So sorry this took so long, my dears.
School took over my life, and I used this brief moment of pause to breath.
This is my version of breathing fresh air.

Please forgive me.

Castle was sitting at the kitchen bar, both hands circling the coffee cup that sat on the counter in front of him. It was cold now, forgotten as he stared off into space, lost in thought. It was only the sound of the fridge opening that jarred him back to reality. He saw the red head poke her head out, and he opened his mouth, the words he had been contemplating for the past hour refusing to pour out.

"Alexis," he asked, slowly as if he were saying her name for the first time, acquiring a taste for the pronunciation.

"Yeah, Dad?" She asked, reaching into the cupboard above the stove for a cup, standing on her toes to reach it before sinking back down to her normal height.

Castle swallowed. "Are you okay?"

Her face changed from confusion to realization in a half a beat, and then rested at last on understanding. "Dad," her voice slipped into sympathy. She left the bottle of orange juice and cup on the counter to make her way around it, so she could hop onto a stool beside her father. She grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to face her.

"Are you?" She asked him, concern filling her eyes and a new level of maturity rising out of her he had yet to see. He let out a defeated sigh.

"Yes," he told her, and then after another moment, "No… I don't know. He pulled her hands in his. "How do you feel? About all of it?"

She seemed to consider this a moment. "I'm shaken up. We are all a bit shaken up. But you did the right thing" She said, refusing to avert her gaze, answering the question he didn't have to ask aloud. "And I think in the end this is going to bring us closer together." She added as an afterthought.

He stared at his daughter a moment longer, reading the honesty on her. He nodded, slowly. That, after all, was what he was getting at in the first place. "You're a hopeless romantic, you are," he stated, and the smile he was hoping for spread wide across her face. In response, she just wrapped him in a hug. "No, seriously, when did you get so wise?"

"Must be my something on my Dad's side." She responded, earning a kiss to the head. "I'm going to go upstairs and finish my anatomy homework," she told him, parting from his hold.

"All this and you're thinking about Anatomy homework?" He asked as she walked away. "Must be something on your Mother's side."

Martha sat on the couch, watching her son. He was on the chair juxtaposed to her, laptop resting on his knees. She lifted the wine glass to her lips, pretending to be completely lost in her book. She snuck glances over the same page she'd been 'reading' for the past twenty minutes, watching him.

He wasn't typing, he was just staring. Watching the cursor blink on a barren white page. Mocking him.

"You did the right thing, Richard," she spoke, when she could stand to stay silent no longer. He looked over the computer screen, pretending to just notice her presence.

"What?"

"You did the right thing, standing by her."

"I thought you said that she could take care of herself?" He asked her, knowing the dumb routine wouldn't play out well. Instead he let out a vulnerable little sigh.

"Doesn't mean she always has to," Martha told him. "It's time she knew that."

He seemed to consider her words, and she could practically sink into his brain as he processed. "Go see her," She commanded, bossily.

"What? No, Mother."

"Stop pretending you can write and go see her. You have a family to keep you from going mad. She shouldn't be alone right now."

He didn't even try to fight those words. "You and Alexis-" he began, which she cut off with a wave of the hand.

"We are going to be fine. You and I both know it's Kate that this guy wants, not us." The thought still made him outrageously nauseous, but the fact still stood that his mother was right.

It was then he set his computer down, grabbing his coat. "I will be home soon," he assured her, to which she lifted her now near-empty glass.

Castle drummed his fingers against the cardboard box he was holding in his hands. God, this elevator was slow as all hell. He watched impatiently as the lights above the door changed from one number to another, signaling his arrival at her floor. He had stopped by Bistro 60 and got her favorite Tortellini dish to go, the key to passage in her home. He smiled briefly as he remembered the first time he'd rushed to her apartment, food in hand.

She opened the door a small crack, eyeing him suspiciously. "Castle?" she asked, surprised by his late night visit. He held up the box of pizza, almost like a peace offering. In a way, it was.

"Brooklyn style, just the way you like it," he greeted back, and he didn't know if it was the look on his face or the aroma of the food, but she was unchaining her door and opening it to him. "You know, some women like chocolate or jewelry, but you- the key to your affections is food."

"I wouldn't say no to chocolate or jewelry," she told him, snatching up the box as soon as he was in the door. "But a slice of Dominick's will do the trick tonight." She nodded towards the kitchen as she plopped down on the couch with the box. "Beer's in the fridge."

Castle was hoping tonight would play out just as well. Kate Beckett wouldn't refuse the four cheese- stuffed pasta he held, no way. He made his way down her hall, to her door. He had been here many times before, but not like this. This wasn't about a case, it wasn't about work or the boys or his book. To a certain degree it was about Alexis, but mostly it was about them.

Her.
Him.
He needed to see her for him.

He didn't know what he'd say when she opened the door, or what he'd do. He didn't know how to explain, or what kind of answers she would demand. None, he was hoping. He went to knock but paused for a brief second. Voices. He heard voices on the other side of the door.

Angry ones.

Maybe it was the TV. He told himself. Nonsense. Does Beckett even watch TV? Own one?

He gulped, knocking on the door.
Immediately the angry voices stopped.

Silence.

Silence.
Hard Silence.

Crash.

Without a second of hesitation or thought, Castle's phone was to his ear and Esposito had answered. "Sup, bro?"

"I'm at Kate's- Angry shouting, and then I knocked, and then I heard something break inside."

Esposito didn't ask him to repeat the message- the left out words were unnecessary. "Castle, I'm on my way with Ryan- Stay where you are until we get there."

Castle's voice was still surprisingly calm when he spoke again. "Esposito you better be making your way up the stairs of her building if you think for a second I'm waiting to go in there," he told the detective.

"Castle, don't do anything stu-" But Castle cut off the call, leaving his phone and the pasta forgotten on the floor.

And with a deep breath and a millisecond of self-preparation for the intense pain to come, he charged at Kate Beckett's door.

Enough dancing around the climax, eh?
I don't think Em will make you wait as long as I did.
I hope not- I can't wait to find out what happens next, either.

softer OUT.