A/N: I do not own any of this.

Also, if you've been looking up the songs you will not find this one. It's a song I wrote. I found it fitting for the chapter so I used it. So I guess I do own some of it. :) It is an actual finished song that I just recorded a demo of. You can find a link to it in my profile.

Also, thank you for all the reviews and favorites/alerts!

About Damn Time

You're everything I thought I didn't want

And all the things I know now that I need

"Kate, relax. Alexis will be fine with this. I'm almost certain."

"Almost certain?" Kate scoffed. She was adorably nervous about Alexis' return the following day and the teen's subsequent reaction to the new status of their relationship. While Kate understood Rick wanting to tell her in person, part of her wished he'd just done it over the phone so she'd know already. There was also the matter of telling her about the whole Tyson incident. After Alexis very passionately expressed her reservations about her dad playing cop, Castle had been making an effort to avoid dangerous situations. And to his credit, he had been doing pretty well. But when he walked into the bullpen three weeks ago and saw Tyson's photo taped to the murder board all bets were off. And she understood. He felt personally responsible for the deaths of the two new victims. Kate made sure to mention several times over the week that none of it was his fault. But she knew from experience that doesn't really help. Thankfully the bruise on his own neck had almost completely faded. The only reason Beckett still noticed it was because she knew it was there.

The last two weeks had been amazing. Kate had never felt so comfortable in a relationship before. Although she wasn't so naive to not realize that they had been living in a bubble. The only person who knew about them was Martha and she had been sworn to secrecy. Isolated or not they had found a rhythm that worked for them. Aside from a girls night with Lanie and a mystery writer's poker game they hadn't spent a night apart.

They had the early morning body drops perfectly choreographed. When a call would come in Kate would get in the shower first while Rick fixed her coffee and breakfast to go. By the time he was showered and at the crime scene, an appropriate amount of time had passed so as not to raise any suspicion. The strict no touching rules while at the precinct actually worked to their benefit. By the time they were ready to go home they were both so hot and bothered they couldn't keep their hands off each other.

Now Kate sat perched on Castle countertop sipping on a delicious and probably very expensive glass of wine. Rick was cooking them pasta after closing a difficult case. He set the spoon he had been using to stir the sauce across the pot and nudged his way between her dangling legs. She smiled at him and draped her arms around his shoulders.

"It'll be fine, I promise." He said as he ran soothing hands along her outer thighs. She began playing with the hairs at the nape of his neck while biting her lip. "What are you thinking about?" He asked, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"She was so angry with me Rick."

"I know, but she was also just scared. And we've talked about it. She understands now why I won't walk away. Why I can't walk away. And she likes you. I think the adjective she used was badass."

"Alexis did not say ass," Kate laughed. Rick smirked at her.

"Oh, yes she did. And I'd have to agree. You are pretty badass." Rick said as he kissed his way along her jaw. He stopped at her ear gently pulling her lobe between his teeth. "And so sexy," he whispered in her ear, sending a shiver through her body. She turned her face and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Thank you," she smiled at him. "What are you going to tell her about Tyson? I-I didn't do my job. I promised her you wouldn't get hurt..."

"That was not your fault Kate. And I'm fine. I'm going to tell her what happened and she'll be upset. Probably more upset that I didn't tell her sooner. And you did to do your job. There was no way anyone was going to keep me away from that case."

"I know, but..."

"Nope, no buts. I think you shooting him right between the eyes was more than enough on your part." He punctuated his statement with a soft kiss to her mouth. "Like I said, badass." She smiled against his lips and then deepened the kiss while wrapping her legs around his hips. A few moments later she pulled back and grinned at his protesting whimper. She then leaned over the stove turning off the burners. When she returned to her previous position Rick's eyes had darkened considerably. She resumed kissing him running her hands through his hair while his hands found their way under her shirt. Kate scooted as far forward as she could while still remaining on the counter and tightened her hold on him. Rick groaned into her mouth at the contact.

They were so wrapped up in each other neither one of them heard the front door.

"Father."

Castle and Kate froze. Alexis Castle stood next to her suitcase with a teasing grin. After all the time he'd interrupted her and Ashley...

"Alexis! Wh-what are you doing here?" He squeaked. Kate was thankfully sitting with her back to the girl and once again found herself hiding in Castle's shoulder and releasing him from her legs. This was so much worse than Martha. Rick was supposed to tell Alexis by himself about them after he picked her up from the airport the next day.

"Mom has an audition here tomorrow morning so I thought I'd surprise you." She couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice. "Dad, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" At this Kate realized how ridiculous she was being. She slowly turned toward the red-head.

"Hey, Alexis..." Rick squeezed her leg in encouragement as Alexis' eyebrows rose in shock.

"Detective Beckett, hi!"

"Alexis, please call me Kate." The girl just nodded her acquiesce. All three of them stared awkwardly at each other for what had to have been the longest minute of Kate's life.

"Um, I'm just gonna go put my stuff upstairs..."

"Yeah, we were just about to eat dinner," Castle pointed to the quickly cooling pasta. "Join us?"

"Sure, I'll be right back down." Up until now Alexis' face had been blank. She allowed a smile to slowly spread across her face. As she turned toward the stairs she yelled over her shoulder. "About damn time..."

Kate and Rick both laughed loudly. Kate then pushed him away after a quick peck and hopped off the counter smoothing her clothes and hair. Rick turned the stove back on and resumed stirring. Kate let out the air she seemed to have been holding hostage and took a large gulp of wine. Rick smile down at her and bumped her hip.

"I told you she'd be fine." Kate rolled her eyes.

"Aren't you embarrassed? If she had just been a few minutes later..." She shuddered at the thought of how awkward that situation would have been.

"Do you know how many time I've walked in on her and Ashley making out. I owe her," he responded. Kate laughed and leaned into his side. "Thank you," he added quietly. She furrowed her brow and looked up at him.

"For what?"

"For caring about her," he said sincerely. Kate smiled softly.

"It's not hard, she's a great kid," she returned with a shrug.

"I love you," he sighed. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he placed a kiss against her temple.

"Love you too."

They stood there for a moment before Castle suddenly stiffened.

"What's wrong?"

Castle closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Did Alexis say Meredith is in town?" He asked, his face already skewed with a wince. Kate pulled away and studied his face. He looked like he was in pain.

"I think she did." Rick groaned. "I hope you've lost your appetite for deep-fried twinkies," Kate teased. He smirked and backed her into the counter.

"Most definitely." He said as he covered her mouth with his, kissing her soundly.

You came from out of nowhere

Took me by surprise

I never thought I'd see the day

Where you would become mine

But here we are

And I have to say

It's about damn time