New update! I woke up this morning with a LOT of reviews on my phone so thank you for that! And since I am still snowed in (even though it is no longer snowing here) I am here to give you another chapter. Enjoy!

Start: 4:32 PM

Chapter Thirty Five

The next morning, Kate made them both mountainous stacks of pancakes and steaming hot mugs of hot chocolate. The girls ate their breakfast in companionable silence, giggling occasionally when they dripped syrup on themselves or had chocolate mustaches. Kate reached over with a wash cloth a couple of times to wipe of the little girl's face and Alexis smiled up at her, her eyes full of mischief as she took another large bite of pancake, once more dribbling syrup down her chin. Kate just shook her head and went back to her own breakfast.

When they were done, Kate got to cleaning up their dirty dishes while Alexis wiped down the table and went to fetch her markers and some paper to draw on. For the rest of the morning, she and Kate drew pictures, played Tic-Tac-Toe and had Pictionary and Hangman competitions. After a while, though, the games stopped and they went right back to drawing. Kate sketched pictures of flowers and nature while Alexis seemed to be working on a very detailed drawing. Of what, Kate was not yet sure.

It became apparent, however, when Alexis finally put down the last crayon and smiled up at Kate, holding up her drawing. "What do you think?" she asked, smiling proudly. Kate smiled back and looked down at the drawing, her eyes widening as she took in the detail.

It was them, all of them-her, Castle, Martha, Alexis, even Meredith-at Central Park, right in front of the pond. They're all sitting on what looks to be a bench. Kate can make out each and every one of them solely by what they're doing in the drawing.

Meredith, who's at the far left side of the bench, is wearing sunglasses, and her long red hair is falling straight over her shoulders. She's wearing a pink and white dress and her head is resting on Alexis's, who sits next to her. Alexis has on a blue sweater and a pair of jeans and is wearing sneakers, unlike the heels she drew for her mother. She's sitting next to Castle, who's doing bunny ears behind her head (which Kate laughs at because it's so accurate), and is wearing his usual button down and jeans with plain black shoes. Castle is holding the hand of who Kate assumes to be herself, and his head is turned to her, smiling. Kate is smiling back at him and her hair is up in a ponytail. She's wearing casual clothing and her usual heeled boots, and she looks very relaxed and natural. Her arm is locked with a very colorful figure, which she is positive is Martha, who Alexis has drawn wearing sunglasses and a very colorful dress with a lot of jewelry. Every single one of them is smiling either ahead or at one another and Kate is taken aback by how accurate each and every representation of them is and how uncanny Alexis's talent for taking in detail is. She's about to put the drawing down and compliment Alexis on it when she notices a small brown blob on the floor between Alexis and Castle's legs. She's sure it's just a mistake but then again….

"Alexis?" Kate asked, turning the picture to face the girl. "What's that?" She pointed at the brown blob. Alexis smiled.

"That's my puppy!" Alexis said, smiling brightly. "His name is Max!"

Kate smiled softly at her. "Don't you want to actually wait to get a dog before you start naming it?" she asked.

Alexis shrugged. "I couldn't just draw a dog and not name it, Kate," she said, as if it were obvious.

Kate shook her head, grinning; five-year old logic would forever amuse her.

"Silly me," she said, humoring her, "what was I thinking? You wanna hang this one on the fridge?" she asked.

Alexis nodded. "Definitely!" she said, taking her picture and racing over to the fridge, grabbing a free magnet to stick it to the fridge. After she'd placed in a premium spot on the freezer, she turned around to face Kate. "Do you want to put your flowers on the fridge, too?" she asked.

Kate smiled and shook her head. "Nah," she said, "that's alright. The fridge is for your masterpieces, not mine. You can have all the space. Besides, I already have somewhere to put all my drawings."

"Really?" Alexis asked, intrigued. "Where?"

Kate hesitated for a moment; she'd never shared this with anybody but Alexis…Alexis was not just anybody to her. She was practically a daughter to her now; a friend. So she smiled at Alexis and held out her hand.

"Come with me," she said, smiling as Alexis's smaller hand fit folded perfectly into hers.

REVIEWS please! I'm sorry this is so short but I am really in need of a shower and I have a horrible headache from the sounds of all the plows going up and down my street, as well as the shoveling being done. Maybe after some aspirin and relaxation I will feel better and be able to update later tonight.

5: 14 PM