Author's Notes:
Thank you for reading my story, I hope you enjoy it.
By all means, please leave me feedback/reviews on this or any of the other stories I've posted here.

Story Notes:
This story takes place right after "Hunt" and Alexis and Richard have been home for a few days.

Disclaimer:
All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

"Richard!?" Martha called as she came down the stairs. "Richard? Are you still here?"

"Yes Mother, right here in my office. What are you doing up so early?" He asks.

"Richard, I've been debating something and I finally decided to talk to you about it." his mother says taking a seat in his office.

Sitting up and giving her his undivided attention "I've got a few minutes before I leave for the precinct so shoot. Are you finally moving out?" he says enthusiastically.

She ignores his jibe and dives right in "Normally I'd let you work this out with Kate but I think you need a nudge on this one."

Scanning his memory he tries to guess what she's talking about but comes up with nothing "I don't understand, what's wrong?"

Leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees and looking him squarely in the eyes "That's why I'm here. When you and Alexis got back, everyone's attention was on you two and letting you both decompress and recover but it's been a few days and I saw something in Kate's face when she left last night that makes me think there's something she's not saying and you two need to discuss it. I think she's giving you some space before she talks about it but I suspect it's festering and you need to talk to her about it sooner rather than later."

"Oh." he says quietly, unsure of what might be wrong "I'll go talk to her about it now."

"Good. Thank you." she offers standing and heading for the door.

"Why are you thanking me?" he says taking it lightly.

"I've told you before, we all like her and we don't want you to screw this up." his mother says matter-of-factly without turning around as she heads for her room.

The smile suddenly drops off of his face as he realizes what she's saying as he puts on his coat to head out to see Kate. During the ride to her place he calls her.

"Beckett" she responds without even thinking.

"Kate, you still home?" he asks trying to keep his voice even and trying to prevent the hopefulness from bleeding through.

Sounding a bit confused "Um.. Yeah, I told the guys I was going to take a late start, I needed to do some workouts. Why?"

"That's great, I just arrived at your building. I'll be right up." he says as he ends the call.

She picks herself up off the yoga mat and grabs a towel to wipe the sweat off as she heads for the front door and opens it just as the elevator doors open. "Hey." she offers as he approaches the door.

"Hey yourself." he says giving her a peck on the cheek. She seems a little standoffish so he opts for a gentle approach instead of doing what he wants and smothering her with a long languid kiss.

"Okay, you're here. So what's this all about?" She asks the question but is already avoiding his gaze as she cleans up her yoga mat and packs it away.

"I think I once told you that my mother's a lot smarter than people think right?" he asks taking his coat off.

"Yes you did and I agree, she is."

"Well, she said something this morning that got me thinking and I wanted to talk to you about it."

"I'm not sure I'm qualified to help I don't think I know Martha enough to be able to say anything useful." She says turning to face him finally but from across the room.

"It's not a Martha problem, it's a you and me problem, a Caskett problem." he says smiling at her.

"You like that handle don't you?" she smirks at his use of the term for them as a team.

"Yes I do because it means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me." He offers as the seriousness takes over his features.

"Then why did you lock me out?" she snaps. Her body still relaxed but the anger flashing in her eyes.

"Why are you doing yoga?" he asks plainly.

"Don't change the subject!"

"I'm not, please answer my question."

"I do it to stay limber and fit for my job."

"And what is your job?"

"Are you really trying to piss me off more?" the anger now stiffening her spine and making her ball her fists.

"No Kate, I'm dead serious. I promise you that I'll make it all clear in a minute."

"My job is to hunt down murderers, to bring people to justice, to give families closure, to protect others."

"Do you take it seriously?"

"I have all my adult life! Now what the hell is this all about Castle?" she yells finally boiling over.

"It's about that. It is about me. It is about why I made a snap decision that pisses you off so much. It's about why that snap decision was to go after Alexis alone. It's about why I didn't tell you what I was doing or anything else after I stood up in the precinct hallway and told you I had to do it alone. It's about why you're hurt and so ticked off at me now."

"It's fine!" she spits turning on her heel.

"It's obviously not or you wouldn't want to kick my ass and throw me out on my ear right now." he says stopping her in her tracks. She lets out a deep sigh letting her shoulders drop and her head droop. Slowly turning around to face him again she stares expectantly at him.

"Thank you for not dropping this." he says walking over to her. He can see her tighten up, steeling herself against his proximity and just giving in to him. "I may very well have made the wrong decision. I think you understand that I wasn't thinking clearly." He pauses just for a moment while she glares at him and his fingers automatically twiddle with something innocuous. "Okay, at all. I can't claim to have been thinking at all. My reaction was more instinct and emotion than anything else."

He now says softly concentrating on his fingers, unable to look her in the face as he continues. "The only thing that crossed my mind was that I had to do anything to get my baby back and that this anything I was going to do most likely was going to turn dark and probably illegal. I didn't have a plan but I knew it was going to go way beyond the law or maybe even morals would normally permit and I didn't care."

He takes another cleansing breath and continues "At the time I thought that it was wrong for me to ask you to throw your lifetime of hard work away and possibly cross those lines that separate you from the people you hunt. It was also on my mind that I may very well have to do something that you might try to stop me from doing and..."

He stops as his throat tightens, his eyes fill with tears and his voice starts to squeak a little from the emotions. He drags in a deep breath and finishes "I love you and I love my daughter. You two are the most important people in my world. The idea that there may arrive a moment during this adventure where your presence with me may cause me to hesitate and lose my baby I would break. There's nothing that would allow me to forgive myself for this situation so the smartest thing for me to do was walk away. Was it the right decision? I still don't know but I know that at the time I wasn't thinking and I didn't make the wrong decision." as the tears flow freely now.

Slowly she walks to him, he looks almost like he's broken already. She puts her arms around him and coos in his ear "It's okay. I'm here. You can forgive yourself. She's okay. You're okay. I'm not mad." as he sobs into her shoulder, the stress and strain coming out and easing his stance. She can feel him drooping onto her and softening.

"Kate..." he whispers.

"Shhhhh... No need to say anything." she whispers into his ear.

"Yes I do." he says wrapping his arms around her tighter "Yes I do. I need to say that I'm sorry that I hurt you. I'm sorry that I locked you out without saying anything. I need to say that I'm sorry I didn't let my partner in on what I was planning. I know you love Alexis and I'm sorry I kept you from helping her."

"It's okay Rick, it really is. I can't say your logic was wrong. I may not have liked it but I might have made the same choices." she squeezes him back as his sobs soften.

"There's something else I owe you for. You took the time to take care of my family and me. To call Gina and Paula and even call Meredith. Although that last one would not deserve thanks if you hadn't suggested she get a hotel." he says with a little brightness now.

"I had to Rick, we didn't need to have Alexis and your Mother mad at me at the same time." She laughs as she kisses his temple.

"Yes, you're right of course." he confesses as he steps back from her embrace "I still wonder at times how I got so lucky." he says smiling at her.

Her face is now soft and warm and she's smiling at him. "It's not all about you Castle, I might be getting punished, forced to tolerate a nine-year-old-on-a-sugar-rush albatross for some previous transgression." she says with a wink.

"Nice job there Detective, you got to give me that kick and I never saw your foot move."

"I've been practicing that for a while." she smirks as she leans in to kiss him.

"Rick. I want to talk to you more about all of this but I think you need to get back to your office. I'll bet that there's things you need to be cleaning up after this week as well as a pair of redheads that need to be assured of each other's proximity and with you."

"There you go, talking sense again. Don't know what would make you do something silly like that. I suppose you're going to tell me I don't have a choice again." he says laughing.

"I guess I don't have to say it then. Good. You're learning." she says pulling away from him. "Rick, you want a cup of coffee for the road?"

"Yes, thank you. I'll make sure I wash out your travel mug so you don't get my cooties."

As she poured him his coffee "Good. You can give it back to me later at the precinct. Now, go home. Keep the girls company. Oh, I've been meaning to ask, do you want to suggest to Alexis that she talk to someone? I can give you Dr Burke's contact info if you want for her."

He perks up a bit at the idea "That's a great idea! I'll talk to mother about it. I think it might be easier coming... hey... on second thought... You've already told her that you were in therapy, maybe the discussion would be better coming from you. She knows how you feel about her and I know how she feels about you. Would you feel comfortable talking to her about it? You can, of course, say no, it is a very personal thing."

"Nothing like my stepping right into it eh? I have to ask, what about her mother? Wouldn't that make more sense?"

"Riiight, Meredith. The woman who thinks charge card credit line annihilation should be an Olympic event. As much as I appreciate it, I'd have to say Alexis would be better of learning to drink scotch in large quantities. So, I'll say thanks but no thanks to that option. Anyway, Meredith has already left, she just texted me this morning, she's on her way back to California, she has an audition to get to."

"Well then, yes, I'll talk to her for you, would tonight be good?" she asks hiding the nervousness she feels at stepping into Alexis' life like this.

"I'll make sure there's plenty of comfort food for all and maybe some comedy movies to choose from to keep everyone happy." he says sounding chipper. "Thank you!" He says as he gives her a kiss, taking his coffee and heading for the door.

"You're welcome. Now go! I'll talk to you later on." she says smiling as he closes the door behind him. Shaking her head with a big smile she thinks to herself "Well, this is a fine kettle of fish you've gotten yourself into Katherine." as she heads for the shower amazed at how natural it feels to be part of his family, to be asked to talk to his daughter about such weighty issues.

So, I was so proud of myself that I'd completed this story.
Then the abuse started. Okay, so it wasn't abuse, just good
natured encouragements. So, now I'm trying to really finish
this story the way it should be finished.