Chapter 20 - Breakfast teasing

"Dad! You're still here!" Alexis yelled out happily and ran towards Castle when she saw him stand in the kitchen.

"He-ey pumpkin!" he exclaimed and put down the paddle to catch her in his arms once she ran into him.

I chuckled at the beautiful sight, a father and a daughter. I couldn't believe they had tried to separate them forever, what if I hadn't taken along Alexis? What if I hadn't seen her name? Then they would've still been separated and who knows, perhaps Alexis would even be in a bad home.

"Wow, you two look almost identical! Are you princesses? 'Cause I could totally be the king and Kate could easily be the queen with that beauty" I heard Castle say the last sentence in a lower voice, meant for it to only be heard by his daughter.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, shock written in my voice, and Alexis giggled while she turned a bit to let Castle know she wanted down.

He put her down and she immediately came back to me and Molly where she took her friend's hand and led her to the dinner table. Castle winked at me before he turned back to the smorlettes and put two smorlettes on two plates to serve the girls.

"Bon apetit" he said and I walked to the fridge to open and look inside.

I took the milk and stiffened when suddenly I felt one pair of arms slip around my waist. Before I could react his right hand was inside my shirt rubbing small circles on my stomach as I felt his nose in my hair.

"Ca-Castle!" I exclaimed in a warning whisper.

"She will find out sooner or later if she hasn't already" he whispered in my ear but removed his arms and walked towards where he had left another smorlette in the pan.

I closed the fridge and walked to the girls to pour them some milk. My phone started ringing and I ran towards it to answer.

"Beckett" I said into it and looked towards the girls and the man who looked back at me with curious eyes.

"Hi it's Laura Winslow, from the social service, I talked to Billy Hoskins and he was more than willing to meet little Molly. I'm going to meet him today and go through some papers, questions... yeah you know the deal, but so far it looks like he can take over the girl some time this week. I just wanted to give you a heads up" she said through the phone and I could feel my smile fade a little.

At the same time as I was happy for Molly I was sad to see her go. But I knew Billy would be the best option for the girl, he knew her mother and could tell her stuff about her, they could have a real relation to each other.

"Oh, uhm, thanks for letting me know" I started before I turned away to not having to look at the girls. "Do you think it'll all be done till tomorrow? Also could you arrange so that I'll be there when he gets her?" I questioned carefully.

"Sure, I can have him come get her at the precinct! And I think so yes, unless he gives me a weird answer or something like that. I'm going to his apartment to see how that looks as well" she answered and I thanked her before we hung up.

I turned back to the people in the kitchen, still looking at me with curious eyes, wondering what the hell my call could've been about.

"Who was it?" Castle asked after not taking the silence from me any longer.

I walked back to them and Castle handed me a plate with a smorlette, which I first tried to decline but he kept holding it out for me so I took it. We both sat down at the table with one plate each, and I could feel his eyes on me the whole time.

"It was Laura Winslow" I started and looked at the girls, how was I supposed to tell them? "Do you two remember the lady visiting the precinct yesterday?" I asked them.

Molly nodded carefully and Alexis made a grimace.

"You mean the social lady?" she asked and I nodded.

"Yes, it was her on the phone, she's spoken to Billy, and he said he's ready to meet you Molly, perhaps it's as soon as tomorrow" I told them and Alexis immediately shook her head.

"No, they can't take her away from here" she argued.

"Alexis, it's better if Molly gets to be with someone who knew her mom, I didn't know her, I can't tell her about the things her mom used to like, Billy can. And I promise he will be a good foster-parent" I said and Alexis narrowed her eyes.

"As good as you?" she asked critically.

"Perhaps even better" I said with a smile set on my lips.

"Not possible, but okay" she said taking Molly's hand in hers, intertwining their fingers.

"I won't see you?" Molly asked with tears in her eyes.

I didn't really know what to answer but I nodded my head and took a big risk.

"I will do my best to make sure you, Alexis, me and Billy can meet up for playdates, and I'll try to keep track on you so when you get older I will always be there if you need me, okay?" I suggested and she nodded, her tears not threatening to drop any longer.

Alexis and Molly asked to leave the table once they were done so that they could go up to the room and play, which I immediately granted.

"So..." Castle started when they were gone and I turned my head to look at him, he were looking down at his almost untouched smorlette. "This Billy, do you know him well?" he asked and his eyes flickered to mine before they returned to his breakfast.

I couldn't help but chuckle, "no, we interrogated him under this investigation, that's how I know about him" I said before I added, "why? You jealous?" with a smirk sent his way.

He coughed and shook his head.

"No" he defended and I chuckled, leaning towards him taking a seductive bite from my smorlette.

"You sure? 'Cause there's absolute no need for you to be jealous" I said low before I pulled back again to continue eating as if I hadn't just seduced him by eating food.

"I'm sure" he tried to sound convincing but I knew he was just trying to cover his true feelings.

I glanced at him and he looked at me with a grumpy face. I laughed but immediately stopped when I felt his hand land on my knee and then moving upwards.

"Don't you dare" I said and his hand managed to go even further up before I caught it in my own hand and held it tight.

I turned to see him smirking at me. I was about to leave a cocky comment but before I could let a word leave my mouth there was a knock on the door that got my head snap towards it. My eyes widened and I immediately stood up, grabbed Castle's arm to get him stand up.

"Quickly, go hide in my bedroom!" I half whispered half screamed at him and he nodded before he ran towards his hiding place.

I quickly put my plate by the sink so that whoever was outside would think I was alone with the kids. I took a deep breath as I walked towards the door then opened it only to feel shock as I saw the person behind it.

"Lanie!? What the hell, you scared the shit out of me!" I complained at my best friend and half shut the door when I walked back to the kitchen while she just laughed and opened the door again.

"Why would I scare you? Why so jumpy? You got a secret in here the police wouldn't like to find?" she teased me as she closed the door and followed after me.

I gave her a look and I could see the second she understood what it meant.

"Oh. My. God. He's here?" she questioned and I immediately hushed her. "Oh he is!" she exclaimed and I facepalmed myself.

"Didn't I just hush you to shut up?" I asked her and she laughed.

"Why? You're afraid I'm gonna say something he'll hear?" she said and I bit my lip while she continued to laugh. "Come one girl, you've had a crush on him for years, I think he'll know everything about you eventually" she winked and I gasped.

"Lanie! Just... shut up" I felt so exposed and I had no idea why.

Castle was supposed to be in my bedroom so there was no possible way that he would actually hear whatever awkward thing Lanie would say next, right?

"You're blushing" she mocked me and I rolled my eyes.

I took a bottle with water out of the fridge to drink some, ignoring my best friend's teasing.

"Wait, does this means he stayed the night?" I continued drinking but nodded without really thinking, "in your bed?" she asked and I couldn't help but spit out the water I had in my mouth.

"What? No, no!" I denied but knew she could see right through me.

"He did! You naughty girl!" she exclaimed and I felt my cheeks burn as I found paper towels to dry the water that I had just spit out.

"Can you just shut it? I can't believe you're so... well... you" I complained and she laughed at me before she shook her head.

"When will you go get him? It's not like I'm going anywhere, and I already know about him being around so it's not like I'm gonna run away and tell on you" she said and for once since she came she was sincere.

I mumbled a 'fine' before I went out of the kitchen only to bump right into the man of the hour. He caught me before I managed to fall and I gave him a narrowed look.

"How long have you been standing here?" I whispered and he shrugged.

"Just came here, was curious who it was" he whispered back, changing the subject and I narrowed my eyes even more.

He looked at me with a 'what?'-look and I decided to let it slide. He was probably telling the truth, at least I hoped so because there was no way I wanted him to have heard Lanie's talk about me having a crush on him for years. Sure it was true but there was no way in hell that I wanted or needed him to know that.

"It's just my best friend, she..." I suddenly remembered that we'd agreed on not telling anyone about us and I shut up.

Well, technically I hadn't told her willingly since she had seen us together at the park but I had still confirmed it and told her more.

"She-uhm-she knows, she saw us at the park and I wasn't able to lie to her..." I told him with shame blushing on my cheeks as I looked down at my feet.

"Hey" he said putting a finger under my chin to make me look up at him, "it's okay. To be honest I wouldn't expect a girl telling her best friend about something like this" he confessed with a chuckle and I narrowed my eyes.

"You're telling me you don't think I, as a girl, can keep a secret?" I asked, half offended.

"Of course you can, but a best friend-bond, especially when it comes to women, seem to be a special connection where the two can always sense when something's 'not right'" he said making quotations in the air.

I couldn't argue with it, even though how much I would've wanted to. Lanie had a special sense that came on the second I was trying to hide something, which was bizarre but to my disappointment true. But then again I could almost always sense when she was hiding something big.

"Well then, I guess you should prepare yourself to meet my other half... in a... sisterly way" I trembled with my words since I realized how weird it sounded along the way as I said it.

He just chuckled and without warning he bent down to kiss my lips gentle before he took my hand and dragged me into the kitchen where Lanie was waiting.