57. 58: Monday

58

Rick finds Kate at the far end of the beach, walking side by side with Alexis through the surf. He grabs both their hands and tugs backwards, grinning.

"What?" Kate says, resisting his pull, digging her feet in. As usual.

"Come on. I found something."

She looks like she wants to argue, but Alexis is already at his side, good girl, and so Kate just rolls her eyes and steps across the sand towards them. He keeps her hand, their fingers loose, and he watches the horizon for a moment, pinpointing his destination, before he turns to look at Kate.

"It's worth it. Promise."

She just smirks at him, sliding her eyes over him like a hot hand. He leans in and kisses her cheek, then tugs Alexis against his side to give her a hug.

"Too muggy out here," his daughter says, shrugging him off. He gives her a pitiful look and she rolls her eyes back at him, loops her arm through his instead. "There. Happy now?"

"Yes, much better." And he would say something about having both his girls, ung, no, his women? no, that would get him a swift kick or a twist of his ear, and he can't think it without wincing-

"Don't even say it," Kate murmurs darkly at his shoulder and he turns to give her a startled look.

"You are seriously reading my mind. But I was having trouble coming up with the words to say it," he answers honestly, sighing a little, and her lips quirk up at that.

Oh, look. He made her smile.

Castle grins back and wriggles his fingers in her hand, squeezes a little, and then leads them down the beach towards his discovery.

He sits down on the porch swing and pats either side of him, inviting them both. Alexis snuggles up first, kicking her feet through the sand, and then Kate drops down as well, slower to snuggle, but fitting up nicely against him.

They stare out over the so blue water and he pushes off with his toes, sets the swing to rocking. Because of his angle, the force makes first one side go back and then the other, crooked, and it takes a moment for the chains to untwist and swing straight.

"Where did this come from?" Kate laughs then, turning her cheek towards his shoulder and resting there.

He goes momentarily speechless at the soft touch of her hair against his neck, his arm, and he can't formulate a response.

Alexis leans into him on the other side. "I bet someone decided they needed a swing out here and just dragged it down to the beach."

"But who?" Kate murmurs. "There's no hotel right here, no private houses. The beach goes straight back to that parking lot."

"Public access porch swing," Castle says finally. "Someone just - wants to swing."

"It's kind of amazing," his daughter offers. "The breeze and the water and the sand. All while sitting on a swing. A vacation within a vacation."

Kate sighs contentedly on his other side and he nuzzles his nose into his daughter's hair, wants to do the same to Kate but-

Oh hell, go for it.

He turns and drops his lips to the crown of Kate's hair, strokes his cheek across the top of her head. She curls a leg up, her knee under her chin, and leans into him, her hand on his thigh, warm and heavy.

He slides his palm up her arm to her shoulder, cups her neck and brushes his thumb at her nape, the soft hair there. His heart pounds even as his whole body eases back into the white wooden seat, the water brilliant and reflecting the glory of the sun, Alexis and Kate on either side of him, his toes crunching grains of sand as he pushes off, the swing lazy and arcing.

Kate's mouth comes against his shoulder with murmurs he can't hear, only feel as they vibrate through his shirt and into his skin. Warm, responsive. He curls his fingers at her ear, stroking, and feels the weight of her against him. His. . .what?

Kate. His partner.

His family.

All of it.