Kate was aroused from her sleep by a wonderful aroma. Something certainly smells good, she thought as she got out of bed. Kate then let her nose guide her to the kitchen where she was greeted by the sight of Castle fixing breakfast for Alexis while the teen sat on a stool by the breakfast bar.

"Good morning, Kate," Alexis greeted as she took another bite of her breakfast.

Castle turned around after flipping over a couple of slices of French toast. "Yes, good morning, detective."

"And to you both as well," replied Kate, taking a stool next to Alexis as Castle gave her a freshly stacked plate of French toast.

"Just help yourself to whatever you want with French toast," Castle instructed while he went back to his work.

Alexis passed over the maple syrup and showed her the various types of sliced fruits to go along with it. While she prepared her breakfast, Castle took the stool next to her and fixed his plate. Before he dug in, he passed a cup of coffee over to her.

"I thought you might want a cup," Castle told her with a warm smile.

She took the offered mug gratefully and took a nice sip. After that she took a bite of her maple syrup covered French toast.

"That is soooo, good," Kate said happily, taking another bite.

"Why, thank you, detective. That is high praise coming from you."

Kate gave Castle a playful swat on the arm for that comment and continued eating her breakfast. When everyone was finished, they gathered the dirty dishes to rinse them off and put them in the dishwasher.

"So, what's on the agenda today, pumpkin?" Castle asked his daughter.

"Hanging out with Paige this morning and then probably catching a movie. I should be home for dinner tonight," answered Alexis.

"Have fun, sweetheart."

Castle came over to give his daughter a warm hug.

"But not too much fun, right Dad?"

"I wouldn't say that. I've always encouraged you to have more than enough fun."

Kate chose that moment to interject, "Castle, you do know there is a cop in the room."

"Yeah but I have her in my back pocket," Castle said with a smirk.

A playful swat from Kate shut Castle up and elicited a laugh from Alexis.

"Are you sure it will be safe to leave you two alone for a while," Alexis asked before heading to her room to change.

"We'll be fine, pumpkin. See you when you get back," Castle told his daughter as he turned on the dishwasher.

Just before the remaining pair left the kitchen, Kate asked, "Where's Martha, Castle? I've been meaning to ask since she wasn't here last night."

"She's gone for a couple weeks, making preparations for her acting school, so things around here should be relatively calm," Castle answered with a small chuckle.

Kate shook her head at his answer but she knew, despite all of his joking, Castle loved his mother.

"What time were you planning on going over to your place?" Castle asked as they left the kitchen.

"I was thinking that I would be good to go after a shower and a change of clothes," Kate answered.

"Sounds good. You need some help?"

"With what, Castle?"

"Oh you know, removing your clothes and/or helping you in the shower. I have it on good authority that I am a very good washer because I can clean in all the right places," Castle answered waggling his eyebrows.

"In your dreams, Castle," replied Kate with an eye roll.

"Ah, but they are such beautiful dreams."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that."

They parted ways to shower and change. Much to Castle's dismay, they went about their business separately.

Roughly an hour later, they arrived at Kate's building and went straight to her landlady's office. Kate told Castle that he could wait outside the super's office while she found out the extent of the damage to her place and how long she would have to stay out of it.

"Damn it!" Kate exclaimed angrily once she left the landlady's office, some twenty minutes after she entered.

"What's the matter?" Castle asked, standing in front of her with a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Kate plopped herself on a nearby chair while Castle took the one next it.

"Six months, Castle. Six freakin' months, at least."

"Are you saying that…"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. For the next six months they'll be ripping the place apart to fix the pipes. Once that is done, they'll have to get a contractor to repair floors and walls once the pipes are fixed or replaced."

After hearing Kate explain what was happening with her apartment something suddenly popped into Castle's head.

"You said at least six months, does that mean it could take longer?"

"Yeah, she told me that six months was a safe estimate and that it could be as long as a year," a dejected Kate said.

"A year!" Castle exclaimed.

"That's exactly what I said. They might have to replace all the water pipes, which is what would take the extra time, and they don't want to have to go back a few months later to do more work if they can do it all now."

"Can't really fault them for that, Kate, but still a year…"

"I know but what makes matters worse is that during that time my lease is up. That leaves me with a couple of options."

"And they are?"

"First is the obvious one; find a new place. Finding this place was hard enough and hunting for an apartment in my price range… not an easy task."

"What's the second?"

"Well, I can hold onto the place until the lease runs out, if repairs aren't finished yet. When the place is fixed and the lease has run out, the super told me that if I still wanted the place that I would have the first crack at it."

"Of course, you'd have to have a place to stay for that second option of yours to work," Rick mentioned wanting to know what Kate would say about that.

"True."

Before Kate could say anything else, Rick said, "You know, you can stay at the loft for as long as you like."

"I appreciate that, Castle but…"

"There's no buts about it. Remember that we're still…" Castle stopped to make sure no one was around before whispering, "Married."

Dealing with her apartment troubles had Kate almost forget about being married to Castle.

"Still, I don't want to overstay my welcome," Kate said. Even though she liked staying at the loft with Castle and his family, she did not want him to know.

"You won't. It'll just make things easier for you if you don't have to worry about finding a temporary place to stay," Castle said to her as reached over and gave Kate's hand a reassuring squeeze.

Kate returned the sentiment with a squeeze of her own as she replied, "Thanks, Castle. Now let's take a look at my apartment to see how bad it is."

Castle gave her a nod as the got up and went to the elevator to take them to Kate's floor. The rode the elevator in silence and remained that way until Kate opened the door to her place.

"What a mess," Kate said as she inspected the water damage herself.

"Things could always have been worse, Beckett," Castle mentioned.

"How?"

"When you opened your door, we could've been greeted by a tidal wave of water."

They both laughed at that. Kate appreciated Castle's humour, even though dealing with a soggy apartment was not a laughing matter. It did make her feel a bit better about it. The floor was relatively dry but any part that was carpeted was a different story. Those parts were still fairly damp but not soaking wet.

"So, what's the game plan, Detective?" Castle asked, wondering what his friend wanted to handle first.

"For now, I think I'll need to get all my clothes together first," Kate told him as she went to her bedroom.

"It looks like I'll finally be able to get into your drawers."

Kate groaned at Castle's comment as he followed her to her bedroom. Kate then is unnecessary then pulled out a couple of suitcases and a duffel bag from her closet.

Castle made his way to her dresser, but Kate told him to start at the closet. Disappointed, he went about his assigned task. Everything that was hung up, he took out and placed on the bed so that Kate could decide what to do with it.

"What about your footwear?" Castle asked after he placed the last of Kate's clothes that were hung up on the bed.

"Just put them by the bed. I'll figure out what to do with them in a bit," she replied after everything she had in her dresser was placed into a suitcase.

Kate noticed that Castle had found a pair of garment bags and started to put some of her clothes in them. She was grateful to have his help; she really needed it on such short notice.

"What else are you planning on taking out of here?" Castle asked curiously.

"Besides clothing you mean?" Kate asked right back.

"Yeah."

"That's a very good question, Castle. My only thoughts were on my clothes. Anything that wasn't in the apartment when I got it. But I have no idea what how I'm going to get all that stuff out of here."

"I may have an idea. Would you mind if some of your stuff is placed in storage for a while?"

Kate mulled Castle's question for a bit before answering, "I don't think I have that much of a choice, because I don't think you can put all my stuff in your loft."

"My place would not be able to hold it all, sorry. Anyway, I was thinking about getting in touch with a storage company so you can store whatever we can't take back to the loft. I can also call a moving company to help take your stuff there."

"That's probably my only option. Go ahead and make some calls. I'll finish up with my coat closet."

By the time Kate had all of her clothes packed and ready to go, Castle had secured both a storage space and a moving company. As they were loading up Castle's SUV, Kate suggested that they return after dropping off her clothes. When they returned the pair could figure out what goes in storage and what she could take with her back to the loft.

Before going back to Kate's apartment they decided to get something to eat. Therefore a quick trip to Remy's for burgers and fries was taken. Once they were done, they arrived at Kate's apartment, where she marked each item that needed to be stored. That took most of the afternoon.

When they were done, the plopped down on her couch which was relatively dry, fortunately for them.

"Thanks for your help, Castle. I appreciate it," Kate said as she leaned her head back.

"Not a problem, Beckett," Castle replied, and then he remembered something he wanted to do. "Damn, I completely forgot!"

"What?"

"I was supposed to call my lawyer today about us being married. I completely forgot, sorry."

Kate gave him a reassuring pat on his leg. "Don't worry about it, Castle. I guess you won't be able to talk to him until Monday."

"Yeah, let's go home."

Kate gave him a nod as they got off her couch and headed out. She did not say anything about Castle's final comment, but Kate thought it was nice to consider the loft home.

AN: One reader has suggested that I do a one shot centered around the wedding. If there are more readers interested in that, I believe I can come up with something. So please leave a comment about that and what you thought of this chapter. Constructive criticism, as always, is welcome but flames are not.