A/N: Based off of the second sneak peek for 5x18 "The Wild Rover" so obviously, spoilers.

Disclaimer: I don't think Andrew Marlowe is a girl. So I therefore am not him.

She doesn't ask him again until two days later.

They're sitting on his couch, glasses of wine in hand, during another one of their "post-case decompressions" when she comes right out with it.

"So are you ever going to tell me who Jordan is?"

He tenses, the wine he's currently taking a sip of becoming so much harder to swallow.

"Nothing," he says. But he can hear how choked he sounds, so he clears his throat and repeats himself. "It's nothing. Really, Kate. Nothing."

She rolls her eyes at him. "Castle, sometimes I think you forget who you're dealing with. I'm a trained detective – it's my job to know when people are lying." Her voices softens as she slides a hand over his knee. "And above all, I know you. So will you please just explain to me what's going on?"

There it is – what he's come to refer to in his mind as the Kate-Beckett-puppy-dog look. With her hazel eyes wide and locked on his, her nimble fingers stroking along his thigh, he can't say no to her and she knows it.

But she doesn't know what exactly she's asking for.

Still, he can't deny her request when she's looking at him like that, so he takes a shaky breath and dives in.

"Jordan is a little boy," he says. "A beautiful little boy. He's about four years old, with dark brown hair that's always flopping down in front of his eyes." He finds himself smiling. "And his eyes change color. Sometimes brown, sometimes green, depending on the day. He's absolutely adorable."

He pauses, trying to gauge her reaction, but she's silent and still looking at him intently so he continues.

"He's very outgoing, seeing everyone as a potential friend, and he's always roping people into playing games of pretend with him. Most of the time, they can't even resist because his smile is one of the sweetest things you'll ever see." Suddenly, the words are gushing out of him. "And he's so much fun, Kate. He loves to play cowboys and superheroes, but the thing he loves the most is pretending he's a cop. He creates these mysteries in his head and then acts them out. He's so smart and has this fantastic imagination and he's just . . . amazing, Kate. He's amazing."

She's smiling softly at him now, her fingers still working over his jeans. "Where did you meet him?"

Oh, this is where it gets difficult. "I haven't."

"What?"

"I haven't met him."

He can see that she's still not understanding by the way her brow furrows and she bites her lip ever so slightly.

Praying that she won't kill him for this (or worse, break up with him), he decides to spell it out for her. "He's ours, Kate."

He hears her breath catch, and she immediately recoils, her hand leaving his leg to fiddle with the hem of her shirt instead. He surges forward, determined to explain, determined to keep her from running.

"Like I said, it's nothing, Kate. I'm not asking or anything, I just . . . have dreams about it sometimes, and I guess I let it slip with my stupid sleep talk. We don't have to talk about it. After tonight, we can even pretend this conversation never happened. Just-"

"Why Jordan?"

"I . . . what?"

She reaches up to tuck her hair behind her ear, not looking at him. "Why the name Jordan?"

He blinks, still taken aback. "Hal Jordan. The Green Lantern."

She huffs a laugh at that, still playing with her hair and staring into her lap, but the tension in his chest eases a little bit.

There are several long moments where neither of them says a word. He can see her gathering her thoughts, can practically sees the gears turning in her head, and he's too scared to say anything that could possibly ruin how well this seems to be going.

Finally, after what feels like forever, she drops her hand and looks up at him.

"Look, I'm not saying that I'm ready to talk about this because I'm not. At all," she says.

"No, no, I understand completely, Kate. We don't have to. We can-"

She presses a finger to his lips to silence him. "Let me finish. I'm not ready now, but . . ." Her eyes drift and cloud over, seemingly looking at something far away.

"But?"

Her eyes snap back to his. "We'll put it off for the future. Let's continue to see where this," she waves a finger between them, "goes, and then . . . maybe. One day."

"One day." Oh, what those two words do to his heart. He feels like he could fly.

The edges of her lips twist up into a shy smile. "One day I think . . . I think I might want to meet Jordan."

He can't hold back anymore, slipping a hand around the back of her neck and pulling her in for a kiss. She melts into him, fingers tugging at his shirt and freeing the buttons one by one.

"In the meantime though," she murmurs against his mouth. "There's no harm in a little practice." She winks at him when he pulls back, startled. "Just in case."

A/N: I couldn't let this go. This concept will forever be canon in my head, no matter what happens on Monday. Also, I have quite a headache, so please forgive any writing that may not have been up to par.