A/N-Sorry I didn't get around to posting this yesterday, one word, FINALS. I know that there has been a lot of information; I will get to more fluff eventually. I have a really good plan for this story, so wait it out and I know you won't be disappointed.

In this Kate and Castle text, so Kate's messages are underlined and Castle's are bolded.

That night after their usual bedtime rituals, they climbed into bed both happy from the outcomes of the day. Castle started his day nervous about whether or not his girlfriend would forgive him for blowing her off, and as they lay in bed he couldn't help but hear his girlfriend thinking loudly.

"You know it's hard to fall asleep, when you think like that," Castle said rolling on his side to see the distant look on Kate's face.

Kate laid there staring at the ceiling running through the events of the day. She woke up thinking that it would be a long and uneventful day, but when she drove into work alone, due to Castle's excuse for getting out of paperwork, she allowed her mind to wander. Her mind wandered from Castle's Nikki Heat book deal to the first time she called him in for questioning at his book release. That led to her thinking about how it was the first time she met Alexis as well, and how she had grown to love the red-haired young adult as if she were her own. Realizing this new outlook towards the girl, she drifted to a world where she was the mother of her own blue-eyed brown-haired baby. All these thoughts came to a halt after that last one. Was she really thinking about having a baby? And a blue-eyed one at that. She shook off all of those thoughts and noticed a flashing ad for pregnancy tests in the window of the store front next to her.

"That had to be fate," Kate thought.

"What had to be fate? I thought you didn't believe in fate and destiny, or am I finally rubbing of on you?" Castle said in a sleepy haze.

Crap. Maybe he was rubbing off on her. Now she's thinking out loud and believing in fate. What was wrong with her? Oh, right. She fell in love with a man child. "Uhmm… nothing, just thinking out loud."

"'Kay," Castle said drifting back to sleep.

Phew. She was in the clear. He was back to sleep and wasn't going to remember the conversation in the morning. She couldn't decide how or when she was going to tell him about her news, but she knew it had to be special. He was one of the biggest romantics she knew, and that every monumental step in their relationship had to be big. She drifted to sleep planning how to tell the man sleeping next to her, causing her to dream of small blue-eyed babies.

She woke up to her phone ringing in the early hours of the next morning. Castle groaned at the sound and she stumbled out of bed to take the call in the bathroom.

"Beckett. Yeah. Address? Be there soon, Espo," She ended the call and peered out the doorway to see that Castle had already sprawled across the entire bed. She decided that he could stay and catch up with Alexis all day. After showering and dressing, she wrote a note for Castle telling him to take Alexis to lunch and see the new Hobbit movie. She mentioned the case and told him that she would call if she needed his help. Doubt it. She tip toed out of the room, heels in hand, not wanting to wake the sleeping whiner. That and she still didn't know how to tell him.

After arriving back at the precinct, Kate realized that maybe Esposito's usual theory was actually accurate.

"Yo Boss, I think we got one of your run of the mill Jack killed Jill over Bill."

"Espo, I don't usually like to agree with you on this one, but with the way my day is going, I sure hope so." Kate couldn't believe she actually admitted that out loud, but her day really wasn't going well, and she just wanted to go back to her cozy bed and sleep for hours. With the early wake up call, all she wanted was a large cup of full strength black magic, and decaf was not going to be enough for this hour.

After finding out that the woman did have a boyfriend opposed to her husband, she told the boys to bring them both in for questioning. Once they left Lanie called with some news about the victim.

"You okay Kate," Lanie asked as Kate walked into the morgue. "You look like you haven't slept in days."

"Yeah, couldn't fall asleep last night, and we stayed up late planning the Texas trip."

"About that, I'm excited and all, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to get off of the schedule," Lanie said scared to disappoint her friend.

"Oh don't worry, Castle sent your boss a big muffin basket, and two Knicks tickets."

"Girl, your man thinks of everything."

"That and he told Perlmutter that if he didn't cover your shift he would come down here and annoy him until he did. Perlmutter gave in seconds. I don't know why, but he really doesn't like Castle. So what do we have on the victim?"

"Well it turns out our girl here has some perimortem bruising on her upper arms. Also she has a couple of bruises on her knuckles, probably from fighting off her attacker."

"So there was struggle, anything else?"

"Yeah, looks like this girl got around. Signs show that she had sex twice in the few hours before her death."

"Let me guess, they were brothers. Look Lanie, Espo already figured that out. If you aren't going to tell me anything new, then I'm going to go interview the husband." Kate regretted the attitude she was giving Lanie, but her hormones were going crazy and all she wanted to do was finish the case quickly.

"Fine, I'm gonna let that slide for now because you look exhausted and I know you didn't mean it."

"Look Lanie, I'm sorry-"

"Don't apologize, go get that bastard, and then go get some sleep," Lanie interjected while shoving Kate out the door.

Back in the bull pen, she checked her phone to see that Castle had texted her.

Hey, I got your note. I guess a day with Alexis would be good, but I wish you were with us. Rx

Well, your day is probably going better than mine. We have a cheating wife and a violent husband, should be done in a couple hours. Kx

After she replied, Ryan and Esposito brought in the victim's husband to be interviewed. He looked as if they had pulled him out of bed. Maybe his tired state would work in their favor.

After what seemed like an interview that was never going to break, Kate got the idea to see whether or not the husband would react to the brother. She got Ryan to put together a photo array, and "accidently" showed the photo of him. Immediately the husband reacted, showing all his cards.

Finally arresting the husband allowed Kate to relax some. She made herself a cup of decaf and started on her paperwork, hoping to finish up early enough to meet up with Castle and Alexis for the movie. At the exact moment she pulled out her phone to call Castle about the movie, her phone rang with his photo plastered to the screen.

"Hey Castle, I was just about to call you-"

"Kate?"

"Alexis? Is something wrong with your dad?"

"What? No, I just need your help with something. I think my neighbor was murdered."

That morning at the loft, Castle woke to an empty bed and a singing daughter. He got out of bed and noticed a note from Kate.

Sorry, I got a call early this morning; you looked too cute to wake. You should spend the day with Lex. Maybe I could meet up with you tonight and we could take her to see The Hobbit. I know you wanted to see it so I hope that makes up for me ditching you this morning. I will miss you all day.

Love you, Kate

After sending Kate a quick text, he strolled into the den swaying his hips to the sweet sounds of Burl Ives singing his country holiday song. When he walked into the kitchen he noticed a foot tall Santa in a cowboy hat swaying his hips back and forth. "Good morning Alexis, I haven't seen this guy in years," Castle said picking up the shaking Santa.

"Oh yeah, I remembered him from when I was little, and I thought that he was perfect for the theme of this year's Christmas."

"Theme?"

"Yeah, 'Christmas in the South'," Alexis said motioning her hands to show as if the words were written in lights.

"Great idea, Pumpkin," Castle said kissing his daughters head over the bar that was filled with food. "What's that wonderful smell?"

"Well going along with the theme, I decided to make a Texas themed breakfast. We have grits, Spanish omelets, thick cut bacon, and Texas toast."

"Thank you, it all looks delicious. After breakfast how about we go shopping a little and maybe take a walk in the park. I want to hear all about your college life."

"About school, do you think we could go by my dorm later? I have a few things there that I forgot yesterday."

Once the shopping was over, they headed to Columbia to pick up a few of Alexis' things. When they got to her dorm they stumbled upon some police blocking their way to Alexis's room. Luckily one of the uniforms recognized Castle and let them through. As they were passing by, Alexis noticed that the girl now being rolled away in a body bag was Sarah O'Malley. She caught a glimpse of the turned over chair and cord hanging from the ceiling. She was no detective, but anyone with a brain could see what had happened. Castle hurried her into her room and sat her down on the bed after noticing the distraught look on her face.

"Alexis, honey, I'm sorry you had to see that. How about we get your stuff and quickly head out?"

"No, Dad I'm fine. I've seen lots of dead bodies, it's not that. It's the how. Sarah wasn't depressed. She would never kill herself."

"How did you know she killed herself?" Castle said looking around as if someone was watching them.

"Come on, Dad. I saw the cord and chair. I'm not dumb." Alexis gave her father a look that told him she was growing up quicker than he wanted her to. "Look I know this isn't Kate's jurisdiction, but can I call her and ask her if she will check on the case. I know Sarah and she definitely wasn't suicidal."

Castle handed Alexis his phone and walked out of the room to talk to the detectives down the hall. When he returned, he noticed that Alexis was smiling and packed, waiting on the bed.

Noticing her father's puzzled look she decided to explain. "Kate said she would be here in about twenty minutes and that we should wait in here until she gets here. Also that she would call the detective with her case on the way, and figure out how far they've gotten with the investigation. You know it's pretty cool sometimes to have a detective in the family."

Twenty minutes later a knock on the door woke Castle up from his "cat nap" and pulled Alexis out of her book.

"Hi, Alexis. How are you handling this? I know it can be hard to see a friend like that," Kate said genuinely.

"Hi Kate, I'm fine. Sarah and I weren't really friends we were more of acquaintances, but thank you for coming up here. I know you were working, and I'm sorry about that," Alexis said getting up and hugging Kate.

"So what makes you think that this is a murder not suicide?"

"Well Sarah was into some bad groups. She always had strange people going in and out of her dorm at weird hours. One night I came back late from the library and saw a guy leaving her room high. I know I should've said something to the RA but it wasn't my place. I just assumed that they were just getting high to relieve their stress, but when I passed by Sarah's room she wasn't high at all. A couple weeks went by and I noticed her out on campus and some guy with an Irish accent was yelling at her. I felt bad for her, but I was running late for class. Then just last week, I heard some yelling down the hall, and when I peeked my head out he was leaving her dorm and she was crying in the hallway." Alexis sat back on the bed exhausted from spilling all of the information she knew.

"Alexis why didn't you tell me any of this stuff before?" Castle asked pulling his daughter onto his lap as if to protect her from the outside world.

"I didn't want to be considered the girl that called her cop mom and dad. I already am considered a nerd here; I didn't want to be a tattletale either." Alexis looked up at her father who was only smiling down at her as if she had been lost for months and was finally returned home.

Kate stood there shocked. She couldn't believe that Alexis just considered her as her mom. She knew that they were getting close and that she wanted to be in her life as a mom, but didn't think Alexis would consider her that as well.

"Kate?" Castle said grabbing Kate back from the depths of her mind. "Where'd you go there? What do you think? Do you think it was suicide?"

"Oh right, sorry. Well I talked to the detective and it turns out there were no signs of a struggle and had all tells of suicide. They think it was due to stress from finals. I will have Lanie check in on the autopsy though and see if she can find anything, but for now I think we should let the detectives do their job and go catch that movie."

"Thanks Kate. I knew you would believe me." Alexis said grabbing the older woman towards her and her father on the bed. "I would really like to see that movie now."

That night back at the loft Kate got a call from Lanie. "Hey Lanie, did you find anything on Alexis' friend Sarah?"

"Yeah, I found drugs in the girls system, but more than usual. The amount in her system would've caused her to pass out before she could've gotten to hanging herself. I had Javi run the drugs by Narcotics and they said it was the same kind that the Westies sold."

"Alexis said that she had seen Sarah fighting with an older man with an Irish accent, maybe it was her dealer. I'll be down there in the morning and talk to the other detective and see what he has. Thanks Lanie, I know this means a lot to Alexis."

"It's no problem. I will do anything for that little protégé of mine."

After Kate hung up the phone she went back to sit on the couch with Alexis to tell her the news. She asked her if she wanted to go in with her the next day to see if she could identify the man she saw. Alexis bounced in her place on the couch causing Castle to spill some of his ice cream.

"Hey, foul on the play. Ice cream down." Castle said licking the ice cream off his shirt.

"Sorry Dad. Isn't this exciting it will be like bring your daughter to work day. I could never do that when I was little, because I lived where dad worked." Alexis gave Kate a quick hug and ran upstairs to pick out her outfit for the next day.

Kate sat there contemplating the words that just left Alexis' mouth. It was the second time in one day that she blatantly considered Kate her mom. Maybe she meant just Castle, but then with the whole writing at home thing.

"What do you think she meant?"

"What who meant?"

"Alexis," Kate said irritated at how he couldn't understand what she was trying to say without actually saying. He was usually good at that, but she could never get his mind to focus fully when he had ice cream in his hands. So she grabbed the bowl and placed it on the coffee table. Seeing his frustrated look she explained. "Alexis called me mom earlier and then just now she said bring your daughter into work day and how she never had one with you before. What do you think she meant?"

"Kate, I have no idea what goes on in that girl's mind sometimes, but I do know that she loves you and if she considers you her mom, so what. Let her think that. She never had a real mother figure growing up, no thanks to me, and now that she does, she wants to be able to show it. Don't think too much about it. Just let her think what she thinks, if you don't want to call her your daughter I understand, but don't take that away from her. She needs a mother in her life, and I'm glad that I finally get to give it to her."

"Oh Rick, how do you always know what to say? I would never take this away from Alexis, and sometimes I actually think of her as my daughter. Thank you for letting me in your life and allowing your daughter to steal my heart. I love her Rick, and I don't think that will ever go away."

Rick stood and grabbed his girlfriend's hands to pull her into his grasp. "That is the nicest, sweetest, and most sincere thing anyone has ever said to me before. Katherine Beckett you have made me fall in love with you over and over again."

"I love you, too Rick." With that he lifted her up into his arms and carried her to bed. There was no way that she would get out of his grasp now.

A/N Thanks for reading. Reviews, please.