Breanna Hope Beckett-Swarenson was born ten years ago, it was two years after I meet her father William at the New York Police Academy. We had been dating for six months when he proposed and we married six months later only to find out after we got back from our three month honeymoon that I was pregnant with Breanna. After she was born I went back to work and Will transferred to the FBI and I hardly ever saw him again, I found out three weeks after her birth that he had been cheating on me ever since our engagment had been announced. I filed for a divorce and by the time we celebrated Breanna's second birthday we were officially divorced. She has never known her father and I have kept it that way, apparently he has four kids with his new wife now, all under the age of five and she's pregnant with twins bringing the count up to six. When I found out from a mutual friend I laughed for what felt like hours, it had only been five minutes but it still felt good to laugh. Now here I am on Bre's tenth birthday waiting as she picks out five new outfits to go with the three new pairs of boots she just brought. Will still has to pay child support, so I get two thousand dollars a month from him as that was the arrangement that we came to in our divorce. It was enough for Bre and I to do something special on my day off and still have some money left over from bills and rent on our tiny appartment.

All of this happened because Richard Rodgers (as I had known him growing up with him before he changed his name to Richard Castle when he wrote his first novel) the love of my life, my best friend and the guy I saw as my "older brother" had left to go to LA for university and I still had three years left to go before I finished high school, I was a sophomore when he was a senior. We talked every night; I talked about school and how it didn't feel the same without him being there, and he talked about how university was and what I had to look forward too. I graduated high school and went to Columbia and started studying law just like my mother had. It was just after my first semester and we were on christmas break when a couple of days after New Years, my mother was murdered and I couldn't go back to uni. I started rebelling and my father drove himself to drunk every day. Eventually after two years I calmed down and when I needed my "older brother" he wouldn't return my phone calls. Thats when I saw in the papers that he was engaged to an up and coming actress, I was furious. When I saw him on the street a month before I started at the police academy I told him that I hated him I was so jealous. That was the last time I had any contact with him. And then I meet Will and all of this started.

"Mummy?" Bre asked trying to get my attention

"Yes Bre?" I questioned, breaking out of my revere

"Mummy what do you think?" she asked doing a little twirl, showing off the skinny jeans and halter kneck shirt and black leather jacket, as well as the few accessories that she had picked out.

"Beautiful Bre; is this the last outfit?" I asked

"Just the dress you picked out, do you think that afterwards we could go visit Aunty Lanie I haven't seen her or Uncle Javi in like three days and I miss them" she told me running back into the changing room. Javier Esposito and Lanie Parish had been dating since she was in fifth grade and he just starting elementary, I thought it was a beautiful thing that they'd made their relationship last for almost twenty five years. Growing up Lanie and Kevan Ryan had been in my year and we'd been inseprable since preschool. Then when we reached grade school we meet Javier and Richard and Jennifer "Jenny" O'Maley, they were three years older than us and it didn't mean anything to us. It was over the summer between me finishing grade school and staring elementary school that I become close to Richard; his mother had gone out of town and my parents had agreed to look after him, just keep an eye on him for her whilst she was on tour performing one of her many plays. All summer Richard and I were inseprable and my mother knew that I had seriously fallen in love with him and expected us to be dating by the end of that summer, however that was the summer just before he had his first ever Derrick Storm novel published, he always made time for me and our friends but he couldn't give me what I wanted at that time so I tried giving up but deep down I truly loved him.

When I heard the lock in the changing room turn I looked up and gasped when I saw Bre standing before me in the lovely magenta dress that brought out her dark almond hair, falling to just below the elbows whilst the natural waves flowed. She looked beautiful, and the adorable little blush she had on her checks was just right.

"Sweetie you look unbelievably goregous" I said hugging her tight.

"Your really think so mummy?" she asked uncertain

"Of course I do baby girl; Landon will be silly not to notice you tomorrow at your birthday party" I said with a huge grin on my face

"Mum!" she whined. Landon had been her best friend since she was born and it was clear that she was starting to develop feelings for him that wasn't just friendly.

"What?" I asked jokingly oblivious to her shock

"Nothing" she laughed heading back into the changing room to take the dress off and put her clothes back on. I was just about to stand up and go help her bring the stuff out of the changing room so we could dump it in the trolley and continue our shopping spree when a girl maybe three or four years older than Bre, with bright red hair zoomed past with her arms full of clothing to try on. Shaking my head at the girls eagerness I started forward again when I heard the voice of the man I hadn't heard since I told him I hated him.

"Katie, Katie Beckett. Is that you?" he asked

"Rick Castle?" I asked in return turning to see the man that I still loved, smiling that big cheesy grin that made his eyes crinkle, he was wearing jeans, a dress shirt and coat. Not being able to stop myself I started walking forward running forward into his arms.

"Hi" I said pulling back a bit

"Hea" he said back not seeming to worry at all.

"How have you been?" he asked after a couple of moments silence.

"I've been really good; working as a homicide detective with Javier and Kevan. My daughter Breanna is celebrating her tenth birthday today hence the shopping spree and why I'm not at work on a Friday, she's having her party tomorrow you should come?" I invited, I was babbling to a guy who had claimed my heart back when I was five years old, the guy who used to share his chewing gum and popcorn at the movies with me and me alone.

"That would be great. I would love to come" he paused a second

"Do you mind if I bring Alexis along?" he asked

"Uh yea sure" I agreed unsure of who she was, he seemed to be able to read my expression caise he said

"She's my daughter, she's fourteen now. I'm sure she would love to meet you" he smiled.

For another couple of mintues we chatted just catching up about random things when I heard Bre call out

"Mummy?" I turned around, having a little difficulty as I was still wrapped in Ricks' arms, suddenly the girl with the red hair was behind Bre with the same confused look on her face.

"Hi Bre, uh this is Richard Castle, he's a friend of mine from when I was growing up" I tried explaining to her

"You mean the Richard Castle who happens to be your favourite author, that the Richard Castle you're talking about?" she asked, damn my daughter for being so damn perceptive

"Yes this is him" I answered breaking free of Richards arms and walking back to Breanna's side.

"Hi Breanna its so nice to meet you, your mum just told me its your birthday today so happy birthday" he said, Bre blushed and said a shy thank you.

"Well any way; Kate this is my daughter Alexis" he said walking over to his daughter and hugging her closely.

"Hi Alexis its nice to meet you" I said. We talked for another couple of mintues; before exchaning cell phone numbers and addresses. As we walked away down the aisle we had come down I felt my heart rate return to normal.

A/N: For a first chapter how is it! I hope you like it!