Castle jumped when he heard the front door of his loft shut, lost in his own thoughts as he sat at his desk, staring at a blank Word document on the screen. "Kate?" he asked. When no one answered, he listened to the footsteps coming toward his office remembering the gun Kate now kept in the top drawer of his bedside table, she liked the reassurance of having one close by. As he thought about how quickly he could get to the bedroom, he saw Alexis walk into the room. "Oh it's just you," he breathed.

"Nice to see you too, Dad," Alexis said as she sat down on his desk. "What are you writing?" She leaned over and looked at the screen then nodded. "Looks great so far."

"I actually need to talk to you, kid. I've been thinking a lot, I think it's time for me to make a change."

Alexis' eyebrows went up, worried about her father's serious demeanor. He was rarely like this, only when he was something was wrong. "Oh… ok," she said, mentally preparing herself for whatever he was about to say. "What kind of change?"

Releasing a breath, he spun his chair side to side. "Do you think you'd be able to handle being a cop's kid?"

"Well, you're already out there everyday so it wouldn't be much different but… what do you even mean? You can't be a cop! You'll get yourself killed! They'll never let you into the police academy."

"Are you done?" he asked calmly. When she nodded, breathing heavily, he continued. "I'm not thinking about becoming a cop."

"Then what are you even talking about? Why did you freak me out like that?"

"Maybe I should rephrase. How would you feel about being a cop's step-kid?"

Alexis' eyes narrowed. "What? Oh my god, you're going to ask Kate to marry you? That's amazing." She hugged her father tightly then looked at him. "You better not screw this up, Dad. She'll kill you."

"Oh, I'm well aware."

"So how are you planning to do it? Please, don't say you don't know."

Rick smiled at her. "Oh, I have a plan," he told her.

"Do I have to read it?" Kate whined as she climbed into bed next to Rick. He'd handed her a chapter of his new book but it had been a particularly long day and she just wanted to go to sleep.

"I want your opinion on it."

"Can't it wait until morning?"

He swallowed hard. She was tired and a little cranky but he didn't want to wait. He'd been waiting for days for them to get home at a proper hour but he knew that tomorrow she wouldn't read it, she was working a double and had to go in earlier than usual.

"Please?"

She sighed, looking into his light blue puppy dog eyes. It was impossible to say no to him when he looked at her like that. "Fine."

She yawned as she flipped the title page over. He sat silently, watching her as she read. "Good so far," she approved, hoping he'd let her off the hook.

"Actually, this is the part I really want your opinion on," he told her, flipping the pages, pointing out the section he wanted her to read.

She nodded as she read, mouthing the words to herself. He continued watching her, waiting for a sign that she'd gotten to the part he wanted her to read. Finally, her nodding stopped and her lips froze in the middle of a word. Her eyes scanned the rest of the page. "Wow." Next to her, he pulled something out of his bedside drawer. "Rook... proposed. Wow."

"Kate."

"I like it. It's a good twist."

"Kate, look at me."

Her eyes finally left the page, her head turning to look at him. He was sitting up, holding a diamond ring. "Um… what Rook said," he stammered, wishing he could remember what he'd written so he could recite it to her but then again she had just read it.

"Castle?" she asked, her eyes slowly lifting to his as if there was some different meaning to what she had read and the ring in his hand.

"I love you, Kate. I love you and nothing will ever change that. You're the only person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I…" His speech was cut short when her lips crashed into his. When she pulled away, he looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "So is that a yes?"

She let out a quick giggle, touching his cheek with her fingertips. "It's a yes."