Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

So I managed to get this one up for you all today after all. I hope you enjoy!

Kate drew a long breath as she pressed the buzzer, ignoring the slight tremble to her hand as she did.

She needed to face this. Whatever this ended up being, they all deserved the chance to find out. And maybe she was jumping the gun and crossing a dozen bridges she hadn't even reached yet – she growled in her throat – the man had even reduced her to clichés! But Kate knew that she couldn't deny or prevaricate any longer, first Lanie and then her Dad had made her face something, that on some level, she had always known. Richard Castle was an important part of her life already. She just needed to find out just how much more than that he could – would - be.

Bridges, guns and clichés aside, she'd come here with a purpose and a determination to not be the coward Lanie accused her of possibly being. Scared she may be, but cowardly she was not. And she'd prove it. If he ever opened his damn door!

Out of patience, she was about to punch the buzzer once again when the door swung open.

Kate could only stare for a moment at the vibrant red-head smiling at her before finding her voice at last.

"Martha, hi!"

"Why, Detective Beckett, I hadn't expected you for a while yet. Come in, come in."

Before Kate could protest or even focus on what exactly Martha had meant by her comment, she was being ushered into the hallway and through to the kitchen without so much as a moment to breathe.

Before she knew what hit her, Kate found herself propelled onto one of the seats at the breakfast bar while the older woman moved to collect two glasses and an already half-finished bottle.

"Wine?" Without waiting for her answer, Martha poured a generous amount of what was quite obviously an expensive red into a hearty glass and handed it over. Kate took it in almost shell-shocked hands, suddenly completely understanding why Castle had coined the phrase 'Hurricane Martha'.

"I assume you are looking for my son?"

Kate nodded her head.

"He and Sophie are at his lawyer's office. CPS visits to schedule and papers for him to sign or some-such." Kate watched as Martha waved a dismissive hand. Instinctively understanding the dismissal was aimed at the endless hoops of red-tape being currently jumped through and the impatience of having to wait for the final stamp of approval that would give this woman, this force of nature, another granddaughter to love and spoil in equal measure.

Kate couldn't hide her smile and found that she didn't even want to. However she'd come for a purpose and since that purpose wasn't currently here… she placed the wineglass carefully on the breakfast bar and lifted her gaze to Martha's, a little surprised to see a rare seriousness in the elder woman's eyes which halted any retreat Kate had been about to make.

"Detective, since you're here, I wondered if I could talk to you a moment? Gal to gal, as it where. There is something I've been meaning to say to you, and I figure now is as good a time as any….'

'Martha, I…'

"Sit back, drink your wine, Detective and let me take the stage…"

Kate did as she was told and took a sip, not even thinking about defying the order.

"Do you know why he calls you 'extraordinary'?"

Kate choked a little on the swallow that she had just taken as Martha's opening salvo caught her completely by surprise. She should have known better than to expect this woman to beat around the bush.

"Of course you do, you're not remotely stupid, most of the time at least. Yes, you are very good at what you do and you have the courage and the strength to do the job in the first place. But that's not why he told the world – or at least the part of the world that reads his books – that you are extraordinary. No, you are extraordinary to my son Detective Beckett, because he realised that you don't ever give up and that he can trust that no matter how hard it gets, you'll be there, waiting... eventually."

Kate swallowed as she watched the older woman's eyes begin to glisten.

"He's been hurt in ways he hasn't told you about yet and when it would've been the easiest thing in the world for him to drown himself in that image you hate – the bad-boy author that his publishers love – he sucked it up and got on with what needed doing."

The older woman paused and took a sip of her wine. Maybe is was an actress's instinctive need for a dramatic pause, but more likely, Kate thought, that this wasn't an easy subject for Martha to talk about and she wanted to make sure that what she was about to say was taken seriously.

"Whatever else he is – and don't think for one moment that I'm blind to his faults – my son is an incredible father, Detective, and he has been since he was barely an adult himself. You can't do that, be that, unless you are capable of a love and devotion you worry that he's not."

Kate felt those words hit home. It was nothing less than the truth after all.

"He doesn't give up or walk away any more than you do and that makes him an extraordinary father. But it makes him an even better man. Look around you, Detective, he shows you that everyday and if you weren't so guarded you'd see what you are on the brink of throwing away. Oh, he'll wait for you, Detective, but sooner or later, there will come a point where he'll say enough and he'll walk away, and he'll do it because he will have convinced himself that it's what you want."

Kate opened her mouth to speak, but no words would come. Nothing Martha had said had truly surprised her, but the fact that she had said it at all had. It had always been an unspoken reality and that she had said it now…

"Tell him the truth, Detective. You owe him at least that much."

It had been a very long time since Kate had taken a talking to like that… and coming in such a short space of time after the conversations with Lanie and her father, it rattled her. From her friend she had accepted it, from her father she had asked for it, but she hadn't for one moment thought Martha would deliver something so utterly maternal that it caught her utterly off guard and exposed.

More so when she realised Martha wasn't mothering just her son in this conversation. She was mothering her.

"And by the way, I never left either. Not in the way that Meredith and Gina did and I can promise you that if the situation that you are really afraid of ever arose, that I never would. I would be here, in the same place I have been for the past forty years. Right by my son, whether he knows it – or wants it – or not. Now, finish your wine, Kate. He'll be home soon."

TBC…

AN: I do love exploring the depth of the characters on this show, even the supporting cast has a wonderfully rich back story to play with. I hope you've enjoyed this little look at the more insightful and maternal aspect of Martha which the show gifts us with from time to time.

Thank you all again for your amazing reviews, the next part should be up tomorrow.

Callie.