A/N: I'm sorry to those who have picked holes in my story that there are parts you don't like, but if it bothers you that much then you don't have to carry on reading :) thank you soooo much to those of you who have left me a lovely review so far, you're all kinds of awesome!

At her words, Castle looked up at the matching faces in front of him. Alexis was right, on closer inspection, Charlie's eyes showed amusement while Kate, well her face was breaking into that smile she only gave him when she really appreciated him. Like when she had found him and his mother after they'd been taken hostage at the bank. Yeah, that was his Kate all right, no one else had ever looked at him like the way she was looking at him now.

"Hey," Castle whispered, smiling back at Kate.

"Hi," she replied shyly.

Shy? Kate Beckett was not shy. Castle studied her for moment, before looking to Charlie. Or Kate. Oh god he hated this. He thought he knew Kate Beckett from a mile away but now he was starting to doubt his own genius, not something he did very often. What if they'd planned this, the matching outfits, the similar hair..were they trying to trick him? If they were, he wasn't too sure how he could figure it out. He could ask something only Kate would know, but he wouldn't put it past them to have planned for that, no, it had be something she wouldn't have thought of..

It came to him suddenly - cherries. Kate's shampoo always smelt like cherries and he was pretty sure there wasn't much chance of Charlie having a cherry scented shampoo too.

"Charlie, lovely to see you again!" Castle said, moving to give Charlie a hug to say hello. As she said hi back and stepped into his arms, he took a discreet sniff - coconut, not cherries, definitely not Kate. So, she really had been shy, that was interesting to say the least.

"So Castle, you convinced we're who we say we are?" Kate asked, a grin appearing on her face. She had known he'd be suspicious but it was all part of the fun and she hadn't missed the way he had smelt Charlie's hair to double check. She was impressed actually, she wouldn't have thought that would be his way of determining their identities.

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked, looking and sounding confused. "He figured it out a few minutes ago.."

"Mm, course he did," Kate replied with another grin. "Anyway," she said, walking over to the kitchen. "We brought you coffee. Alexis, it is that chocolatey one you like, right?"

"Uh yeah, it is. Thanks, Detective Beckett," Alexis smiled. She was used to her dad and Kate having coffee together so much that they knew each other's orders, but she thought she'd only mentioned her favourite to the detective once, but she'd remembered.

Castle watched Kate in awe, he was impressed at her memory of Alexis' favourite coffee and so pleased that she was making an effort, it told him all he needed to know about Kate's feelings for him.

"Okay, so what are we having to eat?" Castle asked, heading into the kitchen to start preparing their food. "Pancakes or waffles, or do you want eggs and bacon?"

Kate answered "pancakes" at the same time Charlie and Alexis said "waffles".

Castle laughed, he should have known it wouldn't be a unanimous decision, but what did surprise him was that Kate and Charlie had opted for different choices. "Okay, well how about I do pancakes and waffles then?" He suggested, "and I'll do fruit too, gotta get our five a day in," he said with a wink.

"Sounds good, here let me help," Kate said, "I'm sure Alexis and Charlie can find enough to talk about while we make breakfast?"

"Yes!" Charlie replied enthusiastically, "come on Alexis, I need the gossip on my sister!"

Kate shook her head and rolled her eyes, she was probably going to regret that decision, Charlie had a knack of getting out information from people that they weren't even convinced they should be giving up. Hmm, maybe the NYPD should hire her, it might make solving some of their cases a little easier.

"I don't even want to know what they're talking about," Castle said ten minutes later. Alexis and Charlie were engrossed in conversation, the two of them seemed to be getting along like a house on fire.

"Oh god, don't," Kate groaned, "I'm sure Charlie is over there embarrassing me!"

"Well then I think I need to have more chats with her, I could do with some more ammunition against you," he teased.

"Oh I think you manage to annoy me just enough without knowing all of my secrets!"

"Mm, I wish," he replied, "right, that's breakfast cooked." He slid the rest of the pancakes onto a plate as Kate was finishing the fruit. "It's ready you two," he called to Alexis and Charlie.

"Wow you two, this looks great!" Alexis said, she knew her dad was a great cook but she didn't know Kate was so good too.

"It does indeed," Charlie agreed. "Kate, did you add-"

"Of course I did, he didn't even notice," Kate replied with a wink.

Castle looked from one to the other. He wasn't she he liked this, someone else knowing Kate as well as he did. Or better, even. "What did I miss?"

"Oh nothing," Charlie said lightly, helping herself to waffles and strawberries.

"Just a little secret ingredient our mom used to add to the pancakes," Kate told him as she poured maple syrup onto her pancakes.

"Hmm, I don't think I like this, you two ganging up on me like this," he pouted and the other three laughed at him.

"Well I guess you could even include Alexis in that too.." Charlie said.

Castle looked to Alexis who shrugged. "Charlie told me the secret ingredient." Great, so now he had his daughter, his almost-but-not-quite-girlfriend and her twin sister ganging up on him. All he needed now was his mother to join them and he'd never win an argument ever again.

"We are so having a baby boy first," he grumbled, so quietly that Alexis and Charlie didn't hear him from the other side of the table but given that Kate's head snapped to face him so fast, he figured she had heard him.

"What did you just say?" Kate hissed under her breath. Luckily, Alexis and Charlie were in conversation about how they only really had pancakes on shrove Tuesday in England.

"I uh, I was just about to tell you about this new toy.." Brilliant Castle, of course she was going to believe that.

"That's not what you-"

Castle counted his lucky stars that Charlie chose that time to interrupt. "Hey Kate, did I ever tell you.."

Castle didn't even pay attention to what Charlie was talking about right now, he was too busy berating himself for his slip up. The words had just come out before he even had a chance to think about what it was he was saying, he was just thankful that he'd only said it loud enough for Kate to hear, the last thing he needed was Alexis and Charlie hearing too. It wasn't that he didn't mean it, oh god no, a baby with Kate would be perfect but he didn't think she was quite ready to hear about how much he'd planned their future together, he didn't want to scare her away before they'd even had a chance to start anything.

"Here, I'll give you a hand," Kate said to Alexis as she began cleaning the table. "Let your dad and Charlie get to know each other a little better." Kate needed time to process what he'd said by accident - and the fact that it had caused excited fluttering in her belly, that was more worrying.

Kate and Alexis cleaned the dishes, making conversation as they went and Castle sat with Charlie on the couch.

"So, you over the jet lag yet?" Castle asked.

"Yeah, getting there. I slept most of the night last night so hopefully I'm getting back into some sort of a routine. But don't think I'm letting you off that easily." Castle looked worried. "What are your intentions towards my sister?" She asked, seriousness laced in her voice.

"I..I'm, I- ah.." He broke off when Charlie couldn't contain her laughter anymore.

"Oh god, you should see your face!" She giggled. Castle huffed in a mixture of annoyance and relief. "But in all seriousness, what is the deal with you and her?"

"You mean you haven't asked her?"

"Of course I have! I just wanted to know what your version is."

"And what did she say?" Castle asked. He was intrigued as to what Charlie had been told, Kate was someone who closely guarded her feelings and he wondered if that transpired to her relationship with her sister too.

"Oh no, I'm not telling you that. You wanna know how she feels then you can ask her yourself," Charlie replied with a smirk. She could tell Kate and Castle should be together but she wasn't getting in the middle of it. She knew her sister and she wasn't going to tell Castle what she had been told, that was up to Kate to reveal when she was ready. Whenever the hell that was.

"Mm, thought that might be your answer." But what Charlie had told him was telling him something - Kate had told Charlie how she felt and hopefully that meant she was close to telling him too. Glancing to the kitchen, Castle saw that Kate and Alexis were still involved in conversation and not laying attention to him and Charlie. "I love her," he said simply. "I love her so much it hurts."

Charlie hadn't been expecting that. She was pretty sure Castle was in love with her sister but she didn't think he'd actually come straight out and say it. "So why haven't you told her?" She asked. She knew he had of course, when Kate was shot, but she wanted to see his reaction.

"I did, when she was shot. But she doesn't remember and I never found the right time to tell her after that."

Wait, what? She didn't remember? Well quite clearly she did because she had told Charlie, so why was she lying to Castle about what she remembered?

"Wow, I never knew that could be so much fun!" Charlie panted three hours later, collapsing onto the sofa.

"I didn't either until Castle convinced me to do it one afternoon," Kate replied. She had enjoyed it just as much today as she had the first time she had been dragged into it.

"Dad and I played laser tag all the time when I was growing up," Alexis said, "it's nice to have others to play it with, dad can't cheat that way."

"I do not cheat!" Castle exclaimed. Alexis and Kate shot him identical looks. "Okay, maybe I do sometimes but I don't like losing!"

"Awe Castle, you feeling ganged up on?" Kate teased and she laughed when Castle pouted.

"What about your grandmother, did she never play it with you?" Charlie asked.

Kate, Alexis and Castle all shared a look before simultaneously bursting into laughter.

"What?" Charlie asked, she wasn't sure what she had said that was so funny.

"Er, when you meet Martha you'll understand," Kate told her, still laughing at the thought of Martha playing laser tag.

"Oh god," Castle said, "can you imagine my mother playing laser tag?" That was something that would never happen which was a shame, because it was sure to be highly amusing.

"Okay okay, well when I meet her I'm sure I'll be able to see what it is you all know," Charlie said and once again she realised just how much a part of their family Kate had become. "Oh, by the way Castle, reckon you could introduce me to Patterson?" She asked with a smile.

Castle looked to Kate in mock horror. "Is she for real?" He hissed, "Jesus Kate, I thought good taste would run in the family!"

Kate laughed at his reaction. "'Fraid so Castle, she doesn't read that genre unless it's Patterson."

"I'm outraged!" Castle exclaimed and the three women laughed at him. "Wait, but you read Nikki Heat?"

Charlie added more fuel to the fire. "I was bored," she shrugged. "Maybe it was the character and not the writer I enjoyed."

Kate and Alexis were visibly trying not to laugh at Castle's current state. It wasn't very often they came across someone who didn't fawn over him as a writer, it was actually quite nice to see.

"I..what..why.." Castle stuttered and Alexis and Kate couldn't keep their laughter in any longer.

"Oh god Castle, you should see your face!" Kate said.

"Well, Nikki Heat wouldn't exist without me!"

"Or me," Kate reminded him. "Though I'm sure you could have found someone else at the CIA to add to your club," she teased, reminding him of the time they'd talked about him shadowing Sophia Turner and basing Clara Strike on her.

"Very clever my dear detective, but in case you'd forgotten, Clara Strike was just a companion for Derrick Storm - Nikki Heat has her own series."

"Mm, I guess I'll let you have that one!" Kate conceded.

They whiled the rest of the afternoon away with chit chat, Charlie telling tales of her time abroad and Alexis filling them in on her final weeks as a senior in high school. Charlie was impressed to find out that Alexis was planning on heading to Colombia in the fall and they discussed their own college days, letting Alexis in on what she had to look forward too.

Around 4, Kate and Charlie decided to leave Castle and Alexis alone for a bit, deciding to walk around Central Park - Charlie hadn't been there in years and it was something she'd missed about home. Saying their goodbyes and thank yous for the fun they'd had, they promised to get together for dinner one day next week, planning on inviting Martha too so she could meet Charlie as well.

Heading to her car, they climbed in and Kate almost crashed when Charlie asked her a question.

"So," Charlie said, "you gonna tell me why you lied to Castle about hearing him say he loves you?"

A/N: so I've had a really crappy day and this was practically impossible to write because I feel so rubbish but I tried my best! Sorry if it's not brilliant, but your thoughts would really make me happy :)

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