"Admit it." Castle said to his partner sitting on the edge of her desk.
"No." she spoke never taking her eyes off the board in front of her.
Their victim was Vivian Marchand, the physic. She had been stabbed in the back of the neck with an ice pick and shoved into the sofa. According to Lanie, she was alive when she went into the sofa. Her Daughter found her that morning, completely heartbroken. Kate knew how it was. She knew how it felt to lose someone close to you. She knew the feeling of the devastation, betrayal, and depression. Some get over it, others never see the light of day. That wasn't her job to keep people from falling under. Her job was to bring justice to the victim's family.
"Please for me?" he begged.
"Castle, why is it so important to you that I believe in fate and magic, and Santa?"
"If you don't even believe in the possibility of magic you'll never find it."
She looked away from the murder board and looked at him. She stared into those baby blue eyes, he returned the action. They stood there longer than they ever have before until she finally broke away and looked back at the board, still feeling his eyes on her.
"If I admit to you that I believe will you shut up long enough to solve this case?" she asked looking back at him again.
"A little harsh there Beckett, but yes."
"Fine" She stood up so her whole body could face her, "I believe."
"You believe in what, my dear detective?"
"I believe in magic, I believe in fate, in Santa, and Richard Castle, I believe in soul mates."
"I knew it." He mumbled to himself.
A few moments later Esposito came strolling in.
"Castle, Beckett!" he called.
"What do you got for us Espo?" Kate asked.
"Here you go." he said handing her a sheet of paper in a bag.
Kate took the bag from him and began to read it after taking a quick glance of it.
"To Whom It May Concern; I feel that my murder is imminent."
Castle squeaked loudly before he motioned her to read on.
"…And although I have no idea yet when or where this event will occur I have had a vision of my death. In the vision I cannot breathe. I saw a man dressed in black, the number 7518 and I hear I furious pounding from what seemed far away. I'm sorry I cannot be more specific-"
"A physic predicted her own murder!" Castle exclaimed interrupting her.
"Or the killer wrote this in order to throw us off, run it tomorrow morning; maybe we can get lucky with prints."
"You got it Boss." Esposito said as he and Ryan went back to their desks to pack up for the night.
Castle and Beckett waited for each other to finish up and rode the elevator down together. Castle's phone rang and he opened a text:
Dad, Pizza and Movie Night! Ask Detective Beckett too, Please? I need to talk to her, you know, just US! See you home soon! Love you!
"So Beckett, want to come over for movie night at Casa Castle?" he asked.
"I don't want to intrude on your family time." Kate replied truthfully.
She had been spending a lot of time with him lately and she didn't want to take him away from his daughter. Alexis has a right to have him around without another distraction such as herself.
"Are you kidding?" he asked, "Alexis asked me to ask you! I'm just the messenger!"
"Why don't I believe you?" she asked through a laugh.
"You need proof, do you?"
He took out his phone and gave it to her. She read the text to herself and handed it back to him.
"If she wants to talk then yes, Castle, I will come."
He smiled and led her to his car opening her door for her.
"I'm a big girl Castle; I think I can get my own door." She said.
"What kind of gentlemen would I be if I didn't open it for you?" he asked in response.
"Oh, you got me there." She responded getting in.
They drove to pick up some pizza before going to the loft. They got a couple pizzas, one meat lovers and one just cheese.
Inside the loft they saw Alexis sitting on the couch. She was holding the pillow up to her chest and her eyes were watery.
"Alexis?" Kate asked, "Sweetie, what's wrong?"
"Ashleigh broke up with me today in front of the whole school," she said starting to cry again. "It was humiliating!"
Castle, listening to every word they spoke set the pizzas on the counter and grabbed two beers out of the fridge. When he turned around he saw his daughter resting her head in Kate's lap with Kate stroking her long, red hair.
"Evening daughter." He greeted with a kiss on the top of her head.
"Hello Father." She said forcing a smile, never lifting her head off the detectives lap.
"Are you comfy on Kate's lap?" he asked looking down at her.
"As a matter of fact I am, is there a problem?" She nearly screamed at him her eyes still shining with drops of water.
He flinched and put a beer in Kate's hand. She looked at him and mouthed, 'Let her cool down.' He nodded in reply.
They had eaten all the pizza and ice cream there was and Kate was happy that Ash was off Alexis's mind at the moment. Alexis went to go pick out a movie and Rick took Kate's hand and led her to the couch.
"Thank you, for helping her." He said grateful for her in his life.
"Always, she's a good kid Rick, she'll be just fine."
"Yeah, she will be."
On that note Alexis went down the stairs quietly. Just before her was her dad slowly inching towards the detective. Their lips finally came in contact as she hit the bottom step.
"Hey guys I got the-"Alexis said coming to stand right in front of them.
Kate blushed and Rick pulled away. He turned to his daughter and said, "Put the movie in, please."
It wasn't seconds after that Alexis thought to herself, 'Finally.'
She sat on the couch her head in Kate's lap and Kate in Rick's arms. They finally felt whole again, like a family should.