Sorry its been forever since I uploaded… Im going to be on top of this for now on! This chapter is a lot of Castle/Beckett fluff, and it kind of takes the story forward a bit… don't lose faith in me i think there might be a caskett baby in the future of this fic! Like, review, follow, its you guys that fuel my creative fire!

Rick had just gotten out of his publishers meeting when his phone rang. He saw Kate's name and was excited to speak to her after a hard day of real work. "Hello my dearest," he greeted his wife cheerfully.

"Castle I would be a good mom," Kate sounded like she was trying to convince someone, and Castle wasn't sure which one of them it was.

"Nobody doubts that Kate. Especially me." Castle knew Kate was having a hard time finding her place, who could blame her? She was going from newlywed to Grandmother in under a year.

"I could teach a kid a lot of things, and even though people think I'm cold and aloof, that doesn't mean I don't know how to love." Kate sounded very quiet, and Castle knew from her tone that she was crying. He figured this was going to be an "in-person" talk.

"Kate, I'm about to get into my car, Ill be home in 20 minutes and we can talk about it when I get home, okay?" He was trying not to sound like he was babying her. "Did you save me any dinner? I'm starving." Castle herd Kate let out a little chuckle on the end of the phone. "Awe!" he pretended to be upset "How's a growing man like me supposed to get some nutrients living with two vultures?!" He said, trying to lighten Kate's mood until he got there, it seemed to be working.

"Blame your daughter Castle. I barely got any either," she joked.

"Listen Mrs. Castle, both of us know you just committed purgery. A respectable cop like yourself too, you aught to be ashamed." He could hear her laughing now, and felt accomplished. 'Damn Castle you are a good husband' he thought to himself.

"Me?!" Kate laughed. "You better hurry home or you're going to miss out on the wine too!"

"No!" Castle yelled into his Bluetooth as he drove. "Not the wine! Spare me a drop!" He fake cried, they were both laughing, but as the laughter died out Castle could sense something was seriously troubling his wife, and he just didn't have a solution. As he drove he tried to think of the possible outcomes.

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"So, you want a baby?" he asked her flat out after they had both settled onto the couch.

"I don't know Castle, I can't figure out what I want." She took a sip of her wine and looked up at him.

Castle didn't want to lie and say that he didn't want one, because he really did, but he didn't want to take the spotlight away from Alexis. "This is a hugely important time for Alexis." He said starring at nothing.

Kate sighed, "I know," she thought about how unprepared Alexis was for her life to turn. "She has no idea how screwed she is." Kate thought of the costs of a private school, diapers, clothes, food, toys, and daycare… "How much do you plan on helping her?" Kate asked.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about it, I want her to go back to school." He said, "I know she will want to go back. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't get a degree." He snorted, "How did she get to be such a nerd?"

Kate playfully punched him " Hey! I happen to think it's a really good thing!" they both laughed and then Kate said unexpectedly "Do you think she'll keep it?"

Rick looked surprised "What do you mean? Of course she will!"

Kate gave him an unsure look. "It just seems like her school and goals might not fit well with raising a kid and paying for it, Castle."

Rick looked as though he hadn't even thought of that scenario. "Well we can help her, I mean…" he trailed off realizing that helping Alexis raise her baby would be more like raising it for her. "I think she will need to be responsible for it, but we can help her financially I suppose," he sipped his wine, "as long as she is in school."

"That sounds like a good idea castle. I mean…" she didn't want to offend him or say anything that might make him feel like he has to pick sides. "I don't want to raise any child but ours. I would love to help, but… I don't want to do too much. This is her baby after all."

They both made eye contact for a long time. Seeming to come to an understanding, they would help financially, but not step in as parents or day caregivers.

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A body dropped at 6 am the next morning. The Castles hadn't realized their conversation about Alexis and the after-sex spanned until 2am, both of them had polished off a bottle of wine, and were not in the mood for the chaos of a crime scene.

"Coffee." Kate whispered to Castle in the car on the way there.

"Ill drop you off, then go to Starbucks and bring some back for everyone." Castle said, catching the bags under his eyes in the rearview mirror.

"We are going to bed at 7 tonight." Kate whispered as she turned on her phone.

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"So much for going to bed early" Castle said approaching Kate's desk. It was 5:08 and he knew she wasn't going to be done for a while. He sat on his chair and watched her fill out paper work.

"I know, why murder?" she asked looking up, as if to demand this answer of god. "Damn murder… so many documents, papers, reports, protocols…"

Castle laughed, Kate had a very cruel sense of humor. "I guess I could go home now and cook something." He suggested, hoping she would agree, simply because he was bored and Homeland was coming on in an hour.

"Good idea," she said, " Wait a second! You just want to watch homeland without me." She glanced over at him as she filled out the police report.

"No I don't!" he lied.

"Castle why don't you ever wait for me? We are supposed to watch it on the pvr together!" she had noticed a few weeks ago that castle had let slip an "I love this part" to an episode that had aired only a few hours before.

"I told you Kate, I just said that because of instinct! I really have never watched one without you!" He was kicking himself for blowing his cover. He had been watching them on tv when they aired at 7 and pretending he hadn't seen the episode when he and his wife sat down at night to watch "their show"

"You're a bad liar Castle." Beckett laughed and signed her name at the bottom. "But just since I'm so hungry, go home and put dinner on. BUT!" she said warningly "If I get ANY sense that you watched it without me…" she paused for dramatic effect "You will be the next person I'm filling out these papers for." She indicated the 'Autopsy Conclusion: Murder' form she was filling out.

Castle did a fake gulp as he got on the elevator.

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After their spaghetti dinner Beckett and Castle poured their glasses of wine and sat on the couch. Castle had the remote and was going onto the PVR when Alexis came down the stairs. Kate could see some changes in Alexis now, noting that her face seemed fuller and her middle had ballooned out a tiny bit. Nobody not in on the secret would be able to notice, but Kate had been keeping her eye out. She had also noticed Alexis's aversion to chicken among other things, Kate figured they must aggravate her morning sickness, which, she had to admit, she felt sorry for. Seeing the slight swelling of Alexis's tummy made Kate feel uneasy, she didn't know weather to feel excited, or dreadful, or jealous. In a way she had felt all of them at least once. Although she hoped Alexis and Castle hadn't noticed her jealousy, Kate had often tried to picture herself in Alexis's position. She was starting to face that she had baby fever, just the other night she caught herself online shopping looking at baby clothes. Excitement, jealousy, they were interchangeable.

"So," Alexis said, displaying 5 file folders and arranging them on the coffee table.

Rick and Kate exchanged confused glances. "Here are the final 5 families, I want you guys to help me pick which one I should give it to."

Rick was confused. He sat forward on the couch. "Start at the beginning" he said. "Families for what?"

"Dad, you didn't think I was going to try to get a PhD while raising a kid did you?" She looked at him sympathetically. "I'm sorry," she could see that he was kind of disappointed. Alexis knew how much her dad loved kids.

"This is going to be really, really hard Alexis," Kate had a feeling Alexis hadn't taken her emotions into account. "You may be thinking how good this looks on paper, but… are you going to be able to do it and not back out at the last minute?" One of Kate's friends in high school had almost given her baby up for adoption. Kate remembered she had tried to keep the baby after it was born, but had been legally bound to a contract.

"Guys," Alexis said in a too grown up voice. "I know what I'm doing. I want your help to choose the family."

Both agreed to help pick, knowing Alexis had chosen the best situation for everyone. But both Castles wondered if she was really ready for what she was getting into.

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more to come soon mes amis! stay tuned