Yup, so you may have noticed the story is now M - I thought this chapter warranted it! Also, this chapter is rather insane in length. Got just the teensiest (Cough) Hugest (Cough) bit carried away with it.

Just so you know I do have something of a life... it's just that 99% of that life happens to be Castle [Slips discretely back into her writing cave] ...

Driving through the streets of New York city, Castle was dumbstruck.

"I know this is New York but is it still situated on planet Earth?" He asked the girls as they drove down the epi-centre of Times Square.

He wined. "Aw, where's Roxy Burlesk gone? The boys used to sneak in there all the time", he chucked recalling fond memories of naked women parading around him and his adolescent friends. Alexis gave him a look. He quickly tried to cover up the notion of any indiscretions he may have had in his younger days. "Ah, not me of course, my friends yes but I was on the straight and narrow, me", he gave a weak laugh.

Alexis shook her head at her dad. "Nice try Dad, but I've known you for nineteen years, I know all about your "friends" and how you were always their "lookout".

Castle chuckled, again obviously reminiscing. "Oh yeah, good times."

On the other side of Alexis, Beckett rolled her eyes. "Mayor Giuliani got rid of all those places years ago. Good riddance I say, New York is seedy enough without those hell holes to add to it."

"Giuliani finally got in? Ha. I remember when he lost to Dinkins, it was the closest election in New York's history."

"Yeah that record still stands", Alexis informed in.

"Really?" Castle looked at is daughter with pride. "You know, you really are a smart kid."

Alexis laughed. "Yeah, I've been told. When you're a teenager, It's been a blessing and curse."

Castle smiled and turned to look out the window. As they drove over the Manhattan bridge, Castle did a double take and then spent quite a few moments looking very confused.

"Something wrong, Dad?"

"Um, Kate, Alexis, perhaps I'm a little disorientated but... where are the twin towers?"

Beckett and Alexis gasped. "Oh Dad..."

"Shit", Beckett swore.

Their Middle-Eastern taxi driver glanced at them uncomfortably in the rear view mirror.

"What, did something happen?"

Beckett sighed deeply and shook her head. "Talk about head-exploding information... you're going to need this news spread out for you over the course of about a month."

Castle looked more perplexed.

"Just take in the city lights and look at all the good changes the city's gone through. Once we get you settled in at home, get you comfortable with your own private existence, then we'll work through some things that have happened on a larger scale."

Castle shook his head, still looking flummoxed, but kept quiet throughout the rest of the journey home.

...

"Few more steps...there we go. We're home Dad."

"Wow, nice building, even the doormen are charming, although everyone greeting me as "Mr. Castle" is still really strange to hear."

"Wait 'til you hear it followed by "Can you sign my G-string?" Beckett barbed him.

"Oh, I can't wait for that", Castle said gleefully.

Beckett rolled her eyes. He tilted his head to the side and winked at her. "Kidding."

She smiled, and shook her head to pretend she wasn't bothered by the notion of him signing women's clothing or lack thereof, but she had always been bothered by it in secret.

"This is ours right here", Alexis said, pulling out her key from the pocket of her jeans and unlocking the door to the loft.

The three of them walked inside and Castle blew a low whistle. "Not too shabby."

"Pretty nice, right?" Alexis gleamed.

"Yeah, I could see myself living here, most definitely."

"Yeah well, you bought it... didn't even tell Mom about it if I recall."

"Yeah I'm getting a picture as to why she left", Castle said, thoughtfully.

"Oh Dad, she didn't leave because of little things like that, she left because Hollywood was "calling her" and she just didn't love you as much as she loved the limelight", Alexis told him.

Both adults stared at her. She grimaced. "Yeah, that sounded a lot harsher than I meant it to."

Castle sighed. "It's OK pumpkin, by the sounds of it, we were both in the same boat, and you know I get it. She always was a little...preppy for my taste, really."

Beckett and Alexis looked at each other. Oh how they hoped he wouldn't want to know about all the women he'd been with since Meredith. His appetite for "preppy-ness" was certainly one thing that hadn't been scarce.

"Alexis, why don't you help your dad to the couch and I will order some food for us."

"Oh please tell me Mr. Wan is still is business." Castle droned.

Alexis smiled. "We only order from him like twice a week."

"Oh thank god, finally some normalcy!" Castle flopped down on to the couch. "Whoa... is that... a TV?"

"Hey Kate, why don't you stay with Dad and I'll go order from Mr. Wan's", Alexis suggested.

"Whichever one of you is ordering, I would kill for some sake beef", Castle informed them.

Beckett raised her eyebrow at him. He pursed his lips. "I guess that's probably not such a good phrase to use in front of a cop."

Alexis chuckled. "I'll call. Kate, you sit."

Beckett saluted Alexis who chuckled again as she walked into the kitchen.

"Take a seat partner", Castle wagged his eyebrows.

Beckett bit back a grin as she sat down next to him on the couch. "So, what do you think of your place, Rodgers?"

Castle nodded his head. "Very nice, little sterile perhaps...I don't clean it myself do I? I can't imagine being that domestic."

"Ah, you're pretty domestic when you want to be, but no I believe you have a cleaner who comes in once a week", Beckett told him.

"How did you come to know the extent of my domestication?" Castle asked Beckett with a look in his eye.

She pressed on quickly. "I've seen you cook pancakes before the sun was completely up."

"Me? No!" Castle gasped in mock shock.

"It's true", Beckett grinned.

Castle's grin fell as his brain clicked to something. Beckett caught it. Uh oh, she knew what was coming next.

"When did you witness me cooking breakfast?"

Beckett sighed. "You do know how to ask the most difficult questions, don't you?"

Castle chuckled and then his face fell again. "Kate... I've got to know. What happened-"

Beckett placed her hand on Castle's and looked him in the eyes. "When you're a little more settled and after our food gets here, OK?" She raised her head toward the kitchen. "Hey Alexis, have you called Mr. Wan yet?"

"Yeah, they said about forty minutes."

"OK, thanks. Forty minutes OK? Let's just spend that time in blissful ignorance... I think ignorance about this is something a lot of us would..." she swallowed and gave him a half-smile. "Love to be able to have."

"Something really bad happened, didn't it?"

"Forty minutes Rick. Then we'll have dinner... and a movie."

Castle raised his eyebrow at her. "So not just your garden variety bad then..."

Beckett said nothing.

Castle inhaled deeply. "Right."

...

The food arrived within the forty minutes and after opening it, Castle, Beckett and Alexis sat and watched "9/11", the movie made by french filmmakers in 2002. Castle spent the whole of the documentary with his sake beef on his fork, suspended in mid-air, half-way between his styrofoam container and his mouth.

As the credits rolled, Alexis excused herself with a hasty goodnight to both Castle and Beckett and ran up to her room, clearly upset.

"You're beef's gone cold", Beckett informed him gently.

"I'm not hungry", Castle whispered.

"Are you alright?" Beckett asked her partner, who was sitting back in his chair, looking anguished.

"Close to twenty-eight hundred people..." He croaked.

Beckett nodded solemnly. "I know."

Castle sighed and shook a tear from his eye. "Why do I write what I write?"

Beckett didn't understand the context of the question so she stayed silent, opting instead to let him continue.

"What am I doing writing about murder when there have been so many senseless deaths occurring for real?"

Beckett took in a shaky breath and thought back to how his books helped her through her mother's murder. "I think it helps a lot of folks. Romanticizing death kind of helps the victim's families to cope. Envisioning Nikki Heat or Derrick Storm on the case for instance, sometimes allows them to imagine themselves as characters in the novel, to put themselves in the story and outside of the reality of their own cold hard truth. Eventually the fantastical element fades, but for a little while it's there and... it helps them get through."

"Does it help you get through your cases as a cop? Is that why you read them?"

Beckett nodded her head, and told him yet another thing Beckett never would have been open or brave enough to tell Castle. "Yes, your books help me get through."

Castle sniffed, leaning back in his chair again. "Twenty eight hundred..."

...

It didn't take long for Castle to fall asleep and after Beckett removed the fork from his hand and packed up all the "dishes", disposing of them in the recycling bin, she returned to the living room. Deciding against waking him up, she went to find a blanket in the hall cupboard. When she returned, he'd curled up into a ball on the couch.

Very quietly she lay the blanket on top of him and clenched her fists nervously as he tussled with it for a moment. Ultimately though, he stilled and relaxed into a deep slumber.

She smiled tenderly as she took him in, his shoulders rising and falling in his contented state. Even more quietly than when she'd placed the blanket on him, she leaned down and placed the softest of kisses on his forehead. She couldn't help but run her fingers through the soft tips of his hair as she whispered to him. "Goodnight Rick."

She stayed a while longer, just to listen to the sweet and beautiful sound of him breathing. It meant that he was still here, and not only that, he was here with her. As she turned and walked out of the room, Castle sighed dreamily "Goodnight Kate."

...

The next morning, Castle awoke to the sound of sizzling and the smell of bacon. Very wearily, and with great difficulty, he managed to sit himself up on the couch. He took in his surroundings, trying to compute in his mind where exactly he was.

Home. Yes, he was home, in his living room. On his couch. And by the smell of things, there was someone at work in his kitchen.

"Kate?"

Within two seconds, Beckett was at his side, carrying a can of whipped cream. "Hey, morning, everything OK?"

"Yeah, are you... making breakfast?" He asked sounding diverted.

"Mhm, bacon, and banana waffles with whipped cream... a Castle family favorite, according to Alexis."

"Well, well, she's beautiful and she cooks", Castle beamed.

Beckett blushed.

"Did Alexis put you up to this? She's obviously got you wrapped around her little finger." Castle asked her with laugh.

Beckett rolled her eyes at him. "No, she isn't even up yet... can't a girl make breakfast, without persuasion?"

"It's never happened in my world", Castle chuckled.

"Well maybe I do have an ulterior motive for making breakfast for you", Beckett told him coyly.

Castle's eyes popped. "W-What is that?" He asked hoarsely.

Beckett carefully sprayed a little bit of whipped cream on her index finger and then slid it into her mouth seductively.

"I love whipped cream in a can."

Castle blushed as he realized she'd played him intentionally. He narrowed his eyes and smirked. "You keep that up and that hot ass you've got yourself is going to start to droop like a basset hound's eyes."

Beckett's jaw dropped and she picked up the nearest couch pillow and threw it at him. "If you weren't injured I would pummel you."

Castle laughed.

After the silliness died down, her face turned serious. "How are you anyway?" She asked him with a calm smile.

He sighed deeply. "I'm... in limbo. After last night, I realize I still have a lot to learn about the current world."

"Oh yeah, you've got that right, but don't worry not all the bombshells are going to hit quite so hard as that one."

Castle acknowledged her with a half smile. "So when am I going to get the opportunity to rate your cooking, anyway?"

Beckett smirked at him. "Ah..." She extended her arm out to him. "I believe your table is ready now, Mr. Rodgers."

...

"Wow", Castle said appreciatively after eating Beckett's pancakes and bacon. "Those were some seriously good twenty-first century pancakes."

Beckett looked delighted. "I'm pleased you enjoyed them, but just know you won't be eating like this every day." She eyed him up and down. "Or your ass will start dropping like a lead balloon."

Castle scoffed indignantly. "I happen to think my ass is pretty nice for someone in his forties."

"Mm", Beckett agreed, but shrugged so that it looked more like she was being nonchalant.

Castle hadn't missed her checking him out. "How old are you anyway?"

This time Beckett scoffed. "None of your business, you don't ask a lady her age."

Castle narrowed his eyes. "Twenty-nine."

Beckett opened her mouth to refute but then she felt compelled to let him believe she was younger than she actually was. "Damn it, you got me."

"I was right? Yes!" Castle clapped his hand together.

Beckett shook her head playfully at him and then got up to place the plates in the sink.

"Here let me help with those", Castle insisted.

"Are you kidding? You can barely walk", Beckett brushed him off.

Castle frowned. "Yeah, you're right... Hey, I'm dying for a shower, where's the bathroom?"

At that moment, Alexis came downstairs. "Hey guys, you sleep OK?"

"Just fine Alexis. You?" Beckett asked the teen.

"Yeah, not bad. Kept seeing black smoke and people running, and that feeling where you think you're falling."

"Hypnagogia." The girls looked at Castle after he said the word.

"That's what it's called that feeling you get when you're asleep and you think you're falling... And yeah, I had it last night too", her father told her, placing a hand on her arm.

"There's some breakfast here for you sweetie, I'm just going to take your dad to the bathroom", Beckett told the young girl with a smile.

"Thanks Kate, you're awesome", Alexis smiled back.

Beckett escorted Castle down his hall to where the bathroom was. On the way, the pair passed his bedroom.

"Hey, I haven't seen my bedroom yet."

"There'll be plenty of time for us to do that later", Beckett assured him.

Realizing what she'd said, Castle and Beckett stared at each other half-embarrassed, half-aroused.

Beckett cleared her throat. "Bathroom." They continued on.

"Here's a towel, I'll get you some fresh clothes from your room and leave them by the door. If you just throw your dirty ones in the corner, I'll put them in the hamper after. I'm sure showers haven't changed that much since the nineties so... I'll see you when you get out."

"Whoa whoa wait, you have to help me", Castle hollered out before she could walk out the bathroom door.

"What?" Beckett sounded chagrinned.

"I had a nurse shower me every day for the last week. I'm handicap-able until this sling comes off."

Beckett gaped like a fish deprived of water.

"I just need you to help me get my shirt over my head, then you can turn around until I'm in the shower, and which point I will need your assistance in washing my back and possibly my legs... ooh and my hair, it's all gross and greasy."

Beckett laughed bitterly. "You think this is funny don't you?"

Castle looked at her seriously. "Which part, that I'm incapable of physically washing myself or that I don't have the mental capacity to arrange an alternative?"

Beckett sighed. "I-I don't even have a change of clothes here."

Castle shrugged. "So?"

"So what am I going to wear when my clothes are soaked in the shower?"

Castle looked at her dumbly.

Beckett gaped at him. "Richard Rodgers we are NOT getting in the shower together naked!"

Castle sighed. "Go and ask Alexis for something to wear, you two can't be that much different in size can you?"

Beckett still looked hesitant but she stomped her foot on the ground. "Wait here."

When she left to go ask Alexis if she had any clothes that Beckett could borrow, Castle checked his hair in the mirror, primping himself for Beckett's return.

When she did return, he quickly swung back around and pretended to be interested in the towel rack.

"So?" He prodded.

"She had an even better idea...swimsuit", Beckett held up the skimpy suit and tried to smile but really she looked anything but happy.

Castle pursed his lips. "I think my daughter is trying to tell us something."

"Yeah, in a not exactly subtle way", Beckett said. "I'm going to go change, I'll be back in a minute."

"Change here", Castle shrugged, trying his best to look unassuming. "I won't peek."

Beckett rolled her eyes. "Yeah right...I'll change in your room."

Castle smirked as she exited. She took only a minute to change out of her clothing and into Alexis' pink two-piece and when she returned, Castle's mouth hit the floor.

"Um, y-you-w-whoa-wow."

Beckett smirked "How eloquent...come on, your turn, and don't be hasty with those pants either, or I will drop you. I'm here to help you get the shirt off remember? The rest is up to you."

Castle nodded mutely, his mouth still hanging open. Before Beckett came closer, he said one thing. "You know thinking of you naked in my bedroom really..."

"Castle..."

Castle stopped talking and narrowed his eyes at Beckett. "Don't call me that."

"Don't give me a reason to."

Hesitantly Beckett moved toward him, her breathing shallow and uneven. A plume of thick air seemed to fill the room, circling them both, drawing them in. The air was tepid, hot and it pressed down on them like it intended to keep them there in that sticky moment, with one of them half-undressed and undressing the other; forever.

Castle swallowed as Beckett gently grabbed the lapel of his jacket and then slid her hand underneath the collar, pulling down as humanely as she could, so as not to cause further pain to Castle's arm. Little did she know that what the agonizingly slow speed of her actions were doing to Castle was anything but humane.

He took in her concentrated and fixed expression on his clothes. She would not look into his eyes. She'd promised herself that, and he could tell.

Once she'd removed his jacket, which he hadn't even noticed had been disposed of already, she began unbuttoning his shirt. This she did with as much haste as possible, without tugging too much. Castle might have thought she was just trying to get this embarrassing ordeal over with quickly, but the truth was she'd wanted to get the shirt off this particular chest for quite some years now, and now that the opportunity had presented itself, she was finding herself a little bit impatient.

Beginning with the second button, which was the top one done up, and working her way down, she kept her gaze on his middle chest area. By the time she'd reached the final button, she'd forgotten all about Castle's arm. It wasn't until she tried to tug his sleeve away from his torso, and was met with Castle's yelp, that she apologized and worked slower at getting his sleeves off.

Once she had discarded that as well, she took a moment to take in his glorious form. Alexis had obviously not seen him shirtless in a while because she was wrong when she'd insinuated her father did not have abs, well maybe she was just too embarrassed to admit so. They weren't perhaps quite as prominent as they once might have been but to her they were very apparent, and very touchable.

Focus Katherine.

"See something you like?" Castle asked her cocksurely.

Beckett inhaled a quick breath. "N-no", she turned away, flustered. "Just call me when you're in the shower, OK?"

She left the bathroom quickly.

...

"Kate, I'm ready...ah, jeez!"

Beckett rushed back into the bathroom. "What did you do?" She asked in a flurry. The two of them were separated by the shower curtain.

"W-water is c-cold."

Beckett rolled her eyes. "Are you facing away?"

"Yes- Ah OK, that's better. Water's great now Kate, come on in..."

"I am certain to regret this", Beckett said to herself, as she drew the curtain back a little way and climbed in behind Castle.

"OK, I'm here."

"Yeah, I can feel you breathing on me", Castle told her. Beckett wasn't altogether comfortable with the level of cheekiness in his voice, so she took a step back.

"What do you want me to do first?"

"Oh my hair...please, I've been dying for a descent hair wash for days!"

"Are you sure the doctor allowed that?"

"Yeah, he said a little wash would be good for the ole head wound, help clean it out."

"Alright, where's the shampoo?"

"How should I know?"

"Castle... Oh wait it's behind me", Beckett huffed.

She heard Castle make a little noise of amusement as she popped the lid open. Purposefully, she poured it on the back of his head so that half of the amount came running down his neck, causing him to jump at the cold sensation.

"Heh, hah! Sheesh Kate, you trying to give me hypothermia?"

The mention of hypothermia brought Beckett's memory back to around fifteen months prior when the two of them had been locked together in that industrial freezer. The damn hypothermia had prevented her from almost telling him what she still hadn't built up the courage to say.

"Kate, you still there?" Castle asked her, breaking her from her thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here." Beckett began rubbing the shampoo gently into Castle's thick hair, careful not to temper the wound. Even with the messiness of the suds, his locks felt soft and luscious in her hands.

Castle closed his eyes, moaning at the immense pleasure the head massage was giving him. What he didn't know was that Beckett was getting just as much out of it as he was.

"Feels like I haven't washed my hair in twenty years", Castle chuckled.

"Huh, well in a way I guess that kind of makes sense", Beckett reasoned.

"I'm so glad you're doing this and not a nurse or someone else", Castle smiled.

Beckett laughed. "Yeah, I bet you are."

"No, it's just, who else is going to be the perfect height to wash my hair, like you are?"

Beckett tilted her head back, lathering the soap in. "Oh, I see."

"Alright, step forward, and we'll wash it out", Beckett stepped forward but Castle somehow hadn't heard her and so she ended up running into him with a slap.

"Rick, I said step forward", Beckett said through clenched teeth.

"Oh, woops sorry, couldn't hear you over the water." He took a step forward and Beckett rinsed his hair out as the water cascaded over it.

"Alright that's done, now what?"

"Um, well I guess we better get the kind of embarrassing stuff over...legs", Castle said meekly.

Beckett took a minute bracing herself. "Right, where's the soap?"

"Uh, here..." Castle reached behind himself to give Beckett the soap.

Beckett's eyes looked downward, she tried to make them bypass his backside but they wouldn't do it. Instead they were determined to fixate on it for a little while. Beckett went cross-eyed, staring at his taught buttocks until hot water got into her eyes and forced her to blink.

"OK, I'm ah...I'm going down", Beckett shook her head at the connotation she'd just unintentionally made. She crouched down on her knees and deciding that closing her eyes was probably the option that would be least uncomfortable for herself, she felt around for his feet and began moving the soap up and down from that point. She scrubbed hard and let the soap lather his legs that felt like they had no end.

"OK, I think that's enough. If you could just stand up now and hold me steady while I lift my legs to let the shower head rinse them."

"Alright... coming up." Beckett stood again. "Ah, where do you want me to-?"

Castle had her hand in his before she could finish the question. "Just here", he said nonchalantly, bringing her right hand around with his to clasp onto his waist. "And the same on the other side if you will, please", the man had the gall to say it like it was so normal.

So NOT sexual. So NOT imposing or arousing or damned intrusive on Beckett's womanly needs and flaming desires.

"O-O-OK", she stammered, becoming more and more flustered by the second.

The sooner she got out of this shower, and out of the direct vicinity of this man; the better.

Castle lifted each of his legs in turn and finally he dismissed her of her duties.

"Alright, I'm going to let you get out and dry as much of yourself as possible. Call me when you want me to dry your back and stuff..." Beckett bolted from the shower without any further ado.

Once out of that room that had felt like it was suffocating her, Beckett collapsed back against the door, panting. Never had she been in a situation so incredibly awkward and so totally erotic all at once!

She stood there, catching her breath. It felt like only ten seconds to Beckett before she was called back in again.

He'd made a pretty decent job of covering himself with the towel at the front.

Damn it.

Beckett came in and stood behind him. "Where's the other towel?" She asked.

"Um, I think it's on the rack."

Beckett looked at the rack up and down. No towel.

"I don't see it", she told him.

"It should be there", he said assuredly.

"Well it's not", she spat back.

"Try looking harder because it's there", Castle said angrily.

"It's a towel rack, Rick, it's not the Albanian countryside, I've searched high and low and I'm telling you it is not there."

"Oh for Pete's sake!" Castle spun around before Beckett could properly interject, but he did have a towel covering himself after all.

"It's there on the floor, must've fallen d- Rick!"

Too late. Castle tripped on the towel and went flying into Beckett, knocking her off her feet and sending her straight into the basin, landing less than gracefully on top of her.

A very awkward position indeed.

"Rick? Rick, why have you got your eyes closed?"

"Privacy."

"Well that's sweet but, you do realize that... I'm not the one who's naked here."

Slowly Castle's eyes flickered open. The two of them stared at each other for an eternity, until Beckett's chest began rising and falling with laughter.

Soon Castle was following suit. Both of them were aware how insane and uncomfortable this whole idea really was now. And surprise, surprise; neither of them cared.

Soon the laughter died down. "Damn, I missed a spot in your hair."

"Where?"

Beckett reached up and with two fingers she stroked his hair until the foamy bit of shampoo was extracted from it. With no where more convenient to wipe her fingers, she rubbed the shampoo onto his chest with a giggle. "There."

He huffed with defiance, but his playful smile told a different truth. He wiped the foam off himself with his index finger and dabbed Beckett's nose with it, so that she had a foamy tip.

She squealed with protest, but her eyes belied her.

And soon there was no foam, there was only that thick air back again, that static contingence, forcing them together like a magnet and a dessert spoon.

Both had stopped laughing, each grappling with the urge to start again, so as to back out of this situation. But it was futile now. It was too late to salvage the ship Denial...

"Gram!" The scream of delight sounded from Castle's living room.

Beckett closed her eyes briefly. She couldn't believe it, it was like some miserable kind of de ja vu.

"Who's that?" Castle asked as he heard Martha's voice from the living room. But that dramatic flair and husky low tone could only be one person.

"Mother!" Excitedly, Castle tried to get up off of Beckett, but failed with the impairment of his arm.

"OK, take it easy Rick, let me slide out and then I'll help you."

Beckett breathed out a breath she'd been holding for a week and and slid out from underneath him. She helped Castle to his feet and with a short word of thanks, and the quickest of quick-changes, Castle was beyond ready to run out to the lounge.

"OK, let's go, I can see you're chomping at the bit", Beckett gave him a smile that she tried not to appear so sad.

"Oh Kate," Castle took her by the arm and looked at her apologetically. Before Beckett knew it, his lips had collided with hers and then were gone as quick as they'd arrived.

"I promise you we'll get there. If you promise me the same, then there'll be no stopping us."

"Wanna bet", Beckett thought in her head, recounting their numerous near-misses over the years. She just nodded and took him by the hand, helping him out of the stuffy bathroom at last.

They went through the house and found Martha and Alexis mid-way through an animated conversation.

Beckett's ears burned as she caught the tail end of it.

"Yeah Kate's helping dad in the shower", Alexis's voice sounded slightly devious.

"Is she now?" Martha's voice was downright incorrigible, as usual.

At the sight of them, Alexis nodded to her grandmother who had her back to the pair.

Martha turned around and instantly became misty. "Ooh well, not any more...Kate, I can't thank you enough for what you've done for my baby and my... other baby", she eyed Castle up as if she was looking at a stranger.

"Hello... son. It's me Richard, it's your mother."

Castle's eyes were narrowed as if he were confused but he was only trying to keep the tears from spilling out of them.

"I know it must be a shock seeing me like this, looking so... different. Everything has shifted or fallen or gone completely... couple of things are new", she winked. "I must appear so changed to you now."

Castle shook his head. "You're exactly the same."

"Oh, Richard", Martha welled up and pulled her son into a bear hug. (If bears were short and thin and wore too much mascara.)

"I love you Mother", Castle cried into the familiar embrace he'd been holding out for.

Martha held on to her son even tighter, as tears poured down her own cheeks. "Right back at ya kiddo. Right back at ya."