Disclaimer: I own nothing Castle-related and I am not making money by writing this fanfiction. However, I do own the idea and the characters I myself invented that appear in this story.

Summary: Richard Rodgers and Kate Beckett both seem to be clueless when it comes to making friends. Feeling out of phase much? This is a story of meeting because it was destiny, of childhood, and of love. A story about the process of becoming extraordinary.

Author'sNote: Thanks you guys so much for the reviews! I know I'm kind of late with this and I'm sorry about that, I've just been experiencing what it really meant to be at the university… It's a real time-sucker! Here's the second chapter to this story. I hope you like it.

And here's the playlist for this chapter…

The Writer – Ellie Goulding

Hold On to What You Believe – Mumford & Sons

Comets – Cocoon

The Show – Lenka

You Give Me Hope – Ryan Kirkland

Enjoy!

Chapter two: Believing in Magic

The weekend after Kate had made her mom the promise to try and have friends, she stayed at her granddad's apartment in Manhattan for the night, a delight that she had long been denied by her parents who thought that her granddad was becoming too old to take care of his granddaughter.

As always, they had made pancakes for brunch on Saturday while Jim and Johanna were still there before settling in the couch to play scrabble on the coffee table. Kate was having a blast, laughing at all of Paul's jokes and cracking some herself, proving that the famous Beckett humor had not gotten lost through the genetic mix with Johanna's genes.

At about 5 in the afternoon, they got out of from the building wearing only sweaters to meet the nice fall weather. Kate thought that Paul was only taking her to the park, but they headed to a side of town they'd never been to together.

'Papa, where are we going?' the girl asked as they walked side by side.

'Ah, but it's a surprise, louloute!' he answered, using the French nickname he knew she was very fond of.

Paul had a very vast knowledge of French because he had spent a great deal of his life in France making wine with his wife, Laura, Jim's mother, who had died when Jim was still a child. After her death, Paul had taken his seven-years-old kid with him to his hometown and begun a new life there. He had never remarried – Jim once told Kate that Laura had been the love of his life, whatever that meant.

'Here we are, louloute!' Paul said enthusiastically, tearing Kate away from her thoughts.

She looked up to a little shop topped with a colorful signboard that read Drake'sMagicShop.

'A magic shop?' she exclaimed, turning to her granddad in disbelief.

Noticing her obviously skeptical face, he let out a loud laughter.

'It's full of very cool stuff and the owner is a really talented guy'

'Papa, I don't believe in magic!' Kate said.

'I'm not telling you about Santa or fairies, louloute, I'm telling you about magic tricks and playing with human minds. Isn't that fascinating?'

The girl still looked doubtful.

'Remember that trick I showed you with the ice cubes and the salt?'

'Papa, I was six. I'm twelve now' Kate said, rolling her eyes.

'Well it was cool, wasn't it? Admit it'

'It was' she nodded, a smile widening on her face.

'Well the tricks in this shop are like a thousand times better. We can learn about getting a rabbit out of a hat and cutting women in two!'

Her granddad looked so excited about the shop that Kate followed him inside, thinking to herself that he had probably not dared to go inside when he had discovered the shop because he was too old and that that was the reason why he was taking her. She was his excuse to be a kid, but she didn't really mind; although she often acted like she didn't care much for childish stuff, it interested her very much.

There were few people inside, one or two kids looking around in awe and a young lady reading a magazine besides the cashier. Paul went straight to her, not bothering to check if her granddaughter was following.

'I'd like to talk to Mr. Drake, please'

Kate stood right beside Paul and looked around, up and down, her mouth open in an awestruck 'o'. Suddenly, she frowned and walked silently to a white statue to examine it, until it opened an eye.

'And how may I help you, young lady?' the statue said, moving to get down from its pedestal and extending a white hand to Kate.

She shook it while her granddad made his way towards them with a smile.

'Are you Mr. Drake?'

'Currently I'm supposed to be Shakespeare but I sure am, sir' the owner of the place answered, offering him a smile.

'Well you sure seem to have a soft spot for spectacular entrances! I'm Paul Beckett, and this is my granddaughter Katie.'

'I am enchanted. Can I be of any help? Are you looking for something in particular?'

'Actually, no, we were just looking around, I had heard of this place and wanted to show Katie how awesome magic tricks can be'

'Well I'm sure she'll find everything she could wish for'

'Do you have a vanishing cabinet?' Paul asked, excited.

'Yes, I designed it myself. This way…' the magician motioned.

Kate watched her granddad disappear in the back of the shop with a smile. Once again, he had gotten so caught up with his childish side that he had forgotten about her presence, but she didn't really mind. In fact, she was glad he gave her this opportunity to discover more about the shop by herself without having to listen carefully to the old magician's stories.

She walked to a strange-looking closet and carefully opened its right door to an empty space. She tried to open the left door but noticed she couldn't do it without closing the other one, and when she finally did open it, a bird flew out of the closet.

She frowned and tried playing the trick again, but when it didn't work she guess there had only been one bird ready to fly out of the closet.

'Nice place isn't it?' a voice said behind her, making her jump in surprise.

She turned around to meet the eyes of a boy around her age.

He was a lot taller than she was, with big blue eyes and rebellious brown hair. He carried that look with him that belongs to boys who have grown up too fast, looking as though he hadn't eaten for months.

'Don't you have anything better to do than to startle people?' she asked, crossing her arms in front of her non-existent breasts.

He looked hurt and frowned.

'I was just trying to be nice' he answered, turning away from her.

'No, wait!' Kate said, remembering what her mom had said. Trynottoscarepeopleoff. 'Listen, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, you just scared me, that's all'

He gave her an apologetic smile. 'I'm sorry then. For frightening you.'

'Apologies accepted' she grinned.

'I'm Rick by the way. Rick Rodgers' he said, extending his right hand to her.

'Kate Beckett' she answered, shaking it briefly.

They stared at each other in silence, a little unsure of what to say next.

'So what are you doing here?' Kate asked tentatively.

'Oh, you know, just hanging around… I found the address of this place in the directory this week when I was sick, so I just thought I'd give it a try. It's pretty cool actually' he said.

She smiled as she recognized the look she saw so very often on her grandfather's face; the one of an excited little boy in front of a toy store.

'How about you?' he asked.

'My granddad is really into this kind of stuff… We always do all kinds of crazy experiments when I'm at his place. He says he does them for me but I think he's the one who enjoys them the most in fact'

'He's the guy that went with Mr. Drake?'

'Yeah, that's him'

'He must be a pretty cool granddad to have. I mean, if I had a granddad, I'd like him to do all sorts of stuff with me'

'Well he's a lot of fun to be with' she grinned. 'Aren't you with anyone?'

'Nah, I came here on my own. Took the subway! My mother would never bring me to a place like this one'

'She's strict?'

'No, not really, she's just… not really into magic tricks. She's more of a dramatic kind of person. She's an actress, Martha Rodgers, maybe you've heard of her'

'I have heard of her!' Kate said excitedly. 'My mom has been bringing me to plays since I was seven; we've seen her more than once on stage. So she's your mom? Wow, wait until my mom hears about this!'

Rick looked down at her sympathetically. 'Well yes, she is, but you know it's not allthatexciting. She's just my crazy mom, that's all'

'And she lets you go around in town on your own? My parents would never do that.'

'Well she's alone with me and she's not home much, so… And anyway, I'm fourteen; I'm old enough to take the subway alone. How old are you, anyway?'

'Twelve' she admitted, obviously embarrassed by her young age.

I didn't seem to bother him much.

'And you're a girl. It's more dangerous out there for girls than for boys… My mom wouldn't let me go around if I were a girl. I'd probably be forbidden to leave the house without an escort or something.'

They smiled at each other for a few seconds and that silence allowed Kate to think that shehadactuallytalkedwithakidofherage – well,moreorless – justforthesakeofsocializingandthatshewasenjoyingit.

'Louloute?' a familiar voice called her from behind, causing her to turn to her granddad.

'Hey Papa, you discovered anything cool yet?'

Paul placed a protective hand on his granddaughter's shoulder.

'Mr. Drake showed me his vanishing cabinet but he had to go back to his work. You really should see it, it's awesome'

'Wait, he has a vanishingcabinet?' Rick exclaimed. 'That is so cool!'

'Yes, it is! It works really well; he actually made me disappear with it!'

'Do you think he could show me?'

'I'm pretty sure he's busy right now but maybe if you come back another time…' Paul said.

He suddenly seemed to realize he had been talking excitedly with a very young teenager and frowned, causing Kate to suppress a laugh as she followed his trail of thoughts easily by simply reading his face.

'You and Kate having a good time?' he asked, taking back his granddad's role.

'Yeah, we were just, you know, talking…' Rick said.

'Mom is a great fan of his mom's work' Kate intervened, 'and he likes magic, just like you and I'

'Well that's great, sweetie, but we should be heading home, take a cab, it's getting late. We can order some pizza when we get home. Does this young man need a ride?' Paul asked.

'Oh, I'll probably call a cab myself, my mother would be mad if she knew I took the subway after seven' Rick explained.

'Then maybe we could share one. Go to your place first, and make sure you go home'

'Well, yeah, that'd be cool. Thanks'

The three of them gave the girl near the cashier a nod and got out of the shop from where they walked to a busier street so they could hail a cab. One quickly parked in front of them and they all got into the backseat.

The ride to Rick's building was very silent and all of them got out of the cab to say goodbye to him. He tried paying for part of the ride but Paul refused so he just shook his hand and thanked him before turning to Kate.

'It was nice meeting you, Kate Beckett' he grinned.

'Nice to meet you too' she said, almost murmuring it, feeling very shy all at once. 'Maybe we'll see each other again at the magic shop'

'Maybe, who knows?' Rick said before closing the door to his building.

He rushed upstairs, not bothering to wait for the elevator, and burst into the apartment just in time to see his mother coming out of the bathroom with some kind of weird cream on her face.

'Hi mother' he said, crashing on the couch and taking off his shoes.

'Good evening darling. What have you been up to all day? I thought you were still stuck with that weird virus of yours' she said, sitting down next to him in her robe.

'Well, it's gone know, so I went to some magic tricks shop, it was kind of cool' he said.

'On your own?' – noticing her son's disapproving look she said - 'I know you're fourteen but Manhattan is tough, even for grown-ups.'

'I know, mother, that's why I took a cab with some girl I met at the shop'

At the minute he said that word, he wished he hadn't.

'A girl? Really? What's her name? What school does she go to?'

'Her name is Kate, and I don't know what school she goes to. All I know is her mom and she are great fans of yours, if that makes sense' he joked.

'Well she seems to be an amazing girl, that Kate of yours' Martha said, visibly charmed by the idea of having fans.

'And you'll probably never meet her, since I don't even have her phone number or anything, so that settles it' Rick said. 'I'm going to head to bed now'

'Aren't you hungry?'

'Not really, no. My throat still hurts'

'Oh well. Goodnight sweetheart'

'Night'

After brushing his teeth and putting on his pajamas, he lied awake in his bed, staring at the ceiling once again thinking about the deep green eyes that belonged to the pretty girl he had met in the shop.

Taken by a sudden inspiration, he took out his pen and notebook, sitting down more comfortably.

And he began to write.

xXx

There you go! Sorry again about the delay. I'll try to post more frequently from now on, I swear. I haven't written anything yet for the next chapter though so you just might have to wait a little longer.

Have a nice day/night/whatever it is wherever you are!

Sophie