Chapter 3

As Castle exited his loft she answered:

"Beckett,"

He didn't want to get her involved in this awkward situation but he had no way of communicating with Aimee so he had to call Beckett and get her number.

"Hi, I know I was supposed to leave you alone today but I need Aimee's number. Listen before you start saying anything, it's not what you think." Castle knew Kate too well she was already rolling her eyes but said nothing. "Something came up and it's really important I need to talk to her. Mother brought something to my attention and I need to figure things out. I need to know!" Castle's tone was upset and almost worried, clearly something was up and Kate felt it.

"Castle, what's going on? Are you okay?" And just like that all her dumb jealousy remarks flew out of her head, she was now worried.

"Kate, I need the number please don't ask me questions, this is my doing it has nothing to do with you!" Castle was getting almost aggressive, his heart was hurting, he might have another daughter and she might be dead. The last thing on his mind was to please Kate; he needed to get the truth out of Aimee. He needed to know…NOW!

"Castle I…Ok, I hear you, but if you need support I'm here whatever you need. I'm sorry for this morning! I kno-"

"Kate it's not the time." As Castle cut her off.

Kate's heart went from fury to hurt. It wasn't like Richard to talk to her this way, and she knew he was upset. So she didn't argue and gave him the number.

"Ok, hold on…her number is 212-555-1978. Castle if you need anything, I'm here…ok?" Kate felt helpless, she had no idea what was going on, and it worried her.

"Thank you." And he hung up.

Kate was completely caught off guard, she had a lump in her throat her friend was in distress and wasn't letting her help him.

She tried going back to work, but this time she couldn't. She was used to putting things in the back of her mind by working, but this time, this time it wasn't working.

As soon as Richard hung up with Beckett he dialled Aimee's number. His heart was pounding from anger and angst he didn't know what to think. As he got her on the line he asked her to meet up at a café so they could talk things through.

Aimee sensed the urgency of his call so she agreed to meet up with him.

Twenty minutes later Aimee arrived at Café Morgan, she was all smiles when she saw him but once she met with his eyes, her smile faded. Rick's face was that of fear and filled with questions. She walked towards him and sat down. For a few moments neither of them talked, their wonderful morning greeting was far behind them now.

Aimee figured that he had put it all together and started talking:

"Rick, I…" she couldn't bring herself to speak, the hurt on his face was crushing her heart, even though it was already hurting from her daughters' death.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rick asked quietly almost whispering. All the anger had become sadness, as his eyes filled with tears.

"You didn't think I'd make a good father? You don't think I was adequate enough to have a kid at the time? Why? Why didn't you tell me?" Rick's questions were asked in desperation he didn't comprehend her actions.

"No, I never thought that you wouldn't make a good father, on the contrary. But when I found out, we had already started drifting apart and you wanted to become a writer so bad and you didn't seem to be ready for a kid. I thought that moving away with her would make it easier on the both of us. I didn't want to be a burden and I thought that maybe you might have tried to per sway me in not keeping it. I was so confused Rick that the only thing that made sense at the time was this baby." She was looking back at him, her eyes now filling with tears, her heart was hurting so much for all the pain he was feeling.

Rick was a complete mess but he knew she was right they had started to drift apart at the time.

"I would have never asked you to terminate if you would have wanted to keep it. Ok, maybe I was a self centered jack ass because I wanted to become a writer but I could have taken care of the baby. I would have assumed my responsibilities." All he could do was stare at the table.

He had had a daughter out there for 22 yrs and now that he finds out she exists she's taken away from him. It was a double stab to the heart.

"I still think that you should have told me! Did she ever ask for me?" He's sad eyes were like darts piercing Aimee's heart.

"Yes, of course she did. I told her that you were a writer. But once you started getting published you changed your name from Rodgers to Castle, therefore she had no idea. She knew her father's name was Richard Rodgers. Then I married Jeff when she was 5, and she stopped asking about you. I thought she might have forgotten and wouldn't ask again." Aimee thought that it would make it easier on her and Sharon they'd never bring it up again.

"But, she started asking questions again, about two years ago. So…I told her, I told her that you had changed your name to Richard Castle, she started reading your books and really enjoyed them." Aimee was smiling at Richard at this point the memories of her daughter getting to know her father was relief to her. "You know she was planning on meeting you eventually…" Tears were filling Aimee's eyes and her heart hurt too much, she felt a squeezed in her chest. She couldn't keep it in anymore.

"I'm sorry I didn't want you to find out like this…I would have wanted to make it more official. I didn't want to just spill it out." Aimee was trying to control her cries but she wasn't doing a very good job at it. It was overwhelming it was too much emotion in a day.

Richard watched her, sitting there in complete misery. He moved closer to her and held her in his arms. They both needed the comfort from one another at this point.

Kate passed by the Café, the nearest coffee place to the precinct, she was arriving from what she thought was a lead. And then she saw Castle and Aimee, holding each other. Her heart leapt, she didn't want to see it but there was obviously something between these two. After a few seconds her eyes redirected themselves to the ground, she swallowed the lump in her throat and decided to get coffee at the precinct instead.

After the heartfelt meeting with Aimee, Castle wanted to share the news with Beckett. Even though she had acted weird this morning he had been some what rough with her. He also wanted to tell her about the new turn of events. Castle couldn't keep something like this from her, it was too big, and he wanted her to know. She was one of the most precious people in his life, with his mother and his daughter. He needed to tell her.

"Beckett, it's me…can you meet me at the Café downstairs, we need to talk." Castle had called Kate on her phone.

"Sure, I'll be right over." She hung up, wondering why he didn't want to talk at the precinct. Her whole body felt like it weighed a tonne, she didn't want Rick to tell her that he had gotten back together with Aimee. From what she saw, from their embrace, something was happening.

It took about 2 minutes for Kate to get to Rick as she spotted him, where he had been before, she walked over. Kate was relieved that Aimee seemed to be gone.

"Hey Castle, how are you?" she smiled,

Rick saw that her smile was sincere and smiled faintly back.

"Rick what's wrong?" as she sat down beside him with a concerned look.

Rick took a deep breath and let it out:

"Sharon Gallant… well she's my daughter." As his eyes went from Kate to the table

"What? Are you sure?" Kate's heart literally skipped a beat, she was kind of freaking out she started hyper ventilating…He has another daughter?...oh god dead daughter

"Oh my god Castle, I'm so sorry," as she put her hand on his, to comfort him.

"But-how? I mean" Kate was speechless

"Well when she moved to Florida she was already pregnant and she decided not to tell me. She thought I wouldn't have wanted it… Sharon found out who I was… she wanted to meet me." Castle said with a little corner smile. Which faded as soon as it had appeared, he would never get to meet her now.

He looked up at Kate, he was so completely beaten up about all this. He seemed so helpless, like nothing Kate did could make it go away. Kate changed seats, sat beside him and hugged him.

"It's ok Castle, we'll get through this, I promise. We'll find who did this, ok?" as she pulled away to look at him.

"Yeah, thanks."

Kate smiled at him and hugged him, really hard. Seeing him like this was breaking her heart. A bombshell had been thrown on him and now he had to deal with it.