Author's Note- To my 9/21/13 guest, thank you. I'm glad you gave this a go and are now loving it. :D And for my 9/16/13 guest. I'm glad you followed my advice and read the review, I'm sorry it didn't change anything but this is the way my story's going and I won't be changing it. As for the line 'Especially because I think you are putting too much angst in this story and it's getting a little too much. First everything with Kate, then the part with Castle's brother now this' perhaps this is the first of my stories you've read? Most of my stories have a high angst content even if it isn't the main classification. Anyway, Castle's back tomorrow so it's all good :D NYLF xx


Rick stood patiently, waiting for his girls to arrive. The moment he saw Kate though, he almost wished they were back in the loft.

He knew she was gorgeous. That much was more than obvious when she was just wearing everyday clothes. But in that? Rick found his breath stuttering.

The jet black satin like material, juxtaposed against her porcelain skin, made a vision of absolute beauty.

Her toned flat stomach, baring very faint muscle lines, just enough to let everyone know just how fit she was but still allowing her to keep her femininity, was only accentuated by the outlines of her suit.

Her long, goddess legs went on forever, before meeting the tiny bows at the edge of her bottoms that had him wanting to remove them with his teeth.

He'd seen her naked, cast in shadows, or steam, too dense to see details- Kate still too shy to allow him to watch her in full light- but this was even better. The pool lighting, usually the most unflattering light a girl could deal with, showed off her stunning beauty for him to see in exact detail.

"Close your mouth Rick." Kate whispered in his ear, making him shudder, before dropping Alexis' hand and easily diving into the pool, gliding along the bottom before she popped up in the middle, letting the water trail down her body like a Bond girl, once again having Rick's mouth agape.

"Come on daddy!" Alexis squealed as she jumped into the pool, spluttering her way back to the surface while Kate laughed at her. She quickly made her way over to the girl with powerful strokes, and tossed her into the air, giggling as the five year old squealed until she hit the water with a splash.

Rick meanwhile, had slipped into the water almost silently, so when he appeared behind Kate and planted his hands on her waist, he was rewarded in the single most girlish scream he'd ever heard from his girlfriend.

"Make you jump?" He husked into her ear, delighting in the shudder it brought forth before she spun in his arms and hit his chest.

"Yes." She whined. "So not fair."

Rick grinned. "I'll have to make it up to you." He leaned in and laved the join of her neck to her shoulder with his warm wicked tongue eliciting the quietest of whimpers as her hands clutched to his shoulders, her body arching into his.

"Daddy, no heavy petting." Alexis whined, making both adults chuckle as they rested their foreheads together.

"Maybe later, huh?" Kate murmured before pushing off with her feet on his chest and swimming over to Alexis.

Rick watched them both play with a soft smile.

He loved their relationship and seeing Kate finally calm down around the girl, since his revelation yesterday, made his heart glad.

They played for the next few hours, each of the adults taking turns throwing Alexis in the air and carrying her on their back while they raced the other.

Once Rick noticed both his girls shivering, Kate not having the body mass to keep her warm, he declared it was time to get out and go home for dinner. He watched on with a proud smile as Kate hauled Alexis onto her hip, running her hand up and down the girl's arm to try and warm her up while they went off to get dressed.

They ate pizza from the box while watching Disney films, Kate curled against Rick's side, and Alexis sat on his lap, both of them now fast asleep. He kept the soothing motion of his hand against Kate's hair up despite the fact she was asleep.

He couldn't have been more grateful than to have her in his life, in Alexis' life.

Kate snuffled in her sleep, burrowed closer to him, looping her hand around Alexis' hips to rest at his side.

He knew there were things they needed to talk about. Long term type things as well as the here and now. He wanted her to confirm that they were living together and that she wouldn't just up and leave one day, her wanted them to talk about marriage and kids and the 'L' word neither of them felt safe enough to say yet. He didn't even know if she felt it, be that yet or at all, and his only experience with true love was the tiny girl in his lap so he wasn't certain that was what he was feeling towards Kate, but he knew it was something they should talk about. And he also wanted to get a grip on her plans for her twentieth in a few months. He wanted to take her away, maybe up to the Hamptons, pamper her and let her relax after the year she'd had, but he didn't know if she wanted to spend it with her dad.

She called him occasionally, mostly out of guilt. The man was still drunk nine conversations out of ten and they both knew the man wasn't ready to seek help yet. But Rick reminded Kate every time that his offer wasn't time limited and whenever Jim was ready to get sober he'd be there to finance it.

He also didn't know if maybe she'd want to visit her mom. He never knew if he was allowed to ask. Kate would disappear for a few hours every now and again and come back tear stained but lighter and he knew that she'd been to speak to her mom but he had no idea how to ask or if it was welcome.

Given they'd been in a relationship for the better part of a year he didn't really know very much about her.

He wanted to rectify that and soon, before he found himself deeper into this than she was. The last thing he wanted was to scare her away and end up with both his own, and his daughter's, broken hearts on his hands.

They needed to have the tough conversations, but first, he needed to get his girls to bed.