To all you Americans reading this, happy Fourth of July! Just as a little present for the birth of America I posted two chapters. But seriously, I love reviews. They feed my inner writer and make her happy, and we all know what a happy writer means right? Exactly, faster updates. So get to it!

Her weekend getaway had just turned into a nightmare, full of horror and the reminder of her heartbreak. Watching him leave with his slut of an ex-wife clinging to him was bad enough, now she had to experience their relationship at full force. She knew she was just staring at him but no sound would come out of her mouth, not that she knew what she would say to him. He always did bring out two opposite sides in her, and now was no different. She was torn between sprinting into his arms and hugging him tightly, and pulling out her gun to shoot him. As she pulled herself together she decided either of those options would not work out in her favor and instead just decided on talking.

"Castle, what the hell are you doing here?" Immediately after she asked the question she knew it was wrong. This was his house, why wouldn't he be here? Nobody could ever get her this flustered; she hated it. And by the look of his smirk he knew just how caught off guard she was. But instead of embarrassing her further by bringing it up he seemed to ignore it.

"I assume you mean to ask why I'm not in California?" at her nod he continued, "The movie producers cancelled. Now I know I am unbelievably handsome, but are you going to stare at me all day or do you plan to come in?" And there it was, the teasing. But instead being embarrassed or mad she felt at home. At home in a way she hadn't over the last month, the teasing brought with it a familiarity that she desperately missed.

She advanced towards the house, towards him, with her weekend bag safely tucked under her arm. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lanie shutting the trunk of the car and running to her side, she was going to kill her. She was the only reason she was here. When Martha had first called to invite her down she initially refused, not wanting to spend an entire weekend with Castle and Gina all over each other. But Lanie had begged her to come, saying it would be no fun without her. This was entirely untrue, she hadn't exactly been the life of the party since Castle left, but when Lanie mentioned that Castle wouldn't even be there she had agreed to go. And now she had arrived for the party and whom did she find? The exact person she was trying so desperately to avoid.

But it's not like she could leave now, that would look extremely suspicious. Besides she had come with Lanie, so if Lanie wasn't leaving neither was she. And that evil woman would never let her leave, saying she was going to have to face Castle at some point so why couldn't it be now? Because she didn't want it to be now, it was too soon, too scary.

"Wow Castle," she realized she and Lanie had already made it inside the house as Lanie spoke, "you got quite a place here." Being so focused on Castle before she hadn't even taken a look around the room, and now that she did she saw that it was beautiful. Shining marble floors turned into tan walls as her eyes drifted upwards and finally a gorgeous chandelier came into view. Looking to her left she saw a magnificent staircase ascending to the second floor where she could see multiple rooms coming off of the hallway. Bright flowers popped against the neutral tones of the room; despite Castle's personality the house was very sophisticated and elegant.

"Yeah, I bought this place right before I married Gina. I wanted a place where I could just get away from the city and relax. Alexis and I both love the beach, so this place seemed perfect." He said grinning at the memory.

Now that her attention was turned back to him she was surprised she hadn't noticed that his attire was much different than it was at the precinct. He was wearing light khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt that she noticed made his already bright eyes piercing. She had to say, this was a great look for him.

"So, where is Gina anyway?" She just couldn't resist asking, plus he had sort of brought her up so it wasn't that uncomfortable. Thankfully he didn't seem to notice the venomous way she said his ex-wife's name.

"Oh," he replied, "she took off after Alexis and mother came to stay with me. She said my progress on the book was satisfactory so she was no longer needed here to keep me in line. You should've seen her while she was here, I swear that woman is impossible." Her mood immediately lightened at his response. She wouldn't have to watch Gina cling to him the entire weekend; in fact they weren't even a couple. They were just a novelist and his publisher, and nothing could have made her happier. She reminded herself not to be too overjoyed; he still left her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a very wet, very excited teenage running full speed for her. Before she could blink she was embraced in a bone-crushing hug while Alexis squealed in excitement. Getting over her shock she wrapped her arms around the girl and chuckled to herself.

"Hi Alexis," she said through her giggles, "how much sugar have you had today?" The teen quickly looked up at her, a giant grin plastered onto her face.

"None, I'm just so happy to see you. This weekend is going to be great! Dad's a great smore maker and we haven't used the fire pit yet this summer." Alexis was practically bouncing as she said this, then the teen seemed to calm down abruptly and looked at her dad accusingly.

"What? I didn't do anything." He defended himself, taking in her expression and obviously wondering what he did wrong.

"Exactly," the young girl told her very perplexed father, "they're still holding their bags. You didn't show them to their rooms yet." She burst out into another round of chuckles, Alexis was definitely the more mature of the two. She absolutely adored the relationship of the two people standing in front of her; they were so close and very protective of one another. She knew if anything happened to Alexis that Castle wouldn't know what to do and vice versa.

Suddenly she was being ushered up the staircase she had been admiring earlier while Castle waltzed off into another room. Lanie was following close behind her so she took the opportunity to address the reason for her being in this mess.

"I'm going to kill you." She hissed and then ran to catch up with Alexis who was waiting at the top of the stairs. A quick look back and she found an amused Lanie walking along behind her laughing quietly to herself. Alexis gave them a quick tour of the second floor and sent them off to unpack in their rooms. She was pleased to note that her room was one of the farthest from Castle's, she didn't think she could bear it if she was reminded each night that he was sleeping in the next room. That thought alone might break her, and she had to stay strong. That being said she set her bag on the bed and mentally prepared herself for the rest of the weekend, this was going to be torture.