A/N: So I'm back from holiday and back to writing. Thanks to those of you who have been reviewing! I really appreciate hearing what people think, good and bad.


Kate checked the clock on the corner of her monitor for the last time then closed down the open windows and tidied away the folders cluttering her desk. The actions didn't go unnoticed by her fellow detectives, Esposito and Ryan.

"Hey, where you off to?" Esposito called, throwing down his pen for the moment to fold his arms behind his head. "I thought we were all heading to the Hamptons together."

"Sorry, did I not tell you? Castle's been at that meeting with Black Pawn all morning and needed to spend this afternoon getting the house ready for the party, so I said I'd pick up Alexis from the airport. Her flight gets in soon."

Ryan nodded at her explanation and turned to Javi before directing a few more seconds attention to writing up his case notes, the three of them having solved the Bayfield murder the previous week (Castle providing them the break they needed by suggesting that they check the recent media articles on the business tycoon) and been assigned a total of four other cases which all required paperwork to be filed for the judge and the courts. "Jenny and I can give you a lift up," he offered.

"Yo, Beckett, how's Lanie getting there?"

"She wasn't on call today, so she's probably already left," Kate shrugged. "I asked her if she wouldn't mind supervising Castle, keep him from going overboard – you know how he gets."

Esposito accepted Ryan's offer of a ride to the party and watched her finish gathering her things into her arms, a couple of cardboard folders of paperwork, a pen or two and an empty coffee mug she would deposit in the breakroom on her way past.

"See you guys at the party," she said, nudging her chair back under the desk with her foot.

"See you," the called back to her in unison.

Dodging past a uniform leading a suspect into one of the interview rooms, Beckett left her work in homicide behind for the day, idly tapping her foot as she waited for the elevator to arrive at her floor. With the usual ping, the doors opened and she stepped in without looking up from her cell phone, having taken the thing out when it vibrated in her pocket after receiving Castle's text to remind her of Alexis' flight details.

"Kate," someone said brightly.

She looked up, wondering who it was who was addressing her with her first name. In the precinct it was always Beckett – even Castle called her Beckett at the precinct. "Demming, hi," she replied, shooting him a brief smile.

He nodded. "How are you?"

"Good. You?"

"Fine, thanks. I, er, I read about you and Castle. Congratulations."

"Thank you." Beckett looked away from Demming, glancing instead at the display set into the side of the elevator to see which floor they were currently on. Still two floors to go, great. She wasn't sure she could think of a more awkward conversation. Everything between she and Demming felt very stilted. Even though she hadn't said so when they broke up, she was sure he knew it was because of Castle. If it hadn't been obvious then, it was now.

"So, when's the date?"

"Oh, we haven't set one yet. Castle's a little busy right now with the new book out, so it'll be at least a couple of months before we have some time to start planning together." Finally the elevator arrived on the ground floor, and Kate stepped out. "I've got to go, but I'll see you around?"

"Sure," Demming replied, smiling easily at her.

After shooting him a hesitant smile, Kate continued out of the precinct, throwing the coat and folders in her arms into the back of her Charger before nosing out into the street, flipping her car radio from the police channel onto some other station so that the music and inconsequential talking of the hosts could distract her from how long she was going to be sat in traffic jams on her way out to JFK. At first, she went through the streets with little trouble, but twenty minutes later she was stuck in a queue on the Williamsburg Bridge and beginning to worry about being late. She wouldn't normally do it, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

All it took was a flip of a switch and her siren was wailing, cars moving infinitesimally to either side of the road to create a gap for her. She couldn't help feeling the guilt settling in the pit of her stomach as she rushed past the mainly stationary traffic, all the drivers looking on and probably wondering what her emergency was.

When Beckett got to the airport and walked through to the arrivals gate and saw that Alexis' flight was on time and due to land in ten minutes, she pushed aside the guilt, knowing that the siren had been necessary. Though Alexis was an adult now, she still wouldn't want to leave the girl waiting on her own in the airport. Kate made sure to remain in sight of the entrance to the arrivals hall as she took a seat at the nearest coffee bar, quickly ordering a cappuccino and picking up a copy of the New York Times to read whilst she waited for Alexis to clear customs and get her bags.

Ever since the photos of Rick proposing to her, there hadn't yet been any other mention of her or her beloved writer, except a small piece the following day confirming that they were indeed engaged and requesting privacy for the couple. Kate had to hand it to Paula; she really was great at her job. In addition to the lack of articles about them, she hadn't had a photographer follow her for days.

Despite reading at the same time, Kate was on the alert for announcements that Alexis' flight from Costa Rica had landed. It wasn't long before the board was reading 'arrived' and Kate was setting aside the paper to search for the redhead in the trail of people appearing through the arrivals gate. With her flaming hair, Kate spotted Alexis easily and stood to go and meet her.

"Hey Kate," Alexis greeted, letting her suitcase roll to a stop as she paused in front of the woman who was soon to be her new stepmother. Whilst she had been gone, she and her father had exchanged a few emails so she had known to expect Kate to meet her at the airport, but she still couldn't wait to see her dad again.

"Hey Alexis, good flight?"

The redhead grimaced. "The five hours waiting at Miami wasn't exactly fun, but I'm glad to be back."

Kate pulled a face too. Long flights were bad enough without having to sit in an airport for hours waiting for the connecting flight. She could imagine just how Alexis was feeling. "Well, shall we?" she asked, nodding towards the exit.

Alexis nodded and began dragging her case forwards again, only to be stopped by Kate so she could take the bag from her. Just as they were passing the coffee shop, Alexis paused. "Do you mind if I grab a mocha quickly?"

Kate smiled and took out her purse, handing Alexis a couple of bills, knowing she probably only had Costa Rican currency with her.

"Do you want anything?" Alexis asked, feeling awkward accepting money from Kate. She tried to keep it from showing on her face, but Kate guessed at why she was asking.

"No thanks, I had a cappuccino whilst I was waiting. But I wouldn't mind a muffin or something. Get yourself whatever you want." Whilst Alexis was gone, Kate took the opportunity to send Castle a quick text to so he knew what kind of time to expect them to be back and could make sure he was finished decorating and setting out the food.

Walking to the car, Kate continued asking questions. "Did you manage to sleep on the plane?"

"Yeah," Alexis replied, "thankfully, it was a pretty smooth flight. I don't know what I would have done if there'd been more turbulence; just read I guess."

Kate felt relieved at hearing Alexis had managed some sleep, since she'd been worried that the party and their news wouldn't be as well received if Alexis was tired.

"Your dad read some of your emails to me, but I assume you had a good time."

"It was the best!" Alexis enthused. "The beaches were so much nicer, even than at the Hamptons."

"You do look tanned," Kate commented.

"And we went to the Arenal Volcano and got to go in the hot springs. I've got such great pictures, especially of the rainforest and the La Fortuna Waterfall. We got to go to this wildlife sanctuary too."

Kate smiled, remembering her own days travelling in Europe when she wasn't much older than Alexis. Being immersed in another culture really could be thrilling. Alexis was still talking avidly about the trip when they got to the car and Kate loaded the wheeled holdall into the boot.

In the car, Kate interrupted to say, "Your father and I thought we would go to the Hamptons for the weekend, welcome you back properly. I've got the next few days off work."

Alexis nodded. "That sounds great. How's everything been here in the city?"

"Fine," Kate answered, not really elaborating much as she focused on navigating her way out of the airport without getting lost. "Your dad's book's doing well."

"Have you read it yet?"

Kate shook her head. Since deciding to hold a welcome home/engagement party, she and the boys had been working every day to ensure they'd be able to have the whole weekend off to stay in the Hamptons. "I'm hoping to make a start on it this weekend; I can usually get a lot more read when you're here to distract your father."

Whilst she drove, Kate heard Alexis' phone go off, diverting her attention away from their conversation. Kate wondered briefly if it was Castle, but dismissed that thought when she saw Alexis blushing out of the corner of her eye.

Curious, she asked, "Did anything else happen whilst you were gone?"

Alexis bit her lip as she looked up. "I might have met someone…"

"A guy?"

Alexis nodded.

"What's his name?"

"Pi, he wanted to come back with me," Alexis confessed. "We just really hit it off, you know? The moment we met, we just…" She trailed off, not having the words to properly describe it.

Kate nodded. She knew what that was like, feeling such an instant connection to someone that denying it eventually just became pointless.

"So what happened?"

"We talked and agreed we should wait and see how we feel when I get back to New York, to see if it's more than just a holiday thing. I just don't want to rush into anything again. When I was with Ashley, it all went so fast and didn't really work out how I thought it would. He wasn't who I thought he was."

"I guess that's sensible," Kate replied. Sometimes she wondered how Alexis managed to have such a level-head, growing up with Castle for a father. "Feel like it's just a holiday thing?"

"No, I miss him already."

"Then I'm sure it'll all work out fine."

Alexis nodded, glad that she had Kate to talk to about these things. Her dad was great, but she knew he probably wouldn't be keen on her diving into a relationship with a guy she'd only known for a few weeks, not after everything that had happened that year, not after Paris. He was getting better, but he was still pretty protective and overbearing sometimes. The number of emails he'd written her whilst she was away was verging on overkill.

In a short traffic standstill, Beckett grabbed the double chocolate muffin Alexis had picked up for her and took a bite before setting it back down on the dashboard.

"I bet you didn't miss New York traffic," she grinned, glancing over at Alexis.

"I don't know; there's something pretty homely about it. I even missed the crazy driving of the city's cab drivers. They just weren't the same in Costa Rica."

Whilst they were waiting for traffic to start moving again, the song on the radio station switched and Alexis started singing along. "I love this song."

"It's Taylor Swift, right?" Kate asked, feeling like the voice was familiar and remembering that Alexis had been a big fan a couple of years ago and presumably was still.

"Yeah, with Ed Sheeran. She's supposed to be featuring on his next album too, I can't wait."

Before the song had finished, they were moving again and getting closer to the Hamptons. They still had another forty minutes of driving, but the time seemed to pass quickly with the changing conversation and the radio on. Beckett only hoped Castle was going to be ready. The lights were on at the house when they arrived and any cars that their friends had arrived in hidden somewhere so that Alexis wouldn't suspect anything.

Kate shut off the engine and turned to Alexis. "I'll get your bag out of the boot, why don't you go on in and find your dad; I know he's been itching to see you. You should have seen his face when Gina told him he had to go to the meeting today and that they couldn't rearrange it for him."

"Okay, thanks," Alexis said. Her legs were stiff when she climbed out of the car and began walking up the steps to her dad's house. The door was unlocked and she walked in, immediately calling out. "Dad! I'm back!"

Kate followed, unable to stop smiling as she waited for Castle and everybody to leap out and scare the life out of Alexis. She followed the redhead into the house and through the entrance hall, leaving the bag there. As soon as Alexis was in the sitting room doorway, there was a chorus of shouts, everybody yelling, "Welcome home!"

Alexis threw herself into Rick's waiting arms.

"Hi pumpkin," he mumbled into her hair whilst everyone around them cheered. Ryan, Jenny, Lanie and Esposito were stood close along with Martha and a few of Alexis' friends from high school. As soon as Castle set Alexis down, she was hugging her grandmother and saying hello to her friends.

"Thanks, you guys. This is great!"

With the greetings done, she looked around the room, finally noticing Castle's hand-painted banner reading 'Welcome home, baby-girl!'

"I know," Lanie said, standing behind her. "I tried to stop him but-"

"-Castle will be Castle," Kate finished for her. "Sometimes he just can't be reined in."

"No, guys, it's perfect. Thank you so much! I'm just going to go catch up everyone – we haven't seen each other since last summer."

Kate and Lanie nodded and watched her go. "Thanks for helping Castle set all this up," Kate said to Lanie.

"Hey, I've missed her too. I don't have an intern to boss around anymore."

Kate rolled her eyes at her best friend.

"You know what I mean. The morgue's quiet without a Castle down there."

The two friends grabbed a glass of red wine each, surveying the spectacular party Castle had managed to create. The open plan bottom floor really helped show just how good a job Castle had done in putting up banners and placing snack bowls and drinks. From another room, Alexis and her friends could be heard starting the karaoke, whilst Castle circulated the guests and thanked them for coming. When he was close enough, Kate grabbed him.

"I'm impressed, Castle."

"Have you seen the streamers?" he asked, pointing at the lines of colourful paper pinned artfully to the ceiling to hang down the walls.

"It all looks great," she promised him. "When do you want to talk to Alexis?"

"Let's give her some more time with her friends and then take her aside."

Lanie chose that moment to lean in and say, "Have you noticed Jenny's not drinking the wine?"

Kate and Castle both looked across the room at Jenny sat next to Ryan on one of the couches, noting the beer bottle in Ryan's hand and the glass of juice in Jenny's.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Lanie asked Kate.

"It's none of our business," Kate reminded her as she walked over to the couple and sat down in the empty space beside Jenny, obviously intending to interrogate her. Kate shook her head.

"Yo, Castle, you throw an awesome party, man," Esposito announced as he stopped next to the couple at the kitchen bar and grabbed a bottle of beer.

Castle nodded.

"How long have you been hiding this place? I thought the loft was big enough, but this? I swear the pool is as big as my entire apartment."

"Somehow I doubt that," Castle replied. "But what else was I supposed to spend all my publishing advances on?"

"Well how much did you spend on the ring?" Espo asked, nodding at Kate.

Before Castle could answer, Kate clapped a hand over his mouth. "Don't you dare answer that, Castle, I don't want to know."

The second her hand was off and her attention was diverted by the arrival of Captain Gates, Castle mouthed the figure at Javi and watched his jaw drop.

"Sir, I'm really glad you could make it," Beckett said, stepping out into the hallway and taking her boss' jacket. Castle was quick to take it from her and place it with the other coats in the small room under the stairs where he usually stowed the cleaning stuff.

"I'm just sorry I won't be able to stay long," Gates responded.

"Let me get you a drink then."

"Thank you, Mr Castle. I'll take a brandy," the captain said, looking around the house and trying to conceal her awe.

Once Castle returned with her drink, Victoria Gates wandered into the living room and joined her other detectives, not noticing as they gaped slightly at her appearance and relaxed demeanour.

"Should we go talk to Alexis now?" Kate asked, noticing that the tuneful singing of Alexis and her friends had stopped and the more inebriated voice of Lanie had taken over.

Castle smiled reassuringly and took her hand, the two of them searching out his daughter and finding her gossiping out by the pool with her friends.

"Hey Alexis, can we talk to you for a second?" Castle called out before he could overhear too much of his daughter's conversation.

"Sure, Dad." To her friends, Alexis said, "I'll see you guys inside in a minute." Once they were gone, she asked, "What's up?"

"Well, Kate and I have some news to share with you…" he started, unsure as to whether he should blurt it out or try and slowly build up to telling her that they were engaged.

"You're not pregnant are you?" Alexis asked, looking with Kate at wide eyes.

Kate gaped. "No!" She couldn't have been quicker in answering his daughter; seeming panicked and freaked out by the idea.

"Oh, so what is it?"

"Wait, would it be a bad thing if we were having a baby?" Castle asked.

"No," Alexis answered slowly, wondering where this was going.

"Castle, back to the point," Kate said, still struggling to move past the fact that Alexis had thought she was pregnant.

"Right," he nodded. "Well, it's, er, Kate and I are, well we're-"

Alexis rarely saw her Dad falter when he was speaking. If she didn't think the situation was serious, she would have been laughing. "Dad, spit it out."

"We're engaged," he finally said, searching Alexis' face intently for her reaction.

"Seriously?"

Kate and Rick nodded.

"That's great! I'm really happy for you guys!" When she had left for Costa Rica, Alexis had noticed the tension between Kate and her dad and couldn't help worrying, but then when she'd read his emails, everything had seemed fine. Kate had seemed happier than ever on the way back from the airport, but she'd never suspected that her Dad had proposed to Detective Beckett.

"Really?" Kate asked.

Alexis nodded earnestly. "Were you worried over how I was going to react or something?"

"Well, it's just we've not always seen exactly eye to eye," Kate began, referencing Alexis' cool attitude towards her just before she and Rick had gotten together and Alexis was sick of her father waiting. "And with how things were when you left…"

Alexis shook her head. "Honestly, I couldn't be happier."

"Great," Castle said, a relieved sigh escaping his lips. "Come here, pumpkin." He hugged Alexis once more, lifting her up into the air like he used to when she was younger.

Alexis didn't notice at first when he started walking towards the swimming pool. But when she did, she couldn't stop shouting, drawing their guests out of the house.

"No, Dad!" Alexis yelled, wriggling in Castle's arms and squealing as they got closer to the pool. Rick didn't listen, smirking as he threw his teenaged daughter into the swimming pool. Sputtering and dripping wet, Alexis surfaced, reaching for the edge of the pool. "At least help me out," she requested, holding her hand in the air for Castle to pull her out by. As he took her fingers, she tightened her grip and pulled, tugging her father into the pool.

"Kate," Castle whined, coming up for air as everyone gathered around the pool broke out into laughter.

"Don't dish it out if you can't take it, Castle," Beckett replied, grinning at his predicament.

At her words, Javi and Kevin sniggered harder and continued filming the affair on Espo's phone.

"Gates is going to love this," Javi called, getting Castle's attention.

"Don't you dare!"

"What are you gonna do, Castle? Splash us?"

At Castle's lack of comeback the pair dissolved into near-hysterics. Heaving himself out of the pool, Castle advanced on the detectives, watching as the smiles disappeared and they hurried away to find safety in the house. If Kate hadn't come and handed Castle a towel from one of the sun loungers, Castle probably would have followed them, found them and soaked them. Turning around, he helped Alexis out of the pool and gave her his towel before grabbing another for himself.

Soaked, he and Alexis hurried upstairs to change, leaving Kate to supervise the party and greet any guests who were still arriving. Madison turned up, pulling Kate into a hug before heading straight for the drinks in the kitchen and pouring herself a cupful of punch and joining Lanie in dancing.

"How're you holding up, Kiddo?" Martha asked as she passed Kate stood by the doorway.

"Fine, thanks, Martha," Kate replied, noticing the almost empty wine glass in her soon-to-be Mother-in-law's hand.

"Alexis took the news okay then?"

Kate nodded, smiling as she let a group of Castle's writer friends through the front door. Behind them, Gina and Paula were just walking up the driveway, reminding Kate that she and Castle were supposed to be officially announcing their engagement as well. Her Dad was last to arrive, having driven down from his cabin.

"Hi Dad."

"Katie," he said warmly, folding his daughter into a hug where her head almost rested on top of his. He glanced down at her heels, silently tutting at the size of them.

Once Castle had reappeared in a plum-coloured shirt, she grabbed him by the arm.

"I think everyone's here now. Should we announce it?"

"Whatever you want," he replied, pressing a kiss to her lips and sliding his hands to the small of her back.

"Well, I guess it's kind of just a formality at this point…"

"But it is traditional to make an announcement to family and friends. Actually, there's another tradition…" Castle trailed off and released Kate, walking away without another word as he searched out her father.

"Jim, hi." As he greeted the old man, he found himself suddenly feeling nervous, though he knew that regardless of whether Jim gave him his position, Kate would still marry him. She'd already said yes, for starters.

"What can I do for you son?"

For a minute Castle wondered whether Jim had even read the papers whilst he'd been out of the city at the cabin. The place was pretty deserted – that was why Kate's father liked it so much. He had to know though, right? Surely Kate had said something.

"I know I've done this in the wrong order," he said slowly, "that I should have come to you first, but I didn't have a lot of time. I thought Kate was leaving, and I ended up asking her first."

Jim looked concerned as Castle prattled on without reaching the point.

"Anyway, I'd like to ask you for your blessing, since Kate has already said yes. I'd like your blessing to marry your daughter."

"Of course, Rick. I've never seen Katie happier than when she's with you. You've always had my blessing," Jim replied, clapping Rick on the shoulder. "And I'll be glad to welcome you to the family, Son. It's a little small at the moment; we could do with some new members."

Rick smiled, feeling emotional over Jim's response. He had thought that the man would be happy for him and Kate, that he would give his blessing without hesitation, but he hadn't expected Jim to welcome him into his family so easily.

Standing next to Jim, he grabbed an empty glass that someone had carelessly left on one of the sideboards and used a dirty-ish knife to draw everyone's attention.

Everyone turned and looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to start speaking.

"I know most of you if not all of you will have seen the papers, the magazines, but now that Alexis is back, Kate and I would like to-" Castle broke off and searched for his fiancée in the crowd. "Kate? Where are you?" He watched her slip through the crowd and come to his side, her fingers slipping between his and squeezing slightly, an easy smile spreading over her smile as she met his gaze and he continued, "We would like to finally announce that we are engaged to be married."

Everyone cheered – Lanie drunkest and loudest of all – at his words.

After the cheering had died down and people had finished congratulating them, Castle noticed Paula gesturing for him to join her in the alcove of the hallway. Unwilling to release Kate after spending so little time with her all day and evening, Castle dragged her with him.

"Yeah, Paula?"

"I waited until you'd told Alexis, but the media's been hard to control. They're expecting the wedding of the century," she said, doing away with pleasantries and getting straight down to business. "And I'll be damned if we don't give it to them. With that in mind, I've hired a wedding planner for you."


A/N: I decided to end the chapter here, since it got a lot longer than I originally thought it would (which happens a lot actually.) I hope you guys enjoyed it! Please leave a review if you've got time because I really do like to know what people like/dislike so that I can improve the story. Thanks for reading! (And thank you also to those people who have put this story in their alerts and favourites!)