A/N: Can I just say how freakin' AWESOME you guys are? All of those reviews and encouragements (and the occasional nudges to just forego those damn midterms), I loved them all! :)
P.S.: Totally opted to procrastinate studying...obviously.

Chapter 2

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"What is this? A day-care centre?"

It was about an hour later and Kate hadn't been paying much attention to what Castle and Zoey were doing. It was only with the Captain towering over her desk that she looked up from her paperwork and realised that Castle had helped Zoey (or vice versa… Kate wasn't really sure) build an entire kingdom made out of blocks, plastic cups, and other miscellaneous office supplies. Needless to say, the toys were no longer contained in the immediate area of her desk.

"Jeez, Castle!" Kate groaned. "Who's the child here?"

"Beckett," said Montgomery with arms crossed. "Is there a reason why your…"

Kate could see that he had no idea whether or not to call Zoey her child and honestly, Kate wasn't really sure how to define their relationship either. "Zoey. Her name is Zoey," Kate supplied.

"Right. Well, is there a reason why she's here? In the precinct? Where there are firearms and criminals?"

Kate didn't know whether or not to feel guilty. She hadn't had any another option. "Separation anxiety," Kate finally answered. "She's only just gotten used to having stability again and I don't think she wants to be separated from me. Believe me, sir, I've tried."

"Well, how long do you think it will take before she's less… anxious?" Montgomery looked uncomfortable at having to ask the question but he was more uncomfortable with the prospect of having a small child in a not-so-safe environment.

As Kate shrugged, Castle piped up from his position on the floor. "It'll get easier," he said, "Alexis was the same way when she started attending pre-school."

"And did you stay with her the entire day?" Kate asked.

"Well…no. She cried for a full twenty minutes and then I left and snuck into the bushes to make sure she was all right. Stayed there for the whole morning. But, Alexis was a little older and the circumstances were –" Castle looked down at Zoey "—different."

Montgomery nodded. "Beckett, I understand the difficult situation that you've been put in and I'm willing to grant you as much time as you need."

"Thank you, sir."

"But, maybe Zoey could stay somewhere that's less busy?" It was his kind way of saying that they needed to pack up shop. "The lounge is free," he suggested as he walked back towards his office.

Kate let out a sigh and bent down to help Castle gather up all of the makeshift toys, grumbling the entire time about the mess. "Okay, Zoey," she said, picking up the little girl, "We have to play somewhere else now."

Kate grabbed a couple of files off of her desk and the three of them made their way into the lounge.

"Yo, Beckett," Esposito called right as she sat down at the table. "Body just dropped. 43rd and Lex."

"Okay," she answered, while in her head, she thought, shit. "You guys go first. I'll meet you there."

She turned towards Castle who was currently sitting on the couch and bouncing Zoey up and down on his lap.

"I can stay here with her," he said.

Kate looked dubious at the prospect that Zoey would allow her to leave without alerting the entire precinct. Still, she had to work and there was no way she was bringing a child to a bloody crime scene. Kate crouched down on the floor in front of the couch and her green eyes met solemn grey ones. "Zoey," she started, wondering if she would even be understood, "I have to go and do some work."

Zoey's eyes immediately started welling up. Having obviously understood at least the word 'go', she said, "Bye bye?"

Kate nodded. "Yes, but just for a little while. I'll be back really, really soon."

"No!" Zoey cried and then tried to dive into Kate's arms. Castle held her back but as soon as Kate sat down beside them, Zoey struggled out of his grasp so that she could wrap her arms around Kate's neck. "No!" she repeated.

Kate shook her head. "Honey, it's not forever," she said, briefly wondering when she became one of those people who used endearments. She unlatched Zoey's arms and settled her down into a sitting position, wrapping her arms around her tiny body and pulling her close. "Don't you want to stay here and play with Rick?"

"No!" Zoey's vocabulary was growing by the day but that word definitely remained her favourite.

Kate used her thumb to brush away some of Zoey's tears although the little girl was no longer crying so much as sniffling. Kate sighed and gave Castle a wayward glance that clearly read, "Do you want to give this a try?"

Castle nodded. "Hey, Zo?" he asked.

Zoey's gaze remained averted. One of her hands still firmly grasping Kate's while the other absently toyed with her watch.

"I really liked playing with you this morning," Castle continued. "Did you have fun?"

It was a couple of seconds before they received a slight nod.

"And don't you want to keep playing?"

Another slight nod.

"Well, Kate has to go somewhere where there are no toys and no games."

Zoey shook her head at that. "No," she said.

Castle chose to take that as a repetition of his words, "That's right, no fun."

"But, if you stay here with Rick," Kate chimed in, "Then you can keep having fun."

"And Kate promises that she'll be back as soon as she can." Castle wrapped his hands around Zoey's for emphasis but since Zoey was holding on to Kate's hands, his fingers ended up tangled with hers as well.

"Is that okay, Zo?" Kate asked.

Zoey still looked sceptical.

"How about –" Castle let go of their hands and slid down to the floor. "—Do you see these blocks?" Zoey nodded and Castle started stacking them one on top of another until they were 5 stories high. "When all of the blocks are gone –" Castle demonstrated by removing each of the blocks until just a red one was left on the floor. "—When only this one is left, then that is when Kate will be back."

"Here?" Zoey asked.

Castle and Kate both nodded. "Right here," he repeated. "Okay?"

Kate was filled with relief when Zoey finally nodded. She hugged her tightly before setting her on the floor and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you," she said to Castle when he stood up beside her. "Three hours, max."

"We'll be fine," he told her.

Kate looked back one more time at Zoey before shutting the door behind her but Castle was already busy teaching her how to put a puzzle together.

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It actually took Kate a bit more than three hours to get back to the precinct.

"How is she?" She was rushing towards the lounge just as Castle was coming out. "Sorry for not calling; it took a little longer than we thought."

Castle waved it off. "I didn't even have to stall with the blocks," he said, "I coerced her into taking a nap an hour ago."

"How did you manage that? I've been dealing with an extremely cranky child every night because she's been refusing to take a nap during the day."

"Magical powers." Kate rolled her eyes and Castle grinned. "Okay, that or the always effective backrub."

Kate peered through the window and saw Zoey sleeping peacefully on the couch with Castle's jacket draped over her and several chairs backed up against the edges. "'Cause that's totally safe," Kate said wryly.

"Hey, I was keeping an eye on her," Castle replied. "I just came out because I saw you coming and didn't want you to wake her up with your fretting."

"Who uses the word 'fretting' any more?" She retorted and added, "Which I wasn't, by the way."

"I could use the word 'hysterical' if you'd prefer. 'Flustered'? 'Fussy'? 'Atwitter'?"

"Thanks but I really don't need a thesaurus."

"And you totally were."

"What?"

"Atwitter."

"Was not."

"You're already turning into a helicopter mom."

"Castle."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Okay. But, you really shouldn't say bad words in front of small children. They'll repeat it. Oh! I should tell you about the time I accidentally whipped myself – it was research – and Alexis heard me scream 'z—"

"—Castle!"

"Right. Inappropriate."

"Wait. What swear word starts with a 'z'?"

"It's French."

.

Castle seemed to anticipate Zoey's continued refusal to part with Kate because the next three days went much like the first. There was a whole lot less crying though when Kate was called away to interrogate a suspect or follow up on a lead. By Thursday, Zoey barely took notice when Kate left the room. That is, as long as Castle was there.

They made the mistake of letting Ryan watch over her while she took her nap on Wednesday. When she woke up and couldn't see either Kate or Castle, she screamed so loudly that some of the other detectives rushed over to see if somebody had gotten mortally wounded.

"Hey Esposito, where's Castle?" Kate asked. She had been in the morgue with Lanie for the past hour.

"I think he said something about going to the park," he answered.

Kate glanced at her watch. It was a little after one, the time when Zoey normally went down for a nap. Just as she was about to call Castle, a high-pitched squeal rang out from the direction of the elevator. Castle was tickling Zoey while she attempted to wriggle away; spotting Kate, though, her eyes lit up and Castle let her run into Kate's arms.

"Hello, little girl," said Kate, picking Zoey up and hugging her tight. "Where did you go?"

"Swing!"

"Did you have fun?"

Zoey nodded, her brown pigtails bobbing up and down from her enthusiastic movements.

"Here," said Castle, "We got you a sandwich."

"Oh," Kate said, surprised, "Thanks."

"Figured you haven't had anything all day except for coffee."

"Well, I had some Skittles," she replied.

"Healthy."

"Says the inventor of the s'morelet."

Castle grinned. "So," he said, pointing to the murder board, "What happened with the husband?"

"Ugh." Kate sighed. "He alibi-ed out."

"I knew it wasn't him."

"You did not! You've barely even looked at the case!"

"Hey, I can multi-task," he said.

Kate then realised that she had probably sounded incredibly unappreciative since the reason Castle hadn't been helping out on the case was because he was too busy helping her. "Oh god, Castle, I'm so sorry," she said immediately.

"For what?"

"For making you take care of…" she nodded down at the little girl in her arms (who was nearly asleep on her shoulder as the adrenaline of the afternoon slowly wore off).

"Hey," said Castle. "You didn't make me do anything. I volunteered."

"Yeah, but—"

"—Kate," he placed a hand on her arm. "Really. I love taking care of Zoey. She's really fun." He moved his hand to slip some of the loose tendrils behind Zoey's ear. "Reminds me of when Alexis was little."

Kate smiled softly. "Okay. Well, just so you know, you don't have to keep doing it if you don't want to. You can say 'no'."

He grinned at that. "When have I ever been able to say 'no' to you?"

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A/N: Guys, I was so wired after seeing a certain MAJOR CASTLE SPOILER that I could barely finish writing this chapter. DAY-UM. I just kept looking at it and looking at it… I need CONTEXT, people! Anybody else freak the hell out and scare whoever was around them at the time?

And to the person who picked up on the name Zoey, YES, I freakin' LOVE(D) Firefly. But also, I just really like the name. Changed the spelling, though; artistic license and all. ;) /Browncoat out.