Thanks for the great response for the last chapter. It means a lot to me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.

Chapter 6

The sun shone through every window in the house, so that the all rooms were completely illuminated by it. There were no clouds in sight and the weather report had stated that it should remain like that for the next few days. Kate sat in front of the window in her room and watched the children from next door playing on their front yard. In the tree before their house was a little lair of a bird and she saw how the bird just fed its little ones. Everyone seemed to be outside on this fine day and enjoying the fresh air.

Well, everyone but Kate who just merely observed this activity from behind the window. Her knee was bouncing up and down and she glanced what felt like every second at her watch. Her inner restlessness was obvious and still, she had managed to stay in this position for the last two hours, not even daring to approach the front door and leaving the house.

It was now late at midday and Richard Castle had to be somewhere at the park, enjoying the day with his daughter. Kate already caught herself twice thinking about going to the park, but always chided herself. Why should she go to the park? It would just send out the wrong signals and the both certainly will have more fun if she wasn't there.

Since the death of her mother, she had been more like a party pooper. Her day existed of just two things: the police academy and her dad. There were some days she had met Lanie for coffee, but that was it. Though Lanie tried to get her to go out more often, but Kate declined most of her invitations, feeling that the fun and carefree Kate Beckett was long gone. But she had to admit that she might have seen bits and pieces of her when she had been with Castle and Alexis.

She glanced again at her watch. 02:02 pm. Her knee still bounced restless up and down. Should she really go? Maybe they were already on their way home. He hadn't told her a time, just that they'd be there. Did he mean the whole day? As an author he certainly could afford such a luxury of doing nothing for some days.

Kate rolled her eyes about her restlessness. If her mother could see her now, she'd laugh at her. Her little Katie, sitting nervously in front of her window, indecisive of her next move. Kate had always known what to do and was proud of her determination, even if it bordered sometimes on stubbornness. But still, she had always been able to express her opinion on something and the word indecision didn't exist in her vocabulary. She cursed Richard Castle for letting her look like a little girl.

Kate Beckett was everything but a little girl. She did not sit in front of her window, not knowing what to do. Now, after two hours just sitting there, she had enough of it. She'd go out and show the world that she still existed and in her eyes were a determination, that hadn't been there in a long time, the old Kate flashing up again unnoticed. As she took the first step outside, it felt like that every step leading away from the house, was one step further back into life.

She enjoyed feeling the sunrays on her face. The laughter of the playing children could be heard as well as the twitter of the birds. A gentle breeze blew through her hair. She slowly started to walk to the park and enjoyed every second of it. Besides, she persuaded herself that she only walked to the park to get out of the house for some time and if she happen to run into Castle and Alexis, it would purely be by coincidence.

She could already see the park from afar, dozens of kids running around. Apparently all families had had the same idea to spend some time at the park. While the children run around and played with others, their parents stood a little offside and kept an eye on them. Kate pondered whether Castle stood somewhere by the group of parents or if he was running around with the kids. Both could be possible.

She scanned the area but rather searched for Alexis instead of her father, because Alexis could be easier discovered by her red hair. If she found Alexis, she'd find Castle too, seeing that he wouldn't be that far away from her. She glance a second time through the crowd and her face fell as she began to think that they may have already left the park, when she suddenly saw her.

Alexis Castle was just building a sand castle with two other kids. All three seemed highly concentrated, completely fading out their surroundings. She had to admit that the sand castle had already a remarkable size and she guessed that they didn't do this for the first time. As she watched them she couldn't fail to see how good they worked together, what a great team they were. While the sand castle got more and more impressive, they worked without many words.

"Do you always spy out children while they play?" came Castle's voice from behind her and she winced. She hadn't noticed how he had stepped up to her.

"God, Castle! Did you have to startle me?" asked Kate and tried to look annoyed at him, but she was unable to do so as she saw his smile. And again these butterflies were there, running havoc in her belly. Why couldn't the light breeze that still blew through her hair just blow them away? It would make everything so much easier.

"I've neither sneaked up, nor did I want to startle you. You should pay more attention to your environment."

"Thanks for the advice. I'll keep it in mind."

Silently they watched how the sand castle Alexis was working on got bigger and bigger. As she worked with her friends, Alexis had a lingering smile on her face.

"Every summer, Alexis and I are building gigantic sand castles. She has always a lot of fun doing it. She's always ambitious and she's working hard to get what she wants." told Castle while Kate kept her eyes on Alexis. She knew how hard it was to create something, do something that had some meaning even if it was just for yourself, but the feeling of pride and satisfaction after accomplish a challenge was always worth the efforts.

"I started to think you wouldn't come."

"Yes, Castle. I've nothing else to do than come running immediately when want me to." Thank god he didn't know that she really had nothing else to do. Well, at least she was good in bluffing. His ego didn't need to become even bigger.

"Could you watch Alexis briefly for me, please? I'd like to get us some coffee." asked Castle.

"You don't have to get coffee because of me."

"Who says that I'll just getting coffee because of you? Maybe I want some?" Castle smirked. "So, would you watch her?"

"Sure, I'll watch her for you."

"Thanks." She watched how Castle made his way towards the café opposite of the park before she drew her full attention on Alexis. The child of a bestselling novelist wouldn't disappear on her watch. That certainly would be a bad start for a police officer.

Alexis seemed to notice her father's absence as she started to look around the park, searching for something. When she saw Kate her eyes lit up and she smiled, waving at Kate to greet her. Kate replied with a smile on her own while waving back.

"You have a beautiful daughter."

Kate turned around, looking surprised at the woman that stood suddenly right next to her. Again, she hadn't noticed her standing right to her left. Castle was right, she should definitely pay more attention to her surroundings. The woman had long brown hair, light freckles around her nose, an elegant body figure and was one head taller than Kate. She wore an azure summer dress and Kate estimated her to be in her thirties.

"Oh, no. She's not my daughter. I'm just watching her for a friend." stated Kate, feeling the heat rushing to her cheeks. Did she really look old enough to have a five year old girl? She was nineteen, turning twenty in November, but in her opinion clearly too young for that. Currently she hadn't children even put in her plans.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It just looked like it. It's difficult to estimate the age properly nowadays."

"That's true" replied Kate and looked again at Alexis. "If you'd excuse me, I'd like to join her."

"Of course. Have a nice day."

As she arrived at the huge sandbox, a woman just picked up one of the two kids playing with Alexis. Alexis paused her work as she saw Kate coming towards her and Kate respected her for being able to build such castles. The castle existed of four towers, a moat around the castle with what looked like a drawbridge. Inside of the castle was enough space for a nice inner courtyard and the kids just started to work on the little details like windows and doors. She must have gotten the eyes for the details from her dad.

"Hello, Kate!" Alexis welcomed her with a smile.

"Hi. Looks like you already founded your first own home." joked Kate and Alexis giggled at that.

"But it's too small for me to live in, silly!"

"All beginning is hard."

"Have you seen my dad? He should be here somewhere."

"Yes, he just went for coffee. He'll be here again in a minute. I promised him to look after you, but I'm sure it's rather your dad who needs a supervisor who keeps an eye on your dad in case he has a silly idea, don't you think?"

"What do you think I'm doing every day?" grinned Alexis and Kate chuckled. This girl was just amazing.

"Do you want to help my finish the castle? Claire has to go home soon."

"I'd be honored to help you. What can I do?"

Alexis showed Kate a few things that were still missing and she was happily working alongside Alexis and her friend until Claire had to go too. The remaining tasks were now on them.

"I'm sorry that it took so long, there was a huge queue. But I see you already found something to occupy yourself. And you laughed about me wanting to use the slide." said Castle and passed her a cup of coffee.

"But in contrast to you, I didn't get stuck in a slide and had to be pulled out again." fired Kate back at him and drank some of her coffee. Though it wasn't her favorite brand, it was good to feel the hot liquid making its way through her body. Coffee was just one of her weaknesses.

"I think I got your point."

While Kate and Alexis continued with their work, Castle sat beside them and drank his coffee. Every now and then, Alexis showed Kate what still needs to be done until at the end, a sand castle was before her that looked like it was made by a huge form for sand castles rather than by their own hands. She had never seen such a detailed castle before.

"Well, I hate saying it, but we should slowly head home now." remarked Castle as he saw the they were finished with their work.

Kate looked around and noticed surprised that the most people were already gone, leaving just a handful remaining at the park. Where did the time go? Had she been so engulfed in her work that she hadn't noticed that it was getting late? Seemed like that. Disappointment rushed through her as she realized she'd have to soon say goodbye to Alexis and Castle.

"Would you like to have dinner with us?" asked Castle all of the sudden and she wasn't sure if he just wanted to be polite or if he had noticed her disappointment. She wasn't sure which one she preferred.

Now the ball was on her side. On the one hand, she really would like to go, the butterflies were back and she enjoyed every second with Alexis. She was so unique and her company blossomed out something in Kate that was deeply hidden inside her, unable to pull it back up again herself. She gave her the chance to enjoy her still young life again, being a carefree nineteen year old woman, allowing her to lift the weight of the world off her shoulders. But on the other hand, she wanted to reject his offer of dining with them, seeing that they didn't really know each other well enough. But he seemed sure about it, after all he let her alone with his daughter while he went for coffee. Either he had too much trust into humanity or he really was brilliant in estimating people. She thought it was rather the first option. The butterflies were another problem. Her heart loves them, this feeling of something as light as them, but her head absolutely hated every butterfly and Kate chose always on her instincts rather than her feelings. She may have listened more to her feelings in the past, but since her mother died, she completely trusted on her instincts, her feelings would've crushed her completely by now. She had to get rid of the butterflies and not just because of her feelings, but they made her look like a young and shy teenager with her first crush.

"Thanks for the invitation, but I should really head home."

"Oh, please Kate! We could draw a sketch for another castle. Or we could watch a movie. Please say yes!" begged Alexis. Kate didn't know that Alexis had enjoyed the time together with her as much as she did. Alexis looked pleadingly up to her, not even blinking and Kate feared that she even stopped breathing while waiting for her final decision.

Kate briefly thought of her father. Surely he could manage another two hours without her. The prospect of spending more time with Alexis and her dad was better than going home and tidy up after her dad. After all, tomorrow was Sunday so she had enough time to clean the house.

"Who could say 'no' to those eyes?"

"Yeah!" yelled Alexis and Castle smiled satisfied with Kate's decision.

Alexis took Kate's hand and started to list everything they could do, barely pausing to breathe in between those possibilities and Kate laughed about her eagerness. The evening would certainly be better than sitting alone at home.

I hope you liked it. Wish you all a great weekend! :)