This is a simple one shot story. I'm working my way through a Castle rewatch, and I got to the episode where Alexis moves into her dorm, and I felt like even though Castle and Beckett's relationship was still relatively new, that there was still a missed opportunity to show her being there to support him the way he was so often there to support her. This fic fixes that.

Hope you guys enjoy this one! Feel free to drop me a message if you do!

I don't own Castle…trust me, LokSat would NOT have happened if I did.

xxxxx

Beckett had made sure not to get involved in anything time-consuming that evening; she'd gone straight home after her shift was over. Sure, she knew she and Castle didn't have plans because he was moving Alexis into her dorm, but she wanted to be available if he needed a little support that night, which she had suspected he might. He had talked with her about Alexis going to college, and she knew him well enough to know his little girl moving out into a dorm was hitting him harder than he was letting on.

He'd been her emotional support more times than she could count, and she wanted to be that for him now; though admittedly, she was going to be less pushy about it than he normally was. Or at least, she planned to be. She waited until she figured he'd at least be back at his loft before sending him a text to try to see how he was feeling.

You okay?

It was a simple text, but it would be enough for her to be able to gage where he fell on a scale of sad puppy to complete breakdown after dropping his daughter off.

No.

She received the text back quickly, and it was pretty much what she'd expected…definitely more than sad puppy. She'd known he wasn't going to be okay, no matter how much he insisted he was. She waited several minutes to see if he was going to send her another message, maybe ask her to come over, or ask if he could come to her apartment. When he didn't, she sighed and stood. Apparently, she was going to have to be a little pushy herself.

xxxxx

She knocked on the door to his loft, her overnight bag in one hand. She figured she wouldn't be back at her apartment that night, and it might be rough for her to leave him early enough to get back to her place to get ready for work in the morning, and she couldn't remember if she'd accidentally, on purpose left anything suitable to wear to work at his place or not.

"Katherine!" Martha greeted her when she opened the door with a smile.

"Hey Martha," she returned the other woman's smile with an almost shy one of her own. She was still getting used to the fact his mother knew about them being together. "How's he doing?"

Martha stepped aside so Kate could come in, closing the door behind her. "You know, Richard…he's upset but trying not to be upset for my sake, or for Alexis."

Kate nodded with an understanding smile. "Where is he?"

"Brooding in his office. Perhaps you'll have better results than I did," she gestured back through the loft to his office.

Nodding again, Kate made the familiar walk through his apartment back toward his office. What she saw made her heart break for him. He was sitting at his desk, a mostly empty glass of Scotch on his desk as he caressed a picture of what she assumed was him and Alexis so carefully, like he was afraid he would break it. She placed her overnight bag on the couch in the room as she silently made her way over to his desk. As she got closer, she could tell he'd been crying, at least a little. "Hey…" she said softly, her fingers lightly caressing his neck before feathering through his hair soothingly.

He didn't look at her yet, but his arm moved around her waist to pull her a little closer from his position in his chair. "My little girl is all grown up," he said softly, his voice breaking just a little.

Her heart broke for him even more. "Yeah, she is," she answered honestly. She turned his chair slightly then so he was facing her a little more. Stepping out of his embrace for a moment, she squatted down so that she could meet his eyes, her hands resting lightly on his thighs. "But that doesn't mean she doesn't still need her dad. Alexis is smart…and you've done a great job with her. Now it's time to let her spread her wings."

His eyes met hers then. "And what if she falls?"

"Then you'll be there to catch her," she answered with a smile. "I promise you…a girl always needs her dad, no matter how grown up she thinks she is." She gave his thighs a gentle squeeze before standing then and hugging him to her abdomen as he remained in his chair.

After a moment, he wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face in her shirt. "Thanks for coming over…I know I'm not going to be the best company tonight."

She smiled slightly, her fingers soothingly stroking through his hair as she held him. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be tonight. I don't want to just be around when you're good company, you know; besides, you've been around me plenty of times when I've been miserable company," she pointed out, gently lifting his head so he'd see her smile.

He managed a small one for her. "It's true…you were pretty miserable company when I had to pull you out of your bathtub, naked…despite the fact I was saving your life…"

She laughed softly, because of course that's the moment he would immediately go back to. She would let him have it this evening, though, if that's what he needed to smile. Leaning down, she placed a soft kiss on his forehead. "Come on, I'll make you some dinner."

It took another moment, but he finally set the picture back on his desk and stood. He pulled her into his arms in a tight hug, which she returned just as tightly, trying to give him whatever strength and comfort she could tonight.

She waited for him to be the one to end the hug, willing to let him hold onto her as long as he needed. When he finally did release her, she placed a soft kiss to his lips before taking his hand and leading him back into the kitchen. She guided him to a stool at the kitchen island and had him sit, though she highly doubted he would stay there.

As she suspected, he didn't sit still for long. She had only just opened the refrigerator door to check out what he had that she could use to make for dinner when she felt his hands on her hips, his chin resting on her shoulder as he peered inside as well. Gently nudging his head with her own, she found what she needed and grabbed it, before turning around and handing part of the items off to him so she could finish grabbing everything else.

Martha must have heard them because a few minutes later she had taken a seat at the kitchen island after pouring 3 glasses of wine. "Well, Katherine, you obviously have the magic touch with Richard…I'll need to remember that for emergencies."

Kate nearly choked on her drink of wine at Martha's words. She was still a little self-conscious of being with him around his family. "Excuse me?" she stumbled over her words.

"I just mean that I tried since dropping Alexis off to cheer him up, and all I got was his brooding writer bit. Not even 20 minutes alone with you, and he's at least not brooding anymore."

"Yeah, well, I just pointed out that it doesn't matter how grown up a girl gets, she's always going to need her dad," she smiled at him.

Castle returned her smile and dropped a soft kiss to her lips, causing Kate to both blush and take a large drink of her wine. She was going to need more alcohol to loosen up if he was going to want to keep touching her in front of his mother like that.

Kate didn't stop him, though. As they made dinner, well mostly she made dinner, Castle couldn't stop touching her in some way, whether it was pressing himself against her from behind, dropping soft kisses to her lips, or keeping her close with a hand on her hip. It was more PDA than she would have normally allowed in front of his mother at this stage in their relationship, but considering he'd had a very rough day, she allowed him to use her as a distraction. Oddly enough, after a little while she got used to it; she wasn't sure if it was the wine loosening her up or the fact that it just seemed…natural.

xxxxx

Later that night, Kate came out of the bathroom after getting ready for bed. She finished rubbing lotion on her hands and arms before sliding into bed next to him. She didn't even have time to get settled before he pulled her close and kissed her deeply. "Mmm…someone is feeling better," she looked up at him with a grin.

He met her smile and kissed her again. "Yeah. Thanks for being here for me tonight."

She smiled against his lips. "Always," she murmured, returning his kiss. And this time when he kissed her, he wasn't using it as a way to distract himself.