Chapter 26 - Found it

I pulled Alexis inside and quickly shut the door behind us so no one would hear her father's outburst.

"I think I found it, I don't know how but I did!" Castle continued to ramble in a loud voice.

I saw Alexis look at her father with a shocked look before her eyes turned to me.

"Castle, slow down!" I said louder so he would hear me over his babbling about finding something.

He stopped middle sentence and turned to us.

"What Castle, what did you find?" I asked and he opened his mouth but then he looked at his daughter.

"Dad?" Alexis asked and Castle snapped out of it.

"I found the tape that could help us get Alexis back to me" he said and I widened my eyes with surprise.

"You did!" I exclaimed and I felt a smile appear on my lips.

He nodded with a big smile and Alexis's voice filled the room.

"I can live with you again?" she asked and he looked at his daughter.

"Yes" he said and she let go of a small scream of joy as she ran towards her father.

I watched as he lifted her up in his arms and twirled around with her laughing. I felt my eyes get watery at the scene. It was clear those two loved each other more than anything, and that they needed each other to survive.

"Kate can come with me, we can live in our loft all of us" Alexis said with a big smile and I looked at her with shock.

"Pumpkin, that's probably too big of a bomb to drop this soon" Castle chuckled and I looked at him with a questioning look. "You are welcome to live with us though" he added lower with a small grin.

I opened my mouth but wasn't sure of what to say. I didn't want to leave Alexis or Castle but I wasn't sure if living with them was the greatest idea considering the fact that we weren't supposed to even see each other, yet.

"Oh" Alexis said but waved to me to come over.

I shook my head to loose the thoughts and walked over to the two. As soon as I got into grasping range Castle put one of his arms around my waist and pulled me into him. I put one hand on his shoulder and the other one around Alexis who was still in Castle's arms. I was really surprised when Castle suddenly came closer and kissed my lips. My heart stopped for a moment as I felt the electricity move from his lips to mine. I pulled away when I heard a small giggle right beside my ear.

"Daddy and Kate sitting in a tree" Alexis mocked in her small whispering voice.

I felt my cheeks go red and was trying to move away from Castle but he kept his arm around me to keep me close.

"We should, uhm, I need to..." Castle cut me off with another kiss which made my knees go weak.

"Can you move in with us now Kate?" Alexis asked and I looked at her.

"Too soon pumpkin" Castle whispered as he let me go, kissed Alexis's forehead before he sat her down on the ground.

She grinned big before she ran off towards her room. The second she was out of sight I turned to look at Castle with narrowed eyes.

"We didn't decide on telling her about us" I said with a small shock showing in my voice.

"She already had her suspicions" he winked before he put his arms around me again, "sorry though, I probably should've asked you first" he said with a sincere voice and looked down.

I bit my lip, I couldn't be mad at him. He was too adorable to be mad at.

"Fine" I said and when I didn't say more he looked up into my eyes.

I smiled at him and put my hands on his cheeks before I leaned forward and pecked his lips in one quick move before I moved away.

"Now, where do you think the tape that can set us free is?" I asked and he shone up.

"That's the best part, it is exactly where we can easily get it without having to break in somewhere" he said with a great smile.

I waited for him to continue but of course he waited for me to say something, or perhaps he thought I could read his mind.

"Where?" I pushed to get my answer.

"Your childhood home" he said and I felt my eyes widen and the confusion set in.

"What?" I asked and he nodded.

"Yeah, I'm not really sure how but I hacked into an old account your mother had on the site the company she worked for has, I found private notes" he started and I interrupted him.

"I tried decoding that, no luck" I said with disappointment showing in my voice.

"Then you might not like the fact that I made it?" he said carefully, watching my face. 

I widened my eyes.

"You cracked it?!" I exclaimed.

He nodded with a small smile.

"It said that she loved her family in case anything happened to her, it also left a clue that made me believe the tape is hidden in your old basement" he explained and I felt my tears watering.

I bit my lip and closed my eyes to try and get rid of the tears I felt coming. I jumped when I felt a pair of arms around me but quickly snuggled into his chest as I felt him hugging me tight. It felt nice to have someone care for you without feeling like it's their job. I mean like my dad care for me yes, but it was also kind of his duty considering he was my father. Castle wasn't related to me in any way but he still cared for me. Like Lanie and the boys only he cared for me on a total different level.

"I'm sorry" he whispered in my hair as I felt his lips kiss the top of my head over and over again.

I took in a deep breath, which resulted in me filling my nostrils with his scent and opened my mouth.

"Let's go find out who killed her" I said with a determined voice and I felt his arms loosen around me.

"You're dad still lives there right? Because when I searched for the adress I found in her notes I could find one Jim Beckett living there and that's the same name as your dad" he said and I raised an eyebrow.

"It's kinda scary how you actually know that" I said and he bit his lip, regretting saying anything. "Relax, it was just a small comment" I said, stepping onto my toes to peck his lips.

"Are we going to Jim?" Alexis asked and I turned around to see her peeking out at us through the corner.

"Alexis, you know it's spying and not good to eavesdrop" Castle said before I saw him winking, "proud of you."

I rolled my eyes as Alexis giggled and ran up to us. She hugged my leg with a cute smile set on her lips.

"So? Are we going to Jim?" she asked looking up at me.

"Yes, we are" I smiled at the little girl who let go of my leg and jumped around with a joyous shout.

I couldn't help but chuckle and so did Castle. Alexis looked up at us with a grin showing on her face.

"Well, do your father know about me? I mean, can I come with you without him questioning who I am? Does he know what I look like?" Castle started to ask one question but then continued to give voice to his thinking.

I looked at him with a wrinkled forehead. It was a couple of good questions. I had literally no idea if my dad knew how the famous Richard Castle looked like today. He probably knew how he looked like a few years ago thanks to my posters, which probably meant he would recognize Castle now because he still looked as handsome as then.

"You do know you're thinking out loud right?" Castle asked and I looked at him with my eyes wide opened.

"What?" I exclaimed in a low voice.

"Yeah, but I agree, I'm still handsome" he smirked and I groaned turning around and walking into my bedroom.

I heard Alexis tell her dad he's childish before her small feet came running behind me. I opened my drawer and checked in it to find something that could help us.

"What are you looking for?" Alexis asked coming to stand beside me.

"How do you think your dad would look like in this?" I asked holding up a dress with a teasing pout.

She started laughing before she tried to gather herself and look at the dress signaling with her narrowed eyes and her hand at her chin that she was trying to picture her dad in it.

"Yeah, mm, no, it's too you. Jim would notice it's yours" she said with a serious tone before she burst out laughing.

"I heard that" Castle said from the door opening with a grumpy look.

I bit my lips trying to bite down the smile that was growing in my face.

"You don't think you'd look great in this?" I asked holding up the dress to show him the whole thing.

He gave me a look before his answer came out giving me a shock.

"It's exactly my color no denying that but come one" he started, "if it's bought to fit it'll never fit me" he said, his eyes roaming my body to state his point.

I felt my body stiffen because of his looking before I turned around and folded the dress to put it down in my drawer again. I accidentally touched one of my scarfs and looked at it for a few seconds. It was blue with black stripes, or black with blue stripes depending who you asked.

"Are you good with accents?" I asked taking up the scarf along with a black basker.

"What?" he questioned, surprised by the sudden question.

I turned around and showed him the items. He raised his eyebrows and I sighed.

"Can you or can you not?" I asked and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, think I can but I'm not sure if I'm any good" he confessed and I narrowed my eyes in thoughts.

I threw the scarf with the basker on my bed before I went into my bathroom.

"What's she doing?" I heard Castle ask after me.

"I don't know, why you asking me?" I heard Alexis answer with her sweet innocent voice.

I went over to my bureau and opened my makeup drawer. I smirked to myself as I took out some of it before I returned to my bedroom where Castle and his daughter had placed themselves on the bed to wait for me. I held up the makeup for them to see.

"What do you say Alexis, should we give your father a makeover?" I suggested and I saw her face lit up with an evil kind of spark.

"Yes!" she exclaimed and when I looked at Castle he looked frightened.

"What?" he said with a high pitched voice.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing at his expression.

"Relax Castle, I'm joking" I said in between the laughs, "well, half. I'm going to put makeup on you but only to try and make it impossible for my dad to recognize you" I added.

He narrowed his eyes but nodded as Alexis continued to laugh.

"Can we put lipstick on him?" Alexis asked as she tried to catch her breath.

"Another time, promise" I winked at her and got a disapproving look in his eyes.

I stuck my tongue out at him before I went to him to start on my masterpiece. Before I could start he grabbed me by putting his hands on my cheeks and crashed his lips on mine. I heard Alexis laugh again before I managed to pull away panting. He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at my reaction.

"Shut up" I said as I determined started changing his looks with my makeup.