A/N: YAY! I'm glad you liked the last chapter…so here's the next one. Ready. Set. GO! :)

Castle was playing with Malcolm one evening after work, when his daughter came waltzing through the door. She looked cheery, which was good considering how miserable she had been in the past few weeks. He looked up momentarily from his attention on the K-9.

"Hey precious, feeling better?" he asked.

"Yeah," Alexis nodded.

"Everything's good then…" he said patting the seat beside him. Alexis joined him on the couch, and took the puppy from his arms.

"Yeah, Hannah decided to keep the baby, her mom is being really supportive so she's not half as stressed out. It's really good," Alexis was happy, and the relief that Castle felt that his daughter was no longer in pain, caused him to lean over and hug her.

"I'm glad kiddo… really," Castle smiled.

"Thanks, dad… you know for being cool about everything." She played with the dog for a few minutes. "So when does Detective Beckett get back?"

"Tomorrow," he smiled. The prospect of seeing her excited him. Her face… her sarcastic tone… the roll of her eyes when he made some stupid comment. He missed her.

"You and Beckett should get married…" Alexis teased. He suppressed a smile; the idea didn't seem half bad. Waking up to Beckett every morning, arguing over the last piece of toast before work, of course he wouldn't need to research for his books anymore, she'd go off to work and he'd stay home and write. Yeah, he liked that idea. "Dad?"

"Sorry what?" he snapped back to reality.

Alexis laughed at him. "You may as well get married, then you don't have to share custody of Malcolm," she grinned.

"HA HA!" he mocked. His mind was still on the idea of marrying Beckett… yeah he was beginning to REALLY like that idea. He'd been married twice. Third time was a charm…

Beckett didn't call past Castle's apartment when she returned home from the police conference. She had gotten in too late, and instead had decided that she'd collect the dog after work the next day. The moment she walked through the door, she felt the weight of sleep weigh on her. Dropping her bags on the bedroom floor, she climbed into bed. Her head hit the pillow and she was asleep in minutes. The alarm woke her the next morning, and she rose from the bed, fully rested and dressed for work. In the spare few minutes she had, she unpacked her bags from her conference trip, and then left for work.

She was slightly nervous about seeing Castle again. She'd missed him while she had been away, which had surprised her since she had been without him for an entire summer before that. She missed the childish banter that he used to cheer her up when she was having a bad day… she missed the fun loving boy that everyone in the precinct enjoyed… she even missed the way his mind worked when solving cases.

The moment she walked into the precinct, she was reminded of WHY she rolled her eyes when he did something immature.

She watched as he and the boys, Ryan and Esposito, made cooing noises with the puppy, the one she hadn't seen in two weeks. The puppy she had order Castle NOT to bring to work. Of course, she had expected it, had even warned the Captain it might happen. He'd called her while she was away and relived the moment his face turned pale when he'd been busted brining it in, the first day she was gone. Montgomery and she had laughed endlessly about Castle's predictability.

"I can see what happens to the work load around here, when I'm gone," she teased making her presence known.

"Beckett!" the excitement in his voice made her smile. She'd missed him too.

He left the puppy in the hands of the boy and came over to her, throwing his arms around her briefly in a hug. She tensed, unsure how to respond, she stood there instead, allowing him to touch her without flinching, she felt the warmth of his body against hers, and she found that she didn't hate it as she might have expected. Then he stepped back. "You're back!"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Hi," she waved at the boys.

"How was the trip?" Ryan asked.

"Fine," she said.

She sat at her desk, and instantly noticed the chewed corner of case file, she'd been working on before she'd left for the conference. "CASTLE!" she barked.

He only laughed. "I missed you…"

She rolled her eyes, yeah, she missed him too.

Hope you like this chapter. Not sure where to go from here… any ideas? I'll take whatever you got… I ain't fussy!