Title: Little Castle Gets Her Say

Pairing: R. Castle and K. Beckett

Summary: A normal day takes a turn when Alexis has a personal conversation with our favourite Detective.

It had been easy enough to accept an invite for a coffee date with Alexis, or Little Castle as I called her in my mind, she was a great kid really.

But the conversation had veered off of from what I had expected, no small talk today it seemed, Alexis had a lot to say and she was rather determined.

"Are you in love with my father Kate?" The red head asked sitting opposite me with a cup of coffee in front of her.

I had no idea what to say, the answer was simple enough to give, either a yes or a no. And the truthful answer was in fact a yes, but I wasn't ready to make my feelings known.

"Alexis-" I started to say, although I wasn't sure what I would say.

"Because I think you are." The teenager carried on, cutting me off. "And I don't know how much longer Dad can take your rejections and avoidances."

"I…" I was floundering around, trying to think of something to say. "Wait… What?"

Very intelligent Kate, I thought to myself sarcastically, I should have denied it but I was worried. Her statement had me worried, was he moving on, and was he growing tired of me.

I could feel my heart rate increase, my breathing was hard, and it felt like the room was starting to spin. I was panicking, if he didn't want me anymore then I would lose him, he was my 'one and done'.

"How long do you expect him to wait?" Alexis asked, her voice sounded miles away but I heard her question.

"It's not always easy, things between us are comp-"

"Complicated." She said simply cutting me off again. "No it's not, you either want a life with my Dad or you don't."

I wanted a life with him, I could freely admit that to myself but I was far from ready to tell him that yet. I wasn't ready to start a relationship with him, I was scared, and ruining it with him would be the end of me.

"You need to let him know how you feel." The teen said wisely. "I would love it if you and my Dad got together Kate, but seeing him looking defeated everyday isn't something I want."

All I could do was nod, I had no idea what to say, and I was trying to work out what she meant by defeated. Was I hurting him, was he unhappy, I had no idea.

"And so, I have an ultimatum for you." Alexis said, sitting back into her seat and looking me right in the eye. "My Dad won't date you if I am unhappy about it, either tell him how you feel about him or let him go."

An ultimatum… I wanted to tell her that she was in no position to give me one, that she shouldn't do this; I wanted to plead with her. But I could understand where she was coming from.

I had once given an ultimatum to my own father to get him to stop drinking and it had worked, the pain he was causing himself had been put to an end. And I couldn't help but wonder if that is why she was doing this.

To put an end to his pain one way or another, either forcing me to tell him how I feel about him or to let him move on with his life.

A life without me, but I didn't want him to move on. I wanted him to be mine, I wanted to be his, and I wanted a life with him.

And there was only one way I was going to get that now, the look in her eyes said that she was beyond serious. She would go through with this one way or another, she was determined.

"Okay." I said quietly, feeling my heart pounding away madly in my chest. "You and your gran need to go out tonight, I have a date with your dad."

And it was that simple, I just had to tell him. Make him understand, let him see that I wanted this just as much as he did, that I wanted him as much as he wanted me.

That I loved him as much as he loved me, unconditionally.

Tonight would be the night that I would tell him, the night I will tell him that always starts now.

FIN.