No Hassle Castle

This one is short but sweet. Hope you all like it.

Disclaimer: Only the story is mine, everything else belongs to Andrew Marlow and ABC

"Kate, please I asked you not to call me that." Rick whined into the phone with a frown. The snicker that followed told him that it wasn't the last time he would hear it.

"Come on Ricky, would you rather I called you kitten?" Becket purred into the phone as the elevator in her building came to a stop on her floor. With the phone cradled to her ear, she stepped into the hallway and walked briskly toward her apartment.

"You promised not to call me that either. Wasn't the girly pink tassels the guys hung all over my chair today enough?" Closing his lap top and sliding it over onto the cushions of the sofa, he leaned his head back. "Besides I'm still in mourning. How could Royal not pick me? Man's best friend and all." He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "You know you shouldn't kick a guy while he's down."

Kate snorted as she let herself into her apartment and without thinking replied. "Bet I can get you up again." She stopped talking abruptly, realizing what she just said out loud and bit her bottom lip. Grimacing she shook her head and attempted to correct herself. "Oh…I didn't…I mean… " Silence followed until she suddenly blurted out, "Alexis have a good time looking at colleges this weekend?"

"Yeah..." His mind drifted off to the real reason he was so unsettled.

"Castle, you still there?" Kate's voice brought him back.

"Sorry, still having a problem with this college thing. It's coming a lot faster than I want it to." Rick lifted his head off the sofa and cleared his throat. "I told her I am thinking of getting a dog. Something she always wanted when she was younger." He shook his head and continued. "Saw right through me. Sometimes I don't know how I ended up with such an intelligent child."

Dropping her keys into the bowl by the door, she smiled, looking down at her hand. "I don't know Castle; I think that she just might get that from her Dad."

"Was that a complement I just heard Detective Beckett?" Rick asked settling back into the cushions of his sofa.

"It's gonna be all right." She added quietly.

"I know." Rick closed his eyes and grinned. "Thanks." He added softly.

"Hey, no hassle, Castle." She smiled, the sound of his laughter blanketing her as she hit the end button.