A/N: A few of my readers have requested a little back story about Genevieve and about Kate and Castle getting together in this little universe I have created. Please be patient with me on updates, I have a lot going on right now and my writing is suffering. I hope to keep a steady stream of chapters though. Enjoy!

It wasn't exactly a secret, but she never talked about it. Not it, her. She never talked about her, at least to him anyway. And Castle knew better than to ask. But he couldn't rightly ignore the child sitting in his chair. He stood there hovering awkwardly, trying to figure out how to proceed. Beckett was no where to be found. He looked around one more time, praying for someone to appear to give him some guidance on the situation. No luck. The squad room was empty, save him and the child. He froze when the young girl lifted her dark head from the pages of her book. Castle studied her for a minute. Dark hair, green eyes, and that nose, there was no denying this was Beckett's child. The girl gave him a dismissive look and went back to reading.

"You're Richard Castle," she stated, breaking the silence.

"Uh…" he responded lamely.

"I recognize you from the picture on the back of your books. Mom has all of them," she added, still not lifting her head.

"Oh, she does?" he cringed as his voice cracked like a teenage boy. Why was he so nervous? It wasn't like he wasn't good with kids. He was great with kids! Most of the time he still was a kid! And then there was Alexis, he always did alright with her. What was it about this girl?

"Yeah, she won't let me read them. Says I'm not old enough," she shrugged. This time she looked up. "Ya know, you should write a series for kids," she suggested. Castle thought on the idea. He had never considered that before, even when Alexis was younger and a budding reader.

"You have me at the disadvantage. You know my name, but I don't know yours," he started.

"Genevieve," she stated.

Ok, well Genevieve, would this series for kids be a mystery series?" he wondered. The look she gave him was the same one Beckett gave him when he said something stupid.

"Isn't that what you're good at?" she deadpanned.

"I guess so," he replied awkwardly.

"Mom was right, you're an odd dude," Genevieve decided. Castle gave her a surprised look.

"Your mom said…" he started, but shaking his head to move past it. "Um, well I think the idea for a kids series is good, but I have to finish the book I'm working on right now," he went back to the previous topic.

"The one about my mom. She hates it," Genevieve fed him another delightful bit of conversation.

"Hates it? She hasn't even…" he trailed off as Beckett came around the corner.

"Gen, get your stuff. We have to go," she called.

"Gotta rocket," Genevieve told Castle as she unfolded herself from the chair and grabbed her backpack and coat.

"Castle, you ok?" Beckett checked as she noticed the bewildered look on the writer's face.

"What? Oh yeah," he collected himself.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night," she tossed back as they left.

"I'll see ya…" he stopped when he realized he was talking to nothing more than air.

"What has you so flummoxed, kiddo?" Martha asked, noticing her son had been lost in space since he returned home from the precinct.

"I met Beckett's daughter today," he replied distantly.

"Beckett has a daughter?" That was a bit of information Martha was lacking.

"Yeah, I mean she never talks about her, well to me anyway, but she was at the precinct…" he was speaking slowly, obviously still trying to process the whole encounter.

"Well if you knew about her, why are you so confounded after meeting her?" she wasn't getting the puzzle.

"I'm not really sure. I guess the girl is about eleven and looks just like her mother and she is very blunt, which is just like her mother too…" he trailed off.

"Do you know anything about her, about her father?" Martha wondered.

"No, and I am not sure it's my place to ask," he shrugged.

"You? Finding a boundary you're not willing to cross?" Martha snorted.

"It's different with children," he retorted. "Being a single parent is hard, especially if you aren't richer than Midas and you work a job that puts you in danger daily. I always assumed Kate never mentioned Genevieve as a matter of protection, not much different from the way I try to keep Alexis out of the media. I respect that," he explained.

"You really are a decent man when you try," his mother smiled, kissing his cheek.

"Don't tell anyone," he chuckled.

Genevieve was working on her homework while her mom finished up the dishes.

"You know, you were right, Mom," Gen started.

"About what?" Beckett wondered, placing the plate into the dishwasher.

"Castle is an odd dude," Genevieve explained. Beckett felt a blush creep into her cheeks as she remembered coming around the corner and seeing Castle speaking with Genevieve. She rarely brought Gen to the station, but today was a special circumstance. Genevieve had one of her supervised visits with her father and on the way back Beckett remembered she had to file some last minute paperwork for a case. She hadn't planned on Castle being around. She had forgotten she left him to run leads with the boys. Although he primarily shadowed her, if there was work to be done and she had somewhere else to be, he was more than happy to stick around and help.

"I never said that," she quickly defended herself.

"You said it to Lanie, and you were right. I talked to him today and it was just weird," the child shrugged.

"Bad weird?" Beckett checked. She hoped Castle hadn't made Genevieve uncomfortable.

"No Mom, he just seemed confused," Gen giggled.

"I'm sure he was," Beckett mumbled to herself. Castle was probably just as surprised to see Gen as Beckett was to see him. "Well, Castle likes to think outside the box and he's just different. It's not really nice to call him odd. I shouldn't have said it that way," Beckett continued her conversation with her daughter.

"Oh ok, I won't call him odd from now on," Genevieve promised. "I did tell him he should write a series for kids, though,"

"Good, maybe then he'll follow you around," Beckett teased, tapping her soapy finger on her daughter's nose.

"Mom!" Genevieve squeaked, wiping the suds from her face.

"Hey, how was your dad today? You didn't seem to be in the meeting very long," Beckett cautiously broached the subject. Genevieve was still getting used to the idea of the supervised visits, but she saw her dad more with them than she had without them. By the change in her daughter's expression, she could assume the meeting didn't go as well as she had hoped.

"He left early, said he had somewhere to be. Said he would stay the whole time next time," Genevieve provided. Beckett sighed. That was the same story every time.

"Are you almost done with your homework?" her mother changed the subject.

"Yep, can I read until bed?" Gen asked.

"Well you can, but I thought you might want to watch a movie, something like Beastly maybe?" Beckett suggested, taking the movie out of the cabinet and setting it in front of her child.

"You bought it? Why?" Genevieve gasped.

"I thought you deserved it," Beckett shrugged and it was true. Genevieve was a good kid. She kept her grades high, did as she was told and the situation with her father was a lot to deal with so every once in a while she got a gift just for being her.

Beckett sighed as she set her bag on her desk and dropped into her seat. She was sure the second Castle got there he would grill her with a million questions about Genevieve. He was curious in that way, annoyingly curious. She had been wracking her brain trying to come up with a plan to avoid it, but in the end she knew she would have no choice but to endure the questions. What Castle wanted, Castle got. Oh joy.

Castle walked out of the elevator and set a cup of coffee on Beckett's desk.

"Morning," he hummed, pulling of his coat and slinging it over the back of the chair he claimed as his own. Beckett looked at him expectantly, awaiting the string of questions. "What?" he wondered, taking a seat.

"Nothing," she shrugged. He must be waiting until the end of the day.

The whole day went by and not once did Castle ask about Genevieve. There was nothing about his behavior that even suggested he met her daughter the night before. She still had the feeling he was building up to it. He just had to ask, his curious nature wouldn't allow him to forgo this discovery.

"Ok, seriously Castle, just ask already," she blurted as he readied himself to leave for the day.

"Ask what?" he looked genuinely confused.

"About Genevieve. I saw you talking to her last night," Beckett elaborated. Castle gave her a contemplative look before sitting on the edge of her desk.

"Look Beckett, I'm not going to lie to you and say it didn't surprise me to see your daughter here last night and that seeing her didn't bring up a lot of questions," he started. Beckett sat back in her chair, still waiting for the questions. "But, it's not my place to ask. Genevieve is your child and as a father I understand what that means. I know the desire to keep your child's life separate from your work and out of the line of fire so to speak. That being said, I respect your privacy. However as a fellow single parent, I am more than willing to lend an ear, a hand, or a babysitter if you ever need it," he finished with an honest smile. Beckett blinked a few times. That wasn't what she was expecting.

"Um, thanks Castle. I really appreciate that," she returned with a smile of her own.

"No problem, I'll see you tomorrow," he said, straightening up and walking towards the elevator.