Disclaimer: Not Mine!
Arriana headed over to her parents when she was done, skipping happily into Rick's open arms.
"So how was it, was I good?" she asked excitedly.
"You were great, Arri," Kate praised, proud that her daughter has gotten so far. She used to be so shy and reserved, only interacting with the people she knew quite well. But some of Castle's outgoing personality must have rubbed off on her over time.
Castle propped Arriana on his lap, turning her body sideways so that she could see the both of them at the same time. "Alexis would've been so proud if she was here! Did she teach you the word dormitory?" Rick asked while stroking her head, letting his fingers run through her soft, wispy hair.
Arriana nodded eagerly, secretly pleased with the fact that he noticed her using the full word instead of the short form.
It wasn't long before Mrs. Brown began calling for her students' attention. They were going to start Arts and Crafts shortly. Arriana quickly gave her parents a peck on the cheek each, before ushering them to leave.
Rick and Kate lingered in the corridor, sneaking peeks at their daughter through the windows, not quite ready to leave just yet. Kate let out a soft chuckle as they watched one of her classmates pull on her braid. Arriana swatted his hand away, eyes narrowing as she glared at him.
"It's freaky how she looks just like you when she does that!" Rick commented. Kate turned her head to look at him, narrowing her eyes to mirror her daughter.
"Yup, that's the look I'm talking about," he continued jovially.
"Shouldn't you be chasing the kid away with pitchforks or something?" Kate teased.
"Oh ha ha, very funny," Rick replied wryly, tangling his fingers with hers as he tugged her away from the window, ambling slowly down the corridor. "I'll give him another ten years before I bring out the pitchforks," he continued.
"Bring out the pitchforks? I was under the impression that the pitchforks were already out, I mean, the way you scare away all of Alexis's guy friends…" Kate trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging in the air.
Rick shot her a look, pointedly changing the topic of their conversation. "You know what, I think Arriana might secretly like him pulling on her pigtails. I know her mom enjoys getting her pigtails pulled by a certain handsome, dashing man."
"Don't go blowing your own horn, writer boy, I never said I enjoyed it, I merely tolerateit. Come on, I'll drop you off at your lawyer's place before I head over to the Twelfth."
The trip to his lawyer had proven very informative. He and Kate had previously discussed Rick's adoption of Arriana, but that was only in passing. Mark Jones has been Rick's lawyer for the past twenty odd years. He handled both of Rick's divorces and helped the author throughout his brushes with law enforcement in the past.
Mark patiently explained to Rick the process of adoption in the state of New York and what it would entail. For now, Rick and Kate would have to discuss and sort out details such as Arriana's last name.
Since Arriana hasn't reached fourteen years of age, she wouldn't be required to give her consent for the adoption. But at the same time, Rick would feel more comfortable if he and Kate sat down and talked to her about it. Maybe they could do it over dinner tomorrow night with Alexis around.
For now, Mark would simply hand Rick the forms and list of supporting documents. Once Rick has filled it up and Kate has given her consent for the adoption, Mark would hand in the documents to be processed.
Depending on how fast the paperwork was handled, the Castles would have to go to Family Court in a few months. After that, they'd just have to collect Arriana's new birth certificate and everything would be legal. Following that, they would have to inform Arriana's school to update her personal information.
Two hours had gone by before Rick exhausted all his questions; the little notebook in his pocket was scrawled with notes that were only understandable to the author when he was done.
The warm, late-morning sun hit him in the face as soon as Rick stepped onto the sidewalk. He should head over to the precinct and see what Kate was up to. But first, he had to go buy some coffee.
There was a Starbucks two blocks from where he was, so Castle started walking in that direction. A cold blast of air-conditioning greeted him as he stepped into the franchise store. The place was rather empty at the time – the morning rush had ended a few hours ago.
In another hour or two, the place would once again be overwhelmed by the lunch break, but now there was no one waiting in line. He walked up to the counter where a cheery barista greeted him and took his order. Rick gave their orders, reciting it from memory easily.
As he walked over to the collection counter, Rick took out his phone and sent Kate a quick text.
Hey, I'm heading to the 12th in a few. How's things?
He also sent his oldest daughter a message, asking if there was anything she would prefer for family dinner night.
Neither of them had replied him, so Rick collected the coffees and headed out to hail a cab.
It was good to be back in the precinct. Kate had gotten updates from Ryan and Esposito ever since she returned to New York, so she knew what to anticipate. She had read the case notes last night in order to refresh her memory, so that when Kate came in to work this morning, she'd hit the ground running.
The state's defense lawyer who was in charge of preparing Kate for her deposition was someone new, so she had never worked with her before. Anthea Clarins was fresh faced and a little green behind the ears, but her enthusiasm and boundless energy made up for it. They worked over every aspect of the case, preparing for any questions the defense team might throw in Kate's way.
Since Kate wasn't new to giving depositions, she already knew how to phrase her answers. Anthea only had to give her minor suggestions to replace certain terms that Kate had used. They worked throughout the morning, barely pausing for breaks.
Anthea had just excused herself to use the ladies room, and Kate took that opportunity to check her phone. Castle had sent her a text ten minutes ago, but her phone had been on silent. She was forming a reply when she heard Esposito calling her from the doorway.
"Yo Beckett, someone's here to see you."
She swiveled her head over to see Espo standing in the doorway with Ryan, the both of them wearing matching grins. The boys parted, making an empty space between them.
"Coffee for Mrs. Castle."
Kate quickly rose to her feet, a beaming smile on her face as her husband entered the room, coffee cups in his hands. Her wonderful, thoughtful, charming, and utterly handsome husband greeted her with a chaste kiss on the lips.
Breaking apart, she murmured, "I go by Detective Beckett here." She could taste the faint caffeine residue on his lips, and that served as a catalyst to her own longing for the aromatic beverage. Reaching out, she took her coffee from him and took a slow, savoring sip.
"Mmm, just what I needed," she told him softly, a soft smile gracing her face. Feeling the weight of the boys' open staring at them, Beckett took a step back so that she and Castle were standing at a more respectable distance apart.
"Sorry I didn't reply your text, I just saw it a moment ago. Anthea and I were pretty occupied," she explained.
"The state's defense lawyer?" Castle clarified, as Ryan and Esposito walked into the room.
"Yeah, in fact, here she is," Beckett told him, as the mid twenties, petite lawyer returned.
"This is Anthea Clarins," Beckett began introducing, "and Anthea, this is–"
"Rick Castle," Anthea cut in excitedly, "I know."
She stuck her hand out, and Rick automatically shook it out of politeness. The young lawyer was smiling up at him, eyes shining as she continued shaking his hand, unwilling to let go.
Beckett exchanged weird looks with the boys. So apparently Anthea was a huge fan of her husband.
"I'm a big fan, Mr. Castle. It's so wonderful to be able to meet you in person, you have no idea how much I love you," Anthea blubbered out, her attention focusing solely on Castle.
Beckett mouthed silently to Ryan and Esposito, asking, "Did you guys know about this?"
Both detectives shrugged their shoulders in reply to Beckett, looking on amusedly at Castle, who was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable.
Nonetheless, he smiled back at her, telling her, "Well, it's always nice to meet a fan," as he tried to discretely extract his hand back.
Looking toward Beckett for help, he said, "Hey, Kate, I should let you guys get back to what you were doing. I'll just hang out with the boys for a while before taking off."
To everyone's surprise, Anthea was the one who replied to what Castle had said. "You're leaving?" she asked forlornly, deflating at the thought of him going away. Her shoulders hunched a little as all her exciting and bubbly energy dissipated.
Castle's eyes widened for the barest moment, silently seeking help from Kate. The female detective bit her lip in an attempt to hold back her smirk, eyes twinkling mischievously. There would be no help from his wife – she wanted to see how he would get himself out of this sticky situation.
"Well, you see, it's just– I'm sure the two of you have a lot to do, preparing for Kate's deposition, lots of preparation to do," Castle rambled, subconsciously moving closer to his wife in an attempt to use her as protection.
"Yeah, the two of you seem very busy, and I should let you get back to what you were doing previously, I just–" Castle broke off mid sentence, grabbing Beckett's hand and tugging her along with him as he continued, "I need to speak to my wife for a moment."
Castle was getting pretty creeped out and uncomfortable with the way Anthea was eyeing him.
"Castle," Beckett released a laughing breath, pulling back on Castle's hand that was intertwined with hers. He had tugged her all the way to the break room. Looking around furtively, Castle decided that he was safe. For now.
"What was that? You guys left me fending all alone for myself!" Castle accused. "Did you set me up? Is she really preparing you for the deposition?"
Beckett rolled her eyes. "I'm flattered that you think I had the resources to set you up on such short notice, but I've got better things to do. Besides, I thought you're used to all these women throwing themselves at you," she teased.
"The only woman that I want already has a ring on her finger, and it was put on by yours truly, thank you very much. Besides, I was ambushed! I'm used to meeting fans at events or even when I'm out and around the city, but this is a precinct! Your work place has always been off limits to the fans," Castle explained, hooking his fingers with hers, pulling her in.
"Alright, I'll protect you from your scary, little fans. I've got your back," she told him softly, gazing up into his blue eyes. Their faces were close enough for him to feel the warmth of her breath; for him to see the little ring of green flecks that was scattered within her brown iris. Castle took in how her lashes fanned out and curled upwards, marveling at how it framed her eyes; how the little spaces in between her eyelashes afforded Kate just enough of a view to glance up at him, as though she was peeking furtively at him.
"Always," he murmured lowly, closing the distance to kiss her.
They broke apart a second later; after all, they were still at the precinct. "I should get back to the deposition," Beckett said apologetically. "How did it go with Mark this morning?"
"It was fine, he explained the process to me and answered a bunch of my questions. We'll talk about it tonight."
"Alright. You're going to hang out with the boys, right? They don't have a case, so it's been a pretty slow day for them. Just don't get into too much trouble," Beckett warned good-naturedly, well aware of the antics they got into when they had too much free time on their hands.
"We'll try not to get caught," he told Beckett, giving her a lopsided smile. "I'm going to head off in an hour or so to pick up Arriana from school, then we'll get some grocery for dinner tomorrow night. Alexis says she feels like having grilled salmon," he explained.
"Sounds good," she replied. "Well, I'm heading back to continue preparing for the deposition. You coming, Castle?"
"Eh," Castle hedged, "I think I'm going to keep my distance and just stay here. Send the boys over, will you?"
Shaking her head, Beckett left the break room.
A/N: Reviews are always welcomed! And it's just one week until Season 6! :D