Ah! I'm sorry this is a little late but it's here. And it's longer than last time so do a little cheer. We are going to need pillows and a bottle of booze - for those of us who are over age - after tomorrow night so feel free to write and read as much fluff as you deem necessary (I may even join in...with the right encouragement *wink wink*) Either way, happy Sunday!

Please review and if you want to follow me on twitter you can find me at vatrask

Enjoy 3

Jim Beckett approached the door to his daughter's apartment with a heavy heart but just enough courage to knock the moment he was within range. He heard one thump, two sets of giggles and then the door was suddenly opened and he was face to face with a man possibly two inches taller than him – though he slouched a lot – with light brown hair, and bright blue eyes. Then he caught sight of the man's toned, naked chest over a pair of form fitting dress pants and a dimpled smile. His first thought was: trouble; his second was: good. The man's speech, however, was less reassuring. "Uh…. Can I help you?"

His eyebrows rose above the fringe and buried themselves in the wrinkles that he had come to be proud of. "I think the better question is, who are you and what are you doing in my daughter's apartment without a shirt on?" The man's chest, neck and face blanched to a creamy pink but at least he maintained his composure right?

"You're Kate's father." He nodded though it went without saying but before the delightful conversation could continue, a heavenly familiar voice filled his ears.

"Dad?" And there was Kate peeking up from behind the Adonis's shoulder in – thankfully – jeans and a white t-shirt; her hair was longer than he remembered but it was currently tied into a ponytail so it was difficult to determine by how much. Her face lit up at the sight her father in a plaid button down and black slacks, his fingers twitching at his side. "What are you doing here?" Her tone was light and she was smiling – he may just forgive the macho man in his daughter's apartment on principle of making her happy.

"Katie, today's the fifth." He spoke in a stage whisper as though the one between them couldn't hear.

He nodded when her eyes widened. "Oh I completely lost track of the day." And his heart sank again to the bottom of his chest. "We were going to go to the Yankee's game to celebrate-"

"Yeah," he cut her off before she could continue and she bit her lip, remembering their audience. "But listen, we can go another day if-"

"No, Mr. Beckett," the man suddenly interrupted, stepping to the side "I should get going anyways." He turned his attention to Kate. "I'll see you later?" And there was that dimpled smile that he was sure melted his daughter's heart. She nodded brightly and leaned in for a kiss – which he dared to watch – but the man moved to brush his lips against her cheek and both of the Beckett's resisted the urge to roll their eyes. But his lips lingered on her cheek long enough for Kate's heart to flutter and Jim to clear his throat, shooting through the man's spine until he was standing completely straight. "Right," he coughed "goodbye Kate, Mr. Beckett." He was down the hall before Jim's snickering and Kate's calling stopped him in his tracks.

"Will, aren't you missing something?" His hand flew to his belt loop.

"No, I've got my badge and my gun."

Jim chose to ignore the thoughts running through her daughter's head about his gun in favor of acknowledging that this man in her life was someone from work. "Your shirt, son?" Will looked down and instantly shot through the apartment door and out of sight of the smirking father and his beet red daughter. No words were exchanged until Will was flying past them with a half buttoned dress shirt and a short goodbye that ghosted passed their ears. Once the Agent was safely in the elevator, Kate's face was in her hands, groaning and motioning for her father to enter. He looked around with a smirk – stylistic but not quite home; just what he expected from her apartment – before turning to her. "So…"

"Don't, dad." She finally smirked, approaching him for a familiar hug "give me five minutes and then we can get going."

Instead of responding, he followed her to the door frame of her bedroom to watch her grab a fall coat and a pair of sneakers. Her bedroom was tidy – thankfully there was no evidence of last night's adventures – and he would have thought that she was functioning normally without both of her parents until he caught sight of her jewelry box on her hand-me-down dresser where a photo of him and Johanna were together; happy and together. His heart ached for the women he loved. "So he's a police officer like you?" He asked and she paused in her closet, praying that this conversation would be over soon.

"No dad, he's a federal agent; we met during a case." Keep the focus off of her job, he told himself.

"So how long have you two been together?" He smirked, leaning against the doorframe.

"Two months." She continued moving so that she wouldn't have to face whatever snide remark she knew was coming.

"Two months?" He hummed. "And you've already got his shirt off; a few more months and you'll get to the good stuff."

She stood to face him with shock, awe and a bit of amusement in her eyes. "Daddy!"

But he chuckled and she relaxed enough to return to her quest. "I'm kidding, Katie, I don't want to know what's going on in your personal life; well it would be nice to know that you were interested in someone but I guess I deserve being in the dark."

She sighed, shaking her head to look at him over her shoulder. "Dad, I'm not doing it to punish you I just…" she turned to lean against the closet door "I knew you had your own issues to deal with."

"Well those issues are being absolved which is why we're doing this father/daughter outing." She smiled at his proud tone and finally wrapped a fall coat around herself, slipping her hands in the pockets and facing her father.

"So is it really six months?"

"Without a single drop." He assured motioning her out of the bedroom and towards the front door but she stopped with a hand on his arm.

"I'm so proud of you dad." He pulled her into his arms and smiled.

"Thank you, Katie; I don't want to ever disappoint you again."

She pulled out of his arms to stare at him in shock "Dad, you've never been a disappointment to me."

"Right, because you were so impressed with what I've been doing the last few years." She rolled her eyes at his immature scoff.

"Dad, you were in a bad place and so was I, but we're better now." He regarded his daughter and had to fight the urge to lecture her about what was better when she was going out every night fighting the bad guys who had sent her into darkness. Instead, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and squeezed it with a small smile.

"Right, so let's get going." She nodded and closed the door behind them.

His was lounging in living room, reading the newspaper six months later when he got the phone call. The last article from Page 6 was still engraved in his mind of the recent engagement of Rick Castle and Gina Griffin on some romantic hot air balloon ride – he scoffed at the notion of being so far up when the weather was so cold – but he was out the door before the caller could finish.

Kate Beckett had been in some work-related accident and was currently heading into surgery. Jim had never been so scared in his life.

He stood outside the hospital with a sad expression; at the moment his daughter would be lying on a table in surgery unit with three doctors and scalpels prodding at her. He would be of no use to her until she woke up which wouldn't be until tomorrow morning – if at all, he tried not to think about that – so for tonight, he was on his own.

So he took a walk down the streets of New York, passed all the bad and ignoring the good until he found himself standing outside of a bar a few blocks from the hospital; it was one he wasn't familiar with but it looked inviting – smoky and deserted. So he descended the stairs of the Old Haunt and sat at the first seat he found. This was going to be a long night.

At first he ordered just water on ice and let the scent of beer stained stools and long extinguished cigars wash over him and remind him of the countless hours and the countless bars that took him away from his home and cost him his job. But when midnight hit and the bar was crowding with sentimental couples intent on getting their frustrations out of their system in a single night, he gave in to the urge to drown his sorrows in familiarity.

The long night became forgotten in a manner of minutes.

He managed to sober up thanks to a sympathetic bartender around nine the next morning and he arrived at his daughter's hospital bed an hour later where she had just woken up. "Hey sweetie, how are you doing?" He sat at her bedside across from the machines hooked up to her various body parts but the echo of the heart monitor still rang in his ears.

"I'm fine dad," she ran a hand over her face and he blanched at the sight of the IV tube running through her skin "it was an accident."

"Katie," he scolded "that was not an accident; you are here because of your work."

"It's not like I was shot." Her voice was rising of her own accord; she knew that the first thing her dad was going to do was blame her job and it didn't matter that he was right, it wasn't his place to say – right? "I was taking down a suspect and I fell-"

"You hit your head and they had to operate." He held a hand to her now short greasy brown locks. "They had to cut your hair off to get to your wound."

She ducked her head, instantly on the defense. "I've been meaning to cut it; now I don't have to pay for it."

"Katie-" He began but she quickly interjected.

"So how's retirement treating you?" He knew what she was asking so he smirked.

"Where's your boyfriend what was his name again? Rick?"

She smirked in response "His name was Will and we broke up four months ago."

"Oh," he sighed teasingly "and he had such nice assets."

"Dad," she gaped, reaching her free arm to smack him but winced when a sharp pain shot through her side.

"Katie," he scolded but she cut him off.

"I don't need another lecture about how much you hate my job." She groaned "it's what I love to do and as dangerous as it is, I'm going to keep doing it."

Jim held her hand, resting limply at her side; her skin was colder and clammier than he remembered it ever being. "That doesn't mean I'm going to stop worrying about you." He reasoned and she nodded.

"I know, and I'm never going to stop worrying about you slipping back into your old habits." Subtle she was not "so I guess we're just going to have to live with each other."

His head shot up with a teasing smile. "So you'd move back home?"

"Not a chance," she smiled gently because even she could see the hope hidden behind his eyes "but I wouldn't mind meeting more than once every few months and only when some minor crisis occurs."

"I'd like that."