They had just finished with Lanie when Montgomery called Beckett to tell her to come back to the precinct and bring Castle and the girl with her.

"Okay, Sophie" he started once they were in the car. The little girl was in his lap in the backseat like she had been before. "We need to go to Kate's workplace now to sort some things out. There will be a lot of people. Some of them maybe want to talk to you. But don't worry, I promise to stay with you the whole time"

The stress these news caused Sophie was evident when she turned around in his lap and hold on to his neck for dear life. She clutched the fabric of his shirt in her hands and started to shake.

"Hey, it's okay, Sophie. I'm staying with you. I promise. I'm not going anywhere" he soothed and repeated his words time and time again. He felt her relaxing slowly in his arms. After some time she stopped shaking and cuddled into his chest.

She yawned but his experience with Alexis told him that she was fighting sleep.

"Shhh, go to sleep. It's okay, sweetie" he said, rubbing her small back. Her hold on him tightened like she was afraid he would leave her alone once she fell asleep.

"I won't leave you alone while you are asleep" he promised and felt her relaxing slightly again.
"You won't?" she asked insecurely.

He shook his head. "I promise."
"Can I stay in your arms?" she asked shyly.

When he told her he wouldn't put her down for a second she laid her head on his shoulders and he felt her breathing even out in a matter of seconds.

Kate glanced through the rearview mirror. She would gladly admit that she was totally impressed with Castle's abilities as a father. He was completely focused on Sophie. He hugged the little girl close to his chest and stroked the back of her head calmly.

When he caught her watching him he gave her the most adorable smile before she had to focus on the road again. She felt a smile on her own lips too. She could totally picture Castle with Alexis when she had been Sophie's age.

o-o-o-o-o

"Come on Castle, lay her down on the couch in the break room." Espo suggested.

"Yeah Castle, we can see her through the window" Ryan added. „Nothing is going to happen. Your back must be hurting by now."

"No" he said forcefully and Kate knew he wouldn't give in. Not after what she heard him promise Sophie in the car.

Beckett and Castle, along with Sophie had joined the boys at the precinct. Ryan and Espo had updated them on what little they had found out about Cornelia Medusa. Right now Ryan was trying to get the victims phone records while Espo was researching if there were any surveillance videos near the victims place. Beckett was waiting for her boss to show up. He hadn't been very specific during their phone call. He had just told her to come back to the precinct with Castle and Sophie.

"Child services is here" Montgomery announced at this moment, stepping out of the elevator. A woman in her mid-forties was standing beside him.

Kate felt Castle tense beside her and involuntarily took a few steps back, tightening his hold on the little girl. His protective father instincts were kicking in.

"Hi, I'm Chloe Anderson. Who is the lead detective?" she introduced herself. She seemed to be a strict woman who always went by the rules. This could get difficult.

Kate stepped forward and intentionally placed herself in front of Castle to cover him from Mrs Anderson's direct line of vision.

"That would be me. Detective Kate Beckett. Nice to meet you, Mrs Anderson" she shook the woman's hand politely. She noticed Ryan and Esposito where standing closer to Castle than before, ready to back him up.

"Where is the girl? I have to take her with me" The firm woman told her.

"I'm sorry but that's not possible. We still need her. She is a witness in our murder investigation and we still have to run her blood to see if we can identify her father" Kate countered.

"I don't care about your investigation, detective. At this time she is an orphan and needs to be taken in. We will sort this out. This is not your field of activity" Mrs Anderson argued. "My priority is to find a foster family for the girl. One that already has experience with traumatized children."

"You see the man over there, my partner. He is the only one she trusts. I'm sure you will see that for the time being it's best for her to stay with him" They hadn't exactly talked about Castle taking her home but from his behavior before Kate was sure that was what he intended to do.

"Surely you understand that I can't let a child stay with random strangers, detective."

"Shouldn't your priority be the sake of the child and not protocol?" Kate shot back provocatively, losing her patience.

"Beckett!" Montgomery's sharp voice cut in. "A word, please" He said, pointing towards his office. Kate shot Castle an apologetic look before she followed the captain.

When Beckett had to leave, the boys took her place in front of Castle, ready to fight the woman off.

"Hand me the girl" Mrs Anderson ordered.

"No" Castle said, angrily at first but he rapidly calmed himself down. He wanted to try another approach.

"Look, Chloe, right?" he asked, using her given name. When she didn't say anything he continued. "Look Chloe, I understand about the importance of protocol. Really I do"

He gave her his most charming smile. "But I'm sure you understand that it's important to not cause poor little Sophie any more trauma. And right now that means she should stay with me. She is already comfortable around me and I have a lot of space at home. I'm sure such an intelligent and caring woman like yourself will understand this"

The stern look on her face told him that he wasn't getting anywhere.

"I don't care what you think is best for her. I'm the one who makes this decision" When Castle saw that she wouldn't fall for his charm or bend down he dropped the smile.

"Well, Mrs Anderson, I promised her to let her stay in my arms as long as she is asleep and I intend to hold this promise. You can wait until she wakes up by herself and then ask her yourself if she wants to come with you. But my bet is she won't"

o-o-o-o-o

"What were you thinking, Beckett" Montgomery chastised.

"I'm sorry, sir", Beckett said. "But we can't let her take Sophie. You should have seen her. When we arrived at the crime scene she was rocking back and forth, completely retreated into herself. It took Castle an hour to get her to speak.

If we let child services take her away she is going to be even more traumatized. You should see how she clings to Castle when she is awake. She is up in his arms when he is standing or walking and sitting in his lap whenever he is sitting. She wouldn't go to sleep until he promised her to keep her in his arms the whole time.

She talked to me after three hours. And that only because I was making fun of Castle.

Besides, we still need her as a witness. We have no leads and once Mrs Anderson takes her away we either have no chance to question her or she will be too traumatized to remember anything."

"Are you finished?" Montgomery asked and Kate's heart sunk at the question. She would have thought she could get him to see her point. To fight with them for the sake of the child.

"I guess so" Kate said discouraged and looked at her shoes. She could already see Sophie retreating back into herself and the disappointed and sad look that would come over Castle's face.

"Kate" Montgomery's voice was way gentler than Kate would have expected and she looked up again. "I was going to have your back. You are right. We still need her as a witness and she is best off with Castle.

What you shouldn't have done was put up a fight with the nice woman out there. She is in defensive mode now.

But the child is a witness and therefore needs police protection which means that she needs to stay either at the precinct or with one of you orwith Castle while youstay with him. And that's the option I'm going with"

He expected Kate to fight him on this but she just nodded.
"Yes sir"

Montgomery needed a second before he could hide his surprise and Kate smiled internally.

When they got out of the captain's office they saw Castle holding Sophie tightly to his chest, Ryan and Esposito standing on either side of him. All three of them were facing Mrs Anderson.

"Mrs Anderson" Montgomery's voice rang authoritatively through the bullpen

"Detective Beckett and I talked and we have reason to believe that the person who killed Cornelia Medusa might be behind Sophie because as a witness she could be a possible threat to them. That's why I suggest she stays in the custody of the NYPD. At least until we catch our killer. In the meantime we can figure out what to do with little Miss Sophie over there." It didn't sound like a suggestion at all.

Just when Mrs Anderson started to argue that Montgomery was making this up so Castle could keep her and Castle started to argue that staying with him would be best for Sophie Kate noticed Lanie walking out of the precinct elevator. She waved something in her hands and signaled for Kate to come over.

The look on her friend's face was strange, Kate thought. Lanie flicked her gaze between Castle and Sophie and the murder board.

"You've got the results?" Kate asked, motioning towards the paper in her hand.
Lanie nodded once.

"So? What's the father's name?" At Kate's question Lanie's gaze flicked towards Castle for a second before she handed Kate the paper.

"Look for yourself"

When Kate read the name written there she looked up at Lanie in shock.
"You are kidding, right?"

Lanie shook her head.
"No. I checked twice. The first time I thought I messed something up but when I got the same result the second time…" She drifted off.

Kate run her hand over her face. What a mess.
"Thanks Lanie" she said and started to walk back towards the others who were still arguing, Sophie sleeping through it all.

Instead of leaving like Kate would have expected Lanie followed her. She wanted to see how things were going from here.

"Like I already told you, Mrs Anderson, it's a matter of security…" Montgomery was explaining again, slowly getting impatient.

"Lanie's got the test results for fatherhood. I don't think it will be a problem after all for Sophie to stay with Castle" she said while she handed the paper to Montgomery. Who looked at her with his jaw on the floor.

"You are kidding me" he exclaimed. He looked up at Castle and back down at the paper. Kate shook her head.

"What? What?" Castle asked. "Who is the father?"

"You" Kate answered, observing him. She absolutely had no idea how he would react to this kind of news. Sure he already was a father and there was nothing in the world he loved more than Alexis. And sure, he had been amazing with Sophie right from the moment he first saw her. But he hadn't known that the little girl was his daughter then.

"Me?" Castle asked, bringing one hand away from Sophie to snatch the paper out of Montgomery's hand.

While Castle saw his own name watching back at him Esposito and Ryan looked at each other dumbfounded. Sophie still in his arms, Castle walked over to the murder board to get a closer look at the woman who had been murdered and was apparently the mother of his second child.

"You knew her?" Kate asked, suddenly standing beside him.

"No" Castle said but thought better of it "Well, apparently I must have but I don't recognize her"

"She was a model six years back. I'm sure she looked different then" Kate stated.

"Six years back…Cornelia…" Castle talked to himself, searching his mind "That had to be right after my divorce with Gina…which meant…there was this event…A yes!" he exclaimed when he had put the pieces together but went still when Sophie stirred in his arms.

"I had to attend this event and I asked Paula to get me a date. I was newly divorced from Gina and we drank too much and things just started to progress from there… She called herself Conny back then" Castle explained.

"You promised to buy me toys" a tiny voice spoke against his ear. When he noticed Sophie was awake he walked away from the murder board so she wouldn't accidentally get a look at it.

"That I did" he said but when he checked his watch he noticed it was already pretty late. "But it's dinner time soon and I want to cook you something. So I suggest we go home now and go shopping for toys and clothes tomorrow. What do you think?"

"I don't want to go home" she started to cry panicky "I want to stay with you."
"Honey, shhh" he soothed "I meant we are going home to my place and you are going to stay with me."

She calmed down again but still clung to him tightly. She was getting heavy after carrying her for hours and Castle hoped he could put her down once they were at the loft.

Kate was impressed that he took the news so easily. She knew he would have taken her home anyway but it was completely different now that they knew she was his child. She would have been too shocked to do anything at all. Castle acted like it was the most normal thing in this world to have a kid within seconds.

"Can I have spa… spa…" she couldn't remember the word.
"Spaghetti" Castle supplied.
"Yeah, can I have spaghetti again?" she asked shyly.

"Of course you can, sweetie. It's pretty easy to cook them so you can help me with it." After telling her that Castle turned around to bid his friends goodbye. When he looked up he saw that everybody was watching him. Especially Kate was staring.

They all seemed to be impressed.
"Well, guys, I'm leaving. Thank you Mrs Anderson but I think your services aren't required anymore. Have a nice evening" he then started to walk towards the elevator.

"Wait Castle" Montgomery stopped him. "I was serious about police protection. I'll place some officers in front of your building and you are going to take Beckett with you to your loft." He turned towards Kate "And Beckett, you don't have to stay up the whole night. I want to have you back well rested tomorrow afternoon after you accompanied them shopping or whatever it is Castle wants to do. "

Castle and Montgomery were equally surprised when Kate just accepted without putting up a fight.

Montgomery watched them and wondered if something had changed between them. But he couldn't notice anything different with Castle so it probably was just Kate.