Disclaimer: All things "Castle" belong to the powers that be at ABC & Co.

Author's Note: Easing back into writing about Caskett with this, a plotless piece of fluff for Valentine's Day inspired by one line and I think you'll all be able to guess which line without my saying so. Enjoy!

Yours, Mine, and Ours

Even after all these years, Kate could still not say that she really felt comfortable at big splashy parties like Castle's book launch party tonight.

She had hoped she was doing a good job at hiding it but then Esposito paused and eyed her after his mention that he might head out. "I can stick around longer," he offered.

Kate waved him off. "I don't need a babysitter, Espo. Go. Have a good night."

"You too, boss."

She balled up a paper napkin and tossed it at him. "Don't call me that."

Espo only grinned and waved a hand. "Night."

She watched him go and then took another sip of the wine she'd been nursing for almost half an hour now as she let her eyes sweep over the room, the lights seeming to be multiplied as they glittered off the jewels highly visible on basically every female guest. Her cop brain thought, not for the first time, that this would be another prime event for a jewel thief to scope out.

And while she didn't need a babysitter, Espo wasn't entirely wrong that this really was not her scene anymore. Not that glitzy parties had ever been much of her scene, for that matter, but they certainly weren't anymore. She wasn't used to spending nights out at all anymore. She wanted to be at home.

She'd go home soon enough, she told herself firmly, and pasted on a smile, attempting to look appropriately enthused, for purposes of any curious eyes. It wouldn't do to have any of the press people roaming around seeing her and then writing about how bored Richard Castle's wife looked at his own launch party.

Which reminded her, she shouldn't be standing here alone by the wall for much longer for the same reason. She inwardly steeled herself to go make nice and mingle some more but as she thought it, she received a momentary reprieve in the form of feeling her phone buzzing in her clutch and she pulled it out, half-guiltily hoping it might be from the precinct, provide her a good excuse to leave.

It wasn't work. It was a text from Alexis on babysitting duty with a picture of Lily, sleeping soundly and looking quite angelic, as she tended to in sleep. No one looking at Lily while sleeping would ever guess how loud or how stubborn she could be, even at this young age, since Lily was already showing signs of a stubborn streak that Kate's dad swore was inherited from Kate.

Kate made a little face, even as she felt a ridiculous little tug of longing. She missed her baby. She hadn't had a chance to go home before the party thanks to a conference call running long so she'd had to change into her dress in the locker room and Castle had picked her up from the precinct. Which meant she hadn't seen Lily since this morning, since she'd kissed her baby before leaving for work well over 12 hours ago now, and she missed her baby.

She pushed the pang of emotion aside and put her phone away, again resolving to go and mingle. She really should, especially because she was proud of Castle, for this book, not just because it was a good one but because he had written it while also taking care of Lily. His first book in two years, since her pregnancy and Lily's birth. It was a big deal, which was why Black Pawn had insisted on throwing one of these fancy launch parties in the first place.

But even knowing all that, even as proud of Castle as she was, she couldn't claim to be entirely enjoying herself, not helped by the fact that after the obligatory publicity photos at the beginning of the party, she and Castle had pretty much been kept separate since Castle, as the guest of honor, had his own round of publicity to do, a line of fans to greet, books to sign, the usual hoopla.

As his wife, she had done her own small part by making the rounds, greeting some of the bigwigs and such, but her part was necessarily small compared to his. Even so, Kate felt as if she'd pretty much used up her limited stock of polite platitudes. (Castle was, as always, much more of a people person than she was.) Unfortunately, by her estimate, she had at least another half hour before she and Castle could reasonably sneak out of the party and leave so she would probably need to go back to making nice in the remaining time. Her eagerness to go back out and socialize wasn't made any easier by the awareness that the beginning of the party had been the easy part with more people around with whom she didn't need to put on an act. Her dad had shown up for the first hour or so in a show of support (and because he had also lost the little competition with Alexis as to which of them would have babysitting duties tonight) and she'd been able to talk to him for a while. Ryan and Jenny had been there, of course, before they'd left about an hour ago so they could relieve the babysitter. Esposito had stuck around longer but then he too had left. Martha had been here but she too had left not that long ago, claiming other plans.

Which left only Lanie–and as if the very thought had conjured her, she saw her friend approaching.

Oh good, another reprieve from having to go mingle some more.

Kate lifted her glass in greeting to Lanie. "There you are. I was just wondering where you were."

Lanie returned the salute with her own glass. "You are one lucky woman, Kate Beckett," was Lanie's greeting.

Kate blinked. "I know," she answered, "but what makes you say that now?"

Lanie shot her a sideways glance. "Oh, let's just say I witnessed a scene between your man and one of his adoring fans just now."

"Let me guess," Kate inserted dryly. "She asked him to sign her chest?" Reputations died hard. Even now, almost a decade after Castle had stopped signing chests–or anything other than books–it never failed that some fans asked him to sign their chests.

Lanie snorted. "Even that would have been a level of subtlety above what this girl tried."

"That bad, huh?"

"Oh, yeah, she was quite something, looked barely old enough to drink, of course, and practically falling out of her dress. And she cornered Castle just outside the men's room and well, let's just say she made it very clear that she was interested in a lot more than his autograph."

"And?" Kate inquired. Lanie was being uncharacteristically euphemistic which, Kate guessed, had to mean the floozy who had cornered Castle had done more than simply flirt or proposition him but had most likely outright groped him. She grimaced at the mental image.

"And Castle made it just as clear he wasn't interested." Lanie glanced at Kate, her voice softening a little. "He did good, Kate. Did just what a woman would want her husband to do in such a situation."

Kate allowed herself to smile. Not because she'd been worried but because she hadn't been worried. "I can imagine."

Lanie narrowed her eyes at Kate. "If you're going to look so disgustingly smug about it, I won't tell you the rest."

Kate promptly smoothed her expression into as much seriousness as she could manage. "I'll behave. Now tell."

"Uh huh," Lanie drawled but relented. "Castle left pretty quickly as you might imagine but I stayed, partly out of sheer curiosity to see how well or badly this girl would take the rejection and I gotta say I got my money's worth because she almost threw the grown-up version of a tantrum."

"Did she stamp her foot or something?" Kate quipped.

"Not quite but the look on her face was quite something and as for what she said, that was even better."

Lanie really was enjoying this far too much, Kate thought, but then had to bite back a laugh as Lanie leaned in closer. "She said, and I quote, 'I hate men who are in love with their wives!'"

She decided this whole party was abruptly much more pleasant. Of course it would still have been better if she could have spent it at home with her husband and daughter but if she couldn't, well, this was reasonable compensation in amusement and, fine, some triumph. After all she and Castle had been through to get to this point, she thought she could be forgiven the triumph.

Lanie gave her a look. "Oh, go ahead and laugh, Kate, I know you want to and I certainly did."

Kate released the laugh she'd been holding in and grinned at her friend. "That almost makes me forgive her for hitting on Castle."

Lanie made a small face. "Judging from her reaction, I'd guess she hasn't been turned down often after coming on so strong."

"Probably not," Kate agreed lightly. "Well, maybe she'll learn a lesson." Out of nowhere, for the first time in years, she found herself remembering Natalie Rhodes and what she'd said so many years ago, about how Castle had told her something she'd never heard from a man before, no.

She abruptly, or not so abruptly, missed Castle and turned to sweep her gaze around the ballroom to locate him, her eyes finding him easily and oh, he appeared to be heading towards her, their eyes meeting.

His expression lit as it usually did when he saw her and she felt her own lips curving into an answering smile, feeling an absurd flutter in her chest as she saw him, a little thrill because she could tell from the difference in his smile that even he, people person that he was, was tired of the publicity and was turning to her for ease.

Plus, he really was looking very good tonight. She'd thought so earlier when she'd first seen him but it bore repeating. These days, he spent most of his time in casual clothes, jeans and sweats, as he stayed at home with Lily and life with a toddler did not lend itself to formal clothing, but tonight, he was dressed like the rich, successful celebrity he was, his hair styled just so, in one of his expensive suits, and wearing a deep red shirt that made his eyes seem all the bluer by contrast. And she felt a now-familiar tug of sheer physical attraction and some possessiveness too because he was hers.

Kate was called back to reality at the sound of Lanie's dry voice. "Well, I can see that I'm no longer needed and that's my cue to leave. See you tomorrow, Beckett."

Kate spared her friend a quick glance and half-apologetic smile. "Night, Lanie. Thanks for coming."

Lanie gave Kate a brief wave and swanned off, exchanging a quick goodbye with Castle as she passed him.

Castle reached for her the moment he arrived, tugging her against him where she went willingly, and kissed her with just a touch more passion than he would normally demonstrate in public. "Finally. I thought I'd never be free."

She smiled as she leaned into him for a moment. "Not enjoying all the adulation?"

"Good word." He glanced quickly around and then met her eyes, adopting one of his puppy dog expressions. "Can we sneak out now?"

She laughed a little. "I've been ready to leave for at least an hour," she told him truthfully.

"Oh good, then let's bust out of this joint. Gina and Paula will probably be annoyed later when they realize it but," he shrugged a little, "being annoyed with me is pretty much their usual state and anyway, I think I've done enough of the publicity act for one night."

"If they try to make an issue out of it, I can just tell them we were called home for Lily, anyway," she offered.

As usual, the mention of Lily had his expression softening even as he glanced at her more sharply. "Lily's okay?"

"She's fine," she soothed, smoothing a hand down the lapel of Castle's jacket more for the sake of touching him than because it needed it. "Alexis sent me a picture just a little while ago of her sleeping soundly."

Castle pursed his lips and shook his head in mock dismay. "I don't know where I went wrong that my daughter was happier to spend the evening babysitting than going to a party to celebrate her own father."

She laughed and nudged him. "I hate to break it to you, Castle, but you know if it comes to a choice between you and Lily, Alexis will choose Lily every time." She was kidding, of course, but there was a grain of truth to it too since Alexis did adore Lily and never lost a chance to spend time with her baby sister.

As usual, the mention of how much Alexis loved her baby sister made Castle's expression soften. "Put like that, who am I to try to get in the way of sister bonding time?"

"Even if you wanted to, knowing Alexis, it would be a wasted effort," Kate responded lightly.

Castle gave her a wry smile. "I'm not quite stupid enough to try."

She patted his cheek in a gesture of mock condolence. "Never mind, Castle, you're still their dad and that won't change."

"Thank you for the reassurance," he returned with mild irony. Her dress had a low back, draped loosely from her shoulders and leaving about half her back bare, and his large, warm hand settled on her bare back as he ushered her outside. Even now, his touch sent a little shiver of reaction through her.

Black Pawn had arranged for a luxurious town car for Castle, as they usually did for these launch parties, and the driver was already waiting with the passenger door open when they emerged. By now, Kate was at least accustomed enough to this sort of luxury not to gape and she had even learned to enjoy it as a special treat on occasion.

The moment she and Castle were both seated and the door closed with as much privacy as they could expect with the privacy panel up between them and the driver, Castle crowded into her, lowering his head to nuzzle a kiss to her shoulder, just above where her dress began. "Have I mentioned how incredible you look tonight?"

She tilted her head to give him greater access and had to swallow before she could respond. "Yes, earlier when you picked me up."

"Well, it's worth repeating. You look amazing, the most beautiful woman in the room tonight."

She felt a little shiver of reaction go through her at the husky sound of his voice, his words, although they did remind her. "Oh, even including the interesting encounter you had leaving the men's room earlier?" she tried, with limited success, to sound teasing rather than breathy.

He lifted his head a little. "The interesting encounter–how do you know about that?"

"Lanie saw it and told me."

He sighed a little, straightening up further as he grimaced. "I hope she also told you that absolutely nothing happened. A girl came on to me, I turned her down, end of story."

Kate turned her head to press a kiss to his chin, the easiest spot she could reach. "Relax, Castle, she told me and I wasn't worried anyway."

He eyed her. "I would have mentioned it but I didn't want to annoy you."

"It sounds like it annoyed you more than it did me. Anyway, it's hard to blame her since I have it on good authority that you're ruggedly handsome," she teased.

"I'm also charming, don't forget," he returned.

"And very vain."

"No, only honest," he responded lightly and she had to laugh a little.

"Ridiculous."

She felt his lips curve against her cheek as he kissed her. "It doesn't matter anyway, because you're the only woman I'm interested in."

She smiled. It wasn't as if she'd doubted it but she couldn't deny that she still liked to hear it. "I should tell you what else Lanie told me."

"If it's about that girl, I really don't care. I was frankly hoping to block it entirely from my memory."

She reached over to pat his knee. "Oh, you'll like this. Lanie said she stuck around so she also saw how the girl reacted to your rejecting her so flatly."

"I assume she pouted."

"Not only pouting but Lanie said she also practically growled in frustration and then burst out, 'I hate men who are in love with their wives!'"

Castle gave a crack of laughter and Kate grinned at him. "That was pretty much my reaction too. I thought you'd enjoy that."

"At least she recognized that much. I am in love with my wife and I don't care who knows it."

She kissed him for that and then nestled her head against his shoulder. "Good to know."

He slid his arm around her. "And what's your opinion of husbands who are in love with their wives?"

"I think it would make our cases easier, if we could rule out the husband easily in more cases."

"Spoken like a cop," he teased and then she knew his thoughts had shifted gear from the renewed husk in his tone as he went on, "Which begs the question, what about wives who are in love with their husbands?"

She pretended to think about this. "I wouldn't want to generalize. Do you have any particular wives in mind?"

"Just one."

She sternly schooled her expression into sobriety. "Just one wife, huh? What's she like? Maybe I know her."

"She's tall, brilliant, stubborn and absolutely maddening sometimes."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Stubborn and maddening? Not very flattering," she drawled.

"She's also gorgeous and the most extraordinary person I've ev–"

She cut him off with her lips, abruptly tiring of this game they were playing. And after all, it wasn't as if she needed to hear him finish the sentiment. So she put an end to their teasing by kissing him and he responded immediately, his mouth opening, their tongues tangling. His hands tugged her into him until she ended up half-sprawled over his chest, her hands clutching him to her. His hands found the bare skin of her back and she arched into him, a little moan escaping her as he caught her lower lip between his teeth.

She pressed herself closer into him and then–

A knocking sound made them both start and break apart and Kate felt her face burn as she realized that they had arrived back at the loft and the driver had been the one to knock on the car window. "Oh god," she breathed, momentarily hiding her hot face against Castle's shoulder before she scrambled hurriedly off his lap and hastily straightened her dress.

He appeared to be much calmer than she was, she noted rather sourly, glancing at her before he opened the car door.

Kate kept her face averted as she slid out of the car, keeping her grip on Castle's hand so she could use his shoulder to keep her face somewhat shielded from the driver's impassive gaze.

Castle sounded a little breathless but otherwise almost as cool as if she and Castle had been doing little more than discussing the weather as he thanked the driver and handed him a couple bills as a tip. While Kate mustered up just enough composure to murmur a hurried good night to the driver before they turned to head inside and again only lifted a hand to wave a greeting to Eduardo the doorman.

"Kate, slow down," Castle spoke up. "It's fine, nothing actually happened. I'm sure the driver's seen worse."

She huffed a little but she did slow down her quick stride, if only because it wasn't all that easy to keep speed-walking while in heels and holding up her dress. "How can you be so calm about this?" she asked with just a touch of irritation.

He shrugged a little. "The driver's hardly going to say anything and even if he did, it's not exactly news that Richard Castle is in love with his wife and was seen kissing her. Married couples are allowed to kiss."

That statement provoked a faint smile, as his calm soothed her own embarrassment. Which, okay, she may have overreacted just a little but she was not exactly used to being caught making out, albeit with her own husband. "You know, this whole voice of reason thing is a little annoying," she told him with a touch of teasing.

He threw her a smirk. "Now you know how I feel most of the time."

She elbowed him for that and he only laughed, slipping his arm around her and pressing a kiss to her hair as he unlocked the door to the loft.

"Hi, Dad, Kate. How was the party?" Alexis looked up from where she was curled up on the couch reading, with the baby monitor beside her.

"It was fine, the usual, lots of fans, bigwigs." Kate smiled and bent to kiss Alexis's cheek. "Thank you so much for watching Lily. How was she?"

"I was happy to do it, so much more fun than going to one of Dad's boring parties," Alexis added with a teasing glance at her dad.

"Hey!"

Alexis grinned and turned back to Kate. "And Lily was as good as gold."

"Uh huh, that doesn't sound like Lily at all," Castle inserted dryly. "What's the real story?"

Alexis made a face at him. "She made a little mess of her dinner but after that, she was fine." Kate glanced at the kitchen. Knowing Alexis and Lily, by 'a little mess,' Alexis probably meant that Lily had done her best to ensure her baby food went everywhere but in her mouth. (After one of Lily's mealtime, ahem, adventures, Kate had found some spatters of baby food had landed so high up on one wall they almost reached the ceiling of the loft.) At least on a quick glance, though, the kitchen looked clean enough, another thing to thank Alexis for, no doubt.

"We played with Play-doh, watched a movie, and had a dance party."

"You had a dance party and you didn't invite me?" Castle feigned hurt as they walked up the stairs.

Alexis laughed and nudged him. "You were kind of busy, remember?"

Castle sobered, slinging his arm around Alexis's shoulders and dropping a kiss on her forehead. "Well, thank you for babysitting, Pumpkin."

"I was happy to do it. Have a good night, Dad, Kate." Alexis gave Castle a quick kiss on the cheek and a little wave for Kate before she vanished into her own room. Castle, Kate knew, was personally thrilled that Alexis's love for Lily meant that she was happy to sleep over on a regular basis, even if Alexis had her own apartment now.

Kate and Castle turned into the nursery to look in on their baby, sleeping soundly, Kate saw in the dim light spilling in from the hallway. Lily was sprawled on her back, her arms and legs spread out like a starfish, as she occasionally slept, to Kate's amusement. She had thrown off her blanket so Kate gently lifted it back up over Lily before dropping a butterfly kiss to Lily's forehead.

Beside her, Castle too bent to brush his hand lightly over Lily's dark hair, the touch so tender it never failed to do something to her, to see the way Castle touched their baby, the contrast between Castle's size, his height and bulk, his hand still dwarfing Lily's small face, and his very gentleness. "Sleep tight, Little flower," he murmured just above a breath.

They both froze as Lily stirred but she only turned her head as if to give them a better view of her face and slept on. Their precious, beautiful baby daughter.

She felt Castle's hand slip into hers and as one, they tiptoed out of the nursery and retreated to their bedroom.

He immediately pulled her into his arms the moment they were inside the bedroom, bending to nuzzle a string of kisses along the curve of her neck. "As gorgeous as you look in this dress, I've been wanting to strip it off you all night."

"I think… ooh… that can be arranged," she agreed breathlessly, moaning a little as his teeth grazed a particular sensitive spot. "As long as you return the favor." She tugged at his jacket, trying to push it off him.

"Your wish is my command, Captain."

Was it weird to feel such a shiver of arousal go through her when Castle called her Captain as he occasionally did? Or maybe it wasn't about his use of the title so much as it was his husky, sexy tone when he said it.

She was a little disappointed when he stepped back but got over that the moment she realized he had taken her at her word and was making quick work of undressing.

The nice thing about her dress was how easy it was to get out of, she thought rather smugly, as she neatly shimmied out of the dress and then tossed it onto a chair. Since she'd changed at the precinct, she hadn't been able to wear any of her sexy underwear but judging from Castle's reaction, it wasn't necessary anyway. And she loved it, loved the way he looked at her, as if she was the most beautiful woman in the world. As if she didn't have multiple scars and a few lingering additional pounds after her pregnancy.

She deliberately lay down on the bed, lying back, unabashedly displaying herself for him. "You coming, Castle?"

He choked something like a strangled laugh at the so-familiar words and almost tripped over his own pants in his haste to get himself out of them and take a step forward at the same time but he managed it and then he was almost falling on top of her, his mouth claiming hers in a kiss just as his hands claimed her body.

"My Kate," he husked against her skin.

She smiled a little. She would never have thought that she would like being claimed in such a way but with Castle, from Castle, it was different. She wrapped her arms and one leg around him to roll them in one fluid move, surprising a little yelp from him even as he willingly followed her lead.

She cupped his cheek with one hand. "I think this evening has shown that you're mine," she returned against his lips just before she kissed him. And proceeded to prove it, with her lips and tongue and hands and body as she explored, claimed, every inch of him from his chest and then moving lower and lower still, until he was groaning something that might have been her name. She knew him so well by now, knew how to touch him, how to caress him, to drive him crazy and she did, loving the knowledge, the bone-deep familiarity and the comfort and confidence that came from it. Until she finally took him inside her and it was, as always, just them, their bodies moving together as one, as if they'd been made to do this, slowly at first and then faster, their hands sliding over each other's damp, heated skin. It wasn't long before they both came, sliding over the edge, with soft cries half-swallowed by the other's mouth.

She slumped on top of him, her face buried in the curve of his neck, feeling as if she'd half-dissolved into him, so close she could feel the rhythm of his heartbeat almost as if it was her own.

A little hum of satiation escaped her and she turned her head just enough to nuzzle a lazy kiss to his ear then his cheek.

She felt more than heard the little hum of pleasure deep in his throat in response as he tightened his arms around her a little, his fingers starting to trace slow random patterns against her skin. "I'm all yours, always," he mumbled.

She lifted her head just enough to smile into his eyes. "Maybe we should agree that we're just ours? Isn't that the whole point, being together?"

"Just ours, yeah, I like that better too. Everything's always better when it's us."

"That almost made sense."

He pretended to huff. "You're mocking me, now? And anyway, you started it."

"I'm not the writer here, you are."

"I think you meant 'the New York Times bestselling writer,'" he corrected loftily.

"The very vain writer," she needled.

He gave her a look of such exaggerated shock that she dissolved into a laugh and as usual, her laughter provoked his until he laughed hard enough that she was dislodged from her position above him and slid off to curl up next to him as their laughs dwindled into smiles.

She nestled her head on his shoulder, her body finding its customary position tucked into his side as he automatically curved into her. She felt one of her muted flickers of surprise which she still occasionally felt at times like these at how much she liked this, sharing a bed with Castle, cuddling with him. She found it a little hard to remember how she could ever have thought she preferred to sleep alone.

She was surprised by a little yawn escaping her.

Castle passed a lightly caressing hand down her hair, soothing her. "Sleep, Kate. You've had a long day."

So had he. She rather thought he had harder days than she did, spending his day taking care of their toddler. "Mm, you too."

He shifted slowly, moving to pull the covers up over them, before he resettled next to her, and she let her eyes close, let the steady thump of his heart beneath her hand lull her into drowsiness.

"Good night," he murmured.

Later, she wasn't sure if her own mumbled response of "Night. Love 'ou," had actually made it out of her lips or had just been thought but then again, it didn't really matter because he knew it anyway. And that, after all, was the best part, just knowing, for sure, that there was always love. Not only his or hers but theirs.

~The End~

A/N 2: Thank you all for reading and reviewing.