60. 62: Friday

62

"Dad?"

Alexis comes into the living-room, already dressed even though it's only nine in the morning. She woke up at eight and couldn't go back to sleep; she's not sure if it's the sunlight pouring in through the wooden blinds, or the excitement of being back in New York soon.

Maybe her body just decided she'd had enough sleep.

"Kate?"

The door to the master bedroom is closed, which means they're probably still asleep. Kate gets up pretty early, or at least she did at the beginning of their vacation, but apparently Castle's habits have started to grow on her. Either that, or he's holding her hostage.

Alexis's nose crinkles at the thought.

She hesitates at the door. She could go to the pool alone, sure, make the most of it before the heat is at its worst... but she wouldn't mind some company, to be honest. She presses her lips together, gently rasps her knuckles against the wood.

"Dad?" she calls quietly.

Still no answer. The silence is so complete; at least they're not in the middle of-

taking a nap.

Her lower lip pulled between her teeth, Alexis turns the handle, cracks the door open. Their room is about as light-filled as hers, maybe even more so, and she finds herself squinting her eyes against the brightness.

When she's adjusted, though, a small, irresistible smile plays on her lips.

Her father is sprawled in the middle of the bed, sleeping on his stomach, face mashed into the pillow and brown hair (scattered with grey now, which Alexis loves to tease him about) in disarray.

Kate is curled up on her side, facing her... partner (it feels wrong to call them anything else). She has both her forearms folded in front of her chest, as if for protection; or so it would seem if she wasn't loosely cradling Castle's hand between her two.

Jeez. Even asleep, they're adorable.

The girl is strongly tempted to jump on the bed and wake them both, but at the same time they make such a charming picture. It would be criminal. She bobs her head and sighs, retreats slowly.

She'll leave them a note, take her book down to the pool so she can either swim or read.

Her dad's probably not going to sleep in too late, anyway; he mentioned last night that he had great plans for her last day, that she would "go out with a bang." A phrase that Alexis has always found rather scary, if she's honest, but coming from her dad - it can't be so bad.

Well, it can, but... at least she knows it will be fun.

She draws a heart above the "i" of Alexis, another one after her name, and she leaves the note where they can't miss it, propped against the coffee machine.

The pool is beckoning.

Kate is the one who finds Alexis's note - Castle is in the shower - and she hates herself for a split second. Technically, yeah, they went to bed pretty late, and then this morning Rick woke her early because he, hmm, needed her help to get back to sleep, and-

Yeah.

They slept in.

It's only ten, so it's not the end of the world, but Kate hates to think that she can come between Alexis and her father like this, that she's maybe a bad influence on Castle.

She waited all this time so she could be good for him. This is not-

"Hey," he calls from the bedroom, stepping into view. He's toweling his hair dry, his eyes very blue in the morning light, and as always her heart gives a little.

"Alexis left us a note," she answers, the guilt surging again as she waves the square of paper towards him. "She's gone to the pool."

"Oh?" He throws the towel over the back of a chair, leaning in to catch his daughter's message, his eyes quickly scanning it. She's watching him, somewhat anxiously, and she doesn't miss the flash of shame across his eyes.

Damn.

Kate bites her lip and turns back to the coffee machine, working it in neat, sharp movements, and she's so focused on what she's doing that she almost jumps when Castle's large hands come to bracket her waist.

"Kate," he says softly, and crap, he knows exactly what she's thinking, doesn't he?

"You should go meet up with her," she answers, determined to ignore the gentleness in his voice that she doesn't deserve. "Go, Castle, and I'll bring down your coffee when it's ready. Anything else you want?"

His fingers curl over her skin, the contact almost as lovely as if she were naked, and her eyes slide closed. "Kate," he says again, a tinge of reproach coloring his words.

"Castle," she sighs. There's a brief silence, then she breaks. "Go be with your daughter. Please."

His mouth brushes her ear, the side of her neck, the curve of her shoulder. "I will," he offers soothingly. "But sleeping in was my fault, Kate. I should have set my alarm, that's all. Alexis will forgive me."

She chews on the inside of her cheek, but he's already shifting her in his embrace, turning her towards him so he can press a loving kiss to her lips. She doesn't deserve this-

"You deserve every good thing in the world, Kate Beckett," he declares solemnly, his eyes so intense as he reads into her. "And then some."

Another light touch of his mouth, and he's moving away, grabbing sunblock and sunglasses as he goes, waving at her before he closes the door. Kate smiles, can't help herself, and waves back even though she's perfectly aware of how stupid they look.

She turns back to the coffee machine, her chest fluttering, and even the thought of Alexis at the pool by herself cannot quite make her feel heavy again.

His daughter's sitting by the pool, her calves immersed in the water, a large straw hat on her head that Martha must have left behind. She seems completely absorbed in her book and Castle pauses for a moment, watching the graceful line of her back, the pretty contrast between her blue swimsuit and her light golden skin, the red strands falling from the bun that she seems to have gathered under the hat.

Alexis. His pumpkin.

He can't believe she's eighteen already.

He still hasn't moved when she lifts her head, alerted by a spidey sense maybe, and reaches to slide her sunglasses down her nose.

"Hey, dad," she says gaily; she closes her book and he takes it as an invitation, comes to her side, sinking down to the tiles.

He jumps back up again. "Ow ow ow," he whines. "This is burning - how do you even-"

Alexis smiles that clever little grin that he's seen a number of times over the years, lifts her thigh so he can see that she's sitting on her folded beach towel. Right.

Beach towel. That's the thing he forgot.

"Share with me?" he pouts, and she laughs, humors him by giving up half, spreading it out for him to sit.

"Did you put on sunblock?" she asks, her eyes narrowing knowingly. "Cause you're gonna burn, Dad."

He grabs the spray that he brought with him, beams at his daughter, putting as much five-year-old as he can in his expression.

"Can you do me?"

She lets out a sound between a snort and a laugh. "Gross, Dad!"

He thinks over his words. Nothing he hasn't said to her before, honestly. "I think somebody's mind is in the gutter," he says, arching a pleased eyebrow.

Alexis blushes fiercely but she stares back. "And whose fault is that, I wonder," she shoots back, eyebrows raised at him.

The good thing with being sunburned is that even if you're a little embarrassed, there's no way it'll show. "I'll do the front if you do my back," he offers, a compromise that isn't really one, because it's not like he needs his daughter to lather his whole body with sunscreen.

Ew. He understands what she means now. Somehow there's something wrong with that image.

"Sure, I'll do your back," Alexis laughs cheekily, as if she can read his mind. "I don't want to hang around with a walking lobster."

"Always so considerate."

"I know, I'm the perfect daughter." She gives him a sparkling look that can't mean anything good, her mouth curling up with enjoyment as she dramatically declaims, "Now, if only you could embrace the role of father with the same level of commitment-"

His loud groan drowns the end of her line - really, he's glad his mother isn't here, because if she could hear Alexis quoting her? She'd never stop gloating about it. Castle reaches for his daughter, deciding that this affront deserves the highest punishment in his book.

Tickling.

"Dad, no," Alexis protests laughingly, struggling against him, twisting to escape his nimble fingers. She doesn't stand a chance. "Come on - you're not even finished with the sunblock-"

"Distracting me will not work, daughter," he tells her in his sternest voice. "You have been sentenced to five minutes of tickling, and you shall endure them-"

Her left leg jerks up from the pool, the jab of her knee in his ribs drawing all the air from his lungs just as she hooks an arm around his shoulder, pushes.

He barely has time to realize what's happening; he feels his weight shift and then he's falling, crying out but powerless to stop it. He's even momentarily scared (no, really just startled, he's not scared) but there's no way he'll let his daughter know that.

He hits the cool water and then reflexes take over, his foot hitting the bottom to make him surface; he coughs water out for a few more seconds than he'd like.

Alexis is watching him, smirking. He didn't even manage to take her down with him.

He's growing old.

"You got me," he admits, smiling. He shakes his hair, trying to get the water out of his ears, then bounces on his toes a few times, hopping, but gives up when it doesn't work. "So," he says, figuring he might as well take the chance he's offered. "Is that my punishment for leaving you alone this morning?"

His daughter rolls her eyes at him. "Dad."

Ah, but the thing is - he maybe means it? A little?

His silence clues her in and Alexis shakes her head at him this time, that affectionate look in her eyes that always eases his heart. She takes off the hat, pushes her book farther from the edge, and slides into the pool, water gently lapping around her body.

She joins him with a stroke, wraps herself around him the way she did when she was little, curled at his back, legs around his waist and head on his shoulder. His baby koala.

"Dad. Please tell me you don't feel guilty for sleeping in."

"It's your last day," he objects before he can help himself. "It should be special."

"I didn't even want to come to Belize in the first place! But you made me, and we had this amazing vacation, and I can't even be mad at you anymore, so really, you should be pretty happy with yourself right now. All I'm sayin'."

He mulls that over, comforted by the honesty in her voice, pleased that she has managed to enjoy herself despite the circumstances.

He feels the press of her cheek against his, her arms tightening around his chest, and she murmurs with a smile, "Dad. News flash. It's always special, no matter what."