A/N: No excuses for my lack of updates. My attempt at an excuse is I was a bridesmaid in a wedding on Saturday and I had been scrambling the last few weeks trying to get my costume ready for the event (it was a Halloween-themed wedding, I went as Mary Poppins).

With Rick driving, Kate could call her father while they made the trek to New York. The lack of mention of his name in the phone conversation made Rick wonder if her father knew he was staying with the elder Beckett as well. It was possible Kate told her dad they were dating again in the few hours after they rekindled their romance, but that didn't seem likely based on what Rick knew about her; even if she did mention it, she didn't know Rick would agree to come until thirty minutes before she placed the call.

Ending her phone call, Kate looked over to Rick and couldn't help the soft smile that spread across her lips. She reached over the center console and took his right hand resting against his thigh. Rick looked down at their now joined hands and then at Kate. Their mutual grins pushed their hearts into faster and matching rhythms.

"Thank you for coming with me. I don't think I could do this without you."

"I love you, Kate." The words still felt foreign on his lips even though they had raced through his mind every moment he was with her since their first kiss. "It means a lot that you asked me to come."

"Yeah, well Lanie was busy," Kate smirked and waited for Rick's playful glare before continuing, "and while she has impressive arm muscles, they aren't yours; being with you, wrapped in your arms is one of the few things that will probably keep me together the next few days." Kate gave his hand a quick squeeze but didn't let go.

"If all I am to you is a strong pair of arms, then I suppose I can make the sacrifice to hold and comfort a beautiful woman."

They rode in silence for ten minutes, Kate still clutching his hand, before Rick asked, "you mentioned that Lanie knew you had a date, does that mean she knows about us? What about your dad? Is he going to be okay with me being there?"

"Neither of them know that we are together. Lanie thinks I've been interested and subsequently dating the butcher, and my dad, while he definitely suspects we have feelings for each other, I have not told him the change in our relationship."

"Why does Lanie think you are into the butcher? Is this something I should be worried about?"

"She asked me if I was seeing or interested in anyone a few weeks ago and I mentioned that there was someone I met in the meat department at Nate's that caught my eye. The way I worded it though, she assumed I was seeing Hank."

"So, if it isn't Hank the butcher…" Rick flitted his eyes to Kate.

"Seriously, Castle." Kate bit back her smirk. "I was talking about our run-in at the grocery store when my father was visiting. She asked a few days before we had dinner at my place and I didn't want her setting me up with anyone if we were going to start something."

"I knew you had high hopes about that dinner." Rick's teasing lilt had Kate rolling her eyes and pulling her hand from his grip. "So, what about your dad? Is he going to murder me if I'm sleeping in your bed?"

"What's there to say? I've brought boyfriends home before, they slept on the couch, but I'm thirty-three years old not twenty like I was and with you it's…different." Kate turned to look out the window, hoping to avoid talking about how serious she thought they were already.

Rick wanted to press her for more details, but he could sense her desire to drop the subject so he stayed quiet.

With the skyscrapers of New York growing bigger the closer they got, Kate pulled out her phone again and called her dad. Despite the time nearing midnight, Rick could hear Jim's greeting within seconds.

"Hey Dad, we are about twenty minutes away and I have my key to let us in, so don't feel like you have to wait up."

Rick shot her a look with her use of "we" and "us" in the conversation. Kate met his worried eyes with a grin before responding to her father's question about whom she was with.

"Rick is with me, actually." Kate paused for Jim's response and Rick imagined him giving her the third degree about his presence. "We are together," Kate confirmed, reaching for Rick's hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. "Yeah, Dad, you were right, it was sooner rather than later. Don't give him a hard time though, he's already freaking out about you knowing he's going to be sleeping in my bed." Kate chuckled at Rick's horrified look. "All right, Dad, we'll see you soon. Bye."

After hanging up, Rick exclaimed, "Kate! Why did you tell him that?"

"Because this trip is already going to be hard for me and I needed to lighten it up a bit at your expense." She smirked.

"Well, see if I let you play my new Angry Birds then."

Rick pulled into an empty spot in the underground parking ramp by Jim Beckett's apartment just past midnight. Rick grabbed both his and Kate's overnight bags and slung them over his shoulder. Kate reached to take her bag from him, but Rick stopped her and instead held her hand as they walked to Jim's building.

They boarded the elevator and Rick dropped the bags and pulled Kate toward him to kiss her. Before she could protest, not that she wanted to, Rick had slipped his tongue past her lips and pored his pent-up desire into that one moment.

Pulling away in a daze, Kate breathed out, "what was that for?"

"In case I don't get another opportunity to kiss you without fear of your dad walking in."

Kate smiled and before pressing her lips against his again said, "I'm glad my dad lives on the 15th floor and this elevator is slow."

Consumed by each other, it wasn't until the elevator pinged to notify of their arrival to the 15th floor that they pulled apart.

"They must have fixed the elevator. It never used to move that quickly," Kate breathed out, then dragged Rick off the elevator with her.

As the pair approached apartment 1509, Kate pulled out her keys and found the one to her father's apartment. She quietly unlocked the door with an adeptness that made Rick wonder how often she sneaked into the apartment during her youth.

The glow from a table lamp near the doorway illuminated the cozy living room that was filled with pictures of Kate and her parents. There was no need to see a family album as it was already displayed all over the room. Rick approached a photograph of Kate around the age of seven, wrapped in her mother's arms as the pair smile at the photographer.

Kate sidled up to Rick, rested her chin on his shoulder and smiled warmly at the picture he was looking at. "That was taken at a family reunion when I was in second grade. My mom caught my arm as I walked by and smothered me in kisses, then my dad appeared out of nowhere with a camera, as usual. She was so amazing. If I could be half as wonderful of a mom as she was, any kids I may have would be lucky."

Rick turned and wrapped his arm around Kate's waist. He rested his forehead against hers and said, "you are extraordinary and I'm the luckiest man in the world because I get to love you."

Kate brushed her lips over his and whispered, "I love you too." She moved her hand down his arm and grabbed his hand. "Let me show you my room, then we can get some sleep," she said, tugging him down the narrow hallway of her dad's apartment.

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