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Oct. 11th, 2011 04:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Title Maybe This Time
Fandom Castle
Paring Kate Beckett/Richard Castle, mentions of Meredith Castle/Richard Castle
Rating PG13
Summary AU: In an alternate universe, Castle and Meredith try to save their failing marriage with another baby . . .
Warnings Kid fic, I guess. If that's really a warning in this fandom? Alternate Universe, Canon timeline fudging.
"Come with me," Rick says softly as he slowly kisses his way up Kate's spine. She's stretched out in bed, laying on her front with the sheet pooled low on her back.
"Go with you where?" she asked, her voice content, but still sleepy as she basks in the feel of his skin brushing against hers.
"To brunch," he clarifies as he nudges her hair out of the way so he can kiss the back of her neck. He can feel her tense under him. "My mother's been asking when I'm going to bring you home," he tells her, finally moving away from her slightly to settle on the bed beside her. He pushes the hair out of her face so he can see her eyes, he loves her eyes. Loves that they're both green and brown at the same time. He's never seen eyes like hers before in his life and doubts he ever will again.
"Your kids. . ." she trails off and he shakes his head a little, explaining that Charlie will just roll with it and that Alexis has been asking about 'daddy's friend' for a while now. Kate isn't all that reassured by this.
"Hey, I'm playing this by ear too," he pointed out. "You're my first post-divorce girlfriend." Kate can't help but grin at the shocked look that appears on his face after he labels her his girlfriend.
"Alexis was the only kid who didn't ask about my gun," she commented, taking the heat off of him. She spends a few moments telling him a little more about what went on in the class that day.
"She's a good kid," he said with a smile. "It's nice to hear that she's perking up again. She had a hard time after the divorce and I couldn't figure out how to fix it."
"It's not something you can fix," Kate told him. "It's something she had to fix on her own." He understands where she's coming from. Alexis had lost her mother like Kate had. They might not have lost them in the same way, but they'd still lost them.
"So come to brunch," he said, extending the invitation again. "I'm a great cook and mother is a performance in herself," he finishes with a smile that she can't help but return. She eventually agrees on the condition that they don't arrive at his place together and he doesn't have a problem with that. Sure, he'd like to bring her home with him, but he understands. They've both figured out that they are on the cusp of something that could be great and neither wants to be the one that screws it up.
**
"Daddy!" Alexis exclaims, jumping up from the couch to throw herself into Richard's arms as soon as he walks through the door. He lifts the little girl up and hugs her tight, asking her how she slept and did she and Charlie have fun with Grams last night. She assures him that they did and gives him a summary of their activities.
"I have a surprise for you, for all of you," he said as he sits on the couch and Alexis slides out of his arms to sit beside him just as Charlie comes over from where he was playing, arms stretched above his head demanding a hug from his father as well. "We are having brunch today," he said and Alexis quickly cut him off, telling that Grams had already explained that. He sushed her quickly before continuing. "We are having brunch today, and I invited Kate to have it with us." A confused look falls on his daughters face but Martha's lights up, knowing exactly who Kate is. Alexis tugs on his sleeve and asks who Kate is and as he's trying to figure out what to say, Martha swoops in and pulls Charlie from his lap, making some excuse about changing the boy for the day before they disappear up the stairs. He chooses his words carefully, knowing that his explanation about Kate has the potential to make or break things with Alexis.
"You've met Kate, she was the Detective who came and talked to your class," he told her, glad to see the flash of recognition on the girls face. "And while I was waiting for you, we started talking."
"And now you're friends?" He agreed that they were. "Do you see Kate every time you go out after supper?"
"Usually," he said. "Kate and I, we're not just friends," he told her, buying time to rack his brain for at least one of her friends who had a divorced parent with a successful second relationship. He was coming up empty. "She's . . ." he trailed off, trying to find the right word.
"Are you dating?" Alexis finally asked in a small voice.
"We are," he told her, seeing no reason to deny it or to try and give it another name. "And we have been for a while. I'm trying very, very hard with Kate, to make things work. To do things right," he told her. "I don't want to stop being friends with her."
"What if she leaves?" Alexis asked cautiously. He could hear the insecurity creeping back into her voice, the same insecurity that had been there for weeks after Meredith had left. Rick was quick to assure her that she didn't have to worry, that Kate was trying really, really hard like he was.
"Will you give her a chance?" he asked. "Maybe you could try to be her friend? Let her try to be yours? She had lots of fun with you when she met you at school." She looked at him questioningly and he went on, explaining that out of all the kids she's met, Alexis was the only one Kate really remembered. "She thinks you're very smart and lots of fun," he told her. She stayed quiet a while longer before asking what would happen if she didn't like Kate. "Then you and me are going to have to talk again," he said. "But I would very much like you to try and get to know her before you decide, can you do that for me?"
"I can," she assured her father. "I'm nervous now," she confessed.
"Kate's nervous too," he told her. He had to work hard to hold his smile back at the look of relief that fell over the little girls face. They sat for a moment longer before she wiggled out of his lap and headed upstairs to change her own clothes and talk Martha into doing her hair. Satisfied that Alexis was on board, at least for now, he headed off to shower and change before starting brunch.
**
"So, any news to share?" Kate hesitated before she answered her father. He called every Saturday to check in and she had nearly missed her cell phone ringing she was so wrapped up in her own thoughts about last night and Rick and meeting his kids and his mother.
"I'm seeing someone," she finally told him. "I've been seeing him for a while." Jim Beckett paused this time as he digested what his daughter had just told him. When he found his voice he asked how long a while was and surprised to hear her say she'd met him nearly 6 months ago, but they had only been officially seeing each other for the last 2 months.
"Do I know him? Have you ever mentioned him before?" Well, now there was a loaded question if Kate had ever heard one.
"You know him, I've talked about him. I've talked about him a lot in fact," she finally admitted. "Richard Castle," she finally blurted out when her father didn't respond right away. "I'm dating Richard Castle."
"That author you and your mother were always reading?" he asked, the name finally clicking. She agreed and held back a sigh as he launched into a string of questions, asking how they met and what was he like? Was he a good man, did he treat her well? And what about that messy divorce and all the rumours that surrounded it?"
"He's a good man," she finally answered and spilled out the cliff notes about Rick. Jim listened patiently until she got to eh point about him having Alexis and Charlie.
"That's a whole other bundle of complicated right there, Katie," he told her. "You aren't just getting involved with him, you're getting involved with those kids, too." She assured him that she understood and he could tell by the tone of her voice that she did. And that she was scared. "Don't push," he said, trying to come up with the best advice he could. "Be open, be friendly, but don't try to be anything more than those kids want you to be. Fastest way to blow it is to screw up with the kids." Her brow furrowed as she debated about asking him how he knew to give that advice. In the end, she decided she didn't want to know and she had to leave, so she cut the call short anyway. "Let me know how it goes, will ya?" Jim asked. His daughter had closed herself off after her mother's death and his drinking hadn't helped matters. This was the first time in a very long time that she had even mentioned a boy friend to him. Kate assured him that she would before remind him that she loved him.
**
"What's wrong?" Kate asked Alexis. Martha hadn't stuck around much after Kate had arrived and Rick had disappeared with Charlie a few minutes ago. And now Alexis was staring at her, like she was anticipating something.
"Morgan and Mackena's daddy's girl friends all told them about how they wanted to be the best of friends and get to know them really well. Don't you want to do that?" An alarm started screaming TRAP!!! in Kate's head.
"Well, I would like to be your friend," Kate told her. "And I wouldn't mind if you were mine."
"And what if I don't want to be your friend?" Alexis asked, giving Kate a bit of a look.
"Then I'll have to accept that. I can't make you be my friend," she answered while watching the girl carefully. She mulled this over for a long moment.
"Ok," Alexis decided before falling silent again. "Kate, do you like to colour?"
**
Stop texting me Lanie, I'm busy colouring
Lanie stared at the reply for a long moment, trying to figure out if Beckett was serious or not. Unable to help herself, she sent one last text. After a long moment, a picture of a little red headed girl appeared on her phone. She was smiling brightly and holding up a colouring book that had one page signed in the unpracticed hand of a child and the other was signed in Kate's neat script.
Lanie's eyes got wide, but she didn't text Kate for the rest of the day.
Fandom Castle
Paring Kate Beckett/Richard Castle, mentions of Meredith Castle/Richard Castle
Rating PG13
Summary AU: In an alternate universe, Castle and Meredith try to save their failing marriage with another baby . . .
Warnings Kid fic, I guess. If that's really a warning in this fandom? Alternate Universe, Canon timeline fudging.
"Come with me," Rick says softly as he slowly kisses his way up Kate's spine. She's stretched out in bed, laying on her front with the sheet pooled low on her back.
"Go with you where?" she asked, her voice content, but still sleepy as she basks in the feel of his skin brushing against hers.
"To brunch," he clarifies as he nudges her hair out of the way so he can kiss the back of her neck. He can feel her tense under him. "My mother's been asking when I'm going to bring you home," he tells her, finally moving away from her slightly to settle on the bed beside her. He pushes the hair out of her face so he can see her eyes, he loves her eyes. Loves that they're both green and brown at the same time. He's never seen eyes like hers before in his life and doubts he ever will again.
"Your kids. . ." she trails off and he shakes his head a little, explaining that Charlie will just roll with it and that Alexis has been asking about 'daddy's friend' for a while now. Kate isn't all that reassured by this.
"Hey, I'm playing this by ear too," he pointed out. "You're my first post-divorce girlfriend." Kate can't help but grin at the shocked look that appears on his face after he labels her his girlfriend.
"Alexis was the only kid who didn't ask about my gun," she commented, taking the heat off of him. She spends a few moments telling him a little more about what went on in the class that day.
"She's a good kid," he said with a smile. "It's nice to hear that she's perking up again. She had a hard time after the divorce and I couldn't figure out how to fix it."
"It's not something you can fix," Kate told him. "It's something she had to fix on her own." He understands where she's coming from. Alexis had lost her mother like Kate had. They might not have lost them in the same way, but they'd still lost them.
"So come to brunch," he said, extending the invitation again. "I'm a great cook and mother is a performance in herself," he finishes with a smile that she can't help but return. She eventually agrees on the condition that they don't arrive at his place together and he doesn't have a problem with that. Sure, he'd like to bring her home with him, but he understands. They've both figured out that they are on the cusp of something that could be great and neither wants to be the one that screws it up.
**
"Daddy!" Alexis exclaims, jumping up from the couch to throw herself into Richard's arms as soon as he walks through the door. He lifts the little girl up and hugs her tight, asking her how she slept and did she and Charlie have fun with Grams last night. She assures him that they did and gives him a summary of their activities.
"I have a surprise for you, for all of you," he said as he sits on the couch and Alexis slides out of his arms to sit beside him just as Charlie comes over from where he was playing, arms stretched above his head demanding a hug from his father as well. "We are having brunch today," he said and Alexis quickly cut him off, telling that Grams had already explained that. He sushed her quickly before continuing. "We are having brunch today, and I invited Kate to have it with us." A confused look falls on his daughters face but Martha's lights up, knowing exactly who Kate is. Alexis tugs on his sleeve and asks who Kate is and as he's trying to figure out what to say, Martha swoops in and pulls Charlie from his lap, making some excuse about changing the boy for the day before they disappear up the stairs. He chooses his words carefully, knowing that his explanation about Kate has the potential to make or break things with Alexis.
"You've met Kate, she was the Detective who came and talked to your class," he told her, glad to see the flash of recognition on the girls face. "And while I was waiting for you, we started talking."
"And now you're friends?" He agreed that they were. "Do you see Kate every time you go out after supper?"
"Usually," he said. "Kate and I, we're not just friends," he told her, buying time to rack his brain for at least one of her friends who had a divorced parent with a successful second relationship. He was coming up empty. "She's . . ." he trailed off, trying to find the right word.
"Are you dating?" Alexis finally asked in a small voice.
"We are," he told her, seeing no reason to deny it or to try and give it another name. "And we have been for a while. I'm trying very, very hard with Kate, to make things work. To do things right," he told her. "I don't want to stop being friends with her."
"What if she leaves?" Alexis asked cautiously. He could hear the insecurity creeping back into her voice, the same insecurity that had been there for weeks after Meredith had left. Rick was quick to assure her that she didn't have to worry, that Kate was trying really, really hard like he was.
"Will you give her a chance?" he asked. "Maybe you could try to be her friend? Let her try to be yours? She had lots of fun with you when she met you at school." She looked at him questioningly and he went on, explaining that out of all the kids she's met, Alexis was the only one Kate really remembered. "She thinks you're very smart and lots of fun," he told her. She stayed quiet a while longer before asking what would happen if she didn't like Kate. "Then you and me are going to have to talk again," he said. "But I would very much like you to try and get to know her before you decide, can you do that for me?"
"I can," she assured her father. "I'm nervous now," she confessed.
"Kate's nervous too," he told her. He had to work hard to hold his smile back at the look of relief that fell over the little girls face. They sat for a moment longer before she wiggled out of his lap and headed upstairs to change her own clothes and talk Martha into doing her hair. Satisfied that Alexis was on board, at least for now, he headed off to shower and change before starting brunch.
**
"So, any news to share?" Kate hesitated before she answered her father. He called every Saturday to check in and she had nearly missed her cell phone ringing she was so wrapped up in her own thoughts about last night and Rick and meeting his kids and his mother.
"I'm seeing someone," she finally told him. "I've been seeing him for a while." Jim Beckett paused this time as he digested what his daughter had just told him. When he found his voice he asked how long a while was and surprised to hear her say she'd met him nearly 6 months ago, but they had only been officially seeing each other for the last 2 months.
"Do I know him? Have you ever mentioned him before?" Well, now there was a loaded question if Kate had ever heard one.
"You know him, I've talked about him. I've talked about him a lot in fact," she finally admitted. "Richard Castle," she finally blurted out when her father didn't respond right away. "I'm dating Richard Castle."
"That author you and your mother were always reading?" he asked, the name finally clicking. She agreed and held back a sigh as he launched into a string of questions, asking how they met and what was he like? Was he a good man, did he treat her well? And what about that messy divorce and all the rumours that surrounded it?"
"He's a good man," she finally answered and spilled out the cliff notes about Rick. Jim listened patiently until she got to eh point about him having Alexis and Charlie.
"That's a whole other bundle of complicated right there, Katie," he told her. "You aren't just getting involved with him, you're getting involved with those kids, too." She assured him that she understood and he could tell by the tone of her voice that she did. And that she was scared. "Don't push," he said, trying to come up with the best advice he could. "Be open, be friendly, but don't try to be anything more than those kids want you to be. Fastest way to blow it is to screw up with the kids." Her brow furrowed as she debated about asking him how he knew to give that advice. In the end, she decided she didn't want to know and she had to leave, so she cut the call short anyway. "Let me know how it goes, will ya?" Jim asked. His daughter had closed herself off after her mother's death and his drinking hadn't helped matters. This was the first time in a very long time that she had even mentioned a boy friend to him. Kate assured him that she would before remind him that she loved him.
**
"What's wrong?" Kate asked Alexis. Martha hadn't stuck around much after Kate had arrived and Rick had disappeared with Charlie a few minutes ago. And now Alexis was staring at her, like she was anticipating something.
"Morgan and Mackena's daddy's girl friends all told them about how they wanted to be the best of friends and get to know them really well. Don't you want to do that?" An alarm started screaming TRAP!!! in Kate's head.
"Well, I would like to be your friend," Kate told her. "And I wouldn't mind if you were mine."
"And what if I don't want to be your friend?" Alexis asked, giving Kate a bit of a look.
"Then I'll have to accept that. I can't make you be my friend," she answered while watching the girl carefully. She mulled this over for a long moment.
"Ok," Alexis decided before falling silent again. "Kate, do you like to colour?"
**
Stop texting me Lanie, I'm busy colouring
Lanie stared at the reply for a long moment, trying to figure out if Beckett was serious or not. Unable to help herself, she sent one last text. After a long moment, a picture of a little red headed girl appeared on her phone. She was smiling brightly and holding up a colouring book that had one page signed in the unpracticed hand of a child and the other was signed in Kate's neat script.
Lanie's eyes got wide, but she didn't text Kate for the rest of the day.