Ain't no mountain high enough

By

Natalie Elizabeth

Alexis ran to the door and quickly inserted her keys, she was late and her Dad was going to kill her. With his cooking! She was supposed to be home half an hour ago to help cook dinner. She couldn't remember the amount of times she had to tell her Dad that cream sauce didn't actually have ice cream in it. Nor did the cream sauce get its colour from white chocolate. Opening the door Alexis frowned, she heard laughter. Not the big throaty dramatic laughter of her Grams but it was defintly female. Alexis dropped her bag on the ground and took of her shoes before venturing into her home.

"Castle, keep your hands to yourself."

Castle! There was only one woman who called her father Castle. Alexis walked towards the kitchen where the sounds of cooking were coming from. Stopping at the sight before her Alexis pulled out her cell and quickly snapped a picture. Her father and Kate were standing at the kitchen counter both wearing the matching Commander and Chef aprons she had bought with her father on their DC trip. Kate was currently chopping celery with a very sharp knife while her father stood next to her watching. Alexis curiously watched as her father got closer and closer to Kate.

"Castle, I warned you"

Alexis noticed Kates sing song, almost flirty voice. Yes she was warning him but it was almost as if she were tempting him too. This was a side of Kate she had never seen before and she was sure her father would have mentioned if Kate had been flirting with him. He told her everything else Kate did.

"I am just watching you," he told her still inching forward.

Alexis watched as her father got closer and closer to Kate until he was standing right behind her. Her eyes widened as she saw her father's hand come up and move towards Kates hip. Alexis reached for her cell again whatever was about to happen she wanted to catch it. Whether it be her fathers murder or fathers first kiss, or had they already kissed .Her father's hand moved closer and closer to Kates hip and then by passed it to reach for a piece of celery on the chopping board. Just as his hand snagged a piece Kates left arm pulled back and elbowed her father in the stomach.

"Ouch, that was harsh."

Kate put the knife down but picked up the celery stalk up and turned to wave it. She stalked towards him causing him to walk backwards until he hit the counter on the other side.

"If you keep eating the salad there isn't going to be anything left for dinner."

"Good, you girls eat too much salad as it is."

Beckett leaned into him.

"I don't care" Kate told him waving the vegetable in his face.

Alexis smiled as she saw her father lean in and bite the end off the stalk. Kate gasped and then preceded to wack her father with what was left of the celery.

"Hey, you wave something in my face I'm going to bite it."

Kate turned around and bit into the celery, it crunching loudly. She nodded her head as if thinking.

"Same here Castle."

Alexis eyes widened had Kate implied what she thought she just did. Judging by the look on her fathers face he was obviously thought the same thing she did. Deciding it was time to make herself known Alexis cleared her throat and fully entered the room.

"Hi Dad, hi Kate, what are you doing here."

She watched as Kate looked up surprised, if not a little nervous.

"Ahh you Dad invited me to come for dinner. I hope that's ok."

"Sure. We still on for shopping tomorrow."

"Yep. If you want?"

"Good, which means I need to hug Dad first. I need his credit card."

Alexis went and hugged her father as she pulled back she noticed a slight bruise on his jaw.

"Hey Dad, what happened to your face."

"I have always wondered that." Beckett said leaning against the counter and smiling at father and daughter. She gave him a little wink, she wanted him to know she was only teasing.

Castle smiled smugly at her.

"Beckett hit me" he said almost proudly.

Becketts mouth dropped open, she couldn't believe he had just told his daughter that. She knew she had a lot to make up for but he wasn't making it easy for her, or doing her any favours by telling his daughter. Although considering what she had done he was being awfully nice to her and she should take her punishment as he saw fit. Alexis pushed herself out of her father's arms shaking her head.

"Yeah right Dad, in her dreams."

Alexis turned and held her arms out to Kate who quickly entered them. She loved the fact that she had a special hug with Kate, her mother only wanted a hug as long as she didn't mess her hair or makeup. Pulling back she looked at Kate.

"So what really happened."

"There was a woman."

"Enough said," Alexis held up her hand. "Please tell me you got a picture, I need a new background pic for my cell. Dads victory dance has gotten a bit old."

Castle had been stirring the sauce but stopped when he heard his daughter admission.

"What the."

He pulled the spoon out of sauce and pointed it at Beckett.

"I thought you deleted it."

"Hey Dad you made red sauce this time" Alexis watched as tomato sauce dripped to the floor.

"Don't interrupt" he said pointing the spoon at her sending bits of sauce in her direction.

Alexis laughed as her father turned on Beckett again waving the spoon in her face. Beckett leaned forward and snatched the spoon out of his hand before licking some of the remanet sauce off of it.

"This is pretty good Castle."

"Don't change the subject." Castle snatched the spoon back from her."I thought you deleted that photo."

Beckett leaned against the counter and smiled.

"I did, but not before sending it to your daughter."

Castle placed his hand over his forehead dramatically. "Why is it that as soon as a woman gets under my roof she turns against me."

Beckett shared a smile with Alexis.

"So Kate, can I ask what your wearing tomorrow. I have got a few outfits laid out on my bed, I wasn't sure if you were going casual or dressy or going dressed so you can go straight to work."

"Isn't that why your shopping" Castle continue to stir the sauce and wasn't happy with the twin eye rolls he was getting.

"Castle why don't you put the pasta on while I go up with Alexis ok."

Castle looked between the two woman before nodding. He hoped that wasn't that a bad idea, letting two woman who knew too much about him having private time together. Watching the pair leave Castle couldn't help listen to Beckett talking to his daughter.

"Now when I go shopping on my own I go pretty casual but when I go with friends, I dress up, to me hanging out with friends is a special occasion."

Castle smiled. Kate thought spending time with his daughter was a special occasion. He caught sight of his reflection and shook his head at the love sick puppy look he had on his face. Pathetic. He shouldn't be all googly eyed over the woman up stairs, he should be angry with her. She had assaulted him today, she had gotten angry and had taken it out on him. The last thing he should be doing was having a cutesy family dinner with her. If the situation were reversed he certainly wouldn't be having dinner at Becketts house, in a jail cell maybe but not with Beckett. He had taken the high ground earlier that day and decided that making sure Beckett didn't hurt herself, by hurling herself down the stairs or running blindly into traffic, was more important than what she had down to him. Dealing with her obvious remorse over what she had done had been his top priority, now that she was feeling better and in a better frame of mind he would need to discuss what actually happened. That was later though, right now he had to get the pasta on.

Opening the packet he threw the whole lot in, he would try and convince Beckett to take the left overs home. He gave the pasta a quick stir before going to set the table, they rarely used it so it was covered with paper work. Scooping it all into one heap he carried it off to his study, he would deal with it later. Right now he wanted to forget the day's events, even if it was only for a few hours, and have a nice dinner with two very special woman. He set the table with placemats cutlery and the salad that Beckett had been preparing. Running back to the boiling water he quickly stirred it and the sauce. He wanted tonight to be perfect, to be normal, to be something that Beckett would want. After tiding up the kitchen Castle gave the pasta one last stir before pulling out a strand to see if the pasta was ready. He held the strand up and with a flick of his wrist he sent the strand flying towards the kitchen cupboard.

"Castle, what the hell do you think your doing."

Castle turned around to see his daughter and Beckett had entered the kitchen.

"I'm checking to see if the spaghetti is ready"

"By throwing it against the cupboards?"

"Yeah. Well you're meant to throw it up to the ceiling and if it sticks it isn't ready, but the ceiling is a bit high here."

Castle watched as the two woman before him shared another eye roll before Beckett walked over to him. She took the spoon and stirred the spaghetti before lifting out a few strands. Pursing her lips she blew on the spoon causing Castle to swallow deeply. Who would have thought cooking would be so sexy. Beckett plucked up one of the strands and then used her thumbnail to pierce the piece in two. She held the end up for him to see.

"See how the outer bit of the spaghetti is almost a yellow colour but there is like a tiny speck of white in the middle."

Castle leaned forward and realised she was right, there was a tiny bit of white, he never really paid that much attention to pasta before.

"That means it's still not cooked yet, give it another minute or two."

"That's a cool trick."

Beckett raised her eyes brows at him.

"Or you could do it the old fashion way" she said holding up the now cold strand and dropping it into her mouth.

Castle looked at her lips, oh god he shouldn't have chosen spaghetti. Sure she had just dropped the spaghetti into her mouth this time, but what was going to happen later. Was she one of these woman who ate seductively and slowly, sucking in each individual strand. If so he was an absolute goner.

"Dad."

Startled, Castle looked at his daughter.

"What"

"Why don't you get a bottle of wine for you and Kate to share?"

Castle clicked his fingers and pointed at his daughter, that was a good idea. Wine would help Beckett loosen up and relax a bit. He walked over to his collection and scanned it, what hadn't his mother drunk, that was good with pasta.

"Don't bother Castle I'll just have soda."

"Don't be ridiculous."

He held up a bottle, somehow his mother missed this one.

"Castle, I am driving."

"So, the pasta and bread will soak it up. Just have one glass."

"And one glass will lead to two because there is just a little bit left in the bottle and you don't want to waste it."

Castle laughed. "An open bottle of wine doesn't stay full for long in this house. I'll leave what's left open on the counter and in the morning the wine fairies will make it disappear, in other words, Mother. There are times when I didn't even know mother came home, except for the fact that there is wine missing."

Beckett sighed. "Alright, but I am warning you, just one glass."

"Dad, pasta"

Castle put the wine down and ran over to the pot. He really needed to focus on one thing at a time and right now that was feeding Beckett.

Authors Note: Hi all, just a short little cutesy chapter. It was meant to be a longer chapter but my neck has been giving me grief and I shouldn't really be in front of a computer. So I thought I'd split the chapter in two and give you this now and see if I can pump out the other half after some food, pain killers and a wheat bag.

My next chapter will address the Beckett hitting Castle and why he accepted it so easily. Its something that a few reviewers brought up and I now realise it needs to be addressed.

Thanks for all your reviews , I can believe, I hit the 100 mark. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. You're the greatest.