5. Chapter 5

Title: Of Finding Innocence

Disclaimer: If I owned them, I'd be too busy trying to drive you mad with tweets to bother writing.

Summary: Kate Beckett met Richard Castle once, long ago, at a book signing. What if things had gone differently that day? Castle, but with a large, large twist.

Author's Note: So, you guys are immensely awesome. You just are. Thank you for being so excited about this story, and for reviewing and blogging and everything. I am having so too much fun with this, and am really glad that you are too! So, on to our second dinner and some chitchat with the one and only Dr. Lanie Parish.

Emma

Chapter 5:

"So, the boys tell me you cut out early on Monday?"

Kate turned to find Lanie Parish, the new Medical Assistant, leaning against her desk. They'd been out for coffee a few times since she started. Kate found her entertaining, if a bit pushy. It was nice to have another girl around—a girl who encouraged her to be girly every so often. Karpowski kept her grounded and they held their own against the boys, but she wasn't really one for chitchat.

"And if I did?" Kate replied evenly.

"I'm just curious as to why," Lanie shrugged, adjusting her scrubs. "From all you've told me, and what they all say, you never cut out early."

"I didn't actually cut out early," Kate replied, shuffling the papers Egrin had finished for her. She'd have to get him a soda. "I went home at a reasonable hour for once."

"Same difference for you," Lanie countered, plopping into the chair Kate and Esposito kept between their desks. "And it's quiet today, no bodies. So, dish."

"Why do you always assume there's dish?" Kate asked as she filed things away. "I could have gone home to nap. It was a rough week." She was caught between wanting to tease her knew friend and genuinely wanting to keep her private life just that—private.

"But you didn't. You look too relaxed to have done nothing but sleep for a day and a half."

Kate shook her head. "You do realize that doesn't make sense, right?"

Lanie laughed. "Shut up. Dish."

"I went over to a friend's house for dinner," Kate shrugged. It was true, or, well, it was the closest truth there was.

"What friend?"

"Why do you care?"

"Why won't you tell me?"

They glared at each other. "Beckett, tell your friend why you left early so we can all get back to work in peace, would you? Girl time is giving me a headache," Esposito grumbled.

"Shut it, Esposito," Kate and Lanie replied together.

"Touchy," he muttered.

"Anyway," Lanie grinned, turning back to Kate with a wink. "Who's your new friend?"

Kate sighed. Holding out was just going to result in more needling. "Rick Castle," she said quietly.

"Excuse me?"

"Rick Castle," she reiterated, throwing Lanie a look. "And don't make a big deal out of this." Please, please, just be calm and cool and…

"You went on a date with Rick Castle?" Lanie squealed.

Kate glared at her as more than a few heads turned. "No, I did not," she replied loudly, turning her gaze on the other uniforms, who quickly ducked back into their desks. "Honestly, Lanie."

"Sorry," she grinned. "But, seriously? You had dinner with him? The novelist?"

"I had dinner with him and his kid. It was a…it was just dinner." It had been a lovely dinner that had left her smiling for days. But it was still just dinner.

"His kid? Castle has a kid?"

"Yeah," Kate replied easily. "She's adorable."

"How did this happen?"

"Yes, Beckett. Please, do tell us. We're all dying to know," Esposito added, leaning across the aisle.

"Would you like me to braid your hair while she tells us, or should I punch you first, Esposito?" Lanie snapped at him.

He recoiled and Kate snickered as he eyed Lanie with some trepidation. "Come on, Lanie. Let's hit the break room. I don't think we need to give these fish more fodder."

She led the MA out of the bullpen and into the break room, where she shut the door. "First rule of thumb? Never open a door with them. They'll get pliers and take the hinges off to get back in once you close it," she said with a small sigh.

"Sorry," Lanie laughed, plopping down on the couch. "But, really. How did this happen?"

"I met them at his book signing and spent some time with his daughter, and they invited me over for dinner. I went. It was nice," Kate said as she stood awkwardly in the center of the room, her gaze flitting from the battered table to the abysmal coffee maker.

"Nice?"

"Yeah. We ate dinner and watched a movie." Downplaying it would probably make Lanie's interrogation a little less robust, right?

"What movie?"

"Swan Princess," Kate said, a smile sneaking onto her face.

"Really?" she asked, giggling.

"Hey, the seven-year-old picked it."

Lanie relaxed against the couch. "Man, it's been ages since I saw that movie."

"Right?" Kate slumped down next to her, feeling a little more at ease now. This is what girlfriends were for, and she should try to feel comfortable sharing. It was nice, really. "It was fun."

"Are you seeing them again?"

Kate nodded, toying with her fingers as she looked out the window. "Next Monday, for dinner again."

"Is this gonna be an every week thing?"

Kate met her gaze. "I don't know. Maybe?" She hoped it would be, and the day between the dinner and Wednesday had helped her accept that; she was allowed to look forward to fun evenings filled with laughter. That was healthy and good for her.

"You look so smiley!" Lanie told her. "How's your guy, Will? How's he taking it?"

"He's moving to Boston," she said quietly, that smile disappearing. In fact, he'd just left for Boston yesterday, come to think of it, though she liked to pretend she hadn't been counting.

"Oh."

"So, you know, not really an issue?" Kate chuckled sadly.

"You sounded like you really liked him."

Kate nodded. "I did." She had, and thinking about it made her heart clench.

"Sorry." Lanie put a hand on her leg.

Kate gave her a weak smile. "It's okay. Happens." People left. That's what life had taught her, and no amount of positive thinking seemed to change that.

"Still sucks."

"Yes. It does. But," she met Lanie's eyes. Talking about it wouldn't make it suck any less. Time to deflect. "How are you?"

Lanie beamed. "Met a nice guy."

"Oh really?"

"Anthony—firefighter."

"Ooh, calendar material?" she asked, raising her eyebrows with a grin.

"Last year's May."

"Nice," Kate high-fived her. Lanie was easy, fun. "Tell me more." Both of their pagers went off at the same time. "On second thought, let's get drinks later this week?"

Lanie nodded. "Tomorrow? Little false Thanksgiving?"

Kate smiled. That would be nice. Though, she wouldn't lie; the turkey sandwiches the Station provided were always really good. She didn't mind missing the actual holiday that much. It wasn't as though she had anyone to go home to, especially with Will out of the picture now. But this was not the time to dwell on any of that. "Sounds great, Lanie. Say seven, tomorrow?"

"Perfect. Annoying when the stiffs get in the way, isn't it?"

"It'd be too easy otherwise," Kate shrugged with a small laugh. This was their life, and she knew Lanie wouldn't trade it any more than she herself would.

"Whatever you say," Lanie laughed as they left the break room and went their separate ways.

Maybe Kate could do the alone thing. She didn't have Will, but she had Lanie, and on Monday she'd have Rick and Alexis, and Madison was around…she could do it.

(…)

"I'll get it. I'll get it! No, Daddy! Let me!"

The door opened on the grinning face of Richard Castle. He looked just as handsome as he did on the book jackets, dressed in a striped button down and casual jeans. He would have made a studly picture, but for the daughter he held upside down under his arm. "Hi, Kate."

"Hi," she laughed as Alexis waved and then squirmed, braided pigtails bouncing merrily.

"Daddy! Let me down!"

"I'm sorry, what was that?" he asked, taking a step backward so that Kate could come in and shut the door. "I didn't hear you."

"Put me down!" Alexis repeated, giggling.

"Oh, that is what you said. So sorry." He turned her right side up and placed her down on the floor. "Better?"

Alexis huffed and crossed her arms, looking up at him. "I just wanted to get the door. You didn't have to capture me."

He laughed. "My apologies little miss."

"Thank you." She turned back to Kate, who was watching them, smiling and biting her lip. They made such a nice picture. "How are you, Kate?"

"I'm good, Alexis," Kate said, still a bit shocked by the entire exchange. "And how are you, now that you're the right way up?"

"I'm good!" she beamed. "Daddy took me and Paige to the park after school."

"Is Paige a friend?"

"She's my best friend," Alexis grinned. Kate glanced at Rick, who was mouthing 'inseparable.' "We do almost everything together."

"Sounds like a best friend to me," Kate replied. She and Maddy had been like that as kids. "What did you do at the park?"

"We chased pigeons."

"Really?" Had she ever done that? She couldn't remember. She must have. It's what city kids did.

"Daddy chased the most."

Oh really? Kate looked at Rick, who was now studiously stirring something in a pot. "Did he now?"

"Uh-huh. He made big noises and everyone looked at him funny. It was embarrassing," Alexis told her, looking put upon.

"I'd imagine it would be," Kate laughed. That mental image was priceless. "Put on quite a show, did you?"

He turned a calm face on her. "Do you need to make a pit stop in the office?"

Kate smiled—defense masked in concern, how crafty. "Yeah, actually."

"Alexis, would you put out silverware, please? We'll be right back."

Alexis happily obliged and Rick led Kate back and into the office.

"Thanks for remembering," Kate said while he opened the safe and she took off her gun and badge. The room was messier today, with pages all over the huge desk and a few strange strings with hanging pages, held up with clothespins. She supposed Rick might be too good for the old corkboard stereotype. But this was just weird.

He took the gun and badge from her and locked them up. "Not a problem. I'm gonna enjoy doing that." He stood and led her back out of the room before she was able to ask about the pages.

Kate shook her head. "As much as you enjoy chasing pigeons?" she asked as they stepped into the kitchen, deciding to focus on the task at hand: teasing the big, bad Richard Castle, pigeon chaser extraordinaire.

Rick shrugged and walked around to turn the burners off. "Dinner is served, and I regret nothing; those girls laughed for ages. I don't know why you were embarrassed."

"Because it was silly, Daddy," Alexis explained, keeping up as they took their seats and Rick began serving spaghetti.

"I hope this is okay," he said as he gave Kate a generous portion. "We only have a certain number of options," he glanced at Alexis.

Kate smiled. "Homemade food is good in all forms. This looks delicious. What kind of sauce?" It smelled amazing, and if last week's dinner was any indication, she would probably love everything he made.

"The real kind," Alexis replied. "Daddy doesn't make canned sauce."

"Are you a culinary, Mr. Castle?" Kate asked as she stood and spooned sauce while he put the pot back on the stove. "Tell me when, Alexis."

"When!"

Kate stopped pouring and moved to her own pile of spaghetti. Homemade sauce—what a surprise. She supposed he'd put that on the pizza too, but this was different. She'd always found sauce to be the most difficult thing, because you could ruin it so easily, and she usually did.

"I like to dabble," Rick replied as he came back to the table. "Oh, thanks. That's good," he added as she ladled sauce for him too.

She sat down and they happily began eating. The sauce was amazing. It had nothing of the metallic tang she was used to. And there were actual tomato chunks. When was the last time she'd even eaten a piece of tomato? "Rick, this is fantastic."

"You think so?"

"Yeah," she said, happily taking another large bite.

"Daddy makes it the best. Gram doesn't," Alexis added.

"Yes, Grandma does tend to be too, shall we say, creative in the kitchen," Rick smirked.

"It tasted like feet, Daddy. That's not creative; it's bad."

Rick laughed. "She's right."

"I can't make sauce," Kate said. "So I'll take your word for it. But this is really delicious."

Rick considered her as she wiped a wayward bit of red from her cheek. "Do you cook much?"

She shrugged. "What is much, really?" If 'much' counted as 'almost never' then yes, she cooked.

He grinned. "Take-out queen, are you?"

"I like take-out," Alexis interjected. "I like the pancakes from the Chinese restaurant."

"Chinese pancakes?" Kate asked, too thrown by the idea to bother dealing with the look Rick was shooting her about her lack of home-cooked food intake. At least she'd gone out and gotten real food last week.

"Scallion Pancakes," Rick explained. "She loves them."

"Those and the noodles," Alexis nodded. "We do that every week."

"I like the noodles too," Kate told her. "But I also like the mu shu pork." Chinese nights at the station were her absolute favorite, even if they did leave her a little over-full and a bit bloated the next day.

"Ick," Alexis grimaced.

Rick laughed while Kate smiled at her honesty. "That's not nice, Lexi. Kate might not like all of your favorite foods, but I doubt she'd say they were icky."

"Sorry, Kate," Alexis said quickly.

"It's okay, Alexis. What are your favorites, Rick?" she asked, turning to look at him as he slurped a noodle into his mouth.

"I'm a big fan of the mu shu as well, and spare ribs," he said, holding a hand in front of his mouth. She wondered if his table manners were quite so good without his daughter around.

"You'd get along with Esposito," Kate smiled. "He inhales them."

"Who's Esposito?" Alexis asked.

"He's my…teammate? We're paired for most things at the Precinct." The terminology was as hazy as their relationship—caught between amicable and playfully contentious.

"Teammate, not partner?" asked Rick.

Kate wrinkled her nose. "I think I'd have to kill myself before Esposito becomes my partner. He needs a buddy, not a mom."

"Is he your age, Kate?" Alexis asked.

"He's a year younger than me," Kate replied. "But it seems like five, sometimes," she added with a sigh, part for effect, and part for the fact that it was true.

"I know how that feels," the girl nodded.

"You do?"

"That's how Daddy is."

Rick coughed as he choked on his drink and Kate laughed. "Oh, Rick, you don't stand a chance with her, do you?" Alexis definitely ran the room in his house, not that Rick seemed to mind.

"Nope," Alexis grinned. "Gram says I've had him…uh, wrapped around my little finger since day one."

Kate smiled at her. "That's okay. I was the same way with my Dad." She could smile and her father would cave into anything. She'd rarely used the power though, and then when they'd grown apart when she became a teenager, she'd missed the days when a smile could make anything go away.

"I'll bet," Rick muttered.

"Quiet, Pigeon Man," Kate admonished with a grin.

"Oh, come on. Not that. Anything but that," he whined in a rather impressive display of petulance.

"But I think it has such a charming ring to it, don't you Alexis?" she said, winking at the little girl.

Alexis giggled. "Yeah, Pigeon Man!"

"You can't gang up on me. That's completely unfair."

"Why?" Alexis asked sweetly.

Rick looked between them. "Because…because…you already gang up on me with your Gram. You can't have Kate too! I need someone on my side."

"Why would you ever assume I'd side with you?" Kate asked as she reached for a last piece of garlic bread, offering it to Alexis, who nodded. "It's girls together, Rick," she explained, splitting the piece down the middle and handing half across the table.

"I wanted bread too," he whined.

Alexis smirked. "Girls together, Daddy."

"And you're being awfully childish," Kate added with a laugh, popping a piece of bread into her mouth. Teasing him was too much fun by twice.

Rick glared at her. "I invite you into my home. I feed you my food. And this is how you repay me? Stealing the last roll and gaining the allegiance of my child?"

Kate pretended to consider his statement. "Yeah, that about sums it up."

He narrowed his eyes. "I will get you back."

"Good luck with that," Kate replied, laughing as Alexis attempted to imitate their glare off.

"I'm cleaning up," he announced, chuckling at his daughter. "You two go find something to do until dessert. Though, again, I don't feel that I should reward this kind of behavior."

"It was all Kate's idea," Alexis said quickly.

"See how easily they turn on you?" Rick asked Kate, raising an eyebrow.

"Only because you played dirty with sugar," she fired back. Oh, wow, that was…dirty.

He blinked. "I have so many responses to that, and none of them are appropriate right now."

Kate laughed. She hadn't meant to give him that opportunity. Then again, it seemed like she was winning tonight, and she was certainly enjoying the competition. And the little looks he kept sending her weren't bad either. "Come on, Alexis. Let's leave your father to the dishes."

Alexis nodded and hopped up while Kate stacked the plates and brought them to the counter. She watched as Alexis ran over and hugged Rick from behind, bumping her head into the small of his back.

"I love you, Daddy. Even if Kate says it's girls together," she whispered—as quietly as seven-year-olds ever whisper.

Rick smiled and met Kate's eyes. Kate felt her own smile tugging at her lips as Rick turned and lifted Alexis up to plant a messy kiss to her cheek. She missed that—missed her father. It was wonderful to watch Rick and Alexis together, but it pulled on her heart.

"Love you too, Pumpkin," he said quietly.

Alexis beamed and giggled as he set her down. She scurried over to Kate and took her hand. "Do you wanna see the solar system Daddy and I are building?"

"You're building the solar system?" Kate asked, surprised.

Alexis nodded and began to lead her up the stairs, her small hand warm in Kate's. "We'll be back, Daddy."

"Take your time," he called to them.

Kate let Alexis guide her around the second floor and down the hall to what appeared to be another study. She hadn't really appreciated just how huge the loft was the last time she'd been here. It was enormous. The second floor must have at least five rooms. Her own apartment had only one bedroom, and even it was considered big. The living room alone made it prime real estate, and she was lucky to have found it and gotten in with rent control.

Alexis brought her into the study and Kate smiled at the mess that greeted her. There were paper mache spheres scattered all over the room. Newspaper covered the floor and there were unopened cans of paint along the far wall, sitting in a stack against a mahogany desk. Posters of the planets covered the full bookcases that lined the walls and Kate spotted a set of instructions on the oddly clean desk.

"So, where are you going to put this solar system? The planets are big," she remarked, looking around at the different planets, some painted and others rough and white, drying and waiting for the artistic touch of two very ambitious Castles. She'd built some impressive dioramas as a kid, but nothing so elaborate as this.

"They're scale models," Alexis told her. "That's Earth," she said, pointing to the third planet on the right. "Well, that will be Earth, when we paint it."

"When are you painting the rest of them?" Kate asked.

"Whenever we get time," she shrugged. "It's just for fun."

"You two built scale models of the entire solar system for fun?" Richard Castle, pigeon chasing extraordinaire and super father—she needed to stop being surprised, but she couldn't help it. How many layers did the man have?

Alexis grinned up at her. "We're gonna hang them in my room and then Daddy says we can make the Milky Way in the background with glow stars."

Kate was a little taken aback. Obviously, Rick was a good Dad. Alexis was rather evident proof of that. And the twinkle lights and never-ending patience for movies he'd seen a million times were pretty good indicators as well. But they were making a solar system. That was…it was very…hell, Kate wasn't too old to say that it was cool.

"That's very cool, Alexis. How long have you been working on it?"

"A couple weeks," she replied, releasing Kate's hand to step gingerly onto the newspaper. She walked over to one of the balls and poked it gently. "We can probably paint again in a day or two. The last ones had to dry."

"This looks like a lot of fun," Kate offered quietly. It did; she'd loved projects as a kid, and this was project heaven.

"It is," Alexis told her. "Daddy always has the best projects."

"Like what?" Kate asked as Alexis walked past her and out of the room. Kate turned out the lights and followed her back down the long white hall, lined with framed book jackets and autographed posters.

"We made fairy wings last month and Daddy found a recipe for fairy cakes so me and Paige could go to the park and leave some for the fairies," Alexis recounted happily.

She went into her bedroom and Kate followed, trying to imagine the big, manly Rick Castle wearing a crown and fairy wings. It was an entertaining mental picture. She entered the room and watched as Alexis rummaged in her closet, pulling out a set of very well made, yet obviously homemade fairy wings. Purple and made of what looked like crinoline fabric, the wings shimmered in the light and cast little sparkles over the plush lilac carpet.

"We added fairy dust and everything," she explained, bringing them and a crown over. "Daddy did the glitter, but I got to make the crown."

Kate reached out and ran her fingers over the wings as Alexis held them out for her to examine. "They're lovely, Alexis. Did you see any fairies in the park?"

Alexis narrowed her eyes. "Fairies aren't real, Kate."

"But you said you brought them cakes," she said innocently.

"We did, but it was pretend, you know?" She gave a put-upon sigh. "Daddy always tries to make me believe in everything. But some stuff just doesn't exist," she said patiently. "Are you like Daddy?"

"Am I like your Daddy, how?" she hedged, wondering what Alexis was getting at.

Alexis placed the wings back into her closet. "Do you believe in kid stuff?"

"Like what?" Kid stuff could cover any number of categories.

"Like fairies and magic and happily ever after?"

Kate considered the little girl in front of her. She had her hands on her hips, braided pigtails swinging down to her chest and a calculating look on her face. This was a little girl whose parents had gotten divorced, relatively recently, and whose mother, from all accounts, was less than perfect.

Did she believe in magic? No. Did she believe in happily ever after? No. Not really. Did she believe in finding your way back from tragedy and learning to be happy? Yes.

"I think you make your own happily ever after," Kate replied slowly. "I think you make your own magic, and I think that whatever you believe in is very real, whether or not other people say it is."

Alexis stared at her for a moment before she smiled and pranced over to wrap her arms around Kate in a surprise hug. "Thanks."

"For what?" Kate asked, startled and touched and confused by it all.

"For telling the truth. Sometimes Daddy doesn't even do that."

Kate looked down at the little girl and smiled. "I'll always tell you the truth, the best that I can." The promise flowed from her lips without a second thought. It was what her mother had always told her. She didn't know if Johanna had ever broken that promise to protect her, but it had made her feel safe all the way through her childhood, because the truth couldn't really hurt you; it could only help.

Alexis just hugged her tighter after a moment, and Kate felt both overwhelmed and comforted by the easy trust the girl placed in her. Terrifying and wonderful—wasn't that what her mother had told her children were?

Rick's voice broke her out of her thoughts as he yelled up the stairwell. "I'm hungry!"

Kate laughed and Alexis released her to take her outstretched hand. "Let's go let your dad eat dessert, or he may never survive."

"Daddy's so dramatic," Alexis giggled as they made their way down to the kitchen. "He's always loud and pretending to die."

"Not always," Rick countered as he met them at the table, three bowls set out for them with large glasses of milk. "Sometimes I'm only injured."

"Or taped up in a closet," Kate added.

"Or that," he laughed a bit self-consciously. "But, that aside. I hope you like cookie cake?"

Kate looked at the concoction before her and blinked. It looked like a giant chocolate chip cookie, but was obviously a bit different and had whipped cream all over it. "I, uh, haven't ever had cookie cake before."

"You haven't?" Alexis gasped. "Really?"

"I don't get to eat dessert all that much," Kate replied. "But this looks good…underneath the blanket of whipped cream." She'd need to start working out more if this was what all dinners with the Castles would be like.

"But the whipped cream is the best part!" Rick protested. "You can never have too much whipped cream."

Kate glanced over at him and their eyes met. She felt herself blush and Rick's eyes widened as their minds went straight to the gutter, leaving the oblivious Alexis behind.

"Uh, sure. Whatever you say, Rick," Kate said after a moment. She looked back at her bowl and steeled herself, taking a piece onto her fork and bringing it to her mouth. "Oh, wow. That's great!" she said as she swallowed. It tasted exactly as it looked. It toed the line between sickeningly sweet and deliciously decadent, like chocolate chip cookies dipped in cake batter. And it was delicious.

"You like it?"

"Like isn't strong enough. I love it," she said happily. "This is amazing."

"It's Daddy's recipe."

"Would you be willing to part with said recipe?" Kate asked, looking over at him. He'd already demolished half of his piece.

"Well, I might be. But it will cost you."

"Cost me what?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Alexis, do you have any suggestions?" Rick asked while Kate scowled at him.

Alexis pondered for a moment, taking a big bite of her cake. "She has to come skating with us next week."

Rick grinned and turned back to Kate. "There you have it."

"When next week? Don't you have school, Alexis?" Kate asked. She wasn't wholly against the idea, just…well, her skates were…embarrassing—on par with chasing pigeons embarrassing. And they'd only had two dinners together.

"Next week is Christmas Break, Kate," Alexis said slowly, as if Kate were rather dumb for not knowing that.

"Already?" Kate asked, turning to Rick. "So early?" Had she gotten out that early? She couldn't have; she'd done public school until high school, and breaks were never that long.

"Private school," he replied. "You pay more, you get less. It's odd. But it means that I get her all the time for longer, so I don't complain," he grinned, holding out his hand for Alexis, who tapped it with her own in an odd handshake.

"So we're going skating next week," Alexis said once they'd finished their little hand thing. "And if you want the recipe, you have to come."

The little sneaks, the two of them! Kate looked between father and daughter and wasn't quite sure of herself. She liked skating. She wasn't bad at it. And she hadn't been in a while. Alexis looked expectant and Rick looked like he actually wanted her to come, if the twinkle in his eye and triumphant smile he was wearing were any indication. What would it hurt? Skating sounded fun enough. And she was sure the pleasure of watching Richard Castle fall down on his ass would be worth it, regardless.

"I would be happy to come skating with you, Alexis. Though, if you're going…I mean, I have work," she said softly.

"Your day off is Tuesday, right?" Rick asked.

"It is."

"So, how 'bout next week we have lunch and go skating, instead of having dinner?"

Her being there for dinner next Monday was already a given. Should that bother her? She'd agreed to be in Alexis' life, odd as that conversation still was to remember. So, she supposed that it made sense that he just assumed she'd be there. Was she okay with that?

"Can we go to Mars2112?" Alexis asked. "It's so cool, Kate. It's all a space ship and aliens serve you your food!"

Kate blinked. "Um, I guess? Where's that?" It fell from her mouth before she could stop it.

"You've never been to Mars2112?" Rick asked, aghast, his grin stretching from ear to ear. Oh, she'd just agreed to go, hadn't she?

"I haven't really toured the space-related food joints of our fair city, no," she replied. Apparently, they were going to lunch and then going skating. Huh.

"Well, then we'll have to take you there. It's awesome."

Kate considered him. "Why do I get the feeling that you like it even more than her?"

He just smiled. "Meet us here at noon and we'll head over?"

Saying no wasn't really an option at this point, and they both looked so excited that she really didn't have the heart to anyway. She'd still have the morning to sleep, and the evening to relax; she wouldn't lose the whole day. And she'd have Monday night. The boys at the Precinct could bite her for skipping out 'early.' She'd relax and do her bath that night.

Tuesday, apparently, was going to the Castles. "That sounds great."