If she's being honest, it's a little amusing.

Castle sits between his mother and her captain and across from her father like a child who is about to be scolded. Or has been scolded for the last ten minutes. She'd feel bad except there's something gratifying about watching him squirm. Truthfully, the situation is fine. No one is torturing him; her father isn't grilling him about his intentions. Gates is actually being rather pleasant, but she knows Castle well enough to know he's waiting for it. For the bomb to go off, the other shoe to drop, the moment when his birthday turns into the seventh circle of hell.

"Darling, where's Alexis?" Martha asks and Kate watches as Castle breathes a sigh of relief. His daughter. He can talk about his daughter.

"She had to go take care of something. Did you know her roommate has an obsession with me?"

"Mr. Castle, let me ask you something." Oh. This is going to be interesting. "Do you think the entire world is in love with you?"

"I-" Castle opens his mouth and then snaps it shut. There's a drink beside him, one of the one's she has created for tonight and he takes a long swig of it. Kate sees him physically steel himself as he puts the glass back on the table, spinning it over the scarred wood. "What is it about me that you don't like, Sir?"

"Richard-"

"I'm just curious, Mother." He turns sideways so he's facing the captain, his elbow resting on the rounded table. "I like to think that I'm generally not a bad guy. You can't tell me I haven't helped solve some of your cases."

Gates purses her lips. "You've been an asset at times, yes."

"So what is it?"

"You're not a cop. You distract my detectives." Kate flushes and takes Castle's drink, downing the rest of it. Her father is looking at her, amused, and if this is her payback for being entertained by Castle's discomfort, well, good job universe. "And you spent over $200,000 on Luke Skywalker's lightsaber."

"You spent how much?" Kate asks, incredulous.

"Mother," Castle bites out, "how about we keep the amount I spend on awesomely wonderful and fun memorabilia to ourselves?"

"I needed it as a reference point, dear."

"What outlandish tale were you spinning that needed that story as a frame of reference? Are you re-writing your one woman play again?"

Kate watches them volley back and forth, her lips pressed together in a tiny smile. Castle family interactions always set off a little flutter in her chest, a slight increase in her heart rate when it hits her yet again that this is where she belongs. She occasionally still has trouble believing that this is her life now. That she is sitting across from him in his bar at a party she planned with his mother and child. That she'll be going home with him at the end of the night and it will be her name he moans into the darkness when his body is overcome with pleasure.

"You look happy."

She jumps, startled at the sound of her father's low voice so close to her ear. She turns her head to face him. He's smiling at her and she sees the light in his eyes that had been gone for so long. It had taken years after her mother's death to see her father like this again, happy and full of life and the closest thing she ever had to a superhero growing up. She listens to Castle across the table, the sound of his voice, the way it's comforted her for so many years, long before she was even aware of it.

"I am," Kate responds softly.

Jim places his hand over hers, squeezing her fingers gently. "Your mother would be really proud of you, Katie."

Her heart clenches, but the tears don't gather tonight, not here, not when she's surrounded by all of this. Her lips quirk and she nods because as much as she wishes her mother was here, she's not sure she would change this crazy trajectory her life has taken. "She'd be proud of you too. Especially since you used to be such a hardass when it came to my boyfriends. How many did you scare away, Dad?" she teases. "One? Two?"

"I'll never tell." He kisses her cheek, his voice a whisper over the -

Wait, are Castle and Gates actually laughing? With each other?

"Even if I tried to scare Rick away, it wouldn't take. He looks at you how I used to look at your mother. He has for a long time."

Kate bites her lip, nodding as she glances across the table again. She catches Castle's eye and he smiles, the lines around his eyes crinkling. She denied it for so many years, but she'd always noticed how he looked at her as if she was everything long before she ever was; the way his voice would change when he was being honest, so breathtakingly real with her, low and deep and in some kind of awe she never felt she deserved. It hasn't changed since they started to date. Maybe it's more out in the open now, not as sheltered as it once was but she still hears it late into the night when she's falling asleep, sees it in his face when he runs his fingers through her hair in bed.

She turns back to Jim and she's not sure she's ever been this settled, this happy before in her life. "I think if you tried to scare him away, he'd probably ask for tips to use on Alexis' boyfriends."

"Alexis has a boyfriend?"

Of course this is the moment Castle chooses to overhear their conversation. Jim laughs, the understanding chuckle of a man well versed in the trials of dealing with a teenaged girl.

"I'm sure if she did she would tell you, Castle. After all, you're the cool dad."

"I am the cool dad," he mutters.

"Just be lucky your daughter isn't as wild as mine was, Rick."

"Dad," Kate admonishes, embarrassment creeping up her back.

"Oh," Castle breathes, his eyes twinkling. "Tell me more, Jim. Kate has always talked a big game about her wild child phase but fails to back it up with actual proof." She glares at him and aims a kick at his shin under the table. "Aside from the motorcycle, that is."

"The motorcycle is just the tip of that iceberg, Rick," Her dad chuckles and wraps his arm around her shoulder, shaking her gently. "Katie - well, she was a handful. Her mother used to say that she was glad we only had one child because more than one of Katie would have left us both in padded rooms."

The other side of the table erupts into laughter and Kate dips her head, uses the curtain of her hair to hide her suddenly flaming cheeks. Yeah. This is happening. Great.

"She turned out well," her father equivocates, patting her on the arm. "Though I did have some serious doubts for a few years. Remember that one boyfriend you had, honey? What was his name? Platinum, aluminum, silv-"

"Steel," she grits out, her teeth never separating, her eyes glued to the table. She really does not want to see the look on Castle's face right now. Spotting a waitress close by, Kate flags her down and takes one of the cocktails from her loaded tray.

"That's right," Jim says, his voice shaking with barely restrained laughter. "Steel. He had a band and a van and Katie was head over heels. Ran off to Atlantic City with him when she was seventeen; they were going to elope."

Oh god. She can feel Castle's eyes on her, burning a hole into the top of her head. This is really not a story she ever wanted him to hear especially not while sitting at a table with his mother and her boss. She couldn't concoct this scenario in even her worst nightmares and fuck this is definitely going to be awkward later.

"What happened?" Ah, Gates, ever the pragmatist. Thank goodness for Gates. "Did you wake up and realize you didn't want to be married to a teenage idiot that chose to call himself Steel?"

Fuck Gates.

"We got there and realized we couldn't get a marriage license because I was underage," Kate answers, taking a sip of the bright yellow cocktail. Oh, that's strong. Good.

"And then she called home, crying, asking me to come pick her up because her fiance had a gig to play. My Katie. She certainly knows how to pick 'em." Jim glances across the table, nodding at Castle. Castle who is still suspiciously silent. Shit. "Present company excluded, of course."

"I wouldn't give him such an easy out, Jim," Martha cuts in, bracelets jangling merrily as she waves one thin arm across the table. "You only had to go to Atlantic City to rescue your wayward progeny. This one -" she hooks a thumb at Castle, a sly grin dancing on her lips, "decided to chase a girl to another continent when he was fifteen."

Jim's entire body shakes with the force of his laughter and Kate can't help but smile at the sound. She really does love seeing him so happy, even if it has to be at her - and now Castle's - expense.

"I should have known it was coming, honestly." Martha shakes her head, pauses dramatically to take a sip of her drink. "She was busty, leggy, and Swedish; Richard has always harbored a weakness for blondes."

"Okay," Castle says, his voice louder than it needs to be. He pushes his chair back, the wooden legs skittering across the floor, and stands. "Family fun time is officially over."

Moving around the table, he places one hand on the back of Kate's chair and holds the other out for her to take. Kate smiles and places her hand in his waiting palm, lets him pull her chair out as she uncrosses her legs and pushes to her feet.

"You are more than welcome to continue swapping horror stories about us," Castle says to the table at large, his tone only slightly petulant, "but we are going to go mingle and pretend this never happened. Captain, Jim, thank you both for coming. Mother, please don't embarrass me too badly."

Tugging firmly on her hand, Castle leads her across the crowded bar, putting as much space between them and the table they just vacated as he possibly can.