate?"
"What?" She looked over at Rick before looking back at the road, spotting the precinct up ahead. How had she completely spaced out for the last couple blocks?
"You were laughing."
"Oh. Sorry. Just thinking about something from the other day."
She waited to see if he pressed her further. He didn't, but she knew he didn't buy her story. But seriously, was she just supposed to tell him that she was thinking about a memory from when they'd been together?
Luckily they were able to keep up the chit chat until they got back to her desk, where Ryan and Esposito were waiting for her with new developments.
"Yo. So our vic is married, no kids. We're working on contacting the wife. We left messages on their home phone and her cell. Uniforms are going over to the residence to see if she's there."
On cue, Ryan stepped up to report his findings. "911 caller was an associate from the building. She found our vic as she was leaving. So far we haven't found anyone who was around the area and would've heard the gunshot. Also no luck with the wallet yet."
Kate let all the information sink in before she tried to think about what to do next.
"Alright, well let's pull financials and cell records. Let's see what our guy's been up to recently."
"You got it boss. You guys find anything in the office?"
Kate shook her head. "Nothing more than bills and case files. His assistant is sending over a list of all the people he's been working with on cases lately who might want him out of the picture. Right now we just need to wait and see what comes up with his wife and these cases he's been working on." She took a seat behind her desk and was half happy, half nervous that Castle did the same.
"So do you think it could be something with these cases he was working on?"
"Right now it's our best bet, but we'll have to wait until we get more information on him and talk to his wife."
Before Kate could continue Rick's cell phone rang. When he pulled it out and she saw his face drop when he looked at the screen, Kate had to laugh. She knew exactly who was calling.
He glanced up at her, then back down at his phone, then back at her. "I, um, I've got this book thing this afternoon and Paula's probably calling to make sure I remember to show up. I should probably get going to get ready anyways. Call me if you guys catch a lead? I'm interested to see how this one turns out." He smiled at her and before she had time to think about it she smiled back, probably looking more smitten than she should.
"Of course. Have fun."
"You know I always do," he quipped before getting up. "Talk to you later?"
Instead of thinking of something witty or decent to reply, she just nodded. He walked down to the elevator and, against her better judgement, she let her eyes stare at him up until the moment the doors closed. Once they did, she shook her head and scolded herself for falling for him all over again. If it hadn't worked the first time, why would it work this time?
A/N: Greetings readers! I hope this update finds everyone well. And I hope you're still enjoying the story! Trust me, we're getting somewhere :) And in case you haven't picked up on it yet, the italicized sections are flashbacks to when Kate and Rick were together. It's kind of how I'm trying to show you what it was like when they were together, and maybe we'll figure out what went wrong :) But if you're still enjoying it, or even if you're not, I'd love to hear what you all think! Thanks :)