a/n: So I recently ran across this pairing whilst watching old episodes of Castle and I found it quite adorable. Here's my second try at the Castle universe and my first shot and some Ryan fluff; seriously, pure, unadulterated fluff.

Warnings & Disclaimers: I own nothing that you recognize. Title and quote are from Moulin Rogue. Also: Excuse any errors you find and tense shifts, as those things are all my fault.

–

'come what may'

or:

four times kevin ryan tried to hide his relationship

and the one time he didn't.

–

'Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste
It all revolves around you'

–

I. Esposito.

"Would you quit looking over your shoulder like that, you're starting to make me paranoid." Alexis Castle chastised from her position next to him. Her expression was stern enough to cause him to do what she said; he wondered briefly if she had been taking lessons from Beckett.

"I'm sorry, it's just, I really don't want your dad to jump out from behind a corner and stab me. He's pretty good at coming up with ways of making people die." Ryan said quickly, resisting the temptation to look over his shoulder again. He felt a soothing hand on his arm and smiled at Alexis' pale fingers contrasting against the dark brown jacket he wore.

"Kevin, my dad is a writer, not a member of the mafia." She rolled her eyes, smiling at him. A smile that never failed to knock him off his feet.

"He's got connections." He laughed softly, "I've met them. They're scary." It was Alexis' turn to laugh as they rounded the corner to the little restaurant familiar to both parties.

"Yeah, big bad Detective Ryan, who has caught serial killers and drug dealers is afraid of Rick Castle, the man who once glued his own foot to the floor." She quipped as he pulled the door handle, allowing her to enter just in front of him.

When he'd met Alexis, she'd been fifteen and very off limits, of course he had never looked at her in any other way than being Castle's daughter. Then one day she was a gentle smile and a comforting face in a sea of unfamiliarity. Who could really blame him for deciding then and there and no woman was better than the one sitting across from him?

"I've heard that the eggplant Parmesan is great here." Ryan said, looking at his menu with a skeptical eye. Alexis snorted on the other side of the table, her eyebrow raised at him. "What?" He asked, somewhat defensively.

"I feel like such a loser. I just really like spaghetti and since Gram and Dad don't make anything really fit for human consumption..." She trailed off, blushing, but Ryan placed his hand cautiously over hers and smiled.

"That might be the cutest thing in the world." The red head just laughed before he continued, "Besides, I've been known to make a mean batch of spaghetti myself." With a wink he went back to examining his menu before a sight at the door caught his attention.

"Shit." The word came out as a whisper, but Alexis looked up in alarm. Before she could ask what had her date swearing he answered, "Just.. don't draw attention to yourself." He choked out, lifting the menu higher still to cover his face.

"Alexis! Ayo, girl, what're you doing here?" Javier Esposito's voice cut through the restaurant and Alexis understood at once the source of Ryan's dismay. She sent a smile up at her father's friend and turned to talk to him.

"Just eating and stuff, what about you?" She asked cautiously, as Ryan tried to hide his slight panic attack and possible cardiac arrest behind a very expensive menu. Esposito looked over at the hidden individual then back down at the young girl in front of him.

"Getting some take out, Lanie pulled a double shift so we're staying in tonight." He answered absentmindedly. "Who's your date?" He asked, his 'detective' voice coming into play. Ryan knew he was doomed before Alexis even started stuttering. He dropped the menu and the reaction was almost comical, Esposito's eyes nearly fell out of his head.

"What the hell?" Esposito seemed to be deciding between punching his partner and high-fiving him. Ryan stood quickly pulling the other man off to the side before a scene was made. Alexis returned to her menu, a smirk lining her features.

"Bro, I'm not sure if you noticed but it looks a lot like you're out on a date. With Castle's daughter." Well, it could have gone worse, Ryan supposed as Esposito eyed him up and down like some kind of predator.

"Yeah, thanks, I did notice. I also noticed that she's eighteen and a half, so stop looking at me like I'm Pee Wee Herman!" He exclaimed, watching as his partner relaxed his face and turned to look back at Alexis.

"Dude, that is Castle's kid. He is so going to kill you!" Ryan didn't find this statement particular comforting.

"Which is exactly why you can't tell him." He said quickly, but when Esposito frowned he continued, "Look, I really like Alexis, she's the first thing that's made me happy since Jenny left. I'd hate for us to have to stop seeing each other after one date just because her dad got mad." He said earnestly, looking at the other man with pleading eyes.

"Oh all right, all right. I hate it when you beg; you look pathetic, bro. But you have to do my paperwork for the next two weeks." Ryan laughed and nodded, raising his hand to give Esposito a fist bump.

"You do know that if you two ever have kids they'll end up with red hair, right?" Ryan gave his friend a slap across the back of the head in response before returning to his table.

"Let me guess; he thinks you're crazy?" Alexis asked as her date returned, her clear blue eyes sparkling in the dim light of the restaurant. She didn't seem upset, but he figured it probably took a lot to get her riled up. He placed his hand over hers, giving it a light squeeze.

"I'm pretty sure he thinks I've lost it, but he gets what makes you special." She blushed again, a sight he was fairly sure that he would never get tired of. After a moment of silence she cleared her throat and looked up at him.

"I think I'll go with the spaghetti, after all." And he couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the night.

–

II. Martha.

Ryan lay on the unfamiliar couch, one arm wrapped around the young girl resting against him, the other idling flipping through the usual crappy channels with the remote. To be truthful, he wasn't exactly looking for anything to watch, as he was much too focused on the soft hum escaping from his girlfriend's lips. Her pale collar bone was exposed as her ginger locks fell across her back and he found it incredible how beautiful he considered that one piece of her body.

"It's been over a week you know, pretty serious business." She smirked, poking him gently in the side, causing him to jump. Ryan groaned when he realized how easily he had exposed his weakness to this potentially hazardous woman.

"You're ticklish! That is so cute!" Alexis laughed, rolling over to face him on her side, pining him to the couch. Had he not been dreading the contact, he might have had to go outside for fresh air. As it were, her fingers made him shiver slightly in anxiety and he grabbed her hand in mock outrage.

"Excuse me. I am not cute. I am deadly sexy." He said in a low voice, bringing his face close to hers. She allowed her eyes to flick up to his for a brief second before scooting in closer, now interwinding her fingers with his own.

"Of course you are, Detective Ryan." She whispered, her breath hot on his lips before he leaned up and pressed his mouth to hers. She moved cautiously under his warm touch, one hand laced with his and the other propping herself up as he laced his free hand in her long and soft hair.

"Hey, kiddo! I brought home Chinese for dinn- Oh my god!"

Ryan and Alexis pulled apart so fast the former was sure he had whiplash. He buried his face in the couch cushions, pretty sure he would welcome death at this point. The heat of Alexis' body left his own as she stood to face her grandmother.

"Gram! I thought you were going to the theater tonight!" The youngest red head in the room exclaimed, looking at her grandmother in horror but still managing not to laugh at the sight of her boyfriend's face buried in the couch they had just shared their first kiss on.

"I was but I figured I'd surprise you with dinner since your father went to California this morning. I think your surprise beats mine." The older woman said, a small smirk mingled with the look of absolute shock lining her face. "Who is the young man sticking his head in our couch like a mock ostrich?"

Ryan lifted his face up and stood from the couch, his cheeks were bright crimson as he stuck his hand out to her. "Kevin Ryan, ma'am. I work with Beckett." He admitted, wincing only slightly on the inside.

Martha took the young man's hand and shook it. "Yes, I think we've met. And just how old are you, Detective Ryan?" She asked, her eyebrow raised, causing Ryan's blood pressure to rise before he felt the soothing touch of Alexis' hand between his shoulder blades.

"I'm thirty-one, ma'am." He said quickly, thinking that pushing it all out in one breath would make it less painful. She gave him a soft smile, releasing her grip on his hand.

"Well, it could be worse. Besides, I once dated an older man, some of the best nights of my life were spent in his-"

"Okay, Gram, thanks for that!" Alexis said quickly, cutting her grandmother off before she could be thoroughly scarred for life. "Promise you won't tell Dad? I want it to be me who breaks it to him." She asked, throwing a pair of big puppy eyes at her grandmother.

Martha sighed and threw her hands up, "Fine, but you better tell him soon, god knows what he'll do if he's the last to find out. You know how your father hates being last to know things." She said, causing Ryan to laugh, before pouring herself a rather generous glass of wine.

"But, Kevin, do remember that if you hurt my granddaughter, my son isn't the only one with friends in high places." The threat sounded legitimate and dangerous and he turned to Alexis with a panicked expression before she pulled him out into the hallway of her apartment to tell him goodnight.

"If I had known everyone in your family had easy ways of making sure my body was never found I might have not asked you out that day." He teased, looking down at her with a broad smile and she scoffed back at him.

"Is that so? Because I'm pretty sure you weren't singing that tune when Gram interrupted us..." She said innocently, her expression mischievous.

Ryan grinned down at her, his own expression wicked, "Where were we again?"

–

III. Beckett.

After four months of relatively clandestine dating, Ryan was beginning to feel much more comfortable with life. Alexis was funny and beautiful, but she was also young which made him feel much younger than usual and he loved that. It had been a long time since he'd felt so carefree and happy, long before Jenny. Jenny had been what everyone expected for him- blond, a few years younger, steady job, but it was also incredibly boring.

Ryan liked walking into a room and watching Alexis' face light up; he liked the way the sun glinted off her hair and how she sang off key. It was a thrill every time her lips hit his and he never failed to feel giddy when she put her hand in his. It would all be a lot easier if she wasn't nearly twelve years younger than him. She was turning nineteen later in the week, however, and he'd hoped to take her out somewhere new before she went and celebrated with her father on her actual birthday.

"Ryan, you got a second?" Beckett called just as he had thrown on his coat, ready to leave for the day to go meet Alexis outside so he take her out to a nice place for dinner and then the seven o'clock showing of the revival of Grease.

"Uh, sure, Beckett. I was just getting leaving to get ready for a date." He said, not wanting to lie to one of his teammates. She nodded, though he could tell she was a little surprised to find out that he was seeing someone.

"Oh, well I'll walk out with you." Beckett said logically, leading the way to the elevator, but Ryan stopped dead in his tracks. Alexis would be waiting outside for him and the last thing they needed was Beckett knowing. It was hard enough to keep Esposito from dropping hints when Castle was around.

"Oh, no!" He said suddenly, "I mean- I can talk here." He mentally winced at his incredible lack of the ability to be subtle. Beckett narrowed her eyes and having worked with her for years, Ryan knew that look and he also knew he was done for.

"Don't be silly, Ryan." She said entering the elevator, giving him no choice but to follow. He walked into the lift, looking remarkably like a man walking to his own doom.

"So where are you going tonight?" She asked, observing his unease with interest. In that instant Ryan knew that she was a secret sadist. As the doors opened to the ground floor of the twelfth precinct he answered.

"I'm going out to see Grease with my girlfriend for her birthday." He said honestly, making his way to the glass door, where he could see Alexis on the other side. He gulped quietly before pulling it open.

"Really? You know it's Castle's daughter's birthday this week too- Oh, Alexis. What're you doing here? Your dad went home hours ago-" But Kate Beckett wasn't the best homicide detective in New York for just any reason. She watched Alexis look up at her fellow detective and noted the smile that Ryan shot to the younger girl.

"Oh my god," Beckett laughed, "Castle is going to murder you."

Ryan gritted his teeth, "Yeah, I've heard." However, it was a good sign that Beckett hadn't shot him on behalf of her partner, then again it would be an awful lot of paper work. He sighed looking at the brunette with an expression of pleading.

"Don't tell him, please." He glanced down at his date and she reached over to take his hand in hers, "Alexis and I are going to soon, but we would really like it to be on our own terms."

Beckett didn't like keep secrets from Castle; she'd had too many brushes with death to keep that many secrets anymore. However, Ryan's face as he looked at Alexis was not one of a man in a fling and Alexis was nothing if not more mature than half the adults Kate had met throughout her life as a detective.

"Okay, I understand and can respect your wishes. I won't say anything to Castle." She agreed after a few moments of reflection. "Tell me you weren't together when you were seventeen?" She asked Alexis, looking at her with the expression of a concerned mother.

"Of course not! Kevin was still seeing Jenny when I was seventeen. Besides, I wasn't about to break the law to go after a cop." Alexis said sternly, squeezing her boyfriend's hand and Ryan rubbed a finger across the back of hers.

"Good. I'll let you two get on with your date." Beckett smiled, turning to walk away before she paused to call back, "Be easy on Castle when you tell him, okay?" Ryan nodded slowly, feeling that his life was becoming more and more surreal by the second.

"At this rate all of New York is going to know about us before your dad." The detective said, wrapping his arm around Alexis' shoulders and starting in the direction of the restaurant. He felt her arm come up to wrap around his own waist and he leaned into her touch.

"He'll know soon enough." She smiled gently, causing his insides to turn to mush and him to plant a kiss on her forehead.

–

IV. Castle.

"Forty is old, Alexis!" Richard Castle exclaimed to his daughter as she helped him decorate the loft for his birthday party taking place there later with all of their friends. Alexis shook her head amusedly at her father's words.

She handed him another set of streamers and retorted, "Well if you and Beckett would hurry up and just get married already I might not die an only child." She heard her father choke a little bit and grinned at her bluntness.

As she turned to hang up some balloons she swallowed trying to muster the courage to ask something she had been trying to ask for the past week. She and Kevin had been dating over six months and everyone around them knew that except her father. Alexis wasn't one to jump to conclusions but she felt it in her bones that she loved Kevin and with that discovery she knew that her dad needed to be brought out of the darkness.

"Dad?" She asked cautiously, causing him to look up from his position in the kitchen. "Would it be okay if I invite my boyfriend to the party tonight?" The question was finally out there and she watched nervously as her father tried to digest this information.

"I didn't know you were seeing anyone? Are you back with Ashley?" He asked, switching into what she had dubbed "Dad Mode" and pacing towards her. She shook her head quickly, trying to think of a way to not lie to him.

"No, Dad, it's not Ashley. I've been seeing him for a while and I think you should, uh, meet him." She said delicately, meeting her father's eyes carefully and trying to look innocent. It must have worked because he was nodding soon.

Castle smiled at his daughter, "Sure, sweetie, I'd love to meet him. Any boy of your choosing must be worthy." Alexis could only pray that he would keep this opinion after finding out just who the boy of her choosing was.

Ryan knocked at the door at a quarter to six and when it was pulled open, Martha stood on the other side, a smirk on her face. "Oh, Detective Ryan! So glad you could join us!" She leaned in to hug him and whispered in his ear, "Try not to kill my son from shock tonight, will ya?" He nodded to her before stepping all the way in Castle's loft to see Beckett and Esposito already there. They sent him knowing looks and he pondered how he could get his gun to go off and kill him and make it look like an accident.

"Kevin!" Alexis smiled from her place in the kitchen, surrounded by pots that all seemed to be steaming. The involuntary grin that spread across his face was probably not the best way to conceal his relationship. Castle looked between the pair curiously before diving back into conversation with Beckett.

"So what's the plan?" He asked the ginger girl under the pretense of looking at what she was cooking. She grinned at him, "You'll see." He wasn't so sure he liked the sound of that.

Once they had all settled in for the meal, Alexis sat the various dishes around the table and everyone set into the food. Ryan was thankful he'd picked someone who could cook more than spaghetti and mac and cheese. Alexis seemed absolutely perfect to him most days, though if anyone were to be perfect, she would be the best candidate.

"Alexis, I thought you said your boyfriend was coming tonight? Could he not make it?" Castle asked unsuspectingly, but when everyone at the table went quiet and snuck glances at Ryan, Alexis took her boyfriend's hand under the table for courage.

"He's here, Daddy. Right next to me actually." She smiled at Ryan, who miraculously managed to smile pack without puking out of nerves. It took a few seconds for the laughter coming from Castle to register in his brain.

"Alexis that's really a good one- and I thought you couldn't pull one on me like that anymore!" He continued to laugh until he realized no one else was laughing and Alexis was throwing him a very serious look.

When Castle's expression turned from joyous to murderous Ryan thanked his stars that there were two other law professionals there if things got ugly. "You are- you and my daughter are- She's nineteen!" He choked out, staring at Ryan like he were scum of the earth.

"He's well aware how old I am, Dad, just like I know that he'll be thirty-two next month!" Ryan was certain that her statement would not exactly help their case, which was confirmed when the man on the other end of the table's eyes widened.

"Explain." He said thunderously, looking at Ryan. Alexis opened her mouth but he held up his hand, "Not you, I want to hear it from him." He glared to where the detective sat, all his nightmares coming true at once.

Ryan took a deep breath and began to tell his story. "A year ago, Jenny left me, I mean, we both knew the romance had long since died. Jenny wasn't right for me, she wasn't-"

"Young enough?" Castle cut off angrily and Ryan shook his head, not trusting his voice for a moment.

"No! She just wasn't exciting. I didn't feel anything when I was with her. When she left I was upset because even if she wasn't right for me, we were still getting married. It was like my whole life was rearranged." He spoke nervously, noting that everyone, including Alexis, was listening with rapt attention. "Nearly two months later Alexis stopped by the precinct to see you, but you were out with Beckett and she reached out and touched my shoulder and told me that it was gonna be okay." He smiled at Alexis, who was still squeezing his hand under the table.

"We talked a lot during the next few months about Jenny and Ashley and finally I worked up the courage to ask her to go out to dinner with me. I made sure she was eighteen and consenting!" He said quickly, "When she agreed, I was surprised because I am so much older than her." He sucked in a breath and looked up at Castle, feeling braver.

"Sure, the relationship came as a surprise, but it's not that way anymore. Whenever I walk into a room and she smiles at me I feel like I've won the lottery. Every time she puts her hand in mine I want to pinch myself because she is so beautiful and wonderful and amazing and I don't know what I did to get so lucky. I know there's an age difference but it's never mattered to her or me and I don't think it should to anyone else." Ryan glanced over to Alexis, "It doesn't matter that she's nineteen and I'm thirty two because I love her and I know that I'll be with her as long as she wants to keep me around."

For a moment, Ryan forgot that he was in the presence of his girlfriend's father and grandmother and two of his coworkers. He leaned in to brush a stray piece of orange hair from her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you for so long and I'm sorry I tried to hide it. I just knew what people would think of her if they knew she was with some shmuck like me." He looked over to Castle, who seemed genuinely floored by Ryan's explanation.

"I'm not sure I've ever heard you say so many words in one sitting not related to a dead body." Castle said after a moment and everyone laughed. "Not that I'm happy you kept it a secret or that she's nineteen, but Alexis knows how to take care of herself. Just... no marriage until she's graduated college." He grimaced looking at the love birds.

Ryan grinned down at his girlfriend, "I think I can handle that." And she nodded back at him and whispered, "I love you, too, y'know?" It was all he ever wanted to hear.

–

V. Everyone else.

The red carpet premiere for her father's new movie was fabulous and the newly twenty-one year old Alexis Castle stepped onto it in her sleek black dress, one arm waving to the paparazzi and the other firmly wrapped around her fiancee's waist. Her orange hair was pinned up in an elaborate bun and it took everything in her not to rip it down.

"I feel like a monkey." Kevin Ryan said from beside her, trying to adjust in his tux to a more comfortable position.

"Quit fidgeting, you look dashing." She smiled up at him and he smiled down at her, leaning in to give her a quick kiss on the temple.

"Hey! No PDA!" Castle's voice floated from a little behind them and she turned to see him holding Kate, a smug smile on his face. Alexis rolled her eyes and looked up at Kevin again who seemed to be chuckling too.

"All bark and no bite." Ryan commented, eyeing his teammates up and down with laughter.

"I heard that!" The older man called back before moving forward to address some reporter or another, while Ryan and Alexis made their way into the theater.

He stopped to look at her; her face was older, less round, but she was just as elegant and beautiful as ever. She didn't mind the crow's feet around his eyes or the laugh lines on his forehead. He woke up next to her every morning and he was certain he'd never get tired of it.

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of showing the world that you're mine." He said quietly, leaning down to drop a kiss on her forehead.

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of being yours." She whispered back, stretching up to press her lips against his.

And though Castle interrupted them, anyone could tell that even he was happy for his daughter and her fiancee, though he still sometimes tried to persuade Beckett to threaten Ryan with her gun every so often.

Unfortunately, Alexis was prettier than her father and had much better puppy-dog eyes, something that would always prove to be Kevin Ryan's weakness- not that he minded. After all, seeing Alexis smile was worth doing whatever she wanted and that was enough for him.