A/N: Sorry for the late update... This chapter refused to cooperate with me :( Beta by Iris (who changed her username to iges2u) and Anika (who was a tremendous help, patiently answering all my questions about America.)

Disclaimer: not mine!

Five weeks later, Castle stood in front of his cabinet, looking down at his collection of pens. Which one should he bring along for the book tour?

He was going to spend a whole week touring a few cities on the west coast to promote the latest Nikki Heat book. His tour was supposed to kick start in Santa Fe, followed by Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and then Portland. Kate, Alexis and Arriana were set to fly across the country to spend the weekend in the last city with him. Then, they would all fly back to New York together and spend a week there, which also coincided with Arriana's birthday.

He had a few publicity events to attend as well while he was in New York, before setting off for another five days, continuing the second leg of his book tour, which consisted of cities in the Midwest region.

"Castle? You left your toiletry bag in the bathroom. I'm going to leave it by your suitcase so you don't forget, all right?" Kate's disembodied voice floated over to him.

"Thanks, Kate," he replied distractedly, looking back at his fountain pens.

He really needed to just pick some pens and finish packing if he didn't want to be late. He shouldn't be taking so long to make up his mind – really, they're just pens after all, but for some reason he lingered by his collection, unable to make a decision.

"Castle, where are you?"

Randomly picking two of the newer pens, Castle shut the cabinet door decisively. He couldn't afford wasting any more time over trivial matters like this.

He hurried back to his suitcase and dumped the toiletry bag inside before he forgot about it again. Kate had already folded his slacks and dress shirts neatly, so he put them on top of a pile of t-shirts, and they went into the suitcase as well.

"Castle we need to get moving now or you're going to miss your flight," Kate told him, leaning in from the doorway.

"Yeah I know, almost done here."

"Oh, don't forget your charger," she told him, spying the white cord by his bedside table.

Castle looked up to thank her, but she had already left the room. He quickly strode over, unplugged his charger and then shoved it into his suitcase. The landline for the loft started ringing. 'Must be the town car,' Castle thought, giving the room a final once over to see if there was anything else he needed to take.

"Castle, the car's here," Kate announced, followed by some hushed talking. She must be getting Arriana to put on her coat and shoes.

Castle zipped up the suitcase, rolling it out to join Kate and Arriana. "Got everything?" Kate asked, holding out his coat for him.

He donned it, telling her, "Think so. Besides, it's only a week – I'll be fine. C'mon, lets go." He ushered them out ahead of him before shutting the door behind him.

Traffic was surprisingly heavier than usual for a Sunday morning, but they made it to the JFK with some time to spare. Castle checked in and got his boarding pass just as his phone rang.

"Paula, hi, and before you ask, no, I did not forget about my flight, in fact I've already checked in. Yeah? Okay, I'll see you soon." Hanging up, he explained to Kate, "Paula and Gina are already together. You sure I can't kidnap you and Arriana to come along?"

"And crash your party? I don't think so," Kate teased. Loping her hand with his, Kate started walking toward the security checkpoint while Arriana took up his other hand.

They soon met up with Gina and Paula, exchanging brief but polite greetings. "Alright, Arri, come give me a big hug. I'll see you next week, okay? You be good for mommy," Rick told his little girl, bending down to receive her hug.

"And then we'll have our proper family vacation?" she asked, cocking her head to one side.

Patting her head, Castle told her, "Yes, we'll have our family vacation over the weekend."

Straightening up, it was now Kate's turn. She hugged him tightly, saying softly, "You take care and be good. Call me when you land, okay?"

Paula and Gina were looking over at him, but they kept their distance, giving him a small measure of privacy.

"Yeah, I'll do that. You take care too."

They kissed goodbye, and with a final wave to his family, Rick Castle went through security. As soon as the three of them were good to go, they headed for the boarding gate.

One whole week with Gina and Paula. Their schedule was packed, and they would have multiple events in a day, but at the end of it he would hopefully have two days with his family in Portland.

He called Kate when they landed, but their conversation was cut short when he had to get ready for an interview at a local radio station. They squeezed in another phone call that night so Castle could tell his daughter good night. Kate was back on shift in the morning, so he didn't want to keep her up too late either.

After Kate went to sleep, Castle took out his notepad and flipped to the page with his notes for Arriana's birthday party. Kate suggested a small celebration with their close friends and family, but he had offered to plan a party so Arriana could celebrate with her friends from school as well.

Kate had seemed hesitant, after all, both their schedules were packed, but he told her not to worry about it. He could call the appropriate people and handle it.

He had already listed down the things he'd need to prepare for the birthday party. They were having it at Klub4Kidz. After booking their party room, Castle had arranged for a magician to come and perform some tricks and entertain the kids with games.

Next on the list was food and beverage. The restaurant could handle the catering, and they were putting together a menu that was more kid-oriented, so he should hear from them within a day or two to finalize the menu.

Besides that, he also needed to get in touch with Lucas in the morning. He used to do all of Alexis' birthday goody bags when she was young, and the kids always loved those goody bags.

Lucas could design and print the invitation cards as well, dropping them off at the loft so Arriana would be able to distribute it to her friends in school the next day.

There were about twenty kids in Arriana's class, and all of them were invited for the party. In addition to that, she also wanted to invite some of her closer friends from here and there – mostly from aftercare or the park she frequented. In that case, he should probably look into hiring additional security just to help keep an eye on the kids.

He scribbled a few more notes and additional details into his notebook before going to sleep. He had two back-to-back interviews in the morning and a signing event in the afternoon plus a book reading and signing in the evening before they moved on to the next city.

The days passed quickly. He barely had any free time, never staying in a city for more than a day. Sometimes, they covered two cities in a day. Any free time he had was used it to plan Arriana's birthday party.

He exchanged text messages with Kate whenever they could, but calls were normally saved for the end of the day if it wasn't already too late in New York.

Kate was busy with work as well, but so far she's managed to handle Arriana. She filled him in on her cases, but he was too busy to follow too closely.

As it was, Castle was often too busy or too tired to miss his family too much. But as Thursday rolled by, he was beginning to get keyed up. The rest of his family would be flying over on Friday night to meet him. Paula roped him into a last-minute meet-and-greet session on Saturday morning, but that marked the end of the first leg of his tour.

Gina and Paula would return to New York, and he could finally enjoy the weekend with his family.

Therefore, he was pleasantly surprised when Kate called him on Friday afternoon. Their flight wasn't for another five hours.

"Hey, Kate," he greeted, always happy to hear from her.

"Hey Castle," she greeted, sounding tired.

"Something wrong, Kate?" he asked, sensing the bad news she was about to impart.

"Arriana you better pick up your things and put them back where they belong or so help me, I'm going to make you stay at home for the weekend. This mess had better be cleaned when I return in ten minutes."

Kate's voice was muffled – she must have been covering the earpiece – but he heard it anyway. A distant shout and some slamming came through – must be Arriana.

'Uh oh,' Castle thought, signaling to Paula he needed a minute alone.

"Kate?" he repeated.

He heard his wife releasing a pent up breath before she got back to him. "Yeah, sorry, I have some bad news, and Arriana didn't take it well."

"What happened?"

Kate got straight to the point. "I can't come over. A suspect took out my replacement this morning – three broken ribs and a pierced lung, so Gates had to revoke my leave. We're swamped in the precinct anyway, so I'm stuck in New York. I'm sorry, Castle."

Castle couldn't help but feel his disappointment bubble up. After all, he had been looking forward to their arrival all week. He sighed.

"It's not your fault, Kate."

Running his hand through his hair, he continued. "Are the girls still coming over though?"

"Yeah, I was thinking Alexis and Arriana could go over to meet you, so it's not a complete waste. Arriana threw a tantrum when I told her I had to work, but I guess you heard that part already. I'm really sorry, Castle. I know you've planned so many things for us to do in Portland."

"It's all right Kate, we could always do it another time, or another place. I'll make the most out of it with the girls, okay? Don't beat yourself up over it. Listen, Gina's calling me so I gotta go now. Talk to you later. Love you."

Castle slid his phone into his pocket, putting on a cheery smile as he got near Gina. Time to meet the fans.

Castle was at a book reading event when his daughters arrived, so he had to settle for sending a car to pick them up and drop them off at the hotel. He'd meet them there when he was done.

He hugged them tightly when he saw them. Then, he made a quick phone call to Kate just to let her know they were all together already. When he passed the phone to Arriana, she refused to talk to her mom because she was still mad at her for ruining their family vacation.

"Don't worry about it, Alexis and I will talk to her about it. Love you and good night, Kate," Castle reassured her before hanging up.

His daughters tagged along to the bookstore on Saturday morning. He had a meet-and-greet but it would only take a few hours. So, Alexis and Arriana spent their time browsing and reading in the bookstore, patiently waiting for their father to finish with work.

As the event came to an end, they all came together to pose for a picture for the photographers. Rick thanked Gina and Paula before leaving with his two girls. Finally, it was time to relax and explore the city!

Castle received a text from Paula later that evening. It contained a link and a single word: Statement?

Rick sent his girls off to buy some snacks as he clicked on the link. It was an article published an hour ago.

There was a picture from the bookstore earlier that day and a short write up.

Trouble for Rick Castle?

Best selling author, Richard Castle, who is famous for his Derrick Storm and now Nikki Heat books was in town to promote his latest installment of the Heat franchise, which can be found in your local bookstores. He had a meet-and-greet session with his fans earlier, accompanied by his personal all-female entourage.

It consisted of his publicist Paula Haas, second ex-wife and publisher Gina Cowell, his oldest daughter Alexis Castle from his first marriage, and newly joined daughter Arriana Beckett.

Who was decidedly not present? Current wife number three, Kate Beckett, who is also the inspiration for Nikki Heat.

The couple has been married for slightly more than a year, and we certainly hope that their marriage isn't already heading for trouble.

We have already reached out to Mr. Castle's publicist to comment on this matter. Stay tuned for more details.

Castle closed the link and dialed Paula's number immediately. She picked up after only two rings; she was obviously waiting for his call.

"Kate's in New York because of work," he said angrily into the phone, disgusted at the level the press was willing to stoop just for a story.

"Hello to you too, Ricky," Paula greeted, not the least bit offended by his rudeness. Undeterred, she continued, "All right, don't worry, I'll release a statement tomorrow morning saying that Kate's working in New York, throw in something about obligations and keeping the city safe, paint a pretty picture with the NYPD."

"Is it too late to kill the story? We can make them take it down right? Say it's defamatory?" Castle asked, wanting to settle this before his daughters returned.

"It's better to let the story run, Rick, keep you in the news. Helps with the publicity for the book as well. Don't worry 'bout it, we'll get your statement out in the morning and do damage control."

Castle sent a text to give Kate a heads up. The story might not even pick up in New York, but it was better for Kate to be prepared just in case. She didn't need to wake up in the morning to that kind of news.

By nighttime, other websites were publishing a similar story as well. It was generating buzz around Castle, but Paula insisted that all publicity was good publicity for the book.

Castle brought his daughters to the Oregon Coast Aquarium on Sunday morning. The dark, underwater tunnels provided a reprieve from the paparazzi that had begun following them since they left the hotel that morning.

Paula stayed true to her word, releasing a statement at ten o'clock. She sent Castle a link for that, telling him the paparazzi should dwindle in numbers by the afternoon.

Castle spent hours with his daughters just wandering around and exploring the vast aquarium. By the time they left at three, there weren't any paparazzi waiting outside anymore. There were a few at the hotel though, but Castle just told them "no comment" before ushering his daughters in.

All too soon, they were on their New York bound flight.

Alexis hadn't wanted to take a cab back to her dorm all alone, so they shared one to the loft. She could return in the morning.

As Castle had predicted, Kate had been annoyed by the article, especially when the story got published across different websites. However, the paparazzi knew to keep a respectful distance from the detective, but that didn't stop them from taking a few pictures of her as she left the loft for work.

On the bright side, Arriana had forgiven her mother for not being able to get off work, and was enthusiastically regaling every little thing they had done in the past two days. She talked herself into exhaustion, finally falling asleep in her mother's lap.

Castle carried Arriana back to her room, and Alexis took that as her cue to retire for the night as well. Rick and Kate bade her good night before returning to their bedroom.

Although they were both tired, they had missed each other's presence even more. Lying in each other's arms, they continued talking for a while more.

Castle filled her in on the rest of Arriana's birthday plan and Kate told him who had already RSVP-ed. There were 25 kids in total and 7 adults including Jim, Martha, Alexis, Javi, Lanie, Kevin and Jenny. The party was on Saturday evening so the adults could make it as well.

"I'll confirm catering for forty tomorrow and thirty goody bags from Lucas' side," Rick told her.

"Alright. Thanks for handling everything, Rick."

Kate turned off her bedside lamp, ready to turn in for the night. He mirrored her, turning off his light as well while telling her it wasn't a problem.

"You coming in to the precinct tomorrow or do you want to catch up on some rest?"

"The weekend with the girls was rest enough for me, I'll join you tomorrow. Besides, I might not be around for the rest of the week. I still have a few appearances and signings to do in New York – Paula wants to keep the hype up so the second leg of my book tour can hit the road running."

"Mmph, your fans can have you until the book tour's done but you're all mine after that. How many events do you have here in New York?" It was hard trying to keep track of his schedule when she was so busy at the precinct.

"I'm only ever yours, Mrs. Castle. But to answer your question, I think I have five interviews scheduled, but Paula says she might get me more after the article was published over the weekend."

That earned a disapproving grunt from Kate, so he quickly continued.

"Besides that, I also have three signings, two readings, and two dinners this week. You're still coming for the one on Friday night, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be there. It's the one for the young writers right?"

"Yup, the dinner on Tuesday's for… whales? I really should check with Paula what it's about before going there. She's all about getting me seen at events this week. Not that I don't care about whales or was it rhinos? But anyway, I kinda wish she could find something more relatable to my field, you know?"

"Oh you know Paula, all publicity is good publicity. You go do your thing, and I'll be here supporting you even if I'm buried in work. And when it's all over, we can say goodbye to the paparazzi and media until your next book comes out."

A/N: So there you go. I still feel the writing for this chapter was sub-par, but I've made so many revisions and this one seemed borderline acceptable. Con crit at this point would really help me improve the quality of my writing, so please review!