Disclaimer: Castle isn't mine. Neither is Beckett. Nor Esposito. Nor Ryan. Nor Lanie. Are you sensing a pattern? I also don't own the line I lifted directly from Bones (The Man in the Bear)

Notes: This is sort of a companion piece to Even Writers Get Bored, but you don't have read it to understand anything in this one. I'm eventually going to get started on a sequel to Even Writers Get Bored, so this piece is going to fall timeline wise between the two. :) Time for some more Kate/Alexis bonding, because I got a lot of positive responses to that in the other story. I quoted Bones in this one.

Also, fluff. Lots of it. You have been warned. Fluff in the warm weather, because I want warm weather. This is going to be set in late July. This officially going to be a multi-chapter fic. .

"Good morning ladies!" The woman greeted as she entered the room, "How is everyone today?" The room returned her greetings and she continued, "Before we get started today make sure you grab a strap and two blocks."

"Thank you for coming with me," Kate turned to Alexis before they entered the room.

"Of course! Kate, are you nervous?" Alexis asked quietly as they made their way to the back of the room.

"Maybe a little," she said, "but if you tell anyone I said that I will deny it."

"Your secret is safe with me, Kate. Um... what do I need to go get for us, I wasn't really listening."

"Have you ever done yoga before?"

"No," Alexis replied, "Unless you count the time Paige tried to teach me... uh... Tree Pose? And I fell and nearly broke her lamp and my arm."

Kate suppressed her chuckle, "You'll need a strap and two blocks."

"Okay, I'm guessing you don't need the strap?"

"No," Kate unrolled her mat and then spread it out on the hardwood floor, "but you may want to go grab a blanket out of that cabinet up there. To pad your mat while we're in Virasana.. uh sorry, Hero Pose."

"Four blocks, one strap, and a blanket. Got it," Alexis went to gather the extra supplies while Kate unrolled the second mat.

"Okay, I think I got it all," Alexis said when she came back,

"You did," Kate took two of the blocks and sat them on her mat, then showed Alexis how to lay the blanket out and get ready for Hero Pose.

"Why aren't you using a blanket?"

"The hardwood doesn't really bother my knees anymore," she answered as she gently lowered herself to the ground, "It did when I first started taking yoga, but you just get used to it."

"Thanks for inviting me," Alexis said as she looked around the room.

"Thank you for coming. It gets Rick off my back for a while, he has suddenly decided I'm breakable and that I need to be supervised 24/7."

"Dad is... like that," Alexis responded after a not so lengthy consideration,

"Yes, he is," Kate smiled, "You ready? Class starts in about five minutes."

"Yes, although I do feel like the odd one out in here."

"Why?"

"Hello, I'm the only one here who isn't pregnant," Alexis made her 'Duh' face.

"Don't worry about it Lex. No one is going to care one way or the other," Kate said as she pulled her hair back, "I went to a couple with Lanie before she got comfortable with it, and the teacher immediately spotted us. She asked when I was due. I nearly died. You should've seen the face Lanie was making at me."

"So I should expect slight mortification then?" Alexis joked as she sat down at the end of her mat and waited for some kind of cue as to what to do.

"Don't slouch," Kate teased, "Get on your knees there on your blanket." Kate demonstrated what she wanted Alexis to do.

"Okay," Alexis mimicked her.

"Pull your thighs together so your knees are touching, and then move your legs apart so your feet are wider than your hips," she once again showed Alexis what to do.

"Got it," Alexis awaited her next instruction.

"Now, take one of the blocks and place it under your butt," she paused while Alexis got her block, "When you go to sit on it try and make sure you are sitting on the sit bones and not your butt."

"Right," Alexis tried sitting, "This isn't very comfortable..."

"Is it hurting your knees?"

"Yes."

"Sit on both blocks."

Alexis added the second block and sat back down on them, "This is much better."

"You sure?" Kate asked, "I really don't want to take you back damaged. I'm pretty sure I'd never be forgiven for hurting you."

"I'm fine, promise," Alexis smiled reassuringly.

"Okay," Kate gave her one last inspecting look before lowering herself into Hero Pose as well.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Alexis' mouth was agape.

"What?" The only differences between Kate's and Alexis' Hero Poses were the blocks. Alexis had two, and Kate's butt was on the floor.

"You're on the ground. Isn't that like really bad for your knees?"

"No, and the longer you do yoga the more stretchy you get. When I first started I had to use the blocks for this, but over time you just get the point where you can sink lower and lower into it."

"That just makes me hurt looking at you," Alexis laughed.

"Ye—" Kate's comment was interrupted by the teacher starting their class.

"Alright, mommies, we're going to start with our meditations today. Find whatever sitting pose is comfortable for you. You can do Lotus Pose, Hero Pose, whatever is comfortable today," she began walking around the room stopping to check on some of the other women and to help them with their postures, "Good, good ladies."

Kate closed her eyes and lay her hands on her legs with her palms up. Alexis stole a quick glance at her before doing the same thing.

"Relax your breathing ladies, good. Let the air flow in and out of your noses... good.," she continued her stroll around the room, "Okay, good, focus on your breathing, deep breaths in and deep breaths out..."

She made her way to the back, and dropped her voice to a whisper, "Hello ladies, I see you're both new here. I'm Lindsay."

"I'm Kate," Kate opened her eyes and offered a hand to shake.

"Nice to meet you, when are you due?"

"September."

"Okay, so you'll be with me for a while then, yes?"

"Yeah."

Lindsay shifted her attention to Alexis, "Hi there."

"Hello, I'm Alexis," she shook her hand as well.

"Will you be with us your whole pregnancy?"

Alexis blanched, "What? No... I.. No. Too young," She shook her head back and forth rapidly.

"I brought Alexis along for company," Kate explained.

"Ah, so no bun in the oven for you, got it," Lindsay smiled before resuming her walk around the room.

"I can't believe she thought I was... ya know..." Alexis motioned to Kate's middle.

"Lex, you're in a prenatal yoga class."

"Yeah, but... We will never speak of this. Especially to Dad," Alexis held her pinky finger up between them.

"Duh," Kate held up her finger and they made their pinky promise.

The rest of their class went off without a hitch. Everyone lay back into their variations of the Corpse Pose, one that Kate drew a sick sense of amusement from, and began the relaxation portion of their class. After ten minutes of silence the teacher asked everyone to make their way back to a sitting

position.

"I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One. Namaste, mommies! Have a wonderful day," Lindsay finished out the class.

"So what do you think Lex?"

"That was really kind of fun," Alexis replied, "Not nearly as traumatic as that one bad experience led me to believe."

"Think you might even try it again?" Kate sat there and let everyone who was already up and moving around get where they were going.

"Definitely," Alexis said gathering up her supplies to put away, "do you want me to take your blocks too?"

"Thanks, Lex," Kate added them to the top of her stack, and then set to rolling up Alexis' mat.

"Now what?" Alexis asked on her return.

"Now you help me up," Kate laughed and held up a hand up, "This is the part I was not looking forward to."

Alexis braced and gave Kate the leverage she needed to stand up, "No problem." As soon as Kate had stepped off the mat Alexis got that one to roll, "Since you already rolled mine."

"Thanks," Kate went and pulled their shoes off the shelf and brought them over, "I am ready to eat. What do you say we go find your dad and make him fix chocolate chip pancakes for us?"

"On it," Alexis pulled her cell phone out of her shoe and quickly shot off a text to her dad, she had a reply in about 3 seconds, "Dad wants to know if you want bacon too?"

"Tell him I'll kill if I smell bacon in the loft. He should know better than to even joke about bacon," Kate slipped her shoes on.

"Kate..." Alexis had that 'oh, come on' look on her face.

"I know! Why should I expect anything different from him?" She rolled her eyes and waited on Alexis to get her shoes on too.

Alexis laughed and stood back up after her shoes were tied, "Ready."

"I am really excited for these pancakes," Kate laughed and put her arm around Alexis' shoulders, "He better have them ready for us when we get there."

"Yes, he really should."

"Kate, Alexis?" Lindsay approached them as they were heading for the door, "I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I don't usually get non-mommies in here."

"Hey, no problem." Alexis answered, "but I'll probably be back if that's alright?"

"Oh, of course! The more the merrier I say."

"Thanks," Alexis replied and with a nod Lindsay walked away to finish preparing for her next class, "I hope you don't mind me butting in on this with you. I like our us time."

Kate squeezed Alexis, "Have I told you today how much I love you?"

"Nope," Alexis cheesed.

"Well, I do. You are the best kid anyone could ever ask for. How did your dad manage to raise you?"

"One of us had to be the parent," they laughed as Alexis went out in front of Kate, "I'm glad he has you now though."

"I'm glad to have him. He's helped me find my inner child again," Kate admitted quietly, "I thought that was gone for good after..."

"I know," Alexis nodded solemnly before giving Kate a comforting hug, "He's very good at finding the fun in anything. It's why I've always loved learning so much. When I was little he turned everything into a game. ABCs, numbers, reading races, writing races," she laughed.

"Yeah," she smiled and held the keys out, "Do you want to drive?"

"Is this a trick question?"

"No," Kate laughed, "I trust your driving."

"Dad really is a good driver," she took the keys, "when he needs to be."

"I know," she moved around to the passenger side, "It's just that 'needs to be' needs to be all the time with him."

"Agreed," Alexis got in and started the car. She kicked the air up, and expertly drove them back to the loft. The smell of chocolate greeted them at the door.

"Hey! You're back," he ushered them over to the table, "breakfast for the ladies of the house."

Alexis sat down and immediately started eating her pancakes.

"I missed you," he kissed Kate's cheek and pulled her chair out for her.

Kate blushed and went to work on her plate, "I really didn't think I was this hungry."

"Two," he held up two fingers for emphasis.

"Smart ass."

"Objectively I'd say I'm very smart, although it has nothing to do with my ass."

"Seriously, Dad?" Alexis rolled her eyes and took her cleaned plate to the the sink, "I'm gonna go take a shower and then meet Paige to go look at apartments again."

"She so learned that eye rolling thing from you," he pointed an accusing finger at Kate.

"Then my work is done," she pushed the rest of her plate away.

"Not hungry?"

"No, I'm full. You gave me six pancakes, when all I needed was three."

"I'm overdoing it aren't I?" he leaned forward and took the hand that was closest to him.

"Yes, but I like it," she smiled lazily and leaned towards him for a kiss.

"Good," he closed the distance and they shared a sweet kiss, "You tired?"

"I'm always tired, but no."

"Okay, lets go, to the couch with you," he stood up and wrapped his arm under her shoulders to pull her up.

"What if I wasn't ready to move?" She asked as they made their way to the living room.

"Foot rub."

Here eyes went wide, "I. Love. You."

"I love you too," he got her settled on the couch and then moved to sit down by her feet and began rubbing. "Did you girls have fun this morning?"

"Yeah, it was a completely different pace than what I am used to, but I just couldn't keep up in the other class anymore. So it was a bit of a learning curve. I'm glad Alexis was there though."

"You're glad it wasn't me there."

"That too," she laughed and let her eyes slip shut, "No, we just decided it was us time."

She completely missed his big smile, "She'll be going back with you then?"

"Yeah," Kate's head lolled to the side and she yawned.

"I knew you were tired," he placed her feet back in his lap.

"Not tired, just relaxed."

"Sure, you are..." he moved her back onto the couch and got up, "I'll be right back."

"Mmm," was her only answer.

When he came back with two bottles of water he thought she was asleep and put on a smug smile. He put the waters on the table and pulled the blanket off the couch to cover her with.

"Don't think that you can get out of my foot rub that easy."

"Just making you more comfortable," he replied taking his seat again.

"No, you thought I was asleep," she picked he head back up and looked him square in the eye.

"Yes, so I was making you more comfortable," he reached up to place his hand on her swollen stomach, "Did she seem to like this slower pace better?"

"Yeah," Kate smiled and moved his hand to the left side, "Can you feel her?"

"Yeah," he grinned, "That is amazing. Meredith never really let me do this. She thought it was strange."

"Ahh, so that is why you were so keen on getting me pregnant, so you could scratch touchy-feely father-to-be off of your bucket list."

"Don't make me come over there," he pulled his hand away.

"And what?" She asked. "Put your hand back."

He immediately put his hand back where she had placed it, "What, what is it?"

"She got a little more aggressive with her kicking when you took your hand away. Just like every other girl in the world, she's already taken with you," she gave him a little eye roll.

"I'm just that charming, what can I say," he caressed her stomach and scooted closer to her so that her legs were laying across his lap.

"Charm is definitely something you have in abundance," she laughed and propped her head up against her arm and the back of the couch.

"You say that like it's a good thing."

"You could charm a captain out of his spaceship."

"I charmed you out of your pants," he teased.

"On several occasions."

"No one can charm anything out of you. Or off of you," he added after a moment of thought.

"If she looks anything like you I'm in so much trouble," she placed her free hand on top of his.

"Nah, you'll be fine," he turned his hand over to squeeze hers.

"Bye guys," Alexis popped into the room and kissed both of their cheeks and headed back to the front door, "Paige just called so we're gonna go check out the first apartment of the day."

"Be careful, and don't sign anything," he called out to her retreating form.

"I will... and won't," she responded as the door shut behind her.

"It's too quiet."

"Won't be for much longer," Kate squeezed his hand again, "Besides, she'll be in and out just as much as Martha is. She can't quit you, and I believe we already discussed the reason why."

"I'm an irresistible specimen of the male form?"

She snorted and rolled her eyes, "Something like that."

"You wound me."