Author's Note-Hey, my internet has been down for the past week, so anything during that week I couldn't help-lack of updates, replies and the such-anything before that was on me. This story is complete after the next Epilogue chapter. It's been a great run and this was my first Castle fic so thank you for everyone who read this and reviewed it. Thank you all. NYLF xx
A few weeks later,
"Jim, thanks for meeting me." Rick shook the man's hand firmly before they both sat in the booth at the diner Kate met her father in every week.
The elder man smiled, a little apprehensive about this meeting with his future son in law. "You said on the phone that it was important. To do with the girls?"
Rick nodded, a tiny smile crossing his face at the term. "I want to ask you intentions towards Nevaeh."
Jim laughed, causing Castle's brow to furrow. "Sorry, just, isn't that meant to be my line?"
"If my intentions towards your daughters were in question, yes."
Jim nodded, sobering by the second. "You want to know whether I intend to be a part of her life or not. Correct?"
Rick sighed. "I had wanted to know how much of a part you were intending to be, not whether or not you were one. You're her father. I can't imagine any circumstance where I would turn my back on my child like this."
"I never knew she existed." Jim argued softly.
"So? If my child turned up on my doorstep, no matter who her mother was, how old she was, I would do everything in my power to protect them. I can't understand why that's different for you."
"Hannah was a drunken mistake, I never meant for it to get serious, much less father her child."
"I have no doubt." Castle agreed. "However, be that as it may, you did father her child. You got her pregnant and nine months later, Nevaeh was born. Now Hannah is dead, which means you need to decide what happens now. Kate and I have discussed it, and if you decide, ultimately, that raising your second daughter isn't what you want to do, we are happy to do that. Nevaeh trusts us, she adores Kate, they've bonded and Nevaeh is happy with us. So if that becomes her only option besides the system, it's available to her. But, obviously, I think everyone would prefer her to be raised by her parent." Castle hinted, hard. While he and Kate would raise Navi if they had to, they would be happier being her sister and brother in law than her parental figures.
"Rick, you intend to marry Katie, right?" Jim asked slowly.
Castle nodded. That was a given.
"And to make a life with her, have a family and the such?"
Rick smiled softly. "That certainly is the plan Sir."
"I trust you with my daughter's heart, her health and happiness. But I abandoned her in her time of need. I was a terrible role model, a worse father. I can't allow that to happen again."
"It won't..." Rick started but Jim held up his hand.
"But I'm terrified it will. I will see Nevaeh as much as I can. But..."
"You won't raise her." Castle finished soberly. "Then I'd like you to sign over all rights to her to Kate and I. We will be her guardians. We'll raise her."
Jim nodded, watching as Rick stood slowly. "I'll start the process."
"Thanks." Castle left the diner without a backwards glance. He had known the outcome really, they all had, he just had hoped he was wrong.
Castle let himself into the loft and stood in the doorway for a moment, just listening. Alexis was home from school for a few weeks and all three of his girls were packing to go to the Hamptons tomorrow. To hear them laughing on the floor above him, to hear how happy they were, it gave him back the hope his conversation with Jim had taken.
Castle turned to the staircase when he heard the sound of quick feet coming down them.
"Hey." Kate smiled before noticing his expression, the tension in his posture. "Castle?"
He shook his head. Kate nodded.
"We expected nothing else remember?"
"I know, I just hoped..."
Kate nodded again, closing the distance between them to kiss him softly. "I know." She murmured, gently caressing his ear with her fingertips. "But at least she'll be better off here than with strangers."
"You're right." Rick agreed, sliding his hands around her waist, pulling her tighter into him.
"Aren't I always?" Kate smiled cheekily before kissing him quickly. "Now come on, you need to pack. Your daughter and my sister may be giggling like school girls but they're nearly finished." She flashed him a quick grin before slinking out of his arms and practically skipping to their bedroom. "You're slacking Rick."
Castle grinned before taking after her, tossing her over his shoulder and carrying her the remaining distance while she laughed in his ear.