Chapter 17 – Future Plans

"Are you sure you want me to come?" I asked, scrambling to finish my make up in the bathroom.

"You have to come. Someone has to keep me from bawling my eyes out," he replied from the other side of the door.

Rubbing my lips together to smear the gloss evenly, I checked my hair, and smoothed my dress, before opening the door into his bedroom. "Ok, are you sure Alexis wants me there?" I asked him walking over to him to straighten out his tie.

He swallowed his hands settling on my hips, "Her exact words before she left this morning were, 'make sure Kate comes if you have to drag her away from the murder board.'"

I laughed smoothing the tie down, "Well it's a good thing that I closed the case then."

"Good indeed." He pressed a kiss to my lips stepping away, "Look at you," he let out a low whistle taking me in, "I guess I'm the only one that looks old enough to be having a kid graduate from high school."

Chuckling, "I'll take that as a compliment," I informed him, "and ignore the rest of it."

"Richard? Kate? Are you ready?" Martha called from the other room.

"Time to go. Someone has a daughter graduating from high school." I grabbed his hand and pulled him from the room, into his study making our way out into the main room. "Oh, before I forget I got Alexis something, but I don't want to give it to her if you're uncomfortable with…" I didn't get to finish my question before he was wrapping his arms around me and kissing me thoroughly.

"Richard, Kate, really! You're going to have to hold off on making more babies until after the first one graduates from high school," the family matriarch groaned from the doorway.

"Sorry," he gruffed out, trying to look guilty, smoothing his shirt as we broke apart, "we should go." He grabbed my hand, pulling me behind him as he ushered his mother out of the apartment, "What did you get her?" he asked as we were waiting for the elevator.

I just shrugged adjusting my cardigan, rumpled from his hands, "Nothing big."

"Darling, you got Alexis a present?" Martha poked her head around his shoulder, just as the elevator arrived.

"I did," I nodded stepping into the car.

"Well, what you get her?"

"Come on what did you get her?" Rick used his mother's interest to his advantage.

I sighed, relenting, "A tool kit."

"That's perfect!" Martha exclaimed.

"What would she need a tool kit for?" Rick looked affronted and confused, liked I'd questioned his ability as a man.

I tried to hide my smile, as I explained, "Her dorm room. That way she has a hammer and a screwdriver should she ever need them. Which is quite likely given that she'll be living in a dorm room."

"Why can't she just call me?" He inquired, in all his moping about her going to college it had not actually occurred to him that she would go to school nearby and still not need him for everything.

Martha saved me from having to break the news to him again, "Yes darling, just because every time she needs a screwdriver she's going to call her dad."

"Well yeah, why not? She's going to Colombia I'll be able to go over there whenever she needs me." He argued, and then realized how silly that sounded. He took a deep breath, centering himself, coming to terms with the drastic shift that was about to happen. He reached out, and grabbed my hand, tangling our fingers. "Ok, so it's a good, practical gift," he lifted our tangled fingers to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of my hand. "Thank you for taking care of my daughter."

I smiled, "Someone has too," I teased under my breath, getting a smile as my reward when the elevator doors opened into the lobby.

"Ha, ha… Come on I have to watch my baby girl graduate from high school." He opened the lobby door for us to the waiting car.

"How you doing?" I asked softly from his shoulder in the car ride back to the loft after the celebratory dinner. Martha floated off at some point to meet friends for drinks, and Alexis left for a post graduation bash one of her friends was throwing. Which left me and the empty nesting father riding back to the loft alone.

His hand squeezed my thigh just above my knee, "Yeah… Yeah, I'm going to be fine. I'd be doing better if she hadn't given that speech."

"It was a beautiful speech, you're not the only Castle that has a way with words," I soothed. His daughter had brought tears even to my eyes, with her carefully crafted message that she hadn't told anyone she was giving.

"Yeah," I could hear the pride in his voice, even has his fingers toyed with the ends of my hair. "The whole thing just makes me feel old," he sighed.

"Rick you had her when you were really young." Which was true, he was 21, when she was born.

"That doesn't make me young."

I pushed up off his shoulder to look at him, "If it makes you feel better my dad was older than you are now when I was born."

"Well, that makes me feel a little bit better, but mostly that makes your dad old." He tried to muster a smile.

"I guess it's a good thing I like older men." I kissed him softly, capturing his attention, by pulling his bottom lip between my teeth.

"That makes me feel a better," he pulled back smiling at me. "My baby girl is a high school graduate," then he groan, "besides I was downright reasonable compared with Meredith."

I laughed, "She was a little out of control." Alexis' mother was beyond out of control. She'd sobbed silently through the whole ceremony, not because she was proud of her daughter, or felt like she was losing her but, because to have a daughter graduate high school meant she was old. She wouldn't even allow herself to be photographed, claiming that her makeup was ruined.

"And you were perfectly poised, with one graceful tear running down you cheek because you were proud of my daughter." He squeezed my shoulder.

"She's easy to be proud of," I confessed as the car came to a stop. He climbed out of the car offering me a hand to help me out. "But I'm really proud of you for raising such an amazing woman," I told him pressing a kiss to his cheek before moving off in the direction of the door, before his hands caught me wrapping himself around my waist.

"That has to be the nicest thing you've ever said to me," He leaned in slanting his lips over mine, softly exploring my mouth a free hand tangling in my hair for long enough that the doorman cleared his throat. "Let's go inside so that I can prove to you just how young I am."

"Do you want to have more kids?" I don't know what made me ask the question as we lay in his bed, morning light spilling through the windows, but he stilled the hand tracing patterns on my arm.

"Where's this question coming from?" his voice was laced with curiosity.

I huffed cursing my shrink internally, for encouraging me to talk more freely with Castle but it had been working so well, following my episode of PTSD that I'd been trying to maintain it. Which meant following through on the question, "I just was wondering you were so upset about her growing up and I was…?"

"Stop," he directed quietly as his fingers resumed the soothing motion, "The question that I should ask is do you want kids?"

"Do I want kids?"

"That's what I asked."

I was silent. I wouldn't have asked him if I didn't, right? Right. "Yes, I would like to have kids."

He sighed, relieved, his whole body relaxing. "Good, because I want to have more kids with you."

I hummed, relieved, "You were afraid I was going to say I didn't want children." I turned propping my chin up on his chest so that I could look at his face.

He grinned now, "A little bit. I want kids with you if you want kids. But without you well then … then it's a moot point."

"Oh…" There it was the actual point of a conversation like this, and yet I was feeling a little bit off kilter about it because I'd been the one to bring it up.

"Don't worry we're not there yet," he assured me, taking the lead.

All I had to do was follow, "Is that where we're headed?"

He looked at me, eyes glowing with promise, "That's not just up to me. You get a say in this too." I smiled, leave it to him to keep this conversation light and still have it, "So, detective you tell me, based on your observations is that where we're head?"

I rolled my lips in between my teeth biting them gentle trying hard not to smile, coming to grips with the situation. "Yes, I would say that's where we're headed."

He settled back into the pillows again, "Ok, then. Just so you know there's no rush, we have a whole bunch of steps that have to be completed first."

"What would these steps be?" I asked, torn between amusement and curiosity.

He made a noncommittal sound glancing over at the clock. "We should get up. Make breakfast for the high school graduate and get some coffee in you so that you can go to work this afternoon and finish that paperwork." He told me untangling our limbs and sitting up on the edge of the bed.

"Ok, but if you want to make some advances on this list of things that need to happen you might want to let me know what they are." I told him standing and making my way into the bathroom, to brush my teeth.

He appeared after a few moments leaning against the doorjamb buttoning his shirt. "Well, first we should probably go on vacation together."

I nodded, rinsing the toothpaste out and going the closet to pull on some clothes myself, "Ok that's a reasonable first step, where we going on vacation?"

"That depends on how much time you can get off."

"I'll have to know where I want to go first."

"Ok so we'll get back to that."

"Alright," I pulled on a shirt, "what were the next steps?"

"Well there's moving in together, and getting engaged, and I suppose following that there should be wedding where you're in a beautiful gown and I'm in a tux. And then we should talk about babies." He said rubbing his hands together, appearing just a little bit nervous.

I stepped closer to him, hooking my fingers through his belt loops. "You really have thought about this," I knew he had but was waiting to bring it up, and hadn't known how, so it was good that my mouth had gotten ahead of my brain. He grinned sheepishly at me, "You've gone and planned out all the details," I smiled back, patting his cheek affectionately.

"Well they are logical steps," he assured me, "but I skipped one." His hands ghosted up my arms.

"I think I know which one that is," I teased, we were going to keep this light and happy like it was supposed to be, which meant I had to do my part.

His brow wrinkled just a little bit in surprise, "You do?"

I nodded, "Yeah you're waiting on me to tell you something."

He didn't really respond, he tried to keep a calm face, but his fingers twitched against my skin, "Whenever you're ready."

I lifted up on my toes and pressed a kiss to his lips, before falling back on my heels. "And that, right there, is one of many reasons I do." I revealed, and then I release his jeans and made my way out into the study intent making my way into the kitchen and getting coffee.

But I barely made it through the door before an arm wrapped around me dragging me back against him. "One of many reasons that you what?" he breathed in my ear before spinning me around.

"Love you," I said simple, lifting my arms to wrap around his neck.

"You do?" His eyebrows arched in surprise.

"I asked you if you wanted to have kids not half an hour ago and you're surprised by that."

"Well no but I just want to hear you say it again," he asked dropping his voice.

"I suppose I could do that," I grinned, combing his hair behind his ear, looking into his sparkling blue eyes, "I love you."

His face lit up and he captured my lips quickly, pulling me just a little bit closer, and my fingers slipped down the back of his shirt and into his hair. "I love you too," he said with a smile pulling back.

"I know you do." I told him with a soft smile just basking in the look he was giving me for a minute. "Your daughter is going to wake up any minute," I finally told him moving to untangle myself.

"Yeah you're right… breakfast." He said following me out of the study, "about the other steps?"

"The vacation, moving in, engagement, marriage, and then babies?" I recited back to him, booting up the coffee machine.

"Yeah, those." He agreed with his head inside the fridge.

"What about them?"

"Well can we talk about the first one?"

"The vacation?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Sure what were you thinking?"

"A long weekend over the fourth of July."

"That's a busy weekend for the police force…" I hedged, he looked so excited by the idea, "but I can ask see what I can do." Because truth be told, I really liked the idea. "Why what were you thinking?"

"We go to the Hamptons every year for the weekend and have a big barbeque and light fireworks, and I'd love if you could come."

"That sounds wonderful," because it did, "I'll do what I can." I promised him, pulling out coffee mugs.

"Great," he exclaimed setting the makings for breakfast on the counter, "about the second thing?"

"The moving in thing?" I asked carefully, turning to hand him his cup. He wrapped his hands around the mug but kept his eyes on me.

"Yeah."

"What about it?"

He took a deep breath, "I want you to think about maybe at the end of the summer, after Alexis goes to school… I want you to think about moving in here with me."

The oxygen in my lungs seemed to evaporate, "Rick…"

"I'm not asking for an answer now, but I know you like to think about things, work them out in your head a little bit first, before you want to talk about it." He took a slow sip of coffee.

But before I could answer him, Alexis came down the stairs, "Good morning everyone!"

"Just think about it." He says softly before wrapping his arms around Alexis, "Good morning graduate!"

We made it through some of the rough stuff so it was time for lighter, but they've still pushing forward, just in a different way than they are on the show.

Unrelated a tool kit was seriously the most usefull thing I got for highschool graduation, I was the only one in my building with one and it was Co-ed building.

I would love to hear what you thought.

Babyrose