Kate had ended up falling asleep sometime during the flight back to New York and woke up to Castle shaking her gently after they had landed. There had been a car waiting on the runway and they were now on their way back to her apartment.

"Are you going to grab clothes for work tomorrow and come stay at my place? Or are you staying at your house tonight?"

Over the course of time they had been together it had become an almost nightly occurrence that one of them stayed at the others house. Kate was pretty sure she had half of her wardrobe at his place.

"I should probably just stay at my place. You've been gone all weekend, I'm sure your family wants to see you."

"Mother isn't home, and Alexis loves when you come over."

"And I want to keep it that way Castle. She is a teenage girl. I don't want her to feel like I'm trying to take you away from her."

"She wouldn't-"

"Rick. Just…trust me."

He huffed at her and pulled out his cell phone.

"What are you doing?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Proving you wrong Detective."

He put the phone on speaker phone as it started to ring. Alexis picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey pumpkin, we're home."

"Oh good! Did you guys have fun?"

"Yes, we did."

"Are you coming home?"

"Yea, I'm going to drop Beckett off at her house first, then I'll be home."

"Oh…she's not coming over?"

The trace of disappointment in the girls voice tugged at Kate's heart and made the soft spot she had for Alexis get a little big bigger. Castle smiled at her as if to say I told you so.

"No, she's probably going to stay at her place tonight."

"Alright…well tell her I said hello and that I miss her. And she needs to come over soon, we need to do movie night again."

"I will sweetheart, I'll see you soon."

"Bye dad."

Castle ended the call with an 'I told you so' look at Kate. She rolled her eyes.

"See? I told you, she likes it when you come over."

Kate leaned her head back against the seat and sighed. If she was honest with herself she wanted to go to Castle's, she just didn't want them spending too much time together and getting burnt out. Unlike most couples, they spent their entire work day together most days. She smiled when she realized how easy she had thought of them as a couple and reached over to weave her fingers between his on the seat.

He squeezed her hand and they rode the rest of the way to her apartment in silence. When they got there, he carried her bags and she carried Presto on her back. She unlocked the door and drug him to her room to flop him on her bed. She flopped next to him and sighed. Castle laughed when he came in the room and found her half draped across the pony.

"Good to be home?" He asked as he left her bags by the closet and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Yes. I had a lot of fun, I really did, but its good to be home."

Castle sighed softly; a noise he didn't mean to make out loud. As much as he wanted her to come back home with him, he didn't want to push her either. The weekend in Vegas with her had gone so much better than he had ever hoped and if she wanted space, then he would give it to her.

"Alright well, I'll leave you to relax then. I'll see you at the precinct tomorrow?"

She pushed her self up so she was sitting next to him on the edge of the bed and looked at him, surprised.

"You're leaving?"

"Yes…I don't want to make you feel like you have to spend time with me. I'm not going to lie and say that I don't want you to come home with me but, I had you to myself all weekend, if you need time alone, I'm going to give it to you."

Kate leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed.

"Rick…its not that I don't want to be with you, I do, its just that…I don't want us to ruin this by spending too much time together."

Rick felt his chest tighten when she said she wanted to spend time with him. She wasn't open about her feelings often and he appreciated it when she was.

"I think it would take more than spending too much time together to ruin this. If you want to come, you are always welcome. If you want to stay here, that is okay too."

He said softly as he kissed the top of her head. Kate didn't say anything, just sat there leaning against him as she wrestled with her emotions. She wanted to just go to his house with him and didn't understand the nagging feeling that was telling her to stay home. She found it odd that she was trying to talk herself into staying home. Finally she weaved her arm though his, linking them at the elbow.

"Come on Castle, lets go."

"You're coming home with me?"

"Yea…after all…I wouldn't want to disappoint Alexis."

"Dad! I missed you!"

Kate smiled from behind Castle as Alexis flung herself into his arms. She squeezed into the loft behind him and softly closed the door and he hugged his daughter back. Alexis heard the click of the door shutting and opened her eyes, seeing Kate over her dad's shoulder.

"Kate, you decided to come!"

She let go of Castle and hugged Kate with only slightly less enthusiasm. Kate laughed as she wrapped her arms around Alexis, returning the embrace.

"Yes, a little birdie told me you were sad that I wasn't coming over."

"Well yea. I mean, I think you should just move in here, but whatever. Now we can have movie night. Unless you guys are tired?"

Kate and Rick exchanged a brief look over Alexis's head at the mention of Kate moving in. Rick beamed at her and mouthed "I told you so." Kate rolled her eyes and smiled at Alexis as she let go of her.

"Movie night sounds great, you pick the movie."

"Okay, I'll be right back."

Alexis headed up stairs to grab a movie from her room and probably very blanket in the house. Kate headed to Rick's bedroom to change as he went to the kitchen to make popcorn. It was a routine they had fallen into well; movie nights were always the same. A light hearted movie, usually Disney, popcorn, Pjs and lots of blankets. Sometimes Rick would make other comfort foods like milkshakes or macaroni and cheese.

By the time Kate came out of the bedroom dressed in what had become her customary pajamas, shorts and one of Castle's t-shirts, Alexis was curled up on the couch in the pile of blankets with a bowl of popcorn on the table in front of her.

"What are we watching?" Kate asked as she took her seat at the other end of the couch. Castle always sat in the middle.

"The Lion King."

"Great, I haven't seen this one in forever."

She settled down into the couch and pulled a blanket over her lap. Castle came out of his bedroom a few minutes later and sat down between them. Alexis leaned against him as the movie started and Kate curled up and leaned against the arm of the couch, her feet tucked against Castle's leg. Halfway though the movie she looked over to find that both Castle and Alexis had fallen asleep leaning on each other. She smiled at how peaceful they looked and thought about how much she lo- cared about them both. She always felt like part of the family when she was at the loft and now was no different, even just watching them sleep she had the most peaceful feeling of just belonging there. She thought about waking them up so they could all go to bed but decided against it. She dropped her head back down on her arm and finished watching the movie. As the credits started to roll Castle woke up. He yawned and looked over at her.

"I fell asleep?" His voice was rough and groggy from sleep.

"Yes, both of you did. I was going to wake you up but you looked so peaceful, I figured I would wait till the movie was over."

"Sorry I fell asleep on you."

"Please, how many times have I fallen asleep on you? I think we're even."

He smiled at her then gently shook Alexis until she woke up. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"'s over already?"

"Yup, we both fell asleep on Kate."

"Sorry." Alexis said softly.

"Oh geez, its fine. I'm usually the one to fall asleep." She said, stifling a yawn.

Alexis stood up and leaned down to hug her dad, giving him a kiss on the cheek. She came over to Kate and hugged her and kissed her cheek too, much to Kate's surprise.

"Good night. Love you." She said generically to both of them as she headed up the stairs.

"Good night pumpkin, love you too."

"Night Lex." Kate called after her, not wanting to assume and not entirely comfortable saying I love you back. She stretched as she stood up, dragging her blanket with her to the bedroom.

"Where are you going?" Castle called after her.

"To bed."

"You're not even waiting for me?"

"I think you know your way to your own bedroom Castle."

She called out, laughing as she crawled into what had become her side of his bed, pulling the blanket up over her as he appeared in the doorway. He smiled at the sight of her in his bed; it was something he wasn't sure he would ever get used to. He got into bed and lay down facing her.

"Thank you again for this weekend, I had an amazing time." She whispered as she leaned forward and kissed him softly. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

"You're welcome, I'm glad you had fun."

"Mhmm" She hummed against his chest as she cuddled closer to him. Her breathing shifted to match his, as it often did when they were laying so close, and she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Authors Note:

GAH! I've been trying to update this since last night but the website wouldn't let me upload it. To those of you who have seen the promo for the finale...O.M.G! Please don't mention it in reviews for people who want to stay spoiler free, but feel free to message me and rant. I AM GOING TO DIE! *ahem*

Review that made my day: manuxinhace - though you didn't leave a review, your messages were both very nice and very inspiring. Just when I think people aren't very into this, I get reviews/messages like yours and it totally makes my day.

To my frequent reviewers (you know who you are, I talk to you thru reviews often) I really look forward to your reviews...much in the same way you want me to update, so please, keep em coming, even if I don't mention you by name every time ;)

To everyone reading, thank you, very much. :D