Chapter 14

Kate woke up the next morning to a very loud snoring man. She flipped the covers down, running to the bathroom, dropping to her knees in front of the toilet. After emptying her stomach into the toilet she splashed some water on her face and headed to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

She made it to the kitchen to find a note from Lanie, thanking them for a great night and telling Kate to call her after she woke up. As she stood in front of the sink, chugging glass after glass of water, she heard the front door open. She immediately froze, not knowing where to go. She debated making a run for it, wondering if she could make it back to Castles room unnoticed, but before she knew it two red heads had made their way to the kitchen.

Kate was standing there in a pair of Ricks boxer shorts and a sleep shirt of his when she made eye contact with the older red head.

"Oh, hello dear."

"Uhhhh, goodmorning," she whispered, slightly embarrassed and feeling as if her parents had just walked in on her and her boyfriend.

"Martha, my name is Martha, I am Richards mother, and this," she said pointing down to the tiny red head to her side.

"Is Alexis," Kate smiled, bending down before her, tickling the little girls stomach,

"Hi, Kate."

"Oh the two of you have met? I assumed…." Martha stopped speaking the moment she heard footsteps behind her.

Rick was walking from his bedroom dressed in only his boxers, eyes closed, rubbing his forehead.

"Kate, babe, I need a glass of water and two aspirin."

Kate coughed, and his eyes flew open. He stumbled a bit, shocked to see the two red heads at the loft so early.

"What time is it mother?" he asked,

"Just after 9, I assumed you'd be awake already and I have a class to get to so I thought I'd go ahead and drop the munchkin off."

"You should have called,"

"I did, no answer. I assumed you were, uhhh, writing, but you were clearly sleeping off a hangover."

Rick picked Alexis up, throwing her over his hip and planting a big kiss on her cheek.

"How's my baby girl this morning?" he said, walking her over to the bar and sitting her on a stool.

"I'm hungry daddy, why is Kate here so early, and why is she wearing your clothes."

Ricks eyes flew to Kate, searching for a little help. Kate just shrugged, not knowing what to say.

"Kate forgot to bring night clothes so I let her borrow some of mine."

"Why was she staying the night?"

"ummmmm, well, Lex, she is my friend and she needed a place to stay."

Kate let out a giggle, covering her mouth with her hand to try and suppress it. She pointed to his bedroom, and made her way back in to get changed.

"Why couldn't she just stay at her own house?"

"Lex, that's not really your business, that's grown up stuff, you shouldn't be worrying about grown up stuff."

Alexis gave her gram a look, wondering if she might be able to give her something, but the woman just threw her arms up, "Hey, I don't know any more than you do kid. I am an innocent bystander." She gave Alexis a kiss on the cheek, and picker her purse up off the counter, "I gotta run, I'll see you two later."

As soon as the door shut behind Martha, Kate came out of Castles room, fully dressed in the clothes she had worn over the night before. She made her way back to the kitchen.

"Hey, Rick, I'm gonna go…" She said, avoiding eye contact with Alexis.

Rick walked over to her, grabbing her waist and pulling her close.

"Don't be silly, stay for breakfast." He said, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"No, I shouldn't, I don't want to…."

"Don't want to what? It's okay Kate, she's already seen you here, if you leave now she will only ask a million more questions. You might as well be here to help answer them."

She nodded, "If you want me here,"

"I do, now come on. Have a seat next to the princess and I'll make pancakes."

Kate took a seat next to Alexis at the bar. Alexis was eyeing her up and down, like she was searching for some type of answer.

"Are you my daddy's girlfriend?"

"uhhh," Kate looked to Rick for help.

"Yes, Alexis, she is my girlfriend, now stop asking so many questions. I already told you that you shouldn't be worrying about adult things."

"Well, if she is dating my daddy I should know."

Kate's eyes snapped back and forth between the two. She was confused, was this really happening right now? Rick had called her his girlfriend last night and she told him they should talk about it sober. Well, they were sober now, was this them talking about it?

"You're right pumpkin, I should have told you before. Kate and I are seeing each other again, is that okay?" he was asking permission from his four year old. Kate didn't know if it was cute, or annoying. Who asks a four year old for permission for anything.

"I like Kate, so it's okay."

Rick gave Kate a wink, acknowledging that they had the all clear.

Rick made pancakes and eggs, and Alexis cleared her whole plate in a hurry.

"Whoa, did gram forget to feed you?"

Alexis let out a sharp giggle, eyes widening, "im was just really hungry, can I go play?"

Rick stood up, grabbing his daughter from the barstool that she was sitting on, "Of course, but remember, you get a toy out, you put it back up."

Alexis nodded, and hurried off towards the stairs.

"I have never been a kid person, but she is the most precious thing ever." Kate said, watching Alexis tiny legs climb the stairs.

"She is trouble, that's what she is. She is too smart for her own good."

Kate turned back towards Rick, who was sitting right next to her. She leaned over giving him a peck on the cheek and sliding her hand up and down his thigh.

"You feeling okay this morning stud?"

"If by feeling okay you mean I want to lay in bed all day with my girlfriend, cuddled up watching movies."

"There's that word again, girlfriend." She sighed, not knowing how to properly approach the situation. She wanted to be his girlfriend, but she also thought that maybe it was something that they should talk about.

"Well, what are you if you aren't my girlfriend? He asked, almost annoyed that she was even making this into a big deal.

"First of all, calm down," grabbing his hand, bringing it to rest on her lap intertwined with her own, "I don't mind you calling me your girlfriend but I think that its appropriate for us to discuss this. We have only been seeing each other for a few weeks, I just want to make sure that you're ready for this…. I mean, what I'm trying to say is that I don't want you to feel pressured into putting a title on this."

"A title? Kate, really. I think we are both old enough to agree that when two people are seeing one another exclusively that they are dating? Is that wrong of me to assume? "

"Of course not. You are the only man I want, and I'm fine with us being exclusive, and I'm fine with being your girlfriend. This is just all so confusing to me, because I feel like I don't deserve this from you yet, I feel like I still need to prove myself to you."

"Kate, stop it, we have already talked about this. I don't want to talk about the past anymore, and every time you bring it up my blood pressure rises. Nobody wants to think about another man touching his girlfriend, so for the last time, seriously, drop it. I'm not holding it over your head, and you shouldn't be holding it over your own head."

His voice was raised, and a little agitated. The last thing she wanted was for him to be mad at her, but she was struggling with the guilt of what she had done. She didn't know how to move past it, and every time Castle tried to move past it, Kate would bring it up in some way. She knew that she had to leave it in the past, move forward from her mistakes, but she didn't know how to.

"I know you aren't holding it over my head, and believe me I wish I could let it go, but I feel so much guilt about it. I feel undeserving of everything you do for me, or say to me. I think I should probably talk to me therapist about it, maybe he can help me move past it."

"You're seeing a therapist? Not to pry, and you don't have to answer, but is everything okay?"

The look of concern over took his look of annoyance.

"Everything's fine, I started seeing him after everything happened with Josh and you. There were days that I wouldn't leave my bed, and my parents were getting a little concerned. Our sessions were always about you, and dealing with what had happened. He is the one that encouraged me to reach out to you, and it worked. We are together now and happy, right?"

He leaned over, placing a hard kiss on her lips, wrapping his hand around the back of her neck, deepening the kiss into a full make out.

Breaking apart, both gasping for air, "I am so happy, babe." He said, rubbing his thumb over her swollen bottom lip.

"me too" she whispered, eyes closed soaking in the moment.

Rick insisted that Kate spend the day with him. She wanted to go home and shower and change into her own clothes, but he refused to let her leave. Throwing out his bottom lip every time she suggested she leave. She finally gave up, compromising on staying until the evening but insisting that she had to sleep at her own apartment tonight. She had class early in the morning and needed a good night sleep.

They ordered in pizza for lunch at Alexis' request, Kate was not opposed, finding the greasy pizza necessary to nurse her hangover. They finally wrestled the active four year old down for her nap, before crashing on the couch themselves.

"Exactly how much did we drink last night Castle?" She asked as they lay cuddled up on the couch, both on the verge of dozing off.

"Well Javi and I polished off a whole bottle of whiskey and you girls did a number on a bottle of Vodka."

"oh gosh, I think im gonna be sick just thinking about it." Kate sat up, placing her hands on Castles chest to hold herself up.

"Not handling the hangover well?" he said, yanking her body back down on top of his, where there faces were right in front of each other. He placed a soft, teasing kiss on her lips.

"I don't drink often, I hate being hungover."

"Yeah, me too. I don't get many nights off to drink anyways. So when I do, sometimes I drink too much."

She laid her body fully over his, resting her head on his chest.

"At least you're a snuggly drunk," she said, teasing him about being so touchy the night before.

"Snuggly? One day you'll see the other drunk side of me, and you wont describe it as snuggly." He was joking, but he meant what he said.

"Is that a promise?" she said, lifting up to meet his eyes, giving him a seductive grin.

"Don't look at me like that or you'll be finding out a lot sooner."

"I'm not the one who is opposed to finding out. You're the one holding out on me."

What started off as flirtatious banter was turning into a more serious conversation causing Castle to sit up right. Pulling Kate over to sit next to him.

"I just don't know if we are ready for that, Kate. It's not that I don't want to, I just want to make sure that we are heading in the same direction before we have sex. I mean you're only 19, are you sure you're ready for that."

"Yeah, I'm 19, but I'm hardly a virgin. I've been having sex since I was 16, yeah it was with one person, but it's not like I'm going to freak out on you after we have sex. In fact, I can't wait to have that bond with you. I know that it will be perfect, and you will make sure it's perfect, and that's why I'm ready. "

Castle was quiet for a moment, trying to process everything she had said.

"If you're ready, I think I'm ready, or almost ready."

"Yeah?" Kate asked, throwing her arm over his waist, curling into his side.

"Yeah…" he placed a kiss on her head. "Well, what about birth control?"

She let out a deep breath, knowing that this was a conversation that they needed to have. "I'm not on birth control. Josh and I just always used condoms."

"Right. Well would you be opposed to getting put on birth control. Just as a precaution. I mean I love Alexis but I don't want to have anymore kids until I'm married."

"I mean I'm not opposed, I use to be on it, but it made me really sick all the time, so I stopped taking it. I'm sure that I can talk to my doctor about a different kind maybe, and we can find something better for me than before."

"Okay, good, well, when the time comes I think that we should use both forms of birth control, just to be safe. So make an appointment with your doctor sometime this week."

"Okay, I'll call first thing in the morning."

I guess I don't understand why people who dislike this story continue to read it.

Everyone else, I hope you like the direction this is taking, and please review. I love hearing from you all. :)