sorry for the wait but I had some crazy things going on in my life than I got writers block, which sucked :P but my best friend NinaK.05 and my friend CaskettMyHeart, who helped me out a lot with this chapter, I would like to thank you for everything :D. So please bare with me on this and the lateness of some of my chapters. Hope you still like it :) enjoy.

CHAPTER 3

Castle sat in the chair that he now calls his and watched his girlfriend staring off into space totally forgetting about the hospital food that a nurse brought for her, she was thinking about something her brow was furrowed in the adorable way that he just loved and she would pull her lip in between her teeth every few seconds. He studied her for a few more minutes until his curiosity got the better of him,

"What are you thinking about?" he asked

Kate looked over at him and bit her lip again; he chuckled at her and gave her a look to say he wasn't going to leave it alone. She rolled her eyes at him then said,

"Nothing really, just that night at the warehouse." she smiled at him slyly

"Oh, what part of that night when I knocked out Lockwood?"

"A little bit before that."

"Hum, what else happened that night?" Castle joked

Kate laughed then replied,

"I don't know, Castle why don't you help me jog my memory?"

Castle raised his eyebrow at her, stood up and placed her untouched dinner on the table next to her bed then pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear and leaned in for a kiss. Her left hand reached up and cupped his cheek as he kissed her slowly little pecks of kisses; she ran her fingers through his soft brown hair. He kissed her nose then her cheek small kisses trailing over her jaw line her chin back to her lips then up the bridge of her nose when she let out a puff of laughter he opened his eyes to look at her smiling face, he placed one last feather of a kiss to her lips, stroked the small beauty mark under her eye then kissed her forehead and sat on her bed by her hip. She slowly opened her eyes and smiled at him then placed her hand on his knee then whispered,

"That's not how I remember it, but I could get use to these moments too."

Rick smiled at her then placed his hand on top of hers and rubbed the smooth skin with his thumb.

"Me to, now eat your food."

"But it looks gross." Kate stated

Rick laughed at her and moved the food back on her lap

"It can't be that bad, here I'll prove it"

He picked up her fork and took a bite of mashed potatoes on her plate, he made a gross face and grabbed a tissue and spit it into it,

"Oh god, that's disgusting."

"See! I'm so not eating that."

"No you are not. Why would they even serve this crap!"

"Okay girl, I'm here and I brought food, a movie, some magazines," Lanie walked through the door to Kate's hospital room to see her best friend playing tonsil hockey with writer boy, "and your making out?!" Kate looked at her surprised and embarrassed and Castle leaned his forehead on Kate's shoulder then closed his eyes,

"Hey Lanie, I thought you weren't going to be here for another hour."

"Didn't have work so I was at my apartment, you going to explain yourself?" Kate held up her pointer finger to tell her friend she would be a second and slowly ran her fingers through his hair and whispered in his ear,

"Why don't you go home, take a shower, get changed maybe spend some time with Martha and Alexis make sure they're okay then you can all come back here, I would love to see them." He looked up at her, smiled,

"Okay Kate, I'll be back with mother and Alexis in about an hour and half, I love you."

"Love you too." He kissed her on the forehead and got off the bed never letting go of her hand until he was out of reach he looked back at her and said,

"I'll call when we are on our way," he walked up to Lanie standing by the door and said a quick goodbye before he left the room.

"Okay girl you have some talking to do." Kate rolled her eyes at Lanie and patted the bed for her to come and sit next to her.

"What do you want to know?"

"Kate, girl, have you thought this through? Are you sure you can do this? Have a relationship? You were just shot for Crist sake!" Kate looked at her best friend in shock for a second, straightened her features then replied,

"Lanie, yes I'm sure, I couldn't be more sure, I am ready to take this leap 'cause yes I was just shot, Lanie and the only thing on my mind in those moments was that I had missed out on a chance with the one person I love so much, that I would never be able to touch him, talk to him or tell him that I love him. I knew when I woke up that I had to tell him I loved him too, Lanie! You have to get that, you've told me for years to smarten up, that if I don't do something I might miss my chance with him that I might lose him forever and I can't live with that thought anymore! I need him in my life, like I need the air I breathe!"

Lanie reached out for Kate's hand and smiled at her weakly then said, "I just don't want you to get hurt, Kate. I want to make sure you know what you are doing."

"I know what I'm doing, Lanie, if I had any doubts I wouldn't have said I love you to him, I wouldn't have kissed him, Lanie."

Lanie squeezed her hand then replied, "Okay, Sweetie but I'm here if you ever need to talk." Kate squeezed her hand back then Lanie said, "How about we watch a movie and you tell me some of the gossip you have heard from the nurses before writer boy comes back." Kate nodded her head and the started talking candidly about everything that they heard since Kate got shot.

When Castle got back to the loft his mom and daughter were fast asleep on the couch, his daughter was wearing a pair of sweat pants and a light purple T-shirt and his mother was in one of her crazy robes with her hand resting on Alexis' shoulder as she slept on her grandmothers lap like she would when she was a little girl. Castle tried to quietly make his way to his bedroom to shower and change, but it didn't go quite as planned when he stubbed his toe on the couch and tried to hop to his room only to bump into more things causing him to let out a squeak and almost knock over the lamp and in an attempt to catch it he knocked over a stack of Alexis' school books, they landed with a loud thud his face scrunched up and he slowly turned around to see his mother and daughter start to stir from their sleep,

"Richard? Darling, what are you doing?"

"Dad?"

Castle swore under his breath then answered, "Sorry about the noise just tripped over the couch."

"Darling you have to be more careful." His mother said as she got up from the couch and stretched, "I've gotten too old to fall asleep on the couch, my back is killing me."

Alexis smiled at her dad and grandmother then asked, "Dad How's Kate?"

"She's great sweetie, wants to see you guys when I go back but that won't be for a little bit cause she's having girl time with Lanie right now so I've been sent home."

Alexis hugged her dad tightly then said, "I'm happy your home, and Beckett's okay."

"So am I Pumpkin, so am I." He said as he placed a kiss on the top of her head and hugged her tighter.

Martha smiled at and patted her son on the shoulder then announced, "Well I'll make some food." Martha made her way to the kitchen, "and Richard why don't you shower you smell like a hospital." She threw over her shoulder with the wave of her hand then started to pull out pots and pans.

Alexis gave her dad one more squeeze before she pulled back and said, "I better go help Grams before she blows up the kitchen." She placed a light kiss to his cheek then said, "Go take a shower dad 'cause you really do smell like the hospital."

About an hour and a half later Castle, Alexis and Martha all left the loft to go and see Kate. They arrived at the hospital and made their way to Beckett's room so they can see her. Kate and Lanie were watching "the Proposal" and laughing something Betty white was doing when they heard a light knock on the door and saw Castle and his family standing in the door, Kate motioned for them to come in and take a seat as she continued to watch the movie. Castle walked up to the bed and was just about to kiss her when he remembered his family doesn't know yet so instead he stopped next to her bed and pulled out a pen and paper and wrote 'Hi' on it and handed it to her as he sat down on the side of the bed, Kate looked at him funny then wrote on the paper, 'what no kiss :(' then handed it back to him well she went back to staring at the screen, Castle let out a puff of laughter then wrote down his answer, he placed the piece of paper on top of her hand and laughed at the look she gave him before she opened up the paper and read 'fam doesn't know about us Katie' she rolled her eyes at him then quickly wrote down her response then placed it in his hand, he unfolded the small piece of paper eagerly to see what her response was to him calling her Katie, 'don't call me Katie or you will regret it Kitten.' His jaw dropped then he quickly wrote down his reply, she looked at the paper it she burst tried really hard not to laugh at what he wrote but it just made her laugh she didn't know how those words could make her laugh but somehow 'we had a deal' was now something funny to her, he glared at her when he heard her laugh and tore out a piece of paper from his note-book and throw it at her and ended up hitting her in the face which caused her to glare back at him. Martha, Lanie and Alexis all shared looks with each other as the two partners shared notes and glares through the rest of the movie, Martha even laughed at them a few times and thought, 'if they don't tell us by the end of this visit that they are dating I will bring it up myself' she first noticed when her son made his way to Kate and started to lean in but bounced make up straight and the look of what she guessed was disappointment on Kate's face when she noticed that Richard wasn't going to kiss her but instead passed her a note.

When the movie was over Lanie said her goodbyes and Rick and Kate looked at Martha and Alexis with a very serious expression on their faces,

"Kate and I have to tell you both something." Castle started and Alexis looked at them confused and Martha just smirked she knew what they were about to say. Kate reached out and look Castles hand in hers then took a deep breath then said,

"Mother, Alexis, Kate and I are dating, it's quite new for us, a few hours really but we didn't want to hide it from you two because we felt you deserve to know." Rick explained as Kate squeezed his hand waiting for the response from his family she had a feeling Martha was happy about it by the look on her face but she wasn't quite sure how Alexis would feel and she was scared to death that she might not approve and then her and Castles relationship would come to an end because his daughter comes first and she knows that even if he didn't say it she knows it would be over if Alexis wasn't happy.

"That's wonderful! I'm so happy for you two, Kate darling when you get out of here I will make a big dinner to celebrate this fantastic news." Martha declared,

Kate smiled at her then said, "That would be wonderful Martha, thank you." She looked over at Alexis and the girl had a blank expression on her face and Kate squeezed Castles hand tighter then asked, "Alexis?" when the girl only looked up at her Kate turned to Rick and said, "can I speak to her alone?" He nodded his head then said, "Come on mother let's leave these two alone to talk for a bit." Then placed a kiss to the top of Kate's head and him and his mother made their way out of the room and closed the door behind them.

Kate looked back at Alexis then said, "come here" then patted the spot on the bed next to her, Alexis came and sat on the bed and then Kate asked, "sweetie what's wrong? You can tell me anything"

Alexis looked down at her hands like she was embarrassed then said, "I could have lost you or dad today, If we lost you dad would be a wreck and he wouldn't be himself again and if I lost him….. God Kate I don't know what I would do if I lost him, he's everything I have and I almost lost him 'cause he loves you so much he almost took a bullet for you! If he died I don't know if I would be able to forgive you." Wiped a tear from her eyes and looked up at Kate and saw that she was fighting back tears and Alexis' heart nearly broke she didn't want to upset her she loved Kate, she was just mad that she could have lost someone she loved today.

"I'm sorry sweetie and I wouldn't expect you to forgive me because to be honest if he died trying to save my life I don't think I would be able to forgive myself either." She wiped away a tear and then continued, "I love your dad Alexis and I don't think I could live with that guilt, I couldn't live with hurting you or Martha either."

Alexis reached out and held Beckett's hand then said, "Kate I know you love my dad and he loves you too so much and so do I and that's why I'm so mad because I almost lost someone I love, I watched you get shot! You bleed out in my dad's arms, but don't get me wrong I'm happy for you guys but I just don't want to see him get hurt again. I need you to promise me you won't hurt him"

"Alexis, Honey I love you too and I'm sorry you had to see that and go through this you have no idea how sorry I am and I can't promise I won't hurt him but I can promise to try not too I swear I will try my hardest to not hurt your dad."

"Okay," Alexis looked back down at her hands then asked quietly, "Kate? Can I hug you?"

"Yeah sweetie, come here, just don't squeeze too hard." Alexis came over and gave Kate a hug and Kate squeezed the teenager and kissed the top of her head as the girl cried on her shoulder, "Shh shh, it's okay sweetie, everything's okay, shh." Kate cooed.

"Richard, Kate wanted to talk to her privately so stop eavesdropping!"

"I'm not eavesdropping I'm just seeing if everything's okay by looking through the window."

Martha rolled her eyes then she said, "What's going on?"

"They're still just talking mother." Martha let out a sigh as she leaned against the wall and began to wait but she didn't have to wait long 'cause her son whispered, "They're hugging now! Kate kissed her on the head! I think Alexis is crying should I go in there?"

"Richard let Kate handle it," she walked over to the window her son was looking through then continued, "Looks like she's doing a good job, I don't think she needs you to save her on this one, anyways Alexis is starting to calm down so whatever she is doing it's working."

Castle looked through the window again and saw his daughter sit up from the hug and let out what looks like a small laugh and then his girlfriend, his beautiful, wonderful girlfriend wiped the tears off his daughters cheeks, he smiled then said to his mother, "she is, isn't she." He watched them for a little while longer until he saw Kate look over to him and roll her eyes before she waved her hand for him to come in. He opened the door and walked up to his daughter and placed a kiss to her head and pulled her in for a quick hug,

Kate smiled at him then said,"Didn't anyone tell you it's not polite to eavesdrop?"

"Yes I have darling but he has never listened." Martha announced.

Kate laughed at the hurt look on his face before he let go of Alexis and walked up to Kate and placed a light kiss to her lips then whispered, "I love you, Katie"

"I thought we already went through this Katie thing, Kitten" she glared at him for a second then her face broke into a huge grin and she said, "I love you too, writer boy" he placed a kiss to the top of her head then sat down next to her in the bed as Alexis put in the first season of Temptation Lane her, her grandmother and Castle grab for her before leaving the house.

A/N: well that's it for chapter 3 :) I hope you liked it. I made it longer cause I made you have to wait so long but ill try to get chapter 4 up sooner than this one.

Please Review :) it's always wonderful to hear what you all think.

Love, Angeii