Recap: Castle and Beckett announced their new relationship on TV earlier in the day

- Present day -

After supper Castle, little Castle and Kate went into the lounge area. They watched some mindless sitcoms, made fun of the characters and shared some laughs. Alexis watched how comfortable her dad and Kate were. He had his arm around her for a while. They shifted and Kate lay back using the arm of the couch as a pillow with her legs over his lap. Her knees were bent leaning into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her legs and rested his chin on her knee. His fingers gently ran mindlessly over her thigh.

Alexis may have had the slightest pang of jealously. It was selfish to want her dad all to herself, but she'd had him all to herself most of her life. Even when he was married to Gina, after about the first 3 months, Gina didn't seem to spend much time with her dad unless it was going out somewhere fancy and being in the public eye. Gina was all about the fame and the money. She really did care about Rick but they were just too different for it to work.

Alexis knew her dad would always make time for her and anyway she would be going off to college soon. She had hopes of developing a really good relationship with Kate and she thought Kate would want the same thing. Gina could never really relate to her. She had not been a happy addition to their family. Both Rick and Alexis spent too much time trying to keep Gina happy. It wasn't worth it. Kate kind of seemed to fit in with them. Besides she really made her dad happy and that was the important thing.

Later they played popcorn catch. You had to be at least 3 feet apart and toss a kernel of popcorn into the open mouth of the person next to you. Kate threw to Castle, Castle threw to Alexis, and Alexis threw back to Kate. After a couple of rounds they reversed the direction. They were laughing so hard it was difficult to make a good attempt at catching the kernels; however Castle was incredibly good at catching even the wildest thrown kernel. Finally, Rick stood up with hands raised over his head. "Who's the King of the Castle now?" he declared smugly.

"Oh please!" Kate exclaimed. She exchanged a glance with Alexis. Totally in tune with each other, they each grabbed a handful of popcorn and threw it at Castle.

"Hey, I'm not cleaning that up, you poor sports." The girls just giggled. "OK, I'll clean it up," he said in resignation. Secretly he was happy to see them conspiring against him. He felt like they had had the perfect evening. Everyone was laughing and having fun. He had watched his girls to see if either of them appeared to be uncomfortable, but both seemed fine. He was so happy that everything was working out so well.

Alexis stood up. "I'm going upstairs. I have a lot of texts to return. See you guys in the morning." Still grinning, she gave her dad a hug. Then she hugged Kate as though she did it every night.

Kate started helping Castle with cleaning up the remaining popcorn. "Is she as OK with us as she seems to be?"

Castle glanced over at her. "I really think so."

They both stood over the trash container brushing the popcorn crumbs off their hands.

"Rick, my cheeks actually ache from all the laughing I did this evening. It was so much fun."

They both still had big smiles on their faces. Rick took her in his arms and planted a kiss on her mouth. "How about we have some wine? Although I can't believe I'm saying this, I'm not ready for bed yet."

Kate let out a laugh, "I can't believe you said that either. Sure, I'd love some wine." Castle selected a wine from the wine cooler, popped the cork, and poured two goblets. He put on some music giving the TV a rest.

They returned to the couch with their wine. Kate took a drink after she sat down. "It was a lovely evening," she said.

"It really was wasn't it," Castle replied happily.

Kate was surprised at how relaxed she had been all evening. She had been concerned that things might be awkward with Alexis. The girl seemed to be very accepting of their new relationship. Kate was grateful. She always thought Alexis was a great kid and she and her dad had a great relationship. Kate didn't want to come between them or strain their relationship in any way.

"I was glad you made me call Ryan. I really needed to talk to him anyway to thank him for saving my life. I was kind of shocked that he was afraid I'd be mad at him for telling Gates. I mean he saved my life!" She shook her head remembering just how close it had been. "I need to figure out a way to get Esposito to see that Ryan did the right thing. Espo really hates him right now and that's on me too."

"You can talk to Esposito in a couple of days once he cools down. Tell him how grateful you are for what Ryan did and that you're sorry you put both of them in that situation. I think he'll come around."

Kate nodded, "I certainly hope so. I want them to be partners again and have each other's back once Espo gets back."

"I think it made Ryan feel really good to accompany us to your apartment. I think it made him feel like he was part of the team again in some way."

Kate smiled, "Yeah, he was eager to help out and when everything was OK at the apartment, he seemed really happy just to hang out with us for a few minutes while I packed my things. He's really a good guy."

Rick sobered quickly, "I owe him everything for saving your life. I will figure out something appropriate to pay him back. You know both of them would give up their lives for you."

She nodded. They were both quiet for a few minutes, sipping their wine, lost in their own thoughts.

Rick leaned his left shoulder into the couch so he could look at her easier. "I really am sorry, Kate."

Kate looked at him surprised at how serious he seemed. "Sorry for what?"

"Sorry we had to announce our relationship so publicly. I know you are a very private person. I respect that and I wish we could have started our relationship like normal people. You know, have a few dates. Not tell anyone about us until we were good and ready. Not tell the world for a long time." She could tell he was truly concerned about it.

"Does it upset you that we announced it so publicly, so quickly?" Kate asked.

Castle smiled somewhat apologetically, "No, I'd gladly shout it from the rooftops, but I'd like to know how you feel about it."

Kate took a drink of wine. "I won't lie. It does bother me. If circumstances were different I wouldn't have wanted to reveal our relationship so quickly, especially to the world, but I'm OK with it."

"As far as the public appearances go, actually it wasn't too bad doing the show this morning. Not as bad as I thought it would be anyway. If our Jimmy Fallon appearance is as short and sweet it will be fine." Kate smiled trying to be confident.

Castle quickly averted his eyes and reached for his drink.

Kate squinted her eyes at him. "What?"

"What?" Castle returned, eyes wide with innocence.

"You're keeping something from me," she accused.

Damn, if she wasn't using her interrogating voice. Mental note – falling in love with a detective may not be the smartest idea.

"You've seen Jimmy's show," he said, trying to disguise his nervousness. "Sometimes he wants his guests to do a little extra segment with him and he wanted to do one with us."

Kate instantly could feel the ball of nerves growing in her stomach. "What kind of an extra segment?" She thought she did pretty well keeping her voice even.

"He didn't exactly say, but he plays beer pong, Pictionary, charades, things like that with his guests. That wouldn't be bad would it?"

"Castle, you know how nervous I get in front of an audience." Kate was far from convinced.

Castle decided he was going to have to have enough confidence for the both of them. "It will be fine, I promise. Jimmy is going to make whatever it is really fun. You'll get caught up in it and have a great time. OK?" He was smiling reassuringly at her and put his hand over hers giving it a little squeeze.

Kate shook her head in defeat giving up her protests. Surely Castle could sell ice cubes to Eskimos. "I'll give it a shot. I'm just not totally comfortable in your world. I imagine most of the women you date love the public appearances and getting photographed on your arm. I feel kind of like I'm in a fish bowl."

"Kate, the public part of my life is not my world. It's far from what my real life is like. I thought you understood that. This evening is what my world is about, enjoying family and friends. The public appearances are just to put on a persona to satisfy fans or like we did today, to use it for a personal agenda. You really think I was a wild playboy while I was raising my young child? That was the persona Black Pawn dreamed up." There was a hint of something in his voice, maybe disappointment or hurt.

"I did believe you were a playboy. Every photograph I used to see had you with a beautiful woman and it always seemed to be a different beautiful woman. I mean that was before I knew you. Then I met you and you were this cocky, flirty guy whose every sentence contained sexual innuendo. You were exactly like I pictured."

"Well, maybe I oversold the playboy image a little too much. Don't get me wrong, I certainly wasn't celibate throughout Alexis' childhood, but apparently I'm not as shallow as you think."

"I'm sorry. I guess I just thought you changed your ways after you started working at the 12th." Kate was afraid this conversation was going to deteriorate into a fight. "I'm not concerned with what you used to be. It doesn't matter to me if you were a playboy before. I fell in love with the wonderful, loving, caring, loyal, funny, smart, and sexy man that I got to know over the past 4 years." She leaned in and kissed him. She hoped engaging him in a kiss would soothe any hurt feelings that he might have. If he was upset at all he seemed to immediately forget about it as her teeth teased his lower lip and her tongue easily glided into his mouth. He was quick to respond, their mouths engaged in the dance that had become a common occurrence in the past couple of days. Castle pulled back. His hands cupped her face, their faces just inches apart. He wanted to see her beautiful eyes, now more green with only a hint of brown. They shone with her love for him. His heart overflowed with tender feelings for her. There was a hint of a smile on his lips that lightly touched his eyes as well.

He marveled at how different his love for her could be. Sometimes it was fierce and possessive. Sometimes it was tender and sweet. Sometimes it was a little desperate. He was sure it had many more sides to it and he was anxious to experience every facet of it. He regretted that they hadn't gotten together earlier, but they were here now and he intended to make the most of it.

"You know, I think I'm ready for bed now," he said taking her hand and pulling her to her feet.

"Me too," Kate smiled. She put her arm around his waist and tucked in against his side. Castle happily put his arm around her and guided her back to the bedroom.