A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews in the previous chapter! Here you go. Sorry for the long wait. Beta by Iris and Anika :)

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Rick wrapped up the final leg of his book tour without any major disturbances – there was that one crazy fan at one of his signings, but it wasn't anything security couldn't handle.

By the time he returned to his family in New York, winter had already slowly begun melting into spring.

They were having a slow day in the precinct, with Beckett and the boys reviewing old case files in one of the workrooms while Castle plied the detectives with coffee and entertained himself by spinning wild theories.

Castle was wrapping up a tale involving a circus-trained monkey and parrot duo pulling off the murder of a peanut cart-pusher when his phone chimed with an incoming text.

"Please tell me that's Paula hauling your ass onto another book tour because your theories are getting more outlandish by the minute," Esposito teased.

Castle shot him a mildly affronted look, miming a shot to the chest. "You wound me, Espo, and just for that, you're not getting any souvenirs from my next trip."

"C'mon, Castle, you've got to admit that your theories for the past twenty minutes left no room for plausibility. Humans I can arrest; monkeys and parrots? Not part of my job description," Beckett said.

He clucked his tongue at his wife, changing the topic instead.

"Actually, that was Mark with an update on Arriana and your papers. He says that they should be finalized within the next month or so. We'll see if you're more open to my theories once you're a Castle."

"Fat chance, bro," Esposito cut in, "You're better off roping in Honeymilk."

"Hey, what did I do?" Ryan protested, swatting at Esposito with a file. He hadn't been called Honeymilk in a very long time. Why was Espo bringing that up again?

Kate smirked as Esposito grabbed the file from Ryan, tossing that to the small pile in the middle of the large table.

Esposito began reaching for a fresh file but Ryan snatched it away triumphantly before settling back into his chair as though nothing had happened.

"And you call me childish," Castle said to Beckett, gesturing at the boys.

"Oh you are. In fact, the three of you somehow manage to age backwards and get more childish with each passing day."

Castle opened his mouth to retort, but Ryan interrupted before he could get a word in edgewise.

"Actually, Jenny and I were planning to throw a picnic this weekend. Jenny's inviting some of her friends and she told me to invite you guys as well."

"Lanie's invited too?" Esposito asked.

"Yeah, of course, the more the merrier. We have some great-" Ryan flushed as he broke off mid-sentence. Instead, he looked at Castle and Beckett and continued, "Your family's invited as well. Jenny and I would really love to have everyone there."

"Sure, we'd love to go. I'll let Alexis know," Beckett replied.

A uniformed cop knocked on the door.

"Detective Beckett? There's a package down at the front desk for you. It's been scanned and cleared, but they need you to go down and sign for it."

"Be right there," Beckett told him, standing to follow him down.

As she left the room, Castle asked the boys, "Do you guys get a lot of packages here? Don't they normally just bring it up?"

Shrugging, Ryan answered him. "Maybe it was a private courier with specific instructions? We don't get a lot of those here."

It didn't take long for Beckett to return to the homicide floor with a large package. She headed to her desk, bending over to slide it under her table. This gave Castle and the boys a very nice view of her behind.

Kate was too far away to know he was ogling her. However, Ryan and Esposito did notice what Castle was doing and peered over at Beckett as well. Realizing what his colleagues were doing, Castle hit the both of them with a file as Kate straightened up.

"That's my wife and your boss! Show some respect," Castle chastised.

The boys protested, telling him, "What? We were just wondering what caught your attention. I'm sure Beckett would love to know just how much respect you show at work."

"Show what respect?" Beckett asked from the doorway, having caught only the last part of the sentence.

"Respect for your-"

"Respect for the victims!" Castle quickly cut Esposito off mid sentence, glaring at him. When the detectives looked at him in disbelief, Castle added, "For… these cold case files. What was the package anyway?"

Beckett eyed the three of them, clearly knowing there was more to the situation than what Castle was telling her. Rolling her eyes, she took her seat. "It's a painting from the son of one of our homicide victims. He wanted to thank me for solving the case and for introducing him to a support group. He must have noticed me eyeing the painting after we solved the case."

"Oh, that's awfully nice of him. Which case was this?" Castle asked.

Picking up the file she was working on before the interruption, Kate told him, "You were on your book tour at the time. The victim was a philanthropist who was murdered by someone he helped. She had an underlying mental illness and filed for sexual harassment. No actions were taken against our victim because there was no basis for her allegations. That's when she decided to take matters into her own hands."

"You hear that, Castle? Sexual har-ASS-ment," Esposito teased, nudging Ryan as they waggled their eyebrows at Castle.

"Hey Beckett, was Castle present for that talk on appropriate workplace conduct?" Ryan piped helpfully.

"What did they say about inappropriate stari-"

Castle lunged around the table to swipe at Esposito, scrambling to cover his mouth.

Rolling her eyes, Beckett asked the boys wryly, "What, has my husband been staring at you guys in the short time I left to collect my package Castle, I told you the staring was creepy and to cut it out."

Ryan ducked to avoid Castle's other hand. "Actually-"

"Hey Kate, a word if you don't mind?" Castle quickly asked. "In private," he tacked on hurriedly when she arched an unimpressed eyebrow at him.

She got out of her chair and began making her way to the break room, Castle trailing behind her.

"I'm getting you guys back for this!" He whispered, pointing menacingly at the two male detectives as he trailed after Beckett.

Ryan and Esposito's gazes followed the couple as they crossed the bullpen. Just before they entered the break room, Castle grabbed Beckett's hand to stop her.

"I was, uh, thinking somewhere with more privacy?" he asked, gesturing at the boys with his head.

Beckett turned to glare at the boys, who quickly ducked their heads and resumed working, before pulling Castle to the corridor that led to the female changing rooms. The changing room was almost always empty, but she went inside to check that the coast was clear anyway, holding the door open for Castle once she was done.

"Kate, I-"

To his surprise, Kate shut him up by pushing him against the wall and kissing him thoroughly.

"You were staring at my ass, weren't you?" She asked him the moment they broke their kiss.

"I… How… Did you…" Castle mumbled confusedly. Did Kate really just pull him into an empty changing room to make out? Castle shook his head to clear it, but when he looked back at his wife, her cheeks were flushed and her lips were definitely pinkish around the edges.

Huh.

That really happened.

"Wait," he said suspiciously, "you did that on purpose!"

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Kate looked up smugly at her husband. "Did what? Play some mind control thing to make you ask me to bring you to somewhere with more privacy? That was all you, babe."

"No, I mean out there, earlier, at your desk. You set me up! You knew I was going to look at you so you bent over on purpose. You orchestrated everything!" he glared at her, putting his hands on his hips.

She arched her eyebrows as though to ask him "Seriously? You're complaining?"

"I didn't orchestrate the package part and the case was real. I just… took advantage of an opportunity that presented itself."

He took a step toward Kate, forcing her to take one step back in order to maintain the distance between their bodies. Castle calmly took another step forward, using the advantage of his height to look down at her as she took another step back. He advanced slowly, backing her into the opposite wall.

Kate jerked to a stop when her foot collided with the wall. Spreading her palms against the wall, she looked up at Castle while taking in deep breaths. He took a final step and closed the gap between their bodies so that they were now standing chest to chest.

He leaned forward, resting both hands on the wall, effectively caging her in.

"Rick?" His name came out as a breathy waver. Clearing her throat, she asked in a more steady voice. "What… What are you doing?"

"Nothing, just…" he paused, letting his gaze travel down before meeting her eyes once more. "…Taking advantage of an opportunity that presented itself," he echoed her earlier words.

His close proximity was getting to Kate. It felt as though the very air she breathed was imbued with his essence.

Licking her lips nervously, she told him, "We- I need to get back out there before Gates or the boys find…"

She trailed off, unable to finish her words as his gazed settled on her lips.

"Such a tease, Kate," he murmured. "You shouldn't start things that you can't finish."

"I…"

Her eyes darted to the door and back to the man in front of her. She knew that Castle was only teasing her in an attempt to get back at her for what she did to him. Even though she knew it was a ploy of his, Kate couldn't help but get riled up anyway.

Growling, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him into one of the stalls.

"Dad? Kate?"

Castle immediately pulled back from Kate. "Was that… Alexis?" They heard the door to the changing room open. Both of them froze for a split second before Castle tossed Kate's shirt at her.

"Kate? Are you in here?" This time, Alexis' voice was much clearer. She must have stepped into the changing room. Crap.

'Why is she here?' Castle mouthed to Kate, eyes wide with panic.

'I don't know!' She mouthed back furiously. Out loud, she said, "Uh, be with you in a minute, Alexis."

Smoothing down the front of her shirt, Kate looked to Castle to see if he was decently dressed.

'You go. I'll hide in here,' he mouthed. Rolling her eyes, Kate turned to go out and face her stepdaughter. Oh well, nothing to it then.

"Oh good, you're here," Alexis replied, waiting by the door. "Detective Ryan told me you and dad came down this corridor but I didn't see you guys, and there was only the supply closet and female changing room down here, so I thought I'd pop in to see if you were in here."

Alexis had been leaning against the wall so she hasn't spotted Kate yet.

"Hey, Alexis," Kate greeted.

Alexis turned to smile but froze when she took in Kate's appearance. It took a second for realization to dawn on her. When it did, her eyes widened comically as her mouth formed an 'O'.

"Did you- Is Dad- Really, Kate?!"

Kate's eyes darted to the closed door. "Alexis, keep your voice down!" Kate whispered harshly as her cheeks heated up.

"At work? Oh my God!" Alexis kept her voice down, but her eyes flashed dangerously. "Where's Dad?"

"Uh, right here, pumpkin," he greeted sheepishly, stepping out from the stall.

Yup, they had been caught red handed by Alexis.

"So, uh, what brings you to the precinct?" Kate asked. She just wanted to move on and forget this ever happened.

"I accidentally took one of Arriana's workbooks with me. I thought I'd drop it off and see if you guys were free to grab a quick lunch, but I've lost my appetite," she directed the last part at her dad.

Both adults shrank under her withering look.

Alexis' phone chimed at that moment. Looking down at the screen, her face lit up in a smile. She slid her phone back into her pocket, reaching into her bag to take out Arriana's book instead.

Facing her parents once more, Alexis forced on a disapproving frown as she handed the book over.

"C'mon, pumpkin, Kate and I weren't doing much anyway. Let's go grab some lunch," Rick tried cajoling his daughter.

He was greeted with two pairs of disapproving glares. Alexis' phone chimed with another text.

"O-kay, I'll see myself out. See you around, pumpkin," he said, making a quick exit before he got into more trouble.

As the door shut behind him, Kate looked back to Alexis. "I'm sorry you had to walk in on… that. I swear we don't normally do this at work. Are you sure you don't want to grab lunch?"

Alexis recognized an olive branch when she saw one. Shrugging at Kate, she said, "It was bound to happen. Just… I'll call ahead before I come to the precinct next time. You might want to pull your hair out of your shirt, Kate."

Reaching back, Kate tugged her long hair free from the collar and attempted to tame the brown locks.

"And lunch?"

It was Alexis' turn to redden instead.

"Actually, uhh, a friend of mine just sent me a text asking if I wanted to meet for lunch."

Kate recognized evasion when she saw it. Grinning, she asked Alexis, "And is this friend a boy?"

"It's not like that, we're just friends."

The growing blush Alexis was sporting told Kate otherwise.

"Listen, Ryan and Jenny are having a picnic this weekend and they'd love to have you there. Will you be able to make it?"

Nodding, Alexis told her, "Sure, I don't have plans this weekend."

"Maybe you could bring this friend of yours along?"

Alexis shot Kate a look.

"No offense, Kate, but if dad doesn't scare him away, three of New York's finest will definitely get the job done! Besides, I don't want to make it out to be anything more than it is."

"You mean not yet," Kate teased, heading for the doors. She held it open and let Alexis out before following behind her.

Alexis hugged her goodbye, asking, "Don't you have work to do?"

A/N: Just one chapter to go before the epilogue! ;) Don't worry, it's already with my betas, so the wait shouldn't be that long.