Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop

Yeah, maybe tackling the suspect hadn't been the best idea she had gone with all day. But the guy was sitting in lock-up waiting for arraignment in the morning and the case was closed, sent off to the district attorney.

Except now, she was laying out on her couch, facedown, head pillowed on her forearms, as Mulan played on the television. Al was sitting at Kate's feet, coloring in a coloring book, crayons spread over the cushions of the couch. Kate's eyes kept drifting closed, her teeth gritted against the pain shooting through her lower back. Definitely not an intelligent choice to tackle the man.

Someone knocked and Al rolled off the couch, clutching the coloring book to her chest. "Mom! Door!"

Kate pushed up off the couch, her back protesting at the movement but taking a deep breath. As she walked past Al, she handed the girl one of the crayons that had fallen off the couch. "Let's see who's visiting."

But she knew it could only be Castle. So when she opened the door and found him on the other side, she smiled. "Hey, you."

"Hey," he said, stepping forward to pull her into a hug. She hissed when he squeezed her tightly against his chest. "What's wrong?" His voice went from carefree to concern in the course of a second.

"Nothing."

"Mom hurt her back," Al exclaimed from the living room, a handful of crayons in one hand. "Hi, Rick!"

Castle kept his fingers twined with Kate's as he leaned down to press a kiss to Al's cheek. "Hello there, kid. How you doin'?"

"Coloring."

"Can I see?"

Al turned away, grinning cheekily. "No." Then she bounced off to sit on the ground in front of the couch, opening the book again, and setting crayon to paper. "No looking."

"'Course not," he murmured. Then he turned to Kate, eyes narrowed. "What happened?"

Kate pulled her hand from his, circling over to the counter to reach up for a glass. "Nothing." She felt him crowd her from behind, arms wrapping around her waist as he placed his chin on her shoulder.

"Don't lie."

She sighed, the glass clicking as she set it on the granite countertop. "Tackled a suspect today. Ended up twisted weird and might have strained my lower back." In the circle of his arms, Kate turned, smiling faintly. "Can't move without wanting to curl up into a ball."

His hand cupped her cheek, fingers stroking over her skin softly. "Oh, Kate."

"I've had worse." When he raised a brow, Kate narrowed her eyes. "Really. I pulled muscles all of the time when I was pregnant with Al." She pushed one of his arms away, going toward the bathroom, hearing him following her. "I just need some Advil and rest."

Then he ducked ahead of her, stopping in front of her. "I'll get it. Go lay on the couch."

Instead of fighting him on it, Kate gave his forearm a gentle squeeze before turning back to the living room. She felt like an old lady, a hand on the small of her back as she sat on the couch, nudging Al's knee with her toes.

"Whatcha coloring down there, kid?"

Al threw herself forward, covering up the coloring book. "Secret, Mom! No looking!"

Kate pursed her lips in a smile as Al scooted so that she was facing away from her mother, protective of the page and crayons.

"Here, Kate." Castle had reappeared at her back, handing her two Aleve pills and the glass of water she had been getting in the kitchen. "Aleve will last longer. You can have some Advil in four hours or so."

"I don't need to be babied," she said, taking the pills and swallowing them with a sip of water anyway. "I'm a big girl."

"Still. It's nice to be cared for once in a while. Right, Al?" he asked, grinning down at the girl.

Al shrugged, too busy with her own devices to answer.

Castle gave Kate's shoulder a gentle shove. "Onto your stomach." He waited until she stopped glaring and shifted so she was back in the earlier position.

She watched as Mulan climbed up the wooden post in the training camp, proving Shang wrong, and heard the microwave going in the kitchen. What he could be doing, she had no idea.

Until something hot, really hot, settled over her lower back. Kate hissed, squirming away while turning her head to look back at him. "What the-? Rick?"

He put a hand on her shoulder, keeping her on her stomach. "Heated pillow I found in your linen closet."

"You went in my closet?"

"Details. Besides, I didn't peek," Castle said, waving his hand in a movement eerily similar to his mother. "Anyway, the heat will make your muscles feel better. Now scoot your feet a little so I can watch Mulan with my best girls."

Kate did move her feet, dropping her right one onto the ground to give Castle room to sit at the end of the couch. He was right about the heat; the warmth was spreading up her back and along her sides, loosening the muscles. She hadn't used this trick since she was pregnant, stealing the heated blanket from her dad's place and wrapped herself up in it to halt the shooting pain in her lower back.

Her eyes drifted closed as she snuggled her head into the throw pillow on the couch.

"Better?" he asked, fingers squeezing her calf right below her knee.

She hummed. "Heading that way." Kate rolled, a hand reaching back to make sure the pillow stayed in place so that she was on her back. "Not to sound rude but why're you here?"

"Trying to get rid of me so soon after playing nurse for you?" She narrowed her eyes, arching up when the heat hit a nerve when she shifted. The expression on his face changed from teasing to aroused in a flash before he tried to tamper down the latter knowing she had seen the darkening of his eyes.

"Duh. I'm only using you for your healing abilities." Kate swung her leg back up onto his lap, nudging his thigh with her toes. "Seriously, Rick. Why'd you drop by?"

Suddenly, she didn't care. He pressed his thumb into the arch of her foot and Kate couldn't hold back the little moan that escaped as her head tipped back. "You have a larger Disney movie collection than I do."

"You missed Al and me. Admit it," she murmured, letting her eyes drift shut.

"Not much of an interrogation right now, Detective." Castle grinned, poking Al with his toe. "Al, my girl, tell Mom that I'm allowed to come visit to watch Disney movies with you."

This time Al did turn around, pulling herself up on her elbows on the couch so she could place her chin on Kate's stomach. "Mom, don't you want Rick around?"

Between the two pairs of puppy-dog blue eyes staring her down, Kate knew she had no chance. "Of course I do. I just-"

"Just nothing. Al and I win," he said, high fiving the girl with his free hand. "Now shush so we can watch Mulan kick some Hun butt."

So Kate turned her head to see the television, not minding that Castle gave her feet a little pat to move them so that Al could jump up onto his lap. She had the coloring book balanced on their knees, Castle holding the crayons flat on his palm as if feeding a horse carrots, letting Al pick and choose the colors she wanted. They were hiding the book itself from Kate's eyes, whispering secretively between themselves.

The whole thing felt right. The three of them, cuddled on the couch, watching TV. She could sense that he'd insist on making dinner, probably enlisting Al's help while making sure that Kate wouldn't move from the couch after he re-heated the pillow under her back.

The thought, while making part of her heart leap like a Mexican jumping bean, also freaked her out. New territory mostly, because none of the dates between that night and meeting Castle in the coffee shop had stuck around long enough to get to know Al never mind find their way into her home to curl up on the couch with Kate and her daughter.

"They're singing about the Beckett women."

She looked up when Castle spoke, saw his quiet smile. "What?"

He nodded toward the television even as Al changed out crayons. "A girl worth fighting for. That's you and Al." Shifting the crayons from his left to right hands, he reached out to curl his fingers around her knee. "I'd fight for you."

"Me?" Al asked, climbing over his lap to get a pink crayon while dropping a green one into Castle's palm.

"You, too."

Kate shifted up further on the pillows, burrowing her foot in between the cushions on the back of the couch. "You'd take on the Huns for Al and me?"

"Sure. Whatever it takes," Castle said, shrugging. "You two are worth it. The only other person I'd do that for is Mother. My three girls. You almost done with that, kid?" he asked Al, eyes lingering on Kate for a moment before he looked at the picture.

"'Most…" Al trailed off. She had her tongue between her teeth, a little stripe of dark pink between her lips as she concentrated on her strokes on the paper. When Kate leaned over, Al pushed her away. "No looking, Mom!"

"Must be some picture," she muttered, rolling her neck, letting her head settle on the back of the couch so she could look over at Castle who mouthed 'it totally is' to her with a grin.

His arm draped over the cushions so he could play with the ends of her hair, twisting the strands into long ropes before watching them spin back into place. "What do you want for dinner?"

Called it, she thought. "Food."

"Helpful. Narrowing down the choices."

"How about edible food?"

"Even better." Castle dropped his hand to run over Al's head. "Hey, best girl. What you feeling for dinner?"

"Hot dogs and mac-and-cheese!" It was Al's new favorite dish and Kate wasn't surprised to hear the suggestion come out of her daughter's mouth. Kate had added the boiled hot dogs a few weeks ago to the mix and Al fell in love. "Please, Mom!"

Kate glanced at Castle, smiling. "Think you can handle that, Top Chef?"

Castle scooped Al up, depositing her back on the end of the couch with a giggle. "I'll do my best."

Another strange thing. He didn't have to ask where her pots and mixing spoons and pasta were kept. She could hear him moving in the kitchen, switching the stove on, filling two pots with water to boil, and taking out the block of cheddar from the fridge to cut up. She wanted to get up and help him, not because she was possessive of her kitchen, but because she knew how well they worked together, that working as a team would make things go faster.

"Don't even think about moving from that couch, Katherine Beckett," he warned as if reading her mind. When she looked over the back of the couch, he was pointing the large metal spoon at her. "I've got this. And if I need help, I'll get Miss Al to come to my aid."

So Kate moved the heated pillow further up her back so it rested just below her shoulder blades and gave Al a little kick with her ankle. "You gonna rescue Rick if he gets hurt in the kitchen?"

"Mhm. 'Most done, Mom. Then I'll rescue."

"Girl's got priorities," Castle said, pausing the cutting of cheddar cheese to wink at Kate. "Coloring first, men later. I'll remember that."

Two minutes later, Al had finished the coloring page, closed up the book, and gone to help Castle in the kitchen, giving the job of telling him when the hot dogs had started floating on the top of the water. He had set her up on a chair from the dining table, close enough to see the pots but far enough away to not worry about her burning herself. She held the metal spoon, hitting it against the counter in a syncopated rhythm. Castle was draining the macaroni, putting it back on the heat to add the cheese to the mix, melting the cheddar over the curly noodles.

"Hope you're hungry, Kate. Gonna have lots of leftovers," he called, stealing the spoon from Al's hand to mix the macaroni and cheese.

Mulan was busy saving her fellow soldiers in an avalanche so Kate shrugged. "I'll bring some to the precinct. I'm sure the boys would like some comfort food."

They resumed their positions on the couch, Al sandwiched between them, bowls of macaroni and cheese with hot dogs on their laps as Mushu and Cricket demanded firepower from a friendly citizen. Castle had reheated the hot pillow and Kate had finagled her shirt so she could sit up and still have the warmth along her back. Castle's fingers were resting on the nape of her neck, tickling the soft little wisps of hair as they ate.

"What was on the drawing?" Kate asked as Shang reappeared at Mulan's family house with her forgotten helmet.

Al finally flipped open to the page she had been laboring on all afternoon.

It was a picture of a park with flowers everywhere, some drawn in with her little five-year-old fingers. A blanket of color with a bright yellow sun in the corner wearing sunglasses, a touch she figured Castle had insisted on during their secret whispering sessions. In sloppy handwriting that was all Al's own, she had written out "Love you, Mom and Rick." Sure, the 'y' was facing the wrong way but the five words had Kate's heart doing a weird somersault.

The quick glance over at Castle told her that he hadn't seen those words when he had gone to start dinner. His eyes were wide, the smile lighting up his entire face and Kate could only assume her face was a mirror image.

"See?" asked Al, taking another bite of the mac-and-cheese. "Flowers for you."

Kate leaned down, felt the hot pillow slip but didn't care, and smacked a kiss against Al's cheek. "Thank you, kid. It's beautiful."

She felt Castle's hand settle on her shoulder and Kate reached up to press his palm to the joint. "My best girl has talent. Both of my Beckett girls do."

"Not yours!" Al exclaimed, turning a glare on Castle.

He held his one hand up in defense. "Of course not. No one owns you girls." But he did tilt his head so it rested on the cushions behind Al, eyes locked with Kate's. "Still love ya, you know."

She stabbed a macaroni and held it out to him. "I do know. What movie are we doing next?"

"Pocahontas," Al decided without a beat. Then she gave Castle a shove. "Go put it in please."

"As you wish, my lady," he said with a straight face. He only grinned when he looked back at Kate and saw her trying to hide a smile of her own. "As you wish."