Castle woke up the next morning and smoothed his hand across the sheets, expecting to find Kate's sleep-warmed lithe body beneath his fingertips. Instead he found her side of the bed empty and already cold. He sighed before pushing himself upright. The strip of light under the bathroom door gave her away.
Rick stood and stretched, wincing when something clicked, and slowly made his way over to the door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes even as he opened it.
"Hey." He murmured as he leaned against the doorframe. Kate smiled, but didn't move. She went back swiftly to teasing the mascara wand across her eyelashes, lips parted just so. "You're up early." Castle yawned.
"I wanted to be able to drop in on Lanie before I go to the precinct." Castle nodded.
"I was thinking about that actually." Kate hummed in askance as she moved to her other eye. "I think I should stay here today." Kate turned to face him. "Nevaeh is far too young to stay here by herself and 'protective custody' kind of suggests she'll be protected." Kate smiled. "Plus, you clearly can't stay; Gates' face, if I turn up without you, would be a picture." Kate chuckled and shook her head.
"You're right." She sighed as she screwed the wand back into its tube. "You think she'll be okay?" Castle smiled.
"Course she will be. I'll keep her safe Kate." She nodded quickly.
"I know. But you will call if anything happens?" Castle smiled, crossing the small distance to come up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her temple.
"You'll be the first to know."
Kate was just finishing her coffee when the sound of light footsteps came down the stairs. Nevaeh waved sleepily, adorably tousled, her leggings and lavender dress combo mussed from sleeping in it all night.
"Hey Nevaeh, sleep well?" Kate asked softly. The seven year old nodded slowly before yawning.
"Where you going?" She asked quietly. Kate smiled gently.
"I'm going to work. Rick's staying here with you though and you're going to have tons of fun, I promise." Castle turned away from the cupboard, where he'd been putting back the syrup from Kate's breakfast, at his name.
"You like pancakes, Sweetie?" Nevaeh shrugged.
"Never had them." Castle gasped in mock horror, eliciting the brightest of smiles from Kate and a very confused look from the young girl.
"You've never tried pancakes? Sacrilege!" Kate laughed and Nevaeh looked between them both before giggling. "Right. Kate, I'm going to make this child pancakes, and you, my Darling, are going to be late." Kate looked at her watch before her smile dropped.
"You're right." She leaned over the counter to kiss him quickly. "Thank you for breakfast." Castle smiled. "See you tonight Nevaeh." Kate leaned in and kissed the back of her head without thinking. "Phone me Castle." Castle saluted her with the spatula he was holding, making Nevaeh giggle again.
"Call me when you know?" He asked, knowing she'd understand. Kate nodded before grabbing her bag and jacket and running out the door.
"So, pancakes?" Rick asked, receiving a nod and bright smile from the little girl before him.
"Hey Lanie?" Kate called out as she entered the morgue. The ME entered the room and looked from the detective to the door, causing Kate to do the same. "What?" Lanie shook her head.
"Just wondering where your shadow was is all." Kate smiled. "You don't have a case Honey, what are you doing here?" Kate shrugged, tracing her finger along the edge of the clean autopsy table in front of her.
"Can't a girl just come and see her best friend?"
"Yes." Lanie agreed at length. "But that's not why you're here." Kate sighed.
"I need a massive favour. Potentially the biggest favour I've ever asked of you." Lanie set down her clipboard and leaned against the table.
"Okay." She again said at length. "Kate, Sweetie, you're starting to scare me, what's up?" Kate sighed again and looked at the floor before lifting her purse and taking out the evidence bag.
"I need you to run DNA on it." Lanie took it from her.
"That's not that big a favour Kate." Kate shook her head, her loose curls falling to cover her face.
"I need you to run it against me, Lanie." Kate told her shyly. Lanie dropped the bag to the table and took Kate's hand.
"Sweetie, what's this about?" Kate ran her free hand through her hair.
"Espo told you about the little girl who came in yesterday I presume?" Lanie nodded.
"Nevaeh; little blond haired, blue eyed Cutie?" Kate nodded. "Yeah, he told me. But Kate..."
"She could be my sister, okay?" Lanie looked at her, shock clearly colouring her gaze. "My dad slept with her mom, around the time she could have been conceived, on the one day he decided to go back on his promise to me, to never take another drink, and he might have gotten her pregnant, and she's a year younger than me Lanie, and now she's missing and Nevaeh's in danger, and she's at the loft with Castle because she's under my protective custody, but one of us had to be here, and it couldn't be him, and she didn't know pizza was supposed to be warm, and she's never had pancakes and..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Honey you're rambling." Lanie called over her friend's rapid fire of information. "Kate, Sweetie, breathe." Kate took a shaky breath and ran her hands through her hair. "Okay. We'll discuss this more once we know, yeah?" Kate nodded slowly. "Alright, now, you know the drill Kate. I'mma need a swab from you and I'll run them. Guessing you don't want anyone else to know?"
"Not even Javi, Lanie, I need this as quiet as you can keep it." Lanie nodded.
"Okay. I'll rush the results, text you when they're ready." Kate nodded and made to leave. "Hey, Kate?" Lanie called. Kate turned back, cocking an eyebrow. "It'll be okay y'know?" Kate nodded, not doing anything to convince Lanie she agreed, before letting the door swing shut behind her.
Castle sat on the couch, setting up the film he was planning on watching with Nevaeh, Avatar, when he heard her come back down the stairs.
"Better?" He asked, noticing that she had taken his advice and changed into an old nightdress of Alexis' he had found. It was huge on her, touching the floor by a good four inches and dwarfing her tiny frame, but it was better than the outfit she had been wearing for a full day and night.
"Thank you Rick." Nevaeh smiled softly. "It's nice." Rick smiled.
"Good. Now, we have popcorn, and chips, and I thought juice, seeing as I don't know where your mama stands on soda, and a movie set up for us. Does that sound good?" Nevaeh nodded. "Great. Now, I'm gonna phone Kate and check in with her, why don't you get settled and start the movie?"
"Don't you wanna see the beginning?" Rick smiled.
"I won't be long, and I've seen it before. Relax."
"Hey Honey." Castle greeted once Kate had picked up her cell.
"Hey Castle, how's Nevaeh?" Kate asked as she sat at her desk, diligently waiting for a text from Lanie, knowing it wouldn't be for a fair while yet, while checking the BOLO for Hannah.
"She's good. I gave her something to wear so she could be comfortable and I've put on a movie."
"What movie?" Kate asked slowly.
"Avatar. I have a daughter Kate, I know what is and isn't appropriate viewing for a minor." He reminded her gently; pleased to see she was adjusting to having Nevaeh around.
"You're right, I'm sorry." Kate sighed.
"I'm guessing, by the frustration I can feel coming off you from here, that you haven't spoken to Lanie yet?" Kate leaned against her hand and let out a slow breath, trying to calm herself.
"She's rushing the results for me, but DNA can take forever Rick." Castle sighed.
"Now there's a hyperbolization if I ever did hear one." It had the intended affect; Kate giggled. "There's my girl. Now, how long will it actually take Lanie to get you the results?" Castle asked softly, careful not to antagonise her but he also needed to get her back on track and stop her worrying.
"Lanie's rushing the results, so a couple of hours or so?" Castle nodded, despite knowing full well she couldn't see him.
"Okay. Well, just keep being that brilliant detective and try to keep your mind off it until then. I'll order food for you all around twelve and keep Nevaeh entertained until then, okay?" Kate sighed, for the first time of the morning, a happy and content based sigh.
"How did I ever do this without you?" Castle chuckled, the deep rich tone filling Kate's abdomen with warmth.
"Call me if you need me Kate."
"Will do."