It was a little after four in the afternoon when Kate slipped through the front door. Luckily it had been a slow day-nothing but paper work, really, so Gates let everyone go home early. Unfortunately, they were all on call, but that lamentable fact was quickly pushed to the back of her mind when she heard the small pitter patter of feet on the hard wood floor followed by giggling. As Kate stepped further into the loft she saw her daughter waddle-run her way around the beginning of the stair case and colliding with Kate's knees.

"Mommy, mommy, mommy!" Her daughter squealed, clutching the loose fabric of Kate's pants in her small hands, jumping and down. Her dark blonde hair bobbed on the tops of her shoulders; the barrette that was holding her bangs back loosened causing a strands of hair to fall in the little girls face, and using both hands, she pushed her hair back eagerly.

"Mommy!" The little girl continued to bounce, and Kate scooped her up kissing her face all over.

"Hey, babe. How was your day home with daddy?" Ryleigh, who was just over two years old, grinned wickedly. Her eyebrows shot up as she giggled, "Nun!"

"Oh. Fun, huh? What'd you guys do?" Kate asked, setting the now squirming toddler on the floor.

"Pay!"

"You played all day? Well, aren't you lucky." Ryleigh gave her a toothy grin.

"Where's daddy?"

"Daaaaddddyyy!" The little girl squealed, bolting off towards Castle's office.

Kate approached the room noticing almost immediately that Castle wasn't in there. Ryleigh stood in the center of the room in front of his desk with her eyebrows bunched together. She looked back at Kate and pointed to his desk. "No dada?"

"Nope, looks like daddy isn't in here. Where else could he be?"

Ryleigh huffed, dashing out of the office and stood in the living room, looking around. "Daaaaadddy?"

Kate slowly trailed behind her daughter keeping her eyes peeled for her husband as well. She saw Castle out of the corner of her eye as he rounded the couch on his knees and crawled into the kitchen. She pressed her hand to her mouth to hide her grin as she watched him scramble to hide before his daughter could see him.

"Leigh? Where could daddy be?"

The toddler stood in between the two arm chairs in the center of the room, a look of concentration on her face. "Daddy?"

"Yeah, where's daddy? Let's find daddy!" Kate encouraged, leading the way now. Ryleigh teetered behind her, her excitement almost causing her to stumble and topple over.

Kate stood by the dinning room table glancing into the kitchen where Castle was crouched down behind the kitchen island. Ryleigh stopped beside her looking up at her mother for direction.

"Where could he be?" Kate asked animatedly as she brought her hands to her hips.

"Ryleigh," Castle whispered as he peeked his head around the table. Her little head turned quickly to where the sound was coming from and took off running just as she saw him disappear again.

Giggling and babbling happily, she rounded the corner and Castle scooped her up under his arm immediately causing the little girl to shriek and then fall into a fit of giggles as he blew raspberries on her belly.

"Darn, you found me. You're gonna be a detective just like mommy, huh?"

Kate rolled her eyes as she met him in the kitchen. "Don't give her any ideas."

She leaned into her husband and kissed him lightly on the lips. Ryleigh, who was now perched on her father's hip, jetted her arms out giving Kate the "grabby hands".

"Mommy, kith!"

"Oh, you want a kiss too?"

"Kith!"

Kate held out her arms and Ryleigh struggled against Castle to get to her. But he took a step back, swinging her away from Kate.

"No kissies! Only I'm allowed to kiss mommy."

Their daughter growled and kicked her feet, kneeling Castle in the ribs. He let out a grunt, but continued to step away from Kate who was now taking steps toward him, grinning.

"Mommy!" Ryleigh cried, leaning out of Castle's arms to reach her mother.

"I know, daddy's being mean. Tell him I can share kisses!"

Ryleigh tried to use her mother's words but ended up babbling angrily at her father. He laughed, giving in and handing her over to Kate who gathered her up in her arms and planted loud sloppy, smacking kisses all over her face.

Ryleigh giggled, throwing her arms around Kate's neck and burrowing her face into her neck. She sighed contently and clung to her mother. Kate ran her hand softly up and down her back and felt her rub her little nose against her shoulder.

"Someone's wore out," Castle commented, stepping back into the kitchen.

Kate smiled. "Yeah, good. Won't be too hard to get her down tonight."

"Order in or cook?"

Kate scrunched her lips to the side in thought. "Order in? I could really go for some Chinese right about now."

"No, 'nese!" Ryleigh piped up, still cuddled into her mother's chest.

"Nope, no 'nese for you." Castle agreed, poking her in the side. She yelped out a laugh, squirming to get away from his intruding finger, accidentally kicking Kate in the stomach.

Kate flinched, the sudden movement startling her more than actually hurting her. Ryleigh froze in her mother's arms. The little girl pressed her hands into Kate's chest leaning back to look at her mother and frowned.

She squirmed in Kate's arms, shimmying her way to the floor.

"You're fine, baby girl, you just gotta be careful, remember?"

Ryleigh shook her head, her big green eyes peering up at her mother through wispy strands of hair.

"You okay?" Castle asked cautiously as she rubbed her prominently swollen belly. "Yeah, no big deal, just caught me off guard. We're tough cookies though, aren't we little man?"

"Of course you are. Castle's and Beckett's are undefeatable." He tossed his arm up in the air flexing his muscles for his wife.

She blinked up at him. "Yeah, well, hunger is about to defeat me soon if you don't feed me."

"Oh, right. I'll call in the order and you can make her something to eat? Get her in the bath afterwards and get her to bed a early tonight since she's going back to daycare tomorrow?"

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Castle held his hand up for a high-five, and they slapped their hands together. Kate turned on her heel and called out for her daughter who was in the living room climbing into her tub full of toys.

"Come on, little one. You hungry?"

Ryleigh squealed happily as she ran past her mother and to her high-chair.

"I'll take that as a yes," Kate laughed as she lifted her up and locked her in the seat.

Kate handed her a wooden spoon to occupy her while she maneuvered around the kitchen, the wet smacking of her daughters lips as she happily baby-talked to herself was like music to her ears.

She glanced up to see Castle walking around aimlessly as he ordered their food. She couldn't help but smile. Even after three years of marriage, and two years of being a mom, it still caught her by surprise that this was her life. She has a husband that she loves so desperately, a daughter who she adores more than anyone ever, and now there was a new life growing inside of her. She often thought that this was all a dream and that one day she'd wake up cold and alone in her bed back in her old apartment. And maybe this is all a long lucid dream, but until she wakes up, she's going to enjoy the ride for as long as she can. Because this is where she wants to be. Forever.

Twitter: kateofthecastle