Chapter 2

Kate was the first to wake, realizing it was already seven, much later than she usually slept when she had to be at work…and then realizing where she was. She sat up quickly, feeling a few moments of panic, unintentionally rousing Castle out of his sleep with the sudden movement.

He caught her around the waist, saying sleepily, "Don't go. Not yet."

"I have to. Your family…Alexis…work…Alexis…"

Groaning and pulling himself up on one elbow, he rested his head on his hand to talk to her. He obviously wasn't quite awake, but he was handling it well.

"At least stay for breakfast. You need to eat somewhere. I'll make coffee while you shower."

"No! The smell of coffee will wake them up."

"Are you ashamed of staying with me last night?"

"What? No!" she answered while grabbing the discarded T-shirt from where it dangled precariously at the end of the bed and pulling it over her head. "It's just that…it's going to be embarrassing for all of us if I'm leaving when they come down for breakfast. I don't want to make them uncomfortable."

"They won't be judgmental. Mother has no room to judge, and Alexis has seen both Mother and me come home in a morning walk of shame from time to time… We haven't always been shining examples."

"That's the point."

"What?"

"I don't want Alexis to see me that way. I don't want her to think of me that way," Kate answered, her eyes looking a little misty. "I don't want her to think of us that way."

"That isn't how she'll see it, Kate, he answered, rubbing her arm soothingly. She knows this isn't some casual thing. She knows how we feel about each other. We already feel like you're family, and family is here for breakfast. I'll be with you. They won't be up for a while anyway. Sleeping late the day after Christmas is a Castle tradition. But, if it really worries you, maybe it would be less awkward if we get dressed and start breakfast," he suggested.

She leaned back on the bed, facing him, copying his position; and he reached his free arm around her to pull her into a comforting hug.

"Yeah, but I'd be wearing the same thing I was wearing last night. Better, but still a little obvious."

"Not necessarily. I was hoping this would happen sooner or later." He gave her a quick kiss and a big smile. "Did I mention yet that last night was the best night of my life?"

"Did your mind just wander?" She was smirking, but it was a pleased smirk.

"Umm…probably. He was still smiling. "Where was I? Oh…if you look at the far right end of my closet, there's a garment bag with a couple of pairs of jeans and a shirt and a sweater…and some girly stuff in the back of my underwear drawer. Top drawer on the left," he told her, pointing toward a chest of drawers. "I checked sizes about a month ago while I was waiting for you to shower at your apartment."

"You went through my stuff?" she exclaimed, giving him a reprimanding shove in the chest.

"Not much of it," he grinned, "just enough to know what would fit. And just the stuff in the laundry basket you left in your kitchen. And I didn't show any of it to Mother or Alexis, so they'll never know. Did I remember to tell you…last night…best night of my life!" He flopped contentedly back on his pillow, hands behind his head as he watched Kate smile broadly and get up to walk into the huge, to-die-for closet. "You're not running away yet," he observed a little more seriously. "Best morning, too," he added as she came back with a pair of jeans and the sweater.

She smiled at his comment, rather impressed with the not-running-away aspect of her behavior herself, although she had to admit to herself that had been her first instinct. She plundered in the back of his underwear drawer for the girly stuff he mentioned, and finding two sets of bras and panties, she chose one of the two. "Really, Rick?" she observed, raising an eyebrow and holding up the skimpy little panties. "And in your underwear drawer?"

"A man's gotta dream," he answered with an unapologetic grin.

She then held up the sweater and jeans and made up for her teasing with, "I like it. Great taste, Castle. That sure of yourself, were you?" Kate stopped teasing and threw her new clothes on the foot of the bed, then she threw herself in next to Castle and kissed him soundly. "Best night of my life, too...Writer-man."

"Ooooo, I've been promoted!"

"I'd tell you what a well-deserved promotion it was, but I might never hear the end of it."

He chuckled and kissed her again before she reluctantly pushed herself away and picked up her clothes.

"Do you need the bathroom before I take a shower?"

"There's a guest bath out there," he answered. "I'll get things together for breakfast." He found his pajama bottoms, pulled them on, and got up to pull her to him for one more kiss. "I like waking up with you," he told her, nuzzling the side of her neck and peppering it with little kisses.

"Rick…" she moaned, pushing away without being very convincing.

"I know, I know. Alexis…work…" Swatting her bottom as he pushed her in the direction of the shower, he instantly realized he was pushing his luck and was relieved when she didn't seem to mind.

They parted ways, and a very happy Castle grabbed his T-shirt and pulled it on before he quietly got out what he'd need for breakfast, deciding to wait to start the coffee until after he heard the shower stop. It warmed his heart that Kate seemed to want Alexis to have a respectable image of their relationship, but he knew his daughter would be happy for them. Last night, and the not running away this morning...those were major steps forward.

After he heard not only the shower, but also the hair dryer stop, he decided it was safe to start the coffee. He was all for whatever would make Kate more comfortable about the "morning after," because he was definitely planning on more nights with Kate Beckett. He started the coffee and was working on the bacon and eggs when Kate walked in wearing her high-heeled boots with the new, close fitting jeans and the red cowl-necked cashmere sweater he had chosen for her.

He made a low, breathy sound followed by, "I did good!"

"Yeah, you did," she answered, striking a couple of poses. "So you think it looks okay?"

He stood staring, not answering.

"You're gonna burn the eggs, Writer-man," she teased, enjoying her power to bring his mind to a stand-still. "Focus."

"Right. Eggs." He went back to scrambling eggs and watching bacon, dropped some bread in the toaster, and asked as casually as possible, "So you're wearing the skimpy little…"

"Not much choice, huh?"

"Yes!" he whispered like a ten year old, and enjoyed hearing her laugh.

"What can I do to help?"

"Get out the dishes. It's almost ready."

Kate had been right. While she was getting the table set, Alexis appeared at the top of the stairs, saying, "Mmmmm…the coffee smells great."

"What? The bacon and eggs didn't impress you?"

"Maybe after the coffee wakes me up. Kate? You're here early."

"Got to be at the precinct before long. Your Dad's going, too…assuming he gets dressed sometime soon. You know how he is…had to be sure I ate."

"Is there enough for me?" Alexis asked hopefully, pouring herself some coffee.

"Just added more eggs," he answered. "And you're still a growing girl, young lady. Get some juice to balance that coffee."

"Yes, sir." She rolled her eyes. "He's always like this," Alexis mock complained to Beckett. When he loves somebody, he always wants to take care of them. Just can't help himself."

Castle looked up from the eggs, and Kate smiled.

They sat down to eat, and Castle wolfed down his breakfast so he had time to shower, reluctantly leaving Kate with Alexis.

"Nice sweater. The color looks great on you. Was it a Christmas gift?"

"Yes," she answered, smiling. "I like it, too."

"I like seeing you here in the morning," Alexis said shyly. "As far as I'm concerned, you can call the loft home anytime you're ready. Dad's been ready for a while, now."

Kate had to fight to keep from choking on her coffee. She was worried about Alexis seeing her leaving Castle's room, and the girl was practically inviting her to move in.

"He'd be down on one knee with a ring if he thought you were ready for that. He really loves you, Kate. I've never seen him like this before. There hasn't been anybody else since that summer with Gina, and he wasn't even that excited about it when they were together, like she was a consolation prize or something. I thought he was going to ask you to come with us, and I was so disappointed to see Gina. I was really glad that didn't work out. It's better without her."

"But you're okay with me?"

"You're good for each other. Who should argue with that? Okay, sorry. I'm officially talking too much. I kind of babble when I'm not awake yet," Alexis said sheepishly.

"It's all right. At least you're saying pleasant things."

They ate the rest of their breakfast in an amazingly comfortable silence, considering the subject matter of their conversation, giving each of them a chance to think about possibilities.

Alexis finally broke the silence. "I didn't mean to be getting into your business like that, honest; but I love having you around. So does Grams. You feel like family."

Kate covered Alexis' hand with hers. "Thank you for that, Alexis. It means a lot to me."

"Are you ladies behaving?" Castle asked, walking in fully dressed and depositing a gift bag on the couch, along with his jacket. "Ready, Detective?" He picked his coffee up from where he had left it on the stove's warmer and took a sip.

"I'll get my coat."

Alexis stood and hugged her dad, turned to Kate, hesitated briefly, then hugged her, too.

"Never worry about whether to hug me," Kate told her softly. "And thanks for the breakfast conversation." She let her hand slide quickly down to Alexis' hand and squeezed it in reassurance.

Alexis smiled and sat back down to finish her toast. She waved at them from the table as they put on their coats and left.

While they waited for the elevator, Castle asked, "Think we got away with it?"

"I don't know…but I think she believed I just got there. She loved the sweater, by the way. Thank you for thinking of a change of clothes. Not many men would."

"Speaking of clothes, these are yesterday's," he told her, handing her the gift bag. "No evidence left behind."

Kate laughed and thanked him. "After all that worry, your daughter pretty much told me I was welcome to move in any time. I love your family, but I never know what to expect."

Castle chuckled. "We've always been a little unorthodox," he agreed. "She never ceases to amaze me, either. She's right, though. Any time you're ready."

"I'm not…not yet. Maybe… Elevator," she pointed out when it dinged.

"Sometime soon, I hope," he answered as the doors closed. "I could definitely get used to waking up with Katherine Beckett. Best…Christmas…ever," he said, between his words

kissing each side of her jaw, and then her lips.

The doors opened at that point, and they walked out to his SUV. "Look at this. I get to drive," he said, opening the passenger door for her; and for once, she didn't argue.

As they sat a red light about four blocks from the precinct, she said, "If we come in together this morning, there's going to be gossip. I loved every minute of last night, but I don't know if I'm ready for all the teasing. Besides, I'd like it to be ours for a little while. You won't say anything, will you?"

"No," he assured her. "That might have been the old me. Grown-up Rick can keep his mouth shut. Last night was, and will always be, just for us."

"Thank you." She dropped her head for a moment, then put her hand on his thigh, stroking it with her thumb as she looked up at him through her lashes, almost shyly. "I think last night was the first time there was more to it than sex, more than just being close."

"My God, Kate! You tell me something like that right before we get to where I can't talk about it and can't touch you all day! All I want to do right now is hold you close and tell you how good it makes me feel to hear that, and drag you back to… You're going to be the death of me, woman!" Horns started blowing behind him as he was still bouncing his forehead against the steering wheel when the light changed. "Horns…how appropriate," he grumbled, lifting his head and taking his foot off the brake.

"I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"Promise? When?"

"After work. Take-out dinner at my apartment, and you go home much later?"

"And you model the skimpy little…"

"Castle!"

"Okay. Deal. But today won't be easy."

"No it won't," she agreed. "I'm getting out at this corner. I'll walk the rest of the way, and you can stop and get coffee. That should be enough time to throw them off."

"We can't keep this up forever, you know."

"I know. Humor me for just a week or so? Okay? All this openness and honesty and being close is doing a number on me."

He laughed softly and gave her that look that made her feel warm and tingly inside.

"I can do that."

"Save that look for tonight. Turn that one on me at work, and I won't get anything done…nothing...nada."

"Beckett…" he whined. "All day ahead of us, and you keep saying things that…."

The creeping traffic reached the next corner as the light turned red, and Kate quickly got out of the vehicle. "See you in a few." She turned serious for a moment. "I don't know how you manage to be so patient with me, Castle. Thank you," she said softly, then closed the door and was half a block away before the light changed.

He mumbled about patience and coffee and gossip all the way to a parking garage near the precinct and left his car to walk to the coffee shop.

xxxxx

Beckett was at her desk when the ding of the elevator announced Castle's arrival. With memories of the night before thoroughly distracting her, she was more than ready for the coffee he brought her. She needed to focus.

He walked out of the elevator with coffee in each hand and heard "'Mornin', bro'." from Esposito.

"Hey," he answered, raising one of the cups toward Javier in greeting.

"Good morning, Detective." He plopped down in the chair beside Beckett and sat her coffee on the corner of the desk. "Did you have a good Christmas?"

"The best," she answered quietly, not looking directly at him for fear of giving the entire bullpen an idea of what that meant.

"I thought you could use this by now," he said pointedly, sliding the cup over next to the file he could see she wasn't working too hard on.

She grabbed the cup quickly and closed her eyes in pleasure, bringing back Castle's need to drag her off to the nearest interrogation room…or broom closet and bar the door. Then she took a small piece of memo paper, placed it on the papers in the folder, wrote something on it, and slid it over to Castle's corner of the desk.

He looked down as nonchalantly as he could and read, "I love you."

He groaned quietly, trying to keep his face composed. "Years I've waited, and you tell me now…in public…in a room full of people…on a little piece of note paper? Seriously, Kate, you're killing me. All day before I can do anything about this. I can't even hold your hand, which is soooooo much less than what I want to do."

"What? I thought it was kind of romantic…like passing notes at school."

He rolled his eyes and leaned slightly toward her, close enough no one could hear them. "Well, on the one hand, it's almost as good as hearing it…maybe whispered in my ear in bed…nak..."

"Kate put her hand up to her mouth to hide the escaping telltale smile she couldn't control and cleared her throat and coughed a couple of times to cover her action.

"On the other hand," Castle continued, "it might be better. Now I have it in writing." He leaned back in his chair, looking smug and putting his arm on the desk with his hand over the note so he could easily palm it and tuck it away inconspicuously. "Just remember, Detective, two can play at this game." He gave her his well-practiced eyebrow wiggle. "If you want to keep this quiet, you'd better be more careful." With that, he slipped the little note off the desk, read it once more and smiled, then he folded it once and put it in his coat pocket.

Shortly after that exchange, Ryan appeared with an address, announcing that there was a body. With no small amount of guilt for it, they were both thankful for the distraction. Castle and Beckett grabbed their coats and followed the boys to the elevator. It was going to be a very long day.