609A/N: This will be my contribution story to the Castle Ficathon! Not sure if I will have reached the 30, 000 word count by the deadline, but it already exceeds 15, 000 so I should be covered for the mini-ficathon at the very least. This AU was born from a prompt on the CastleFanficPrompts Tumblr page, but unfortunately, it's too far back for me to find. Hopefully, whoever prompted this will see it! Hope you all enjoy!
Kate closes her lesson plan, deems it detailed enough to be ready for her return the week after next. Looking up from her desk, she glances at her wall clock and sighs. She's really glad it's Friday and the week is almost over; by the end of the day she'll go visit her dad and after then she'll allow herself the luxury to go home, let her body sink into a scalding bath and open the pages of a good book. She loves teaching, she really does, and the kids are lovely, they respect her in the classroom and look up to her, trust her enough to come to her for advice, for comfort, but this week has been unusually chaotic.
They've been bouncing off the walls, constantly buzzing with energy and she knows it's because spring break has been just around the corner. Her grade six students were particularly looking forward to the Spring Dance, constant gossiping about who invited whom and what the girls were going to wear.
The week break will definitely do her some good. She loves these kids but she needs a little bit of time to herself.
"Good morning, Ms. Beckett," she hears from the door and smiles, glad to see Alexis entering her classroom. She doesn't practice favoritism while she teaches, wants all of the kids that come to her to know and feel like they have equal opportunity to learn if they be willing to put in the work. Outside the classroom however, she can't help but feel a little closer to certain students than others. Alexis is one of those kids. She's an amazing girl, always wants to learn and talented too, wise beyond her years. Kate has been lucky to have her in her class this year.
"Good morning, Alexis," Kate greets, looking up to find the girl alone, taking a seat at her usual desk, her books already laid out before her. Kate usually always sees her with her friends, though she's very serious about her studies, so she's surprised to find her here so early and on her own. Her face is serious, scrunched up in thought, and her brow knit in concentration as she stares down her desk. "Is everything okay?" Kate asks.
Alexis looks up, a bit startled and a little shy, struggling to open up, but she eventually takes the leap. "I'm worried about tonight," she admits looking up at Kate and then back down at her desk.
Ah, the dance. She remembers those days too; can relate to how much pressure she knows comes with these kinds of school events. Kate rises from her chair and moves around her desk to sit closer to Alexis, breaching a bit of the space between them so that it's easier to talk.
"Anything in particular?" Kate enquires, figures maybe with a little push, Alexis will let on a bit more of what's on her mind. The girl looks down at her desk for a little while longer but once she looks up, Kate knows she's ready to spill.
"Jeremy asked me to the dance," she states. Kate feels a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She manages to tame it, though because it's clear Alexis is upset, conflicted about this; there must be more to the story.
"He's a great guy. Do you like him?"
A subtle blush tints the girl's cheeks, matching the bright red of her hair, and Kate knows enough to realize that's a yes even before Alexis tilts her head slightly in a shy nod.
"But..." Kate trails off, coaxing he rest of the story out of her.
"But my Dad volunteered to chaperone the dance and he told me he wanted to make sure the boys stay away from me."
Kate's heart does a little flip in her chest and she internally chastises herself for it. She knows who Alexis' father is, has known since she saw her student class list.
Richard Castle, famous mystery novelist.
She's read every single one of his books - multiple times – and she can't deny she's gazed at the handsome book cover photo more than once. But she's never let that influence the way she treats Alexis, has never even mentioned her father's celebrity status to her. Lord knows she gets that enough from the other teachers. The girl had told her once that Ms. Karpowski had asked her for his number when he'd featured in the New York Ledger as being one of the city's most eligible bachelors. Talk about taking advantage of children and unprofessional conduct. She'd had a chat with the professor after Alexis had told her how uncomfortable it had made her.
So no, she's never asked Alexis about her father, out of respect for the girl and she's not about to change that today.
"Have you told your dad about Jeremy asking you to the dance?" Alexis shakes her head and just the mention of it seems to flare panic in her, her eyes going wide.
"No. I mean, I love my dad, he's really cool. But he doesn't like boys being around me much. Says he knows how mean they can be and he doesn't want me getting hurt."
She's heard about Richard Castle's notorious reputation on page six and it was anything but stellar. It looks like he doesn't want anyone treating his daughter the way he apparently treats the women he keeps on his arm for nothing more than a couple of hours. Ironic. She keeps that comment to herself.
"What if I went to the dance?" Shit, what is she doing? "I could try to distract your dad for a few moments, so maybe you and Jeremy could have a dance?"
Alexis' eyes go wide with joy, alight with renewed possibility. "Really? You would do that for me?" she asks, her voice almost wondrous.
Crap. What has she gotten herself into? She doesn't have time tonight; she needs to go see her father.
But the light in Alexis' eyes tell her exactly why she did it, why she sacrificed her warm bath and relaxing night to attend the school dance she's been hearing about all week. Someone different needs her tonight and she can go straight to her father afterschool if there's an emergency. There isn't much she wouldn't do for this girl. She'd go to great lengths for all her students, no doubt, but Alexis has come to be something special to her. They have private reading sessions sometimes, as she's far more advanced than the rest of the class and wants to keep learning, and Kate has come to know her quite well, grown very fond of her.
"I've got your back," she tells Alexis with a wink. "If you want me to," Kate specifies, not wanting to influence her. Alexis wraps her arms around her, taking Kate by surprise and she hesitates to reciprocate, only because of what it could look like in terms of student-teacher boundaries. She doesn't usually do this but she finds herself caving, curling around the twelve-year-old girl whom she's grown to love over the past year. Alexis is a special girl.
Pulling back after a few seconds, Alexis is all smiles again. "Thank you Ms. Beckett. I think it would be a great plan."
She couldn't be happier to have restored Alexis' good humor, her excitement about the dance returning and clearing her eyes, but Kate finds herself dreading the situation she's just managed to put herself in. How on Earth is she going to distract Richard Castle?
Kate sighs, already regretting the offer she'd made her favorite student as she stares down her closet. Why is she so damn worried about what to wear? It's not as if she's actually attending the dance as a guest: she's only there to supervise. She really doesn't need to be all that dolled up.
Richard Castle will be there, her mind annoyingly supplies and she condemns the thought right away. She's going because she made Alexis a promise, because it mattered to her that she be there and she isn't about to go back on her word.
She shouldn't care about the girl's father, doesn't intend to stoop to the level of other teachers who used Alexis to try and get to him. It shouldn't matter that she'd had a bit of a crush on him when she began reading his books, inevitably drawn to the back cover where his handsome picture was printed.
Unfortunately, page six has managed to squander the image of him she'd conjured up in her mind long ago; he was nothing like she'd imagined, those thoughts nothing more than fantasy and she'd let go of her ridiculous pull to him once she read about how he really was.
His daughter, however, she knows is quite amazing.
Tonight is about Alexis and letting her have a dance with Jeremy. All she has to do is engage her father in conversation for a little over five minutes and then her task would be done. Easy. She could totally manage that.
With a little bit of luck, she might even be able to slip out of the dance early and come back home to enjoy the bath she'd so desperately been looking forward to.
Exhaling loudly, though there's no one to hear it in her empty apartment, Kate pulls a comfy yet chic purple sweater off the rack of her dresser so that she won't be too out of place at the formal dance.
Tucking it into her skirt, she gives herself a once. She decides it'll do and if it's not good enough for Richard Castle's standards - she's seen the women he parades as arm-candy at events around the city and what they wear - then it's his loss.
Though she's only five minutes late, the dance seems to be already in full swing once she arrives. Music can be heard from outside the walls of the school, and she smiles despite her predicament. The kids had been looking forward to this all week and it looks like it's the success they'd anticipated. She's glad they'll all enjoy their night before the break.
She enters the party, greets some of the teachers and kids at the entrance and heads for the punch bowl, wishing it was spiked with something a little stronger than artificial fruit flavor, but she realizes she's at an elementary school dance.
The music is loud but tasteful for the age group and the gymnasium has been completely revamped and decorated for the event. The main lights are out but they have colored beams that flash around the room and disco balls that reflect it in every direction. The kids are having a blast already.
She spots Alexis dancing with her friends and the girl sees her, flashes Kate a wide smile which she reciprocates in kind, sending her a thumbs up.
"She's kind of amazing," a low, dark voice speaks next to her above the loud thrum of the music and it startles her, has her almost spilling her glass of punch as she turns sharply to see who it is who has managed to catch her unaware.
Richard Castle.
Butterflies spring to life in her stomach at the sight of him so close, the smatter of stubble along his jaw and bright blue eyes that sparkle as he glances at his daughter. He's wearing a dark suit over a navy dress shirt that accentuates his eyes and shit, she's totally staring.
The grin that covers his lips tells her he caught her too. She feels her cheeks flame in what she assumes is a deep red as she looks away, down at her hands and generally at anywhere but him.
"I'm Alexis' father, Rick," he says, holding out his hand for her to shake. She looks back at him, figures it would be rude to ignore him. Besides, she has a job to do. Grasping his hand within hers, Kate feels tingles of electricity shoot through her arm, starting from the tips of her fingers to her elbow and she pulls back quickly, startled by the intensity. He seems taken aback as well as he looks down at his hand, his brow knit in question. He recovers faster than she does however, swinging his gaze back to hers and smiling softly.
"And you must be, Miss..." he trails off waiting for her to fill the blank. Except she's drawing exactly that: a blank. On her own damn name.
"Beckett," she manages to say. "Kate," she corrects, realizing he's not a student and doesn't need to be addressing her by her surname. "Kate Beckett," she repeats, this time in order and she really wants to slap herself.
She really needs to get it together. It doesn't matter that he's even better looking than on the back of his novels or on page six, he's a womanizer and she really doesn't have room for that in her life, doesn't want that.
Snap out of it, Kate.
"Ah, the infamous Ms. Beckett!" he exclaims, a genuine smile curving his lips upward and if it's at all possible she thinks her skin might grow a darker shade of red. "Alexis talks about you all the time," he tells her sincerely. "It's a pleasure to meet the woman who puts smile on my daughters face every day when she comes home from school."
So maybe she was a little quick to judge, too quick to believe what the tabloids have printed about him. Or maybe he's just sweet talking her. Regardless, she can't say it isn't working, isn't sending sparks through her blood.
"I'm sure it's not all my doing," Kate says humbly. "Alexis has a lot of amazing friends here," she tells him tilting her head towards his daughter dancing away to the latest pop song with Paige and her other friends, singing along and jumping up and down to the beat.
He hums happily looking over at Alexis. "She does, yeah."
The way he looks at his daughter tells her a little more about him, about how much he cares for her, how he must be a great father. Most parents would jump at the chance to drop their kids off at school on a Friday night and enjoy some down time. But not him. He's here, along with a handful of other parents and would rather spend the night making sure his daughter is enjoying herself than be parading out on the town, which Kate realizes, he easily could have done, being a public figure and - from what she knows - a single father.
Maybe she'd truly misjudged him.
She's absolutely stunning. Alexis had never enjoyed a school year so much, always coming home happy and excited to share the new things she'd learnt during the day, raving about a certain
Ms. Beckett. He'd never thought to ask what she might looked like. He'd had assumed she was a sweet middle aged lady with greying hair.
He'd never been so wrong in his entire life. He so should not have assumed. Kate Beckett is absolutely gorgeous, her chocolate brown hair curling down her back in gentle waves he craves to run his hands through, her plump lips rosy enough to contrast the paleness of her skin, mirroring the blush of her cheeks he's noticed had appeared once he'd approached and startled her earlier. The skirt she wears clings to her endlessly long legs, her bottom-
Yeah, that is definitely not what he should be thinking about right now. He's seen some beautiful women in his life, he has to admit, but no one quite like Kate Beckett. And maybe it's because he knows the difference she's making in his daughter's life or maybe it's the fact that he's barely been able to take his eyes off her since he saw her walk through the doors of the school, but he's man enough to admit that he's a little smitten with her at the moment.
She seems a little weary of him, something he doesn't get quite often and it's throwing him off his game. He definitely wants to know more about her.
"Her friends are great," he recalls their conversation, tearing his eyes away from Alexis and her friends dancing and jumping like there's no tomorrow to look back at the stunning professor. "But I doubt they are the ones who have her raving about the merits of Shakespeare and Tolkien." He knows that's her, that she's actually taken some of her own personal time to go beyond the school's curriculum with Alexis.
"She's a very smart girl," Kate shrugs, as if this has nothing to do with her and all with Alexis. "She's doing so well in class," she goes on, "Performs above and beyond expectations and she's always begging to know more. Alexis is a pleasure to teach."
Oh wow. He sees his daughter through her eyes, sees how much this woman cares about her and it warms his heart, does all kinds of things to his insides. He's spent all of five minutes in her company but he already wants to know more, already likes her.
"Thank you for caring about her," he says honestly, hopes this woman can truly see how much it means to him, that Alexis loves her school, loves to learn and that at just twelve years old she comes home and he can have real conversations about literature with his daughter.
She's always loved reading, always loved stories, just like him and when she was nine they were already reading through the Harry Potter novels together. But Kate Beckett has enabled her to evolve, to pursue her interest in literature.
"Like I said, she's lovely to teach. Very mature for her age," Kate says and he can see she's proud of his daughter and what she's accomplished. "Though I'm not sure where she gets that last part."
Rick does a double take and stares at her, but she isn't looking at him anymore, gazing innocently at the crowd of swaying bodies dancing to the beat. Was that a dig?
He can see she's suppressing a grin, but she's just short of succeeding, the corner of her lips tugging up slightly, giving her away. She's teasing him.
"Ms. Beckett," he says in mock affront. "Are you insinuating I lack some kind of maturity?"
She turns her head to face him again, a single eyebrow arched and damn, that's hot. "Did you tell her you were chaperoning to keep the boys away from her?"
Rick sputters, nearly chokes on his punch but he recovers and manages to avoid making a mess. He doesn't miss her smile though, and it flips his stomach. She really is a breathtaking woman.
"Did Alexis tell you that?" He's surprised his daughter had revealed this to anyone but apparently Kate Beckett has her trust. "I'll have you know, my being here is not for lack of maturity, but as a protective measure." Kate laughs and she rolls her eyes. She actually rolls her eyes at him and it sparks something in him. Not many women treat him this way, like he's normal, just another guy. It's refreshing and maybe even a tad sexy. "Hey, don't laugh, I know boys her own age. I was one. Trust me, their intentions are far from pure."
Kate shakes her head at him, apparently unimpressed with his reasoning. "She's in good hands here and she's surrounded by her friends. They wouldn't let anyone who'd want to hurt her near," Kate refutes and... admittedly, he hadn't thought of that. "Not to mention, she's twelve. The worst that could happen at the school dance would be for someone to kiss her and run away."
His eyes go wide because first off, no one is good enough to be kissing his daughter and just- ew, no, he doesn't want to picture it either. He shudders at the thought and Kate laughs.
"I hate to break it to you, Mr. Castle, but you're terribly ill prepared for her high school years," she warns him and her lips are curved in a smile.
She's terrifying him because he knows she's right: he is in no way ready to take on the slew of high school boys which Alexis will soon have to deal with, but as long as Kate looks at him and smiles like that, he can't be too unhappy about it.
Shit, he's already thinking of her as Kate rather than Ms. Beckett.
He's in so much trouble.
A/N: I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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