6. Let's face the music and

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Rick stood nervously as she walked over to him, watched her cross the room in long confident strides. He put on his, or what he hoped was his, most charming smile, the one that normally melted them all. All the ladies that is. But his smile faltered quickly when he saw the furious look on her face. Of course he had expected her to be surprised, maybe even irritated by his unannounced appearance, but she looked as if she was ready to kill him.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed, when she was close enough for him to hear, but not loud enough to draw attention.

"You didn't call," he stuttered, saying the first thing that came to his mind, knowing as he spoke that his answer wouldn't satisfy her. It was all he had at this point though, somehow it had never crossed his mind that she might not want to see him again.

"And that gives you the right to show up and harass me at work?" She questioned, eyes glaring at him.

"Whoa, how am I harassing you?" He retorted, some of his self-confidence returning with her ridiculous accusation. He just wanted to talk, not even necessarily right now. He could always pick her up later…

"Well I don't recall inviting you." She shot back, interrupting his silent train of thought, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips. If she wasn't, for some incomprehensible reason, so tremendously mad at him right now, he would say she looked cute.

"You didn't call," he repeated, trying to make her see his point, but the look on her face told him she wasn't even close.

"Again, why do you think that gives you the right to come here? Did it ever occur to you that I didn't want to call you?" She spat at him, louder than she had intended, causing several officers to turn into their direction. Great, she thought. This was the last thing she needed, being the number one topic at the precinct. It was hard enough standing her ground as a woman in a man's world, even harder being a single mom. She didn't need the gossip on top of it.

"Oh it did," Rick's humorless laugh brought her back to the matter at hand, "but obviously we need to talk and that's why I'm here." He didn't understand her rejection towards him. What did he do?

"There's nothing to talk about," she replied, trying to look stoic but he saw it, the nervous flicker of her eyes, her tongue wetting her lips, she was nervous. She knew why he was here.

"You know exactly what, or maybe I should say who this is about," he lowered his voice, stepping closer, invading her personal space. Maybe trying to intimidate her right now was a poor move on his side but he didn't know what else to do. It seemed to work though, so he stepped even closer, watching her take a hasty step backwards and stumbling into a chair behind her.

"Beckett, you're okay?" Miller called from the other side of the room, causing her to spin around, schooling her features and waving him off.

"Its fine, Miller!" She called back, biting her lip. She really didn't need this. Royce was going to grill her later.

Turning back, she found him still glaring at her, totally unfazed by the scene he was causing, "You need to go," she demanded, "now." And started to walk away determined to leave him standing there.

"I'm not going anywhere until we've talked about Jamie," he replied, his voice steady, though he had no idea how he managed it. He was furious. He had hoped for a civilized conversation about what had happened over two years ago, maybe even a pleasant trip down memory lane before coming to an arrangement that would work for all of them. But she was acting as if he was some kind of pervert who tried to what? Get another one night stand out of her? Did she really believe he was that kind of guy?

Realizing they were still the centre of attention, Kate grabbed his arm and pulled him towards a door to their right and pushing him through it, he stumbled into an alley behind the precinct.

"Jamie is none of your business," she almost barked at him, the minute they were both outside and alone, every fibre of her in fight mode. She would keep him away from her daughter.

"Oh I think she is. As a matter of fact, I believe she is very much my business," he mimicked her tone, not willing to surrender and determined not to back down. Jamie was his daughter and he had a right to …

"I have no idea what you are talking about," she said, turning around to leave him standing in the alley, but before she had a chance to walk back inside he grabbed her wrist, spinning her back around to face him.

"Why are you acting like this?" He asked, trying to take a different approach, "All I want is to talk and if this is a bad time I'll come back later or we'll meet for dinner or even meet another day. As long as we talk about this I'm good with whatever works for you."

"You don't get it, do you?" She asked, pulling her wrist from his grip. "There is nothing to talk about. I have nothing to say to you." God, she wished he would just go. She couldn't handle this, wasn't prepared for it. She thought if she didn't call that he would lose interest. She hadn't really considered he was serious about catching up and she certainly hadn't suspected he had figured out the truth. But maybe if she just kept denying it, she would be able to convince him he had come to the wrong conclusion.

"Kate," he stepped forward, but she immediately retreated further into the alley.

"No, Rick. We had one night, a long time ago and that's all it was and is. I don't want to catch up, or repeat it. I don't have time for an affair or whatever it is you're looking for. I'm a cop and a single mom and the last thing I need in my life right now is a man." She just hoped he would get it. Please, just let him say goodbye and go his way.

"I'm her father," he said instead, his tone changing while his eyes softened for a moment. He was close to pleading with her and he didn't care. All he wanted was to get the chance to be a father to the girl as well. A chance was really all he was asking for.

She caught her breath, stumbling back, before she caught herself, trying to mask her shock. Until now there had been a tiny part of her hoping he was really here because he was looking for a repeat of that night or maybe he wanted an answer why she had just disappeared afterwards, but he definitely knew.

"Jamie doesn't have a father. It's just her and me." Her voice was not much more than a whisper. "She's not your daughter."

He heard his mother's voice in the back of his head, warning him he would do something stupid, but it was too late, she had pushed him too far. He was a father after all and those instincts just took over, so he snapped, anger and desperation taking over, "Don't play dumb, Kate. I saw her. She has my eyes, my blue eyes. I know when she was born, Cynthia told me. She's my daughter and you know it." He knew he was losing it and it most certainly wouldn't get him anywhere, but he couldn't bring himself to step back, take a deep breath and calm down. She was his daughter too.

"Jamie is my daughter," she growled. "Mine. You have nothing to do with her and we're doing just fine on our own. And if I ever see you near her again … ."

This was it, "Oh, so this is how you want to play it?" His voice was cold as ice, the fake smile on his lips even colder. "I will enforce a paternity test and prove she's my daughter. And who do you think will have the better cards when this goes to court? The single mom who works crazy hours, is constantly in danger of getting killed and barely has time for her kid, or the famous writer, with lots of free time on his hands and even more money?" He was shocked by his own words, saw the terror in her eyes. Those sad eyes he hadn't been able to forget, now shining with tears he knew he was responsible for, yet he couldn't bring himself to stop. "I will fight you Kate Beckett. I will fight for her."

When he finally stopped he saw tears falling down her face and he was disgusted with himself. How could he say such awful things to her? He was an ass, a mean ass and he was horrified by his own behavior, how could he have let his emotions get the better of him like this? Did he really think threatening her would get him anywhere? If only he'd listened to his mother and approached this differently. He could have given her a warning, call her at the precinct, anything. Give her a chance. Taking a deep breath, he ran one hand down over his face as he tried to get himself back under control.

"Go." He heard her shaking voice before he had a chance to apologize and his heart broke a bit when he realized what he had done to her.

"Kate, I …," she didn't let him finish.

"Go," she demanded again, a bit louder this time, but he didn't move.

"Kate, please." He was begging now.

"You heard her," a dominant voice startled both of them. "She wants you to go."

Turning, Rick found the officer, Royce? he had talked to earlier glaring back at him. And he knew there was nothing he could do right now without making things worse. So with one last look at Kate, who looked as if she was close to breaking down, he raised his hands in surrender.

"Please call me," he said one last time, before turning around and walking away.

Royce stepped into the alley, watching the man who had obviously upset his partner so much that she was crying, turn around the corner and disappear.

"What was that about?" Royce asked, glancing at Beckett, who tried to pull it together.

"Nothing," she finally replied, putting on a brave face and walking back into the precinct, not willing to give any further explanation.

"Beckett?" He called after her, but she waved him off.

"Let it go Royce. I've got this."

X~~~X

Royce kept a close eye on her for the rest of the day. He could tell she was putting on a show, pretending to be fine when she actually was barely holding it together. Whatever happened between her and this guy had upset her enough to make her lose her focus, something which never happened unless she was worried about Jamie.

He made sure they didn't have to go out on patrol again for the rest of the day, calling in some favors and letting her do paperwork, while he went on a web search.

It only took him seconds to learn exactly who Richard Castle really was and Royce was quick to come up with a man's theory of what had happened between his partner and the world famous, bestselling author. Personally he had never heard of him, but he sure had charisma, he had believed the author's story about his daughter being friends with Jamie and if he was able to convince an old warhorse like himself, he had a pretty good idea what kind of promises a man like Richard Castle could make to a women. Promises he never intended to keep. Gladly Beckett, though young, was not just any woman and she obviously had figured out Richard Castle's scam but the bastard had still obviously hurt her.

"Hey Beckett," she looked up from the form she was currently filling out and saw her partner nervously fumbling with the pen he was holding.

"Mmmh?"

"I know it's none of my business what happened between you and this author but …," she cut off his stuttering.

"You know who he is?" She asked, eyes wide. This was getting worse by the minute.

He shrugged, "Did a web search."

She grunted, needing this day to be over, now. But Royce misinterpreted her silence as a sign to continue.

"Look kid, I just want you to know, if you want me to pay him a visit or send someone to give him a ticket… ." He let the thought unfinished, figuring she would get his meaning.

"Thanks Royce, but it's not what you think and I can handle it on my own," she tried to smile at him, but failed.

"Sure, just keep in mind, there are other fish in the sea," he replied before returning to his desk.

Kate buried her head in her hands. It was bad enough that Royce had witnessed her fallout with Rick Castle, but on top of it he now had a totally wrong picture of the two of them in his head, though maybe that picture was better than the truth.

She looked at the clock on the wall and sighed when she saw she still had over an hour until her shift was over. She wanted to go home. She wanted to cuddle up on the couch with her little girl and forget today ever happened.

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