But fuck it.
I don't want May flowers.

I only want
you.

- Thinking About The Way You Hold Your Hands Over Flowerbeds, Shinji Moon

Prompt: Castle and Beckett meet during cops and robbers and alexis is only like 4 or 5.

I changed the prompt slightly so that Alexis is seven, instead of four or five. Mostly because I feel like, otherwise, she would've been a screaming, terrified toddler during the hostage situation and wouldn't really understand what's happening. As for fluff, I make no promises. The characters wouldn't exactly be the same we see in season 4 here because of never having met, so…

The prompt was taken from the castlefanficprompts blog, and I own nothing, except for a hefty student loan debt (please allow time between updates, as I move out for uni tomorrow, so this will be taking a backseat on my priorities list.)

Chapter One

They leave for the scene the moment they get the call from Jenny.

Ryan's a mess, smudging his hand through his hair and making it stand on end as she weaves through New York traffic. Every few seconds he tells her to drive faster, and her eyes meet Esposito's worried ones in the rearview mirror.

What if they can't save her?

They're homicide cops. They're not trained to deal with hostage negotiations. She's used to intimidation tactics, bullying, shouting and yelling as she deals with the lowest possible form of humanity, the dredges that shouldn't have escaped the underbelly of the world. She's not used to patience. Bargaining.

Collateral damage.

Her tyres screech when the reach the bank, startling the crowd that have gathered around the bank. Ryan flies from her car and she and Esposito follow close behind, exchanging glances once again as Ryan pushes through the crowd, ducks under the police tape and heads straight for the van that the hostage negotiation team have parked outside the bank.

"Espo," she stops him with a hand on the arm before they can follow Ryan inside.

He shakes his head. "Beckett, don't - "

"What if we can't save her, Javi?"

"Don't talk like that," he says. "There's no other option. No matter how long or hard it is, we have to get her back."

Kate retracts her hand on his arm, nodding. They both know, though. That they might not get her back.

That Ryan might not get married in four weeks.

The detective's voice is the first thing she hears when she makes her way into the van. He's yelling, red in the face and toe to toe with the captain of the team. She intercepts immediately, slipping a hand between their chests to push Ryan back slightly.

"Woah, Ryan," she says softly. "Calm down."

The detective laughs bitterly, shaking his head at her. "Calm down? I would calm down if this jackass would tell me why the hell they're not in there already saving Jenny!"

"Bro," Esposito says, grabbing Ryan's arm and holding him back when he makes an attempt to step towards the captain again.

Ryan shakes him off, glaring at the captain, and Kate steps between them, diverting the captain's attention in the hopes the stressed member of her team won't be kicked off the case.

"Captain, my name is Detective Kate Beckett. We're homicide detectives with the twelfth," she says, holding out a hand.

He accepts it. "Captain Peterson. What's homicide doing in my territory?"

"The fiancée of one of the members of our team, Detective Ryan, is in that building. She was on the phone to him when the robbers took charge of the bank."

"How many of them were there?"

Kate looks back at Ryan, who casts a dark glance to the captain before replying. "Four. All armed. She said they were dressed in doctor's scrubs."

"Alright. Well, thanks for the intel, detectives. We'll do everything we can to get her out."

"Okay, so what's our next move?"

The captain laughs, shaking his head. Behind her, she feels Esposito grab for Ryan again, holding him back and murmuring leave it, bro. Part of her doesn't blame him. Most of her just wishes for jurisdiction, for the ability to take over this case. Maybe it wouldn't get them anywhere, but at least she would feel like she would be getting somewhere with this, and helping to save Jenny in someway. Sitting back and watching how things play out has never really been her strong point.

"No, there is no next move for you. You want to help your friend? You let me do my job."

Ryan steps forward, anger twisting his features to something ugly again, so she lets it go. Instead, she meets his eyes, shaking her head at him and moving him towards the door. Ryan stares back defiantly for a moment, ready to argue, but then Esposito tugs on his arm, leading him from the van. She follows with a heavy heart.

"Espo, you still have buddies in the ESU?"

Esposito nods.

"Good. I wanna know what they know, and let's get in touch with major crimes, find out if there are any other robberies with similar MOs. The more we know about these guys, the more leverage we have."

With one last sympathetic glance at his partner, Esposito walks away, pressing his phone to his ear.

"Beckett…"

"We'll get her, Ryan. I promise. Okay?"

"How are we supposed to get her when the captain won't even let us help?" Ryan exclaims.

"Look around you, Ryan," she says, sternly this time. "There's cops everywhere. There's a SWAT team already in position. They're not gonna give up, and neither are we."

The words don't seem to ease Ryan, who simply rakes another hand through his hair, clenching his jaw as she stares at the blinded windows of the bank. She follows his gaze, swallowing past the heavy feeling of trepidation in her throat. They will get Jenny back. Just like Esposito said before, they can't afford not to.

"Detective Beckett."

She turns to find one of the members of the hostage negotiation team waiting for her.

"Captain Peterson would like a word."

The captain is watching something on the monitors when she steps up into the van. When he hears her footsteps, he sighs.

"Tell me. Do you like the spotlight, detective?"

"Excuse me?"

"I just got off the phone with our robber. He says he'll only talk to, and I quote, the invincible cop. The friend of the pretty blonde hostage, who took a bullet at her captain's funeral."

She looks away at the reference, the scar between her breasts burning brightly. It's a constant, dull pain, most days. She's learned how to ignore it, how to move the dark thoughts from her mind during the day - she combats them with a bunch of sleeping pills at night.

"Sir, I have no training in hostage negotiation - "

He pulls a seat out for her. "Well, I don't have time to give you a seminar, but I can teach you a few things. Basically, forget everything you ever learned during your homicide training."

Later, when their robber is off the phone and Ryan is busy calling Jenny's parents, she leans against the outside of the van, trying to collect herself. It's not working.

"Hey."

She looks up at Esposito. "Any luck?"

"ESU can't get eyes or ears inside. Cameras are disabled and the walls are too thick to drill inside."

"So what if ESU storms the bank?"

"They'll be going in blind."

She returns her gaze to the floor, studying the gravel and trying to get images of Jenny's body - on the floor, shot dead by the robbers - from her mind. They can't do that to Ryan. As his friends, they owe this to him.

"And… in your experience, in this scenario, what are the hostages' chances of survival?"

Esposito hesitates to answer. She looks up at him. He looks away, over at Ryan, who's wiping away his tears while talking to Jenny's mom. She follows his gaze, shaking her head, knowing with absolute certainty that, after this day, nothing will ever be the same again.

She doesn't know who it is that signals them in morse code, but she's grateful to them when she figures it out. Safety deposit box one twenty. It gives Ryan something to do, some way to feel useful instead of demanding answers from her that she doesn't have, and she sends him and Esposito to the owner of the box happily.

When she enters that bank, dressed as a paramedic, her eyes fall on the patient, Sal, and she finds Jenny kneeling beside him, along with - Richard Castle?

Her lips almost twist into a grin. Of course. Now she knows who sent the morse code.

"How's he doin'?" She asks, kneeling besides the journey.

"Not good," Jenny tells her, and she watches from the corner of her eye as her favourite author surreptitiously writes her a note.

"I think the seizure was brought on by stress," he adds, and she takes a moment to really look at him, all soft hair and gentle blue eyes. This man risked his life to defend one who couldn't. With Jenny, that doesn't surprise her, the woman has a heart of gold. But a rich playboy philanthropist? That's news.

"Hey, Sal, buddy. How you doin'?" She says, shifting her attention to the man laying between them. "Sal, listen to me. I want you to know that there are people out there waiting for you, who won't give up on you."

She hears sweet, gentle Jenny take a sharp breath at her words, and she looks up to meet her eyes, slowly reaching a hand over to squeeze her friend's own. She can feel Richard Castle's inquisitive eyes burning her skin.

"I promise. We'll get you out of here."

There are footsteps then, the click of a gun and she quickly releases Jenny's hand.

"Don't talk about it, be about it."

Kate tears her eyes away from her friend's fiancée's.

"And you. Help her put him on that gurney now."

Another one of the robbers, dressed as a doctor, moves forwards and aims her gun at Jenny. Kate tenses, but the robber simply nods to the rest of the crowd, and Jenny, trembling, moves to sit down with the others. She only remembers to look away when Richard Castle begins talking to Sal, hooking his arms underneath him, and she moves to help.

"There you go, buddy," she says, gently moving Sal onto the gurney, making minimal eye contact with her favourite author before he manages to slip the note into her hand. He's smart, she'll give him that.

As she's walking out of the building, she pauses, looking back at the man who's staring at her as though she could possibly save him.

Maybe she can.

Everything changes when the bomb goes off.

Ryan's first through the door. He doesn't even wait for the SWAT team.

"Jenny!"

No answer.

"Jenny!"

She and Esposito flank him, followed by the SWAT team, whose gear is loud in this unbroken silence. Dust settles on the remains of the bank, swathing them and almost choking her. The thought that Jenny might be - and that Richard Castle too -

"Kevin?"

A desperate sob rips itself from Ryan's throat and he eagerly bursts forward, through the doors that lead him to his fiancée. Kate exchanges a relieved smile with Esposito before following Ryan, who has instantly fallen before Jenny, unclipping her restraints and pulling her into his arms. The scene makes the empty ache in her chest heavy.

Automatically, she moves towards Richard Castle, who she finds cradling a young, redheaded girl in his lap. She assumes she's his daughter. The girl can only be seven or eight at most, and she's still trembling against her father, pale wrists bruised by the restraints, still in distress, even as she watches Kate kneel in front of them slowly while her father whispers reassuring words into her hair.

She frees the writer without a word, who nods at her above his daughter's head, and then she smiles reassuringly at the young girl.

"Hey there. My name is Detective Kate Beckett. You can call me Kate, if you'd like. What's your name?"

The young girl sniffs. "Alexis."

"Alexis. That's a lovely name," she tells her, watching as the young girl gives her an uncertain smile. "Alexis, can I help you out of those?"

The young girl looks up at her father doubtfully, who simply waits for her to make a decision. A pregnant pause is exchanged between them before the young girl nods, holding out her wrists for Beckett.

"You know," she says, freeing Alexis, "I think I saw a lady in the crowd with hair even brighter than yours."

Her blue eyes light up hopefully, even with unshed tears glittering in them.

"My gram?"

"Maybe. Would you like to leave and find out?"

Alexis nods eagerly, taking the hand Kate offers her as Richard Castle stands behind them. She gets the feeling that the man could use a second to shed his false bravado that he's worn in front of his daughter to really process what he's just been through, so while Esposito and the rest of the team help the other hostages, she leads the young girl out of the bank, her father right behind them.

"Gram!" The young girl cries, pointing to an older woman waiting for them.

Kate nods at the officer keeping her away from the scene, and he lets her through. Alexis releases her hand and hurtles towards her grandma, who bends down to catch her, kissing the crown of her granddaughter's head repeatedly and allowing a few tears to escape. Richard Castle passes her, his hand squeezing her elbow as he does and she watches as his mother stands back up to her full height and grips her son.

"Oh, Richard," she says, palming his cheeks. "I thought I'd lost you both."

"You know I'm too pretty to die, mother," he replies, grinning when his daughter laughs.

Satisfied that his mother can look after Alexis, the author looks back over to her, with something so serious and solemn in his eyes that her cheeks flush. He walks towards her, certain and powerful and the blush spreads to her neck.

"Thank you," he says sombrely. "For saving my life."

She smiles. "Don't mention it."

Castle nods, clenching his jaw. "You know, I could've - I could've accepted it, if it had just been me, you know? But if anything had happened to Alexis…"

She doesn't know what to say to that. She doesn't think she'll ever understand that feeling. She doesn't think she wants to.

"Your investigation isn't over, is it?

"What gives you that idea?"

"There's something else here. The robbers were too careful to just blow themselves up. They must be covering for something."

"I can't discuss an ongoing investigation with a civilian, Mr Castle," she teases.

He groans. "Call me Mr Castle again. That was hot."

Kate flushes again, blinking a couple times and feeling downright embarrassed. Honestly, she's acting like a teenager.

"Tell you what," the writer says, shifting his weight from foot to foot and watching her carefully. "Once your investigation's done, would you like to go out to dinner?"

She startles. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

He smiles self-deprecatingly. "Am I that bad at it?"

"No, no. It's just - you don't even really know me."

"I owe you my life. The least I can do is buy you dinner."

She resists the urge to cartwheel with joy - this is her favourite writer - and settles for simply smiling instead.

"Okay," she accepts, biting her lip. "I'll go out on a date with you."

His whole face brightens at the worlds and she feels her heart trip up in its beat. Stupid, ridiculous man, who keeps looking at her like she's the small wonders of earth, like the sun which gives the moon its light, or the moon that gives the sea its tide. Nobody has really looked at her like that since - well, ever.

He gives her his number and she promises to call him, even if she crosses her fingers behind her back as she does. It's just… this has all stemmed from a traumatic event. How does she know that she's really what he wants? And is she ready to just be used, to be another one of his conquests? She's not sure if empty one night stands are particularly beneficial for her mental health right now.

"You know, you're absolutely beautiful," he tells her.

She looks down. "Go back to your daughter, Mr Castle."

"Yes ma'am."

She laughs, watching him go with a smile on her face for a moment, before sighing and turning away, returning back to the dark world his light had guided her from.

TBC

tumblr: andiloveyoukate
twitter: _closingdoors