This oh-so-brilliant plan that has been germinating in his brain, suddenly taking flight? It certainly involves Kate, if he's going to follow through with it. Crap. How the heck is he going to get gun-shy, intensely private, Kate Beckett to agree to be his muse?


Back at the twelfth, Beckett's face is pressed up against the window, watching through the one way glass as Jones and MacKenzie interrogate the wife. The break comes swiftly. Jones has needled into the wife's head just the right way, and then MacKenzie has swept in, taken victory. Kate can taste the triumph, and her own envy. She wants to be on that side of the glass, getting the answers.

So, the wife was having an affair. There was the missing link. They have a name and address in minutes, and Jones and MacKenzie are hot footing it out of there, ready to bring the guy in. Kate has paperwork to do, but she lingers in the observation room, watching the wife, for a moment longer, before heading back to her desk.

She checks her phone when she sits down, happy to find a text from Castle. Still good for dinner?

I plan to be. What time and where?

Is seven okay? My place, because I have Alexis.

Suddenly Beckett's a lot more motivated to get the paperwork done. The sooner it's done, the easier it will be to get out of this place before six.


It just got a lot more complicated for the guy they've brought in. Not only is he a business rival of the dead man, he is also having an affair with the dead man's wife. Kate almost feels sorry for the guy as she watches again through the one way glass. He's a mess, and his alibi is full of holes. He's squirming, but no where near to breaking. He hasn't gotten smart enough to ask for a lawyer yet. Kate glances at her watch. It's five thirty, and she told Jones she needed to leave early tonight. For his part, he agreed to text her if there were any major developments, which she appreciates. For her to skip out on something like this is unlike her, but in spite of herself she really wants to have dinner with Castle and his daughter, so she slips out of the room, and hightails it past the captain's office before he can catch her and call her back.

Back at her own place, Kate showers, then chooses her outfit carefully. She almost laughs at herself- she's putting an awful lot of effort into the outfit in attempt to appear casual, like she didn't try at all. So, jeans and heels, and a casual shirt, and just for kicks, earrings. She tucks her chain with her mother's ring back under her shirt, spritzes perfume, grabs her purse. On impulse she tucks clean panties into the purse too. She tells herself she doesn't know (or care!) if she's staying at Rick's tonight, but she'd like to be prepared. After all, she's a cop. Preparedness is a good thing. And then she decides to stop kidding herself and be honest (at least with herself!)- she really hopes that she's staying at Rick's tonight.


Rick's buzzing around the kitchen, Alexis can't keep up, and he can't quite hold the girl's conversation in his head as she chatters about her day.

"Daddy!" she exclaims at last, and he pauses, wide eyed. "You're not even listening to me." She's pouting and he reminds himself that she's nine and that he needs to stop and listen to her.

"Yes, Alexis. I am listening"- white lie- "I just got distracted for a second-" for the last four hours- "but I promise, I am listening again."

"Because you seemed like you weren't listening-" she looks sulky, and he sighs "-and I need you to help me with my homework after dinner-" Rick rubs his face, trying to bring himself back "-and I need your help because it's a family tree!" Alexis actually stamps her foot, and Rick takes a step back, surprised. His calm, grown up little child is having a tantrum? When was the last time she even did that? He makes a face as he remembers. The last tantrum was the last time Meredith left town. A family tree. Great. No doubt a reminder to Alexis that her mother's track record is less than stellar. Now his ex-wife is creating havoc from across the country.

"Sweetie?" He squats down to Alexis' height. "I'm sorry I forgot to listen before. I promise you I am listening now. We will make the family tree after dinner, I promise. Now." He pauses, but there's not really anything to think about. He really wants Kate to come around for dinner tonight, but if Alexis isn't going to be okay with that, he will cancel without a second thought. "Remember I told you that Kate is going to have dinner with us tonight?"

The girl nods. He can see in her eyes that she's calming down.

"Are you happy for Kate to come around for dinner? Because if you just want it to be you and me-"

"No."

"No?" Okay, so he's disappointed, but he'll just call Kate-

"No, not just us, Daddy. Kate should come for dinner too."

He smiles. "In that case, kiddo, will you help me out in the kitchen? I need you to help me decide what to cook."


"Tacos, huh?" Kate's scowling as her taco collapses when she bites into.

Castle avoids her eyes, gestures at his daughter. "Her fault, her choice!"

"I like tacos. I like the crunch," Alexis says defiantly.

"I was just joking," Kate assures her. "I like tacos too." Castle catches her eye, and smiles at her. So far, he's been a perfect gentleman. He took her jacket, offered her a glass of wine. His eyes had made a lazy path up and down her body when he opened the door to invite her in, but she can't lie to herself and deny she was looking right back at him. She'd leaned into him, kissed him on the cheek in return as he'd canted toward her- and Alexis had rushed across the living room and barrelled into her before she could forget that his nine year old was there and do something that would cause them to forget dinner altogether.

To be honest, Alexis has been a little unsteady tonight. Kate has to remind herself that she doesn't really know Alexis (or her father), but she has the feeling that something is off, something isn't as it was when she was here in the morning yesterday. Castle for his part is more or less at ease, but he's keeping a close eye on Alexis. There's a funny vibe that Kate doesn't quite get, she knows she's missing a puzzle piece somewhere, but it's hard to say what it is, whether it's because she's there or not.

"So, how was school today Alexis?" Inwardly, Kate was groaning. She remembers being a kid, being asked about school. Not cool.

"Okay." The red head shrugs, and Kate is hit with the sudden flash of insight that something happened at school that has Alexis all riled up.

She tries a different tack. "Are you reading anything good at the moment?"

And it works! Alexis is off and running, opinions coming at top speed. Thank you, Castle mouths at her.


"Well, just fill out the bits you do know, Alexis, and then I'll help you."

Kate's sitting on the sofa (remembering kissing Rick right here oh so recently) while he stacks the dishwasher. He had insisted she was the guest and didn't need to help, but now she's kind of lost for something to do, while Alexis sulks over her homework on the floor beside Kate's feet. "What are you working on, Alexis?"

The girl scowls. "A family tree. And I can't do hardly any of it." She offers the paper up to Kate to show her.

"Well, you've got a good start. Here's you, and your dad, and your gram-"

"But that's all." Alexis has gone very quiet all of a sudden. Without giving it a second thought, Kate scoops the girl up onto the couch beside her.

"What other bits can you fill out, do you think?"

"Mommy?"

"Uh-huh. So, let's put her name here-" Alexis takes the pencil that Kate holds out and writes Meredith in childish print. "Do you know her parents' names?" Alexis shakes her head. "Rick?" Kate calls out to him, and he's done with the dishes, heads back to the living room.

Castle sits down next to them with a photo album. "You do know Alexis, but maybe you've forgotten. Your Mom's parents are called Judy and Arthur." He opens the album, shows Alexis a picture. A much younger Rick is holding a tiny baby, a red headed woman beside him, and two other people behind him. "Do you remember meeting them when we visited Mommy in California last year?"

Alexis nods. "Uh-huh. They were nice to me. When are we going to see Mommy again?"

"Soon, sweetie. We're going to go visit her soon. She misses you too."

"What about here?" Alexis is pointing at the space next to Martha and Rick lets out a sigh.

"Leave that one blank, sweetie."

Alexis looks up at him in confusion, and Kate sees something in Rick's eyes. She's not sure what, but she suddenly understands that when she freaked out on him the other day, it wasn't new to him. His life isn't perfect either. She already knows that he's not the playboy he wants to the press to think he is, but there's something there, some world of hurt just biding time behind closed doors. So she speaks up. "All families are different, you know, Alexis. My family is really small too, even smalled than yours, just me and my Dad."

"So you're like me?" Alexis is thinking. "You don't have a mom either?"

"Right. I mean, I have a mom, but- she's gone- and you do have a mom, you do, Alexis. She just lives somewhere else." God, she hopes Alexis won't ask any more questions, because she wants to ease the girl's mind, but she can't do this, not here, not again, not now.

Rick reads the situation, intercepts. "And… bed time for Alexis," he announces. "Head upstairs, and I'll be up soon to tuck you in."

"Can I read for a while?"

"Yes, but not too long. Say good night to Kate."

Alexis hugs Kate, snuggles into her side for a moment. "Good night Kate."

"Night sweetie."

Alexis takes the steps two at a time, and Castle smiles at Kate. "Thank you."

"You're welcome?"

"No, I mean it. Thank you, seriously. She's usually a model child, but she gets upset very easily when she remembers that her Mom is far away. You did awesome."

His face is so serious, but it's also so close and it's all Kate can do to keep breathing as she leans in, finally giving in to what she's had to fight the whole evening. And they're kissing, and it's nothing like the warm but chaste morning kisses of the day before, and also nothing like the frantic but unsteady kisses before that. His lips are on hers, mouth open, hot, insistent, slow, purposeful. His hands are at her waist, and under her top, she draws her breath in as he touches skin. It's ridiculous. It's wonderful. It's absurd. It's like coming home.