A/N: This takes place after season 5, but isn't really a continuation of Watershed. I just finished a Castle fanvideo where I used that scene at the end of Hell Hath No Fury after Castle's book reading, where Kate finds out that he's naming her character Nikki Heat and as they argue, Castle puts the cardboard cut-out of himself in between them, which then inspired me to write this. I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I'm not Andrew Marlowe. (If I was, there would have been no Watershed cliffhanger.) As such, I don't own these characters.

As Detective Kate Beckett entered the loft and threw her keys onto one of the kitchen counters, her mouth twisted in frustration. It had been a tough day to begin with, rising at half two in the morning on what was supposed to be her day off for a body drop because Jenny had unexpectedly gone into labour. Not catching a break with their killer was just the tip of the iceberg, and there had been no Castle in the precinct, bringing her coffee. There had been no fun or distractions leaving her to focus on how close they had come to nailing the perp only to have to release him because they just didn't have enough evidence. She just couldn't stop picturing the satisfied smirk on Warwick's face as he was escorted out with his lawyer, nor the looks of despair on Lucy and Ruth Bradford's when she'd had to break the news of their father's murder.

"Castle?" she called out, wondering what could possibly be keeping her partner. Normally, the instant she came home after a day apart, she found him waiting in the kitchen with a bottle of wine or dashing out of his office eagerly to greet his fiancée with a kiss.

He'd only just finished writing Deadly Heat but already the publicity was starting. There'd been a relentless serial of invitations delivered to the loft with more continuing to arrive every day. Although Castle had declined most, Paula was starting insist he make more of an appearance on the party scene or she'd have to schedule a longer book tour. He'd been in negotiations with her all day, trying to deter his agent and publisher from taking him all over the country for a solid month.

But before she'd left the 12th precinct, she'd received a text to say Paula had finally released him and that he'd pick up Chinese on the way home. Paula's office wasn't far and nor was their usual takeout. There was just no way she could have beaten him home. Running a hand over her haggard face and through her hair, she knew she was a mess. She was running on three hours sleep and the crash after numerous lattes. She was exhausted.

"Castle?" she called again, raising her voice to make sure it carried up the stairs, not that she had any idea why he'd be up there. Again there was no answer, leaving her to assume he must have been held up at Peking Palace.

Stepping out of her shoes, Beckett looked down at the stiletto heels with distaste. For the first time she could remember, her feet were aching. Padding bare foot to the couch, she threw herself down and rested her eyes a moment before massaging the soles of her throbbing feet. If Castle could see her, she was sure he would have teased her mercilessly, though if his jaw-dropping was anything to go by; he liked her shoes a lot to. In fact, if she wasn't mistaken, he really liked her shoes when her long legs were wrapped around him and the tips of her stilettos were at his backside.

She was just pulling out her cell phone to ring Rick and tell him to hurry the hell up when a text came through. It was from Ryan.

Eagerly she read, 'Evelyn Ryan. 5 pounds 2 ounces. Mother and baby doing well.'

Beckett smiled, realising (and grinning all the more for it) that it was probably the first time she had done so since she left Castle asleep in their bed that morning.

She pressed speed dial, forgetting about the pain in her feet and jumping up. She was impatient waiting for the call to connect, still speculating where exactly he was. As the opening bars of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor rang out in the loft, she whirled around, expecting to see him in the doorway having just got in. But he wasn't there and the phone continued to ring whilst Kate tried to track down its origin, moving through the loft and into his office.

She froze in the doorway made by the two bookcases, filled with angry disbelief for he was simply stood at the window, looking out into the street below. His phone was vibrating on his desk, a fact he was seemingly oblivious too, and there wasn't a single box of Chinese take away in sight.

"Richard Castle," she said, stalking over and pulling him round by the hand she had slapped onto his shoulder, only to jump out of her skin as she was met with the face of a waxwork dressed in one of Castle's best suits. "God!"

"Pretty good, huh?" Castle smirked, suddenly behind her and having seen the whole thing.

"Richard Castle!" Kate exclaimed, poking his chest. "What is that and what is itdoing here?"

He flinched, rubbing the sore spot. "It's the prototype of the one the Black Pawn is having installed in the reception," he explained. "All the bestselling authors are getting one. Even Patterson. Ricky here wanted to come home with me."

Kate tried to keep the laugh in her throat, passing it off largely unsuccessfully as a cough.

"You still haven't told me what it's doing here," she pointed out.

They were still arguing about the stupid waxwork as they walked into hospital reception, only pausing to ask which room they would find Jenny Ryan in.

"Thank you," Kate said politely, smiling at the receptionist and beginning to lead the way down the corridor she had pointed out.

"Ricky just wants your love too, Kate," Castle joked.

"It's a waxwork. And it's freaky."

"Freaky? It's cool," he insisted.

Kate just rolled her eyes. Of course Castle thought it was cool that someone had created a life size replica of him, that there were no two Richard Edgar Castles in the world.

"Just think, even when I'm not there, you'll always have a Castle."

"That's not exactly a comfort," she replied.

"Well-"

"-Guys, what's going on? The whole hospital will hear you at this rate and Evelyn's sleeping so can you keep it down?" Ryan asked, his head popping out of the doorway of the next room down the corridor.

"Castle brought home a waxwork of himself," Kate supplied, whilst Castle clapped Ryan on the shoulder and went to see the newborn girl, offering his congratulations to Jenny.

"Two Castles? I think one's enough or the world," Ryan said.

"Thank you!" Kate replied, glad someone else agreed with her. "Congratulations by the way. You're going to make a fantastic daddy."

"Thanks," Ryan murmured.

"She'll have you wrapped around her finger in no time," Castle added, looking down at the tiny baby nestled in Jenny's arms.

"So, can we count on you guys to be godparents?"

A/N: Yeah, it was just a short scene, but it was something I could kind of see Castle doing in my head. Originally I was going to have him just bring home a cardboard cut-out, but thought that it wasn't something that you could look at and believe was a real person so I changed it to a waxwork. I hope you liked it. Let me know what you thought?

Thanks for reading.