Disclaimer: If I owned Castle, I have a feeling something like this would be happening a whole heck of a lot sooner than it will. Also, I probably wouldn't have time to be writing fanfiction. Just a thought.

Author's Note: Point one. I've been desperately trying not to get distracted from the chapter story I'm working on, which is being mercilessly attacked by writers' block gnomes, but while I was trying to brainstorm for it this idea came into my head (complete with a lot of the opening dialogue... it just kind of appeared there...) and refused to be ignored. I couldn't not write it. So I gave in. Clearly.

I am not even going to begin to deny that this starts from an extremely fluffy place. Because I'm an optimist, I'm calling it future, not AU. How far into the future, it honestly doesn't really matter. Five years at the very least. Probably considerably more than that. But as I think (hope!) you'll see, it's not exactly pure fluff. If it's overdone and cliché, I'm sorry. But I sincerely hope it's not. If you've read my stuff before (you're amazing, but that's not exactly my point...) this might seem a lot different from the kind of thing I've been writing lately, especially after I give you the setting that I'm apparently blabbering to put off, but I've written fluffy future-fics before, just never for Castle. So I'm hoping it works. Anyway, okay, setting. Castle and Beckett are married. (I know, I know, what did I tell you?) Since it's at least five years later, Alexis is presumably out of college and doesn't live with them anymore. Martha doesn't either. They have a daughter named Marleigh. (Don't worry about why I decided to name her that... I agonized over what her name should be for all of about ten minutes and then went with the first thing that popped into my head. I just thought it was cute. And oddly, it popped into my head spelled like that... which is strange, considering my fingers keep wanting to spell it "Marley." Same pronunciation, though.) She's about five, which is why it has to be at least five years in the future. I'm a little afraid that Beckett might come off a bit OOC, but keep in mind that circumstances are a little different from what you're used to. She's obviously admitted her love for Castle, since she married him, and she has a young daughter... which tends to change people a bit. Okay, I strongly recommend you brush your teeth now to avoid any fluff-induced cavities. I swear, the story itself is a little fluffy, but not as much as what you just read. Anyway, hope you like! And happy Castle Day!

Oh, random explanation about the quote at the beginning... you're probably all acutely aware of where it came from, but for the record, the story doesn't stem from it, exactly. I just happened to be in the middle of watching "Setup" when I was trying to wrap this up and title it, so I remembered the quote and it seemed to fit the overall theme I was going for pretty well. Hence the quote, and the ending, and the title. I'm done now, I swear!

"I wish that I had someone who would be there for me, and I could be there for him, and we could just dive into it together."

"Mommy?" The little girl's face was as solemn as it had ever been as she looked up at her mother.

Serious Marleigh threw Kate off her axis a little bit. Like her father, she seemed to be unshakably cheerful ninety-nine percent of the time. "What's up, baby?"

"Lying is bad, right?"

Her daughter's question did nothing to allay her confusion. "Right, it isn't good to lie. Why?"

"Amber lied to me yesterday at school."

Kate frowned. Amber was one of Marleigh's best friends. "What do you mean she lied to you? What did she say?"

"She said she had two grandmas. And two grandpas. I told her you could only have one of each, but she wouldn't listen."

She almost smiled at the strange mix of inquisitiveness and innocence that made up her daughter, but was too aware of how unfunny the little girl's confusion really was. "Who told you that you could only have one?"

She shrugged. "No one. But I only have one grandma and one grandpa. How could she have two? That wouldn't be fair."

Almost instinctually, Kate looked around for Rick. He was much better at coming up with answers for the little girl's overly inquisitive questions than she was, and this was definitely a question that she wished Marleigh could've asked her father. But Rick wasn't at home today, he had a string of book signings around the city, and since it was Kate's day off, she got to spend the day alone with her daughter. It wasn't something she got the chance to do often, and she'd been enjoying it until this moment. "Well sweetie," she sighed, "sometimes things aren't fair."

"What do you mean?"

Kate sat down on the couch and patted her leg. Taking the hint, Marleigh sat down on her mother's lap. She was just starting to get a little big for laps, but both Kate and her husband were steadfastly ignoring this for as long as possible. Besides, she could already tell that this was going to be a conversation for which she'd crave her daughter's closeness. "You have a mommy and a daddy, right?"

"Yes," Marleigh replied quickly. "A mommy, a daddy, a grandma, a grandpa, and a sister."

"Right. Do you know why your grandma and your grandpa are your grandma and your grandpa?"

Marleigh shrugged. "The same reason you and Daddy are my mommy and daddy."

Now she did smile. "Sort of, I guess. Your grandma is Daddy's mommy. And Grandpa is my daddy."

The girl's eyes got big. "Oh. I guess I did know that. But what about your mommy? And Daddy's daddy?"

"Well, my mommy is your other grandma. But she died a long time before you were born." She really wished she had Rick's support right now. Ironically, considering what she did for a living, her daughter had no experience with or knowledge of the realities of death. Even if it was just to hold her hand while she explained, maybe to help her phrase things a little more eloquently, she wanted him to be here for this. He was always around. It just figured that Marleigh had to pick the one day that he wasn't to start this particular conversation.

Marleigh frowned. "She died?"

Kate nodded.

Marleigh thought about this new information for a moment. "Did Daddy's daddy die too?"

Now she really wished Rick was here. "No," she said, trying to figure out how to be honest with her daughter without explaining more than the little girl needed to hear right now, "at least, not as far as I know. I never met Daddy's dad. Your grandma raised him by herself."

She frowned. "Oh. So he didn't have a daddy?"

"Sort of. I'll tell you what, why don't you ask Daddy about that when he gets home? He can explain it better than I can."

She nodded, thankfully accepting that. "Was your mommy pretty?"

Kate smiled a little sadly. "She was beautiful. You remind me of her sometimes."

"Really?"

Kate nodded. "Yeah."

"Do you miss her?"

She desperately tried to swallow the lump in her throat, to no avail. "Every day," she whispered.

"I wish I could meet her."

"Aw baby, she would've loved you." She kissed the top of her daughter's head lightly.

Marleigh looked up at her mother, who was blinking rapidly, trying desperately to keep her eyes clear. But apparently she wasn't entirely successful. The girl frowned deeply. "Can mommies cry?"

She sighed, wishing she'd been able to hold herself together a little better. Marleigh's questions had caught her off guard. "Yeah. Everyone can cry."

"Then how come I've never seen you cry before?"

"Well, I try not to in front of you."

"Why?"

"Ah, well…" Yet another question that she didn't know how to answer. "Because I don't want you to see me cry."

"Why not? You see me cry sometimes."

"Yeah, but I'm your mom. It's my job to take care of you. It's okay if I see you cry, because then I can help you feel better."

Marleigh frowned and brushed a stray tear off her mother's cheek. "Can't I help you feel better?"

Kate smiled. "You help me feel better just by being Marleigh."

"Does talking about your mommy make you sad?"

She shrugged. "Kind of. Mostly it just makes me sad that you never got to meet her. And she never got to meet you. It's like you said before. It isn't fair."

"Why did she die?"

"People just die sometimes," she said, pushing the question away as quickly as possible. "You know, why don't we save some questions for another day? We were going to play "Candyland," weren't we?"

Marleigh smiled at the mention of one of her favorite games, and slowly nodded. The conversation was over. For now.

"Marleigh, Marleigh, Marleigh!" Rick called as he walked in the door, squatting down and throwing open his arms for his daughter.

The little girl thoroughly abandoned the game of "Guess Who?" she'd been playing with her mother and ran to him. "Daddy!" she squealed, flinging herself into his arms.

Kate smiled. She might've been jealous if she didn't get a similarly enthusiastic greeting every time she got home from work. As it was, she was just pleased that Rick was the one getting to experience it for once.

He very seldom got to shadow her at work anymore, and instead stayed home with their daughter during the day. He'd often still help her with cases that she brought home with her, and he was still welcome at the precinct any time, perhaps now more than ever, but he didn't tend to get there regularly anymore. Maybe that would change the following year, when Marleigh started first grade and would be at school for most of the day, but that remained to be seen.

"How are my girls?" Rick asked, steering Marleigh back toward where her mother sat on the floor in the living room. "How was your day? Did you have lots of fun without me?"

Marleigh nodded. "Me and Mommy played all day."

"'Mommy and I,' honey," Rick corrected.

"No, me and Mommy. You weren't here."

He laughed. "No, I know that, but…" he cut off, rolling his eyes, with a smile in Kate's direction. "You know what, another time. It's getting late, sweetie. Shouldn't you be getting ready for bed?"

"Mommy told me we could wait for you."

He looked at Kate for confirmation, and she nodded.

"Well, now that I'm home we'd better get you to bed, hadn't we?"

"Daddy…" she started to complain.

"Daddy!" Rick echoed in a high-pitched mock-girly voice before picking her up with a groan. "Either you're getting too big or I'm getting too old for this, little girl."

"You're not old, Daddy."

"I'm not? No, you're right, I'm not. You must be getting big, then."

"Really big!" Marleigh added, delighted.

"Huge!"

"Huge-mongous!"

"Gigantic!"

"Daddy, no fair, you know more words than me."

"No fair, huh?" He tickled her, and she squealed happily. "I still win! But one day you'll be able to beat me. Now it's time for bed."

"No!"

"Yes! Come on, Mommy and I will get you ready." He nodded for Kate to follow and headed up the stairs with their daughter in his arms. She followed, happy that he was home.

"So how was your day?" Rick asked Kate when Marleigh was all tucked in. They'd gone back downstairs and were sitting together on the couch. "You look about as tired as I am, and you were here all day. Did she wear you out?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "You know, I loved it, I loved every minute of it. I loved getting to spend the time with her just the two of us, but I don't know how you do it every day. It's exhausting. She's so… inquisitive. I don't know what to say to her half the time. It must be your genes, you keep breeding these genius kids."

He smiled. "Yeah, our girl's pretty smart. But I doubt it's all my genes, you're no slouch yourself. Alexis, I'll take the credit for."

She smiled back, but still couldn't get her earlier conversation with Marleigh out of her mind.

Of course Rick noticed, and his smile quickly faded. "What happened?"

"She asked me why she only had two grandparents if her friends had four."

"Oh." He put his arm around her, and she again wished he could've been here earlier. "What did you say?"

"Well, I told her that your mom raised you by herself, but I really didn't go into detail. She kept asking questions, and I told her to ask you. So you might want to get ready for that, because you know she won't forget. Not for long."

He nodded. "You're right about that."

"Did Alexis ever ask you that? What did you tell her?"

"Well, she's met Meredith's parents, so that was never really an issue… but yeah, she asked about my dad when she was about Marleigh's age, maybe even a little younger. And I think I told her something similar to what it sounds like you told Marleigh. Some people only grow up with one parent, and I just had my mom. But I think by the time she was old enough to ask that question Meredith was already more or less out of the picture, so she understood the whole single parent thing."

Kate nodded. "Must've made it easier. But I'm glad Marleigh doesn't have to understand that."

Rick smiled. "As am I." He stroked Kate's arm tenderly. "What'd you tell her about her other grandma?"

She swallowed. "That she died before she was born."

"That's enough for right now," he agreed, nodding.

"Not for Marleigh. She had to ask why she died."

"Oh. What did you say?"

"Changed the subject. But I can't get away from that forever, can I?"

"No, not forever. But maybe for a little while. Until she's old enough to understand."

"I don't know if I want her to understand. I mean, God Rick, for as many hours as I've spent agonizing over every detail, I still don't fully understand. How can we ever expect her to? Can't we protect her from that?"

"For awhile," he agreed. "But not forever. Someday we'll both decide she's old enough, and we'll tell her together."

She nodded slowly, and then leaned against her husband, pressing her eyelids closed. "What do we do in the meantime? You know she'll ask again."

"Evade her the best way we can. Without lying to her."

"You're sure we can't just tell her something—"

But Rick interrupted before she could even finish her sentence. "No. I never lied to Alexis, and we're not going to lie to Marleigh. Especially not about something so important."

She nodded. Whether she liked it or not, she knew he was right. "Then she… she asked me if mommies could cry."

"Why do I get the feeling she probably already knew the answer to that question by the time she got to asking it?"

She sighed heavily. "Yep."

"Aw, Kate…" He kissed the top of her head, much like she'd done with Marleigh earlier. "You know, it's good that she sees you're not Wonder Woman from time to time."

She shook her head. "She's my daughter. If anyone should see me as Wonder Woman…"

"No, I doubt that it changed her estimation of you one bit," he cut in, interrupting her yet again. "Know how I know that?"

She took the bait, not seeing a way to avoid it. "How?"

"Because it didn't for me. You'll always be my Wonder Woman."

In answer, she picked up her head and softly kissed his lips. "A little cliché, but I'll take it."

He ignored this. "You are a fabulous mom, and a fabulous cop, and a fabulous person. And you will always be all of those things to me, and to Marleigh. No matter what."

She leaned back against the couch again, letting her eyes slide closed.

"Okay, time for bed."

"It's still early," she started to protest.

But he wasn't hearing it. "I might still be able to carry Marleigh up the stairs, but I think carrying you would be pushing it. Come on."

She reluctantly stood and followed him up the stairs for the second time that night. For now, nothing was going to change. She had a daughter who she loved more than anything else in the world, and a husband she knew would always be there for her, as she would be for him. Whatever happened, whatever challenges might come up, whether it be within the next day, the next week, the next year, or the next decade, they would dive in together.

Reviews would be awesome! Thanks for reading!