Sorry for not updating last weekend! Had too much to do and couldn't find time to publish... if you follow me on twitter or instagram you already know this though. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter!

Rick felt Kate's whole body stiffen at the words. Hell, he stiffened. They both turned to the man standing too close to Rick's taste, especially considering the name he'd just uttered.

"It really is you!" the man said in a rushed but hushed voice, excitement evident in his eyes.

"I-uh-I think you've mistaken," Kate said with a shaky voice, definitely not convincing enough.

"Nuh-uh, I don't think so. You're the best one I've ever ordered," he said and looked at Rick, "hey man, don't you agree?" the man turned back to Kate with a smile on his lips. "When you're done with him you can come over to my place, doesn't matter the time," he winked and Kate felt sick to her stomach.

How could this happen to her? Here at all places? Why did she agree to this? Rick was suddenly standing in a, very, protective position in front of her. Oh dear god.

"How dare you talk to her like that? She's not a piece of meat, she's a woman," Rick said in a low threatening voice and Kate started tugging on his arm, silently begging him to drop it.

The man just stared at him with surprised eyes.

"Wait, you're her boyfriend?! You do know what she does for a living right?" the man said in a too loud voice, raising curious eyes around them and Kate felt her eyes burn.

"Come on Rick," she barely even whispered, tugging at his arm again.

She didn't know what did it, the tugging or her broken whisper, but it felt like he woke up, suddenly looking around and seeing what she was seeing. People nearby them looking curiously at them, journalists were looking at them. She could feel him calm down, or at least gather himself.

"Don't you ever call her again ok?" Rick said, still with a low threatening voice but final, and pulled back with an arm around Kate's waist.

She was thankful for his arm, it gave her strength enough not to fall to the ground. When she glanced up at him she saw he wore a fake smile, probably trying to keep up an act she wasn't sure she would be able to pull off. Before she knew it they were back at their table, and Rick was talking to the others while Kate couldn't concentrate enough to actually be there. She kept thinking about that man, the fact that he'd recognized her, the fact that there were more men, and some women, out there who'd know exactly who she was. Or, well, not really who she was, but who Nikki Heat was.

"Kate? Sweetie? Are you alright?"

Kate looked up at the kind woman she'd come to know as Lanie, who was sitting right beside her to her left. She hadn't exactly uttered the words loud enough to interrupt the other's conversation but loud enough for Kate to understand she really wanted to know how Kate felt. Kate shook her head to gather her thoughts, to try and put on a mask.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just lost in thought," she shrugged off but she could see the hesitation in her brown eyes.

"You sure?" Lanie asked and Kate nodded.

Kate felt a hand on hers under the table and looked at her right to see it was Rick who gently hugged it, probably having heard her excuse to the other woman.

"Maybe we should head home, it's been a fun and exhausting night," he said to their company and Kate immediately agreed.

They all exchanged how great it had been to meet up, Kate being thankful for them making her night more bearable, and they said good night. Rick was holding her hand while they left their table and walked towards the exit. He kept glancing at her but wasn't quite able to read her. She still seemed tense, scared, and he wondered how he could help her. There was a fear inside of him that she wouldn't want this anymore, that she'd flee the first chance she'd get. He wondered if she'd wait until he fell asleep again, if he'd fall asleep with her body next to his but wake up the next morning feeling cold and alone. When they reached the exit a woman walked up to them and Rick didn't see the journalist card around her neck until she had already stopped them from walking out the door.

"So, who is your lovely date tonight Mr. Castle?" she asked, holding out her phone to record their conversation.

"My girlfriend," Rick said before catching Kate's eyes and let go of her hand to put his arm around her waist, pulling her with him as he started going around the journalist.

"And what was that man talking about earlier?" the journalist asked boldly.

Rick gave the woman an annoyed look before he uttered, "No comment," and led Kate out of the party before they could get any more questions. To Rick's surprise, and irritation, there were still a whole bunch of paparazzi outside, taking way too many pictures for his liking as they walked to their awaiting car. It wasn't until they were seated and safe in their own bubble that any of them started talking, and it was him breaking the silence.

"Are you okay?"

Kate snuggled closer to him at that, his arm landing around her body as she buried her head in his chest. At first he didn't think she would answer, but after a minute of silence she did.

"No."

He let go of a sigh of relief, but his body was still tense with worry. It wasn't a good sign, that she wasn't okay, but the fact that she was honest was progress enough for him. She was starting to show herself, starting to let him in deeper than she already had. She was not lying to him as he thought she would.

"I don't know what to do," Kate uttered, and his arm tightened around her. "I've thought about staying, for good, but I don't know how I'm supposed to survive."

Rick wrinkled his forehead and tried to get a glance at her face. Her eyes were set straight ahead of them, as if she was lost in her own mind.

"What do you mean?" he asked, wanting to help her as much as he could.

She sighed, her eyes closing in what he assumed was frustration.

"I can't get a job, I never went to college, and I can't let you pay for everything. I can't leave Bianca and the others with... them. But I don't think I'm capable of even trying to get them thrown to jail."

"What if you let me help you to start? I can help you study, help you get a job," he suggested and Kate felt her heart swell at his kindness, the love he continued to show her.

"I can't let you do that Rick, I can't have you pay for everything. Even if it's only for a while," she sounded like she'd given up, as if everything was against her and she was just about to give up.

The car came to a stop and so Rick decided to think about her words for a while. They walked up to his loft, the first thing they did was get rid of their shoes and walk into their bedroom in order to get rid of their fancy clothes. He helped her pull down the zipper in her dress, and as he did he couldn't help but lay kisses on the back of her neck and her shoulders. She let go of satisfied sighs and Rick could feel the tension somewhat leave her body as his lips touched her skin. They continued undressing in silence, Rick handed Kate a shirt she could sleep in while he himself put on some pj pants, and they cuddled close to each other in bed. They held each other, both fearing what might await them tomorrow. Finally have had some time to think about her words Rick voiced a question he'd thought of asking a few times before.

"What did little Kate want to be when she grew up?"

He felt her turn in order to look up at him and so he looked down to meet her confused gaze.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean you said your parents passed when you were sixteen, right?" she nodded, "then, what did you want to work with before that? You must've had a dream of what you wanted to be, right?"

Rick was unsure but hoped this would help, if they could figure out a job she wanted to work towards then he had a solution as to what she could do in the meantime she studied for it. However, he was unsure if she had in fact had a dream because he knew not all kids do. Some have absolutely no clue as to what they want to be, or they want to be so much that they can't figure out which one to choose first. It took a while for her answer to come, as if she really had to dig in the back of her head to remember what life had been like for her as a kid before all hell broke loose.

"Uhm, yeah, I wanted to be like my parents, lawyers," she admitted carefully.

"A lawyer? Hmm, that's a tough one, but I'm sure you could easily manage that," he thought about it.

Lawyer. He could see that.

"But I... I don't think I'd pull that off," she said quickly, as if she didn't want him to start planning something.

"Why not?" he questioned, wanting to hear her thoughts.

"It's not me, not anymore anyway, I'm too damaged," she voiced the truth she believed in.

"No, you're not!" he immediately argued.

He refused to believe that. She was not 'too damaged', no matter how much she believed that it was not true. She was strong, he could see that, could feel that, she just needed a little push into believing in herself again.

"But if you don't want that anymore, then maybe there's something else?" he gave in, because even if she was fully capable of being a lawyer according to him there was no way he'd force her into it if it wasn't what she wanted anymore.

"There's no use Rick, I can't anyway, what's the point of finding a work when I ca..."

"You can, I know you can, and if you're not willing to let me pay for everything in the meantime of you getting the education you need to get the job you want then you can be my assistant," he said and her eyes widened.

"Assistant? You don't have the use for an assistant," she said and he chuckled.

"Sure I do, you can serve me coffee, help me edit my chapters, read the chapters and be my pair of extra eyes to find mistakes," he counted, "oh! And you can be my inspiration for some more intimate scenes," he added wiggling his eyebrows, earning a laugh and a blush from the woman in his arms.

"Yeah right," she rolled her eyes and he pushed her down in the mattress beside him in order to hover over her with a big smile on his lips.

"I'm serious! I'd love to help you and if you being my assistant can help then I'm more than willing," he exclaimed.

Kate could see the sincerity in his eyes, his honesty. It only made her love him more.

"Fine, I'll be your assistant, but if I read anything that even resembles the way you and I have sex I will buy a gun and shoot you," she warned with narrowed eyes, only being able to keep up the expression a second before her lips burst up in a smile.

"Deal," he said and sealed it with a kiss to her lips.

It was a kiss that made her forget everything bad that had happened during the evening. All she could think of was the way his body was slowly pushing into hers, his lips moving against hers as if there was no place they'd rather be. After a few minutes of pure making out Rick's lips slowed down, gently moving his lips in small kisses around her face, making her giggle. He then laid one last kiss on her lips before he pulled away in order to lay back down beside her, but making sure to hug her close to his side.

"We can do this right?" she asked, a small fear present in her voice.

"Yes, as long as we are together I have a feeling we can do anything," he promised, kissing the top of her head.

Together, yeah, she liked that word.

"Are you okay B?" Kate asked into the phone as soon as she answered.

Kate had enjoyed a day on the couch in Rick's office, listening to his typing on his laptop while she was looking at colleges on the iPad he'd handed to her. But the second her phone had buzzed and shown the face of her foster sister, there had been a knot in her belly, what if something had happened? What if they had found out?

"Everything's fine Kate, they don't suspect a thing," Bianca replied with pride in her voice, and Kate let go of a relieved sigh. "But, we need to tell them, you need to let them know you wanna quit."

Kate became quiet, she wasn't sure how she was supposed to do this, hadn't yet figured it all out. She wasn't sure if she could face them just yet.

"It's been a week, I can't lie to them much longer."

She felt Rick's gaze on her and when she looked at him he gave her a small, careful smile before he turned his gaze back to his laptop. It was adorable how he tried to give her privacy even though he probably wanted nothing more than to take care of her and help her with this.

"I know, but I don't know how to do this. What's happened since I left? What have you been telling them?"

"I told them you needed some time to heal so that you would be able to see the clients without them asking what happened to you. Oh! And guess what?!" she said with an excitement in her voice.

"What?" Kate questioned, once again feeling Rick's eyes land on her.

"We've gotten a new sister!" she half-screamed and Kate felt her heart stop and her jaw drop.