A/N1: Hello and WELCOME to the third chapter of Finality I've titled 'Bonding' I've been meaning to write a chapter like this for a while. I hope you enjoy the read!

"He really is looking better, isn't he?" Alexis said to Kate once they were in Jim's car and on the way to the loft. "And it's only been a week and a half since he woke up."

"He is looking better," Kate agreed. "Clearly your father has a hardy constitution Alexis. He's sore and it's going to take a while for him to get back to his usual self, but I think with all our help he'll be able to do it quicker than the average Joe."

"I just wish I wasn't so far away at the moment," Alexis confessed with a sigh. "It's hard to concentrate on study and feel useful in helping him recover when I'm out of state."

"Alexis, you are helping him recover," Kate told the worried teen. "Your Dad is happy that you're at the college of your dreams and studying a course that truly tests your abilities. He's happy because you're happy and that's helping him recover."

"Really?" Alexis asked doubtfully.

"Yeah really, besides he looks forward to you coming home every weekend to visit him," Kate went on, stopping at a red light. "Since he woke up he's been straining to get better every day so he has more and more strength and energy for when you come and visit."

Alexis' eyes so like her father's welled with tears. "I just don't know if I'll ever get used to being away from home, Kate," she confessed, her voice catching in her throat. "Before Dad was injured I thought I'd be able to manage it but I went away with all this worry in my head. Dad hadn't woken up then and College started and the workload is huge, more than high school ever was and the only person I know there is Paige and she's doing law and we have totally different day schedules and only ever see each other at night. How did you do it? You went to Stanford and that's further away from home than Harvard is for me!"

"I don't know sweetie, I just did," Kate replied. "I know that's not very helpful but you have to stop worrying about your Dad so much, there's always someone with him and the staff at Mercy West are awesome at their jobs. This is the time of your life you're supposed to be young and carefree. Go to a frat party, dye your hair pink, get something pierced. Do something stupid, live life as a college student. It's not quite time to be a totally responsible adult yet. You're too young for so much worry."

"I can't help it," Alexis confessed scrubbing at her eyes with the cuff of her shirt.

"I know it isn't, but trust me. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to your Dad. I want him to get better soon so he can take me up to the Hamptons, it's about time we went there." Kate professed. "I know it's hard but relax and don't tell your father I suggested you go to a frat party, they're alcohol fuelled orgies."

Alexis laughed. "I don't plan on going to a lot of frat parties," she replied. "At least for the time being anyway, I want to get into the routine of being a new college student first. Besides I'm kinda not ready for...well y'know."

"You've never thought of going that far with anyone?" Kate asked in mild surprise as the light turned green again.

"No, I've only ever had two boyfriends in my life," Alexis replied. "I was fifteen, which is way too young when I was with Owen and Ashley went off to Stanford before it got anywhere serious enough to think about going that far."

"Just keep in mind your first time is not something you should rush into," Kate informed the younger Castle. "No man should ever push you into something you don't want to do, and if he does I'll find his worthless ass and kill him, alright?"

Alexis smiled. "Alright," she replied.

"And...well I know you're sensible enough to use protection for when the time comes but should you want to talk, just ring me okay? Anytime, Lanie too, she's got a bit of a soft spot for you after all the time you two have spent together in the morgue. And take it from me, she's always good for a bit of girl talk.

"Thanks Kate."

Due to the heavy traffic and a three car pileup on Broadway, it wasn't for another half an hour that Kate and Alexis arrived back at the loft building. In their absence the parking garage and exterior of the building had been fully repaired but the driveway slope still bore the faint charcoal evidence of the explosion three months previously. Apprehensively, Kate drove into the driveway and entered the security pin for the roller door to open.

"You're tense," Alexis observed as the roller door opened and allowed them access to the freshly cemented and painted garage.

"A little, I can't help it after knowing what went on here," Kate replied, pulling into the park closest to the elevator. "Don't worry about me, I expect it'll pass."

Kate cut the engine of her father's car then worked with Alexis to move all her bags upstairs to the loft. As soon as they entered the spacious loft they were hit by the most revolting smell that caused them both to gag.

"Oh that's disgusting!" Alexis groaned sticking her nose into the crook of her elbow. "Oh yuck."

Kate pinched her nose shut then made her way through to the kitchen where the smell seemed to be coming from and opened the refrigerator. Inside every single item of food was green, slimy and mouldy and the smell seemed to seep through her skin and hit her sense of smell with a wallop. She slammed the door shut then ran across the loft to the nearest window and threw it open to take in a lungful of fresh air.

"Alexis don't open the fridge!" she called. "Everything's rotten!"

The teen followed Kate's instructions and instead went around the loft opening up all the windows and air vents til a warm late fall breeze wafted through lessening the severity of the rotten food smell.

"Oh that smell's off!" Alexis complained. "Yuck!"

"I think we better find out why the power's off first," Kate suggested. "D'you know where the fuse box is?"

"Yeah, out on the deck. I'll go and see if the safety switch has been tripped," Alexis said. "It probably tripped when the explosion happened."

"Okay, well I'll make a start on cleaning out the fridge. Then it looks like we might have to go to the shops and buy some more food and the entire air freshener aisle."

"Sounds good!"

Alexis went outside onto the spacious balcony desk and Kate headed into the kitchen. She quickly found the trash bags and began emptying the fridge of all of its rotten contents fighting the urge to run to the sink and vomit.

Suddenly all the lights came back on, the sound system turned itself on and loudly began playing 'Manic Monday'. Alexis ran back in and began turning off everything that was on.

"Leave the music on, it'll make the cleaning go quicker," Kate told the teen as a slimy packet of sausages dropped into the trash can. "Oh gross."

Alexis turned the music down then went and turned on all the ceiling fans which further helped to lessen the rotten food smell.

"We're going to have to get some air freshener, I could smell this outside," Alexis commented, tying a tea towel around her face. "I don't know why the switch didn't come back on after the main power was restored. You might have to get an electrician in to have a look at the circuitry."

"I'll add that to my 'to do' list," Kate answered dryly as the redhead began emptying the freezer. "This place will smell much better by the time you come here next weekend."

"It should do if you keep the windows and doors open during the day," Alexis replied, taking a melted container of ice cream over to the sink and emptying the contents in the drain. "Oh yuck."

Alexis and Kate worked fast and efficiently and soon the refrigerator was free of rotten food and smelling faintly of orange oil. All the bags of rotten food were downstairs and in the dumpster and Alexis rang for takeout before grabbing an armful of photo albums from under the TV and dropping onto the sofa, beckoning Kate over to her.

"Come and sit,' she invited the female detective, patting the seat next to her. "I want to show you something."

Her curiosity piqued, Kate made her way from the kitchen two mugs of coffee in her hands and sat down next to the teen.

"These are a few of the family albums," Alexis began, taking an album with 'Richard Alexander Rodgers 04.01.1971.' "This is Dad's baby album. I don't know if he's ever showed you these."

Kate chuckled. "No, he hasn't," she answered, tucking her legs under her. "Okay, first one?"

"This is Dad when he was two hours old," Alexis said, pointing to a picture of a newborn baby dressed in a white onesie and pale blue cap his face scrunched up as he cried. "My Great-Grams took that photo."

"Oh that's precious!" Kate exclaimed, touching the picture as her stomach fluttered pleasantly. "He was a cute baby."

"Wait til you see his toddler photos," Alexis said with a giggle, turning a page that showed a photo of a twenty year old Martha in a hospital bed holding a newborn Rick, swathed in a pastel yellow bunny rug. "He'd be so embarrassed about me showing you these pictures but I doubt he would show you them himself and I felt like sitting down for a chat with you and this seemed like a good excuse, something to talk about."

"Alexis, you don't need any excuse to talk to me," Kate informed the young woman. "If there's anytime you need someone familiar to talk to, just ring my cell. You have the number and you know the only time I don't answer it is when I'm in an interrogation room. I'm a cop. I always have to have my cell on."

"A-alright, I'll do that," Alexis promised, turning the page of the baby album. And this is Dad at his first birthday."

Kate laughed heartily as she looked at the photo of a one year old Rick dressed in a sailor's costume, his eyes scrunched shut in distaste as Martha pressed a kiss to his chubby cheek.

"He had red hair!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Well more dark strawberry blonde."

"Yup and he did straight up to middle school then his hair started to darken," Alexis replied with a grin. "Grams always says when Dad was small he didn't like her kissing him on the cheek, he was always more interested in running around raising hell with his cousins or getting dirty in the garden with Great Grandpa."

"So he's been an independent spirit from day one, huh?"

"Oh you bet," Alexis replied in amusement, turning another page. "Here he is at his Christening and at Easter with chocolate all over his face."

"He still eats chocolate like a toddler," Kate commented in amusement as Alexis turned to a page labelled 'Richard aged 2.' "I arrived this morning to find him scoffing Reese's Cups and with chocolate all over his face like that."

"Oh, Dad loves those!" Alexis exclaimed. "I give him a box every birthday, Christmas and Easter."

"How many years does this album cover?" Kate inquired.

"Up to his fifth birthday," Alexis replied. "Grams had made them in five year increments, documenting every Christmas, Birthday and Easter. She told me when I was small that's it's one of her legacies as a Mom. She says being a parent is the best job she's ever had and wanted to remember every second of it."

"That's lovely."

Alexis nodded. "Yeah it is," she replied. "And I've decided if I ever have kids I'm going to do the same thing. Dad's done the same for me. It's kind of a Castle family tradition."

"Can I have a look at yours?" Kate asked hesitatingly. "I can understand if you don't want to."

"No, I don't mind," Alexis answered. "Kate, you're part of this family now. You have been since before you and Dad got together, really. I just want you to get to know us better."

Kate's heart swelled with affection for the youngest Castle and she pulled the teen into a one armed hug. "Thank you," she murmured, her voice catching in her throat. "That means a lot that you're including me in something like that."

"Hey, it's what family does. Isn't it?" Alexis said. "I think you're Dad's one and done, his forever. So I want you to see this. I was never inclined to show this to Gina or any of the other women Dad has been with but I want to with you."

Kate's green eyes immediately welled with tears and spilled down her cheeks, her stomach flip flopping at a million miles an hour, the very depths of her soul touched by Alexis's revelations.

"You know it means a lot to hear you say that," she choked out tearily, reaching into her bra and pulling out a handkerchief. "You, your Dad and Grams make me feel so included and I've honestly never had that before."

"We're glad to have you," Alexis assured, turning the last page of the album. "And this is Dad on his first day of school, Morningside Elementary nineteen seventy-six."

Kate laughed at the picture of a five year old, gap toothed Rick wearing a school satchel almost as big as himself his little chest pushed out proudly as he 'paraded' his pale blue and dark blue uniform.

"Now that is cute," she proclaimed. "He's posing like a model."

"I know, Grams said he was so excited about starting school and wanted to wear his uniform every day wherever he went and whatever the occasion and on his first day he told every person he came across on the Subway 'today's my first day of school' He thought he was the bees knees."

Kate let out an amused snort of laughter. "I'm going to tease him with that little snippet of information," she promised. "I'll be able to get a lot of mileage with that."

"He won't mind the teasing," Alexis answered with a smile, closing the album and setting it down. "He doesn't mind you teasing him, Kate. Actually I think he loves it."

"The feeling's completely mutual," Kate replied. "So this is the second one?"

"Yup, from age six to ten, there are some really cute pictures in here..."

For the rest of the afternoon Kate and Alexis worked hard to return the loft to its former glory. They washed, scrubbed, polished, shined and dusted every table, window, bench table and shelf til everything shone. The rotten food smell had almost disappeared thanks to numerous automatic air fresheners and aromatherapy candles around the loft and the afternoon of spring cleaning was finished off with a trip to the local supermarket where Kate with Alexis' help filled two trolleys to almost overflowing.

"I should have come back here before now," Kate grumbled as Alexis put half a dozen of the blueberry muffins she had made in a container for Rick. "That was exhausting, thanks for the help."

"Anytime," Alexis replied brightly. "It was a bonding experience, don't you think?"

"It was," Kate agreed with a smile. "Well I'm going to have a shower before we head back to Mercy West. I'm all sweaty and foul. Let's head off in half an hour, okay?"

"Sounds good."

After a brief shower to freshen up Kate tied her hair back to keep it off her neck then changed into a thigh length flowy dress she knew Rick was particularly fond of and made her way back out into the loft where Alexis was furiously texting a love struck look upon her face.

"Noah?" she asked with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah, he's working some nights. Some project he can't tell me about at the moment and is about to head off to work," Alexis replied briefly, looking up at the female detective. "He just texted me to say he was thinking about me and asking how Dad is, he says hi by the way."

"That's sweet," Kate said. "Tell him I say hi back."

Kate allowed Alexis to continue texting away as she began packing a bag for Rick, she dug out his favourite re-usable travel mug and put it in the shopping bag along with Alexis' muffins, his battered copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and his electric shaving kit.

"Ready to head off?" Alexis asked.

"Yup, d'you want to drive? I'm a bit tired," Kate replied, holding out the keys to the teen. "I trust you and Dad would trust you in his car too."

"Okay then, if you're sure."

"I am, let's go."

Half an hour later after making a brief stop at the Java Hut shop just inside the main entrance of Mercy West to buy Rick and herself their usual coffees, Kate and Alexis arrived on the neurosurgery ward where loud and raucous laughter was emanating from Rick's private room.

"The party's in 4G," Kelly, one of the nurses said to Kate dryly as she arrived. "The only thing lacking are Vodka breezers and a DJ playing doof doof music."

Alexis laughed heartily and Kate rolled her eyes.

"I'll tell him to keep a lid on it," she informed the young nurse. "If that fails you might have to come in and give him some hard drugs to shut him up."

"Ha ha."

Kate led the way down the linoleum lined floor and turned into Rick's room where the Writer was holding court with Ryan, Esposito, and Frank.

"I'm coming in response to a noise complaint by the neighbours," she announced in her best 'cop voice.' "Several residents in the nearby area have complained about excessive noise from four drinkin' swearin' hobos."

"Hey, I resent that!" Rick exclaimed, lighting up as she strode over to him and dropped a kiss on his lips. "We lack the alcohol to be 'drinkin' swearin' hobos.'"

"And according to Kelly at the nurses station, all this party is lacking are vodka breezers and doof doof music," Alexis told her father leaning in to give him a hug. "Kate said if you continued to be so loud she'd ask her to administer you some hard drugs in order to shut you up."

"Oooh, I think you've been told bro," Esposito teased the Writer as he sipped the cup of coffee Kate gave him. "Thought it was only in the precinct you got that."

"You have no idea Javi, it's not just at the precinct he gets told," Kate declared, dropping down in the seat nearest to Rick's left side. "It's a occupational habit when you live with a man child, I'm sure Lanie and Jenny would say the same about you and Kevin."

"Hey!" the men shouted in unison.

"We brought you some goodies from home Dad," Alexis piped up opening the bag Kate had packed. "Your shaving kit, and your copy of Deathly Hallows which is due another sticky tape repair and I made a batch of blueberry muffins."

Rick lit up and dug into the bag with the enthusiasm of a small child on Christmas morning. "Oh great, I love you two girls!" he exclaimed. "Thanks a ton."

"You're going to leave this hospital twenty pounds heavier than when you went in you know," Ryan teased as Rick ripped off the lid of the muffin container and held it out to his friend. "Nah I'm good, they're for you anyway."

"Same bro, you eat 'em all," Esposito chimed in. "We probably should be getting going soon anyway."

"How's it going at the precinct anyway?' Kate inquired in interest. "I spoke to Gates the other day and she said it had been pretty quiet."

"Yeah, a few pop and drops. Nothing Beckett flavoured," Esposito replied. "If we had gotten a Beckett flavoured one, we would have rung you for some help. Gates is giving us a lighter workload at the moment at least until all outstanding paperwork is done, I don't think she wants us to get too in over our head til you come back in the new year."

"That's nice of her," Kate commented. "But honestly if you find yourselves getting, swamped call me. I'll come in and do some paper work, I hesitate to say this but this one is quite capable of looking after himself now."

Rick rolled his eyes. "Oh ha ha hardi har," he replied, swallowing a mouthful of coffee. "That's not a very nice attitude."

"Aw you love it, admit it."

"Yeah, yeah whatever."

A short time later both Ryan and Esposito stood to leave.

"We better be heading off, bro. See you tomorrow sometime," Esposito said, fist bumping with his friend. "Be a good boy."

Rick rolled his eyes dramatically as he shared another fist bump with Ryan.

"Thanks for coming in boys," he said. "Take care."

"See ya Writer Boy."

"Did you use your computer much today?" Kate asked once Ryan and Esposito left.

"Yeah I did," Rick replied. "I started writing an official statement about how I am and thanking all the doctors looking after me for Paula to put on my website Monday morning. I'm a bit too tired to do it now but I might do a bit of writing tomorrow. I'll type one handed even though it's slow just to get it out of my system. When I get the shoulder bandage off Monday morning, I'll start writing properly. I might go away from crime mystery and start on medial drama, hot nurses, doctors with anger issues etcetera."

"That sounds like a script for Temptation Lane," Alexis noted.

Kate let out a snort of laughter. "She's got you there Writer Boy," she informed him with a giggle. "Make one of the doctors with anger issues a serial killer who kills people to harvest organs for the black market."

"Or make one of the nurses, nurse by day and Dominatrix by night," Alexis suggested, joining in the joke.

"That sounds too Fifty Shades of Grey."

"How do you know what's in Fifty Shades of Grey Rick?" Kate asked with a raised eyebrow, a wry smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "I thought you said that series was pure unadulterated literary gastroenteritis?"

"It is, I was using it as a euphemism," the Writer replied, his cheeks colouring up slightly. "I was simp-oh I'm not going to bother defending myself."

"That's alright Dad, we still love ya," Alexis teased patting her father's cheek with a condescending grin. "How was your pain management this afternoon?"

"Good, I'm still a little tender but with help from the nurses I managed to get to the bathroom and shave and brush my teeth," Rick replied. "I'm going to ask whoever gives me my evening meds if I can try and have a shower on my own tomorrow. I'm sure I stink and sponge baths are embarrassing."

"You don't stink," Kate assured him, reaching forward and squeezing his hand. "How about I come in a little earlier tomorrow morning and see if they'll let me be the person that helps you have a shower? That way you can have a proper clean and not be jostled around too much."

Rick's face lit up like the morning sun. "That sounds great," he answered happily. "I'll ask if you can do that when its time for evening meds."

"I showed Kate some old family photos today, Dad..." Alexis began with a grin that immediately told Rick something was up.

"Some 'back in the day' ones." Kate added with a giggle

The Writer's face fell and his cheeks turned a handsome shade of rouge. "Oh no way..." he groaned. "No waaaaaaaay! How old?"

"Like April the first, nineteen seventy one," Kate replied with a chuckle as Rick covered his face with his hands. "Very cute."

"You showed Kate my baby album?" Rick moaned at Alexis. "Aw man, this is embarrassing."

"I did," Alexis admitted. "We spent a good hour and a half looking through all your albums, right up til this year's Easter photos mine up til my birthday and I even found some old pictures of Grams when she was little."

"It was really nice to see you back when your biggest concern was how to make the best mud pie," Kate informed the flame faced writer. "My particular favourite was the one on you first day of elementary school when you rocked your uniform like it was an Armani suit."

Alexis squealed with laughter and Rick dove under the blankets of his bed in embarrassment.

"I can't believe my favourite girls are doing this to me," he groaned. "This is just-just-ugh."

"Aw come on, Writer Man. It's not that bad," Kate teased, reaching for the lump under the blankets and rubbing Rick's thigh affectionately. "If it helps, I'll show you the photos from my youth where I thought parachute tracksuit pants, high topped Reebok's and neon hair scrunchies were the height of fashion. I never show those to anyone."

Rick peeked out from under the blankets. "Really?" he asked.

"Sure, it's a fair trade off," Kate replied. "I think I'd have to take you to Dad's cabin in the Catskills though, that's where the majority of the Beckett family photo albums are stored."

"Let's add that to the after discharge to-do list," Rick suggested, pulling himself into a sitting position with a wince. "We can do the bulb harvesting while we're up there."

"Bulb harvesting?" Alexis inquired curiously. "Since when have you been a gardener, Dad?"

"I'm not but once I get out of hospital Kate's taking me, Javier, Kevin and Victoria to Johanna's grave and this time instead of buying flowers to put at the headstone, we're going to plant some bulbs that Johanna herself planted up at Jim's cabin in the years before she died. It's a more permanent reminder of her."

"Oh that's beautiful!"

"That's what I said," Kate agreed. "By the time we can get up to the cabin, it's going to be too late to plant the bulbs but we can harvest them and keep them for when the weather warms up."

"So what flowers are up there?" Alexis asked.

"Mainly daffodils and Irises but Tulips and purple Calla Lillies...too," Kate replied with a soft smile. "Mom loved Tulips and they quickly became my favourite bloom too. She started the tradition of giving me a bunch of pink ones for my birthday. Dad continued it after she died and..."

"That's why Dad calls you Tulip," Alexis chimed in with a grin.

"Yup, it seems so."

"You're going to have a busy timetable once you're discharged, Dad. I hope you don't overdo it," Alexis said fearfully. "You've suffered horrific injuries and it's not going to be a quick recovery like back in January when you broke your shoulder."

"C'mere," Rick asked the teen, beckoning to her. "C'mon."

Alexis got up and went to the Writer's bedside he leaned forward and pulled her into a hug, patting her back rhythmically.

"I promise I won't overdo it," he vowed, dropping a kiss on his daughter's forehead. "Kate won't let me for a start. I think she'd actually kill me if I ended up in hospital again. I promised her I wouldn't overdo it and I can't break a promise like that to my favourite girls. If I overdid it, I wouldn't be able to drive up to Boston to see my baby girl strut her stuff at big bad Harvard. As soon as I'm able, I'd like to go up there to visit you instead of you having to come down here."

"You'd drive up?" Alexis asked in surprise. "You could fly or take the train."

"Yeah, but driving long distance is an adventure," Rick proclaimed with his usual child like enthusiasm. "Remember when I took you down to California to get the Ferrari? We had the best fun driving home on route sixty six, buying fridge magnets and going to that steak house in Texes with saddles at the bar instead of stools. I want to share the same experience with Kate. Besides Boston is only a short drive away, barely an overnight commute with both of us driving it'd be over quick smart. Besides if we come up to Boston, you can show us around all your favourite hot spots and show us your dorm and all the exciting stuff a freshman in college experiences."

"I can definitely do that," Alexis agreed brightly. "There's this one diner that Paige and I like going to that has the best hash browns..."

"Great, add that to your 'when Dad gets out of hospital' to do list,' Rick suggested. "I expect a timetable full of mind blowing social outings Alexis Castle, you know me fun fun fun."

Kate laughed as Alexis rolled her eyes.

"Dad, its Boston. Not Los Angeles, there's not as many 'mind blowing social events' to experience." The young woman informed her father. "But I shall try and live up to family tradition and put together a timetable of social events that will satisfy your inner man child."

"His inner man child?" Kate piped up. "Lex, your father doesn't know the meaning of 'inner man child' with him it's totally external."

"Oh be nice," Rick huffed. "It's not at all nice to torture a convalescing man."

"Suck it up Writer Boy."

"Hey I thought it was Writer Man?" Rick piped up.

"Yes usually it is,' Kate replied "but you're Writer Boy when I tease you."

The Writer unsuccessfully tried to hide a smile.

"Well...hmmph."

Shortly before ten PM well after the last visitors left the neurosurgery ward, Melanie, one of the night nurses came in with Rick's evening pain relief.

"Evening, Mr Castle. How's your pain level?" she asked kindly.

"Eh, starting to get a bit too much." Rick admitted, screwing up his nose.

"Well that's why I'm here, time to say goodnight to everyone."

"You rest up, Dad. See you tomorrow sometime," Alexis said at once as she got up from her chair and hugged her father. "I love you."

"Love you too pumpkin," Rick replied, returning the hug as hard as his pain level would allow. "Have a safe trip home."

Kate stepped forward next, hugging her partner and pressing her lips to his.

"See you early in the morning?" she whispered, stroking his bruised face with her fingertips.

Rick leaned into Kate's touch as if the warmth of her contact made his pain disappear.

"See you then," he answered running his fingers through her cherry scented hair. "I love you, Tulip."

"Love you too, Writer Man."

A/N1: Personally I feel this is the best chapter I have written in a while. As soon as I finished writing it, it just sat right with me ya know? All you fellow authors out there will understand I'm sure. Anyway remember reviews feed the beast!