She rolls over in bed, twisting and turning, trying to find a comfortable spot to settle down, trying to find a spot that wasn't cold, a spot that didn't make the bed feel so big and empty. She rolled onto her back in frustration, her hand coming up to cover her tired eyes as she released a long breath.

Slowly, she dragged her hand from her face, pulling herself up into a sitting position, leaning her head back against the headboard, her eyes open and adjusting to the darkness. The room wasn't in complete darkness, a soft glow of moonlight streamed in from the windows. She could hear the heavy droplets of rain as it beat against the windows and the roof.

She loved the rain, it was peaceful and usually put her to sleep within minutes, usually along with the strong arms and warm body of her husband, who wasn't here. For the past week her husband had been off in Europe for some book business and for the past week she had not been able to get a good's night sleep. She didn't know how she did it before, sleep without him, it was a need now, to be wrapped up in his embrace, to feel his warm body against hers, holding her to him.

She reached over for her phone on the nightstand, checking the time. 3am. She didn't know what time it was where he was, but at this point, she couldn't bring herself to care, she just needed to hear him, needed him, in any way possible.

She unlocked the phone and dialled his number, his smirking face lighting up her screen, bringing a smile to her face. She bit her thumb as she pressed her phone to her ear, admittedly disappointed when it went straight to voicemail. She let her hand fall to her lap, her shoulders slumping. She hated when he went away, although she was usually the one who encouraged him to go … She couldn't tell him not to go simply because with him gone she couldn't sleep at night, he had a job too and she had to respect that.

It was another two days before he came back, she thought to herself, she could survive the two days, who needed sleep anyways?

"Mommy?" a quiet voice called in the darkness.

Kate turned to the doorway to see their four year old standing there, blanket in hand and tears streaming down her red cheeks.

"Oh, honey, come here." Kate called out, turning down the sheets, allowing her daughter to climb up and settle into her side, her little wimpers calming and she clung to her mother's shirt.

"What's the matter? Did you have a bad dream?" Kate asked, placing a kiss on the top of her head, her hand running up and down the little girl's back as she shook her head.

She looked up at her mother with those piercing blue eyes that she so longed to see, "I miss daddy." She whimpered.

Kate's heart broke as she hugged the girl tighter to her body, "Oh sweetie, me too. But he'll be home in two days." She tried to reassure both her daughter and herself at the same time.

"Can I stay here?" She whispered, burrowing further down under the covers, until just a mess of brown curls could be seen.

Kate smiled, running a hand through the tangled mess that would be hell to comb out the next morning. She continued running a hand through her hair until she felt her breathing even out and she eventually fell asleep, while Kate remained awake, the painful feeling in her chest of missing her husband too much for her to fall asleep.

She was content to just sit here and listen to the rain as her daughter slept soundly beside her and so she did, until she heard a muffled thud coming from outside their bedroom.

Stepping into mother/cop mode immediately, Kate eased out of bed, careful not to wake her sleeping child. She pulled open the safe, pulling out her gun as she crept out of the bedroom, her eyes scanned the living room as her heart pounded in her chest. Another muffled noise drew her attention to the door, followed by a hushed curse. She made her way over to the door quietly, praying that her daughter remained asleep at this moment, unsure of who was on the other side of the door, who would be at this time of the morning.

She tipped up, peeking through the hole, her heart in her throat as she saw who stood on the other side of the door, fumbling around for something, a curse falling through their lips every now and then. She fell back to the balls of her feet and grinned, her heart pounding away in her chest as she swung open the door much to his surprise.

Before he could react, she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, burying her head by his shoulder. She smiled as he instinctively wrapped his hands around her waist as he tried to regain balance after her sudden attack and then he tightened his grip on her.

"You're awake." He murmured in her hair.

She leaned back to look at him, taking in his tired face and dishevelled hair. She released a hand from around his neck, cupping his face, running a thumb under his eye before leaning in to pressed a soft kiss against his lips, to which he returned immediately.

She allowed herself to get lost in him as his fingers dug into her back, pulling her impossibly closer to him as she tangled her fingers in his hair, kissing him passionately, allowing him to take from her what she took from him. She missed him, she missed him terribly and she just didn't want to let go, so she pulled herself up against him as he pressed her against the doorjam, a moan tumbling from his mouth as she nipped his bottom lip.

She smiled against his mouth, overwhelmed with happiness in his return, the weariness that wore her down a few moment before replaced with joy and relief and want.

"Daddy!" A little voice had the pulling apart, each breathing heavily as they turned to see their daughter barrelling towards them.

Just in time, he bent down and caught her, lifting her up and spinning around, pressing kisses her to face as she giggled.

"Hello you, it's way past your bedtime, what are you doing up?" He asked her, settling her on his hip as he tried to grab his luggage, just realizing they were standing in the doorway still, Kate grabbed the ones he couldn't and the three made their way inside, shutting the door behind them.

"I missed you." She said quietly.

He smiled, "Oh honey, I missed you too, so much, both of you." He said turning to Kate, a special smile just for her that had her inside warming up.

"Please don't go away again." She pleaded, a precious pout on her face.

"Darling, I can't promise you that," He said as he sat down in the couch, cradling her to his chest, Kate sitting right by him, grabbing his free hand. "But I can promise to make it up to you and bring you back cool stuff." He continued, taking in the beaming face of his daughter.

"What did you bring me daddy?" She exclaimed, excitedly trying to pry herself from his hold.

"Not so fast little one, it's after four in the morning, I think we should get you back to sleep, you can play with your new stuff in the morning." He told her.

"I'm not tired." She argued, right as a yawn ate her last words.

"You're about as good a liar as your sister." He laughed, standing and turning to Kate, "I'm going to put her to bed, wait here?"

Kate rolled her eyes, "Where else would I go?"

He nodded, "Right."

He turned to his daughter who was struggling to keep her eyes open, "Say night to mommy."

"Night mommy." She said sleepily, rubbing her eyes, resting her head on Castle's shoulder.

Their daughter was such a daddy's little girl. She smiled to herself as she watch him to take her upstairs to settle her into bed.

He returned in a few minutes a tender smile on his face as he headed straight for her, settling himself on the couch before cupping her face and pulling her in for a long, slow kiss that had her heart pounding and her head spinning, how he still managed to do that to her after all this time, she didn't know, but she never wanted it to stop.

He pulled back, resting his forehead against hers as they caught their breath, before he settled back into the couch, pulling her with him.

"You're up early." He commented, his voice soothing her, more so than the rain ever would.

She hummed, "You're home early." She countered, "Not that I'm complaining." She said, pressing a kiss to his chest.

"I missed you," He said simply, "And I couldn't sleep."

So it wasn't just her, that was comforting to know. She wrapped her arms around his torso, happy to just be in his embrace again.

"Me either. I tried calling you." She admitted.

He fished around in his pocket, pulling out his phone, trying to wake it up. "Phone's dead." He observed.

"For someone who plays around on his phone so much, you should really charge it more." She teased.

"I was too distracted by my need to come home to you guys." He said tenderly, his fingers tracing patterns on her back, leaving her skin heated and tingling.

"I love you." She whispered against his shirt.

"I love you too." He repeated.

They sat there in silence for a moment, listening to the rain as it fell, watching as the sky slowly got brighter and brighter as the time went by.

"What'd you bring back for her?" She asked after a while.

"Oh you'll see in the morning." He replied.

She narrowed her eyes at his secrecy, wondering what kind of new gadget he bought for their child.

"I brought you something too." He continued, his voice low.

She turned, finding him watching her with dark eyes. "Yea?" She breathed, just inches from his face.

He nodded, inching them off of the couch.

"What?" She asked, looking around the room.

He surprised her, pulling her roughly against him, lifting her, her legs automatically wrapping around his waist as he started walking them to their room, his head lowering to attached his mouth to her pulse point, a breathy moan falling from her lips as she allowed her eyes to slip closed.

"Me."

End A/N: Any and all mistakes are mine. I do not own Castle and Beckett, but oh how I wish I owned a love like theirs.