For some reason, you guys wanted more of this story. So, I hereby present to you; Mothers Day!
I thought it might be a good idea. However, I'm not entirely happy with the bit towards the end... I don't think it's entirely IC. And last time I wrote something OOC, even though it was completely logical to me, I was yelled at, so here's your warning. It may be a tad OOC towards the end.

That's your final warning. I hope you enjoy the story :)
-Ashley xx

He should have known it would never have worked out. No matter how many times he'd tried it in his adult life, he could never, ever get that one thing right. How hard could it really be? All he had to do was remember one little thing, and they wouldn't even have this problem.

How on earth could he forget that his mother didn't like bacon?

Richard and Alexis had decided to go for the 'breakfast in bed' on Mother's day this year, and while Alexis had been cooking the sausages, Rick had whacked a few pieces of bacon in the pan. He blamed his serious lack of judgement on the fact that he'd been at the precinct until 1 the night before, finishing off the last of the paperwork, and it was currently seven thirty-three.

Martha had been rather grumpy at the instance of bacon on her plate and sent it away.

He was in the process of transferring it to another plate (she didn't even want the remnants of it on her dish) when his phone rang. "Castle," he answered. After he'd written down the address of the crime scene, he told Alexis he'd be back soon.

"Oh, wait, can you give this to Detective Beckett for me, please?" she asked, handing him an envelope.

"What's this for?" he asked suspiciously.

"If you open it, Beckett will kill you," was all his daughter replied. He smiled at her and then left, stuffing the envelope into his coat on the way.

"You look upset," Beckett noted as he handed her a cup of coffee.

"I put bacon on the plate," he answered her unspoken question.

"Ah," she said knowingly. "Mother's day... I forgot. But, that explains it."

"Explains what?"

"Ryan and Esposito both took the day off. Just you and me today."

"Awesome."

After she gave him the rundown on the victim, provided by Lanie who wanted it done with as quickly as possible so that she could have Mothers Day lunch at her parent's house, they started knocking on doors.

Two hours later when they were back at the precinct, Beckett glanced at him. "Don't you have anything special planned for today?" she asked.

"Spending it with you," he smiled. Adorably.

"Careful," she said, narrowing her eyes but grinning at the same time. They still hadn't told anybody about their relationship, but everybody knew what was going on. The two did know this, but by not telling anybody officially, it was still secret. "I'm serious. You're not taking your mum out to lunch or anything?"

"Well, we were going for the breakfast in bed approach. I already told you about the bacon... Meredith's in town, so her and Alexis are spending the day together... and I think Mother's catching up with some old friends. So, no, I'm not doing anything special for my mother."

"What did you do when you were a kid?"

"Well, most of the time I was at boarding school, so I'd just talk to her on the phone... if she even had time for that... What did you used to do?"

Beckett grinned, laughing at the memories. "We used to go into the city and we went to a restaurant and pretend to be tourists. We went to a different restaurant every year."

"Tourists from where?"

"Eastern Europe," she shrugged. "She pulled off a killer Russian accent."

"So do you," he shrugged.

She laughed.

"You wanna go out for lunch?" he asked suddenly.

"What?"

"You heard me," he said. "I asked if you wanted to go out for lunch. We can go to a restaurant and pretend to be tourists, just like you did with your mother."

"Castle," she sighed.

"You know you want to," he smiled.

She couldn't not give in to him. He was so adorable with that smile, and she did have to admit to herself that she found the idea a good one. She would have given anything to be able to do that with her mother again, and if she couldn't do it with her mother, then why not do it with him, her boyfriend? And why did that still sound so weird to her?

She grinned at him and picked up her coat. "Where are we going to be from?"

"Moral of the story," he was saying as they arrived back at the precinct. "Don't try and pretend you're a tourist if people know who you are."

"Oh, come on, did you see the look on that waiter's face when he thought you were from Ukraine? That was priceless! I think the moral really is that if you're a cop, you really shouldn't pretend you're from somewhere else. I can't believe that one person recognised me!"

"You were in that magazine that one time," he shrugged.

She pushed him playfully as they hopped out of the elevator.

"To be honest, they probably only know who you are because you were with me."

"Famous by association," she said, rolling her eyes. "Because everybody wants that."

"Some people do," he said. "Look, if you don't want that, you don't have to have it. I managed to keep Alexis away from that. I can keep you away from it too."

"I'm a big girl," she winked. "Let's just hope that next time we go undercover more people don't recognise you."

"That could always be a problem," he agreed. "Oh, hey, speaking of Alexis, she asked me to give this to you." He held out the envelope that he'd had in his pocket.

"Uh, thanks," she said, taking it. She turned it over in her fingers a couple of times before letting it rest on the desk."

"Aren't you going to open it?" Castle asked.

"No," she answered. "Not now. I'll open it when I get home."

"I'll come with you," he grinned.

"Maybe I should ammend that statement. I'm not going to open it until I am alone."

"You are no fun," he said.

Three hours later, after they'd exhausted the leads for the day and couldn't do anything more until Ryan and Esposito returned the next day, Beckett had said goodbye to Castle and made her way to the cemetery.

Every mothers day for the past twelve years, Kate Beckett had come to visit her mother and tell her about everything that had happened since her last visit, which would normally be Christmas. This year, it had been the last time that Johanna Beckett's case showed up in her life.

"Hey mum," Kate said, sitting cross-legged by the headstone. "Hope you're doing well... Uh, God, you'd think this'd get easier, but it really hasn't. And there's so much to tell you. Ah, do you remember that guy? Rick? He used to annoy me so much and then... I don't even know. But I think... I think I can see him in my life for a very long time. We're dating now. And uh... I really think you would have liked him. I mean, he was your favourite author and everything, but I mean that you would have liked him as a person. He makes serious things fun. He's really loosened me up. I think that I'm starting to get better, but I still need closure.

"Sometimes, when I walk out of my room in the morning, I still expect to see you sitting at the table, eating a bowl of cereal. You don't understand how much I need to find out who did this to you."

She was quiet for a moment as the wind blew around her and gathered up her hair. Making a decision, she pulled the envelope out of her pocket and turned it over in her fingers, before tearing it open.

Inside was a card and a photograph. The photo was one of her and Alexis from Castle's birthday party earlier in the year, their arms around each other. Castle had taken that photo, she remembered. She smiled at the memory.

Next she read the message in the card.

Dear Detective Beckett,

I just wanted to say thank you for being there for me. My mother isn't always around, which isn't always a bad thing, but sometimes I just need some motherly advice, and you never seem too adverse to giving it. And we both know that Gram isn't the best person to seek advice from. You've helped me out more times than you should have.

Also, don't think you and dad are fooling anybody. We've known for weeks now.

Love, Alexis.

PS: Happy Mothers Day.

Beckett smiled to herself as she read the card over again. Finally, she put the photo inside, put them both in her pocket, and placed a kiss on her mother's headstone. "Happy Mothers Day, mum," she whispered, before turning around and heading home.

The card found its way onto her bedside table, and the photo was placed in a frame next to it. Today was definitely one of the better Mothers Day's she'd had recently.

Hmm. Tell me what you think?
Also, I'm changing this story from 'Complete' to 'In Progress', just in case there's another special occasion. But updates will be very irregular if it's a Special Occasion-ny type story.
-Ashley xx