Author's notes: I got this idea one night and it would NOT leave me alone. This takes place sometime before the finale. I might have taken a few liberties with some of the ages but I think that they work out about right. Let me know what you think.

Five and Three Quarters

This is the story about the first woman to break Richard Castle's heart. And it wasn't Kyra Blaine. She was someone far more important…

Richard Castle opened the door to his loft and let Kate Beckett lead the way into his home. She was dressed in normal Friday night clothes not her typical detective clothes. After quickly greeting his mother and daughter sitting at the kitchen counter, Castle spoke to Beckett.

"I'll be right back."

"Going undercover again?" Martha asked after she waited until he was out of earshot.

"No," Beckett said causing Martha and Alexis look at her with excitement.

"So, is this a date?" Martha asked cautiously.

"No. We're just meeting everyone at the Old Haunt. We finally cracked the case."

"That's great. Too bad it's not a date though," Martha commented. Hoping to change the subject Kate looked at the photo album that Alexis was flipping through.

"What are you looking at Alexis?"

"Mom found this in her things. She thought this was hers and just now realized it was all pictures of Dad as a kid so she sent it back."

"Any good blackmail pictures that I can share with the boys?" Kate asked with a grin.

"What do you think Gram?" Alexis asked with a matching grin.

"Oh his first love, definitely. I'm sure it's in here somewhere."

"His first love?" Kate asked. "These all look like pictures of him as a little boy."

"They are. He was about five and he fell madly in puppy love."

"Mother," Castle said as he walked up from behind them. "I will have you know I was five and three quarters. And she broke my heart."

"Aww, Castle, what happened? Did she steal your favorite swing on the playground?"

"No, she went off and married someone else. Even after I proposed to her too. There she is," he said pointing to a photo of him and a woman not a child.

"So, she was an older woman dad?" Alexis asked with a smile.

"She was my babysitter. She tried to turn me down gently but it still hurt," he said dramatically. "Just because I was younger than her." He shook his head.

"You proposed and you were only five?" Alexis asked.

"Five and three quarters," he insisted. "And I was very mature for my age." He looked to Kate to see her reaction to him calling himself mature at any age but she was staring at the photo.

"Beckett? Kate?" She glanced up at him before looking back at the photo.

"What was her name?" she asked softly.

"Jo, um, I can't remember her last name. Mother?" he asked not sure why Kate was reacting as she was.

"Coleman." Kate took a shuddering breath as Martha spoke. "Her name was Jo Coleman."

"Tell me about her," she said quietly as she lightly touched the photo.

"She was a lot of fun. She didn't come over too much though. I think she was in college."

"She had just graduated. From law school if I remember correctly," Martha added glancing at Kate. Alexis watched Kate carefully as Kate listened to her dad but didn't take her eyes off the photo.

"Jo would take me to the library and the museum. She wasn't like the other babysitters who just wanted me to sit there and be quiet while they talked to their boyfriends or watched soaps. She was fun." He slipped to the other side of the counter to stand beside his mother. "Mother, do you know if there are any more photos of her?"

"I don't remember. May I, Kate?" she asked as she went to pull the book from her hands.

Kate kept her eyes focused on the album until she felt a hand on her arm. She looked over to see Alexis' blue eyes full of understanding. Kate covered Alexis's hand with her other one, and nodded slightly. Alexis squeezed her arm then slipped away only to return moments later with a box of tissues that she kept on her lap under the counter. They found another photo of little Ricky in a knight costume and Jo in a queen's crown with a sword knighting him.

"Jo always called me her little knight in shining armor. She said I was very protective and very much a gentleman."

"You still are, Dad," Alexis stated.

"Thanks, pumpkin. She's part of the reason I picked Castle when I changed my name."

"Really?" asked Alexis, interested in hearing the story that she hadn't ever heard before.

"Yep," he said as he glanced back at Kate, still unsure what was going on. "She told me that knights were very protective of their ladies and they should always take care of them. I promised her that I would never let anything bad happen to her. She told me then that sometimes bad things happen for a reason but that life never dishes out more than we can handle. I still insisted that I could take care of her even though I was only five and three quarters."

"For a five year old, you were pretty mature. You didn't just want to play all day, you wanted to learn. I could barely keep him away from the library once Jo got him his first library card," Martha said hoping to get a smile out of Kate.

"I might have been mature for my age then but she still thought I was too young," he said with great sadness causing Martha and Alexis to smile. "She told me that I had to be all grown up before I could have a queen for my castle. I asked her to wait but she said she already found her knight and that one day I would find my queen. When I changed my name, I thought about using Knight but I thought that would be a little odd so I decided to use the name Castle instead. Besides, the name is just cool."

"What happened after your proposal?" Alexis asked.

"She turned me down, I was too late. It turns out that she was already engaged to her stupid boyfriend. She even asked me to be in the wedding as the ring bearer but I didn't think that I could do it."

"We had other plans that day," Martha said. "I had a play and I wasn't able to get out of it. Besides, I didn't trust him not to object to the wedding."

"I probably would have," he chuckled surprised when Kate did also. "Unfortunately, after she was married, I never saw her again."

"And that broke your little five year old heart," Alexis said.

"Five and three quarters," he insisted again causing eye rolls from all three women. "You know, I thought about her over the years and considered trying to find her just to say hi and to thank her for my new name but I never did. I wonder if she ever thought of me," he said wistfully.

"She did," Kate finally spoke.

"What?"

"She thought of you," Kate said again as she pulled a photo from her wallet. She looked at the photo with Alexis for a moment.

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"Johanna Elizabeth Coleman married James Michael Beckett in February of 1977, when you were five," she said as she handed him the photo.

"And three quarters," he said shocked as he looked at the photo. He walked around the counter to sit beside her. "This is Jo. She was your mother?"

She just nodded. "She loved your books. She said that you reminded her of someone but she never told us who. She did usually refer to you as Ricky though."

"Tell me more about her," he said as he stood up, him still holding Kate's photo and Kate still holding on to the photo album. A gentle hand led her to the living room, both of them completely ignoring Martha and Alexis, lost in the stories of a woman that they both had loved.

x-x-x-x

Alexis and Martha were standing in the kitchen watching Castle and Beckett when they heard a faint ringing from Kate's purse on the kitchen counter. Neither one really wanted to interrupt them but the call went to voice mail before they could do anything about it. Moments later, Castle's phone, also on the kitchen counter rang. Alexis looked at it and saw that it was Detective Esposito.

"Rick Castle's phone," she answered.

"Alexis, where's your dad? Is everything alright?"

"He's fine, he is just in the other room so I answered for him. Give me a second," she asked as she took the phone to her dad.

"Is that my phone, pumpkin?" Rick asked as he suddenly realized that she was standing there.

"Yeah, it's Detective Esposito. They are wondering where you are."

"Do you still want to meet them?" he asked Kate, not terribly surprised to see her shake her head no.

"Can I talk to him?" Kate asked. "Hey Esposito, put Lanie on."

"Girlfriend, where are you?"

"Still at Castle's. Something came up. Everyone is fine, we just aren't going to be making it tonight."

"What's up?" Lanie asked.

"Trust me, you wouldn't believe me," Kate smiled down at the photo album and the picture of Rick and her mother.

"So let me get this straight. You are still at Castle's and you aren't going to be able to make it tonight cause something has come up? Girl, you know I am gonna want details later."

"Lanie," she admonished her friend. "Martha and Alexis are here also. Don't worry, I'll explain it all tomorrow or Sunday at the latest, okay?"

"Okay but it better be good."

"Oh it is," Kate said before she hung up the phone and handed it back to Castle. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all," he said.

"By the way Kate, dear," Martha spoke up as she brought over Kate's purse. "Your phone rang earlier also."

"Thanks Martha," she said as she checked her phone. "Do you mind if I make a call?"

"Of course not, dear."

"Hey. I'm doing fine, no nothing is wrong. I was wondering if I could stop by in a bit. And bring a friend. Okay, see you soon. Yeah, me too," she smiled to the phone.

"Do you mind coming with me, Castle?"

"No. Where are we going?"

"Bring the pictures," was all she said, avoiding answering the question directly.

Soon they were pulling up to a small house, Kate looking at it fondly. They both got out of the car, Rick following behind her carrying the photos. He was a bit surprised to see her knock on the door then open it calling out that she was home.

"Hi Dad."

"In the kitchen, sweetie," came the reply.

They walked into the kitchen and after introductions were made, Kate explained why they were there.

"Castle's daughter Alexis was looking through this old photo album and she pointed out a photo," Kate said as she opened the album to the desired page showing her dad the photo. At first, he just noticed his wife in the photo before he noticed the child.

"Johanna," he said, his fingers lightly caressing the photo before looking up in surprise. "You're Ricky."

"Jo spoke of me?" Rick asked softly.

"Often. She was upset that you didn't come to the wedding."

"I would have objected," Rick blurted out causing Jim Beckett to laugh.

"You know, I told her that you would! She didn't believe me. Not that anyone would have listened to you. You were only five."

"And three quarters," Kate and Rick said together. They glanced at each other and smiled.

"I was so in love with her. And she knew but didn't try to make me feel bad. Of course, I wasn't too happy when she told me she was getting married. And I had even proposed."

"You proposed to her?" Jim laughed.

"Yes, I did but she insisted that I was too young."

"You know she used to pick on me and tell me that she could have accepted her other proposal but she chose me instead. I always thought she was kidding, never knew she actually did have another proposal out there." They all laughed. "Johanna was sad that you lost contact after the wedding. She thought you were the brightest kid, she often wondered about what happened to you." He paused for a moment. "I guess she knew though. She wrote 'Ricky?' in her copy of one of your earlier books."

"Can you tell me more about her?" Rick asked.

"Of course, let's go in the other room," Jim said as he led them into the living room.

Rick looked around to see several bookcases and lots of photos. "You have all of my books, even the newer ones."

"Johanna got us both hooked on them," Jim explained. "I never realized that she thought she knew Richard Castle but she was in the store the day each one was released. She even planned on going to a book signing but Katie got sick or something and so she missed it."

"That sure would have been interesting if she had made it one day," Rick said almost getting lost in the thoughts of what might have been.

"I'm surprised that you never realized, Rick. Katie looks so much like her mother."

"That's true, she does. In my defense, it had been a while since I had seen Jo, over 30 years. I thought that the photo album was lost, I hadn't seen it since just after Alexis was born. Then to top it off, Kate had short hair when I first met her and Jo always had long hair."

"That's one of the reasons that I had the shorter hair," Kate commented. "All the time while I was growing up, all I heard was how much I looked like my mother. I wanted to do something different. Be different."

"Some of those boyfriends you brought home sure were different," Jim said with a smile.

"Tell me more," Rick said smiling and avoiding Kate's glare. "I've heard about the flannel wearing grunge rocker."

"He wasn't as bad as the next one. A college boy covered in tattoos and piercings."

"Really? Is that when you-?"

"Don't say it," Kate warned.

"He doesn't know?" Rick asked surprised, Kate simply shook her head.

"You mean your tattoo?" Jim asked. "I knew about that."

"She won't tell me what it is, will you?" Rick asked with a smile.

"You haven't seen it?"

"Dad," she warned.

"Sweetie, I know you tried but you couldn't hide that much from me. I knew a lot more than you thought I did."

"Oh God," she moaned and dropped her head into her hands.

"I know you were trying to be different, Katie but the funny thing is that you were still just like your mom."

"Jo had a tattoo and dated a flannel wearing grunge rocker?" Rick queried causing Kate to look up in shock.

"Not exactly but she did date guys that her parents didn't really like and she went and got her ears pierced without permission. I know that's not big now but her father was really strict. You know, you are still like her, Katie. She stood up for people in the system who needed someone and you stand up for the victims of your cases."

"I don't try to be different anymore," she said.

"I know, sweetie and I am proud of you," Jim Beckett reached out and squeezed his daughter's hand.

They stayed in the living room talking about Johanna for the rest of the evening, no one realizing the time. Soon, the last names were dropped when at one point, Rick said Beckett and both father and daughter answered. Eventually, Rick's phone rang and he went to pick it up.

"Excuse me, it's Alexis. Hey pumpkin. Is everything okay?"

"I just wanted to see if you wanted me to lock up everything or if you were going to come home tonight. It's getting late."

"What time is it?" he asked. Both Beckett's glanced down at their watches in surprise.

"It's almost 2 am, Dad," she said.

"I'm sorry, we lost track of time. Kate, her dad, and I have been telling stories about Jo all night. We didn't even notice the time. Why are you up this late?"

"Gram just came back home and woke me up and I noticed that you were still gone."

"Hold on a second, okay?" he asked his daughter and turned his attention to Kate. "Can you drive me back home or should I call my car service?"

"You can stay here," Jim offered. "I have a guest room, you're welcome to it."

"You sure?" Rick asked.

"Thanks, Dad," Kate said as Jim nodded to Rick. "I don't really want to drive back home this late," Kate said.

"Sweetie," Rick once again addressed his phone. "I'll be back in the morning sometime, okay?"

"Okay, good night, Dad. Love you."

"Love you, too, pumpkin." He hung up his phone then turning to face the Beckett's he said, "I can call my car service if you prefer."

"Nonsense, Rick. It's not a problem. Katie, the bed should be made but can you make sure he has everything he needs?"

"Sure. Love you, Dad," she told him with a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Love you too, Katie. Good night, Rick."

Kate checked on the guest room, grabbed a new toothbrush from the closet and showed Rick where the bathroom was.

"Just knock if you need anything," Kate said as she headed to her room across the hall.

"Sure," he said as he moved to close his door. "Kate."

"Yeah," she said trying to hold back a yawn.

"When I was talking about how your mom refused my proposal?" Kate nodded to him. "Well, sorry I called your dad stupid."

"That's okay. I'm sure he'll forgive you too," she laughed before she closed her door.

x-x-x-x

Rick woke to a knock on the door and called out "Come in!" before he realized that he wasn't wearing what he normally wore to bed. Looking up through rumpled hair, and seeing that it was Kate that peeked in the door, he pulled the sheet up to cover more of his bare chest.

"Morning, Rick. I remembered about this box of photos of my mom. I thought you might like to see them."

"Have a seat," he said as he moved over giving her more space. She paused a moment before climbing up on the bed and opening the box.

Soon they had both forgotten about his state of near undress and he was lying on his side, propped up on one elbow fishing though the photos as Kate leaned against the headboard. Kate was flipping through the photos and laughed in surprise over a photo of her mom at the library.

"I remember this picture now," she said as she handed Rick the photo.

"This is me when I got my first library card," Rick explained.

"I always wondered who that little boy was."

"How did you get this? All of these photos even."

"Mom's best friend from college, Trish was a photographer. She used to follow Mom around with a camera-"

"Come in," Rick said automatically when there was a knock on the door. He realized his mistake as soon as he saw Kate's glare knowing suddenly that the only person who would be knocking would probably not like to see the picture that he and Kate presented.

"Thought I might find you in here," Jim Beckett said with a smile.

"Dad!"

"Breakfast will be ready in about 15 minutes. See you downstairs." He slipped out of the room and shut the door behind him before either of them could say anything else.

"You just had to tell him to come in?"

"I'm sorry. I haven't had my coffee yet. I wasn't thinking," he tried to defend himself.

"Obviously. I'm going to take a shower, you can go downstairs and fix this." She stood up and waited a moment for him to get up also before demanding, "Now."

"Um, can you hand me my pants?" Rick asked. Kate's jaw dropped then she turned and walked out of the room.

Rick finally tossed off the covers and wearing only his boxers, he walked over to the chair by the bed where he had left his clothes. Soon he was dressed and after pausing a moment at the bathroom door where he heard the shower running, he went downstairs.

"Morning, Rick. How do you take your coffee?"

"Good morning, Jim. Cream and two sugars."

"Katie send you down?"

"Yeah, she's not too happy with me. Nothing happened," Rick insisted.

"So my daughter was sitting on your bed in her pajamas while you were obviously not wearing anything and nothing happened?"

"I was wearing my boxers. Kate came in with another box of photos and we started looking at them. I honestly didn't think about what it looked like when you knocked. But seriously, nothing happened."

"Oh, I know. Katie would never, um. Not in my house," Jim stumbled over his words. He focused on his coffee and flipping pancakes for a few minutes before he spoke again. "This might be out of the blue but I am going to ask before she gets down here anyway, what are your intentions in regards to my daughter?"

"Excuse me?" he asked surprised.

"You heard me," Jim said. "I know you care for her, anyone can see that. I just want to know what you intend to do about it."

"Hey Dad," Kate said as she walked into the room. Rick looked to her, surprised and a bit worried that she may have heard what her dad said. "Look what I found this morning."

Jim reached out and took the photo of Johanna at the library with little Ricky. He smiled softly as his fingers lightly traced his wife's face. Kate watched him a moment then took over cooking the pancakes.

"You know, we met once before," Jim said to Rick.

"Really?" Rick and Kate said together.

"You and Johanna were at the New York History Museum looking at the dinosaurs and I happened to get off work early so I thought I would stop by and surprise her. I tried to give her a kiss on the cheek and next thing I knew I was pushed away. You were standing in front of her with your fists on your hips almost daring me to get closer."

"I didn't realize who you were," Rick said as he remembered the incident. Kate smiled at the mental image of a little boy trying to defend her mom. "All of a sudden someone was trying to kiss my Jo and I didn't like it."

"Even after she explained who I was, you didn't leave her side and stayed between the two of us. You were very protective of your girl."

"He hasn't changed much, he still acts like a five year old," Kate said with a grin as she plated the pancakes.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "The last time you said I acted like a 12 year old."

"You're regressing," she joked as he gave her a mock glare. "And you still are as protective of your girl as ever. I've seen how you are with Alexis."

"How old is she again?" Jim asked.

"Seventeen," Rick said as they all started to eat their breakfast.

"So does she have an undesirable boyfriend?"

"Well, he isn't a grunge wearing rocker but there is one thing about him that is undesirable."

"I thought you got along well with Ashley," Kate said a bit surprised.

"I do," he said before he explained to Jim. "He's a senior and will be graduating in a few weeks then he will be going to Stanford."

"That's a good school," Jim commented.

"True but Alexis doesn't want to do a long distance relationship."

"You said they got back together," Kate said.

"Yeah," Rick said staring into his coffee. "Alexis decided to finish high school early, she has enough credits to finish in December then she is going to go to Stanford in January."

"Yes, I can see how that is undesirable," Jim commiserated. "Luckily, I never had to worry about that. In state tuition is much cheaper and so I could keep my Katie close."

"Dad. Are you okay with that, Rick?" Kate asked him with a gentle hand on his arm.

"I'm going to have to be. She has her heart set on it, says that he is her one and done. I just don't want her to get hurt."

"Who says she'll get hurt though?" Jim said.

"She might be right," Kate interjected.

"How often do high school sweethearts actually stay together?" Rick asked a bit sarcastically, not understanding the smiles that crossed the face of both Beckett's.

"It worked for Johanna and me. We were a bit of the odd couple in school but it worked. After high school, we decided to go our separate ways and we were both miserable. Finally we realized that just because high school sweethearts don't often work out, it didn't mean that they always fail."

"So you are telling me that I never had a chance with Jo?" Rick jokingly whined trying to inject some humor in the conversation.

"That's right," Jim commented. "Just remember with Alexis, you are only a phone call away. And I am sure that you would think nothing of hopping a plane and going to visit her at moment's notice."

"Of course not."

"Or even moving there," Jim said carefully watching his daughter's expression.

"What?" they said together glancing at each other.

"Katie's mentioned how close you are with your daughter. It never occurred to you to move out there while she is in school?"

"No," he said.

"You're a writer, I'm sure you can do that in California just as well as here in New York."

"True, but I can't leave New York. I have too much here," Rick said his mind suddenly jumping to the woman sitting next to him. "Besides, I don't think Alexis would like it if I did that."

"Yeah, I could see where she might think that was wrong," Kate said with a smile.

"It doesn't mean that I won't be racking up a bunch of frequent flyer miles though," Rick said trying to smile.

"Do you two have plans for tonight?" Jim suddenly asked after they had fallen silent to finish their breakfast.

"I don't," Rick said glancing over to Kate who was shaking her head. "Josh on call?"

"Don't know," she said dropping her gaze. "We split up. About a month ago."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he was jealous of some writer that was following me around."

"He was jealous of me?"

"Actually, he was jealous of Alex."

"How many writers do you have following you around, Katie?"

"Just one now, Dad. I'm a one-writer kind of girl. Josh just got tired of it so he ended it."

"I'm sorry, sweetie but since you have no plans," Jim smiled as he pulled out some tickets from a drawer.

"What's this?"

"My boss gave me some tickets to a play for tonight. It's supposed to be a comedy and I think the both of you could do with some cheering up. So here," he said sliding the tickets to them.

Rick glanced at the name of the play and said, "Mother told me about this one. It's supposed to be really good. What do you say Kate?"

"I guess but don't you want to go, Dad?"

"No, I can catch it some other time. You both enjoy it."

"Okay, thanks Dad."

"Yes, and thanks for breakfast. I probably better get headed back home to Alexis."

"Let me run upstairs and I'll get my stuff and your photo albums," Kate said as she turned to go back to her old childhood bedroom.

"Jim," Rick said shaking the elder's hand. "Thanks for sharing the stories about Jo. I appreciate it."

"I'm always happy to talk about her, she was a special woman," Jim smiled. "First you tried to steal my fiancée and now you are taking my daughter out on a date. How funny is that?"

"It's not a date," Rick tried to say.

"But you want it to be," Jim said seriously and knew that he was right when Rick remained silent. "I know you care for my girl. This time I give my blessing. Just treat her well."

"Rick, you ready to go?" Kate asked as she bounded down the stairs not noticing the slightly dumbfounded look on his face. She handed him the bag of photos and her change of clothes then reached to give her dad a hug. "Thanks, Dad."

"No problem, Katie. You two have a good date."

"It's not a date," she whispered.

"You both say that but you both want it to be one. It's sad when a teenager can realize she's found her one and done but two adults are oblivious," he whispered back.

Kate pulled back from the hug and just looked between her father and Rick for a moment before speaking. "Shall we go?"

"Yeah. Thanks again Jim. I'll think about what you said," Rick said as he held the door open for Kate.

"See you two later."

"Bye, Dad," Kate waved goodbye. Soon they were in the car and driving back towards Rick's loft.

"Mother said that this play is supposed to be really good."

"I've heard a little about it, it does look interesting."

"Would you like to grab a bite to eat before hand?" Rick asked, surprised that his voice didn't betray his nervousness.

"Sure," she said trying to focus on the road in front of her.

"I'll pick you up at 5:45?" he asked and saw her confusion at the unusual time.

"5:45 not 6?"

"Yeah, five and three quarters," he said with a big smile.

"Okay," she said with a chuckle.

"Good, it's a date."

Kate risked a glance over to Rick and saw him watching her closely. His words were confident but his voice was a bit unsure and his smile more nervous now. Almost as if he was afraid that she would deny that this was a date. She knew that what she said next was a big deal. Deciding to listen to her heart instead of her head, she answered with a smile that he soon matched.

"It's a date."