Well, it seems I found time to write again today, I have more free time than I thought.

They had been playing for a while and this was their last round. They hadn't made any rule changes this time, and were playing with poker chips rather than chocolate, but there was no money at stake. Kate was willing to put money on the table, but Castle refused to allow it, so instead, it seemed they were playing for pride, and right now Kate felt like she was just about to take Castle down.

She took one last glance down at her cards and then back to Castle. She knew he must have a good hand, but she had four of a kind, and there wasn't much that was going to top that, she was pretty certain she was going to win, if she allowed it. But she couldn't do that to him. So she threw her hand and let him win the final hand which resulted in him doing what he called his 'victory dance'.

"Oh c'mon Kate, don't tell me you don't usually have a bit of a victory dance?" he said.

"Actually, no I don't."

"Well you should get one, I'd let you have mine, but" he paused for a second, then started doing his little dance again, "this is my victory dance and you can't have it."

Kate stood up from the seat where she was sitting and walked over to where Castle had been doing his crazy moves. As she got closer, he slowed his movements and his victory dance no longer seemed all that victorious.

"I thought you liked to share with me?" she whispered in his ear.

"I do, my dear detective," he said in a low whispered voice close to her ear. Then he stood back from her. "But these are my moves."

Beckett lifted her hand and gently pushed him causing him to lose his balance and fall back so he was sitting on the chair.

"Well, I shall get my own moves then, Mr Castle. You better be ready for them next time, when I beat the pants off of you." She turned to return to her side of the table and picked up her glass of wine taking a sip.

"Why Kate," Castle said with a fake stunned expression. "You don't have to beat me to get my pants off"

Kate almost spat out the wine that she had in her mouth and turned around to see Castle still sitting in his seat smirking.

"Castle!"

"You said it," he said defensively, and Kate couldn't argue. She should think more before she speaks sometimes, especially around Castle who never missed an opportunity to make a joke which, to some people, would be mildly inappropriate, but to Kate, made him endearing somehow.

They both picked up their wine glass and finished off their last sip.

"Another wine?" Castle asked taking Beckett's glass.

"Actually, I should probably have a water, I have to get going soon. I'm back to work tomorrow, and if a body drops overnight, tomorrow could come sooner than I would like."

"Coming right up," Castle said as he made his way through to his kitchen.

Kate now feeling more comfortable in the loft walked over to where she had seen the framed photographs when she first came in.

The first she saw was a photo of Castle standing with two red-headed women, one older than him and one younger. She guessed they must have been his daughter and his mother. There was a number of other photos of the younger Castle at various ages but, the one photo that caught her eye and made her laugh was a photo of Castle and Alexis when she appeared to be maybe six or seven years old. She couldn't be sure, but she was pretty sure it was him and his daughter. The photo was hilarious, it actually looked like someone had attacked him with a make up bag and little Alexis was sitting on his shoulders not looking much better.

When Kate heard Castle returning from the kitchen she turned and walked a few steps towards him to take the glass of water from his hands.

"Thanks," she said accepting the glass from his hands, allowing her fingers to brush past his and staying there a little longer than needed. There was something about the skin to skin contact, no matter how little it was, it made her heart quicken and she couldn't help but smile whenever it happened.

"So, you're admiring the photos of my little girl growing up?" he said.

"Yeah, she's gorgeous. I was quite intrigued by this one though," she said turning and walking the few steps back to where she had found the photo with the terrible make up. She placed her glass down on the shelf beside her. "There must be a story that goes with that one."

Castle walked up behind Kate and wrapped his arms around her resting his hands on her stomach and he looked over her shoulder at the photo.

As soon as Castle was behind her, Kate felt herself leaning back into him, wanting to be closer. She felt so comfortable in his arms. It felt right and she placed her hands on top of his.

"Alexis was seven year old," he started. "There was a carnival and she had remembered seeing some flyers that had pictures of the clown heads. You know the ones that go side to side and you put balls in their mouth to get points or something."

Kate nodded just enough for Castle to know she knew what he was talking about.

"Well, Alexis thought it would be fun if we could be just like those clowns. So we got some make up. And I let Alexis put it on both me and her."

"And you went out like that?" Kate asked.

"Yeah. You know we got a lot of funny looks but I would do it all again. Alexis had such a great time, she didn't stop smiling the whole night. I'm all she's had for most of her life, her mother left while she was still extremely young, and I'll do anything for her, to protect her, to make her happy. She's my world."

Kate leaned slightly to one side so she could see his face, and she could see that he was almost tearing up. The love he had for his daughter was a love she did not know, but hoped one day to have.

"You're an amazing father Castle, I haven't met your daughter, I haven't seen how you are with her, but I can hear the love you have for her, and…"

Rick turned his head leant down slightly gently kissed her, before she had finished speaking. It was sweet and tender and was just enough to get the taste of her on his lips. When they parted they stood there for a while silently, gazing back at each other smiling. Nobody was saying anything, nobody needed to. They both knew how the other was feeling in that moment, and it was a feeling neither wanted to lose.

As they stood there, lost in the silence, neither of them heard the front door opening as Alexis came home.

When Alexis opened the door the first thing she saw was her dad with his arms around a woman looking at the photos. It was a beautiful moment, and she didn't want to ruin it, but it was also one of those moments she thought needed to be captured, so she quietly took her phone out of her bag and captured a photo of the two looking at each other with such tenderness.

Looking back at the photo she had taken, she was happy with how it turned out. It would have been nice from the front, but interrupting them would have ruined the moment. She went to slide the phone into her pocket but as she did, the phone slipped out of her hands breaking the silence in the room as it hit the floor.

The noise startled the couple and their moment was gone. Rick unwrapped his arms from around Kate and turned around.

"Alexis? You're home early," he said.

"Yeah, I was tired, so I left earlier than planned."

Kate stood there unsure what to say and do. They hadn't discussed her meeting Alexis and so she didn't know how she was supposed to act and felt a little awkward. She couldn't believe how quickly she went from being more comfortable than she'd ever been to feeling this awkward.

Rick looked beside him and could see Kate was struggling with the situation and didn't know what to do. He took her hand in his and squeezed it slightly. "Kate," he whispered to her, "it's okay." He pulled her closer and placing his hand on the small of her back, he ushered her over towards where Alexis was standing.

"Kate, this is my daughter Alexis. Alexis, this is Detective Beckett."

"It's Kate, you can call me Kate," she said quickly and nervously.

Alexis could see just by looking at Kate that she was feeling a little awkward so she did the one thing she knew that would make her feel more comfortable. She opened her arms, wrapped them around Kate and hugged her, and as she did, she felt the tension leave Kate's body.

"Dad, has been talking about you non-stop this week," she said. "It's good to put a face to the name. But, like I said, I'm feeling tired, so I'm going to go up to bed and leave you two alone."

Castle kissed his daughter on the forehead and quietly said thank you just before Alexis headed off to her room.

"So, that's Alexis," he said smiling. "Pretty amazing isn't she?"

"Yeah," Kate said, still a little surprised about being hugged by the daughter she was so nervous about meeting. "So… you've been talking about me all week?"

"Uh, no, I'm sure that was an exaggeration, you know how teenagers are."

"Oh really?" she said walking towards Castle who found himself taking a few steps back.

"Yeah," he said shakily as he hit the bench behind him, but Kate kept making her way forwards. "Ok, so maybe I did talk about you a lot."

Kate stopped just in front of him. "As long as you were only saying good things, and it was only to your daughter, that's ok."

Castle nodded.

"Well," she sighed "I really should be going home to get some sleep myself."

"Yes, I need to get some rest too. Who knows what's going to be waiting for me at the morgue tomorrow. I'll walk you out."

Kate gathered her things and together they made their way down the elevator to her car. Castle's phone buzzed with a message while he was in the elevator.

"That's strange. It's a text from Alexis."

He opened the message to see a picture of him and Kate from earlier that evening. He realised Alexis must have taken it just as she walked in. Seeing the picture of the two of them together, it took his breath away.

"Everything okay?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, she just sent me a picture." Castle held his phone out so Kate could see the picture, and she smiled. It was a beautiful shot of the two of them.

Even though Kate insisted he didn't need to, Rick walked Kate all the way to her car and he opened her door for her.

"Thanks for another amazing night," she said.

"Thank you for making it amazing," he returned. "I'll send you a copy of the picture Alexis took."

"Okay thanks, well goodnight Rick," she gently placed one hand on his cheek and kissed him softly, then climbed into her car.

"Until tomorrow Kate," he said as he closed her door, and then he watched as she drove away, excited at the prospect of what their relationship was becoming.

So, back to work in the next chapter. I don't really know myself how that is going to go, I shall let my fingers type and see where it goes.