This was meant to be a one-shot, but I keep getting ideas to continue a few more chapters if people seems to like it. Also, Arise's next chapter should be up in the next couple of days. Special thanks to Leonhart17 for beta-ing and making sure it doesn't sucks!

Richard Castle glanced around the dining table and shared a curious look with his daughter and mother, two of the most important women in his life, when a soft knock on the door eerily echoed in the writer's spacious loft. It was halfway past six and they weren't expecting any visitors.

Martha waved at Castle, silently asking him to go answer while she took a sip of wine out of a rather large glass. "Anybody expecting anyone?" He asked as he stood and leisurely walked to the door.

"Julie, but she's supposed to text me before coming over. Hey, maybe it's Beckett." Alexis teased her dad and smiled when the man stuck out his tongue at her. The teenager knew her father had been antsy all day because he had gotten a text from the detective telling him it wasn't necessary to show up at the precinct since she wasn't going to be there and there weren't any new cases to work on.

"Yeah, right. She will be behind that door and I shall be named Spiderpig." He announced with a theatrical voice, his hand on the doorknob and, with one last mocking glare to his daughter, who had walked closer to see who their visitor was, opened the door widely. "My name shall remain-"

"Spiderpig. See, told you! Hey detective Beckett." Alexis smirked as she went back to sit at the table, exchanging a knowing smile with her granddaughter.

Castle gawked briefly at the woman standing uncomfortably in the hallway, confusion clear on her delicate features. "Kate."

"That'd be me." She confirmed with an odd look. "Spiderpig?"

"Oh. Um, just another endearing term from my lovely daughter. Please, come in." He backed up and gestured for her to come in, and had to refrain to roll his eyes at her when she hesitated. "Come on, Katherine, we were just finishing up dinner so no one is in the mood to bite."

All three women rolled their eyes in sync, which Castle was able to catch because of the doorway mirror. He shook his head slowly, deliberately choosing to ignore the almost creepy gesture. "Really, Castle? Endearing? Isn't that pig even stupider than Homer?" Kate raised an eyebrow at him while fighting off a smile.

"Are we a Simpsons fan, detective? That's kind of hot." He leaned in to whisper in her ear but frowned when he realized his partner's ears were nowhere in his normal reach.

"Huh."

"What?"

"You're wearing flats." Castle commented curiously, taking a step back to observe the detective more closely.

Kate's eyes narrowed and straightened her back as she stared hard at him. "Yeah, so?"

"You practically never wear flats."

"I do too." Kate argued back, suddenly annoyed.

"Yeah, sure, so that's why just last week you raced a suspect through a back alley, jumped over a car and a fence right into a back yard and managed to tackled the guy, a 6ft 4' man, all of it while wearing five inches stilettos."

Kate blushed under the surprised and highly impressed set of eyes that were suddenly on her. "Castle, just drop it."

"But-"

"I said drop it, Spiderpig!" Kate winced at the sharpness of her voice, instantly regretting it.

"Fine." Castle replied somewhat dryly, hurt at the young woman's short temper. It wasn't as if it was the first time he had teased her about her choice of footwear, but she had never reacted so strongly before. "What's bringing you here on a Friday night, carrying a humongous cup of coffee? Do we need to stage an intervention, detective?"

She had to smile at his attempt to lighten the atmosphere after their bickering. Why do they fight so often these days? Kate wondered and she noted, with some bitterness, that she had been the one inadvertently instigating the arguments. Her patience had been running thin ever since her shooting and she hated that she seemed to always take out her anger and frustration on her partner and best friend. "Actually," Kate started with hesitation, "this isn't for me." She took a deep breath and wordlessly handed the cup to the man and continued before anyone could interrupt her.

"I ran into your partner today and you're right, she really is a handful." Kate shot Castle a faint smirk when the writer chuckled but remained silent, knowing she wasn't done yet. "Anyway, long story short, there was some ass kicking involved, and she also relayed me your message."

At Kate's shy smile and hopeful look, Castle glanced down at the coffee and smiled at the small '100' written on the lid. He hadn't seen it before, but now it was all he could see. His eyes were full of mirth when he locked eyes with the detective and it was an odd sense of satisfaction that he watched her squirm nervously under his gaze.

"I know it's late and maybe it could have waited until morning, but...one down, ninety-nine to go." She finished softly.

Castle smiled and closed the distance between them in a second then, on an impulse, wrapped an arm around Kate's shoulders and kissed her cheek. "Thank you."

Kate was shell-shocked for a moment when she felt her partner's arm around her but she recovered quickly and patted his chest as she shot him a thankful smile. "I'll leave you guys finish dinner. And wouldn't advise you to drink all of it though, Castle, or you'll be running around the building all night long and I'll feel bad about calling you in a few hours if we get a new case."

Castle glared at her daughter for snorting, but in reality he didn't mind. At all. He quickly opened his mouth to find a reason for Beckett to stay, but the words were stolen from him as Martha stood up and walked over to them. "Nonsense dear, why don't you have dinner with us now, come on!"

"No, really I can't, I should go home." Kate protested but Martha was already preparing her a plate and Castle was gently pushing her to the table. "You heard my mother, detective. And you know that when she says 'nonsense', there is no arguing with her."

Kate rolled her eyes but she knew he was right. No one remotely sane would try butting heads with Martha Rodgers. It was particularly interesting to think that while Beckett would almost always agree with whatever the older woman said, her first instinct whenever Castle said or did something was to enter a head butting contest with him. "No, really, I'm not even hungry."

"Your pretty head might think so, but I beg to differ your stomach will be more than pleased to receive food other than coffee or stale granola bars."

"What? I have never, ever, eaten anything remotely stale. I'm not that stupid." Kate glared as she stood next to an empty seat, challenging Castle to reply with one of his trademark jabs while trying really hard to keep her cheeks from coloring up. Why did everything coming out of the man's mouth made her blush these days?

However, the comment she had been expecting didn't come from the man next to her, but from someone else to her right. "You know that coffee isn't exactly food either so it doesn't count."

Kate spun around to stare incredulously at Alexis, only to find the teenager staring back at her innocently. "What, I'm just saying..."

Castle gave her daughter a thumbs-up behind Beckett's back and raised his hand to run it in his hair when a pair of suspicious sienna eyes suddenly bore into him. "May I?" the man asked kindly, motioning at the woman's jacket. One glance at the steaming plate Martha had just put next to her finally made Kate caved, the muffin she had earlier in the morning haven't been far than enough.

Kate swiftly unbuttoned her coat and let Castle slide it off her shoulders while being mindful of her left side, not wanting her partner or anyone else to notice her discomfort.

Castle was busy putting her coat away but Alexis, who had been watching them from the corner of their eyes, noticed the way the detective had lowered herself cautiously and now sat a little stiffly on the chair. "Are you okay, detective Beckett?"

"Yeah, of course." Kate denied quickly. "Why?"

"What's going on?" Castle asked curiously as he came back to the table, frowning at the sudden change in mood. The fact that Kate and Alexis seemed to be having an intense but silent discussion didn't help matters. "Kate, are you alright?"

Kate sighed and visibly deflated, which only worried Castle even more. She thought of what her therapist had told her and the statement she had made about being ready to move on, and the efforts needed in order to get there. "It's nothing, Castle. I just pulled a muscle yesterday when I was looking for Travis and it's still kind of sore."

She watched as his eyes softened and gave her a quick but thorough look over before his gaze lingered over her side, and Kate could tell the exact moment Castle put the pieces of the puzzle together. "You tried climbing the ladder." He narrowed his eyes at her and clenched his jaw in frustration. "You tried to climb the ladder? That thing was over twenty feet high! You could have fallen and hurt yourself all over again! Hell, you could have-"

"Whoa, easy there, tiger! I didn't think! Should've I had been more careful? Probably, but I don't spend my days walking around thinking what I physically should and shouldn't do." Kate retorted as she tried to keep her voice down, knowing there were two other people in the room.

Castle snorted in annoyance and ignored the glare he was getting from his mother. "Clearly not, but that'd be a good start. Damn it, Kate, it's not like you broke you arm, you were shot in the chest! And considering it took over six hours of surgery to save your life, you'd think you'd be more careful."

"Richard," Martha warned him when he looked about to go for another round of yelling. She nodded her head in Kate's direction and one look at the younger woman drained him from all the anger that had raised deep inside of him at the mention of her being hurt again.

Beckett was still sitting on the chair but her eyes were dark with frustration and pain, and Castle could see she was struggling to keep her emotions under control. Still, a stray tear escaped and ran down her cheek as she turned sideways to face him. "You think I forgot? Believe me, Castle, that's all I think about. It's all I can think about but I'm trying really hard to not let it ruin my life, like it almost did with this case."

Alexis and Martha watched, concerned, as Richard ran a wary hand over his face before slumping back in his chair. Beckett looked about ready to bolt but, to her credit, she remained in her seat, quietly waiting-or dreading- what would come next. "Have you at least taken something? For the pain, I mean."

Castle breathed a little easier when the detective nodded, but he wasn't ready to throw the towel yet. "Will you go see Rogers?"

"I'm going tomorrow. I had another kind of appointment today." Kate answered softly. She felt three sets of eyes watching her intently so, after bracing herself, she raised her head to look at them. "Rogers is my physical therapist," she explained and Martha nodded in understanding while Kate could swear she saw anger fading in Alexis's eyes when she justified who Rogers was exactly.

"Oh." Beckett could see the wheels turning wildly in her partner's mind, undoubtedly attempting to figure out where she could have been earlier in the day. "You were with your dad?"

"Nope."

"Apartment hunting again?"

"Castle, I have an apartment."

"Yes, but it's small and too far away comparing to the one before. The gym?"

"It's not too small." She rolled her eyes at his insistence. It was too small and way too far for her liking but she wasn't to agree with him about that. "You're right, Castle, I spent the day at the gym and stared at the machines to do mental exercises."

"You could have gone at the gym to do other kind of watching," he whispered slyly with his eyebrows raised, enjoying this kind of bickering between them much more than the one from before.

"Castle, I'm going to smack you." She rolled her eyes again while matching Martha's smirk.

"Ah. You were with Lanie."

"Nope." Kate sighed and looked down at her plate, but she wasn't hungry anymore. "I was...I was with my therapist." Admitting to Castle about her physical mishap the day before had been something she had decided to do, but to admit about still seeing a shrink, and in front of Martha and Alexis too hadn't been planned at all. "I, I should go. It's been a long day and I have to get up early tomorrow."

"Please don't go already!" Alexis almost shouted from her place before smiling sheepishly and lowered her voice. "It's just that we were about to have a movie night, and it'd be fun if you wanted to join us. It's been awhile since we had the chance to all hang out together, you can even pick any movie you want."

Kate glanced around the table, surprised. The truth was, she didn't want to leave and go back to her small apartment, alone and feeling restless after today's session with her therapist. "Um."

Castle frowned and stared questionably at his daughter but she shook her head quickly, pulling out her cell phone as she sent her friend a quick text to let her know her plans had changed.

"Please? I promise my dad will behave." Alexis smirked and laughed at Castle's outraged look.

Martha took one look at all of them and decided to take the matters in her own hands. "Well, we are not getting any younger so Alexis, why don't you and Kate go pick a movie while I clean the table and Richard gather the snacks?"

Next thing Beckett knew Alexis was standing next to her, a small but genuine smile on her face and Martha had brought the dishes, minus Kate's, in the kitchen. "Sweetheart, why don't you go and start looking for a movie, I just need to talk to Kate for a second."

Alexis nodded and trotted to the living room, Kate's eyes on her retreating back. She knew why Castle wanted to talk to her and so she braced herself, waiting until she felt his hand on her shoulder. Kate's eyes focused on Richard's deep blue orbs and she unconsciously bit the inside of her cheek, not sure what to expect.

Kate swallowed back a surprised gasp when Castle engulfed her in a light but heartfelt hug, careful not to hurt her. "Thank you. I am so glad you told me," he whispered to her and it was his turn to be surprised when she returned the hug. "Oh, and by the way," he said as they pulled apart, although he kept hold of one of her hands, "what you did here, trusting me enough to share that with me, with us, was worth like twenty coffees."

The detective's laugh was music to his ears and brought an ecstatic smile to his face. "Always."

Castle watched her as she went to join his daughter in the living room and it was only when she glanced back at him with a glint in her eye that he knew; they both knew.

Part of her wall had just fallen down.