Hello all, so glad to see the response to the Alexis/Shane development! I hadn't anticipated it developing so quickly, but you gotta give the people what they want. I also realize that this is a story about Castle and Beckett's first year with RJ, however it will all make sense in the end, have faith my little Crumbsian fans!

The ringing cellphone early in the morning had Beckett confused. As a cop and now as a mother, she was used to waking at odd hours but this time around, it wasn't coming from her side of the bed.

'Castle, your phone is ringing,' she muttered.

'That's Mister Castle to you, Missus Castle.' Even half-asleep he was still wittier than some were wide awake, and he answered his ringing phone. 'Castle. Yeah. Okay, I can do that. Sure. Bye.'

'Who was it?'

'Esposito, him and Ryan caught a body not far from here, so I'm going to go in with them.'

'Okay, have fun.'

Beckett sat up, watched her man take his gorgeous naked behind into the shower and thought about making him coffee and breakfast. Wasn't that what a good wife did when her hubby went off to slay the dragons of the day? Meredeth did for Esposito, or at the very least, she told him where to find it in the kitchen. She didn't have long to debate it, as she heard RJ stirring in the nursery and knew he would need a bath, a nappie change and a snack all in one shot, so she went across the hallway to find her little prince.

He was already wide awake and looking around, his hands hanging onto his his ears; it was something he'd started doing in the last week. Maybe it was part of that baby discovering his world thing Beckett had read so much about, she decided as she gave her boy a great big smile.

'Good morning, big guy, how's my big guy, you're hungry I bet.'

Before he could even fuss, Beckett had loosened her pyjama top and RJ found her breast, latched on like milk was going to be deemed contraband. She watched his face, his eyes closed in concentration as he did his thing, breathing through his nose like a little snorting bull.

'Easy there, RJ, Mommy's not going anywhere, at least right now. Tonight, we're going to Auntie Meredeth's for a visit while Daddy has his friends over and that is going to be heaps of fun because he's invited your sister's boyfriend, and he's the only one at the table who knows what's going on. Who says small towns have all the drama?'

'David Lynch.'

Beckett looked up as RJ continued his feast to see Castle there, dressed for tagging along with Ryan and Esposito. 'You heading out?'

'Yeah, and I have this itchy feeling that the ME is going to be Shane Weaver, which will be very interesting, since it's the first time I'll have seen him at work since Alexis told me about the two of them.'

'Alright well, give me a kiss anyways.'

'I'll see you both later. Drink up, little man.' Castle laid his lips on Beckett's, then grinned his cheeky trademark grin. 'We just had a little nineteen fifties family moment there didn't we?'

'A little bit. Alexis texted last night, too, by the way, she stayed at Shane's after the movie.'

'Yeah, I saw that.' Castle had spent every last brain cell in his shower trying to not picture what his precious baby girl had been doing with the handsome doctor. He bent down to study his son, who just continued to get his fill. 'Listen, RJ, do me a favour, make sure if you ever date a girl whose an only child that her daddy doesn't have access to guns.'

The prediction powers of Castle's itchy feeling turned out to be quite accurate, for when he met the guys at the morgue he saw they'd tagged Shane Weaver as their ME, and he was wrist-deep in their fresh body. There was a slight bob in the man's throat when he saw the writer come in, and Castle couldn't blame him.

'Morning, ah, Castle. How's it going?'

'Fine, Doctor Weaver.'

'What's our victim's story?' Ryan asked, ready to make notes while Esposito took a call from one of the CSU techs.

'Councilman Owen Kissinger, fifty-four, had his ass kicked but good. All the hallmarks of a guy who couldn't pay his loan shark off except for that.' Shane jutted his chin to the evidence bag on the counter beside his work table which Ryan picked up and . 'In my experience, a spine-twister's going to take everything of value before he gets physical and that is one honey of a Rolex.'

'You sure it's not a fake?' Ryan asked, and Shane nodded.

'My old man got me the real-deal when I graduated medical school, I know the difference. Truth is, the best thing I can do right now is head back to the lab, check this guy in so I can have a look at him under the lights and the scope to be of more help.'

Shane's cellphone rang, and his face softened only slightly before he answered it. 'Hey. Yeah, I got your text, sounds great. I'll see you around four. Bye.'

'Hot date?' Ryan teased him and did a double take when Shane squirmed a little. 'What, you got a lady?'

'So the uniform says he responded to a nine-one-one to this location and the doorman says the last person he let into the building was just after two last night so our skell had to leave by another door,' Esposito said, walking up to the group as he consulted his notes, then looked at the faces - Castle implaccable, Ryan eagerly teasing and Shane a little embarrassed. 'Did I miss something?'

'Shane's got a girl,' Ryan all but sang it, and the ME's face turned bright pink. 'Tell us about her.'

'I'd rather do my job and save the conversation about my woman for cards tonight.'

'Yeah, we'll meet you at your place around eight.' Esposito slapped his shoulder, then headed out with Ryan; Castle waited a beat until they were gone before he spoke.

'Shane, you're going to have to tell them, especially if it gets really serious when Alexis moves back to go to Princeton.'

'I know, and I'll tell them tonight, but I have no idea what to even say.'

'If my daughter can stand-up to me and I don't lose it, you can handle The Wonder Twins.'

When it was time to collect Shane from his apartment for cards night at Castle's place, Ryan and Esposito were walking down the hallway of Shane's apartment building to his door and Esposito wanted to beat Ryan silly; the man was literally hemming and hawing the entire day and it was driving him starkers. 'Would you let it go, already?'

'No, it's weird.'

Ryan had been fretting over it all day, unsure of what to think. 'Shane doesn't take calls like that at work, even when he was dating Cassie, and for like the last month, he's been acting a little left of centre. I'm telling you this is different, I think he's got a live one.'

'What makes you think that?'

'Honestly? He's acting the same way you did when you met Meredeth.'

'All the more reason to let it go.' Esposito shook his head. 'Why are you so twitchy about it anyways?'

On this point, Ryan remained mute, as he had no idea why it was bothering him so much that Shane was keeping it close to the vest. Instead he knocked . 'We're still going to grill him on it over cards right?' he muttered to his partner.

'Like Meredeth's carne asada.'

They heard the sound of light footsteps approaching the door, and for a moment both wondered if they were going to meet Shane's new girlfriend here and now. When the door opened, both of their mouths dropped open in shock: the door was answered by none other than Alexis Castle, a relaxed happy look on her face and her hair clearly damp from a recent shower.

R&R&Enjoy.