Author's Note: I'm ashamed to say it's been 9 months since I've updated. I'm not sure if anyone is still interested in this story (or even remembers it!) but I'm back writing and will do my best to get back to posting regularly. To everyone who's reviewed or PM me encouraging me, it means the world to me. Thank you.

This chapter features some dialog from the Season 3 episode 'Under the Gun'

Kate couldn't believe how much her life had changed. Six months ago, she lived alone in her beautiful apartment, worked with a fantastic team of dedicated detectives that she trusted with her life and had a plucky author side-kick who brought her coffee, frustrated the hell out of her and then made her laugh with a freedom she hadn't felt since her mother died.

Then everything had gone to hell.

Her apartment was blown up, destroying almost everything she owned, including all she had left of her mother. And while she was still reeling from that, the death of her only cousin – leaving Kate with custody of her cousin's two young sons – had left her in free fall.

Despite all the darkness, there had been glimmers of hope; her friends and family, who so resolutely stood by her.

Espo and Ryan, who stepped up their hours at work so she take the time she needed.

Her dad, who gave her new mementos of her mother to replace the one she lost.

Lanie, who let the detective cry on her shoulder, then took her to a thrift store that specialised in samples and second hand designer gear to help her start to rebuild her wardrobe.

Alexis, who was always free to babysit or to help the boys with homework or even to build an elaborate fort in the living room.

But Castle. God, there wasn't even words for the gratitude she felt. He'd taken her in without question when her apartment had blown up. He'd even made it seem like she was doing him a favour by house-sitting while he was away for the summer. Then there was that little hint of disappointment he'd worn, whenever she talked about moving out, until she'd pushed thoughts of 'overstaying her welcome' out of her mind.

When Maggie died, it was Castle who drove them upstate, Castle who arranged the funeral, Castle who pulled every string to make sure Kate got temporary custody of Maggie's twin boys. And when it became obvious that a homeless, single, New York detective wouldn't get permanent custody, it was Castle who suggested they do it together, and wouldn't take no for an answer.

So, now she lived in possibly the most gorgeous four bedroom loft apartment in Manhattan with her favourite writer, with whom she shared care of three children (well, two officially, but she would ride through the gates of Hell for Alexis, and that made her the teenager hers as far as she was concerned).

And while she would give anything for the boys to have their mother back, and she had moments where she missed the freedom of her old life and the speed of the changes seemed overwhelming, for the most part, Kate felt a rush of an emotion she hadn't allowed to fell in years. Despite everything, Kate Beckett was happy.

"So, who's the lucky guy?"

Kate looked up to see Castle pass through the doorway, pulling on a pair of gloves. She'd been called to the crime scene in the middle of breakfast this morning, and had to leave Castle to finish getting the kids ready for school. In a moment that could only be described as utterly odd domesticity, he'd promised to join her at the dead body once he'd done the school run. Kate figured that was not likely a conversation most parents had over Lucky Charms.

Coming back to the present, she turned back to the body. "Richard Castle, meet Deon Carver. Bail bondsman. This is his office. He walked into a B & E last night, and before he had a chance to use his registered firearm, our killer knocked him over the head with this."

Castle eyes lit up when he saw the weapon in her hand. "A sharp shooter award? That is ironic on so many levels." He paused, considering. "No. Just two."

Kate couldn't resist a smile, despite the circumstances. "I thought you'd like that. Kids get off to school ok?"

Castle nodded, waving away her concern. "Ran off without even looking back. Seems like just last week we were dropping them off for their first day."

"That was last week," she reminded him.

"Oh, yeah." Castle chuckled. "Any leads?" he asked, gesturing to the body.

Lanie spoke up from her position across the room. "Our killer left a partial shoe print in Carver's blood, probably while wiping the trophy clean. Shoe print isn't complete enough to tell the size, but the tread marks should be easy to identify."

"And then there's the 911 call," Kate continued. "Before leaving, our killer was nice enough to call 9-1-1 and leave the phone off the hook."

"Someone was feeling a little guilty?"

Lanie snorted. "Not too guilty. The call came in at eleven. I'm estimating time of death around ten."

Interesting, Kate thought. "So, our perp had about an hour to ransack the place before he made the call." She looked around the room, trying to determine what was missing.

At her side, Castle was mirroring her, his eyes searching for a clue. "What do you think the killer was looking for?" he wondered.

"Money? I mean, bail bondsmen often get paid in cash. And 10% of a million would be enough to tear up a place. Ryan and Esposito are taking a look around the building for any security cameras," said Beckett. Castle, nodded thoughtfully, considering the idea.

Lanie finished up with the body, while Kate and Castle continued to search the room. Suddenly, the radio at her hip buzzed with static.

"That's a negative on the cameras, boss."

She unclipped the radio from her belt and lifted it with a sigh. "Ok, thanks Espo." Kate paused as a burst of static came through the walkie. It almost sounded like interference. She took a step closer to the desk in the centre of the room and the interference increased. She moved her radio closer to each of the items on the desk. When she put the walkie next to a calculator, the static went crazy.

"Why would a calculator cause feedback?" Castle asked.

Kate felt along the back of the calculator, she propped open the battery compartment to find a tiny listening device. "It's not a calculator. It's a bug."

"Ooo!" said Castle with interest, taking it from her hand. "A wireless RF transmitter to be precise. Not to be confused with the more advanced infrared signal-burst device."

"Book research?" she asked.

"Nanny cam. So, do you think that the robbery was just a pretence for the placement of the bug and then the killer was caught in the act?"

She thought about it for a moment, but one thing didn't add up. "Well, it's not Watergate, Castle. If the point was to bug Carver's office, then why leave it here once he's dead?" She paused, considering. "Maybe the killer was coming back to collect his bug, and Carver caught him in the act? But again, why leave it?"

"Maybe the killer was listening in on the bug, and Carver said something that caused the killer to fly into a murderous rage and come in to the office to kill Carver," Castle suggested.

"Then why ransack the place? And why not take the bug with him, to avoid leaving a trail?"

Kate looked around the room in confusion. Something about this case just didn't add up.

Good thing she loved the odd ones.

They headed back to the precinct. Ryan started running down the shoe print to try and identify the type of shoe worn by the killer while Esposito went to canvas the building. Kate and Castle called up a list of all of Carver's clients and then narrowed it down to anyone who had a violent history, then sent those mug shots to Espo to help with the canvas. Castle looked though the rest of the clients to make sure they weren't missing anything, while Kate tried to track down the bug.

"You know Castle, I'm impressed. Our victim's office was bugged, and you haven't once tried to blame this on the CIA."

"A poorly manufactured commercial low radius wireless RF transmitter?" the writer snorted. "If Uncle Sam was bugging someone, I think they'd do better than that."

"Well, if I'd known that I could have saved a half hour of sitting on hold, waiting for law enforcement to confirm that Carver wasn't a person of interest in any investigations. Sometimes I think I underestimate you, Castle."

The writer proved just how much he'd changed when he merely smiled in reply, instead of shooting back a witty retort.

Soon after that, Carver's wife arrived. She was obviously upset, but not able to name anyone she thought might have murdered her husband, noting that he never talked about work with her. After saying goodbye to the woman and typing up the notes from their interrogation, they headed to the morgue to see if Lanie had any answers for them.

"I found this in your vic's sock," Lanie said, handing them a piece of paper.

Kate looked at the drawing on the paper and looked closely. "This just looks like the world's least interesting doodle," she commented dismissively.

"Then why was it hidden in his sock?" asked Castle, taking the paper from her. He turned it upside down, then held it up to the light and turned it over, then turned it upside down again. After thirty seconds of staring at the paper, he dropped his arms in defeat. "Ok, I got nothing."

"Whatever it is, I doubt it's worth killing over," said Kate, sceptically.

"So why was he hiding it in his sock?" the writer mused.

Kate felt her cellphone buzz in her pocket and pulled it out. Seeing Esposito's name on the caller ID, she hit speaker. "Hey Espo, what you got?"

"I was showing the photos of Carver's clients around the neighbourhood, and I got a hit on a guy called Random Pierce."

"Someone actually named their kid Random?" Castle asked. "No wonder he turned to a life of crime."

"Anyway," continued Esposito, "Random just did two years at Five Points, and then was caught in another B&E a week after he got out. He was supposed to appear in court today, but didn't show. Judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest at 9 this morning. I've tracked down his last known address."

"Good work. Send through the address and we'll meet you there." This could just be the break we need, Kate thought.

They met Ryan and Esposito outside Random's apartment building. Esposito showed them a photo of Random while Ryan did a little recon.

"Only two exits from the building," Ryan told them when he returned. "Random's got a record of evading arrest, so Espo and I can head round the back while you and Castle go in through the front."

Kate nodded her agreement, and the two male detectives took off for the back of the building. Kate paused for a moment, waiting to give them time to get into position before she and Castle headed in the front of the building.

While she waited, Kate lent back on the hood of the Crown Vic and let out a sigh of utter exhaustion. Beside her, Castle laughed.

"It is wrong that I'm enjoying a murder investigation as a tranquil break from reality?" she asked. "How on Earth can two kids be so much work?"

Castle smiled. "You'll get used to it," he promised.

"How do people do this? How do they have kids and work full time? How did you manage to write best sellers while taking care of Alexis? I feel like I can barely string a sentence together."

"The boys are easy. You can't imagine how much work they are when they're little. I don't think I slept for about four years after we had Alexis. And she was an easy baby."

Kate couldn't help but let out a groan, just imaging it. "We are never having more kids," she vowed.

Beside her, Castle froze.

Startled, Kate tried to think of what she'd said that had shocked him so much. She ran over what she'd just said in her head. We are never having more kids. Implying that if she was going to have more kids, Castle would be the father.

For a moment, the detective floundered for a way to correct her Freudian slip. Eventually she just gave up. Deep down, she thought they both knew it was the truth, anyway. She went with changing the subject instead.

"Come on, Castle, Espo and Ryan should be in position now. Let's head on up."

"I don't think we need to go up there," the writer replied.

"What?" she asked, confused. Was he going to challenge her on what she'd just said? She felt her heart beat faster in anticipation.

"I think Random is coming to us," he said, gesturing to the side of the building, where a guy was climbing down a drainpipe on the outside of the building.

Kate ran over. "NYPD. Stop!"

The guy looked up at her shout, and they could clearly see his face matched the mug shot of their suspect. Before they could move, he jumped the rest of the way to the ground, taking off at a sprint.

Kate and Castle took off chasing after him. Random ran towards the street corner, and then out into the street. A car coming in the opposite direction suddenly swerved to hit him. The driver jumped from the car and ran to Random before he could get up, quickly securing his hands in a pair of cuffs.

"Hey, what are you doing with my perp?" shouted Kate angrily.

The man who had apprehended Random looked over. "Don't worry, we're on the same team," he said.

"Royce?" Kate asked.

"Hey, kiddo," Royce replied.

Kate stared at Royce, unable to speak.

Castle broke the silence. "Nice driving."

"Thanks," said Royce, finally breaking eye contact with Kate. He held out the hand that wasn't holding Random's collar. "Mike Royce. Bounty Hunter."

"Richard Castle, Writer," Castle replied, shaking hands.

"Random Pierce, Completely Innocent," commented Random.

Royce rolled his eyes.

Kate unconsciously took a step closer to Castle. "Royce used to be on the job," she told him.

"On the job, she says. Like I was just any old cop! I was her training officer, you know. Taught her everything she knows."

"Not quite everything," said Kate quietly.

"Well, if I'm intruding on your reunion, I'd be happy to go," said Random.

"The only place you're going is jail," Kate replied.

"I wasn't running away. I was jogging," Random asserted.

Kate dropped herself wearily into the chair opposite him in the interrogation room and rolled her eyes. "So, what were you doing climbing down the side of a building?"

"Cross-training. Better cardiovascular workout."

Kate brought her hands down on the interrogation room table with a bang. "Random, you did a stint at Five Points Correctional and within a week of your release, you were breaking into someone's apartment."

"That was a misunderstanding. I wrote down my friend's address wrong."

"Really? So, what do you call killing Deon Carver? Mistaken identity?"

"Deon's dead?"

"Nice try. You have a history of breaking and entering, and I have a victim whose offices were ransacked. And you were seen arguing with Carver three hours before he was killed."

"He invited me to dinner 'cause he wanted to stress the importance of my attendance at court this morning. And, seeing as he had 100k on the hook if I skipped—"

"Which you did," Kate interjected.

"My alarm clock didn't go off."

"Or you were so exhausted after killing Carver that you slept right through it."

"Come on! Three hours after we had dinner, I was shoplifting at Bookmart uptown!"

"Your alibi for killing your bail bondsman was that you were too busy committing another crime to have time to murder him?"

"Yes, well, I forgot to pay. I was so used to being in a prison library. I tried to tell the security dude that, but he had me in some ninja choke hold. Luckily for me, I was able to slip away before the cops came. Sucker! But that guard would totally remember me."

Kate let Esposito take Random back to holding while Ryan ran down his alibi. In the bullpen, she found Mike Royce chatting with Castle.

"You better not be giving him any blackmail material," she warned.

"Which one of us are you talking too?" Castle asked.

She frowned, considering the dirt they each had on her. "Both of you."

Ryan hung up his phone and walked over. "Security confirms Random was busy stealing The Da Vinci Code at the time of Carver's murder."

"The Da Vinci Code?" said Castle in horror. "That derivative, uninspired and insipid waste of paper? A novel which Salman Rushie said was 'so bad it gives bad novels a bad name'. Random is definitely our murderer. Only a serial killer could have such bad taste."

"Is he always like this?" Royce asked.

"Worse," Beckett deadpanned.

"A blight on novels everywhere! For a while after that book was released I was ashamed to say I was a mystery writer," Castle continued. "If an infinite amount of monkeys sat at an infinite amount of typewriters and typed for the rest of history, none of them could happen upon such a random collection of drivel."

"So, I guess that means I can take Random off your hands and get him down to central booking?" said Royce.

"And claim the bounty?" Kate asked. "Go ahead." She waved a hand in the direction of the cells.

"A book which Stephan Fry described as 'complete loose stool water'. A shame on world literature. And once finally being released from prison, this is the book that Random decided to steal?" The writer shook his head mournfully. "I feel for the future of humanity. "

Kate exchanged a raised eyebrow with Royce, wondering how long Castle could continue decrying Dan Brown's complete works. Fortunately, they didn't have opportunity to find out, as the alarm suddenly sounded from Castle's phone. He pulled it from his pocket and glanced at the screen, cancelling the alarm.

He held up the phone to show Kate. "I better get going if I'm going to get the kids from school."

A sudden wave of guilt washed over Kate. She hadn't been thinking of the boys at all. She had no idea what time it was. In fact, if you had asked her a minute ago, she wondered if she would have even remembered she had kids.

It was moments like this that Kate feared she would be a terrible mother. Good moms put their family first. They were always thinking of their children. They didn't get so wrapped up in murder investigations that they forgot their children even existed. If the alarm hadn't gone off on Castle's phone, would she have even remembered to pick them up after work?

"Wouldn't have pegged you for a family man," said Royce.

"Most important thing in the world to me," replied Castle with a beaming smile.

That was true, Kate thought. Castle would never forget the kids.

"Anyway, it was good to meet you, Royce. Thanks for those great stories." Castle said, with a sly look at Kate.

Roy laughed. "Same to you, Castle. I better get going myself, and get this guy down to Bookings. Hey, Beckett, how about a drink tonight? We can catch up."

Kate paused for a moment, considering. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Castle very obviously not making eye contact with her, unnecessary straightening a pile of files on her desk before leaving.

"Sounds good," she replied. Castle's eyes snapped up to hers for a minute, before quickly darting away. "Why don't you come over for dinner?" she asked.

Castle's eyes darted back to hers. They locked eyes for a minute in silent conversation.

Apparently satisfied, Castle nodded and gave her a brief smile, then headed for the elevator.

After a moment she realised Royce was giving her a strange look. Apparently she was too busy watching Castle's retreating form to hear his reply.

"Sorry, I missed that," Kate said, willing herself not to blush.

Fortunately, Royce seemed oblivious to the source of her confusion. "I said that sounds great," he repeated. He headed over to the holding cells. "Text me your address," he shouted over his shoulder.

"Zeke, give it!"

"No! It's my turn."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not, stupid!"

"Is too, poo head!"

"Right!" Kate bellowed. "It's nobody's turn, because dinner will be ready soon, which means you need to turn off the computer games and you both need to wash your hands and help me set the table."

"It's not a computer game," said Zeke.

"It's an X-box," Eli finished. The twins exchanged a 'can-you-believe-this-lady' eye roll of solidarity.

"Do I look like I care? It gets turned off and you both lend a hand, please."

"I'm using the bathroom first!" shouted Zeke, running toward the stairs.

"Well then I'm using Uncle Rick's bathroom," Eli shouted, running toward Castle bedroom.

Kate made her way over to the kitchen, where Castle was pulling a dish from the oven.

"Sugar quill!" He shouted, suddenly. He dropped the tray and pulled his index finger into his mouth. "Burn," he explained.

"Sugar quill?" she asked.

"Trying to cut the bad language in front of impressionable ears."

Kate looked over at Castle, who looked positively adorable sucking on his burnt finger, with his hair mussed and a bright pink apron on. She couldn't help but smile at the sight. Castle smiled bashfully back at her, and suddenly his messy hair looked like bed head, and the finger in his mouth only made her notice his lips, and she was suddenly filled with the need to be much, much closer to them.

There was a sudden pounding, as Zeke come barrelling down the stairs. "I want to put the knives on the table!"

The moment broken, Kate looked away, fighting the heat that was suddenly flooding her face. When had it gotten so hot in the kitchen?

There was suddenly a loud knocking at the door, and Kate was glad to escape from Castle's piercing look, and messy hair and bright pink apron. "That'll be Royce," she said to no one in particular, making her way over to the door.

Sure enough, her old training officer stook on the other side of the door. His was looking down at the phone in his hand, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Katie! It is you." He held up the phone. "I was just checking the address again. Pay rates have obviously gone up a hell of a lot since I was on the force."

Kate stepped back and he walked in through the open doorway. "Wow," he muttered when he caught sight of the apartment.

"Royce, hi," said Castle from the kitchen, holding up a spatula in greeting.

A smug grin broke out on Royce's face. "Oh, I see," he commented with a look at Kate.

"I want the knifes!" shouted Eli, sparing Kate from having to come up with an explanation.

"No it's my turn!" Zeke shouted back.

"Give it!"

"Stop it!"

"Boys! We do not fight in this house. Zeke, you can put the knives and forks on the table. Eli, would you please get the glasses. Carefully."

Zeke smirked in triumph, poking his tongue out at his brother.

"What did I just say? You'll put that tongue back in your mouth or you won't be getting any desert."

Kate turned back to Royce, who was still standing just inside the doorway, his jaw hanging slack in shock. "God, how long was I away for?"

The following morning, Kate yawned at her desk, trying to focus on the words on the page in front of her. Catching up with Royce, reminiscing about her rookie days, had been a lot of fun and they'd talked well into the night. She was paying for it now.

It had been weird, seeing Royce's reaction to the boys. She'd explained how she'd gotten custody of them when her cousin died.

Royce had looked confused. "You have a cousin?" he'd asked.

It was strange to think he hadn't known that. She'd forgotten how closed off she had been, even to those closest to her, before Castle. Not that she was necessarily that much more open now, but Castle had a way of dragging it all out of her anyway.

Once she'd hastily corrected Royce's assumption that she was the boys' mother, he kept saying how strange it was to see her around kids; that he'd never seen her as the 'family' type. It bothered her, reinforcing all those feelings of doubt she had over the own abilities.

The truth was, the way she'd been when she knew Royce, she wouldn't have seen herself as the family type either. She'd changed a lot since then, a large part of which could be attributed to the strength and trust of the men by her side each day.

But just because she'd changed, it didn't mean she'd changed into the kind of person who was a good mom.

Something else Royce said last night had been bothering her too. Castle had taken the boys off for their bath, leaving her and Royce to catch up. "I'm a bit surprised you guys work together so well." Royce had said, looking up at the top of the stairs where Castle had disappeared.

"Why's that?" Kate had asked, a tad defensively. "Didn't think I was his type?"

"Kate," said Royce. "You're everyone's type. I just didn't this he was yours."

Kate had had no response to that bold statement. Even now, she didn't know why it bothered her so much. With all the upheaval in her life at the moment, the last thing Kate needed was a relationship to complicate things, let alone a relationship with Castle. If things went wrong, she could lose everything. Yet there was some part of her that was disappointed the writer had never pushed for something more between them. Still-

"Yo, Beckett," Eposito called from across the bullpen, breaking into her introspection. "I reckon we got a lead. Lanie said when she was about to cut into our vic's skull, she noticed he had a little cross of oil on his forehead, like someone tried to give him last rites."

Ryan came over to join them, nodding a hello to Beckett. "So we looked for some kind of religious link and it turns out our vic made several donations to a church in the South Bronx run by Father Aaron Low."

"Good work," praised Beckett. "Let's go pick him up."

Kate got a weird vibe off the priest. He claimed to know Deon Carver because he was helping him and his wife through marital troubles. It hadn't taken them long to notice that the shoes he was wearing matched the prints left at the crime scene.

The good Father claimed the vic was already dead when he got there, and he had just administer last rites and called 911. Kate rather doubted that and had been all sent to charge the priest with murder, until Ryan had interrupted their interrogation to say that he had finally chased down the owner of the bug they had found in the vic's office: Brooke Carver, the victim's wife. Unfortunately, that rather lent credence to Father Aaron's assertions of marital discord, and gave them another person of interest to chase.

Eventually it was Castle who figured out that the scribble they found on their vic was a treasure map to a 10 million dollar jewel heist, buried in a cemetery.

Of course.

Kate had got a rep around the prescient for having a certain propensity for the 'weird' cases even before Castle had stitched his shadow to her foot. But since the writer joined the team, it seemed all their cases wound up being downright odd.

Which was how she found herself in a cemetery, after dark, a shovel in her hand and her gun on her hip. They headed in the direction of the grave from the 'treasure map' only to find the victim's wife standing over an open grave, apparently digging for the same treasure they were trying to find.

Of course, the vic's wife pulled a gun, and then Kate pulled her gun, and then an old man ex-con from the original jewel heist emerged from behind the trees with a gun, and then Royce – traitorous bastard – appeared with a gun, and Ryan and Esposito came from the other direction with – of course – their guns drawn.

There were entirely too many guns. In fact the only one without a gun was Castle. And the thought that any one of these people could kill her partner – her partner – at any moment was terrifying. If this progressed to an all-out shoot out, as was looking increasingly likely, Castle was completely defenceless. From the angle he was standing, he could even be hit by friendly fire from Ryan or Esposito, trying to get a shot off at the vic's wife.

"Wait," cried Beckett, her mind going at a million miles a minute. She had to get Castle safe. "Maybe we should make sure that treasure if really here, before someone dies for it." She indicated the open grave before them. "Castle, if you would."

Castle looked down at the open grave, then back at her face, incredulously. "You want me to?" he gestured to the grave and then looked back at her face. He sighed. "Why me?" he asked the heavens theatrically.

"Because you're the only one without a gun," she pointed out.

He looked back at her, and she hoped he got it. There wasn't much safety in hiding in an open grave, but it was hell of a lot safer that standing above it, with six loaded guns and the tension reaching boiling point.

"You got a plan, kid?" Royce asked.

She didn't. Her mind hadn't been able to contemplate anything beyond her consuming need to get Castle to safety. "Not one that I plan to share with you," she replied.

"Maybe you should show us all something," Royce continued.

She had a split second of indecision – could Royce really be trusted? – but apparently Castle had no such concerns, because he called "Hey! I found something."

The moment the ex-con and the vic's wife looked over at him, he pitched his shovel up, flinging dirt into their faces.

Beckett wasted no time, diving on the vic's wife and securing her weapon, even as Royce did the same to the elderly ex-con.

"Just like old times, hey kid?" said Royce.

"I can't believe you made us give up that treasure," whined Castle, as they got into the car after taking the suspects down to booking. They'd filed their paperwork, got a "Good job" from Montgomery, and she was happy to be headed home after a long day.

She checked the time on the dash as they pulled into the parking garage under the loft. "Think the kids will still be up?" she asked.

"Alexis is good, but …" he trailed off, shrugging. Kate knew what he meant. Alexis was an amazing babysitter ("Big sister," corrected a little voice in Kate's head that sounded remarkably like Alexis), but the boys had been acting out a bit lately. Nothing too bad. Castle said they were acting out in response to the death of their mother. Kate thought they were pushing the boundaries of this new situation, testing to see who would break first.

(Kate had known going into this that she would be the disciplinarian parent, and Castle the indulgent one. It was funny to see how it was playing out though.)

She wasn't exactly expecting the scene that greeted them as they opened the door to the loft, however. From the doorway they could see the back of Alexis head as she sat on the couch. "Tell me, Potter, where would you look if I asked you to bring me a bezor?" said the red head with a sneer in her voice.

Kate and Castle silently walked further into the room. Looking over the back of the couch, she watched Alexis, an open book in her hands, and a twin pressed in closely on each side, all three seemingly utterly engrossed the in the story. Just looking at the scene made something in her chest clench.

There was a tugging on her arm, and she looked up to see Castle's smiling face as he tugged her a little closer to his side. "A miracle," he whispered.

"What on Earth did we ever do to deserve Alexis?" she asked in wonder.

"Oh," said Castle, looking delighted. "I ask myself the same thing every day. Several times, most days."

Kate couldn't resist the smile that stole across her face as she watched Castle's goofy grin. Given all the turmoil and chaos of the last few months, she knew the peace would never last. Hell, given the energy of the twin terrors, she doubted the peace would last more than a second after she or Castle said it was bedtime.

But at that moment, looking at the faces in the room, Kate was content.