Another little in between story, kind of continuing from the previous theme ….

Chapter 39

"Are you sure I look alright?" Rick asked as Kate got out the car, the door opened by him.

She pulled her jacket tight over her chest to keep out the cold. The unusual insecure behavior had her smile in amusement. All this emotion spent over meeting her father caused her to appreciate how he really did only see himself as a usual guy, with a great career. Only to provoking his inferiority complex, she made a point of visually assessing his clothing from head to toe. A contemplative expression formed over her face to rattle him more, even though she thought he looked exceptionally handsome in his blue cotton knitted sweater.

He frowned, glanced down then looked back at her eyes, seemingly aware she teased him. "Kate." He stressed.

She smiled, "Rick, it's my Dad, not the President. C'mon." She took hold of his hand quite firmly, as he locked the car. The neighborhood was quiet secluded compared to the city streets. He pulled her to a halt, brought himself closer to her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him the kiss he sought.

"We've done a lot of this today." She murmured.

"Kissing?" He smiled. "Your lips are swollen from my stubble."

"Mm." She sighed, stroked the back of his head, "Rick, my Dad will like you. I don't usually introduce my boyfriends to him, so he will know you're a serious contender."

His brow furrowed, "Serious contender? You told me six months."

"I still stand by that. Keep the date diarized."

He bobbed his head, "I will."

She smirked. "We had a great weekend."

"We did, and now I have to meet your father. He's a lawyer and I'm just a writer."

"New York Times best seller author." She gave him another kiss before she led Rick up the drive way to the veranda of her father's home. She hadn't lived in this house much more than a night here or there. When her mother had been alive, the family had lived in an apartment not far from where she lived. Her father had moved out to the suburb a few years back once he had decided the city wasn't for him anymore. Nowadays he did the transit to and from the city for work.

"Cute house." Castle muttered slowing down to take in the sight of the white weatherboard town house.

"It's okay. Lovely inside. When he moved here he changed all the furniture. Said he needed to start afresh."

"Fair enough. You have some of her things?"

Kate nodded. "At home and some, he's keeping here for me until I become domesticated," she replied adding emphasis to the last word.

"Domesticated."

She laughed. "Mm. In my father's terms that is defined as, married-"

"Married?"

"Hitched then? Bought a property, or pregnant or however he views it."

"I'd say all of the above. As a father, I look forward to one day seeing Alexis as a woman, a mother," he replied which caused Kate to look at him with a smile.

"That's sweet," she commented.

"Are you nervous about him meeting me?" Rick asked for the umpthteenth time.

"Why would I be? I think we're serious, Castle," she gave him a mischievous look.

"Oh, so we've moved into that camp, have we?"

"Maybe. We've been exclusive for a while and we've fessed up to your family, so we had better let mine in on it."

"Your Dad." He replied.

"And Sofia." She said.

"Your cousin."

"Mm. She's like a sister, you know."

"Mm…" He let her go so they could continue to the house, "Do you knock or walk in?"

"I have to knock, Rick, the door will be locked."

"Fair call. I don't have a Dad to do this with."

"Mm, I know."

"I hope he likes me."

"You really are nervous."

"Might pooh my pants nervous."

Kate laughed, "Seriously?"

"Never been so scared of meeting a girlfriend's father before."

They came to a stop in front of the red front door. Kate looked at Rick's eyes, then the door bell and pointed to it when he didn't get the hint.

"Oh." He squeaked then pressed the bell button. Chimes sounded from the hall way. Rick fidgeted, Kate watched on.

"Why you so worried? It's just my dad."

"Because his approval of me is important. You are important to me. This is a big event. And you have a gun."

They heard footsteps on hardwood floors. Kate went to say something to console Rick but the door opened and there stood her Dad in a knitted sweater and a smile.

"Daddy." She greeted, let go of Rick's sweaty hand, wiped it on her jeans and stepped into her father's opened arms, wondering why the hell Rick was so nervous about meeting her Dad.

"It's a Daddy night." Jim chuckled, "C'mere, Katie."

She momentarily regretted dropping her hold, slightly fearful Rick would turn and run for the hills. He had chattered the entire drive, obviously nervous. She stepped back, turned to Rick and said, "Dad, this is Rick Castle and Rick, I my father, Jim Beckett."

She leaned back a little so the men could shake hands. Rick was the sort of guy who liked a good hand shake, and often rattled on about what he considered was the correct grip, or the length of time of a good shake. He showed displeasure towards Donald Trump's style of hand shake because he tended to drag the opposing person into his personal space and pump the hand like he was pumping water from a well. She had seen him cackling at the TV about hand shakes. Personally, Kate hadn't given them much thought before she met Castle but nowadays she found herself assessing and analyzing. They sometimes played about with them.

"Very nice to meet you." Jim greeted, giving Rick a nice steady hand shake. That was her Dad, always polite, the lawyer she was accustomed to. Rick leaned in with his generous smile and she swore his hand was still sweaty.

"Same. Thank you for having me."

"Katie has told me a lot about working with you." Her Dad said, and instantly Kate shot him a look of objection he chose to ignore. It was the same look her mother would have used so she knew her father understood the message.

Rick looked at Kate, then returned is gaze to her father and replied, "Oh yeah? She tells everyone she despises my presence."

"That's what she says."

"Dad."

Jim reached to his daughter's shoulder, ignoring her subtle threat, "Come on, get inside, its cold out here."

Kate blindly found Rick's hand to ensure he followed her inside the house. Yes, his hand was a little sweaty but he seemed over the worst of it now. He was behaving like a nervous teenager, but then a teenager didn't have the pressure of being perhaps her future husband and father of her children, Jim's grand kids, as Rick was possibly feeling right now. Okay they hadn't discussed that sort of thing and it wasn't on her agenda right now but she was in that age range nowadays. Her father dropped the hint here and there that he would like her to have kids before she was too old, and he had chosen to share that with her in recent times, actually since she had told him she was dating seriously. The last time she had spoken with her Aunt Therese, she had also raised the subject that it was time for her and her cousin Sofia to start settling down. It seemed everyone wanted her to settle down.

Not yet.

Poor Rick.

On that thought, she clutched his hand fearful he might try to run for the hill. She led him into the living area of the quaint town house, a mental picture of Rick running away. She snickered.

"What?" He asked giving her hand a squeeze.

Kate paused, bit her lip holding back a smile, then whispered, "Don't succumb to the pressure, okay? My family want to marry me off."

His eyes widened and he shot a glance at the older man who was ahead of them and out of hearing range, he hoped. Kate tried not to laugh and that's when his expression changed.

"Oh, you're trying to wind me up."

She laughed, "Okay. Yes."

"Hilarious, Kate." He said, took a hold of her hips and directed her gently in the direction of her father, whom they followed to the kitchen where he had a spread of appetizers on the counter.

"I've been busy tidying up the garden in the backyard. I want to have a place to sit outdoors." Her father said.

"So, it's coming along?" Kate asked taking a seat at one of the bar stools. Rick sat with her on the next stool.

"It is. I have a landscaper coming out tomorrow to quote me on having pavers or something laid. Most of the gardening is done. Your uncle was here today giving a hand. In fact-" Jim paused, glanced at Kate with an expression she understood then looked to Rick who he then addressed, "Because I was telling him you were bringing over a friend tonight.

"You didn't tell him who?"

"No. But we got discussing you girls. You and your cousin Sofia."

"Yes." She glanced at Rick, "He's heading somewhere with this Rick."

"Yes, do continue, Jim."

Jim put a hand to his chin in thought, "Well yes, we talked about what your dowry would be worth. What you and Sofia's dowries would be worth."

"Dad." Kate warned, aware he was teasing Rick with his dry sense of humor.

Beside her, Rick fidgeted, cleared his throat and leaned into the group as he said, "Well Sir, I hope this dowry is significant. Your daughter has high expectations. She can be quite difficult to get along with at times and she is accustomed to a certain standard of living." He sat up, glanced with no shame at Kate.

She was quite surprised by his quick response. "What is this, the year eighteen hundred?" She asked of them. The men laughed. "I'm not a possession." She added.

"Arrhh but you are. You are my daughter, my family and Rick's girlfriend. And don't worry, either of you. Your secret is safe with me. It goes no further than me until you say otherwise. Welcome to our little family Rick." Jim smiled.

"Thanks Jim."

"Oh, and I agree, Katie can be exactly as you described."

"Dad!"

"Just jerking your chain, Honey." He smiled at his daughter.

"Even I knew he was stirring you, Kate." Rick said, placing his palm to her lower back.

"Did Kate tell you my late wife used to read your novels?"

"She did. Thank you." Rick took the initiative and offered drinks. They were all on water. He was driving and Jim didn't drink.

"Kate, I've started dating again. I met a woman at a work function."

"Really?" Kate smiled, keen to hear the news. "Tell me more."

"Her name is Emily, she is a legal executive who works for a colleague. About my age." He paused. "She's not been married, no kids. She has two dogs and a cat. I'm a little fond of her."

"I'm pleased for you, Dad. Maybe one night in a while, we could meet up for dinner."

"Great idea."

"Castle likes to dine."

"Yes, I do. Just a little hard to take your daughter out on dates when we are living the secret life of Beckett and Castle."

With a chuckle, Kate replied, "Hey maybe you would write a story about that."
Rick laughed, "Yeah, I could post it on my Fanfiction page."

"You write fanfiction?" She asked in surprise.

Rick cleared his throat, then said, "We should get a dog, Kate. We could share custody."

"We're always gone. At work. That's changing the subject writer boy."

"You two focus on each other for a bit longer, and you stick to novels, Rick." Jim said half heartedly, then playfully pointed at Kate as he added, "though it is time for you to start …. Your mother had you by now."

"I need longer." Kate quickly replied, her tone implying to her father to stop.

"I have a daughter, teenage daughter, Jim, that I have sole custody of. I'm happy to wait." He said rescuing Kate who was blushing. Parents always had a way of embarrassing their kids. He did it to Alexis almost every other day, and his mother did it to him, almost every day. Was part of life.

"A daughter? How old is your daughter?"

"Almost sixteen and going on thirty. She's an old soul."

Kate laughed, "Yeah it's hard to believe this man has a daughter like Alexis, Dad. She's smart, sensible, focused."

"Hey, I can be all those," Rick replied and sat back on the stool beside Kate.

In the car on their way back to the city, Rick turned down the radio. He ran his hand down Kate's thigh. He had quickly relaxed in the presence of her father who wasn't as scary as he'd anticipated. In fact, the older man was quite mild mannered. Where Kate got the boldness from was a bit of a mystery. Perhaps it had been conditioned in her when she became a cop. Often when she was out of work and in her home, she tended to let her guard down in his present. She became more timid and was far more feminine.

"I think your Dad liked me."

Kate sleepily looked from the windscreen to Rick who was designated driver.

"He did." She reassured forcing herself to restrain a smile of amusement. About a half dozen times Rick had said that since he got in the Ferrari. She reached out and turned the radio back up.

"Kate?"

"Mm?" She turned the radio back down.

"You call him Daddy?"

"Mm. Why?"

"So un-Beckett like of you."

"I call you Ricky," she purred back putting sexual emphasis on his name.

"Yeah. When you want me, or something."

She laughed. "I call him Daddy when I want something, to tease him and he'd probably say when I need his parental support."

"Which wouldn't be often." Rick commented.

"Depends. After my mother died he wasn't in a place to support me. Extended family did. But he's my go to person when I have to talk to someone nowadays." Kate peered down at her hands, trying to block out memories of the months after her mother had died. The emotional numbness, the inability to move on, trying to stop her father from drowning himself in alcohol, only to find she was drinking it as well. It had been such a dark period. Losing someone close had left a gaping hole in her life, even to this day.

"You okay?" Rick asked and gave her thigh a stroke.

"Mmm. Just thinking." She looked over at him, feeling her chest flutter just on the tones in his voice. He really cared for her, "Do you think we jumped in too fast?" She asked.

"You and I? In to what we have?"

"Mm. I mean we were on a date, and then exclusive the next day."

Rick impulsively grinned, "Best date eva. Tops my list."

It caused Kate to smile. "It was a good date."

"We're not kids Kate. We've experienced enough with life to know we have something pretty special. What I feel for you is a first for me."

"Mmm. Same," she agreed. "Terrifies me at times."

"Terrifies you?" Again, he put his hand to her thigh.

"That I can feel so much for another person."

"Oh, it really is late for you, huh. Long weekend. Great day with your new boyfriend. I'm really breaking those walls down." He teased.

Kate stared at him, the street lights passing over his face as he drove the car back to his home. Being at her Dad's for the evening with Rick, had brought with it another form of absence of her mother, who would have loved Rick without a doubt. Jim had shared that over the dinner table. Her absence had weighed heavily, and Kate understood it was because Rick meant so much to her. Approval from her father had been far more important than Kate had anticipated. Rick was all cool about it now, but Kate felt emotionally spent. One day, in the not too distant future, she imagined taking their kids to see their grandfather, and they would never get to experience her mother's maternal love.

"Where you gone, Honey?" Rick asked squeezing her thigh.

"Huh?" She put her hand over his large hand. "Oh, nowhere."

"You wandered off somewhere."

"Circa two thousand seventeen." She shyly replied then giggled.

"Oh. Fuck. That's like ages away Kate. Don't scare yourself to death. Stay around two thousand nine for a bit. Get used to that." He replied. "A lot could happen in our story between now and seventeen." He said and took his hand away to find the remote for the garage entry to his loft.

"You're right. I will focus on tonight. Now." She fell silent, thinking about their evening, their weekend and she looked down at the items her father had given her when they had been relaxing in the living room. One was a novel her mother had owned, one of Rick's earliest books. Kate had her own copy at home. Like her mother, she had written in the margins. Differing comments, that Rick had sat on the sofa and scanned the notes. He had also given her an old photo album.

"I missed my mother tonight." She found herself saying without a damn filter. It was usually a thought that would remain within but she had unconditionally shared it with Rick.

"I know. You look so much like she did."

"Yeah, about that, I'm so sorry my Dad got the photo albums out."

"Don't be sorry about that. You were a gorgeous baby."

Kate smirked, "My Mom would bring out the albums on my birthday after we had dinner and she would share with me details about the day I was born. We shared a glass of her favorite wine and she would reminisce about my birth with my Dad listening in. I think he recorded it a couple of times."

"That is cute. Looking through those photos gave me …"

"Please don't make me a back story for Nikki Heat…"

"No. C'mon Kate, this is you, your life, like this is our life, our secret."

"Sorry. You were saying they gave you?"

"A perspective on the dynamics of your family, an understanding of how your mother's death impacted your family and your life. It was cruel to terminate your mother like snuffing out a cigarette butt. Your mother didn't get justice, didn't get the investigation she deserved."

"It was incompetence, and someone stopped the investigation to protect those responsible." Kate summed up. "I have to live with that."

"And the fact the person you see in the mirror is a constant reminder of your Mom. You are the spitting image of her."

Kate nodded her agreement. "I've turned them into fond memories. My cheekbones. I get them from my grandmother. The same eyes."

Rick thought about her father momentarily wondering whether her appearance was bothersome to her father. Jim's daughter was always the image of her mother, just like Alexis often reminded him of Meredith - the good and the bad. Having looked through a few albums it was easy to see Kate was a reproduction of her mother, "Those cheekbones you have, agents hunt for in models. Don't get how you weren't discovered. You're tall, have long legs, all they want in super models."

Kate laughed, "You wish." She thought about the box in her home full of clippings of her younger days as a model. Modelling had paid her way through college with the help of her father. She would keep that one to herself.

Rick pulled into his designated car space and killed the engine. "Let's get inside and go to bed. I'm beat."

"Me too."