Chapter 17 - Case number 9926384-364

"Kate, will you draw with us?" Alexis asked and I looked up from my laptop.

"Sure, doesn't look like Espo nor Ryan will let me in on the investigation anyway" I said, putting away my laptop to accept the paper Alexis held out for me.

We sat there for a while, drawing, chatting. I had put on some music to have in the background before I had really started on my drawing. Before I even knew how long it had gone someone knocked on the door and I immediately saw Alexis' head pop up with a shocked but happy expression.

"Is that dad?" she asked excitedly and I chuckled.

"Well, I'm not expecting someone else so, maybe" I teased as I got up on my feet and walked towards the door.

I heard Alexis and Molly stand on their feet to follow me. I unlocked the door and opened it before the person behind it managed to knock again.

"Hey!" Castle exclaimed the second he saw Alexis run up to him.

"Shhh, get in here" I remembered all my neighbors who definitely would report me if they knew who was here.

Castle got inside and picked up Alexis in his arms at the same time. I peeked out in the corridor to see if anyone had heard and come out to see what was going on. To my relief there was none to be seen so I closed my door and locked it.

"How are you girls?" Castle asked as he sat down where Alexis had dragged him after him putting her down.

They sat by the drawings and Castle looked at both his daughter and at Molly.

"Good! Drawing!" Molly said with a big proud grin as she held up her drawing.

"I'm good too, especially now when you're here" Alexis said and I bit my lip.

She needed her father, no matter how safe she felt she would . Why had they taken her away from him? I needed to know, and I needed to make this right. It didn't feel like he had been judged right, not from the way I saw he was with Alexis.

"Is this yours Kate?" Castle asked and when I looked at him I saw him eyeing the drawing I had worked on.

I quickly walked towards him and took the paper to hide it.

"No" was the only clever I could come up with.

He smiled and shook his head, not believing my obvious lie.

"Dad, you wanna draw with us?" Alexis asked and he looked at her.

"Of course I do!" he exclaimed and I chuckled at the energy in him.

I went to take my laptop and sat down in the couch, watching the girls and the man in front of me as I went to the site for the social workers. I knew this site were only for those working on it, it contained all their database and it had a secret password to access it. I had found out the password one time when I had visited their centre for a meeting about getting to be a foster mom. I hacked into a random account to get access to all the files they had, stupidly actually, uploaded all the files on all their cases so that their employees could access them everywhere. I went to the file centre and clicked on the search square, wrote 'Alexis Castle' and her case number, which I had also seen on one of the papers the social worker who had Alexis' case. I was so glad of my detective skills, if it weren't for them this would've probably been impossible. I clicked into her file and stared at the picture they had taken on her. She looked so scared, did they really had to take pictures of the kids like they took them on criminals? It looked like they had placed her against a wall and told her to look into the camera. Wouldn't surprise me if it was the first day as well, when she was the most scared because she had no clue on what was going on.

"What are you doing?" Castle's sudden voice from behind me made me jump and I was glad I hadn't managed to take something to drink because the way I jumped, that drink would've been all over my computer. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" he chuckled and I eyed him with narrowed eyes.

I rolled my eyes and went back to my computer to scroll down the first page of Alexis' file. I felt him continue to eye my computer and read over my shoulder. He leant forward which resulted in his chin resting on my right shoulder. I found the page describing Alexis' situation.

I continued to read but I heard Castle behind me take a shaky breath before he pulled away from my shoulder. I looked at him and could see the hurt in his eyes as he tried to process what he had read. He put his face in his hands and wiped the tears I saw he tried to hide.

"They can't be serious, I've never taken advantage of her in any way. Never, I would never" he mumbled as he tried to keep himself together.

I could see he was on his way of a break-down so I quickly closed the laptop to put it on my table before I stood up to grab his hand.

"What's wrong?" Alexis asked as she noticed my sudden movements.

"Nothing, me and your father will be in my bedroom if you need anything. He just needs a moment" I explained as I dragged him with me to the bedroom.

I saw Alexis nod before she returned to her drawing, though I saw her body glow with worry for her father. I closed the door behind us once we were in my bedroom and turned to him only to find him lay on his back in my bed with his hands over his face.

"Talk to me" I demanded as I walked towards him.

"Please tell me you don't believe those awful things" he begged without removing his hands, I heard his voice crack.

I bit my lip before I carefully laid down beside him, mirroring his position, turning my head towards him.

"Castle, look at me" I whispered and he wiped his face as he removed his hands.

He turned his head and I could see he was a bit surprised with me being so close.

"Did you do it?" I asked.

I examined his eyes to read his reaction. I didn't believe them, but I also needed to make sure.

"No, I'd never" he said and I could see the pain in his eyes, along with the truth behind it.

"Then, I don't believe them" I said with a determined voice.

He looked at me with a relieved expression, tears appearing in his eyes again. I couldn't help but lean closer to him to peck his lips. When I pulled back I looked into his eyes, examining his reaction.

"Do you really like me?" he asked in a whisper and I could see in his eyes that it was not a question that was meant to come out.

I bit my lip, did I like him? I felt towards him. A force between us needing me to be close to him. A connection I had no idea what to label. So I like him.

"Yes. I like you" I replied carefully.

I saw a small spark in his eyes before he leaned towards me and let our lips touch again. I kissed him back, both being gentle. I turned my body more towards him and couldn't help but let my left hand land on his chest as we opened out mouths to lock our tongues together. I put my left leg around his hip, feeling my insides heat up. His lips sent electricity through my veins in my body. I felt his arms land around me as he pulled my body closer to his. The kiss turned rougher, more wanting, and I bit his lip which, to my satisfaction, made him moan. His moan did wonders to my body, I pulled myself up to straddle him without breaking our lips apart. I felt his hands at the hem of my shirt as he carefully stroke them under my shirt, touching my bare skin. I shivered and couldn't stop the small moan escaping my mouth. He tried to roll us over, but he somehow managed to roll longer than he should and we ended up falling to the floor. He quickly flipped so that I landed on top of him. Our lips ripped apart as we both let go of a shocked, hushed, scream. I quickly rolled off him to lay beside him and hoped I didn't crush him with my weight. We got eye contact and once I saw he was more worried about me than he was about himself I started laughing.

"Well... that... just... happened" I said in between my laughs, trying to catch my breath.

He started laughing before he slipped his right hand under my shirt behind my back and pulled me closer to him again. We stopped laughing and I looked into his eyes, getting stuck in his ocean blue.

"What happened?!" Alexis came running in and I quickly pushed away his hand.

I sat up and tried to take calm breaths.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a smirk growing on her face.

"Nothing, uhm, why don't you go back to drawing and-uh we'll come in a second and start with dinner" I said and Alexis giggled as she answered 'okay' before walking out the door.

"That was close" Castle said with a shocked and frightened expression.

"Too close" I agreed.

"We should continue this another time, when there two girls who can catch us" Castle suggested and I looked at him.

He looked at me with innocence in his eyes. I crawled closer to him to put my face as close as to let our noses touch. I felt his body stiffen with excitement and I looked him in his eyes, even though it was hard being so close.

"They can't catch us when they're sleeping" I whispered seductively before I pulled away.

Before I pulled away too far he quickly put his hand on my back and pulled me towards him again, crashing his lips on mine. Or more correctly he smashed mine on his but it was he who started the kiss. I moaned into his mouth and even though I knew I should pull away I couldn't find the strength to abandon his amazing lips. He chuckled and slowed down the kiss to part our lips.

"Dinner?" he asked and I nodded, biting my lip.

We raised and I tried to fix my hair some to avoid suspicion from the girls in the other room. I felt my lips being swollen from the hot kisses but I knew there was nothing I could do about it so I just took a deep breath before I walked out of my bedroom, with Castle right behind me, into the living room where I saw the two girls still drawing.