*May of 2010*

He sees her on the main couch in the living room with a book held tightly within her grasp, and not just any book, one of his he notes with a smug grin on his face. Though, it does not last long as he sees a quick flash of pain cross her face when she extends her body to reach for her water cup. It has been a few months since the arson/homicide investigation had been wrapped up and Kate had insisted on going back to work in less than a month of being in recovery. He knows that he can ask her how she is feeling, but he has a pretty good idea of how she would answer. "I'm fine," has been her general response to everything and anything, putting on a brave face when the girls or anyone else is around. But he knows her body, her tells, her level of pain resistance and the list could go on.

"Are you going to keep standing there in the doorway or actually walk over to me, Castle?" She has a sly look on her face. "I don't bite. Much."

"Why, Detective Beckett I could have never guessed. Of course, we could go test out this theory right now." He responds with a wiggle of his eyebrows as he crosses the threshold to sit on the seat beside her. "Although, I am almost certain that we already have multiple times. Or at least tried to."

"Castle, you know what my doctor said." She narrows her eyes at him, but he can see the lust growing in her eyes and her grip tighten on the novel. She can deny it all day long; she wants him just as badly as he wants her.

"I know Kate," he turns his body so he is facing her and leans his head in closer, saying her name on a gasp. "I am only teasing you." He places one finger under her chin and tilts her head as she leans in. She can feel all of the heat in this moment pooling low in her stomach, their lips ghosting over one and another right before he pulls back. "What do you want for dinner? I was thinking fettucine alfredo, is that good with you?" He asks as he stands up and walks towards the kitchen, the smug grin reappearing on his face. She growls at him, throwing her head back against the arm rest and letting the book fall from her lap, hitting the ground with a hard thud and the title mocking him.

"Hey! That was my ruggedly, handsome face!" He holds a hand over his heart and pouts.

"And here I thought I was the one who was the biggest tease in our relationship," she says.

"But Beckett that would take the fun out of everything if I did not surprise you sometimes. However, my ego appreciates your body's response to it all."

"Your ego does not need any appreciating." She states while removing the blanket from her legs and folding it up neatly before placing it back on the top of the couch. Her plans of having a quiet afternoon of reading have already been interrupted so there is no point in trying to finish them now, especially with her boyfriend standing so close to her in proximity. Yup, she thinks to herself, she much rather be helping Castle cook dinner then reading their love life on paper.

"Kate, go sit back down and rest while the girls are both laying down. I can cook dinner by myself perfectly fine." He begins to intersect her plans to the kitchen and place his hands on her shoulder, yet even in her "healing state" she is more flexible then him and swoops underneath his arms to the cupboards. "It has been a long day-"

"For us all, you included." She interrupts him and he ignores.

"And you know you are still supposed to be taking it easy."

She turns around and levels him with a glare. "I passed my physical and everything to go back to active duty at work, starting tomorrow nonetheless, and I am fine!"

"I know Kate, but we spent all morning at the zoo and you were chasing Em around for the better part of it." He is no fool, he knows that he can insist and they can have this argument again, but it will change nothing and she will still help him make dinner. "Fine," he relents. "But you are making the sides and then sitting down ASAP, okay?"

"If it makes you happy, Castle," she gives him a peck on the cheek and wraps her arms around his waist feeling him squeeze her in return. It is a silent acknowledgment between the two that he worries about her more then she thinks he should. She would never tell him but she hates the amount of guilt and sorrow that he feels for her and she seriously wishes for it to all to just disappear and take itself somewhere already. Preferably, a place that is extremely far and away from their lives.

They pull apart at the sound of bare footsteps coming down the stairs and are not surprise when Alexis skips in to the kitchen to sit down at the bar. Her footsteps are faster and heavier then Emily making it easier on both adults to detect which one of them is coming and from where.

"Hey, Pumpkin. How was your movie?" Castle asks his daughter.

"It was good, Emily fell asleep halfway through and once the movie ended I turned it off and put the disc away before coming downstairs." Alexis replies while watching the two move around the kitchen with a practice ease and comfort. "What's for dinner tonight?"

"I am making fettucine alfredo and Kate is making-" He goes to place the noodles on the oven when his girlfriend interrupts him.

"Garlic bread and green beans for sides. Unless you wanted something in particular, Lex?" She turns to the teenager in question, raising her eyebrow.

"If it is not too much to ask, can we have chicken with the noodles too, please?" Alexis hops down from the chair and heads towards the cupboards to set the table for dinner.

"Of course not, Sweetie." Castle answers his daughter before she can even check the fridge to see if they bought chicken at the grocery store yesterday.

"Will Grams be joining us for dinner?"

"Nope. Your grandmother called to inform me that she is with her newest, "magical" companion named Paul." Kate and Alexis laugh at the grimace and disgusted look on Castle's face while she shakes her head in laughter at the quotation marks that he uses. No doubt to quote the earlier phone call that he had with his mother, frankly, she is not in the slightest bit surprised by Martha's words and actions.

"Remember Alexis," she redirects the conversation back to their previous topic. This is something that she has been meaning to tell the young adult for a while now. "This is your home, not mine or Emily's, we are only here temporarily as guest. If you ever want something, please do not be afraid to ask on our accounts." She pretends to not see the look on Castle's face at the beginning of her words because they are only here as guest and then they are going back home as soon as she and Emily were one-hundred percent healed and were both cleared by their doctors. Right?! He did not expect for her to move in with him permanently after they had only been dating for a couple of months? Right?! She asks herself.

They finish making dinner in an awkward silence, Alexis running back upstairs to her bedroom after setting the table. She cannot blame the kid either, if she could, she would go run and hide somewhere too. She tries to make small talk with him but the most that she gets are hums and nods of his head in acknowledgment and she feels lost. Is he mad at her? Upset? Shocked? She even attempts to crack a corny joke or two but by that point he won't look at her and she chooses to give up when their kids come downstairs and sit in their seat. She mouths a thank-you to Alexis for putting Emily in her booster seat for her, especially since movement of that type still pulls on her scars.

Once again, she owes the teenager a debt of gratitude for keeping dinner going as smoothly as possibly. Alexis had the conversation jumping from their day at the zoo, asking Emily dozens of questions to keep her entertained. She jumps in from time to time, mainly whenever one of the girls asks her a questions or makes a comment that she feels like butting in at. Yet, her partner speaks less than a handful of sentences and only when asked a question. But still, she says more than him and he's wordsmith between the two which only leaves her concern growing for him.

She had finished watching the dishes a half-an-hour ago and was set on going to find him when her daughter intervened and asked for Kate to tuck her in to bed. She, of course scooped up her little angel and said yes.

"Mommy, where's Caswle?" Her daughter asks and she cannot find it in her spirt to smile at Emily's mispronunciation of her boyfriend's name. She doesn't know what to say at first because bedtime routines are something that they do together, as a team. Like always and she has to ignore the stab of pain in her chest at the thought of their special word.

"Well, baby he is super-duper busy but I promise you that he misses you every second of right now." The words are out of her mouth before she can think about them, even if they are the truth. He does care about her daughter so much and she can feel her shoulders relax somewhat at the reassured look on Emily's features as she lays back down. Though, shouldn't it scare her how much Emily has come to rely on him?

"So, so much that he absolutely could not miss bedtime kisses and hugs." They both turn their heads in the direction of the doorway as the man in question walks though it and over to the toddler's bed. She studies him like a hawk as he kneels down next to her on the side and kisses Emily on the forehead. She does the same and follows him out into the hallway, looking over her shoulder one more time at the little girl in bed before closing the door softly.

Castle is not in the hallway when she turns around but she is not worried about where he went, it's their bedtime routine to put the youngest into bed before wishing the eldest a peaceful sleep. So she walks across the hall to Alexis door and waves at the girl just as he walks out and shuts his daughter's door softly too. Finally, he looks in her direction and jerks his head towards his study and yet, she does not know why she holds her breath at the slightest possibility of hope. But it is not like she did anything wrong? Or to jeopardize their relationship-partnership-right?!

"We need to talk," he says once she walks in and takes a seat on the couch, tucking her legs underneath her and placing her arm on the back of the couch to prop her head up. She really is exhausted. She remains silent and waits for him to continue.

He takes a second to close the door after her before half-sitting on the opposite end and leans forward towards her. He folds his hands in his lap and she recognizes it as him buying time before talking to her, but she tells herself not push him and to be grateful that he chose to open up to her tonight about what is bothering him before going to sleep. Lord only knows that she wouldn't have been able to rest at all. So she sends an encouraging smile his way and for the first time since he went silent while making dinner, he holds her gaze.

"I want you and Emily to move in with me permanently." He states matter-of-factly and there is no way that she just heard him correctly.

"YOU WHAT?!"

"I said-"

"No, no, I'm pretty sure I know what you said. I'm just shocked." She has gone from sitting on the couch nervously to pacing around the back of the room. She is conflicted enough by her own thoughts at the moment that she doesn't know if she can handle his too.

"Okay, what are you shocked about?" He asks nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders as if this was just a normal conversation about dinner.

"WHAT AM I SHOCKED ABOUT?" He's joking, right? Quickly spinning on the heel of her boots she turns to face him, he can feel the aggravation rolling off of her like waves of radiation just after a nuclear war. "How about you start explaining your train of thought first before I end up going through the roof?"

"Okay…." He runs a hand through his hair and sucks in a deep breath. It isn't until now that she takes in his disheveled appearance; his hair sticking up in random directions from what she can only assume to be the numerous times that he has run his fingers through it, his shirt barely buttoned and wrinkled, his jeans covering what it needs to even thought his belt is missing, but it is the lines on his forehead and the mixture of emotions in his eyes that has her stopping in her tracks and attentively walking in his direction. He's sitting on the edge of his desk, finally letting her in and she can see the insecurity, the fear in his features.

She raises her eyebrows when he continues to be silent, again. "I just, I just thought that maybe since you guys have been here for so long already and that most of your belongings are here and since both you and Emily are already comfortable here and, and-" She cuts him off with the press of her pointer finger to his lips, silencing his rambling. He chuckles and she follows suit, dipping her head to her chin to let her hair form a curtain around her.

"Your beautiful, you know that?" Her head flies up at that comment while her breath hitches in the process, she did not realize how close they were and neither must of he because his hands find her waist and his eyes become stormy. And just like that, most of her anger is gone having left her in less than a second flat.

"Flattery is not going to get you anywhere, Rick."

"Not trying to get anywhere, just making a statement."

"That was more of a question." He chuckles.

"Your beautiful, never forget that." She chuckles.

"Rick, where are we going?" She needs to know; she needs the confirmation of what he was thinking.

"I don't know, I wish I could tell you but, Kate, wherever it is I am right here with you."

"You don't know that, Castle-" It's his turn to silence her with both of his palms gently grasping her cheeks as he pulls her head down to his.

"Beckett, you cannot lose what's always by your side."

"Your amazing, you know that?" She asks and he has his answer without her verbally agreeing to it.

"So amazing that you are going to let me accompany you to your next doctor's appointment next week?" He throws her that boyish grin of his, the one that he is well-aware makes it very hard for her to deny him anything. Nonetheless, right after the afternoon that they have had because now she only wants him close. She rolls her eyes when he starts begging her to say 'yes.' "Come on, Beckett. It is your last check-up and I really want to be there!" She relents knowing that as bad as he wants to go just to go he is hiding his true concerns; he worries too much about her.

It is not until a week later as she is getting dressed that they approach the subject for a second time.

*One Week Later*

"Kate, Mother is here, are you ready, yet?" Castle calls, walking into the bedroom while rolling up the cuffs of his dress shirts.

"Yes, let me just grab a pair of my heels out of our closet." She replies.

"Did you hear that?" She stops walking abruptly and turns around to face him, one eyebrow quirking up in response. He follows her into the walk-in closet and wraps his arms around her waist from behind. "'…our closet.' That's what you said," he spins her around. "You are already unconsciously referring to this home as yours too, Kate. Why won't you let yourself and Emily take the plunge and officially move in? Please, Kate." She sighs and that is the only acknowledgement that he receives before she tries to distract him with the press of her lips to his, her tongue quick to seek out his before she steps back and presses her lips together in a thin line. He takes a deep breath to keep from calling her out on it because as badly as he wants an answer, he respects her enough not to upset her before her appointment. Plus, he finally got her to agree to let him tag along, what's the point in ruining it now?

The car ride to the doctor's office is beyond awkward with the both of them waiting for the other to break, they are too stubborn for their own good.

The tension in the air is thick enough that he is one-hundred percent sure if she wanted to she could pull out her gun, shoot a bullet in mid-air and it would get lodge in it. This is not how he planned on the appointment going, he thought that they would be much happier and only anxious with excited anticipation as they held hands on the way there playing everyone bit the role of love star struck teenagers. He half debates if he should call and cancel the surprise reservations that he had made to celebrate after the doctor gave her the all-clear.

He was not concerned about her passing all of the test today. She had been given the okay to go back to active-duty at work for a week, but only if she agreed to come back a week later to see how her body was responding to the stress. Hence, the reason they are now stuck in this current predicament; awkward silence for another fifteen-minute car ride.

"Don't cancel the reservations, I want us to go out together and have a meal without the kids." He jumps slightly at the sound of her voice and she smirks slightly at the fact that she caught on exactly to what he was thinking.

"How did you-" She interrupts him before he has a chance to finish asking his question.

"I overheard you this morning on the phone with the restaurant."

"Oh," so much for it being a surprise, he thinks.

"Don't be too tough on yourself, it's a wonderful idea. I appreciative it." He gives himself whiplash there because this is not what he had expected, the openness and honesty after how their morning had been going for the past twenty minutes. Nevertheless, the words are out of his mouth before he can stop them.

"Well, that's an understatement." He grumbles to himself turning his head back to the car window, watching the city fly by as he gazes at all of the coffee shops on each corner of Manhattan. He could really use a caffeine burst at the moment.

She pulls the car into the parking lot and turns to face him while her right hand intertwines with his left, giving a gentle squeeze and pull of it. "Look, Castle, we don't have the best communication skills. You and I are like that saying; never have, never will. But I say that if all goes well at the appointment and the doctor gives me the all-clear, we can go to the reservations, have a nice lunch like you planned for us to have, and then we will talk about everything. We will put it all out into the open, everything that we are thinking and feeling and see what happens from there, okay?" She looks him in the eyes and he is reminded of just how badly he has fallen for her when her green irises begin to plead with him.

"Always." A small smile graces their lips.

The diner that he made reservations at isn't packed nor is it a fancy place that a rich couple may attend but it is their restaurant. Out of the corner of his eye he sees her lips pulls upwards for half a second when he stops the car in the mostly deserted parking lot of Remy's. He pulls the door open for her and she is abruptly pulled to the side of the restaurant, it takes a moment for her brain to catch up and realize it is their normal waitress grasping her tightly in her arms.

"Oh, hon," Ann Marie sighs. "You have no idea how grateful I am for you, you finally received the green light from the doctor! When Richard called to make the reservations and informed me of his plans, oh, sweetie I was just praying every night that you would make it here to lunch today!" The elderly lady is still holding her with a vice grip and Kate takes the moment to close her eyes, breathing in the scent of the perfume Ann Marie favors, one that Kate vaguely recalls her mother use to wear every day. Since her Mother's murder only Martha's arms have been able to make her feel comforted in a motherly way.

"Thank you, Ann Marie." The waitress lets go only to guide her by the arm to their usual window seat, she doesn't have to turn around to know that Castle is right behind her. Her thoughts are confirmed when his hands slide to her hips and he steps up behind her and she turns her head to press a chaste kiss to the underside of his jaw.

"Ann Marie, you are a heaven sent." He says, voicing both of their opinions on the woman.

"Oh, honey, I am just so happy right now. But I will let you two lovebirds have some alone time, I take it you guys want your usual order?" Ann Marie asks, walking away without receiving an answer from either one of them. Kate can feel the chuckle that bubbles up through his chest and releases next to her right ear.

She steps out of his grip and takes a seat on the side of the booth which is facing the entrance, her detective mode never quite turning completely turning off.

"Do you want to go first or me?" He asks and she cannot help the feeling of dread that weighs in her chest.

"I guess I will but Rick, I am just trying to do what I think is best for both me and Emily. Especially Emily, and I know, I know," she cuts his protest off with the shake of her head. "You care about her, a lot and maybe one may even go as far as to say that both you and Alexis love her, and I love you guys too." She looks up and meets his eyes at that sentence, the words flowing out of her mouth before she can stop them and she watches as his eyes widen slightly. "However, don't you think that this is too soon? That we are trying to force something on ourselves? What if from the pressure we break?"

"Then we deal with the fallout if one were to occur, but Kate, we have had this balancing act down for a few months now and what do you think will happen if we obstruct that? Especially with how little Emily is and I know that I am not her farther so technically I do not have a say in any of this and please do not get mad at me…and you are smiling at me…. Why are you smiling at me like that?"

"I am laughing because as far as I am concern, you care about her more than her actual father does so you do have a say in situations that deal with her well-being." His face must have showed the surprise that he felt as her laughter only grew loader, broader and more beautiful.

"Okay, well, anyways where was I?" His brows furrow together in confusion and another laugh escapes her, this one a little breathier than the last.

"You were trying to convince me that Em is too little and that her day-to-day cannot be 'obstructed.'" She answers him.

"Right! Thank you. So, back to my brilliantly thought out explanation-"

"Oh, I don't doubt it."

"Hush you now. I think -know- Emily is too small for everything to change back to how it was and that would also be very unfair to us after we worked so hard to get both her and Alexis on a normal everyday schedule. Plus, Kate, we work perfect with each other, on and off duty, and I just think that, that…I don't know, Kate. I don't want to lose you and I desperately want you and Em to move in officially. You have no idea how happy that would make me, Alexis and Mother included for that matter." By now her arms are folded across her chest in a clear sign that her defenses are up, her teeth are attacking her bottom lip, her hair falls in a beautiful protective layer around her face and his breath hitches at the overall resemblance she holds to a goddess. He is the exact opposite; his hair closely resembles Albert Einstein by his fingers running through them non-stop during his speech and his elbows are on the table with his fingers intertwined together almost in a prayer. Yet, he is praying because he really wants -needs- for her to say 'yes.'

She lets out a long exhale and drops her arms while running her fingers through her hair and mimicking his prayer pose before lifting her eyes to meet his. Both silently praying for something that only the other can control. "I love you, Rick; you, Alexis and Martha. I love you guys like you are my own family because you are and if you think that this is the next logical step in our relationship, then I am all in. Yes, I guess you could say that it is one we already took due to unforeseen circumstances but I am ready to make it official. But," she cuts off the 100-watt grin that overtakes his face with her hands being held in surrender. "I have to talk this over with Emily and see where she stands on this and I suggest you do the same with Alexis. Although, something tells me that she will be happy to our news." She lets a 100-watt grin overtake her face too while her right hand reaches across the table to hold his left.

"Were going to make this work, right?" The insecurity that she had been trying to protect lets itself be seen after their food arrives and they are almost done with their meal.

It is his turn to reach for her hands and give them a reassuring squeeze. "We are going to be amazing." He sends her his signature boyish grin, yeah, she thinks, we are going to be better than amazing.

They do not end up making it home until it's the girl's bedtime, Martha having given them the rest of the afternoon and evening to devote to each other.

"Alright," Kate says walking away from the front door that just closed are Martha's departure. "I think that you should go put Alexis to bed and I will put Emily to bed and we tell the girls then. No better time like the present, right?!"

"Right, and then we meet back in our bedroom where we can have some private celebrating of our own. After all, the doctor gave you the all-clear today for all normal activity." With a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows he presses a breathtaking kiss to her lips and begins up the stairs, it's her turn now to follow him without a word having to be spoken between the two.

They find each other again in the bedroom half-an-hour later. Him before her and if the smile on her face says anything than the matching one on his must speak a thousand words.

Their kids said "yes."

AN: Please like, comment, and review.