First, let me thank everyone for your follows/favourites/reviews. It's good to know someone actually read this.

Now, I feel I need to let everyone know this chapter is a little heavy on the Caskett. Definitely still an Alexis story, but it's a family kind of day in her life and that means Caskett is around. Also, possibly I couldn't resist dropping a little in. Just trust me, it's relevant. Also, it's a long one, and that's after I split thanksgiving into two chapters. No idea how that happened, I'm a max 2000 word chapter kinda gal.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. Just borrowing the characters. Well, except for Emily, she came from my overactive brain. I also don't own Goodnight Moon, not even a copy. If I owned any of those things, i'd be writing this from a beach somewhere, not my apartment in the middle of a snowstorm.

The glass is cold against her nose, foggy in front of her bright blue eyes. Still, she waits. Squints through the fog, wipes it off with the sleeve of her hooded Columbia University sweater - a gift from her big sister - and squints again. It's more than a little overcast outside, having rained much of the morning and previous night. Between the lack of sunlight and her admittedly poor vantage point, there isn't much to see. Still, she waits.

"What's the situation out there?" His voice is kind, warm against her cheek as he punctuates his question with a kiss.

She smiles, rubs her chilled nose against her sweater sleeve, and plants a small kiss on his cheek in return. "Not yet. Soon," she assures him.

He grins, reaches out to lift her to his hip but she's too quick. As she runs across the loft he literally hears the pitter patter of little feet and it has him laughing because it's such a fitting reflection of his life at the moment. His curiosity has him rooted to the spot as he waits to see what she's up to. He can't help the feelings that rise inside of him when he sees her tug her blankie across the living room to the entrance way, where she camps out, ear pressed to the door. She doesn't seem distressed - simply a little impatient - so he leaves her be. That is, after he captures a snapshot on his phone, sending it to his wife and returning to his post in front of the stove.

"You're lucky his lawyer isn't claiming we coerced that confession out of him," Kate scowls, though the entire precinct can see the smile that threatens.

"I'm sorry," Detective Ryan manages between snorts of laughter, "but it was effective, wasn't it?"

"Sure was!" pipes Detective Esposito, wiping tears of laughter from his face. "Did you see the look on his face when you sat down and didn't speak right away? I thought he was going to wet himself!"

Kate rolls her eyes as she settles into her desk chair, setting to work completing the day's paperwork. Since her desk suddenly feels overwhelmed with files, she moves her much loved picture frame from one end of her desk to the other, just to be safe. The photo - a quick snapshot of Castle sandwiched between his daughters as they plant a kiss on each of his cheeks - reminds her that this is definitely the kind of thing Castle would love to hear about. She's about to reach for her phone, thinking she'll drop him a quick text on the subject, when it chimes, displaying a message from the man in question. She lets out a small laugh at the photo that awaits her.

"Something to share with the class?"

Kate nods, holds up her phone so Esposito can see it from where he lurks over her shoulder. "Emily," she explains, though the photo is self-explanatory.

"Cute," he admits aloud, though it's only loud enough for the three of them to hear. He may have a little one of his own on the way and a serious soft spot for the littlest Castle, but he's under the impression that he still has a reputation to protect and cooing over baby pictures in the middle of the precinct is a sure way to ruin it.

"Aw! How sweet," coos Ryan, clearly having let go of any dreams of being perceived as a some sort of badass tough guy long before his two children joined the world.

Esposito gives a half hearted roll of his eyes at his partner's comment before reaching for the pen in Kate's hand. "You should get going, she's waiting for you."

Kate smiles, but shakes her head 'no'. "Dinner isn't for hours and I've got a lot of work to do. Besides, I'm guessing this means she hasn't napped today so maybe she'll tire herself out and catch some z's right there."

Esposito laughs, but disagrees with her. "Kate, you got the confession - with a little help, but still - I can finish things up here so you can go see your little girl. You too Ryan - I'm sure Jenny could use the help with your herd at her feet."

Ryan declines the offer, but even as he cites his early departure the year prior everyone knows he's enjoying the relative quiet of the precinct. He returns the offer to Esposito, who explains that Lanie is still working so there's really no point in him leaving yet. They both watch as a thought process is evident in Kate's features.

"Maybe I can have a nap," Kate mutters in realization, louder than she had intended. "I mean…" she backtracks when she catches the boys watching her, "maybe I should go home, give Castle a hand with dinner, entertain Emily while he cooks…"

"Crash for a few hours before everyone invades the Castle loft?" Ryan supplies with a smirk.

Kate narrows her eyes in warning as she begins to put on her coat. "Maybe I will," she quips, "afterall, I am a crazy, sleep deprived pregnant lady who's liable to go off at any minute." She smirks as both boys have the good sense to look guilty before wishing them a happy Thanksgiving and promising to bring leftover stuffing to share at lunch the next day.

Alexis stands in her kitchen, double checking her list of necessary supplies against the two full shopping bags in front of her. "Something is missing," she mutters, shuffling a bag's contents.

"Think you've got enough stuff there?" Pi asks, watching her from the table where he sits with his laptop open.

The redhead shakes her head, lets out a sigh. "No, not when I'm worried I'm forgetting something. Plus, it never hurts to have extra since Dad likes to snack while I bake."

"Tell me again why you aren't just making it here?" he asks, no longer bothering to look up from his keyboard.

"Because," she begins with a sigh, reluctantly moving the bags from the counter to the table by the door, "as awkward as being the bag lady is, it sure beats having to carefully pack pastries to bring on the subway. You'll be there in time for dinner, right?"

Pi nods, continues to focus on the screen in front of him. "Yep."

Kate drops Rick a quick text as she walks through the lobby of their building, wanting to know if she should beware of a human doorstop. She grins when she reads his reply of Yes, a live one at that.

As she reaches their door she knocks before pulling her keys from her pocket. She deliberately jingles the keys - has to be sure the human doorstop has moved before she swings the door open - before slipping them into the lock. She's barely opened the door when it's thrown open from the inside.

"Momma!" Emily cheers, tiny arms thrown around her mother's legs in celebration.

"Hi, beautiful," she returns, one hand stroking through her daughter's hazelnut curls as the other clutches her keys and purse. "Hey," she says to her husband as he joins them in the entryway, mouthing a quick thank you when he lifts their daughter to her so she can give the girl a real hug. "How was your day?" she asks the toddler, tracing a cheek with her fingers, noting small bags under her eyes. "Did you have a nap?" she asks, half to her daughter and half to her husband.

Castle gives a frown. "We tried, but it just wasn't happening today. She got a half hour at most."

Kate nods, having had the same issue a few days before while he was in a meeting with his publisher. She gives her daughter a quick look - a silent assessment of her current situation and smiles. "You know what I was thinking today when I was at work?" When she's answered with a shake of the young girl's head and a curious look she continues. "I was thinking it's been a long time since you and I read Goodnight Moon together. How about you find it, and we can cuddle up and read before dinner?"

The little girl happily agrees, feet moving at a running pace before her father has even set her down on the floor.

"Think that'll work?" Castle asks, seizing their moment alone to tug Kate into a hug, kissing her sweetly.

"I sure hope so," she sighs, pushes back a misplaced hair on his forehead. "Honestly, I was hoping to get my own nap in before dinner."

He nods, runs a hand along the side of her expanding belly. "Baby giving you trouble?"

"Other than keeping me up last night with what had to have been soccer practice?" she laughs. "It was also a bit of a long day at work. Got a confession though. You are not going to believe what the boys told the suspect to get that bit of information out of him."

He grins in anticipation, laughing when his daughter wedges herself between her parents, book tucked tightly under her arm. "Tell me after story time?" he requests with a wink.

Alexis pauses with a hand on the doorknob, quickly lets go as if she's been burned. The thing is, for all the 18 years she spent living in the loft, she's not sure if she should knock or just let herself in.

She opts for the middle - pushes the door open slowly, gently knocking on the door as she does so. Her Dad, in his apron of course, rounds the kitchen counter with a grin, grabs her in for the same kind of bone crushing hug he specializes in, plants a kiss on her cheek.

"Happy Thanksgiving," she says against his shoulder.

"Happy Thanksgiving!" he cheers, then cringes as he shoots a quick glance toward the stairs, raises a finger to his lips. "Beckett and Emily are taking a nap, so we'll have the kitchen to ourselves for a while. Here, let me take those."

She smiles, gladly hands over her overstuffed bags as she follows him into the kitchen.

"What exactly are you making that requires this much stuff?" he laughs, peeking through the contents of one bag.

"Tarts. I couldn't decide what kind, so I'm going to make 12 cherry cranberry, and 12 caramel apple."

"Oh," Castle says absently, hands busy unloading the contents of one overstuffed bag. "Does that mean you've got those little caramels in here somewhere?"

"Don't you have a turkey to baste?"

Castle takes the hint, busies himself with dishes for the main course, keeping his snacking to a minimum. A stealthy minimum.

"I saw that."

"Saw what?" Castle asks, feining innocence.

"I also saw the other four times," Alexis scolds, smirking as he at least has the decency to look embarrassed.

"They're just so tasty," he defends, popping yet another caramel into his mouth.

"Well, if you keep this up the tarts won't be half as tasty as they're supposed to be."

"Fair enough," he concedes, rounds the counter to put some distance between himself and the candy. Settling onto one of the barstools, he watches his daughter carefully. "Speaking of tarts...where's Pi?"

"Dad," she warns.

"Alright, terrible segue, I know, I'm sorry. I do stand by my question though. He's not working is he?"

"No. Sort of. He's at home doing some work on his laptop but he said he'd be here in time for dinner," she explains, carefully placing two full trays of tarts in the oven before setting the timer on her phone. "Those will be out in twenty minutes. Until then, I'd appreciate it if you'd refrain from trying to sample them."

"What?" he scoffs, shaking his head. "When have I ever-"

"Dad, last year you sat at the dinner table with a cold pack in your mouth because you felt the need to sample the sugar pie while it was baking."

He scrunches up his face, smacks his lips a few times. "Oh yeah…" he sighs at the painful memory. "Okay, I'll stay out of the tarts, if you'll tell me what's so important that Pi couldn't come spend the day with us here."

"He had work to do, Dad, let it go," she tells him, her exasperation showing only slightly as she helps herself to a drink from the fridge.

"I'm not buying it," he says simply, following her to the living room and slumping onto the sofa beside her. "He didn't come out for Beckett's birthday either."

"He had to work then too," she mutters.

"Did he? Because it feels a lot like-"

"Dad, can we please not talk about this today?"

He can see he's struck a nerve, and the protective father in him decides he needs to continue this line of questioning. "Alexis, if there's-"

"'lexis!"

They turn in unison to face the stairs, both smiling as Emily carefully takes the last few stairs before flying across the room, launching herself into her big sister's arms.

Alexis grins, squeezes the toddler with excitement. She waited a long time for a sibling and was certainly not disappointed with the first one she got. "Where've you been hiding all afternoon?"

Emily smiles, shoves her hair out of her eyes. "Momma read me 'Moon and I got the sleepies," she says simply.

Behind her, Castle grins. "Where's Momma now?"

"Sleepin'," she tells him with a quick look, before turning back to her sister. "Have to be quiet when Momma sleepin' so baby sleep too," she explains, covering her mouth with her hand.

"I see," Alexis whispers, leaning in conspiratorially. "I think I have an idea of how we can do that. But first, let me get dessert out of the oven, okay?"

Kate wakes to the sound of laughter - or, perhaps more accurately, giggles - filtering through the bedroom door. The patch of mattress her sleeping daughter occupied when she gave into her own exhaustion has gone cold. Looking at the clock, she's pleased with the amount of sleep she's been able to get in the middle of the afternoon, and hopes her daughter slept for a decent amount of time as well. Hauling herself up, she eyes the copy of Goodnight Moon on her bedside table with a smile. "Worked like a charm," she mumbles. A quick - well, as quick as she can manage in her current state - stop at the washroom and a change of clothes later, she emerges from the bedroom. From the top of the stairs the giggles are louder, and she can hear the gentle cadence of Rick's voice as he tries to tell the girls to quiet down. She smiles as she goes down the stairs to the living area.

The sound of her footsteps catches Alexis' attention and she gives Kate a sheepish look. "Sorry Beckett, we got a little carried away…"

Shaking her head, Kate smiles. "Don't worry about it, if I slept any longer I wouldn't have been able to get up for dinner."

"Momma, look!"

Her attention is drawn to Emily, who sits on the living room floor in the old shirt of Rick's that she wears as a smock when they do crafts. "What've you got there?"

"Birdy!" She cheers, pointing to what appears to be a brown construction paper turkey, and a pile of hand shapes cut from brightly coloured paper.

"I finished making dessert earlier than I had anticipated so we did some googling and found a craft we could do together," Alexis explains, holding up a picture of a completed turkey. "I think we have enough supplies to do a few of these, think Jim would like to take one home after dinner?"

Kate grins, nods. "I think he'd love that." With that, she leaves the girls to their crafts to join her husband in the kitchen. "Has she been awake long?"

"Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. When Alexis suggested the two of them do a craft to keep her out of your hair while you slept we both thought it would be a quiet activity and-"

"Castle, relax. There are far worse things to wake up to," she tells him, leaning into his side as she watches the two sisters work together to glue the hand shaped tail feathers on the turkey.

"Definitely," he nods, wrapping an arm around her as he watches too.

"Is Pi here?" she asks suddenly, looking around the loft.

"Not yet. Alexis said he had a few things to finish up at home but he should be by for dinner."

Kate nods but doesn't comment, simply begins assembling her usual stuffing. They've been doing this together a few years now - Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, Sunday breakfasts - cooking side-by-side, and they've found their rhythm in the kitchen. They move flawlessly through the kitchen, focusing on their respective tasks while maintaining easy conversation, pausing at shared lulls in prep work for quick, chaste kisses and embraces, watching on as their daughter listens carefully to her big sister's instructions, Castle taking every possible opportunity to run a hand along his wife's expanded belly.

"Tah dah!" Emily squeals, patting the last bit of construction paper into place. "Done!'

With a grin, Alexis picks up her sister with one arm, the opposite hand carefully taking hold of a paper turkey and walks into the kitchen. "We made five," she tells them, handing Kate the turkey.

"Wow!" Kate smiles, handing the turkey to her husband and rounding the kitchen island. "Emily, this is beautiful!" she tells her daughter, planting a noisy kiss on the girl's cheek.

"It is," Castle agrees. "Where are we going to put all of them?"

Emily hums, an almost cartoon-like expression on her face as she thinks, strokes her chin. "Papa. And Grams," she whispers.

Kate nods. "Papa and Grams will love these. Who else gets one?"

The toddler puts on her most thoughtful face once more - the adults all suppressing adoring laughs - before Alexis raises her free hand for the girl, wiggling three fingers. "You've got three more to share."

"Momma, Daddy, and 'lexis," the girl says simply, pointing to each of Alexis' remaining fingers.

"I get one?" Alexis asks surprised, watching as the little girl nods. "I think that will look great on my fridge, thank you." She plants a kiss on the toddler's cheek, moves to stand her up on a kitchen stool and helps her remove her makeshift smock.

"Dad and Martha should both be getting here soon," Kate comments, glancing at her watch. "Emily, we should start getting you ready for dinner."

"I could take care of that," Alexis offers, taking in the busy scene that is the kitchen. "I mean, you two have a few things happening here…"

Kate smiles, watches her daughter. "Do you think you can be good for Alexis and let her help you get changed?"

"Yup."

"Alright," Kate agrees.

Alexis smirks, knows from babysitting experience what getting the toddler dressed might entail, and helps her sister off the stool.

Kate waits until the girl is out of earshot before turning to Alexis. "Everything is laid out in her room. I got her some tights because they'll look nice with the dress, but if you can't get her to wear them don't worry about it."

With a laugh and a nod, Alexis follows after her sister. "Come on, Columbia girl, let's go get fancy!"

I'd really love it if you'd hit that little review button...