Chapter 3

"Go hug your daughter, Castle," Kate told him as he opened the study door.

Martha stopped the movie when she and Alexis heard the door open, and they both stood to meet him.

Rick smiled appreciatively at Kate and did exactly as she suggested. "You still coping, Pumpkin?" he asked, holding his daughter close.

"Pretty much," she answered, snuggling into his arms. "Better now that I can see you."

"Same here."

They held each other for a long moment. Then he gave his mother a similar hug; and as she wrapped her arms around his waist, he said, "I'm sorry I worried you, Mother…but I had to do what I could to find her. The FBI was talking about another couple of days."

"I understand, Richard. I do. But I've never been so afraid in my life. Having Kate was a blessing. "

While Castle apologized and talked to his mother, Kate went to give Alexis a quick hug and asked what movie they were watching. Alexis told her and surreptitiously looked toward the kitchen where her father and grandmother were talking. She started the movie again, turned her back toward the kitchen, and pulled Kate down to sit with her.

"How do you do it, Kate?"

"Get over something like this?" Kate asked.

"How long does it take to forget…to be able to walk alone without feeling like there's a target on your back…not wake up feeling like you're still there?"

"I won't lie to you. It's going to take a while, and it's going to take some effort. It gradually gets better. You won't ever forget, but you'll be able to push it to the back of your mind where it doesn't feel quite so important. Your dad has been through some tough things since he's been at the precinct. He can help when you need it."

"No."

"No?"

"I can't talk to him. I don't want to see how much it hurts him to watch me trying to work through something this bad, and I don't want to hear how he felt in that car at the bottom of the river...not that he'd tell me much if I asked. It's bad enough to remember that it happened. I can't tell Grams all of it, either...she worries too much about us."

"He told me what happened…and that he didn't have time to explain it to you…what Volkov threatened…the countdown. I'm so sorry you have to remember that."

"He told you everything…already?!"

"He told me this morning. He needed to get it out of his system before he could sleep. We take care of each other, Alexis. I know you may still have a few lingering doubts about me, but I'm not going anywhere. Your dad and I still have things to work out, but we will. And I intend to take care of you when you need it, too."

"Can I talk to you when I need to?" she asked with tears in her eyes. "He's told you everything, so you already know."

"I've already told you…any time you need me…whatever you need." She hesitated briefy, then plunged into the idea, "I was seeing a therapist most of last year, and it helped a lot."

"You were?" Alexis looked surprised.

"Yeah. The shooting, the surgery, a lot of things you don't need to be bothered with. And I wanted to be better. I wanted to give your father someone worth his trouble. I should have told him that a lot sooner than I did."

"You always seem to be able to handle anything."

"Looking that way doesn't necessarily translate to what's inside."

"But you're so strong. I'm…"

"At least as strong as I am…maybe stronger," Kate insisted. "I was a year older than you when my mother was killed, but I was stubborn enough to think I could manage on my own. It was a long time before I gave in and looked for help. Look at what you're doing. First day home and you're already asking the right questions. Don't wait as long as I did if you think you could use help. If you decide some therapy might help you, I'll give you a name and number. I'll go with you if you want…hold your hand, sit in the waiting room, be here to talk afterward, or just have a hug waiting when you get home…whatever works. Entirely your decision. Nothing will work until you're ready for it to."

Alexis wrapped her arms around Kate's waist in a tight hug, and Kate's arms went around the girl's shoulders. "I'm so glad we have you."

Castle walked over to see what they were talking about just in time to hear his daughter's words to Kate and Kate's answer…"Always."

He leaned over the back of the sofa, put a hand on each woman's shoulder and kissed their heads…all he could reach as they sat wrapped around each other. "I love you both so much."

"We love you, too, Castle," Kate answered with a smile, not letting go of Alexis.

Alexis pulled back to look at them, smiling through her tears. "I haven't heard you say that before."

"We're getting better at it," her father answered with a smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes.

"About time," she teased.

Castle walked around the sofa and made a show of making room for himself between them.

"What kinds of very normal things can we do for the rest of the day?" he asked, putting an arm around each of them and propping his sock covered feet on the coffee table. "Right now dull and boring sounds really good."

"We could watch the rest of this movie," Alexis suggested.

"Make popcorn to go with it?" Castle asked.

"Popcorn sounds good," Kate agreed. "You volunteering, Castle?"

"Why not? It's normal, right?" He got up and went to the kitchen to make the popcorn.

While his back was turned to get out what he needed, Kate motioned Martha over with a mischievous grin, and she and Alexis placed Martha where Castle had been between them. Castle was oblivious, humming something to himself as he waited for the corn to pop and getting out drinks to go with the popcorn and a tray to deliver it all. After he had everything ready, he picked up the tray and returned to the living room to find Martha ensconced in his seat with one arm around Kate and the other around Alexis, her feet defiantly planted on the coffee table, ankles crossed.

"Something else normal to do, darling."

"Pick on Dad," Alexis agreed with a mischievous grin that made it so worth losing his seat.

"All right, ladies, here you are." He sighed dramatically. "I'll just go back and get my own bowl and sit over here…alone and lonely." He went back to the kitchen and returned to fill his bowl from the larger one. "Alone and lonely," he sighed again as he sat down in the armchair and tried hard to look dejected.

"Oh, for goodness sake, Richard," his mother chuckled, "give me that bowl and come back over here."

He handed his mother the smaller bowl and gleefully wiggled back between his daughter and his partner. "Another normal thing to do," he said, looking back and forth between Kate and Alexis.

"What's that?" Kate asked.

"Send my mother on a guilt trip."

"Don't tell him, girls," Martha stage whispered, "but this chair is much more comfortable for my aging back. Let him think what he will."

They all knew the tension and angst would return before long, but they savored their normal frivolity while they could hold on to it.

After the movie was over and Alexis was taking the dishes back to the kitchen, Castle went and got a box from a storage closet and took it to his room. When Kate asked about it, he said he'd tell her later.

They found simple things to do, cards, another movie after dinner, but as the evening progressed and it was dark outside, the strain of the kidnapping began to slip back in. By bedtime, Castle was having a hard time letting Alexis out of his sight again. She looked sleepy, so he put his arm around her shoulders and walked her toward the stairs.

Kate and Martha smiled as they heard him say, "Come on. I'll check for monsters and stay until you're asleep. I'll even read you a story if you want."

"Thanks, Dad." Alexis didn't protest at all, just grinned and asked, "Do I get to pick the story?"

He laughed and pulled her head to him to kiss it as they reached the top of the stairs.

"I've never been so glad to see any two people in my whole life," Kate said quietly, still watching as Castle and his daughter moved out of sight. "Alexis is okay about my being with her father now, isn't she, Martha?"

"She's fine with it…and if it counts, I'm ecstatic."

Kate finally looked away from the stairs and over at Martha and answered, "Of course it counts." With a shy smile, she added, "I think I'm ecstatic about being with your son, too."

Martha stood and went to the sofa to hug Kate. "That will be something good to remember while I try to get to sleep, dear. I'm going to shower and go to bed, too."

"I'm going to sit here and wait for Castle to convince himself that Alexis is safely asleep."

"You could be here a while."

"I know, but I'll be here anyway."

Martha took her hand briefly. "I know you will. My son is in good hands. Goodnight, Kate."

Later, when Castle came back downstairs, Kate was waiting, a book in hand. "Is she asleep?" she asked.

"Yeah, I need to go back up for just a minute. Be right back." He went to his room and then back upstairs with something in his hand, but Kate couldn't make out what it was; and he returned in no time saying, "Everybody else is in bed. It's our turn."

"Sounds good to me."

He held out his hand to pull her up from the sofa and kept her hand in his as they walked back to their room. Kate again took out something to sleep in that wouldn't embarrass either them or Alexis if she came down during the night.

Turning to put their pajamas on the bed, Kate found a purple and pink plastic unicorn on Castle's nightstand.

"What is that?" she asked, unable to hold back a smirk.

Castle looked a little sheepish and mumbled, "The baby monitor. It's been in the closet for years."

"Bugging a teen-ager's room? You know you're treading on thin ice, don't you?"

"This morning Mother was sitting with her. Tonight she's alone. If she has nightmares, I want to be there, and I'll sleep better knowing I can. Mother usually reads before she goes to sleep; she'll be awake enough to hear her for a while yet, but after that, I don't know. My little girl has been through enough. I don't want to leave her frightened and alone now that she's home."

"Under these circumstances she might forgive you," Kate assured him, stroking her hand across his cheek. She knows how much you love her, and I do, too. She's a lucky girl to have you for a father."

"Do you know?" At her questioning look, he added, "How much I love you?"

She kissed him the way she had kissed him when he came home that morning…loving and sweet. "I know, Rick. No doubts." Pausing briefly, she asked, "Do you think Martha might be reading long enough for me to give you a better welcome home than we had time for earlier? I don't want Alexis alone and scared, either."

"Yeah, probably. But don't ever think hearing that you love me wasn't a perfect welcome home."

"Then how does, 'I love you. Disable the unicorn for a little while and let me show you.' sound?" Pointing at the mostly purple monitor, she added, "I don't how those things work exactly, but I feel like it's listening…maybe even staring at me."

"Give me a minute," he answered with a smirky smile.

When they were in bed, he asked, "We're still okay? I didn't set us back running off to Paris without you?"

"We've dealt with some heavy stuff since we got together, and we've come out of it stronger every time. We'll be okay. Talk later, Writer-man. Right now, take advantage of our little window of opportunity, shut up, and work your magic on me so you can put the unicorn back online and be sure our girl is okay."

"Our girl?"

"Sorry. I guess I was feeling a little more protective than I realized."

"No need to be sorry. That's how I want it to be. I love that it just popped out like an everyday thought." He kissed her forehead and tucked her head under his chin. "Gotta hand it to you, Detective. You do know how to put together an awesome welcome home package. I'm a lucky man." When she set her hands to wandering over his bare skin, he groaned against her hair and responded with little kisses between his words. "Oh, yeah." A kiss on her lips. "Little window of opportunity." A kiss on her nose. "Unicorn disabled." A kiss on her neck. "Pajamas later." A kiss on her shoulder. "Shut up." A kiss on the scar at the center of her chest. "Magic." Another kiss on… "Got it."

The ensuing giggle from Kate aided in setting off the magic. They would enjoy their moment then reconnect the girly little unicorn, which would give both of them more peace of mind; and as the questions and struggles and fears reappeared, they would deal with them the way they usually did now…together.