Clinking his glass against the younger woman's, Castle watched as her eyes downcast to the group, her pink lips kissing the glass as she took a sip. "Are you going to talk at all tonight?"

Emily licked the wine from her lips, nodding absently along with the older man's words. "It's raining."

"Em," he sighed, setting down his drink. "What is it?"

"You were in the wrong too, you know."

The author shook his head, running his fingers roughly through his hair. "How many times do I have to apologize for it? I'm sorry Emily, you know that."

Emily pursed her lips. "You've told me enough."

"So what do you want me to do?"

The mother of two shrugged, her foot tapping against the older man's as she twirled the wine in the expensive glass. "How about apologizing to Aaron?"

Quickly sitting up, Castle nodded his head. "I already called him, but it went to voicemail."

Emily just shook her head.

"Emily, what do I have to do? I know getting into a fight with him was wrong, but I can't go back and change it. I can't go back and prevent it from happening, so we all have to deal with the aftermath. I'm trying to fix it Em, I swear."

The brunette woman flicked the tip of her tongue over two front teeth. "I know that I would have done the same thing if Aaron had a girlfriend and she was in my kids' lives for so long," she nodded, almost whispering the words to themselves. "It's like you're fighting for your parental rights against someone who had nothing to do with bringing them into the world. It's kind of surreal," Emily sighed. "I think that's what I'm disappointed in."

"That you would have acted the same way?" he frowned.

Emily gently shook her head, her eyes meeting those of the older man. "That I would have done the same thing and found nothing wrong with it, but I think it's wrong when you and Aaron do it. It's hypocritical, and it's unfair."

Castle got himself up from his chair and pulled his girlfriend from hers, taking her glass from her and letting her sit in his lap. "Everyone makes mistakes," he almost cooed, running his hand down her back. "We all get angry. We're all human."

"Stop being a writer," she smiled, staring into his eyes as she leaned into him.

Castle shook his head. "I'm being a boyfriend." He leaned in, pressing a long kiss to the younger woman's lips, his hand reaching up to cup her cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too."

He ignored the slight pain he saw in her eyes, taking it as a remainder from the day they had had, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "So what should it be tonight? Movie? Maybe a night out?"

Emily let out a breath, hearing the rain against her windows. "I just want to lay down," the exhausted woman sighed, her head leaning against the writer's. "Will you hold me?"

Breathing out the smoke of his expensive cigar, Dave shook his head. "It's cold out here, Aaron."

"You're not allowed inside."

The Italian turned his head and glared, watching the younger man help his daughter put the card in the correct deck. "This is ridiculous."

Looking up from the tricks her father was teaching her, the four year old brunette shook her head, her tiny finger pointing to the older man sitting on the other side of the window. "No smoke! Cela est très mauvais!"

"What's bad is talking back to adults," he gruffed, turning himself away from the family inside. "I came over to talk, Aaron."

"So talk," the father of three laughed, sharing a smile with his daughter.

"Grownup talk, Aaron."

Hotch smiled to his little girl, happy that she was feeling better, and let her place the cards in the palms of his hands. "You ready to get to bed, AlieBear?"

She slowly nodded her head, stifling her yawn with the back of her hand. "Yes daddy."

"Why don't you go get Marc from the TV and go and get ready for bed?"

Alisanne nodded, kissing her father's cheek before running off to find her brother.

Leaning against the windowsill, the father of three watched as his best friend huffed out a puff of smoke, the author fingering at his goatee. "What did you want to talk about?"

"What's going on with Emily?"

The younger man sighed. "She was mad about the fight, but we're having lunch tomorrow with the kids and we're going to talk about it."

Dave looked to the Unit Chief inside the house. "And what about you and her? How's that going?"

"She's in love," he said quietly, his eyes looking to those of the older man, "and it's not with me."