Chapter 19

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Castle wanted to redecorate.

He told Kate that he was getting bored of his house and needed a new project now that he had sent off the latest Nikki Heat venture for a final edit. Kate had bought this explanation, of course, because she knew how easily he got bored.

However, this time, Castle had an ulterior, real reason for wanting to redecorate. To Kate, his home was just that – his. For her, it was just a loft, a house, somewhere she and Zoey kept some of their stuff. By redecorating and choosing furniture and paint colours that she agreed on – or even chose herself – his house would turn into their home.

Still, not a lot of time had passed since Kate had let herself acknowledge – actually verbally express – that there were more people in her life now that she could call family. She had opened another door, so to speak, and he didn't want to risk having it slam back in his face by suggesting yet another new thing that she might not be ready for.

Castle had somehow managed to worm his way into her life – her words, not his – but more importantly, he had proven to her that she could trust him. And Kate's trust in people was not easily gained. In spite of that though, trusting him didn't mean that she still didn't like to have a certain amount of control in a situation. And in the realm of experiences that could be messy and chaotic and required one to let go a little, love and relationships ranked number one.

He knew, going in, that this massive project of his would end up taking a lot of persuasion and coercion (and probably fibbing to hide his real intentions).

Luckily, he was a master wheedler.

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"Castle, I'm working." Kate cradled her cellphone to her ear as she struggled with files in one hand and coffee in the other.

"You didn't actually tell me if the kitchen island idea was a firm 'yes'," he replied, "Oh, and bedroom paint colour?"

"It's your kitchen, Castle. Do whatever you want with it," said Kate, almost dropping her phone into the coffee as she set everything down onto her desk.

"But I can't decide!" he whined. "I need your help."

Kate threw up her hand in exasperation. "I don't know; do you like kitchen islands?"

"Do you?"

"I guess…" she said, "Yeah, sure. More space to prepare food since you like to spread out your ingredients across the entire counter."

"Great!" Castle said cheerily, completely ignoring Kate's jab. "Kitchen island it is."

"And now that that's settled, I really have to go," said Kate, hanging up the phone after he said 'bye'.

Kate got about five minutes of peace before her cellphone buzzed again. When she saw who it was on the caller display, she snapped it open. "What?"

"Um… you still haven't told me what colour you like."

"Is that seriously why you're calling me again?"

"I put the colour cards in your purse."

"Just choose whatever colour you want!"

"I think I've narrowed it down to Bolero, Red Bay, or Crabby Apple. You said you liked reddish for the bedroom, right?"

"Castle, I don't have time for your insanity right now."

"So… Crabby Apple?"

"You're going to keep harassing me until I answer you, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't call it harassing…"

Kate muttered under her breath and opened the desk drawer where she had stuffed her purse. Flipping through the cards, she found the three he had mentioned. Just then, Lanie and Esposito, who had just returned from lunch, walked up to her desk.

Both of them observed the three colour samples. "That one," they said simultaneously, pointing to the colour in the middle.

"Red Bay," said Kate into the phone.

"Now, is that your decision or Esplanie's?" he asked.

"Castle."

"Red Bay, final answer?"

"Goodbye, Castle."

"Paint samples, huh?" Esposito asked pointedly after she had hung up.

"Castle's redecorating," Kate answered, rolling her eyes.

"He's redecorating or the both of you are?" Lanie said, eyebrows raised. "Is there something I should know here? I mean, I am totally up for a double wedding scenario."

Kate glared at her best friend. Esposito had proposed on Valentine's Day but due to the sterility of her job, Lanie didn't get the chance to show off her engagement ring as often as she'd like. Which is why she found the need to remind people. Frequently. "He's redecorating," she answered.

"Uh huh. And he needs your opinion on paint colours because…"

"He's a child and can't decide anything on his own?"

"Is that the new party line?"

"What was the old one again?" Esposito asked, lips quirked, "I forget."

Lanie turned to her boyfriend. "They were just friends."

"Oh, right. Like you and I were just friends," he said, wrapping an arm around Lanie's waist.

"Esposito," Kate interrupted before they could keep going, "Go do your work. As I recall, there are a whole bunch of potential suspects for you to rifle through. And Lanie…" Kate paused. She could only boss Esposito around. "… just go and do whatever it is you do with dead bodies."

"That sounds a little porny… no, disturbing. That sounds disturbing," said Esposito.

"I'm going to give her a pass on that one," said Lanie as the two of them walked away from Kate, fully aware she was still within hearing range. "Her brain is still working on why Castle is asking for her help in picking out furniture when he has better taste than she does."

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Castle got a ridiculous amount of remodelling done in a short amount of time – due almost entirely to the fact that he had the financial means to make those demands. By the time their bedroom, bathrooms, hallways, kitchen, and living room were finished, Castle knew he was treading on dodgy territory with Kate.

He had left the guest bedroom for last and deliberately didn't tell Kate that he was actually turning it into Zoey's permanent bedroom. If she got mad or nervous or skittish (or any combination of the three), he could totally say that he just wanted his guests to learn about the Earth and its four seasons.

The four seasons idea was Alexis' who hated the concept of decorating Zoey's room with fairies or pink ballerinas just because she was a girl. Castle hadn't really planned on doing that anyway but he didn't want to tell her his incredibly nerdy alternative that consisted of some Space Invaders wall decals.

He started with knocking out the existing door so that he could install one that also opened up halfway, letting Zoey have her own little entrance complete with a low enough doorknob. And, by locking just the bottom portion, it would also allow them to have a nicer looking safety gate. Then, he contacted a friend of his who was an artist to help him turn Zoey's room into a giant mural.

The painting started with a summer scene on one wall, transitioning into autumn on the next, winter, then spring, which blended back into summer.

The walls were completed by the time Alexis came home for spring break.

"Whoa. This is amazing," she said as she walked into the room.

"Hey, I asked if you wanted one too," Castle replied.

"Dad, I redecorated my room, like, less than three years ago." Alexis shook her head and gave him a wry smile. "I haven't changed my tastes that much since then. Although…" her voice trailed off as she pointed at the uniform strip of black, a couple of feet in length, cutting through the picture on all four walls. "Is that…"

"Yup, that's chalkboard paint." Castle was practically giddy. "I mean, obviously Zo can't really use it right now unless somebody's with her – I don't want to leave chalk lying around and have her eat it – but I figure, when she's older—"

"—It'll be super awesome." Alexis nodded. She paused, pondered a bit, and then, "So… how much of that paint do you have left over?"

"You want a chalkboard, too, don't you?"

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"Do you like this blanket, Zo?"

Zoey petted the velvet quilt that they were currently sitting on. "Soft," she replied.

"What colour do you like?" Alexis looked on the tag and read out the available shades.

Alexis had been accompanying her dad for the past couple of days to find the right furnishings for Zoey's room and they were currently in a shop on the Upper East Side that specialised in kid's furniture. Alexis and Zoey were sitting on one of the beds while Castle spoke to one of the owners about the possibility of making a custom-designed bed that looked like the sun (they also wanted a desk shaped like the Earth and lighting fixtures that looked like leaves).

Right after Zoey had declared that she liked purple, a sales associate walked up to them. "Hello, my name is Tara," she greeted, sounding a little too forced to be friendly. "Is there anything I can help you with today?"

Alexis stood up from the bed. "Oh no, that's okay. We were just looking at the quilt."

"And who is this?" Tara asked, tone suddenly sugar-sweet as she addressed Zoey.

Alexis got somewhat annoyed when she noticed how Tara immediately took in the considerable age gap and genetic features between the two of them – equally striking but clearly incongruous – and made certain assumptions.

Alexis held onto Zoey's hand so she wouldn't tumble as she hopped off the bed. "She's my little sister," she emphasized the last word, "We're actually redecorating her room."

Luckily, her dad showed up behind them. "Success!" he said to her, "I got the name of a designer who can help us."

"Oh! Mr. Castle," said Tara, "I didn't realise that they were your daughters." Now she really looked like she wanted to ask how exactly her and Zoey were related.

"Yup," he smiled, "Alexis and Zoey."

Before Tara could chime in with another comment, Alexis gave her dad a look that clearly said she wanted to get out of there. "Zo and I decided we want to get this quilt. We should probably pay for it and go." She practically pulled her dad out of the store.

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"Tah-dah!"

Castle had made Kate close her eyes for the big reveal. He had prevented her from seeing any of it, choosing to go over to her apartment to stay with Zoey during the day while construction had been going on in the loft. Right now, as they stood in the living room and she opened her eyes, Castle was glad that he had made her wait.

"Wow, Castle," she said, "This is really beautiful." She ran her hand across the sofa set she had chosen from CITE. "You were right, the coffee table really goes with this."

"Do you want to see upstairs?" he asked after she had walked through the kitchen and admired the new window treatments.

"Sure."

He watched her out of the corner of his eye when they walked up the stairs to see if she noticed the paintings. When it came to art, Kate was much more knowledgeable and so, the few accent pieces in the loft had all ended up being chosen by her. A couple of weekends ago, he had used the pretence of exploring New York City's art galleries to see what she liked.

He purposely left room for some of the furnishings from her current apartment that he was sure she wouldn't want to part with. Just in case.

As they walked along the upstairs hallway, he saw her do a double take at the framed pictures. "Zo and I are in a lot of these," she commented. Kate smiled at a picture of the four of them, all happily lying in the snow. "When was this taken?"

"Central Park," he replied, "We were all laughing after that snowball fight so I had somebody take a picture of us."

"I didn't even notice you got up!"

"I know. I could be a spy, right?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "Are you going to show me the bedroom or not?"

He grinned and opened their bedroom door. Kate immediately made a low whistling sound.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"It's comfortable and warm and surprisingly not showy." She said after a pause, the last bit coming out teasingly. She peered into the adjoining bathroom before turning to properly admire all of the little fixtures and furniture pieces with wide eyes. They had actually picked out all of them together but she seemed to still be operating on the assumption that she had only been acting as his interior designer. Either that or she was choosing to ignore and forget. "This is really perfect, Castle," she said, "I never really had time to set up my new apartment or, well, update my old one but if I had, this probably comes really close to what I would have wanted my bedroom to look like."

Castle's eyes twinkled. "So, you like it?"

Kate smiled. "I love it."

He gave her a suggestive look. "Do you want to help me christen the new bed?"

A/N: I know this chapter probably had way too much description but I am kind of a design nerd. I love cool and unique rooms and furnishings (like all of those shows that used to be on TLC but have been replaced by the influx of cupcakes).

Also, for those interested:

A reader requested to know how much time has elapsed and believe it or not, I do have a chronological outline mapped out! However, I purposely didn't want to ruin the illusion by putting a year on it. So, to make this easier, assuming a random, made-up base year of 0000 (you guys can input your own year if you want!), this is the timeline so far:

Ch. 1: November '00 – Initial adoption, Zoey is 15 months

Ch 5: March '01 – Castle starts to take care of Zoey full-time

Ch. 9: July '01 – Zoey's 2nd birthday

Ch. 16: December '01 – Castle and Kate's first 'real' date

Ch. 19: March '02 – Zoey is around two and a half years old

Hope that helps you guys out!