#theoretical possibilities

[cassievalentine]

46

Kate frowned as she noticed both Alexis and Sophie talking to a man she didn't know. She felt the panic rising in the back of her throat until she realized that the man had a police badge on his hip and she remembered the notices the school had sent home about safety presentations taking place all week on various subjects.

"Momma!" Sophie exclaimed as soon as she saw Kate.

"Mom!" Alexis added as they both rushed to her. She greeted the girls with smiles and a hug before Sophie raced away and pulled the cop over.

"This is Detective Will," she said. "He told us what to do about strangers." Kate stood up and brushed her hand off before extending it, only she hesitated when she realized who it was.

"Will," was all she got out as she laid eyes on her ex-husband for the first time in nearly 5 years. He had a similar reaction to her and the two adults stared at each other for a long moment before Alexis and Sophie both began to ask what was wrong. "Nothing," she said quickly, giving them both the benefit of a smile. "Go get your bags and coats and we'll go," she said, sending the girls off to where they had left their things.

"She's smart," Will told her after a second. "And beautiful."

"Thank you," Kate replied, doing her best not to let anything slip.

"I didn't know you had remarried."

"I haven't."

"But it's serious?" he asked her.

"It's none of your business," she informed him, taking the opportunity to end the line of questioning as soon as possible.

"I've missed you," he said quietly, taking a step closer. "And her."

"Then you should have written back or called," she told him, doing her best not to snark at him. "She doesn't know you," Kate told him suddenly.

"Nothing?" Sorrenson asked. He couldn't believe that Kate had told their daughter nothing about him.

"When she turned a year old and I still hadn't heard from you, I stopped telling her about you. I put your pictures away and I changed our names back to Beckett. As far as she's concerned, Richard Castle is the only father she's ever known, ever will know." Will's face hardened when he heard that and part of her was glad.

"She's my kid, Kate."

"You should have thought about that when you disappeared with that blond," she shot back. "Hey, are you ready to go?" she asked, sticking a smile on her face as Alexis and Sophie came back over. "Say goodbye to Detective Will," she prompted. The girls did and Kate began ushering them towards the car.

"I'm married now," he said as he grabbed her arm to stop her from going. "She wants kids and I told her about Sophie and what a huge mistake I made. Trish, she wants to get to know Sophie."

"Over my dead body," she hissed at him through clenched teeth as she pulled arm free from his grasp and sped up to catch up to the girls.

A week later, Rick came home to find the girls colouring at the coffee table and Kate pacing the length of his study while chewing on her bottom lip. She held a rather official looking document in her hands.

"Kate?" he asked quietly as he shut the door.

"Remember how I told you about running into Sophie's father at school last week?" he nodded, remembering the whole story. "He's suing for shared custody," she said as she held the papers out to him.

[cassievalentine]

45

This was inspired by one of the posts on castleconfession on Tumblr.

She woke up slowly, stretching everything she could as she closed her eyes against the sun that was peaking through the heavy curtains. With a contented sigh, she allowed herself to relax into Castle's ridiculously comfortable bed as she patted around the bed side table blindly for her cell phone. She finally managed to grab it and cracked an eye open to check the time.

He was right, she thought to herself. I should definitely take time off more often, she decided as she put the cell phone back on the table and let herself drift somewhere between sleep any awake.

Eventually though, she realized that there was music in the loft. Piano music to be specific. It didn't sound like any CD she'd heard before and she knew for a fact that Alexis didn't play and Martha was out of town. Intrigued, Kate finally slipped out of bed, pulling on a pair of leggings and t-shirt that was too big for her before padding softly down the the little nook they kept the piano tucked into.

As she came around a corner, she found Rick sitting at the piano, playing something soft, gentle and jazzy and she couldn't stop herself from just standing there and listening. She had no idea he could play.

"I know you're there," he called out after a long moment. He didn't stop playing though.

"No I'm not," she called back, a smile on her face.

"Imagining it?"

"You did claim to still have several imaginary friends," she pointed out with a coy smile as she slipped into the nook and curled herself into one of the chairs in the room. He cast a glance at her and his smile grew a little. For such a tall woman Katherine Beckett could certainly make herself very small when she wanted to.

"Guess this means I only have to come up with imaginary waffles then. Nice." she felt her own smile grow as a smirk took over his face.

"Guess this means I only have to imagine you in the shower with me," she said as she uncurled herself from the chair and slowly started to head back up the stairs. She couldn't help but laugh as she heard the piano come to an abrupt halt as the piano bench scrapped across the hard wood floor.

[cassievalentine]

44

forever-and-always-caskett on tumblr asked "more of #12".

***

Kate stewed about the fight she and Castle'd had all weekend. Part of her knew that he was right, that everyone was right about her. She was a runner and had been since her mother had been killed.

That one event had left such a gaping hole in her and without her father to help close it up, she'd had to do it on her own and she'd done a shitty job of it. She'd patched the hole up with spit and hope and when someone got to close to seeing the mess she'd made, she ran. It was easier if they were mad at her, so she could stay mad at them and make sure everything held together just a little longer.

Unfortunately, Kate had started to realize that somewhere along the way, she'd let one Richard Castle help her shore up the patch job. It wasn't all spit and hope any more. Somewhere along the line, he had started sewing the pieces back together for her.

So she clung to that thought as she found herself hailing a cab to Castle's loft before she stood outside his door, working up the courage to knock, which she did after a long moment. Castle himself had swung the door open and had looked at her with hard eyes for a moment. She swallowed hard and wanted to run but she made her feet stay glued to the floor as she straightened her spine and looked him right in the eye. He didn't say anything as he let her into the loft and led her into his office.

"I'm tired too," she admitted after a long moment. "I'm exhausted but I'm afraid that if I stop it will all fall apart."

"It won't," he told her as they continued to stand a few feet from each other.

"I'm holding it together with spit and hope," she told him. "It's not going to be that hard to break again."

"My mother taught me how to sew," he responded as he took a small step closer to her. She couldn't help the small burst of sarcastic laughter that escaped her. How he always put what she was thinking into words mystified her. He watched her fidget for a long moment. "You don't have to stop running," he finally told her. "But slowing it down to a jog, or even a brisk walk would help."

"I don't know how," she admitted, looking everywhere but at him as she made the admission.

"Funny," he said with a small smile as he closed the gap and took her hands in his. "I can see you slowing down a little already.

[cassievalentine]

43

forever-and-always-caskett on tumblr asked "more of #9".

(Ties into #9)

Martha Rogers knew very well what the look on her sons face meant. She'd seen it many times on him as a boy and it had usually ended in some kind of minor scuffle and always with him in trouble.

"Richard Castle, whatever it is you are doing, stop," she told him calmly after Alexis had scampered up to her room. She had been more than happy to watch her granddaughter for the day while he was at a book signing.

"I'm not doing anything, Mother," he told her, offering her a flash of a smile. Martha didn't buy it for a second.

"And my play doesn't open next week," she told him as she marched further into his office. "I don't have any idea what you're doing, or planning to do, but I know that look kiddo. Nothing good has ever come from that look." She sat on the edge of his desk and crossed her arms over her chest and waited.

"There was this girl," he said and he didn't miss his mother's eye roll. he quickly pointed out that there was always a girl after a signing. "Not like her," he sad. "Tall, brunet with the saddest, most beautiful eyes I've ever seen." Martha waited for more. Her son was notorious for his thing with blondes, so to hear him talk about a brunet was new. "She was wearing a wedding ring on a chair around her neck and I commented on it. She told me it was her's mother's."

"That's not so unusual."

"She also told me that her mother had been killed, murdered, a few years ago," he finally looked up at his mother in time to see the flash of horror on her face. "And I finished signing her book just as she finished her story and I could help but look at her, really look at her, and her eyes were just so sad …"

"What did you do?" she asked him, urging him along with his story.

"I was out of my chair, around the table and giving her a hug before I even knew it. I told her she was stronger than she knew." Rick finished his tale and dropped his eyes to study his hands. He heard his mother take in a deep breath as she considered what to tell him. "Her name is Kate Beckett, I looked her up, found the articles. She was 19 when it happened, so she must be 21 or 22 now."

"Stay away form her," Martha finally said. "I mean it Richard Castle. You stay away from that girl and you leave her be." Martha could only guess what was going on in that girl's head, but she did know that the last thing the poor girl needed was World Famous Author Richard Castle poking his nose where it didn't belong.

"But…" he started.

"Stay. Away," Martha told him again, pointing her finger at his chest. "She told you what happened and I know you can imagine what it was like, what it's still like for her. Do you really think she needs you and all the … extras you come with plaguing her ever move?"

"No," he grumbled reluctantly.

"Stay away from this Kate Beckett," she told him once more as she stood and straightened her skirt. Goodbyes were quickly exchanged and after his mother had left, he stood by the door, trying to obey his mother and push Kate Beckett from his mind, but he couldn't do it. Seconds later he was back in his office, doing more internet searches and employing some of the less than legal tricks he'd learned from a hacker when he was researching one of his books.

A few moments later he was sending her an email that he didn't really expect a reply from. He sat back from the monitor with a sigh before he finally stood up and left the room, heading upstairs to see what Alexis was up to and to try and push Beckett from his mind.

[cassievalentine]

42

bookoiseur asked for "Drunk!Kate"

***

Castle squinted at his phone when it rang.

The iPhone simply stared back at him, letting him know that it was some time after 3am and Beckett was calling him.

"Where's the body?" he asked into the phone. "Lanie?" he asked when he heard the ME on the other end of the line. He listened carefully as Lanie rambled away. "Are you drunk?" he finally asked.

"Not even a quarter as wasted as your girl is," she said, slurring her words slightly. "I figure you got 20 minutes to get down here and get her before she does something either of you are going to regret in the morning." Castle quickly got the address from Lanie, swearing he'd be there in 15 minutes. He made her promise to keep Kate busy until he got there.

Rick sped as he drove down to some hole in the wall club to pick up Kate. Javier Esposito was still sober enough to get his girl home, so after making Javie promise to call him, Rick let them be.

"You are drunk, Kate Beckett," Rick said as he pulled Kate away from the wall she was helping to hold up.

"Not drunk," she told him as she leaned against him. "Tipsy maybe, but not drunk," she assured him. Rick grimaced as she all but fell into the car.

"If this is tipsy, I don't think I want to know what drunk is," he told her a he slid into his own seat before reaching over to help her do up her seat belt.

"You're a good man Richard Castle," Kate told him as they drove off into the night. "Maybe even a night in armor, coming all this way to rescue me and Lanie," she told him, offering him a sloppy smile.

"How much did you drink tonight?" Kate shrugged.

"I stopped counting after the 10th shot of tequila," she told him as she let her head flop to the side and rest against her shoulder as she offered him a smile. Lanie had been right; Kate was more than capable of drinking him under the table. 5 shots of straight tequila was usually his limit. "I'm not ready to go home," she told him.

"Good, because you're not going home." Kate furrowed her brow for a moment.

"Everywhere else is closed," she told him. "They called Last Call on us at the club."

"Bar Castle is always open, though I think we're out of tequila," he told her. Rick had never seen Kate like this. He'd seen her tipsy a couple of times and drunk once, but nothing like this. This was definitely smashed, if he was going to give her a label.

"Awesome," was all she said as she settled back into her seat. By the time they had reached his loft, she was starting to fade.

"Come on Beckett," he said as he opened her door and reached in to pull her out of the car.

"I'm gonna feel like shit in the morning, aren't I?" she asked as he kept her on her feet and got her into the elevator.

"Probably," he agreed. "I'll make sure there's juice, water, coffee, pain killers and greasy food in the morning, ok?"

"Hell of a plan," she said as she let herself lean against him.

"You're never going to tell me what this is all about, are you?" he asked, hoping against hope that she was drunk enough to spill her guts to him.

"You are a very pretty man Rick, do you know that?" she told him as he led her out of the elevator. "Very pretty. How you don't get jumped on a regular basis is beyond me."

"Just my luck, I guess," he told her as he managed to get them into his loft with out making too much noise.

"I think you're real pretty. And smart. And loyal. You're a good man, you know that?" she rambled to him. He sighed as he all but dragged Kate Beckett into his spare room before dropping her to the bed.

"It's nice to hear," he agreed as he knelt down to take her boots off. How the woman had stayed upright in these heels was beyond him.

"I'mma gonna tell you this 'cuz I'll ferget later," she whispered to him, her words slurring as sleep began to take over her. "I really think you're pretty," she told him with a smile before she landed a sloppy kiss on him.

"You tell me that when you're sober and we'll have a real conversation," he informed her as he tucked her into his guest bed.

"Hold ya to it," she muttered. Rick took a step or two back from the bed and waited to see if she was actually down for the count. Kate shifted in the bed slightly, but didn't wake. With a heavy sigh, Rick slipped out the door and filled a large glass of water that he then left on the night table before finally closing the door and leaving the room all together.

"Richard?" he looked up at the top of the stairs and saw his mother standing there, tying her robe closed as she looked at him questionably.

"Lanie called," he told her. "Kate got a little out of control tonight. It's ok. She's in the guest room with a glass of water and hang over food waiting for her. Go back to bed." Richard and Martha looked at each other for a long moment before she finally turned and headed back into her room. Rick, however, hesitated outside his door for a moment before he dashed back down stairs to make sure that Kate was on her side.

He doubted she was drunk enough to start throwing up, but he didn't want to take any chances with her. He had no idea what had caused her to go to the club and drink herself into this state, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from keeping her safe.

With a heavy sigh Rick pulled the chair that was in the corner of the room closer to the bed. He checked on Kate one last time before he found a spare blanket in the closet and settled himself into the chair, his feet resting on the corner of the bed, staying close just in case she did wake up in the night and need something.

[cassievalentine]

41

(sorry guys!! Settled in Weybridge and have finally developed a routine. Now if I could just find some friends to hang out with . . .)

****

bookoisseur on tumblr asked "how the precinct finds out they're together."

They had been together for about 4 months the first time a really juicy picture of them had surfaced on Page Six. They'd had a brutal week at the precinct and when he asked if she wanted to do anything that weekend she had simply responded that she wanted to drink to much and dance to music that was too loud.

He agreed as long as she wore that little blue number she'd worn when they busted Oz.

A few hours later, she was in the little blue number and downing tequila shots like they were going out of style. He'd started the evening, matching her drink for drink, but he had soon remembered the advice he'd been given a few years ago and had stopped trying to match her.

One of them had to stay sober enough to remain upright and hail a cab at the end of the night and out of the two of them, she was going to be the easier one to put into a cab.

So they had danced and drank (she'd done 3 shots for every one he took) and he'd finally called an end to the night when she started to try and do more than simply make out in the dark corners of the bar.

"Wow," was all Javier had said when he and Lanie had seen the paper the next morning. Lanie had simply smiled to herself as she looked at the picture of Kate wrapped around Castle. She'd had a feeling something was up for some time.

"Did you see… ?" Ryan asked Esposito as soon as he saw him.

"Yeah. Did you know?"

"No idea."

"Lanie knew," Javier said.

"And you're surprised?" Ryan asked and Javier could only shrug at that. Next to Richard Castle, Lanie Parish was the leading expert on all things Katherine Beckett. Suddenly, the conversation died and Ryan and Esposito turned their attention to the elevator just in time to see Beckett flush a light pink as she marched to her desk while Castle took the time to saunter over to the boys.

"So?" Ryan said, holding out the paper.

"What of it?" Castle asked glancing at the picture

"It's true then," Esposito said. Castle cast another look at the picture.

"Yup," he replied before wandering off to the break room to find coffee, ignoring the sounds of those who had lost the pool mixed with those that had won.

[cassievalentine]

40

bookoisseur on tumblr asked "more of the one where it's his fault she's pregnant." (Hanna line)

Kate refused to be one of those women who started acting like glass as soon as they were pregnant. She still pulled herself out of bed at some God Awful hour to trudge down to meet Lanie at a crime scene in the middle of January, she still interrogated suspects and gave Ryan, Esposito and Castle a hard time. About the only things she had given up doing were chasing subjects through the streets of New York and entering any rooms or buildings that hadn't already been cleared.

It all caught up to her when she was nearly 7 months along.

She listened intently as Lanie gave her the preliminary details at the scene and just as they were leaving the alley, a guy, who would later turn out to be the killer, jumped out of seemingly nowhere and smashed into her and Lanie. They both stumbled and crashed into a brick wall even as Kate yelled out at the guy that they were NYPD and to freeze. Ryan and Esposito took off after him immediately as Lanie turned to Kate.

"I'm fine," she assured her friend. "I'm pretty sure you were between me and wall," she added with a smile. Lanie returned it and grumbled that Kate was probably right. The pair shrugged it off with a quick laugh before they headed off.

She wasn't fine though. She was cramping by the time she was back at her desk but she brushed them off as Lanie called her down to the morgue and by the time she got down there, she knew something was wrong and as soon as she saw her, so did Lanie.

"Rick's on a plane right now," her dad told her as she sat in a hospital bed, staring at the read out from the fetal monitor. Rick was in LA checking on the Naked Heat movie. "Are you sure you don't want me to call Alexis?" Jim asked. Kate shook her head. Lanie had stayed until Kate had been settled and Jim had gotten to the hospital; she still had work to do, despite the fact that she wanted nothing more than to stay next to Kate.

"No," Kate said quietly, still looking at the readout. She didn't really feel the contractions anymore, but according to the read out, they were still fairly regular. "She'll only worry or try to get here. If anything… if she needs to know, then call her." With a sigh, her father sat himself down in a chair beside her bed and uncurled the hand that was clenched around the safety rail, the other holding her belly protectively.

"It's going to be ok, Katie," he told her softly. Kate took a deep breath, but didn't answer him.

"Hey," Rick said as he finally slid into the room. "Where's your dad?" he asked, sounding breathless as he stopped beside her bed.

"They made him leave," she said softly as she reached out and clung to his hand. The contractions had finally stopped after a second dose of whatever it was they were pumping her full of. "Everything stopped and stayed stopped and then they made him leave," she said, doing her best to sound calm. Castle frowned as he fumbled with the railing for a minute before he managed to drop it. He toed his shoes off and climbed in behind her, wrapping his arms around her and just held on. "I'm sorry," she said as soon as she felt his arms around her. "I'm so, so sorry. I know you don't want me out there and I ignored you and kept going any way. I could have… I could have lost the baby all because I'm too selfish to listen to reason." Rick held her closer as she worked herself up to real tears and near panic. He shushed her quietly and kept up a constant stream of assurances that it was ok and it wasn't her fault. That no one could have seen this happening and that she wasn't selfish. It took a long time, but his words finally started to get through to her.

"We are going to stay right here until they tell you you can leave, ok? And after that, I'm going to talk to Montgomery about using some of that vacation time you have saved up to keep you off duty until your leave kicks in. We are going to laze around the loft, visit museums and art galleries and see some Broadway shows while we drag Alexis home from Stanford every time she'll let us, ok?"

"I'm in the middle of a case," she said quietly, even though his plan did seem like a fantastic idea.

"The boys can handle it," he assured her. "Ok?"

"Ok," she said after a long moment as she slid her hand over her and locked their fingers together.

[cassievalentine]

39

bookoisseur on tumblr asked "more of 36" (The Johanna line.)

Kate graduated from NYU with a bachelors of Arts in English Literature when she was 6 months pregnant. She had really wanted to get an Honours in English, but she couldn't figure out how she was going to find the time or money to do so, so she had settled for the BA. She knew she could always go back later, maybe even take a course here or there online, but it wasn't the same.

She had opted out of walking across the stage because she didn't really see the point. Her mother was gone and her father didn't seem to care at the moment. Rick had pestered her for a week to walk across the stage, but had eventually respected her decision, though he had convinced her to come over for diner to celebrate.

"Daddy helped me get the words right," Alexis has said shyly as she presented Kate with the card she and her father had spent the afternoon making. Alexis was still hurting from the divorce and even though Rick had introduced Kate as a friend, the little girl was still wary of her, afraid she was going to leave and never come back.

"And you did the pictures?" she asked gently, respecting the few inches of space Alexis always maintained between them. A ghost of a smile appeared on Alexis' face as she nodded. "I like the yellow flowers best," Kate commented.

"Sunflowers are my favourite," Alexis told her before she began talking more about what was on the card. Kate was a little surprised when she felt Alexis lean on her leg a little as she spun a story, but she didn't comment on it.

"You're pretty quiet tonight," he said as he sunk into the couch and got comfortable before he urged her to turn her back to him and shift closer, which she eventually did.

"I was wondering if I could ask a favour," she said quietly as she felt his hands move to her lower back and press gently in all the right places.

"Anything," he told her. The two of them had gotten ridiculously close in the 3 months they had known each other. They were each others best friends and closets confidantes.

"I have an ultra sound next week and I really don't want to go alone," she finally said. She had gone alone to the first couple of scans by herself. She didn't really remember the first one. She was still in a little bit of shock and disbelief and things didn't really click. The second one was harder. It looked like a real baby the second time and the tech who did it kept up a running narrative and called her mommy.

"Name the time and place and I'll be there with bells on," he assured her as he did that thing that made her spine feel like limp spaghetti. "Stay the night," he said after a long moment, snapping her out of the doze she had started to slip into. "The guest room is made up and I'll make something really good in the morning."

"I'm okay to drive," she told him, though neither of them believed her.

"I know you are," he said as he slid out from behind her and helped her off the couch. He stopped by a laundry basket of clean clothes and quickly pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and handed them to her. "I'm just enjoying your company so much that I'm too selfish to let you go home," he said as he led her the guest bedroom.

"Rick?" he heard her called out quietly, just before he slipped out the door.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you," she told him. She wanted to say so much more to him, but that was the best she could come up with right now.

"Any time," he told her as he finally slipped out the door and headed up to bed.