Genre: Romance, Family, Humor

Rating: M for sexual situations

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC, and the others who do own them.

A/N #1: Wanted to say first that as it says in the summary, this story is the sequel to Beware of Darkness; if you're here without reading that one, I would highly recommend that you do as things will be a bit confusing. That being said, this is also a non-investigation story, hence the Family genre. Just wanted to make sure I pointed that out! Another thing, writing Castle and Beckett outside of an investigation is actually fairly hard… well, for me it was, just because I try to get their characters down as close to how they are on the show as I can; it's a part of why I watch the show quite a bit besides just loving the show, lol. So since they're not shown outside of work too often, it's harder to write them like that but… I gave it my best and tried not to write them OOC.

A/N #2: The title of this story is from the song Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, which was written by Ted Koehler; though the version that I know and where I took that lyric is the version recorded by George Harrison on his album Brainwashed. And the title of this chapter is from the song Sun Is Shining by The Fireman (Paul McCartney and Youth) on their album Electric Arguments.

A/N #3: Please don't flame this story, 'cause I know it's not really the best. But I hope that readers might leave a positive review. Thank you in advance if you do!

Every Morning

Blinking her eyes to try and get the sun out of her face, Beckett soon gave up as the bright light would not go away. Sighing as she opened her eyes, she looked down at Julia; her daughter for the past three months; who was cuddled against her side. She bent down to kiss the top of the four year old's head when her alarm went off and she jumped, startling the little girl awake. "Hey, morning sweetie," she said, smiling when Julia blinked her eyes blearily, looking at her. "Feeling better?"

"I'm still tired Mommy," Julia said sleepily as Beckett got up off the bed. When she saw her yawning she asked, "Are you sleepy too?"

"A little," Beckett said, smiling reassuringly at her as she cursed in her mind as she felt tired. "But we need to hurry, I have work and you have camp."

"Am I going to the zoo today?" Julia asked, seeming to wake up instantly as she jumped up on the bed.

"You are," Beckett laughed softly at her exuberance as she picked her up and carried her to the other bedroom. "And the Museum of Natural History too."

"Is that one we went?" Julia asked while Beckett set her down on her bed.

"That is, with the bears and dinosaurs too," Beckett replied, getting the little girl's camp uniform before starting to change her into it quickly.

"Oh, and the pretty, shiny stones," Julia said. "I want to see those again. Can't you come with me Mommy?"

"I can't, I do have a lot of work to do," Beckett said, smiling since Julia asked the same question every morning since she'd started the summer camp. "But I will pick you up, I promise."

"Kay," Julia said, running to the barre in her room when her mother had set her down on the floor. "Can I practice a little?"

"Until I change and get breakfast," Beckett said, running her hand over the little girl's hair. "And I'll do your hair after we eat. Come when I call you Julia."

"I will," Julia said, holding onto the bar and putting her feet into the first position.

Beckett quickly put away Julia's pajamas and then went over to her bedroom, thinking over the past few months since she'd brought the little girl home as her daughter. She was still on probation, half way through, but so far all the visits from Social Services had gone very well, and she was looking forward greatly to the point when she could fully adopt Julia and give her her last name, as the girl still thought that Beckett herself was her birth mother.

As she grabbed a blouse and black trousers in her closet, Beckett suddenly had to grab the door, feeling a wave of dizziness pass through her. She shook her head as it quickly stopped, and made a mental note to herself to eat something before she and Julia had to leave. She then thought about work as she quickly changed, remembering all the paperwork she had yet to do with an inward groan. Recently she, Castle, Ryan and Esposito had had to investigate three cases, one after another with the last one occurring just as she and Castle had found their killer for the second case. Luckily Ryan and Esposito had started investigating the third murder, but she and Castle had gone on to that case when the two detectives had run into a brick wall with no new suspects to investigate and had been fortunate to find the killers in that case as well.

Since she had been unable to get the paperwork set for any of the cases in that time, Beckett was still trying to catch up with that and had been working through the three cases for the past two days. She'd gotten a break with there being no new investigations, but she was struggling with some lingering fatigue at the same time and also trying to make sure she was able to care for her daughter. She sighed as she washed her face and looked in the mirror, not shocked at the slightly dark shadows that had begun to form under her eyes. Shaking her head, she hurriedly put on makeup to make that disappear, and then rushed out to the kitchen after catching a look at the time.

"Julia," Beckett said once she had quickly gotten some oatmeal ready for both herself and Julia. "Sweetie," she called out again when the little girl didn't come out from her room. She looked at the doorway to the bedrooms and she had to smile when her daughter was nowhere to be seen. She set everything on the table and then walked over to the little girl's room where she was practicing still at the barre. "Julia Beckett," she said firmly but not too severely to get her attention. "Did you hear me?"

"Sorry," Julia said, straightening up and looking down at her feet. "I was hearing the music in my head."

"That's okay," Beckett said, going over to her and taking her hand. "I already knew you were going to do that. But come on, your breakfast is going to get cold and you need to eat." She led her over to the table and they started to eat, keeping an eye on Julia to make sure that she did eat as the little girl would hum the song she had been practicing to. "Don't worry sweetie," she said finally after she had to urge Julia to eat another spoonful of oatmeal. "You're a very good dancer and I know you'll do perfectly at the recital."

"But I have to practice Mommy, Madame Claude said," Julia said seriously.

"And you also need to eat," Beckett said smiling. "So finish up and then I'll do your hair before you go to the zoo."

It took a little longer for Julia to finish her food, and once she had, Beckett quickly brushed her hair and pulled it into a French braid before she ran to get her Stitch doll and backpack. "I'm ready Mommy," she said, showing her her tennis shoes she had put on.

"Okay," Beckett said, holding onto her workbag. "But I think you should leave Stitch here today."

"Do I have to," Julia said, slightly whining.

"I know, but he might get really tired walking so much," Beckett said, setting the doll on the chair she had next to the door; having had the same conversation with her daughter before. "But he'll be right here waiting for us. Let's go." She took Julia's hand and they walked out of the apartment. Outside the building she caught a cab and they drove to Central Park, running down a path after she'd paid the cabbie. They'd run into some traffic and were late and she didn't want Julia to miss leaving for the trip. "Great, we made it," she said, breathing out a sigh of relief.

"Hello Julia, Ms. Beckett," a woman standing next to a group of kids Julia's age with five other women said as the two approached her. "You just made it, we were about to check the attendance sheet and then leave."

"Okay Julia, I'll be outside the museum when you're all finished, so stay with the counselors and your friends too," Beckett said, setting down her bag and crouching down so she was face to face with the little girl. "Have a lot of fun and take a lot of pictures."

"I will," Julia giggled as she looked down at her children's camera Beckett had bought for her. "I'll miss you Mommy, I wish you could come with me," she said, hugging her around the neck.

"I know sweetie, I do too, but don't worry," Beckett said, hugging her tightly. "We'll go to the zoo or museum this weekend, whichever you want to see again."

"Really?" Julia asked in excitement. When her mother nodded she squealed slightly and then asked, "Can Alexis and Castle come?"

"If they want to, we'll see," Beckett said, kissing her cheek. "But have fun now with your friends okay?"

"Kay," Julia said.

"We need to call attendance Ms. Beckett," one of the counselors said.

"Right, so I'll see you later, have fun and I love you very much Julia," Beckett said, turning her attention back to her daughter.

"I love you too Mommy," Julia said as she shared a kiss with her mother and then hugged her tightly as she returned the embrace. She then hurried over to the line of kids who were in pairs, holding hands.

Beckett smiled as Julia's was the third name to be called, and the little girl quickly said, "Here," in response. She was relieved that the school was using her last name, even though it wasn't officially Julia's yet. But with the little girl believing it was, Beckett didn't want her to start getting confused being called Julia O'Malley, especially with all the therapy she had been taking her daughter to after what had happened to them three months before.

"Okay kids, remember to hold hands and if you need something, just ask one of us, we'll be walking along beside you," the head counselor said once she had taken attendance. "Alright, here we go."

"Bye sweetie," Beckett called, waving as Julia turned to her while the line ahead of her and the girl she was holding hands with started to move. She smiled when the little girl waved at her and watched as Julia and her friend walked down the path. She let out a deep breath, shaking the exhaustion that had come on her suddenly. To ignore it she grabbed her phone, checking to see if she had maybe missed a call about a case. She was relieved when there was nothing on the screen, and saw the time realizing that unless she hurried she was going to be late. She turned and went back out to the street, saying hello to a few mothers and fathers she knew from dropping Julia off for the past two months at camp. She ran to the curb to wave down a taxi that wasn't occupied and was driving by at that moment and was just able to get it to stop.

Beckett caught her breath after giving the address for the 12th Precinct, and sat back against the seat, watching the park, trying to see if she could see her daughter. She couldn't find the bright blue shirt that Julia was wearing, but she still smiled slightly to herself, wondering what the little girl was going to tell her later when she picked her up as she usually did after her day at camp. She found herself dreading going to work and facing the paperwork left to be completed, but she tried to ignore that, knowing if she hurried she could just make it to the museum at four that afternoon to pick up Julia. She got a sudden idea to ask Castle when she saw him about him and Alexis coming over for dinner that night, and she smiled briefly, thinking about that and that weekend's possible plans with Julia as the cab neared the station, not dreading getting to work as much as she had earlier that morning.