Chapter 25

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"Castle, I have no idea how you do this every day," Esposito said when he finally spotted him entering the precinct.

Zoey, who was sitting cross-legged atop Esposito's desk with a stack of construction paper and crayons, looked up. "Hi daddy," she said, arms reaching out for him. She looked lethargic and Castle could bet she was overdue for a nap.

He smiled and picked her up, "Hey sweetheart. Did you have fun today?"

Zoey shrugged, resting her head on his shoulder.

"This is what I'm saying, man!" Esposito chimed in, "Finding ways to entertain her was harder than…"

"…solving a murder?" Castle supplied.

"I'm freakin' exhausted. She was climbing the stairs and running around the house and—"

"—Are you seriously telling me that you couldn't keep up with a two and a half year old?" Castle asked.

"Look," Esposito started, tone defensive, "She is tiny. She gets into all of these nooks and crannies that I didn't even know existed!"

Castle laughed, "Yeah, she's pretty fast." Then, more seriously, he added, "But thanks for helping us out this morning."

Kate and Castle had both overlooked the fact that Alexis wouldn't be here for a couple of weeks and had ended up with conflicting schedules. Consequently, they had had to rely on their friends a lot more for last-minute babysitting duties. This particular day, Esposito didn't have to be at the precinct until three so Lanie had volunteered his services. Lanie hadn't said as much but Esposito had suspected this was her way of testing his abilities (or lack thereof) with children.

"I'm just happy to be back at work chasing real criminals," Esposito said. "And, before you ask, Beckett's interrogating a suspect."

Castle pretended to be affronted. "Am I that predictable?"

"No, you're just that whipped."

Castle grinned but didn't deny it. "I'm going to wait in the lounge, then."

Esposito nodded, already distracted with a case file, "I'll let Beckett know."

Castle didn't have to wait long. By the time he had lulled Zoey to sleep, Kate appeared with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Bad interrogation?" he asked quietly.

Kate nodded, placing her empty coffee cup on the counter and then walking over towards them. She placed a light kiss against her daughter's hair. "I heard Esposito didn't exactly have an easy time this morning."

"Yeah, just don't tell Lanie that," he replied. He shifted Zoey onto one arm so that he could wrap his other around Kate's waist. "You okay?"

Kate smiled up at him. "Well, I'm feeling much better now," she said, giving him a kiss before pulling away to refill her coffee.

All of the movement seemed to have jolted Zoey and she murmured something in her sleep. On instinct, Castle rubbed her back soothingly until he felt her relax again. "Go back to sleep, baby girl," he whispered softly.

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"Thanks for agreeing to do this, Jenny," Castle said.

He was standing in the doorway, ready to leave, after dropping Zoey off at Ryan and Jenny's for the night.

"It's no problem," Jenny said, "You and Kate never seem to have time to go out alone."

The front door bumped Castle in the back when it opened. "Oh, sorry," said Ryan, "I didn't know you were standing there." He stepped inside and gave Jenny a kiss. "Beckett left the precinct a good fifteen minutes before I did," he informed Castle, "So, she's probably back at your place by now."

Castle nodded.

"And…" Ryan paused, "She might be a little testy."

"What did you and Esposito do?" Castle asked with a grin.

"Nothing!" Ryan said defensively. "This time it wasn't us."

The way Ryan said it somehow made Castle believe him. "Okay," he said, "I better get going then." He looked at Ryan, "I already told Jenny but Zoey's had her dinner and her bath so she's all set for the night. And, no matter what she tells you, she should be in bed by nine, at the latest." Then, to the both of them, he said, "Kate and I will call before we come tomorrow. We have to pick up Alexis at the airport at noon – so, we'll be over probably around ten?"

"That's fine," Jenny said and then called out, "Zoey! Do you want to say bye to your daddy?"

Castle caught Zoey when she ran full speed into him from the living room. "You be good, okay?" he said.

"Okay, daddy," said Zoey, giving him a loud kiss on the cheek.

He set her down and ruffled her hair. "Bye, Zo. I love you."

Zoey waved until Castle disappeared into the elevator.

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"Kate?"

Castle entered the loft, not hearing any footsteps or sounds coming from upstairs where he had expected Kate to be getting ready. He dropped his keys onto the kitchen counter before noticing bare feet poking out from the side of a couch. He quietly walked into the living room and was greeted with a fully dressed and clearly exhausted Kate Beckett lying curled up on her side with her eyes firmly shut. She seemed dead to the world and if she had heard him come in, she made no acknowledgement of it.

He smiled down at her for a minute before deciding that their date could be postponed. Grabbing the blanket from the love seat beside him, he placed it gently over Kate, the action finally causing her to stir.

"It's okay. It's just me," he whispered as he slipped in behind her, coaxing her so that she stretched out over the length of the couch. Trailing his fingers gently down the length of her arm, he murmured, "Long day?"

"Mhmm." She turned so she was facing him, her hand moving to lightly grasp at the material of his shirt. Her eyes remaining closed even as she sighed out, "You're warm."

Instinctively, he wrapped his arm around her back to bring her closer, "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

She searched his lips out, "Maybe later," she said, after drawing out a long kiss.

He turned her so that she was spooned up against him. "Go back to sleep," he said.

"What about our reservation?" she mumbled, not really sounding all that concerned.

"We'll order a pizza later," he answered.

She tugged his arm closer around her body. "Stay with me," she whispered.

He closed his eyes before whispering back, "Always."

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"I received an interesting phone call today."

Kate walked into Castle's study Monday after work, greeting Alexis – who was happily vegging out now that she was finally back home – as she walked past the living room. She'd had a late night so Zoey had already gone to bed.

"Oh yeah? From who?" Castle asked distractedly, fingers still flying over the keys of his laptop.

She walked over to his side of the desk, perching herself on the edge. "From your publisher."

He looked up at that. "Paula? What did she want?"

"Permission."

"Permission?" he furrowed his eyebrows, "For what?"

"You tell me." Kate crossed her arms, "She seemed to think you wouldn't be willing to go on a European book tour without my consent. Now, why would she think that?"

Castle immediately winced and averted his eyes. "Oh. That."

"Castle," Kate started, exasperated, "Have you been putting your career on hold because of Zoey? Because of me? That's not what I want from you – you know that, right?"

Castle got up from his chair and walked over to close the door to his office, giving Alexis a reassuring smile before doing so. He turned back to face Kate. "It was back in November when Paula first asked me to go to Europe for a month. For the release of the third Nikki Heat book."

"She told me you refused."

"I would have gone if it hadn't been for such a long stretch of time," he answered, "I couldn't leave Zoey for an entire month." He walked over to stand in front of her. "What if she had forgotten who I was?" he added to lighten the mood.

"Don't joke, Castle," Kate said, "This is serious. I don't want you to pass up opportunities because you feel like you have to be the stay-at-home parent. I would have managed without you for that month. We could have worked something out."

He sighed, "I know that, Kate. And I wasn't passing up on any opportunity that I haven't been offered a million times before – nothing's new in my line of work anymore. I've pretty much seen it all."

"Well, then if you have to go do promotion for your books or for the movies as a part of your job, I understand that, too."

"Kate," he grasped her shoulders, "I know you understand. In fact, I knew you would get mad at me for turning this stuff down, which is why I didn't tell you about it in the first place." He grinned at her, "You're not the boss of me, you know. It was my choice not to go. I am allowed to turn things down of my own accord."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Okay, well, I still don't agree with why you turned the trip down. Because you feel like you have Zoey tying you down."

"Kate," he said, voice suddenly deadly serious, "That's not what I feel. I don't find taking care of Zoey as any kind of burden – it's a responsibility, sure, but it's a responsibility I'm more than happy to have." He tipped her chin up with a finger so that she met his eyes, "I didn't go on that trip because I didn't want to miss a second of Zoey growing up." Kate smiled at that. He continued, "And a month is a long time to be separated especially since, in November, we had just started to get official about our relationship. Kate, I find myself missing you by the end of the day. Can you imagine if I had to go a month without seeing you? I'd go insane."

"Like you aren't already," she replied, draping her arms around his neck lightly. She had been touched by his words even if she had brushed them off as a joke. Leaning in, she gave him a drawn-out, bordering salacious kiss to show her appreciation.

When they separated, he looked at her in amusement, "What was that for?"

She swiped a finger across his lips to wipe off the lipstick that had transferred there. "Because you're sweet," she responded.

He grinned, "I'm sorry, can you say that again? I'm not sure I caught that."

She looked at him wryly. "Don't push your luck."

Castle gave her one last peck on the cheek before he walked back over to his laptop, sitting down to open up his email. "So, did Paula tell you any more about this latest trip?" he asked, suddenly remembering how this conversation had started in the first place, "Because I haven't actually heard anything about it – I didn't even know she wanted me to do another tour."

"She said something about doing a simultaneous world-wide release of the fourth Nikki Heat," Kate replied, "I thought she would have called you after she had called me."

Castle shook his head. "Nope. I think she knew we would have this little conversation so she's no doubt waiting for me to call her."

Kate smiled a little as she made her way to the door. "Smart woman."

"You should have just told her that you wouldn't allow me to go under any circumstances."

"What? And miss your whining and complaining?" Kate turned the knob, "Why would I do that?"

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"So," Castle said, plopping down on their bed later on that night, "How do you feel about taking a family trip to Europe for three weeks?"

A/N: I apologise that this chapter is a bit shorter than you're used to! I wanted to cut it off and have the Europe trip stand on its own... still, I hope there was enough fluff to sustain you...!