Chapter 2.

I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did writing it.

It only took Castle a few seconds to snap out of the daze that he seemed to be in laying on the ground slack jawed looking between the two women.

Both his daughter and wife were silent, and he knew by the look on his wifes face that he had to get their daughter out of the way quickly before all hell broke loose.
If Richard Castle knew anything it that his wife wouldn't take well to this woman, whether she be who she says she is or not turning up on their door step without so much as a word.

As he got up of the ground he looked at his wife as she stared the woman before her down and he knew there was no point fighting her on whatever plan she was formulating in her mind.
So he took a few steps towards her and smiled at their little girl before stepping into Kate's line of sight silently asking if she wanted him to take their little girl inside and let her handle this.

With a single nod from Kate he held out his arms and as his little girl jumped into them giggling as they made their way back into the loft.
Kate stood staring at the woman who she had wanted by her side so many times that she had lost count through out the years and now here she was on her door step and all she feel is anger towards her.

She wanted to yell, she wanted to scream, she wanted to make her hurt the way she had made Kate hurt through out all of those years.
So she did.
"It's Kate." She said before turning and quietly closing the door behind her.

Johanna knew she should have expected the reaction she received and a part of her knew better than to hope for anything else but she couldn't help it.

She had played it out in her mind so many times each time with a different reaction but never anything as bad as what just happened.
She stood rooted to the spot as she realized that her little girl, her Katie was now a wife, she was a mother to a beautiful little girl who looked like a spitting image of her mother when she was little and she had another one on the way.

She wanted to knock on the door again, she wanted her daughter to yell and scream at her and get it out of her system so that they could… she didn't know what she wanted to come after the yelling and screaming but it had to be better than where she was now.

Back at square one, actually she was further away than that now because at square one she could romanticise their reunion, she could run so many different outcomes through her mind that it almost felt real some nights as she fell asleep wondering what her daughter was doing.

Now though she knew how her daughter was doing, she had seen her in the flesh, she had a glimpse of what she looked like holding a little girl of her own, she knew what she looked like pregnant and she knew what her husband looked like.

Even though many of the questions she had had now been answered she was faced with so many more.

What was her granddaughters name, when was she due to have her next baby, what was her husbands name, what kind of marriage did they have, what kind of life did they lead?

She debated with herself momentarily about whether or not she should knock and try again but realized if Kate was anything like she was at 19 there was no way it was going to do anybody any good.

She would just have to wait this one out, that's not to say she was going to give up but she knew she would have to take a more indirect approach to getting her daughter to speak to her.

Realizing this she turned and made her way back to the elevator, getting in she swore to herself that she would find a way to fix what she had done even if it was the last thing she ever did.

Kate closed the door and turned around to take in the scene before her, her husband was laying in the middle of their living room watching as their daughter climbed all over him giggling as she went.

She still couldn't wrap her mind around what had just happened, she couldn't say she had never thought about this day, because she had.

There were countless times that she had wished she could have her mother there with her, the first time she had realized that she had feelings for castle, their first fight after they become a couple, the day they get engaged, their wedding day and most of all the day she gave birth to their beautiful daughter Olivia.

She just never thought it would actually happen.

It had been 12 years since she had seen her mother, since she last heard her voice or even laid eyes on her and yet their hadn't been a day that she hadn't wished her mother was there with her.

Then she turned up 12 years later on her door step and acted as though nothing had changed.

If it had been 4 years ago she would have acted differently but she was a different person now, she had worked so damn hard to be a different person, to not be afraid anymore, to not hide from her past anymore.

She and Castle had worked hard together to get where they were now and she wouldn't change that for the world, so when she had come face to face with her past in the form of her mother she could do nothing else but close that door because she didn't think she had it in her to open all of those feelings up again.

It was her daughters little voice and the light tugging on the bottom of her jeans that pulled her out of her thoughts, she picked Olivia up and looked over at Castle who was watching her.

"Castle you can talk you know" she said with as a smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.

"I honestly don't know what to say" he said back which made her smile even harder.

"Well my my my the famous author Mr Richard Castle speechless I didn't think I would see the day" she said as he jumper to his feet.

"You have seen it many a time my love" he said wrapping his arms around her expanding waist.

"The day you said yes to being my wife, the moment I seen you walking down the isle on our wedding day, both times you told me we were becoming the mother of my child, and most of all the first time I set my eyes on this little one." He said running his hand over the brown surly hair of his daughter who was now falling asleep in her mothers arms.

Kate turned to look at him with a sad smile on her face, he knew she needed a little bit of time to take in what had happened so he took Olivia off of Kate and smiled at her.

"You go and run a bath and ill put this little one into bed" he said while nodding towards their bedroom and ultimately their bathroom.

She smiled and pulled him close kissing him softly before stepping away and making her way towards the door way before turning to him.

"Meet me in there" she said it was more a statement then a question and he knew he didn't need to do more than nod but he smiled at her and answered her with the one word that always conveyed what they left unsaid.

"Always."

He put Olivia to bed and picked up the baby monitor and took it with him, when he got to the bedroom he put the baby monitor on his bedside.

As he made his way towards the bathroom he couldn't hear anything so he quietly slipped in as not to startle Kate if she was drifting off.

When he stepped into the bathroom though his heart dropped at the sight before him.

His beautiful, strong, amazing wife sat on the cold tiles leaning against the basin crying silently.

He knelt down beside her and pulled her close into his side, not saying anything but he knew he didn't need to, she would talk when she was ready.

They sat there like that for what felt like forever before she looked at him her face tear streaked and eyes red rimmed.

"I learnt how to deal with her being gone, I learnt how to live without her." She said pulling herself into his side again.

He knew this wasn't going to be easy given her past but no matter what she chose to do he would be there in her corner backing her always.

Also I want to thank all you guys who reviewed, are now following the story and following me too.

It means a great deal and I hope to hear your thoughts on this chapter too.

Jess. xxx