A/N: I got a request for more Castle and Beckett and here it is. I hope you enjoy. Also, bonus points go to whoever can find both Season 5 references in this chapter, one is much more noticeable than the other.


"Your boys are scary Kate." Castle told her once they were both seated at her desk with fresh coffees.

"You want to talk about scary, you should have seen Lanie. Not to mention your daughter."

"My daughter? What happened with Alexis."

Beckett looked at him meaningfully, well aware that they were still seated in the bullpen.

"It's nothing major Castle, don't worry. I'll tell you later ok?"

"You do realize that by telling me not to worry, it's just going to make me worry more, right?"

"Look, I promise to tell you everything later but now's not the time."

"Alright. But I'm holding you to that." He informed her, still trying to figure out what his daughter could possibly have done to scare someone like Kate Beckett. Sometimes having an author's imagination was more of a curse than a blessing.

"Castle, I can hear you thinking from over here. Calm down and help me get these papers organized." She ordered, handing him a stack of files.

"Yes ma'am" he quipped back, watching her carefully and catching the upturned corners of her lips before she could hide her amused smile completely.

The two sat in silence for a while after that. He organized that files into the correct order while she read them over to re-familiarize herself with the details of the case for when she had to testify in court.

"Hey, I have a great idea. Why don't you come have dinner with us tonight? I can cook my famous pasta carbonara for everyone. Mother already knows, but we don't have to say anything about being together. It's not like we've never had supper together as friends before and-"

She finally cut of his rambling by gently grabbing his upper arm with her hand.

"Castle, relax. Alexis already knows about us, and I'd love to come have supper with your family tonight." She admitted, dipping her head to catch his eyes.

"Really?" he asked, surprised that she would give in so easily.

"Yes really. It's just after four now. Why don't you go ahead and take off to get supper made and I can get off work and be ready by seven. Sound good?" she asked smiling gently at him.

His heart swelled as he looked at the woman in front of him. She really was trying to make this work and wanted to have dinner with his family as a couple. At a time like this, he couldn't deny her anything.

"Of course, that sounds wonderful. I'll see you at the lot in a few hours then."

He stood up and put his jacket on before turning back to her. His blue eyes met her steady gaze once more and he found himself lost in the expressive hazel depths.

"I so wish I could kiss you right now." He breathed out, his eyes flicking to her slightly parted lips before trailing back up to her eyes once more.

"Yeah, I know." She responded, standing up as well looking at him tenderly.

They were lost in a world of their own then, no one else existed outside the bubble of silence that was surrounding them. He considered, trying to find a way to convey everything she meant to him without giving away their relationship to the entire precinct. She may have been alright with their family, both blood and not, knowing about them, but he also knew how fiercely independent she was and that Beckett would have having everyone else know about them.

Glancing down at himself, he came up with the perfect idea. He gave her a meaningful look and extended his hand out. She look down at his hand and then back up again, confusion written on the sharp planes of her face. He allowed a small smile and nodded to her in encouragement.

Finally she reached out and wrapped her small hand around his own, their eyes locked on one another.

"This is me softly touching your face, pulling you in for a long, slow kiss." He told her tenderly watching the ways her eyes lit up and her mouth stretched into a wide grin at his words.

"And this is me kissing you back," she responded, glancing down at where they were joined "running my hands through your hair." Her thumb rubbing small circles against the smooth, soft webbing between his thumb and index finger.

"Best handshake ever." He told her, his voice low, intimate.

"Yeah" she agreed, her smile stretching wider before she ducked her head in embarrassment, breaking their eye contact.

The moment dragged on until he realized that their firm grip and his charged emotions were causing perspiration to break out along his palm.

"I think my hand is getting a little sweaty." He informed her, breaking the contact.

"I know, it's kinda gross." She replied, pulling her hand back and subtly wiping it on her slacks.

"Sorry" he whispered, whether it was for his wet hand or for breaking the moment was unclear.

"No worries." She put him back at ease with a gentle smile before turning back to the work on her desk, clearly indicating that it was time they parted.

He gave her one more, long look before making his way out of the precinct.


Castle opened the door and promptly pulled Beckett into his arms, their lips crashing together hungrily.

He finally released her lips but still held her close a few long seconds later leaving the woman panting and looking up at him with wide eyes. "Castle what was that? Your family is here, remember?"

"Kate, I told you I wanted to kiss you hours ago. I couldn't wait any longer. Besides, they both know now. How does Alexis know by the way?"

At this she looked down, no longer willing to meet his eyes, and studied her fingers as she twined them together nervously.

"She may have, ah, heard me and Lanie talking about you down in the morgue."

"And what were you saying about me Beckett?" he asked, an amused glint in his eye, "Where you telling her about how ruggedly handsome I am or how good I am at making you scream when I-"

She placed a hand over his mouth, muffling the rest of what he was going to say.

"Castle! Your seventeen year old daughter and mother are somewhere in this apartment. Shut. Up." She hissed at him, looking around as if expecting a red head to appear at any second.

"Oh, right." He capitulated, finally releasing her from his arms. "Well, either way, supper is just about ready. You're welcome to go change in my room and by the time you're done dinner should be served."

Her exasperation melted as she regarded at the man in front of her. "I missed you too Castle" she whispered as she stepped forward and placed a soft, chaste kiss against his lips before turning and walking into the bedroom.

As promised, the last of the dishes were just being placed on the table when she emerged from his room. "Hi" Alexis greeted the detective as she approached the family.

"Yes, hello darling" Martha chimed in from where she was pouring the wine.

"Martha, Alexis," she acknowledged, her eyes roving over the food spread out before her, "Castle, wow, you've really outdone yourself this time." She told him, smiling at the writer tenderly.

"Nothing but the best for you" he replied, returning her grin.

"Wow Dad, that was cheesy even for you." Alexis pointed out, setting down the salad. "Sit wherever you want Kate" the teen informed her, indicating the table.

She took the seat directly across from Castle and sat down with a long sigh, a feeling of family and belonging that she had long missed flooding through her system and bringing a soft smile to her features.

They began to eat in a comfortable silence but after some time it started to become awkward as no one seemed certain where to start. Finally, Alexis decided to break the ice, "So, when did you two get together?" she asked, looking down at her plate innocently.

Kate choked slightly on the bite of food in her mouth, not expecting the girl to be so straightforward right away, but she supposed she should have expected it. She was Castle's daughter after all.

Speaking of the man, he was just staring at her wide-eyed, not knowing how much she wanted to share.

She swallowed the food in her mouth and took a sip of wine before answering, "We got together while we were in Los Angeles, Alexis." The detective admitted, "I finally realized what was important and that life is too short to waste time on regrets."

"Hear, hear" the actress agreed, holding her wineglass up in a toast. "Words to live by my dear" she continued.

"You would know, Mother" Castle chimed in for the first time, his eyes not leaving his girlfriend, amazed at how much she had opened up from the hardnosed detective he had first met nearly three years before.

"I'm happy for you guys" Alexis admitted in a soft voice, finally looking up from her plate to meet the adult's eyes and the tension in the room went down significantly.

After that the rest of the dinner went smoothly with conversation flowing easily from one topic to another. When everyone had finished eating, Martha excused herself upstairs to digest her food in peace.

"In other words, she doesn't want to have to help with the clean-up." Castle informed her, standing up to take his plate to the kitchen. Kate following behind him with her own dishes, feeling completely at home in the loft.

Kate insisted that she and Castle could handle doing the dishes and that Alexis was free to finish some reading she wanted to get done for one of her classes. This found the couple side by side at the sink with Kate washing and Castle drying and putting the dishes away.

"Well, that could have gone worse." Kate commented as she handed the writer a plate.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about. They both love you. That wasn't going to change just because we're dating now." He reminded her, placing a kiss to her temple.

"I guess you're right Castle" she relented, reflecting on how natural dinner had felt with the family.

"Hey, can I get that in writing?" he quipped, dancing out of the way before she could whip him with the dishtowel draped over her shoulder.

"Dream on, writer boy, dream on"

"Oh but you forget detective, my dreams do come true." He reminded her, walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

She stopped what she was doing, her hands still in the warm soapy water and allowed her head to rest back against his shoulder.

He nuzzled her neck, peppering it with small kisses, trailing up her jaw and to the spot behind her ear that always made her melt.

She turned in his arms so that she was facing him, laying her wet hands against his chest meeting his lips in a searing kiss.

He lowers his hands to her ass, copping a feel before grabbing her thighs and pulling upwards. She took the hint and wrapper her legs around his waist, their groins coming into delicious contact.

She rolled her hips against him, swallowing the groan that emitted from deep in his throat. He set her down on the counter but she stayed wrapped around him, not willing to relinquish their contact.

"Hey Dad, have you seen my Chemistry book?" a voice called down the stairs followed by the sound of approaching footsteps.

The couple in the kitchen froze with her head buried in his shoulder and his hands on the button of her jeans.

She pushed him away quickly and hoped down off the counter but nothing could be done about their heaving breath or arousal flushed faces.

"Oh, did I interrupt something?" Alexis asked arrived at the lower level and took in their disheveled appearance.

"No Pumpkin, but I'm just um going to take Kate home now." He answered and never had the detective been so grateful for his quick ability to come up with a cover story, even one as bad as that, since she was drawing a complete blank.

Completely forgetting the dishes the couple grabbed their coats and made their way to the door.

"Good night Alexis" the detective said, before being wrapped in the girl's arms, taking the woman by surprise before hugging her tightly in return.

"Night Kate" she replied against the woman's shoulder.

"Good night Dad" the girl said also giving her father a hug. "See you in the morning" she replied, nonchalantly before turning and heading back up the stairs.

The writer stared after her for a moment, wondering when his little girl had grown up, but then more pressing matters were brought to his attention, namely the tightening that had developed in his pants when Kate had been wrapped around him on the kitchen counter.

"Let's go" he said turning to her and grabbing her hand.

"Yes" she agrees easily, following the writer out the door, a completely different heat now consuming her than the warmth that had spread through her chest when saying goodbye to his daughter.