Authors Note: It's been a hot minute since I wrote for Castle. While I love watching (and rewatching) Kate and Rick's love unfold on the series, I got to thinking: what would the show be like if they were already together, and Alexis was their child? (I've changed Alexis's age to fit my back story of the characters). So, this little fic was born.

If there are enough of you out there that like it, I may continue it. This is my first attempt at a completely AU re-write of a series.

Reviews are love, leave some!

-Krystle

Flowers for Your Grave

Novelist, Richard Castle, wakes up to the annoying vibrating of a cell phone on his bed side table. His wife, Katherine Beckett-Castle, groans next to him and reaches for the annoying little box, coming up empty. She cracks open an eye only to find herself sleeping on the wrong side of the bed. She smiles at the memory of how she ended up over on her husbands side. Their 'nap' was quite acrobatic.

Rick reaches for the cellphone, and hands it to his bride. "Shut it up, Kate, please."

"Beckett," she answers. "Alright, I'll be right there." She groans, and rolls over, flopping an arm across Rick's abdomen. "There's been a murder up town."

Rick kisses her forehead, his arm wrapping around her, fingers tracing random patterns on her skin. "Hm, suppose that means you need to leave."

"Yeah," she answers, kissing his chest, neck, jaw and finally his lips. "I suppose it does," she whispers against him. "Pity."

"Indeed," he agrees, kissing her once more before she slips from their bed. He hears the water to their ensuite shower turn on and jumps out of bed to join her. He might as well get ready to go to the launch party, conserve water.

—

Alexis is sitting at the kitchen island in the dress she bought with Martha for the launch party. She's just about to reach into her backpack for a book, when her parents emerge from their room. Her mother is clipping her badge to her slacks, and her dad is buttoning the wrists of his white cotton shirt.

Her face falls, she was really hoping her mom would be able to come to this launch and keep her company. "Mom, you're not coming?"

Kate frowns at her daughter, and runs a hand down her long red hair. "No, sweetie, I got called to a crime scene." Alexis's shoulders drop, and she hangs her head. "Hey, none of that, you're going to have a great time. Grams is going to be there. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Mom, you got called to a murder scene," Alexis says matter of factly, rolling her eyes. "I know you've got a job to do. I just was hoping the dirtbags of New York would let you be for tonight since I just got back from my class trip."

"Oh, honey," Kate says, wrapping her arms around her pre-teen. "I love you so much, bean. I promise you we will get to hang out soon. I never break my promises, you know."

Alexis nods, she does know. Her mom has never let her down, not even when she was first starting her career as a cop. All of her memories include her. She wraps her arms around her moms waist, squeezing her slightly, "I know you don't. I just missed you."

"Hey," Castle frowns. "What about me?"

Kate smiles as their daughter turns her head to look over at her father. "Of course I missed you too, dad."

Kate squeezes her daughter once more and presses a kiss to her hair. "I have to get going, I love you sweetie."

Alexis smiles at her; "Love you too, mom. Be safe."

"Always," Kate responds, and heads over to her husband, wrapping her arms around his waist as his wrap around her shoulders. "Take care of my baby, Rick. Homework, and when she's ready to come home, please come home."

He scoffs playfully at her, "When have I ever kept her out passed the time she's asked?" Kate's eyebrows shoot up, "Okay, so there was that one time."

Kate chuckles at him. "You're amazing, babe. I'm so proud of you. I will be by your side as soon as I can."

"It's okay, Kate," he smiles, leaning down to kiss her. "You get justice for the victims."

She nods, "I know I do, but I hate that it takes me away from my family."

Rick tucks her under his chin, knowing that she's been struggling with this lately, mostly since Alexis started eighth grade. She has spoken of resigning so she could be home with their daughter, but he knows she isn't ready yet. She's an amazing mom, he knew she would be when they found out they were having a baby-they were young, but he knew they'd be able to make it work. Lately though, she's been questioning why she's still working, she feels like she's missing all the moments of their child's life.

"You know," he says, "when you're ready we can revisit our conversation from earlier today. But right now, a family out there needs answers that only you can provide."

Nodding against him, Kate pulls away. "You're right, thank you," she whispers, pulling him down for a sweet kiss. "I love you."

He kisses her once more, "I love you too, honey. Be safe."

Turning away from him, she walks towards her daughter, kissing her head once more, "Keep an eye on daddy tonight."

Alexis grins as Rick rolls his eyes, "Don't I always?"

"I'm right here!"

Both of his girls laugh, "Ok, I'm leaving. See you both soon."

—

She flashes her badge when she gets to the crime scene, the uniform at the door nods in acceptance at her, letting her go inside the apartment. Ryan and Esposito are already processing the scene, and from the looks of it, it's gonna be a long night.

"What have we got?" She asks, looking at the young female covered in flowers.

"Allison Tisdale, grad student at NYU. Social Work program," Esposito answers.

Eyeing the upscale apartment, "Nice place for a Social Worker."

"Daddy's money," Ryan responds.

"Neighbors called to complain about the music, when she didn't answer, they had the super check on her."

"No signs of struggle," Kate observes. "He knew her."

"He even bought her flowers," Lanie's says, causing Kate to look over at the approaching Medical Examiner. "Who says romance is dead?" Kate grins at her friend, before a finger is held up to her face. "Don't even say it."

She chuckles to herself. "What else did he give her besides roses?"

"Two bullets to the chest, small caliber," Lanie says, moving some rose petals aside.

After explaining that they wouldn't find any signs of sexual assault on their victim, Kate tells her team she's seen this display of a body before. "Rose petals on her body, sunflowers on her eyes?" Three sets of eyes stare at her quizzically. "Don't you guys read?"

—

With each book that gets put in front of him, he grows increasingly bored. Another typical launch party; meeting people, signing autographs, avoiding signing cleavage. He wishes Kate were here instead of out on a call. Alexis is over at the bar doing her summer reading, though how she can read with the loud music is beyond him; his mother…he doesn't really want to imagine what his mother is doing after she runs off giggling.

Finally, he's able to excuse himself, and heads over to his daughter. "You should have me committed."

Alexis looks up, "For what? Letting her move in? I think it's sweet." Rick nods, and grabs two glasses of champaign, sitting one in front of his daughter, and drinking the other. "You know I'm only thirteen, right?"

"You're an old soul."

"Well, me and my soul can wait," Alexis chuckles, moving the glass to in front of her dad.

"When I was your age - no, I can't tell that story, that's wildly inappropriate. Which oddly is my point. Don't you want to have 'wildly inappropriate' stories to tell your children one day?"

The young read head smiles. "I think you and mom have enough of those for all of us."

He starts telling Alexis that life should be an adventure, and explains why he killed Derrick. Alexis catches movement behind her dad, and smiles. Her mom made it to the party, but Javi and Kevin are tailing her. This can't be good.

"Just once, I'd like someone to come up to me and ask me something new," he concludes, feeling a tap on his shoulder. He spins around, pen at the ready, "Where would you like it?"

Kate smiles at her husband and flashes her badge, "Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD, I need to ask you a couple of questions about a murder that took place this evening."

Alexis takes the pen from her dad, laughing, "That's new." She hops off the bar stool and wraps her arms around her mom. "Hi, mom."

Kate wraps her arm around her daughter and kisses her head, "Hi baby." Looking back at her husband, she grins. "Close your mouth, Rick, you'll catch flies."

"Mom, can one of the guys take me back home? I was just about to ask Gram, but she's having so much fun, I don't want to ruin her night."

"Bored?"

"Extremely."

Kate turns around, finding Kevin. "Hey, Kev? Can you give Alexis a ride home?"

He nods, "Sure. Come on Mini-Beckett, lets get you out of here." Kate and Alexis give the young blonde their signature eye roll and he points, "See!"

—

Once Alexis and Ryan are gone, Kate and Rick escape to a secluded corner. She begins filling him in on the victim she was called out to earlier. "I swear, Rick it was right out of Flowers for Your Grave. Obviously, I know you're innocent, we were occupied at the time of the murder. But I have to know: Have you had any weird fan mail recently?"

"I honestly have no clue, Kate," he answers. "I haven't been reading the letters that have been sent to the publishing house. They all get sorted out and Gina typically handles what letters get to me or not."

Kate nods. "Okay, well, I'll need you to get your hands on the ones from the last four months. Hopefully, Gina will let you have them without a fight, I don't really want to get a warrant for them, but I will if I have too."

"I'll talk to her tomorrow," he agrees. "Now," he says, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Is it ok for me to kiss my wife?"

She smiles. "Oh, absolutely."

—

Much to her dismay, Rick has to stay behind at the launch party for the press conference at the end of the night. Kate smiles at Eduardo as he opens the door for her, "Thank you, Eduardo."

"My pleasure, Mrs. Castle."

Finally reaching the door to the loft, she lets herself in, slipping out of her shoes and depositing her keys in the bowl by the door and her jacket in the closet. Walking into the kitchen, she pours herself a glass of wine, and starts making Alexis a hot chocolate with extra marshmallows.

Setting out a tray, she places her wine, the steaming mug of chocolate and some snacks on it. Alexis's door is cracked open, a sliver of light spilling into the hallway. "Knock, knock," Kate says, shouldering the door open further.

"Mom, you're home," Alexis smiles, sitting up and putting her book away.

"Yeah, I didn't want to stay for the press conference," she says, setting the tray on the bedside table. "I made you a hot chocolate, and brought us some snacks."

"Thank you!" the red head smiles, grabbing her mug. "Ooh, extra marshmallows too!"

Kate smiles. She still doesn't know how the years have gone by so fast. It seems like only yesterday she and Rick were looking down at the plastic stick that held their future. Two scared kids without a clue. She hadn't even turned nineteen yet, and Rick was barely twenty-two. The moment that pregnancy test showed positive results she had a mix of emotions. The most prominent one at the time was fear, but that was to be expected at a young age. One thing was for certain, she was going to keep the baby. Rick was immediately on board - he knew they'd be able to make their relationship work; knew that they'd be amazing parents. All these years later, and she doesn't regret a single turn her life has thrown her.

"What?" Alexis asks.

Shrugging, Kate just smiles. "Nothing, just thinking."

"About what?"

"About you, kid," wrapping her arm around her daughter, and kissing her head. "I love you so much, Alexis, don't ever doubt that. I know it's hard, especially with my job, but I don't want you to ever feel like you aren't my first priority. Everything I do, I do with you in mind."

"I love you too, Mom. Yeah, it is hard, knowing that when you leave you may not come home, and that scares me. I don't want anything to happen to you. I can't imagine not having you around. I don't even want to imagine what it'll do to dad."

"Dad and I were actually talking about that earlier, before I got the call about this case I'm on now," Kate says, leaning back into the pillows on the bed, watching as Alexis does the same. "I told him that I was thinking of resigning."

"What? Really?" Alexis asks.

"Yeah, really." She takes a sip of wine. "I love my job, but I love my family more. I don't want to ever miss anything that goes on with you - school, friends, boyfriends. I don't want to miss anything with dad's career, even the boring meetings he has to go too with Gina and Paula."

"Mom, I would love to have you around more, but are you sure you want to resign?"

Kate shrugs. "What else is there?"

Alexis shakes her head, sometimes she thinks she's the adult and her parents are the children. "Can't you just take a leave of absence first? See if you can handle not being out there with Uncle Javi and Uncle Kevin?"

"I hadn't even thought about that," she answers, looking over at her daughter. "You're a smart kid."

Alexis laughs, "It must be that private school education you and dad spend so much money on."

"Must be."

—

When he gets home, he sees Kate's keys and shoes so he knows she's here, the question is where. Open wine, hot chocolate ingredients. He smiles and heads upstairs. The scene before him melts his heart.

Alexis is laying cuddled up with her head on Kate, sleeping on her chest; Kate is stroking her hair, and reading one of the magazines the young girl had sitting on one of her bedside tables. He hasn't seen his girls like this for a while. Sometimes Kate barely makes it home for dinner, and others she's pulling an all nighter at the precinct. He knows the hours have been hard on mother and daughter. They're so close, and there are things that Alexis needs her mother for. He does the best he can, but sometimes, girl talk is really all she wants.

He's leaning against the door frame, arms crossed, smiling when Kate looks up. "Hey," he whispers.

"Hey," she whispers back. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough," he answers.

Kate nods, looking down at their daughter. "I missed her so much, Rick."

"I know."

"I miss her when I'm working too."

"I know that too," he says, walking into their daughters room. He takes their snacks off of the bed places them on the tray. He helps ease Alexis off of Kate, and covers her with the blankets, kissing the top of her head, whispering, "Good night, baby bird."

Kate also kisses the top of Alexis's head. "Good night, bean."

Rick grabs the tray, Kate turns out the light and closes Alexis's door. "So, how'd the press conference go?"

"Same old, same old," he answers. "Lots of questions about why I killed Derrick, questions about what I'm going to do next."

"Yeah, why did you kill him?" she's still a bit bitter about that.

"I got bored."

Kate nods in understanding. "Yeah, I can see that," she watches as her husband rinses out the mug Alexis had her hot chocolate in and places it in the dishwasher. "Rick?"

"Yeah?"

"I want to take a leave of absence."

He turns and looks at her. "What?"

"From work. I want to take a leave of absence," she explains. "It was Alexis's idea, actually. I told her that I was thinking of resigning. If I take a leave of absence, it'll be like a trial run. What do you think?"

Placing the dish towel on the counter, he makes his way towards his wife. "Kate, are you sure?"

She slides her hands up his chest, feeling his heart pound beneath her fingers. She smiles. "I've only ever been this sure twice before in my life."

"And when was that?" he asks, his arms banding around her waist, slipping beneath the hem of her shirt.

"When we found out I was pregnant, and marrying you," she answers, her eyes shining. "Rick, I need to do this. I need to be with my family, without fear of not making it home. If it was just me, I wouldn't even be thinking about doing this. But I have you and our daughter. I want to be home, babe."

"Okay, honey."

She smiles at him, and leans up on her toes to seal her mouth to his. "Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me, Kate," pressing a kiss to her lips once more. "I'm your partner. I back your play, no matter what."

Authors Note 2: So, what did you think? Do you guys like this universe I created? Do you want a specific episode written in this universe? Let me know in reviews.