Disclaimer: I do not own Castle (or Firefly)

A World Without Sin

Chapter 10: Vanilla and Cherries

A knock on his door – it sounded hesitant, soft. A pit formed in his stomach, the stress of the last three days washing over him. She had told him to go home, that she would be in meetings for the next few hours, debriefings that he wouldn't be allowed to attend. But still. He would have rather sat by her empty desk waiting for her under the yellow lights at the precinct with the noises of the other officers working around him than sit in his loft alone. At least then he knew she was close, that she was safe, just on the other side of the wall. Here, his mind replayed what happened, what could have happened.

He stood staring at the door taking a steadying breath, then another before opening it.

She didn't look up when the door opened, her gaze locked firmly on the ground, a loose lock of hair hanging in her face, shoulders slumped in exhaustion. Her clothes are the same as earlier today, shirt still showing patches of blood from the warehouse worker. In silence he waited, studying her. Physically, she was unharmed, thankfully. But when her eyes finally worked their way across the threshold and slowly, painfully slowly up his sock-clad feet, dark jeans and his clean button-up shirt, all the way up to meet his eyes, they were red-rimmed and a bit too moist for his liking.

"Oh, Kate," he breathed, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around her before he could think about it. She didn't resist him – he didn't know what he would have done if she had. But she didn't react at all, just stood there taking shallow shuddering breaths, so he stepped back, pulling her inside the entrance and shutting the door, locking it. One arm wrapped around her shoulders, the other gently cradled her head as he nuzzled his face against her cheek, his forehead against her temple.

After today, he needed to hold her, needed to feel her heart beating against his chest, his breath slipping into time with hers.

"Kate," he whispered against her skin as her breathing steadied out and she wrapped her arms around his chest.

"Hmm" She hummed into his skin, turning her face slightly so the corner of her lips touched the corner of his.

"It's over Kate. It's over," he breathed against the corner of her mouth, pressing his face into hers, a subtle pressure, nose against her cheek, his lips against hers. Not quite a kiss, nuzzling his lips against hers.

She exhaled, breath against his lips. It was over. They were here. Safe. He was safe. When he left the precinct, when he wasn't there, she couldn't concentrate on anything else, on anything but him. Enduring long hours of debriefing with what seemed like every government agency without him next to her left her exhausted. And here she was, leaning into him, drinking in his strength as he held her up. Her hands clenched in his shirt involuntarily, had been since he pulled her inside his loft.

"Castle." The first word she'd managed since she arrived. She felt him relax against her. She exhaled again, and then moistened her lips, her tongue touching against his, they were so close. He gasped, leaned back to meet her eyes before leaning in again.

And then they were kissing, his lips against hers. Her hands move up to his collar, pulling him closer, leaning into him. He stumbled backward, pulling her with him, one hand in her hair holding her to him, the other sliding under her shirt, hot on her back. She could feel the abrasions on his palms, rough against her smooth skin.

They broke apart, gasping. Castle used the moment to pull her shirt over her head, leaving it in a puddle by the dining table, before pulling her flush against him again, hands at her sides, back, hair, mesmerized by the feel of her skin under his hands, tugging her further into the apartment.

Her fingers found the buttons on his shirt and fumbled down them, sliding her hands back up his bare chest.

His calves hit the coffee table, and they stumbled, nearly tumbling into a heap on the floor, but he twisted, half caught his balance and sat heavily onto the couch, pulling her with him.

A sound at the door and they freeze, both pulling back, eyes wide, panting, desperately trying to catch their breath.

Kate is straddling him, her hair in his face, her hands against his stomach. He's laying flat, staring up into her eyes, at the flush of her cheeks. His hands on her back where they'd been fiddling with her bra, now still, firm, apply pressure to pull her lower, closer to him, possessively, protectively.

A thump and a scrape sound on the other side of the wall. Beckett's lips tighten, a crease forming on her brow. Castle swallows hard, his eyes trying to radiate confidence, but there's fear there, too. Her right hand comes to rest on the gun that is still for some reason holstered to her side as a scrape sounds in the lock of the door.

Everything happening on instinct, no time for thought as the door swings open.

Beckett draws her weapon, twisting half around aiming for the door, sliding her left hand up Castle's chest as he tries to sit up, holding him down against the cushions.

Her safety clicks off as the door opens fully. A gasp, and she freezes. Rick struggles against her hand, needs desperately to defend her, but between it and her thighs, he's pinned firmly.

"Oh!" she finally manages to croak out. Horror tinges her voice.

Horror and embarrassment.

"Oh, Alexis." She finally manages, safety clicking back on as she swings her gun down and away, resting her hand on the back of the couch as she stares in shock and relief at her partner's daughter.

Alexis stands there unmoving, shock written into every line of her body, face pale, mouth and eyes open wide. Her back is stiff and ram-rod straight and she's dropped the suitcase she was carrying onto the hardwood floor. That accounts for the noise, the thumping against the door, a small part of Beckett's brain that was still working noted. It also noticed the subtle marks on Alexis' face in that split second before it turned scarlet and she let out a gasp of her own.

"Detective Beckett! Oh!" She let out in a breath before spinning on her foot to face away from her.

And now the detective was blushing as well, highly conscious of her state of undress, and her position with her partner.

Straddling her partner.

Alexis' father. Oh. She feels the heat in her cheeks and down her chest as she turns back to face him. And yes, he notices too, but that is buried somewhere under relief that it's *only* his daughter, and an abashed look that it *is* his daughter who just came crashing through the door.

For a moment, she relaxes her hold on him, letting him rise up so she can rest her head on his chest. She stays there the space of three breaths, letting her heart slow and the adrenaline rush to calm enough for her to holster her gun. Then she's sliding off of him, patting blindly at the floor for his shirt and pulling it around her shoulders as she steps toward Alexis.

When she nears her, she realizes the teen's shoulders are shaking. A sinking feeling forms in her stomach. How could she have just pulled a gun on..?

"Alexis, sweetheart," she starts before she reaches her, to give her warning before placing her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Alexis, I'm so sorry." She whispers, rubbing her thumbs softly over the base of her neck.

Alexis takes a shuddering breath, and as she exhales, Kate realizes that she's not crying, but laughing. Laughing so hard that there are tears rolling down her cheeks.

Kate releases her own breath that she hadn't realized she was holding. Alexis was okay, possibly still scarred for life – not only had she walked in on her father at a rather inopportune time, but had also had a gun pulled on her – but okay. Alexis turns around and throws herself into Kate, wrapping her arms around her waist and holding her tight, gasping with giggles.

"Oh… Oh, you should have seen your face. Not at first. That was terrifying, but, oh! After you realized it was me. It was… oh!" and she couldn't continue.

Kate felt at a loss, and tentatively wrapped an arm around Alexis, thankful for such innocence in her life, thankful that this is what Rick came home to every day, instead of the empty rooms that just reinforced the horrors of the day, but a cheerfulness that could erase it.

Then Alexis pulled back, eyes bright, smiling. Kate watched as the humor drained out and she gave her a long assessing look. To Kate's dismay, Alexis then sucked in a deep breath and burst into tears, this time crying in earnest. "Thank you," she sobbed into Kate's chest.

Kate stared at her in bewilderment, opening and closing her mouth a few times, unable to find the words, rubbing the young woman's back hesitantly.

"For making me laugh. I needed that." Alexis clarified when she had gained control of her emotions. "And" A quirk in her eyebrow and a tick in her cheek told the detective that this part that was following was the important bit, " for protecting my dad."

She'd seen it, when she walked in, seen the gun first, the terror and determination etched in the detective's face, but also the hand on her father's chest that refused to let him be exposed to danger if at all possible.

Kate reached out, putting her hand on the teen's shoulder, mouth pursed together as she sought the right words to express exactly what the girl's father meant to her, and finally, with a quirk of her mouth, she slid her hand down Alexis' arm and squeezed her hand.

"Always."

"Now," Kate continued after a few moments of staring into the younger Castle's eyes, not quite the whole conversation she can have with this girl's father, but the intensity is there, and much of the understanding. She lowers her voice, unsure how Alexis will take her interference, "Can you tell me what else is going on?"

Alexis looked at her in confusion, but understanding lit in her eyes as Kate reached out and touched her cheek, gently running her fingers along the slight red marks on the side of her face. Kate guessed the girl had been slapped, and that was what had led to her appearing back at the loft a day earlier than expected.

"I…" Alexis began, then her eyes shifted over Kate's shoulder, "umm. No." She shook her head, red hair sliding back and forth over her shoulders. "Not right now."

Kate sensed Rick's approach and stepped back slightly, making room for him, realizing then that the shirt, *his* shirt was still unbuttoned, was falling open just slightly. Blushing again, she stumbled back another step, fingers working at the buttons as Rick wrapped his daughter in a giant bear hug, squeezing her tightly to his chest and pressing his lips to her hair.

Standing back, Kate observes their interaction, watching how Alexis wraps her arms around her father, burying her head in his chest and taking several deep breaths before pulling back, eyes teary. And it strikes her, as she hears him murmuring soft reassurances into his daughter's hair, that that was exactly what he had done for her – how many years ago? Surely that wasn't last night – standing in her apartment.

Tears pricked her own eyes, and suddenly she was having difficulty breathing as she looked up at the ceiling, desperately trying not to cry and ruin the father-daughter moment. But she's standing there in his shirt drinking in strength from the warm smell of his cologne and laundry detergent and that mix of everything else that makes up the smell of Castle, and watching his daughter lean into his chest, her ear pressed against his heart, listening to the steady rhythm, matching her breathing with his, being lulled by the safety of it just as Kate is. And it's just. The scene is perfect. And she will not be jealous of Alexis. *Will not* Because she'd give anything to have that relationship with her father again, or the one she lost with her mother. And it makes her heart ache seeing the sweetness of it.

Castle turns his head to glance at her over the top of his daughter's head, his cheek still pressed against her hair. His lips quirk up and he shuffles them over without breaking the hug until he is standing next to her. With lightning speed, he drops one arm from around Alexis' back and wraps it around her, pulling her in tight against both his and Alexis' side. He drops a kiss on the side of her head before burying his face in the space between their heads, breathing in the smells of their hair. Vanilla and Cherries.