"This food is so good," Alexis said, pushing away a takeout container as she finished it off. "You're really good at ordering, Detective."

Kate raised her eyebrows, still working on her General Tso's. "Alexis, what did I tell you earlier?"

"Sorry," she said, remembering. "Kate."

She smiled. "Better. Yeah, well I order in most nights, so I know what's good from where."

"Practice makes perfect?"

"I guess," she said, laughing.

"God, I'm so full," Alexis said, curling up a little more on the couch. "It's freezing in here. Aren't you cold?"

Kate frowned and set the box she'd been holding on the coffee table. "No, I'm good. You feeling okay?"

"Yeah, fine. Just cold."

"You sure? Because if you're getting sick—"

"I'm not getting sick," Alexis snapped, interrupting her.

Kate pulled back, surprised. She'd never seen Alexis get angry before. She was usually so sweet. "Okay," she responded in a low voice. "I'm just saying you should tell me if you are so I can help."

"I'm sorry," Alexis said, softening after she saw Kate's reaction, almost to the point of tears. "You're being so sweet and I'm yelling at you. I'm a jerk."

"No you're not. You're stressed. I get it." She figured Alexis wasn't feeling well either, but now didn't seem like the time to mention that again. "I know what it's like to feel like you're buried in work. The number of times I've snapped at my partners," she smirked, "and your dad…" she trailed off. "I get it. Don't worry about it. It's good you're taking a break, though. That's something I'm not so good at doing."

"It's still no excuse. Not when you're being so nice." Alexis shivered. "You're really not cold?"

Kate was starting to get worried now and couldn't help herself. She reached for Alexis, putting the back of her hand to the girl's forehead.

"Hey!" Alexis squealed, batting her hand away with surprising strength. "What are you doing?"

Kate remembered what Castle had told her yesterday: "Alexis used to hate it when I felt her forehead." Apparently everything about the statement had been true, except for the past tense. She understood how Castle had developed the ability to tell whether or not his daughter was warmer than she should've been so quickly, but she didn't have the same kind of practice and hadn't been able to tell at all. "Alexis, come on," she said gravely. "I'm a cop, remember? I can hold you down if I have to, but please don't make me do that."

Alexis submitted with a sigh, and Kate tried again. She'd just ascertained that Alexis was definitely hot when she heard a throat clear behind her. She whipped her head around to see Castle's tall figure standing behind the couch watching them, the bemused expression on his face turning to concern after one look at his daughter. "Oh sweetie, not you too," he croaked.

"She has a fever," Beckett reported softly.

"Did you give her anything for it?"

"No, not yet, I just found out."

"Guys," Alexis whispered loudly, echoing their tone in an annoyed, mocking way. "She can hear you. And she's fine." She stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need to get back to studying."

"Hey," Kate called in her best cop voice, freezing Alexis. She also pushed the pause button on the remote, freezing the TV. "We had a deal. No more studying until the movie's over." Part of her could see that Alexis still needed a break. She was stressed and sick and wouldn't let herself relax. Another part of her just wanted to show her the end of the movie. She'd been having fun both reliving a classic and getting to see Alexis's reactions as she saw it for the first time.

"What's the movie?" Castle asked.

"Say Anything," Beckett responded.

"Chick flick. I'm game." He walked around the couch and sat down where Alexis had been, leaving a space between the two of them for her and making an almost threatening face, which Kate copied.

Sighing, Alexis sat back down between the two adults. Her father put an arm around her and she let her head rest on his shoulder. Kate suddenly felt a little out of place, like her presence was interfering with their family moment. She felt badly for Alexis and wanted to do something to help her, but, even more so now that Castle was there, she felt the boundary line and was afraid to cross or even approach it, especially considering the rare form Alexis seemed to be in. So she just sat there on the end of the couch, in her own bubble of personal space.

"Press play," Alexis reminded her gently.

"You know what, just a sec," Kate said, getting up. She had an idea. She remembered something she'd caught a glimpse of when she stood in Alexis's doorway, and quickly went upstairs. She opened the teenager's door and let herself into her room, feeling a little like she was intruding, but deciding (hoping, really) that Alexis wouldn't mind. She saw the bear on the shelf above the girl's bed, exactly like the one Castle had brought her the night before. She grabbed it and went back downstairs to the kitchen, closing Alexis's door behind her, and then popped it into the microwave.

"Here," she said simply when she got back to the living room, handing it to Alexis. "Thought this might help."

To her relief, Alexis smiled, taking the bear and hugging it. "Thanks, Kate."

She nodded and settled back down on her end of the couch. She pressed play, starting the movie again.

But she kept finding herself distracted from the movie, her gaze pulled instead to the people on the couch beside her. Alexis was watching the movie intently through tired eyes, and Kate was enjoying the girl's shock at plot twists that she already knew; her amusement at lines of dialogue that she'd memorized. Castle, it seemed, was watching only his daughter, responding to her every occasional shiver by changing the way his arms were enveloping her, trying to warm her.

In the time she'd known him, Beckett had seen many sides of Castle's personality. She knew he was a far more complex person than he was often portrayed in the media—even more complex than he portrayed himself. But she thought that perhaps her favorite side of him, the one that made him seem the most likeable, the most human, was the person he became when he was with his daughter. Watching him worry and fuss over her now… she'd have been lying if she said it didn't make her like him, maybe even love him, a little more. Although if it was Rick who'd asked her, she wouldn't have had a problem with lying.

She realized they'd both been so focused on Alexis that she'd forgotten to ask him how he was feeling. He didn't look much better, and clearly his voice still wasn't back to normal, but she knew that all of his focus would now be on his daughter. She had a feeling that, between the two of them, when the movie ended she'd have her work cut out for her.

Alexis shivered again and Castle sighed, frustrated that whatever he did, it didn't seem to be enough. Suddenly it was like Kate's hand had a life of its own. Before she knew what was happening, it was on Alexis's shoulder, squeezing it gently. She wasn't sure if she was trying to soothe the girl or her father.

When Kate felt what her hand had done, her stomach fluttered, afraid that Alexis would pull away, uncomfortable with the contact, as she'd done when she'd tried to feel her forehead. But this time the girl's reaction was very different. She smiled a little and shifted toward her, spacing herself more or less evenly between the two adults. Encouraged, Kate allowed her arm to wrap around Alexis's back, her hand stopping to rest, this time, on the girl's opposite shoulder, the one closest to her father.

A second later, she felt something brush against her fingertips and turned her head away from the TV, which she'd gone back to watching, to see Castle's hand stroking hers affectionately. She looked at him and saw that he was trying to meet her eyes with a small smile of thanks. She returned it, pleased that she seemed to have managed to offer some kind of small comfort to both father and daughter.

When the movie ended, Kate looked over to Alexis to find out how she'd liked it, but her head was resting on her dad's shoulder, eyes shut tightly. Her gaze shifted to Rick's face: his mouth hung open slightly, and his eyes, like his daughter's, were closed. Kate smiled. Both Castles were asleep.

At long last, I finally got another chapter up. Thanks for your patience, I've been super-busy lately. My semester's over now, so I should have a little bit more time to update stuff. I kind of like this chapter, and I really hope you all do too. :) Regardless... in case I haven't mentioned this in awhile... I love reviews!