A/N: Don't owe anything but my wise and sometimes not so wise comments.

Richard Castle could not believe it, his sweet great amazing all around good little girl wasn't going away. She was staying in New York, going to Columbia, not to Stanford on the other side of the country and not to Oxford on the other side of the Atlantic ocean. He thought that winning the laser tag game, that they'd been playing for the past thirteen year was the icing of the cake that had been his day, but he was wrong. This was the icing on the cake, she was staying. He felt his heart swell inside his chest. It was finally sinking in, it hadn't had the chance yet, because he was challenged into another game of laser tag. He hoped it would last another thirteen years, he would let her win this one. It was two out of three, so if Alexis won this round, he could play another round, which meant he had 26 years of laser tag in his future. The grin that had been on his face for the past 2 hours only grew. He put his computer back on his desk and run upstairs through the hallway and stopped in front of his daughter's bedroom door.

Wait…

He promised to try and give her space. Technically she asked for it when she would go to Columbia, but it wouldn't hurt to practice now. The problem was that he was really, really happy with her decision and wanted to tell her that. Share his happiness, but there will be moments like that next year and he has to give her space then.

Space… He thought as he let out a sigh, he slowly started to hate that word.

Kate! That was a word he could never hate, just like always.

Without a second thought he turned around and went back down the stairs, grabbed his wallet, keys and checked if he had his phone with him before walking out the door.

Kate Beckett could not believe it, she actually told Castle about everything, well maybe not everything, okay so maybe more like a small tidbit, but she told him she was working on telling him everything, accepting everything. He understood that she meant that she was accepting his love, and getting ready to return it. At least she hoped he understood. Off course he did, if he didn't then why did he say he wanted to be there. She let herself fall into the couch, her mind had kept running their conversation over and over again. Had she given away to much, or had she'd been to subtle again? She toughed she was making it clear to him the past 5 months but, then he suddenly returned to his playboy ways and dumped her for another detective. Sure he'd come back to her, but he still clicked her phone calls away, or ignored her texts.

She let go of another sigh and dropped her head on the back of the couch, she was still scared she was going the lose him. But that's ridiculous, he said he would be there, well he said he would like to be there. She told him she would like that too, even with the zombie make up. She didn't care how he looked, as long as he was there. God how she wished this would all be easy. That she was just ready to dive into this with him, that she knew she could let go and that everything would be fine. But she was almost there, almost, he would wait for her right? Just a little while longer. Especially now he knew she was working on getting there. God why was she so unsecure about all of this.

She needed a distraction, and a knock on her door was exactly that.

Castle was carrying a big smile on his face and some ice cream in his hand as he knocked on her door. His smile faltered for a second as he thought that she might already be in bed. It had been a long day, but then he heard movement behind the door and his smile came back in full force as the door opened. Before he could thing what he was doing he stepped forward and pulled her in a hug and lifted her in the air and twirled her around.

"God, I'm so happy." he said into her neck laughing.

Beckett let out a surprised squeal, though she would never admit that. She learned to expect this sort of warm, caring, I'm so happy you're here hugs from his mother. But the man himself had only did this once when he pulled out all the wires of the bomb and saved New York city. She felt herself pulling herself closer and couldn't help but laugh with him. Her heart feeling lighter already, the worries of just seconds ago pushed back in her mind, because for some reason, some great reason this felt just right.

"Castle, what are you doing here?" Beckett asked, still chuckling. But slightly regretting speaking up as she felt him easing out of the hug, but that regret went away just as quickly as she saw his beaming face. He looked, proud, amazed, he eyes twinkled with happiness. It had been a while since she'd seen him like this.

"I just… I just had a great, no. I had an amazing day." Castle said his smile growing softer but not shrinking in size.

Beckett chuckled, and her face fell in one of happiness but also with a little doubt. "You came all this way, just to tell me that?"

At that Castle's smile did shrink a little and his forehead wrinkled a bit. Beckett new this face, it was the face he'd get when he found a break in the case, and thought he'd figured it all out, but then she would ask about the motive or point out an alibi. Then just like it did now, his smile would falter just a bit as he'd tried to figure a way around said motive and or alibi.

"I mean you're always welcome." Beckett said hesitantly when he didn't respond and looked down towards the ground. "Especially when you bring ice cream."

At that Castle looked down at his hand and offered it to her without speaking. Still thinking, he just went across town, spend $40 on a cab ride here, and another $15 on the ice cream. Why? And the only answer he could come up with was that he wanted to tell her about his day. He closed the door behind him and followed her towards he kitchen island where she was already pulling two bowls out of a cupboard.

"Yes I did."

Beckett looked up confusion written all over her face. "Sorry?"

"Yes, I did come all this way to tell you that, this." Castle said and couldn't help but grin as he saw her blush and look down.

What the hell? Beckett asked herself, she did not blush. Well she could take a page out of the Richard Castle play book too. "So what, you spent 30 bucks to come here and bring me ice cream, you already missed me that much?" She asked playfully but wasn't expecting his honest answer as he sat down on one of the barstools by her kitchen island.

"No… Yes… Maybe, I just really wanted to tell somebody." Castle said and Beckett noticed even though she could see he was serious he couldn't help the smile on his face. She herself couldn't help but wonder about the why he came to her. What did it mean.

"Well, than give me a moment to put this ice cream in two bowls and I'm all ears." She said and finished scooping up the ice cream and handed him one bowl while she took her own in her hand. She looked at the barstool next to Castle before deciding against it. "You coming." She said as she walked towards the couch, and just like he'd been doing the last four years he nodded and followed.

Beckett sat down in on the couch and turned sideways on the couch as she pulled one leg up and leaned with her side against the back of the couch, letting her arm rest on the back and putting her bowl on her leg. Castle said down and mirrored her position. "So tell me Castle, what made today such an amazing day." She said as she took a bite of her ice cream.

Castle chuckled and started talking. "Well, I came home, put on my laser tag suit. Alexis' was already missing. So I knew she was going to do a sneak attack. You know we were almost at the end of our game and she was three points behind."

"The end of your game?" Beckett asked, she couldn't help but smile at his excitement of telling his story.

"Yes, we started when she was five, the first to get to a thousand wins." Castle said and was pleased to see Beckett look of shock.

"The first to a thousand points? Wow Castle I know you've crazy games but this one might just take the cake." Beckett said.

"Yeah, I love it. and I was winning what just made it all the better. I haven't been able to win a game from Alexis in ages. So anyway, I sat down on the couch, in the dark. The perfect atmosphere, as if I was waiting for her to come down the stairs, but she was already in my office. So I hear the door click and feel the rush of wind entering the room."

Beckett couldn't help but laughing at that. "Castle the wall between the living room and your office is a see trough bookcase. The opening of the door wouldn't make air or 'a rush of wind enter the room'." Castle's face fell into a pout and again she couldn't help laughing.

Seeing her laugh made Castle's smile return to his face, he made her laugh, made her smile. God why did he even think he could move on. Why had he been so stupid, she was seeing a therapist to get better, for him. At least that was what she meant, right? He shook his head and decided to get back to the story.

"So anyway. After feeling the wind enter the room, I knew I had to wait for the perfect moment, but not too long because then she would shoot. So I heard her take another step, so soft as she could, but then I turned around still in the zombie outfit and let out a roar. She screamed and I shot her. And won, one thousand points!" Castle said proudly lifting his chest.

Beckett shook her head and lifted the hand that was on the back of the couch and took his and squeezing it. "I'm really happy for you." Beckett said.

Castle squeezed back and when she felt his grip loosen she tried to pull back, but his grip tightened again so that she couldn't. Her body stiffened for a moment, just a moment she felt completely out of control, before she realized it was Castle and that she didn't mind him having the control, she trusted him. Only the damage had already been done.

Stupid, stupid man, just because she admitted almost being there doesn't mean you have the right to push her. He let go of her hand and pulled it back, but before he could drop it on his lap it was caught in hers. He looked up at her and saw the twinkle in her eyes. Trust clearly shinning through. "So winning a game that you'd been playing for the past thirteen years propelled you to come here?"

"Well, yes, but there is more."

"More?"

"Yes, off course, if I'd only one the game today, this day would have been great but not amazing." Castle said

"Off course." Beckett said smiling, she felt kind of ridiculous. His happiness was contagious.

"So after I won, Alexis got all sad. She asked if that was it, that it was over. I was off course not expecting that reaction. Sure we Castle's aren't the most gracious of losers, but still. So I said it was just a game, to which she told me it was a game we started when she was five and that it was over. She was saying how everything was going to change since she would be going to college and I would be staying here. How it won't be the same. So I told her change would be good. God I felt so bad saying that. Because I would miss her like hell." Castle said looking away from her towards their still clasped hands and noticing for the first time that he was rubbing circles just above her knuckles just like he did a few months ago. He took another deep breath and continued. "But I wanted her to be able to make her own choice and not to influence her decision in any way." A big smile returned to his face. "Then she started saying that she couldn't do it, so I asked what and she said go that far away. She said she wanted to but just couldn't. So I told her she should follow her heart, that if she did that she couldn't go wrong. And she responded and I quote. 'and my heart is telling me to go to Columbia' She wants to go to Columbia, she's staying here. Not across the country not across the Atlantic ocean, here. She's staying here. And I'm just so happy." Castle said the biggest grin she'd seen of him today appearing on his face.

"Castle that's great, that's truly is amazing." She said squeezing his hand.

"Yeah and I was sitting in my office and it just hit me that I don't have to miss her, that I can see her stress out about first day at college, about her first college paper, about a class she couldn't find. So I wanted to go up and tell her, but she told me that if she went to Columbia, that I had to give her space to study and stuff like that. So I wanted to get in some practice."

"But you were still happy and wanted to share it?" Beckett asked questioningly and Castle nodded.

"And you came to mind, I wanted to tell you." Castle said happily. "I'm just so happy."

Beckett looked at him, he had wanted to share his happiness with her. He had just shared his happiness with her and it made her happy. It made her smile, it made her laugh, it made her all warm inside and a feeling of contentment washed over her. Before her mind had time to figure out what that all meant she saw his face fall.

"Is it bad that I'm happy?" He asked.

"Huh, what? No off course not." She responded not understanding.

"Her personal motto is to do the things you fear the most, but she is not doing that, she's staying home. What if she'll regret this later, should I talk to her, get her to reconsider Stanford or Oxford?" Castle asked.

Beckett looked at him, saw the confusion on his face, the heartbreaking doubt. "Do you want her to reconsider Stanford or Oxford?"

"No, but will I be a bad parent if I don't?" Castle asked.

Beckett had never heard Castle voice his concern about being a bad parent out loud. "Castle, you're not a bad parent. You're an amazing parent. Look I went to Stanford, pre law remember." She said and he nodded. "Then my mother got killed and instead of pre law I decided to go to the police academy here in New York." She said and let out a small sigh before looking back at him. He was looking at her intensely, as if he thought that if he would blink he would miss an important detail, his eyes twinkling with curiosity.

"Dad tried to convince me to go back to Stanford. Saying I could still become the first female chief of justice. But that wasn't important to me anymore, that wasn't what I wanted anymore. Look Castle if Alexis decided she wants to go to Columbia it means it has something that she wants, if that changes she can always change colleges." Beckett said squeezing his hand.

The curiosity that was in his eyes changed, the color went from light blue to a darker warmer blue. She had missed that color the last few weeks, she'd seen glances of it. Every time it appeared he would look away as fast as he could. Now? He just kept looking at her.

"Thank you." He said softly finally blinking, because if he'd kept starring at her like that, just starring with that look full of love in his eyes. She might have lost control and she wasn't completely ready yet.

"Always."

He nodded and responded in kind. "Always."

He sighed, he couldn't believe he was about to give up on her. On them. "I'm sorry Kate."

"Why?"

He looked at her, confused and his mind went back over the last few seconds, he must have said it out loud then. "I.. I, I had… decided that… that."

"This was going to be your last case." Beckett finished for him.

He looked at her as a deer caught in headlights, eyes big, a face of shock. "How'd you know?"

"Your response to Perlmutter. You told him you would cherish these special moments you'd shared. Together with you behavior the last few weeks…"

Castle looked at her and put his and her bowl of ice cream on her coffee table and took her other hand in his to. "Kate, I'm sorry, I've been an jerk, no scratch that I've been a total jackass. I drew the wrong conclusion and didn't look at the facts or better said I didn't look for all the facts. I'm sorry."

"And now?"

"Just like every other time I draw a hasty conclusion you told me the facts."

"And the facts are?" Beckett asked softly looking at their hands.

"That always goes both ways. You and I have been there for each other, You and I are here for each other and we'll always be there for each other." Castle said that look back on his face the love still in his eyes, on his face, it was like his whole body was radiating it.

"Castle." She gasped, feeling tears form in her eyes, but she was too stubborn to let them fall.

"I know, that wall isn't down yet and you don't have to worry, you know why?" Castle asked.

Beckett shook her head, not trusting her own voice right now. "Because the fact is Kate Beckett, I'll wait for you to be ready. The fact is that it doesn't matter if that wall is gone tomorrow or in three weeks, three years, I'll wait."

"You don't have to wait that long Castle, I'm almost there."

Castle nodded and squeezed her hands one last time before letting them go, his heart regretting his decision but his mind new that if he didn't he would push to far. "It's getting late I better go."

Beckett looked up at him, trying to read his face. See if he was mad or disappointed in her. The only thing she found there was love and she was pretty sure she carried the same thing in her eyes, on her face and she hoped he could feel it radiating of her whole body to.

"Yeah of course." She said standing up with him and walking towards the door. She opened it and he stepped through and turned around on the other side of the threshold. They smiled at each other. Beckett was hit with the memory of just an hour ago when he came in, how he hugged her and twirled her around, how right it felt. She felt her body move without her permission, at least without the permission of her head. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him close. She buried her face in his neck and sighed happily.

"Always?" he whispered in her ear.

"Always." she responded and pulled back and stepped back into my apartment and closed the door. She put her head against the door, waiting for her to hear Castle walk away. After a few seconds she heard movements before hearing his voice. It might have been muffled by the door, but she had no problem hearing what he said.

"Best day ever."

A/N: So that was it, hoped you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think about it. And especially let me know if you think monday is going to be the best day ever!