A/N: Hey, everyone! Thank you for your lovely comments. Just one more chapter after this!

I have another story mostly written, but I'm probably going to take a break from fanfic, because I'm participating in NaNoWriMo for the first time. I've never written 50,000 words of anything before (including my 110 page screenplay), so I want to make sure I can devote my time to that. Thanks again for your support!

I wrote this last night and edited it early this morning, so I apolgize for any mistakes. If you spot one, let me know! Hope you enjoy!

After their emotional conversation, they're both exhausted. He ushers her into his bedroom, and they go about their nightly routines, eventually meeting back in the bedroom. They slide under the cool sheets, meeting in the middle and falling asleep to each other's heartbeats.

The two wake to the sunshine coming in through the blinds, Castle groaning that it is too early to be conscious. She laughs and plants a kiss on him that soon turns passionate. His hand is making its way up her ribcage when they hear his mother's laughter from the kitchen.

He separates from her lips and groans. She laughs again at his drama and runs her hand through his hair.

"Come on. Let's get some breakfast."

Alexis spots them first as they exit the bedroom, barely listening as Martha continues a long winded story about a trip she took with the cast of Pygmalion. Her eyes meet Beckett's first, and then her father's.

"Gram."

Martha halts her story and looks to Alexis. When her eyes reach the couple emerging from the bedroom, she lets out a noise of excitement that has everyone in the room cringing.

"Oh, Kate! It's so good to see you!" She prances over and pulls the detective in for a bone crushing hug that has her eyeballs nearly bursting from their sockets. She pulls back finally and looks Kate in the eye. "You two work everything out?"

Beckett blushes and looks back at Castle before muttering a quiet, "Yeah."

Martha brings her back in for another hug, gentler this time, and Kate closes her eyes at the embrace. It's been so long since she's had a hug like this one, motherly and filled with love. Martha steps back and pinches her cheeks a bit as Kate beams at her.

"I'm so happy for you," Martha says.

"Thank you, Martha." Kate reaches back for Castle's hand and he takes it, giving a quick squeeze. Their eyes meet, and they are entranced with each other.

"All right, lovebirds. I'm going to go make us all a special breakfast in celebration." And with that, she flutters away and into the kitchen.

Her words cause them to blush and unclasp their hands. He rolls his eyes at his mother and giving Beckett a quick kiss on her hairline. In the midst of all of the hugs and congratulations, everyone had forgotten about Alexis, who made her presence known by the slam of her door at the top of the steps.

Beckett winces at the sound, knowing that it's mostly her fault. Castle must see, because he plants a sweet kiss on her lips before whispering, "You make sure my mother doesn't burn the food, I'll go talk to her."

He knocks on the door lightly and opens it a crack. "Hey, pumpkin."

She's sitting on her bed with a book in her lap, ignoring him. He comes in anyway and sits at the foot of her bed, staring at her until she caves. Eventually, she glances up at him and rolls her eyes. The book is placed upside down but open on the bed, as if this will be a quick conversation.

"What?"

"You've been doing a lot of door slamming lately."

"Must be the teenager in me finally peeking through. Sorry to disappoint."

"Alexis-"

"No, save it. I get it, you love her." She says it with such disdain that her feeling almost becomes physical. It's a dark, sludgy creature wreaking havoc on both of their hearts.

"I do, but that doesn't mean I love you any less."

She looks up at him with antipathy only a teenager can emote. "I didn't think you did."

"Then what is this about?"

She looks away, unwilling or unable to say what she's truly thinking.

"Alexis, loving someone isn't a bad thing."

"It is if you love her more than you love yourself," she blurts finally, the words shooting out of her and hitting him like a fireball to the chest. After the first sentence was released, the rest come tumbling out. "You put her up on this pedestal, like you don't deserve her. Like she's some goddess that has somehow stooped low enough to be with a mere human. She doesn't deserve you, Dad. She plays with your heart like it's nothing, and you are killing yourself just to keep her. Maybe she can't be kept."

A knock on the door shatters the silence that permeates the space after Alexis's outburst. Beckett peeks her head in and quietly mutters, "Breakfast is ready," before closing the door behind her.

Rick closes his eyes in pain. Pain at what his daughter said, pain at Beckett hearing it. Just pain. He stands and heads for the door. As he opens it, he murmurs, "You coming?"

"I'm not hungry," Alexis says, nose already back in her book. He doesn't argue. As much as he loves her, he doesn't particularly like his daughter very much right now. It's probably for the best that she doesn't come down.

When he reaches the top of the stairs, he sees Beckett waiting for him at the bottom. He steps carefully, his eyesight still too poor to clearly see his feet, and finally makes it to the first floor. As he gets closer, he notices she has her jacket and shoes on with her keys in hand.

"Are you going somewhere?"

She looks up at him with sadness in her eyes. "I'm going to go home. I think that it's not the best time for me to be here right now."

"Kate." He grabs her lightly by the shoulders, as if to keep her from going anywhere.

"I'm not running. I just don't want to make your daughter uncomfortable in her own home."

"She'll be fine, Beckett. She just needs some time to get used to this, and she never will if you aren't here."

She runs her hand over his jaw, which is starting to grow into a full blown beard after four days without shaving.

"This is just for now. I promise."

He stares at her a moment before coming to a decision. "Wait here."

"Castle."

He ignores her plea and walks over to the kitchen, pressing a quick kiss to his mother's cheek. "Mother, Beckett and I have to take breakfast to go."

"What? You aren't staying?"

"Something came up. We'll all have breakfast together another time." He grabs a plate of food, throwing, "Make sure Alexis eats," behind him as he ushers Kate out the door.

When they get to her apartment, she unlocks the door quietly. He immediately moves to her kitchen and begins plating the waffles and fruit his mother had given them.

They eat quietly on her couch, both a little roughed up from the events of the morning.

"About what your daughter said…"

"We've had this conversation. I don't agree with her, Kate. I don't even think she means what she said. She's just… being a teenager."

She huffs out a laugh. "Yeah. I know what that's like." She turns into him and curls up against his side. "I just want you to know that you can come to me if you ever start feeling like you're putting in more effort than I am. I'm not the most open person, and sometimes I forget that you don't always know what I'm thinking."

He rubs his hand down her back.

"I just want us to be equals in this," she finishes.

"We are. I don't doubt you, Kate. Okay?"

"Okay." She lays her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes. He leans over and places a light kiss on the top of her head. He shifts a bit to get more comfortable, and his foot knocks into a small box on the coffee table.

He nudges it again. "What's this?"

She opens her eyes to see what he's talking about. "Oh. It's a box of my mother's things... Would you like to see?"

His eyes light up like a kid at Christmas. "Of course!"

They dig through the box for a while, laughing at old photos and knickknacks that her mother saved. He flips through some pictures of her lacing up her ice skates.

"Aww, I don't get to see you in action?"

"Trust me, Castle, it wasn't pretty."

He nudges his shoulder against hers. "Oh, now I have to see it." He looks through the negatives. "Hmm."

"What?" He leans over to show her the negatives.

"There's twenty-four exposures on this roll, but there's only twenty pictures."

They move to her computer to digitally transfer the negatives. The first picture pops up. It's just an alley.

"What is it?" She asks as she walks over.

"An empty street?"

"Castle, this is where my mom was murdered." She looks over at him. "I don't understand. I mean, these pictures were developed a week before she was killed."

He looks back to the pictures of the alley. "Why would she be taking photos of that alley?"

She bites her thumbnail, her brows furrowed. "I don't know. I always thought it was just a convenient place for the killer to attack. I mean, it was dark, it was secluded…"

"What if there was more to it than that? What if she was looking into something that happened in that alley when they killed her?"

"Well, I'd have to go into the old archives and reports, and Captain Montgomery won't let me back in the precinct right now."

"I'll go," he says.

"Castle, I doubt that you would be allowed back if I'm not."

"It's fine. I'll bring everyone lunch, excuse myself to go to the restroom, and sneak down to check the files. Piece of cake."

She thinks for a moment, still uncertain about his plan.

"Come on, Beckett. What's the worst that could happen if I get caught?"

Castle's ruse doesn't go quite according to plan. Montgomery catches him in the archives and banishes him from the precinct. He doesn't have the heart to go back to Beckett and tell her he was caught, so he goes home and showers quickly. He had hoped to speak with his daughter a little bit more, but she must have gone to class.

Finally, with nothing else to distract him, he heads back to Beckett's. When she opens the door with her gun in her hand, he knows the jig is up.

"You talk to Montgomery?" He asks.

"Yeah."

He enters the apartment apology on his tongue when she speaks. "What did you find?"

He explains about Bob Armen's murder and Pulgatti's arrest, and the two go down to the prison to meet him. She can't say she's shocked to hear of Raglan's involvement in her mother's murder. She knows of too many cops who abuse the badge and go down a bad path.

While they're talking to McCallister, she has to give Castle a squeeze on the wrist to keep him in check. He practically spits at the retired cop when he implies that kidnapping people for ransom was right.

They go back to the precinct, Montgomery finally allowing them back into the investigation. When they get the hit on the two Jolenes, Beckett steps aside and lets Ryan, Esposito, and another team of officers check out their apartments, knowing that Castle's eyesight is not improved enough to do this kind of field work. He tries to convince her to go without him, but she refuses.

He's her partner, and they go together or not at all.

They're playing tic-tac-toe at her desk when she gets the call from Montgomery. Ryan and Esposito have been captured.

Montgomery, a couple officers, and the two partners sit in the front of a surveillance van. The van is a street over, and tech has tapped into the street cameras to give them a clear view of the large man guarding the door to Lockwood's lair.

"That guy is gonna spot a SWAT team from a mile away," Montgomery says. "Any ideas?"

"I have one," Castle pipes up from the back.

"Castle, no. We are not going out there."

"Do we have any other choice. The more we sit here coming up with a plan, the more likely Ryan and Esposito are dead."

They have a stare off, conversing with their eyes in a way that always confounded the other detectives.

"Fine," she finally says, and the two exit the van.

They stumble down the block like a drunk couple in love as Montgomery and his team watch from the van.

The lookout steps down and starts walking towards them. "He's not buying it, Castle." The lookout reaches for his gun, and Beckett is about to grab hers when Castle grabs her face and kisses her. It's one of the most passionate kisses she has ever received, and she forgets what their mission is for a moment, letting out a small moan in the process.

She hears the lookout laugh and opens her eyes quick enough to see him turn his back. She turns out of the kiss and knocks the man out with the butt of her gun.

They're both panting heavily, their breaths tumbling out into the cold night air.

"That was amazing." She turns to him with a smile before turning back and entering the warehouse.

She finds him in the ambulance later, after Ryan and Esposito have been rescued, fussing with the bandage on his hand. She unwraps it for him, fixing it so that it isn't as tight around his palm. "Thank you. For having my back in there."

"Always."

They stare at each other lovingly until the spell is broken by Montgomery. "What am I going to do with you two?"

"Let us back into the precinct, because we are essential to solving cases?" Castle asks.

Montgomery gives him a look. "You sure gave the boys in the truck a show back there."

"Well, you know. Anything to get the boys back, sir," Beckett says.

He looks between the two, hoping that they'll wither under his stare and tell him the truth. Unfortunately for him, the partners don't break.

He steps closer and brings his voice down to an almost whisper. "Whatever you two do outside of work is your own business, but don't bring it into my precinct. You hear me?"

He doesn't wait for a response, walking back to the ambulance housing a cold, humiliated Ryan and Esposito.

"Did he just… give us permission?" Castle asks.

"I think he just might have."

They enter the loft quietly in case the one or both of the redheads are sleeping, but they find Alexis sitting at the kitchen bar. She has her headphones in, so she lets out a squeal when Castle comes up behind her and gives her a crushing hug.

"Dad!" She whirls around, the smile dropping off of her face when she sees Beckett several feet behind him. It gives her a little bit of sick satisfaction that the detective looks uncomfortable.

"Hey. How was school today?"

"It was good."

"Great." He kisses her on the crown of her head. "I'm going to go put some comfier clothes on." And with that, he disappears into his bedroom.

The two girls stare at each other for a moment before Alexis turns back around and puts her headphones in.

Beckett sighs. It's now or never.

She sidles up to Alexis who catches her out of the corner of her eye. She removes her headphones and turns to the detective.

"Alexis, can we talk?"

Alexis shrugs and she takes that as a yes, grabbing a seat next to her at the bar.

"I know that you don't like that your dad and I are… together." Alexis goes to shake her head but Beckett stops her. "It's okay. You don't have to lie. I heard what you said upstairs."

"I'm sorry, Detective Beckett, I-"

"No, please. Don't apologize. You are entitled to feel the way you feel." She brushes her hair behind her ear to buy herself some time.

"I know I haven't given you any reason to trust me, not with your father and not with your family, but I want you to know how much I honestly love him. I'm in love with him." She stops for a moment, relishing in the feeling of finally telling another person. "We may not be the best for each other all the time, but I do know that we are worse apart."

Alexis doesn't say anything. She just nods for the detective to continue.

"My father has been my only parent for a long time now, and I know what it's like to want to protect him." Alexis blushes and turns away a bit. "So, I want you to know that I will do everything in my power to make sure that he is okay. I can't say that we won't be put in dangerous situations, but I can promise that I will do my best to keep him safe…" She takes a deep breath. "Losing him would wreck me too."

The girl finally meets her eyes for the first time since that morning. "Thank you, Detective."

She places a hand on the girl's arm. "Please. It's Kate." Alexis nods.

"If you ever want to talk about this… or anything. I'm here." With that, she leaves the girl to her music and homework and goes to find Castle in his bedroom.

As she reaches the threshold, she is pulled through the doorway and into his arms. "You're amazing, you know that?" He says into her skin, placing a kiss in the crease of her neck.

"You heard?"

He pulls back to look at her. "I may have been eavesdropping." He shrugs, and his bangs flop over his eyes like a little boy. She brushes them away.

"Of course you were." She runs her pointer finger down the slope of his nose, rubs her thumb across his cheekbone. "We're going to be okay, Castle. It's all going to be okay."

"Okay?" He kisses her, putting as much love as he can into it before pulling back. "We're going to be extraordinary."