Over the next month, life flew by for Kate Beckett. Her love life was perfect, her professional life was really fulfilling, her family life was getting better, she had great friends … Everything was going well. It had not been the case for her for a long time.

Kate and Rick were doing great. The saw each other, or called when meeting up was not possible, everyday. The spend all their days off together with Alexis going to the park, the museum or just staying home watching movies. The end of the summer was approaching and the heat was simply unbearable, causing them to go out only in the evenings.

As far as work was concerned, Kate couldn't be happier. Detective Habbot had retired and was now teaching her on the different cases they worked. It would be like that until she turned 24 and then she would be left on her own. Strangely enough, that didn't scare her a bit. She was working with a great team and she knew she could count on them. Some cases were really basic and required no particular investigating but others were more complex and weirder … those were the ones Kate preferred. Esposito had started to call them the Beckett-flavored cases. Ryan was completely in the team now and he was good. The three of them completed each other and made them the most wanted team of uniforms with the detectives.

Her father was getting better. He had spent almost two months in a rehab center in the Hamptons now and he was really optimistic regarding his recovery. Kate had been allowed to call him after the first month but visits were forbidden in the first two months. She had told him everything about Rick and Alexis over the phone and, if Jim had some reserves about the relationship at the beginning, once he had spoken with Rick, everything had gone better. Kate didn't know what they told each other – and she probably never would – but all that mattered was that her father was accepting her relationship with Rick. She had found a new family in the Castle loft and she was staying there more and more frequently, to the point of having half his closet filled with her clothes.

All of this had created new links between Kate and people near her. She could now count Kevin Ryan and Lanie Parish as close friends while some of her old ones had been removed the friend card. Well … Madison had been removed the friend card. Kate could simply not stay on friendly terms with someone who had sold pictures of her as a child to a people magazine when her relationship with Rick had been made public. But Kate realized that it was not a great loss after all, that she could rely on her 'new' friends more than she ever could on Madison. She realized that she didn't know what real friendship was before. Contrary to her expectations, Kate had got really close with Lanie. As time went by, they discovered they had a lot in common and Lanie's enthusiasm for everything was refreshing. Kevin was a much calmer friend but he always knew what to say or what to do to make her feel better. And well … Javier was Javier.

Everything was going well, and she hoped that it would be so for a very long time.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O

Kate and Rick were still sleeping when Alexis came barging in the bedroom and started jumping on the bed, chanting "It's my birthday! It's my birthday! It's my birthday!"

Kate opened her eyes slowly and smiled at the girl while her father was pretending not to hear anything.

"Daddy, it's my birthday, you have to wake up and make me pancakes." Alexis said, still jumping on the bed.

Rick was fake-snoring now, making both girl laugh. Kate whispered something in Alexis's ear and they both dove on the poor man to tickle him until he was awake. That happened remarkably fast.

"Ok ok, I'm up. Happy birthday Sweetie." he said, taking her into his arms and kissing her.

"So, how old are you now?" Kate asked, smiling at the two of them.

"I'm six!" she exclaimed, showing six fingers and bouncing on her father's stomach.

"Wow, you're such a big girl now! You know what big girls do on their birthdays?" Kate asked.

"Eat pancakes with a whipped-cream 6 on it?" Alexis proposed.

"Yes, they do that." Kate laughed. "And, they go shopping for the whole afternoon."

"Without daddy?" Alexis asked excitedly.

"Without daddy." Kate confirmed. "Just the two of us, for the all afternoon. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great! Thank you so much Kate!" Alexis said, jumping form her father onto Kate. "And what are we doing this morning?" she asked, looking at Rick.

"Well, first we get out of this bed, then we have breakfast. After that you get your present and then we're going to the park." Rick said, sitting up in the bed.

"Are you coming with us to the park or do you have to go to work?" Alexis asked Kate.

"I'm going with you. I don't have to go to work for the next two weeks, it's my summer break."

"Yay! This is the best birthday ever!" Alexis yelled, jumping off the bed and running out of the room.

"Hey." Rick said, rolling until he could reach Kate to kiss her.

"Hi." she said, kissing him passionately.

"We should get out before she comes back and drag us out herself." Rick remarked, cuddling in Kate side.

"Don't worry, we'll have all the time tonight. She is going to be exhausted after the day we have planned for her."

"Are you staying the night?"

"If you'll accept me yes." she said, kissing him quickly before getting out of the bed.

"You know you can stay whenever you want, you don't have to leave. Ever." Rick said seriously.

"I know." Kate said, smiling at him before entering the bathroom.

So, what did you think?

Next chapter: shopping with Kate and Alexis !