A/N: I am so sorry for taking so long to update. I had family over these past few weeks and then I was sick (still am, really), so I had no time to write. Hope you guys forgive me and that you like this one.

Disclaimer: Castle is obviously not mine.

At the end of the tunnel

Chapter 10

"Hey, Rick. Come on in."

He smiled at Olivia as she stepped to the side to let him into the apartment. His relationship with Kate's daughter had been a slow one, but he thought that the young girl was finally warming up to him if her smile was anything to go by. He touched her shoulder affectionately on his way in.

"How's it going, Liv?" He asked, looking down at her. She shrugged, closing the door behind them, before leading him to the living room.

"I've got loads of math homework today." She sighed, rolling her eyes, exactly like her mother always did. "And I really don't like math."

"Yeah? I can give you a hand if you want. How's that?" He offered, smiling when the girl nodded enthusiastically. "Great, just let me know when you get to them."

"Thanks, Rick." She said happily, tucking a lose strand of her ponytail behind her ear. "Hey, mom! Rick's here!" She called out and Rick shook his head in amusement when she promptly turned on her heels and left in the direction of her room. "I'm going to get my school stuff." She called over her shoulder.

"What was that about?"

He looked up when he heard Kate's voice, smiling when their eyes met across the room. She was leaning against the doorsill that led to the kitchen with a small smile playing on her lips. He immediately made his way to her, pulling her into his arms. They hadn't seen each other in almost a week because Kate had had back to back high profile cases that had her working excruciating hours at the precinct.

"I'm helping with her math homework." He told her, leaning down to press his lips to hers. He loved that she fit exactly right under his chin when she wasn't wearing those ridiculously high heels she loved so much. "Hi." He whispered, pulling away, and felt her answering smile when her mouth followed his and they met again in a brief, but deep kiss.

"Missed you." She murmured, placing a final peck on his lips before pulling away.

"Missed you more." He retorted and she grinned, pulling him into the kitchen by the hand. "What are you making?" He asked, leaning against the counter as he watched her check whatever it was that she was cooking. "Smells great."

"Chicken casserole. It's my grandma's special recipe." Kate explained, turning off the stove.

"Any special occasion?" He asked curiously and she shook her head with a shrug, identical to what he had seen Olivia do just a few minutes before.

"Just… I like cooking. It's relaxing. I don't have to think a whole lot, you know?" She told him with a small smile, but he thought he could see her eyes shining with tears, something dark fleeting through it for a second. He was about to ask if she was okay, when he felt something colliding with his legs.

"Rick!"

He looked down and laughed when he realized there was a 4-year-old boy attached to his knees in a fierce hug. Leaning down, he scooped Alex up into his arms and tickled his ribs playfully.

"Hey, buddy." He lifted him up higher and blew a raspberry in his stomach, making the boy laugh loudly. "How's my favorite boy?" He asked, settling him back onto his hip.

"I'm good." Alex told him with a giggle. "Missed you." He confessed and Rick felt his heart skip a beat, a warm feeling spreading from his chest out when he looked from him to Kate. She was watching them with a small smile, biting down on her lower lip in attempt to hide it. He lifted an eyebrow at her, silently asking if this was okay, and she nodded, making her way to them.

"Missed you too, Alex. Who else is going to play with me if you're not around, right?" He said, brushing the boy's bangs from his eyes.

"Right!" The boy exclaimed and held his hand out for a high five, to which Rick quickly obliged. "I won the race at school today. It was really cool." He told him happily and Rick smiled when he relaxed into his body, resting his head on his shoulder.

"Why don't you guys go back to the living room and I'll let you know when dinner's ready?" Kate suggested when she saw Olivia walking into the kitchen with her school bag over her shoulder.

"You sure? I can help, if you want." He countered, but she shook her head with that small, pleased smile still playing on her lips.

"You'll help me more if you distract them. If you don't mind, of course." She added quickly and he shook his head. Silly woman, couldn't she tell that he was completely smitten with her kids?

"You got it. Miss Olivia and I have a date with her math homework right now, right, Liv?" He winked at the girl, who smiled with a nod. "Let me know if you need a hand here, though." He adjusted Alex in his arms and brushed a kiss on Kate's cheek.

"God, I'm so tired."

Rick smiled when Kate collapsed into his side on the couch. They had had dinner a few hours before and he had helped Olivia with her homework (which he thought had totally earned himself some awesome brownie points with the girl) and then Alex demanded his attention, to which he was more than happy to part with. It was closing in on 10pm now and Kate had finally managed to put both kids to bed for the night.

"Long day?" He asked, wrapping an arm around her to pull her closer to his side. She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, turning her body toward his in an attempt to get more comfortable.

"Try long week. This was the case from hell." She groaned when he started to gently massage her shoulder. "Oh, this feels so good, Rick." Her pleased tone only encouraged him further.

"Come here." He directed her to sit between his legs as he leaned back against the arm of the couch, giving him better access to her back. "Better?" He asked quietly when he started massaging her with both hands.

Her answering groan made him take a deep breath in order to not pounce on her then and there. They had been skirting the issue for a while and he understood that she wanted to take things slowly because of how bad her divorce process was at the moment, but at times like these, when he could hear her moaning in pleasure because of his touch, it made things harder for him. Literally.

He worked on loosening the knots on her back with his hands for a few minutes until she was heavily leaning back against him, completely relaxed. He sighed, trying to think of nonsexual things, and pulled her back to him, wrapping his arms around her waist, against his better judgment. Having her so close only made it more difficult for him to hold onto his self- control.

Kate sighed and covered his hand with hers, entwining their fingers together, before turning her head to place a kiss to his neck, making him shiver. He felt her grinning against his skin as she pressed another kiss, sucking lightly on it. He tightened his hold on her – as a warning or as an encouragement, he wasn't quite sure – and felt her turn around in his arms.

"Thank you." She whispered, tugging on his earlobe with her teeth, before soothing it with her tongue.

"For what?" He asked, breathless, his hands travelling to her hips when she turned around fully in his arms and straddled his legs.

"Just… everything. Being here." She told him, trailing down kisses from his ear to his jaw. "I can't even begin to tell you how much it means to me."

"Right back at you, babe." He told her with a soft smile, cradling her cheek in his palm when she pulled away to look at him. Her answering smile encouraged him to close the distance and fuse his mouth to hers, tongues immediately clashing in a fierce battle for domination. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he let his hands roam her body, groaning when she pressed her hips against his. "God, you're driving me crazy, Kate." He said breathlessly, tightening his hold on her so her body was pressed tightly against his.

"Right back at you, babe." She was teasing, he knew, but the sultry tone in her voice gave her away, as she latched on to his neck again, making yet another shiver run deliciously through him. "But we should probably take this to my room."

"Right, right. Don't want to get caught by the kids." He mumbled and sighed heavily, resting his forehead on hers for a moment in order to catch his breath. She stood up and he watched as she offered him a hand, her hair tousled and lips swollen from his ministrations. He took her hand and stood up, immediately tugging on it to pull her back into his arms. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he touched her cheek with his free hand, making her look up at him. "Hey, are you sure you want this?" He asked quietly and she leaned into his touch, pressing her lips to his palm for a moment.

"I think we've waited long enough." She replied, wrapping her arms around his neck again, her fingers playing gently with his hair. "I want you. So bad, Rick." She leaned in and captured his lower lip with hers, sucking on it. He groaned against her mouth and deepened the kiss for a moment, pressing her body fully against his.

"What about the kids?" He pulled away slightly and felt her sigh. "They don't know about us yet, right?" He didn't want to make things uncomfortable for her or her children when he did the walk of shame in the morning.

"Olivia knows."

"She does?" He asked surprised and she chuckled, nodding. "How? When?"

"She asked me if you were my boyfriend the other day. Because she saw us kissing that day at your place."

"What'd you tell her?"

Kate sighed again and ran her fingers through his hair, gently massaging his scalp.

"I said that we care about each other a lot and that we were dating, kind of." She explained and he nodded, slipping his hand underneath her sweater again, his palm meeting her warm skin. "Cause we never really talked about this, so I wasn't really sure what I should say." She added quickly, fumbling with her words, and he grinned, leaning in to catch her mouth in a deep kiss.

"I don't care about labels, Kate. I love you." He told her in a fierce whisper. "That's more than enough definition of what we have for me. I'm in love with you and I'm not going anywhere."

"I think that's more than enough for me too." She told him with a happy smile. "And I love you. So much, Rick." She assured him and pulled him down for another deep kiss that made his head spin. "Come on." She kissed him once more, making him growl against her mouth when she pressed her hips against his in a deliciously excruciating dance. She pulled away after a minute, taking him by the hand and leading him to her bedroom.

Sunlight filtered in through the open curtains in her bedroom and Kate covered her eyes with a hand, rolling to her side to burrow her face into Rick's neck. With a sigh, she stretched her body lazily, feeling a bit sore in places she hadn't been sore in a really long time. Smiling contently, she pressed a kiss to his skin, feeling his arm tighten around her, even in his sleep.

He had been so attentive the night before, so perfect, catering to her every need. They were so in synch that at times it felt that he was reading her mind or even knowing what she wanted before even she did. She felt her skin tingle when she remembered all the amazing things he had done to her, how hard it had been to keep it down so they wouldn't wake up the kids.

She loved him. She really, really loved him, she thought with a happy grin.

Bracing herself to face the sunlight, she waited until her eyes adjusted to it and reached out to get her phone to check the time. Unlocking it, she groaned when she saw it was barely 7am and cursed her inability to sleep in. Then she checked the date.

It was May 25th.

Rick's book launch party was tonight. And her mom would be celebrating her sixtieth birthday today, had she not been robbed of her life that terrible night thirteen years ago. Sighing, Kate put her phone back on the nightstand and closed her eyes, feeling the sting of tears already trying to make their way out. In the whirlwind that her life had been in these past few weeks, she had completely forgotten about her mom's birthday and now she felt so incredibly guilty for it. She knew it was silly, that her mother would have understood if she had been alive, but it still hurt. And today, when all those happy memories of past birthdays assaulted her mind, it hurt even worse.

Because it didn't matter that thirteen years had passed. She still missed her mom and wished with all her heart that she could still be here; that she could've met Alex and Olivia, that she could tell her what the hell she was supposed to do now that Jake was being a selfish son of a bitch.

God, she just wanted her mom.

Taking a deep breath, she blinked the tears away, willing them to disappear completely when she felt Rick stir behind her. She stayed on her side, knowing he would seek her out like he had during the night before. Sure enough, she soon felt his arm scoot over her stomach as he nuzzled her neck, placing butterfly kisses on her skin.

"Morning." He mumbled against her neck, kissing it sleepily. She turned around in his arms and smiled when he grinned groggily at her, his hair sticking up in every direction.

"Morning, babe." She said, kissing his lips softly. "It's early."

"Time is it?" he asked with a yawn, making her do the same.

"A little after seven." She told him and he nodded, kissing her cheek as his arms pulled her closer. "Want to sleep some more?"

"Mhmm." He sighed and opened his eyes again when she touched his cheek. "You working today?"

"On call." She explained, burrowing her face into his neck again. It had fast become her favorite position to sleep in.

"Then let's sleep some more." He said, running his hand lazily up and down her back. "Cause someone didn't let me sleep much last night." He teased and she laughed, pinching his side playfully.

"I didn't hear you complaining, Mr. Castle." She pulled away to look at him with a smirk. He shrugged.

"I wouldn't object to not sleeping again, you know." He suggested, wiggling his eyebrows at her, making her laugh.

"Well, in that case…" She promptly closed the distance between them with a kiss and rolled him onto his back, so she could straddle him. "Let's do something a little more productive."

"Are we staying over at Grandpa's, mommy?" Alex asked from the backseat.

It was late afternoon and she was supposed to be at the launch party at 7. Rick had left a little after lunch today and things had gone surprisingly well with the kids. Olivia didn't ask any questions, but from the way she was acting towards Rick lately, Kate could tell that her daughter was finally accepting him and even liked to spend time with him. She had loved the way Rick had helped her with her homework last night and she had told him so this morning when they were having breakfast. Olivia had even asked him if he wanted to watch a movie with her while they waited for their lunch to get there.

Alex had been over the moon that Rick had stayed over. Kate was amazed at how taken her son was with him and how it seemed completely mutual as Rick went out of his way to play with the 4-year-old. After lunch, Rick had kissed her goodbye at the door – out of the kids' sight, of course – and they had agreed to meet later tonight at the party.

"Yeah, baby bear." She told him through the rearview mirror. "And I'll come pick you guys up tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Okay." She turned her attention back to traffic, but was startled after a few minutes by her son's voice again. "When is Rick coming home again, mommy? I miss him."

"You just saw him, Alex." She smiled at him quickly and turned onto her father's block.

"I still miss him." He said with a shrug. "Livvie does too." He added after a moment and Kate looked at her daughter through the mirror again.

"I like him." Olivia says with a shrug, making Kate smile.

"Alright. You guys are probably doing something with daddy tomorrow, but I'll talk to Rick so we can all get together soon. How's that?" She suggests after parking the car in front of her dad's building.

"Yay!" Alex exclaimed and Olivia giggled at her brother's antics, rolling her eyes.

"Come on, you two. Let's go see grandpa."

Locking the car behind them, she took her kids' hands and led them through the building's entrance, greeting Casper, the doorman, on the way in. They waited patiently for the elevator and Kate let Alex push the button for the 6th floor. When the door opened, Alex ran ahead, knocking on her dad's door excitedly. Kate shook her head and scooped her son up in her arms, fishing her keys out of her pocket and inserting it in the lock.

"Dad?" She called out, setting Alex down. "Dad, we're here." She called again, but there was still no answer. Thinking her father might be taking a nap, she started to make her way to his room to check on him, but Olivia's voice interrupted her. "What is it, Liv?" She asked, making a detour to the living room, where Alex and Olivia had run off to.

"Mom, Grandpa won't wake up!" Her daughter ran to her, scared.

"What do you mean, he won't wake up? Where is he?"

"On the couch. You've got to wake him up, mom." Olivia pleaded, her eyes already shining with tears.

With her heart heavy with dread, Kate rounded the couch to find her father apparently sleeping. It would seem normal, like he was just taking a nap.

Except for the empty vodka bottle on the floor.

A/N: Thoughts?