Dawning Chaper I

This story is set before Secret Santa!

AN: I am back. Took me long enough, I know. Updates might come a bit slow, but I'll do my best. But you have been warned. ;-)

Thanks to my lovely Beta's.

So here we go. Let me know what you think.

XOX

She loved watching him sleep, had long accepted being the creepy one when it came to staring habits in this relationship. Though she had always assumed it would be the other way around. Figured since he had made it an Olympic discipline to observe her, could stare at her for hours while she was doing paperwork, he sure would be the one to watch her while she dreamed.

But so far she had only caught him once observing her while she was drifting in the sweet state between sleep and consciousness and in the end Kate turned out to be the one who couldn't stop studying his handsome features, the slackened lines on his face, the corner of his lips slightly turned up while he slept. He looked peaceful and happy and it soothed her after a long day which had left her exhausted and raw. Watching his steady features made her feel at peace with the world and herself.

They were facing each other, lying on their sides his right arm stretched over her hip, holding her close in his sleep, a habit she had become fond of. She loved having him close, loved his tenderness as well as his aggressiveness- and playfulness. He had coaxed her out of her shell, step by step over the past four years and she loved how he could make her laugh, how he inspired her to do ridiculous things she hadn't allowed herself to do in such a long time. With him she could be childish, sometimes even careless. And she loved that. Loved him for it.

She hadn't told him yet though. Whether she was still scared to admit it or just waiting for the right moment she wasn't quite sure anymore and he hadn't said it again either, not since that day when she had almost managed to push him away for good. It was her turn, she knew as much and she was getting there, was close to throw her last cautiousness overboard and tell him she loved him too.

"You're creepy," she heard him mumble close to her and lifted her eyes from his chest where she had started to caress the small amount of hair that covered the broad expense of his torso. Looking into his sleepy eyes, she raised one eyebrow in protest.

"I am not creepy," she replied, while Castle moved closer, his nose almost brushing hers, his grip on her hip tightening to stop any possible escape.

"You're right. You're not creepy, you're cute." He smirked.

Kate wrinkled her nose, cluing him in she didn't like being called cute either, but before she could disagree again he sealed her lips with his, silencing every word that threatened to escape her delicious mouth.

She willingly abandoned her previous thoughts and joined in, her hands reaching for his head, pulling him closer, her fingers running through his hair.

"Mmmmh," Castle hummed, before pulling away after a last lingering press of his lips against hers. "Morning."

His eyes were shining now, no longer sleepy and she grinned back at him, "Morning to you too."

She woke with a start, jerking up from her hard, icy resting place, pain shooting through her entire body. Her shoulder joints were burning, her face, her back, every bone, every muscle of her body seemed to be on fire. She tried to move only to realize that her hands were tied behind her back, her feet chained to a wall behind her and the only movement she could manage was a slight roll from side to side. And then she remembered, her physical pain fading away, replaced by an emotional one unable to bare. "Castle!" she sobbed, before she broke down, rolling herself together as much as her restraints allowed and letting the sorrow take her under.

XOX

8 days earlier

"Castle!" She called out from under the shower and he could tell by her tone she was getting impatient. Yes, it was his fault they were running late, but she hadn't really objected either when he had offered a round of morning sex, awesome morning sex that was. He grinned recalling just how enthusiastically she had joined him. Oh yeah, he loved their morning encounters when she was still a bit drowsy, sloppy. Characteristics she normally did not allow herself.

Rick Castle didn't get any further with his recollection of the amazing sex he had had with his girlfriend, when something wet hit him square in the face.

"Hey," he protested, collecting the wash cloth from his face, looking just a tad dumbfounded.

"Would you please get up?" Kate asked, standing in the door way of his en-suite bathroom, a white towel being the only thing that clad her gorgeous body, one hand at her hip, giving her that look of authority that really turned him on, while the other hand held her toothbrush, currently pointed at him.

"I have an even better idea. Why don't you come back to bed instead?" Castle challenged, wriggling his eyebrows which earned him a major eye-roll and then an exclusive look of his girlfriend's gorgeous back, before she disappeared into the bathroom again. No, he was not getting tired of calling her his girlfriend, even though he knew it annoyed her immensely.

"What are you so nervous about?" He called after her, before finally pushing the covers away and climbing out of bed.

Reappearing in the door way, Kate stared at him in disbelief, "Seriously?"

"It's just breakfast," Castle shrugged, reaching for her towel only to get his hand slapped away.

"Castle, stop it." She hissed. "It's breakfast with your daughter. It's the first time the three of us will do something together and I don't want Alexis to think we barely made it out of bed in time." Her eyes started drifting down his naked body. "Urgh, I knew I shouldn't have stayed last night." Throwing her hands up in the air in an almost comical way, she added. "I can't have this conversation with you like this," Grunting, she tried to pass him to get to the closet, where she kept some extra clothes for unplanned overnight stays.

His hand stopped her, turning her back towards him, "Hey, it's gonna be just fine." His tone was soft now, all teasing gone. "I promise. It's gonna be okay. It's not like the two of you don't know each other."

"I know, but it's not like I …," she paused, correcting herself. "We have spent any quality time with her since we got together either." She huffed. "It's different now. After all I am dating her father."

It moved him, meant more than she could ever imagine how much she cared for his daughter's feelings in all of this. How much Kate wanted and probably needed Alexis to approve of her, of them.

Sighing Castle pulled her close and wrapping his arms around Kate he said, "Look, she wants me to be happy and she knows you make me happy, so the two of you will be just fine."

Kate's arms sneaked further around him, hugging him closer, "Thank you."

Leaning down, Castle placed a gentle kiss on her lips, "You're welcome."

"And you are sweet, but I swear if you don't get your cute behind under the shower right now," Kate smirked, before she smacked him on his naked backside.

"Beckett," he yelped in surprise, catching her evil grin, while she walked past him and into his closet. He heard her laugh and couldn't help but grin when he finally made his way into his bathroom.

XOX

This was not going well. As a matter of fact this was a disaster. Castle looked from his daughter to his girlfriend and back, both women intently studying the plates in front of them, avoiding eye contact. When did it get so complicated? He wondered. He knew Alexis had always respected Beckett, even asked for her advice in the past, was the circumstance that his relationship with Kate had changed really the reason for this drift? It was hard for him to imagine it was, but when Kate had been the one to greet Alexis at the door he had seen something change in his daughter. She had been surprised, he was sure about that, but he couldn't figure out why. She knew Beckett would be here, had agreed to have breakfast with them when he had asked her the other night. But when she arrived half an hour early and saw Kate her whole attitude had gone cold.

"How are classes?" Castle suddenly asked into the uncomfortable silence that threatened to swallow him and saw Alexis head shot up, glancing quickly at Kate before her eyes met her father's.

"Good," was all she offered with a shrug before returning her attention back to her scrambled eggs.

Castle was about to add something, when he saw Kate putting her fork down, redirecting her attention from her pancakes to his daughter.

"Which classes did you pick?" She asked, giving Castle a quick sideway glance to shut him up because he had told her just a week ago, but she knew an opening when she saw one and this was maybe the best she would get all morning to start a conversation with her boyfriend's daughter.

Alexis looked up, surprise showing on her face, "Uhm, didn't Dad tell you?" She asked hesitantly and slightly irritated, glancing at her father.

Kate flinched, that was not what she had been aiming for.

"Oh he did, but he also said you weren't certain and wanted to try some different things." Kate added quickly.

Alexis looked back down on her plate, shoving a piece of bacon from one side to the other before she finally answered, "Well, I signed up for some orientation classes for different subjects to see what would be suitable."

Not once did she look at Kate while she more or less mumbled her response into her eggs. Kate looked at Castle, feeling helpless. She really tried, but she had no idea what she had done to deserve Alexis giving her the cold shoulder. Castle sighed, deciding to take actions. Enough was enough.

Since Alexis had arrived an hour ago she had done her best to ignore Kate and simply pretended she wasn't there unless it was absolutely necessary. He had thought she was okay with the new situation. Believed his daughter was happy for him. Hadn't he asked her when she moved into her dorm? And hadn't she brushed off his concern, by telling him it wasn't about Beckett?

Placing his napkin next to his plate, Castle fixed his eyes on his daughter.

"Alexis, what's going on?" His voice was firm, making clear he wasn't amused.

Alexis' eyes met her father's and he could see something like panic in them.

"Nothing," she quickly replied, fiddling nervously with the table cloth.

"Oh I am sure there must be an explanation for your behaviour towards Kate," Castle pressed. "Because this is not like you."

"Castle," Beckett hissed shocked. This was certainly not a conversation she wanted to have right now or even thought she should be part of.

"No, Kate." He looked at her, determined, before returning his focus back to his daughter. "If there's a problem I'd rather we address it right now, Alexis?"

"Dad," Alexis was pleading with him, but Castle just raised his eyebrows and held her gaze. Sighing Alexis pushed her plate away and stared at her hands, while Kate shrunk further into her seat, wanting to be anywhere else but at this table right now, "I …," was as far as Alexis got before she was literally saved by the bell, when Kate's phone rang.

Bolting up from her chair and grabbing her phone from the kitchen counter, Castle and Alexis listened to Kate giving whoever was on the other end of the line a few "okays" and "yes' " before she ended the call by saying, "I'm on my way."

Castle had joined her at the kitchen counter by then, looking concerned, "What's up?"

"Caught a murder," she shrugged apologetically, "I am sorry."

"I can come with you," he offered out of habit, but Kate shook her head.

"I think we both know the two of you have some talking to do." She leant closer, placing a quick kiss on his lips. "I'll call you later," she whispered only for him to hear, before starting for his front door. Opening it she turned around, looking at Castle and then quickly at Alexis, her eyes unable to hide how much she was affected by the situation, how much it hurt her. "Bye," she said quietly before shutting the door behind her.

XOX

At the crime scene Beckett was preoccupied, her mind wandering back to the loft, wondering what the verdict would be and if there was anything she could do to calm the waters between herself and Alexis.

Beckett was actually relieved when all the evidence started pointing towards a gang related shooting and sure enough after spending two hours at the crime scene she called in the gang unit to take over the case from them.

"Seems that we get an early night out," Ryan said walking up to her.

"Don't get too excited, there's still paperwork that needs our attention," Beckett replied.

"Still, I am looking forward to spent the evening with my wife and not with a room full of grumpy Detectives," Ryan grinned, while they watched Detective Ronston from Gang's, who had a strange resemblance with David Hasselhoff, getting briefed by Lanie.

"Who are you calling grumpy?" Esposito asked from behind, stopping next to them.

"No one," Ryan said quickly and changed topics, "By the way, where's Castle?"

Beckett kept her eyes on Lanie, still hoping to catch her friend alone for a minute or two, because as much as she loved the boys, there was no way she was going to discuss the Alexis issue with them. "He's with Alexis today." She simply replied, which was true enough.

"So the two of you have something planned for the weekend?" Esposito asked, maybe a bit too interested.

Beckett frowned, she hadn't yet gotten used to the fact that their friends knew about her relationship with Castle. And to her it still felt weird to talk to them about it.

"Uhm, nothing planned yet," she finally replied and seeing Lanie saying her goodbyes to Ronston she added, "Excuse me."

She didn't get a chance to leave the precinct until later that evening and while she was still considering whether it was best to go home or make a quick appearance at the loft her phone beeped, alerting her that she had received a text message.

Are you coming over when you're done? Missed you today.

She smiled, couldn't help it, she had missed him too, in addition to wanting to know how his talk with Alexis went, she typed in a quick reply, telling him she was on her way.

XOX

He opened the door for her before she could even knock, a beaming smile on his face, before he captured her lips in a surprisingly passionate kiss. Kate laughed into his mouth, slightly startled by his eagerness. Only pulling apart when they heard someone clear their throat and Kate discovered Alexis standing in the kitchen.

"Oh," was all Kate could come up with, before she lifted her questioning eyes to Castle. Frankly, she hadn't expected for Alexis to still be here.

"I'll tell you later," he whispered into her ear, before he took her coat and hung it away. "Alexis and I made dinner." He then announced happily before placing his hand on the small of Kate's back and started to shove her towards the kitchen.

"It smells delicious," Kate offered unsure of how to proceed. Castle seemed to be optimistic that whatever had caused Alexis' earlier behaviour was off the table, but she still couldn't get a read on the young woman.

But much to Kate's surprise, Alexis gave her small, shy smile, "Lasagne. Old family recipe." She added and beamed at her father who looked back at her with so much pride that Kate had the feeling there had to be a double meaning behind all this.

"Alexis' idea," Castle finally said, taking his eyes off his daughter, shifting his focus to his girlfriend and his smile even brightened when he saw the understanding in her eyes.

Dinner was mainly spent in silence, but it was a different silence than the one from the breakfast table. Everyone engaged in the good food, the wine. It was easier, not comfortable yet, but the cloud that had been hanging over them had been lifted.

"You know, you Castles really know how to cook," Kate sighed in satisfaction when she had finished the last bite of her Lasagne, putting her napkin down and shoving the plate slightly to her right.

Alexis looked at her that shy smile appearing on her face again, "Dad said you're not so bad yourself."

Kate looked at Castle, who just shrugged, "The dinner you prepared in the Hamptons was delicious."

"Thank you," she simply said and Castle wasn't sure if he was imagining it, but he could swear he saw a slight blush creeping up the Detective's face.

"You know we had told him to make reservations for the two of you," Alexis cut in, her shy smile turning into a smirk.

"Alexis," Castle exclaimed in mocked shock.

"Yeah well, that weekend certainly didn't work out as planned," Kate chuckled, reaching over the table, to grab Castle's hand, giving it a squeeze to let him know it was okay.

Alexis was glancing at her watch for the third time in the past five minutes and since Castle seemed to be oblivious to his daughter's desire to leave, Kate tried to help her out. "Any plans for tonight?"

"Actually I am supposed to meet some friends and I am running a bit late," Alexis shrugged apologetically.

"Don't let us keep you," Kate smiled, "I am sure there are better things waiting for you, than spending the evening with us old people."

"Hey, who are you calling old?" Castle finally interfered.

"Well, mainly you." Kate smirked, but let her foot run up his leg under the table, making it very clear she didn't mind at all that he was just a bit older than her.

Alexis laughed and got up, "She got you Dad."

Castle grinned at the beautiful woman doing wicked things under the table to him and could only agree, "Yeah, she got me."

"Well enjoy your evening guys," Alexis bid her goodbyes, hugging her father and then smiling at Kate, "Bye Kate."

"Bye Alexis, have fun." She smiled back.

"Don't do anything I would do," Castle called after her and earned himself a Beckett worthy eye-roll from his daughter, before she gave him one last wave and closed the door behind her.