Chapter 1
Sitting at her desk, Detective Kate Beckett tapped her pen casually against the edge of her keyboard as she gazed down at the notes and files before her. The precinct was quiet—almost too quiet. For all the times she begged for silence and practically had to barricade herself in a conference room just for some peace to prep for a court appearance, she was suddenly being driven crazy by the calm; ironic.
By that point—mid-afternoon on the day before a holiday—those not required to be on shift had cleared out leaving her mostly alone on the homicide floor. She only had to be on duty two more hours that day but was on call all night and into the next day. Not that she minded; she never had trouble working holidays so those with children could spend time with their families. She actually looked forward to it, since it would give her the time she needed to prep for her court case the following month. That was assuming the murderers of New York City took a break from stabbing and shooting people.
Just as she contemplated getting herself a mug of tea, Kate was interrupted by a cheerful, juvenile voice proclaiming, "Happy Thanksgiving, Kate!"
Kate didn't even need to turn her head to know who was greeting her. Smiling immediately, Kate dropped her pen, folded her hands in her lap, and turned to face the petite red-head. The freckle-faced girl was bundled in a purple coat with a lime green scarf and wore a brown hat shaped like the body of a turkey with a neck and head attached to one end and feather plumage attached to the other. While the girls colorful-yet-complimentary coat and scarf clearly came from her grandmother, the hat screamed like a gift from her father.
Reaching out, Kate tugged playfully at the free ends of the girl's scarf saying, "Well, look at you turkey-girl. Gobble gobble!"
Alexis giggled and then glanced up over her shoulder to where her father stood just a foot away, hands in his pockets, smiling casually down at her. Kate locked eyes with the man she now called partner and greeted him with a casual, "Castle."
He nodded back. "Beckett."
"Kate—are you gonna have lots of turkey tomorrow, Kate?"
Turning back to the small girl she said, "Um, I don't know. Maybe. It depends since I'll be working."
"The parade?"
"No!" Kate groaned despite the girl's enthusiasm as working the Macy's parade was very high on the list of things she never wanted to do again—particularly not when the day's forecasted high was not going to be above freezing. Softening her tone in the reflection of Alexis's confusion, Kate continued. "No, um, I haven't done that since my first year on the force. I'll just be working a regular shift."
"But what about your dad?"
"He's at his cabin this week; there aren't any classes at NYU," she said of her father's employer.
"And you work all day?"
Picking up on an air of sadness in the girl's tone, Kate reached out and tugged on her scarf again. "Don't worry about me, Alexis. Just worry about trying to stay awake after all the turkey and gravy your Dad'll make."
"See I told you 'lexis," Castle said, giving his girl's shoulder a squeeze. "I said she probably had to work."
Rounding her shoulders dramatically Alexis said, "I know, but I had to check! What about Friday? Do you work Friday, Kate?"
"No."
A grin exploded on Alexis's face. "Then come have sandwiches with us!"
"Sandwiches?"
"She means leftovers—in a sandwich. They're pretty tasty if I do say so myself," Castle explained.
"Oh." Kate's gaze shifted between father and daughter for a moment, uncertain of how she should respond. It was a holiday weekend—a time for family—and the last thing she wanted to do was intrude, but they were inviting her—and it was for lunch, something casual, so she figured it would be okay. "Um…okay."
"Yay!" Alexis cheered and then stepped up to throw her arms around Kate's neck. Kate chuckled, patted the girl's back, and then lightly tapped the end of her nose when she pulled away.
"You have a good holiday, okay?"
"Okay!"
Kate then turned to Castle and gave him a half smile, which he returned. "Eleven-thirty Friday for lunch?"
"Sounds good. I'll, ah, be there," she added while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
He nodded. "Happy Thanksgiving, Kate."
"Ah, yeah; you too."
"Bye Kate! Bye!" Alexis waved frantically to her even after she and her father were on their way back towards the elevators.
Once the young girl was out of sight, Kate turned back to her paperwork, but found herself unable to concentrate. Skimming her fingers over her chin, she leaned back in her seat and thought about the sweet—and very enthusiastic—little girl who just visited. Alexis was adorable; there was no doubt about that. Kate had no problems being friends with the father-daughter duo, but she was almost taken aback at times by Alexis's enthusiasm towards her, as she had done practically nothing to encourage it other than be kind and friendly. She supposed that if Castle wasn't concerned, she shouldn't be, but…well, she'd never been a quasi-role model to a little girl before and certainly didn't want to mess it up.
Nine months earlier, after successfully extricating themselves from captivity and arresting the murderer-turned-kidnapper responsible for their state, Kate had (reluctantly) agreed that Castle had earned himself a place as her semi-permanent case consultant. Over the next several months, he nudged is way into becoming an almost constant presence in the precinct and, after one harrowing afternoon during which he heroically saved them both from a crazed man by using her spare weapon after she'd suffered a concussion, she finally felt willing to acknowledge him as her partner.
Over the summer they bonded more as they shared her cases and her car. She learned more about his life as a divorced single-father and she told him about her mother's murder and how the case was unsolved. Kate was pleasantly surprised to discover that beneath the jokey, kid-on-a-sugar-rush exterior, Castle was a genuinely good man, a faithful friend, and an impressively intuitive observer. Despite this, they remained only colleagues until one excruciatingly hot August day when he called her asking for a favor.
Evidently, that day at the summer camp Alexis attended, a slightly-crazed parent going through a divorce had showed up and tried to take his child away by force. Screaming, crying, and a general comeuppance occurred and resulted in the police intervening and arresting the man. As a result, Alexis—along with the other young children in attendance—had been slightly traumatized. Thus, Castle requested that Kate come to his house in her official uniform to help assuage some of Alexis's fears.
Though she had only met the young girl once before, Kate did not hesitate to fulfil her partner's request, so after changing into her dress uniform, she went to the Castle apartment and had a tea party with Alexis, her father, and some stuffed animals. When at the end of the afternoon Alexis quietly asked if Kate would come back some time, she had no choice but to agree, and thus their relationship began.
At first, their interactions were nothing too extreme: a casual dinner, a Saturday afternoon ice cream treat, once they even watched a movie at the Castle apartment. The real shift came one evening when Alexis talked Kate into playing a game after dinner. Thinking her loose hair would be in the way, Kate had quickly plaited her long locks into a braid, secured the ends with a tie on her wrist, and got down on the living room floor to read the game instructions. While she gave this act no second thought, it wasn't until a few days later when Castle confessed his daughter was now mesmerized by how she'd braided her hair so quickly, that Kate realized just how significant it was that the little girl had no constant female role model in her life.
With Alexis's mother off in California doing a play, and her paternal grandmother traveling around the country in a production of Hello, Dolly! Alexis's only constant adult was her father. From what Kate had seen, Castle was an incredible father, so she really didn't see his solo parentage as an issue, except for the fact that he was a male raising a female. While no one could fault his effort, there were certain things about growing up a young girl that he simply could not understand. Evidently, speedy hair braiding was one of them.
After making sure it was okay with her father, Kate began to check in with Alexis weekly, even if it was just calling her to say hello and ask how her day was. As a result, they had several solo outings together, one of which involved searching the city for the perfect pair of tights to go with the new dress her mother had sent her in the mail. Though she never thought of herself as someone overly interested in small children, Kate quickly found herself smitten with the precocious first-grader—something that, if she thought about it too intently—made her anxious.
Though she would not back out of her lunch agreement with the Castle family, Kate still remained uncertain. For the most part, she didn't like the celebrate holidays given her fractured family. True, a lunch on Black Friday was hardly a holiday celebration, but it was close to a holiday, which made her nervous about what sort of precedent she was setting for the future, but then she supposed she would cross that bridge when she came to it, and for the time being just get back to her paperwork.
"Okay, Pumpkin—why don't you get changed out of your uniform so we can get started on the pie dough before dinner," Castle said to his daughter the moment they arrived home on that pre-Thanksgiving afternoon.
"Okay Dad!"
Once the little girl had rushed off to her room, her backpack swinging around on her shoulders as she went, Castle shrugged off his coat, hung it in the closet, and then walked into the kitchen while rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. He then set out two large bowls on the countertop and began to gather ingredients, placing them on the kitchen table since the space in the actual kitchen was limited at best. As he placed the cinnamon and nutmeg beside the can of pumpkin puree, he found his chest swelling with the holiday spirit; this really was his favorite time of year—despite it being his first as a single parent. Well, he supposed that was only true in a technical sense. The prior year he and Meredith had still been married, but as he'd discovered the affair she was having not a month before, it wasn't as though they were together in any sense but a legal one.
Without question the prior year of Castle's life had been the most difficult of his thirty-some years. Though he'd known probably for six months prior that there would probably be no saving their marriage, discovering his wife's affair had been a solid blow both mentally and emotionally. Yes, they'd had their ups and downs, but he loved her and was committed to their life together—their family. Finding out that Meredith cheated was bad enough, but her flippant attitude when confronted twisted the knife in his heart.
With his writing career almost completely dead thanks to a combination of lackluster sales and a struggle to put words down on a page (which, frankly, probably contributed to the lackluster sales), Castle threw himself into two things: raising his daughter and turning the PI hobby he'd been dabbling with into a real career. A year later he could proudly say that both had been a success. Alexis was happy and thriving, and his PI work brought in enough income to cover his bills without him needing to dip into the royalty checks he still received for his first five successful books.
Though he was proud of what he accomplished, Castle openly acknowledge that he alone was not responsible for his success. His mother did pitch in a lot with Alexis when she was available, and he had two very kind and understanding neighbors who babysat when she wasn't around. He also owed a lot to the NYPD for allowing him to consult as much as he did—and for the important friendships and thus support system he'd discovered there.
"Ready!" Alexis announced when she scampered back into the kitchen dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt.
"Did you wash your hands?"
"Yep!"
"Okay, come over here." He led her to the kitchen table and pulled out one of the chairs for her to kneel on. Then, after placing the bag of flour in front of her he handed over the one cup measurer and said, "Fill this with flour three times and dump it in that bowl."
Smiling she said, "You got it!"
Chuckling at her enthusiasm, Castle brushed his lips over his daughter's head on his way back to the kitchen to pull out the ingredients they needed from the refrigerator.
Twenty minutes later, after helping her finish stirring the dough when it became too stiff, Castle whisked together the pumpkin custard while Alexis pressed the dough down into the pie pan. When she was done, she climbed down off the chair, washed the dough residue from her hands and waited while her father filled the shell and then slide the yummy looking pie into the oven. With the oven door shut, Alexis crouched down and stared in through the window with great anticipation.
After several minutes of watching she turned to her father and said, "I hope Kate likes our pie."
Castle hummed from where he stood washing dishes. "Well, I don't know if she'll be eating any. Pie might not be a lunch food."
"She can have pie."
"Of course she can if she wants. I'm just saying: she might only want the sandwich."
Alexis shrugged and then leaned against the counter nearby where he stood. "I'm glad she's coming to each lunch with us."
Grinning, he said, "Me too." He was glad any time he was able to be in Kate's presence—maybe more than he should have been.
Though he was grateful for all the detectives at the NYPD who allowed him to assist in their cases, his partner Kate was head and shoulders above the rest. From the first day they met on a bone-chilling December afternoon nearly a year prior he found her to be one of the most extraordinary people he'd ever met. Coincidentally (or, as he liked to think of it, thanks to the hands of fate), he provided assistance on several of her cases that winter and one of those had landed them in a dank, dark basement together. While of course he would have preferred never to be kidnapped at all, he was grateful for that day for it solidified his partnership with Kate.
Kate.
Just thinking about her made his heart flutter in his chest. Simmer down, Castle; you're not there yet, he constantly reminded himself.
Given how often they saw each other—and how often he thought about her when they weren't seeing one another—and how much she seemed to enjoy being with Alexis, Castle could not help but think that one day they could be more than just colleagues and work-partners. Nearly a year after his wife moved out and six months after his divorce was finalized, he felt ready to get back out in the dating world again, and he unquestionably wanted to get back out there with Kate, but not then. The holiday season was not the right time for a new relationship, particularly when he needed to focus on making sure his daughter was not too distraught her mother would not be joining them for any holiday festivities.
In the new year, though…well, first he needed to find the best way of navigating to the soft side of his normally tough-as-nails partner. Then, he'd ask her to dinner. Or maybe a movie. Hell, it had been well over a year since he'd been romantic with anyone—maybe he needed to start with just coffee. Whatever the case, he knew he'd come up with the perfect idea when the time came.
A/N Thanks for your all your reviews!