This chapter is dedicated to: hallow777 and Lulu226. By the way Lulu, what does the picture on your profile say? I can't quite make out the words. It's been bugging me, and it's actually the only reason I'm writing this chapter already. I was just going to write a chapter for my story Enigma today and work on this Castle one-shot that is in progress. Keep your eyes peeled for that. :) Anyway…


Chapter Ten:

Arthur stared at the slip of paper for a moment, frowning. Well, if he told his boss about it he was going to be unsatisfied. If he didn't, his boss would ask. He could lie, but he was never a good liar. But without a name being on there, no one could be sure of the true paternity except for the mother (and maybe father). Which meant that he could say that anyone is the father and another magazine couldn't prove him to be wrong, unless the mother talked to the other magazine of course.

He dialed the familiar number that belonged to his boss. "Go ahead with the article."

"You have proof?"

Arthur sighed internally. Maybe he couldn't detect one little lie, "Yes."

"Okay, nice job, Arthur, but you better get your ass here and start typing it up. It's eight o'clock. You have about two hours, if that."

Arthur nodded. Another night of overtime. Maybe his wife was right; he should have gotten into a different profession.

Kate tried to concentrate on her daughter and tried to think of something she could say to distract her from the pain. But all she could think about was Castle. Outside. Talking to his fiancée. She could hear quiet mumblings on the phone, but she couldn't quite make out any words. Thankfully for Kate, Alexis kept talking quietly to her sister. She had to be thankful for Alexis in a time and situation like this. She had just found out only hours ago that she had had a sister and yet here she was cool and calm. Kate wished that she could be more like her.

Finally, seconds later Castle walked back in. He was frowning slightly, but as he looked around the room the frown disappeared, but it didn't go unnoticed by Kate. He settled in a chair beside her. "What's wrong?" Kate murmured to him so that the others in the room couldn't hear.

"Nothing…" he said at first, but soon he continued."Well, actually, there's this bakery where Kyra wants out wedding cake to be from. They held it open late today for us, and well I forgot about it, and she's upset." He didn't know what there was about Kate that made him want to tell her his deepest and darkest secrets.

Kate felt a small feeling of guilt in her stomach for keeping him. "I'm so sorry," she murmured truthfully. Even if she didn't like the fact that he was getting married didn't mean that she didn't feel bad for interrupting some events that led up to the big day. "If you need to go we can catch a cab and everything…" she offered.

"No, its fine, Alexis wants to be here for Arianna anyway." He realized something after he said that. "How long has she known about her?"

Kate blinked. "Since this afternoon."

"Oh," Castle nodded thoughtfully.

"Why?"

"It just seems like they've known each other for longer. That's it."

Hmm, Kate hadn't thought about that before, and it did kind of seem like they had known each other longer than for a couple of hours. It's because they're sisters, a voice in the back of her head murmured. Yes, that's probably it. If only she could tell Castle that, but no, she couldn't. She didn't want to get in the way of everything in his life. Well, mostly his upcoming marriage. Kyra wasn't going to get in the way of her and Castle back then either, and she wasn't even in the picture when they got back together so she should offer Kyra the same chance. But her daughter needed her father. Kate tensed. She really should have just told Castle way back then. But she already knew that and there was no going back now. The old saying, "The past is the past," repeats in her head.

A doctor soon comes in. Taking one glance at Arianna's arm, he nods once, "Has anyone scheduled her for an X-ray, yet?"

"No," Castle shakes his head. "Not that we know of."

"I'll be back in a second," He leaves the room. Kate sighs and holds Arianna close, being careful of her swollen arm. True to his word, the doctor returns quickly. "She had, but it will still be a few minutes though. So, what happened, sweetie?" He asks Arianna.

Arianna gets closer to Kate, shyly. After a nod from Kate, Arianna finally speaks, "I was trying to fix my curtains on my bed. I slipped. It hurts so much."

He nods thoughtfully. "Any allergies?"

"No," Kate murmurs to him.

"Okay, can I see your arm?" He asks Arianna, who nods reluctantly.

She scoots closer to him and holds out her arm. Arianna grimaces, but neither Kate nor Castle notice. Kate puts her face into Castle's arm to avoid looking at her daughter's and he stares at her for a few seconds before looking back to the girl, who he's rapidly developing fatherly feelings for. The doctor pokes her arm gently in several areas. With each poke, Arianna whimpers and Castle feels Kate flinch beside him.

The doctor scribbles something down on a file and hands it to Castle. "Here you go. I'll go get a nurse to get you some ibuprofen to give to her for the pain."

Castle nodded in thanks and reached around to pat Kate's leg to tell her that it was over. She looked up at him and her eyes caught his. They stared at each other for a moment before Arianna called, "Mommy," beside them. Castle, who had forgotten to remove his hand from her thigh, pulled it back quickly and looked away. As he was turning away, he swore the saw a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Yes, sweetie?" the detective murmured to her daughter.

"Can you and Lex's dad tell more stories?"

Castle laughed beside them. "Only if I get to tell them, you're mom's a story teller."

"But I want to hear stories!" Arianna exclaimed with wide eyes, not understanding, and Kate tried and failed to suppress a laugh.

"Okay," Kate murmured. "What story should I tell?" She moved from her chair to sit on the table and she gathered Arianna into her arms. "Hmm," she thought.

"How about the one where I saved you?" Castle asked.

Which time? She thought to herself, but didn't voice the question aloud.

"You know, with the one with the passports."

She remembered now. The one where Meredith came back to town. She shuddered at the thought of Alexis' mother, but… "Which one is that?" she played innocent at first before adding, "Kitten."

Castle frowned. "Maybe not that one."

"Who's Kitten?" Ari asked.

Kate smirked.

"No one," Castle looked away, embarrassed. "Naked," he murmured so only Beckett could hear, "and far less embarrassed." Remembering something he asked, "I thought we had a deal?"

"Did I ever actually reply?"

Castle frowned; she was right.

"I've got it!" She turned away from Castle to face her daughter.

"Oh, God," Castle muttered. "Why do I have an extremely bad feeling about this?"

Kate turned around smirking evilly, "Because in addition to being extremely annoying, you're also kind of smart."

"Do I detect a compliment somewhere in there?" He leaned in to her. A little too close.

She knitted her eyebrows together as she tilted her head slightly, "Maybe not so smart."

"What do you mean by-"

Beckett grabbed his ear.

"Ow! Apples, apples, apples, apples," He repeated.

"Apples?" Arianna looked up to Alexis. "Why does he keep saying that?"

Alexis shrugged. "It's his safe word."

"Safe word?"

"It doesn't matter."

Once Castle finally leaned back, Kate released his ear. "Apples, still?"

"What? It's a delicious, juicy fruit. It's timeless. Plus, one amazing safe word, but," he rubbed his ear, "you've ruined it."

Kate ignored him and turned back to Arianna, opening her mouth.

"There was this one time when," Kate began.

She ignored Castle's chant of "Bad feeling, really, really bad feeling."

-oOo-

A few hours later, as Arianna was leaving the hospital sporting a brand new blue cast with her mother, her father, and sister, an early copy of Starr Magazine showed up on Archie Hastings' desk. Archie was Arthur Reagan's boss. Staring down at the magazine cover, which held a picture of Kate Beckett and Richard Castle, he smiled in victory. Sorry Sparkle.

He made a mental note to give Arthur a raise as he began to flip through the magazine's pages.


Hope you liked it! Thanks to AllyCameron for advice in this chapter, even though you probably won't be reading this. :) By the way, I just had to have someone named Archie in this story. I have no clue why. I don't even know anyone with the name Archie. Seriously. Thanks for all of the reviews. I had something else that I was going to tell ya'll, but I can't remember that now. I hate when that happens!

By the way, since the new BlackBerry Torch has like just been released does anyone else want it. I do. I have the newest BlackBerry Bold right now, and I love it, but I really, really, really want to try the Torch out.

Well, anyway, have a good weekend everyone! A new chapter will probably be up on Monday.

Oh, I remember now! I have the very last chapter written. :) I mean, I have the first few chapters written (and posted) and the last chapter written, but now I just need to work on the chapters in between. Strange, I know, but in the middle of this chapter the idea came to me and I just had to write it down before I forgot.