Slender digits move across the keyboard, hazel eyes speckled with green transfixed upon the computer. Kate's tongue moves along her lower lip before her teeth are sinking into the edge of the flesh. Her brows are pulled together; furrowing at the words sprawled across the screen.

She's in the zone, has been for the past fifteen minutes, she's trying to wrap up the last of her paperwork so she can get Alexis home before Rick returns. But the second she hears movement from beside her, Kate's fingertips come to a halt, her gaze snapping in direction of the young redheaded girl sound asleep on the chair perched beside her desk. Kate's face softens, the edges of her lips curling slightly as she carefully moves forwards and adjusts her leather jacket she's placed atop of Alexis to cover the young girl and keep her warm.

The red head had been a delight for her for the afternoon. Anytime Kate needed to head out of the precinct or into interrogation, Alexis was left with an officer, or Ryan and Esposito. She didn't seem to mind, and Kate was glad. If anything, she thought the girl would be bored out of her mind, but she could see that Alexis shared the same level of excitement and curiosity as her father did.

She keeps her gaze on Alexis for a few more seconds, watching as the young girl's chest rises and falls with each breath she takes before Kate is turning her head back to her work and continuing with what she'd been typing.

A few minutes have passed, and she's on her final paragraph, almost on the verge of being done for the day. But the clear of a throat behind her causes her to jump, her fingertips digging into the keyboard as her pulse increases. Her head whips round, lips gaped and eyes slightly wide as the brunette's gaze lands on the familiar man with piercing blue eyes.

"Kate?"

"Ri – Rick." Kate stutters as she quickly rushes to spin round on her chair and get to her feet. Her pulse only increases, the organ beginning to thump rapidly beneath the cage of her ribs.

"I got your note." He holds up the small piece of paper she'd left on the kitchen counter at the last minute. She had planned to bin it when she got Alexis back home and explain what the two had gotten up to that day, she hadn't intended for him to come back to an empty loft and nothing but a piece of paper with the whereabouts of his daughter.

She sighs, head shaking slightly as she swallows the small lump that's formed in the middle of her throat. "I'm so sorry, Rick. You wanted me to look after Alexis but then I got called in – and I-I didn't want to worry you so I brought her with me. I thought I'd get back before you were done, but well – clearly, I didn't. I only left her alone a couple of times, well no – she wasn't alone. She was with an officer and my partners whenever I couldn't watch her. But, I should've called – made sure it was okay with you." The words tumble out of Kate's mouth so fast she's barely sure what she's said, let alone if Rick understood any of it.

"Whoa, whoa. Hey, Kate. Slow down." Rick steps towards her, his brows furrowing as his head shakes. His arms reach out, the palms of his hands laying out flat against Kate's arms and she sucks in a deep breath.

"You don't have anything to apologise for." A slight chuckle slips from his lips and Kate's pulse starts to decrease, a normal rhythm starting to emerge.

"You're – you're not mad at me?"

"Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you, Kate?"

"Because you trusted me with Alexis and wanted me to take care of her and she spent half the afternoon with my colleagues looking after her?"

Rick smiles lightly at her, squeezing her arms before his thumbs begin to brush back and forth against her arm, which only causes her pulse to increase once more.

"I'm not mad at you, Kate. I'm very lucky that you and your colleagues could look after Alexis. Your work is important, and you managed to do it while still taking care of my daughter, so thank you."

She lets out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding, her face dipping as her own hands come to rest against Rick's arms.

"I should've told you when you rang me at lunch I was on call for the afternoon–"

"You were on call?" He cuts in, his head tilting to the side.

She nods as she begins to chew on the edge of her lip. "I didn't think I'd get called in, but a few hours later…"

"I wish you would've told me. Not that I'm mad you brought Alexis here, because it's pretty darn cool, and if I know my daughter, then I think she would've thought the same."

"Oh, she did." Kate laughs slightly before a sigh falls and she's stepping back, Rick's arms dropping to his sides. "But, I didn't want to worry you. You already had so much going on with Meredith, I didn't want you to have to worry about finding someone to look after Alexis for the afternoon."

The edges of his lips curl upwards and though he won't let Kate know it, her words certainly cause warmth to spread through his body and his heart to skip a beat.

"I'm touched. But – you shouldn't have to worry about that, or me." He shrugs and Kate shakes her head.

"Of course, I'm going to worry about you and your problems, Rick. We're friends." The word can't help but seem so foreign falling from her lips and she almost frowns at herself.

"Well then I'm very glad to have a friend like you, Kate." His eyes twinkle while a light shade of crimson begins to spread across Kate's cheeks.

She quickly clears her throat, head dropping as her hand rises to tuck a loose curl behind her ear. "Uh, she fell asleep about half an hour ago."

Rick takes one last glance at Kate before moving around her to glance down at his daughter sound asleep and his heart leaps. He gently removes the jacket he knows belongs to Kate and hands it to her before he's carefully scooping Alexis up into his arms.

"'lexis, hey. Pumpkin, time to wake up." His voice is soft as the palm of his hand rubs up and down the small girls back.

It takes a few seconds before Alexis' eyes are slowly peeling open and she's blinking a few times, adjusting to the light of the precinct floor before her fist is coming to rub at her eyes. "Daddy?"

"Mhm-hmm."

Alexis smiles, leaning back to take in her father before she's wrapping her arms around his neck. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, pumpkin." He glances at Kate over Alexis shoulder, watches her pulling on the leather jacket she'd used to cover Alexis.

"Did you have fun with Kate today?" He asks as Alexis head begins to nod, the once sound asleep girl now wide awake and beaming with enthusiasm.

"Uh huh! I drew you a picture, daddy! And Javi and Kevin let me have a donut! It even had sprinkles on it."

Alexis beams, pointing down at the drawing on top of Kate's desk.

Rick glances over to Kate, a smirk playing on his lips as his brow arches.

"My partners. They were looking after her while I interrogated a suspect. The sugar wasn't my idea."

"It's okay, Kate." Rick chuckles slightly, glancing down to Alexis who's grinning away.

"That's them!" Alexis points, her voice rather loud and gathering the two detective's attention. They both rise to their feet and head towards the trio and are soon standing in front of Kate's desk.

"Rick, you remember Javier Esposito, my partner. And this is my other partner, Kevin Ryan." Kate nods between the two and Rick frees a hand to shake both men.

"I do. And I should probably say thank you for minding Alexis."

"Hey, no problem. Anytime, man. She's a pretty cool kid, and very smart, right?" Esposito tilts his head to the side, his gaze dropping to Alexis who smiles widely at him, the girls head nodding up and down.

"Yeah, she could definitely give us a run for our money." Ryan leans forwards to tap Alexis nose and her face scrunches as she leans back into Rick.

"Well, I'm done for the day, and I may have promised Alexis earlier I'd take you two out for pizza." Kate's lips stretch out as she chews on the edge of her lip once more, her gaze landing on Rick.

"Oh, I could definitely go for some pizza right about now. Are you hungry, Alexis? Or did all those sprinkles fill you up, hmm?" He grins down at his daughter.

"Sprinkles can't fill you up!" She shakes her head as Rick begins to tickle her and she squirms in his arms. "Stop, daddy! Kate, help!" Alexis splutters and Kate laughs lightly as she steps forward and only helps Rick in tickling the young girl.

"You betrayed me!" She pouts, arms coming to fold across her chest and Kate only smiles down at her.

"I'm very sorry. How about I make it up to you with that pizza I promised?" Kate laughs as Alexis' face lights up, and her head nods.

"Isn't this all domestic. When's the wedding and family photos?" Esposito murmurs under his breath while Ryan snickers beside him.

"Huh?" Rick tears his gaze away from Alexis to land on Esposito, his brows arching.

"Oh, well I said–"

"That he has paperwork to be doing. Both of them, don't you." Kate quickly cuts in, her tone rather sharp as she shoots the boys a look. Her pulse pounds, her cheeks going bright red – and she's glad the lighting in the precinct doesn't show just how red she's gone.

Rick watches the exchange, confusion starting to wash across his face and he looks between Kate and the detectives.

"Uh, yeah. We better get that finished so we can head out." Esposito nods and clears his throat as him and Ryan say goodbye to Alexis before heading back to their desks.

"Well that was weird." Rick's brows furrow as he looks down at Kate who shrugs, unable to meet his eye.

"So, pizza?" She quips, beginning to head towards the elevator. "I know this pizzeria just a few blocks down."


They walk to the pizzeria, the night too fine to waste sitting in a stuffy car, as Rick had said. Kate didn't mind. The cool New York air felt good on her skin as the three of them walked the streets.

Once they arrived, they ordered a large pizza to share between them all, and while they ate, Alexis recited her entire day to Rick, who was more than pleased to hear every detail of his daughter's day.

Half way through dinner, their pizza almost gone and Alexis spooning ice cream into her mouth, Kate's phone begins to ring. She pulls out her phone from her jacket and the smile that'd previously been on her face from listening to Rick talk is suddenly dropping as she takes in her father's name across her screen.

"I – excuse me for a moment." She swallows hard, not tearing her gaze away from her phone as she quickly gets to her feet and moves away from the table. Only when she's out of ear shot does she finally answer. "Dad?"

Rick watches her in the corner of the room, sees the sadness and frustration across her face. How she paces back and forth and the veins in her forehead begin to appear. He's curious, and somewhat worried as he watches one too many emotions wash across Kate's face in such a short period of time.

He watches the call finish and how she stands there sucking in breath after breath before she's plastering on a smile that's all too fake, and he quickly snaps his gaze to Alexis so Kate doesn't see that he's been watching her for the past few minutes.

"Everything okay?" He asks once she slips back into the seat opposite him, and Kate shoots him that too fake smile she plastered on just seconds ago. It causes a frown to spread across his face and his heart to deflate in the slightest.

"Yeah, just work." She shrugs, the lie so easy rolling off her tongue. She averts her gaze to Alexis, unable to keep looking at Rick who's looking at her with such concern – because she doesn't want to dive into things now, not in front of Alexis, and not in a public place.

"Okay." He won't push it, has come to know that when she's ready to share things with him, she'll easily come to him. "I was just telling Alexis that as soon as she's finished we can head off."

"No, you weren't, daddy. You were watching Kate."

Alexis frowns up at her father, chocolate ice cream covering the lower part of her face.

Rick's adams apple bops, pulse skipping as he glances at Kate who raises a brow at him. "Uh – I was just seeing where you were going." He shrugs, brows pulling together as he reaches across to grab a napkin. "Let's clean your face, pumpkin." He says, beginning to wipe away the remains of the ice cream as he frowns down at his daughter for completely outing him.

Kate dismisses it though. Knows how curious Rick is, how he's always itching to know more about her. It's not surprising to her that he'd been watching her take a private phone call. It only makes her nervous though, and she hopes he didn't overhear anything.


They walk back to the apartment complex, and by the time they're in the elevator, Alexis is asleep on Rick's shoulder.

"Are you okay, Kate?" He knows he shouldn't poke or prod, but ever since her phone call her mood had dropped completely and things had been quiet the entire walk home. It seemed her smile failed to return to its proper gleam and as if her lips lifting was one of a struggle.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" She shrugs, giving him a slight look before looking back ahead.

"Because you've been off since that phone call earlier…"

He watches her stiffen and he carefully frees one of his hands from holding Alexis to reach out to brush his fingertips against Kate's arm.

"Whatever's going on, Kate. I'm here for you."

Her jaw tightens in the slightest, chest rising slightly as the elevator dings to her floor.

"It's my stop."

"Why don't you come up for a bit?"

"It's been a long day, Rick." She sighs, beginning to step forward but Rick grips her arm lightly, stopping her from exiting the elevator.

"Hey–" The shifting of his body from stopping her had caused Alexis to wake and he freezes while Kate's gaze drifts down to the redhead's eyes fluttering open and she squints from the harsh lighting of the elevator before meeting Kate's gaze and taking in the surroundings behind her.

"Are we home?"

"Just one more floor and you will be. But I'm at my stop now, Alexis." She smiles slightly at the young girl, pulling her arm away from Rick's grip to run her fingers across the red hair.

"Will you – will you come up and read me a story?" She yawns, rubbing at her eyes as she repositions herself on Rick's shoulder.

Kate chews on the edge of her lip, her pulse beginning to increase as she glances between Rick and Alexis.

"Your call." Rick mouthes to her, and Kate sighs, because although she just wants to escape to her apartment and deal with the phone call from earlier on her own, she can't say no to Alexis – or let the young girl down.

"Okay. One story." She nods, stepping back to stand beside Rick.

She doesn't miss the smile that spreads across both of the Castle's faces, and although her mood has shifted, her heart can't help but beat fast from the reactions.


She ends up reading Alexis two stories, and promises to take her back to the precinct another day if it's okay with her dad since she enjoyed it so much. She waits till the young girl is sound asleep before carefully exiting the room and heading down the stairs to the open living space.

She stops at the end of the stairs, glances round to see Rick perched on the couch, his computer in his lap and his fingers typing away aimlessly.

She smiles lightly, watches him for a few minutes before a sigh slips from her lips and she carefully moves towards him.

He notices her out of the corner of his eye and when she sits down next to him, he closes his laptop and places it to the side before giving her his full undivided attention.

She's tucked her legs under her body and he watches her chew on the edge of her lip while she plays with the tips of her fingernails.

"The call before was my dad." She pauses, glances up to see Rick staring at her, waiting for her to continue. Her gaze drops down to her hands momentarily before her eyes are falling closed. Her head shakes, hands coming up to cover her face as another audible sigh slips from her lips.

She hadn't ever told Rick about her father, had skipped out on the part about him being an alcoholic. Mainly because she knew letting Rick know her mother was murdered was already so much to deal with that she was afraid letting him know just how screwed up her life really was, that he'd think of her as a victim, or possibly not even want to be a part of her life anymore.

Ever since her mother died, she'd built up these huge walls around herself – too afraid to let anyone in for fear of feeling that same heartache again, because she knew all too well that she wouldn't be able to deal with that sort've loss again, and giving someone her heart – letting them know the ins and outs of her life, it was terrifying.

Rick's brows pull together in confusion and he shifts closer to her, reaches out a hand to place atop of her shoulder.

"Kate, what's wrong? Is your father okay?"

She pulls her hands back, lets them drop to her lap as her tongue sweep across her bottom lip, tears beginning to emerge round the rims of her lids. "He was drunk." She lifts her head to glance up at the ceiling and shake her head, an airy bitter laugh slipping through. "He got out of rehab six months ago, he was six months sober – and I thought he was doing fine, but..."

Rick's heart aches for her and he can't help the drop in his face as he shifts even closer to her, his knee bumping hers. His hand slides down her arm to rest atop of her hand and squeezes it tightly.

"I'm so sorry, Kate… Why didn't you tell me?"

She flicks her gaze down to land on Rick and the tears in her eyes burn. "Because I'm ashamed? I don't know." She shakes her head for what seems like the hundredth time, her eyes falling closed once more. "It's a lot. My life is a lot. It's a lot for people to handle, and usually me telling them my mom was murdered is too much. But telling them my dad is an alcoholic because he couldn't handle my mom's death is like the icing on the cake."

"It's not a lot for me." He shakes his head, squeezes her hand once more as he watches her head dip and a sniffle elicit from her. "You have nothing to be ashamed of, Kate. You've been through a lot and you're still standing tall. And if people can't deal with that – if they can't deal with your life, then they're not meant to be in it at all."

Her head lifts slightly, and she sends a sad smile his way. She can't help the few tears that fall and Rick's quick in lifting up his other hand to wipe them away. Feeling his hand against her skin causes her pulse to rise and her eyes quickly fall shut as she leans into the warmth his hand brings. Her own hand lifts, fingertips wrapping around the wrist of the hand against her skin.

"You're too kind, Rick."

"I'm just being honest. You're extraordinary, Kate. You've been through hell and back and you haven't let it consume you. You're trying to make a change, and I for one think that's incredible. You don't ever have to feel ashamed to tell me anything. Like you said earlier – we're friends. I care about you, and I want to be there for you."

The edges of her lips lift, eyes opening as his hand slowly drops from her face. Their eyes meet, and as the piercing blue eyes stare back at her, Kate can't help but move forwards. She buries her face into his neck, inhales his scent that causes warmth to circulate through her body and her eyes can't help but fall closed as her arms come to wrap around his waist.

She feels his arms wrap around her back, the palm of his hand beginning to softly run up and down her back as he pulls her in tighter against him.

She's unsure if the rapid beating is coming from her heart, or his. But it only causes her to feel at ease for the first time since receiving the drunken call from her father.

She's never been an affectionate person, not since her mother passed. Having someone hold her was the same as opening up to someone – it was too much, it was giving them too much power to see her so vulnerable. She feared that once she got a taste of what it was like to have someone by her side that she'd never want them to leave, and almost always did everyone in her life leave. She didn't want another gaping hole in her heart and cold arms the yearned for faded memories of those she loved.

But Rick was different, he'd been different since the very first day she met him. And over the course of the few months she'd come to know him, she didn't mind him seeing her so vulnerable – didn't mind giving him small glimpses into her life. Which only terrified her even more.

"Thank you for being here for me, Rick."

"Always." He murmurs against the top of her head, and the word only causes a tingling sensation to run through her body, her heart thumping rapidly beneath the cage of her ribs. The edges of her lips lift wider as her face buries itself deeper into the crook of his neck.


A/N: Sorry for the late update, things have been a bit hectic! But I'm back to regularly updating now. I also hope you're enjoying this story so far!