Finding home

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.