A/N: Thank you for reading :)

Summary of the plot: The future Castle family is trying to solve issues from their past to help the future. The present Castle family doesn't even know they are a family. Beckett, Castle and Alexis get a glimpse into their future.

Disclaimer: The only part of Castle I own are the electronic devices I use to maintain my love (obsession) for this show.

April 15th, 2009

And the moment wraps around them, takes pieces of their unformed bond as a family and begins to set them together.

He can't help but watch Alexis' face as the older version of her runs away from the splash that the future Kate throws her away. It fills up parts of his ribcage he wasn't aware were broken any longer. Watches the way, the teenage Alexis' laughs when the older version of himself throws her over his shoulder as he reaches out to grabs his version of Kate. He continues to make his way pass knee deep into the water, to dunk them in, as they drag him along for the ride. He watches her, as she smiles slightly, and he sees a longing there that he recognizes from his little girl, the part of her that wishes she had that missing piece in her life just a bit more.

The laughter that echoes in his ears as the future them splash up from underneath the waves blooms in his chest, against, through, around his heart. The happiness, the understanding, the reality, that this will be his future submerges deep into his bones and spreads along his ribs, fights against his parental instincts to grab her until the longing around her features, in the corner of her eyes extricates itself out. He knows it's not him she's missing, and he knows it's not something he can fix, not yet anyways.

He slightly turns his head to catch a glance at Kate, his Kate with the chopped up hair on her shoulders, her posture always stiff, beautiful but strong, extraordinary but guarded and he sees it, the spark that hit him only moments before he turned to watch her, as she watches her life play out, the glimpse of her – their future. He sees her eyes shift down towards Alexis, surprised to see the same longing mirrored in hers, when his observation is cut short, the older version of his daughter yelling out, "Alexis, come and play with us."

One week earlier - 2009

"Time travel is so real," his voice ringing with the belief that their victim was from the future and this is why all his identification states they were issued in the year two thousand sixteen instead of two thousand nine or any year prior.

Castle being Castle he won't accept that they're real- excellent - fakes. That time travel is indeed not real. His theories are giving her headaches - many headaches today. The paperwork is an extra burden, and she's running out of coffee, again. She is silently begging for the day to be over.

"Castle, time travel is not real," she grits out, the frustration of his antics clearly ringing through even to her ears.

"So explain it, Beckett. Every single piece of identification has been identified as real. All of it with distinguished marks from the DMV themselves, his passport, his permit, his wallet," his voice following through with his whiny pitch. One that she on occasion doesn't find as annoying as she use to or pretends to be annoyed with. Though at the moment, she's considering changing her mind for the better. He is severely testing her patience.

"Castle, he's a con artist, a very very good, well off con artist with enough connections in high places that let him get all the fake documents he needed. Someone apparently – obviously, whoever took care of him helped him with the documents. Now can you please for the love of god, drop it," she stumbles a little on her words, though she wants him to stop, she doesn't want to shut him down or make him feel bad. She just wants him to be quiet, for two seconds

He reaches for her cup with a mumble slipping from in between his lips that she barely catches had she not been ready for the childish pout, "He is so a time traveler, I'm going to prove it."

She pretends not to hear him. Though the minute that his back is in front of her, she can't help the smirk that creeps up slowly against the curve of her face, the laughter that shakes her slightly, causing her to shake her head to keep it together. He's ridiculous, honestly.

They get nowhere with the case, slowly becoming a cold case having to pass it off to the next team because there is no connection link to their victim. He just does not exist in their system or around the tri-state area, much to the frustration of Beckett and the fascination of Castle.

Castle continues with his theories, even has the boys tip-toeing on the line that his side about the ID situation. "His ID is issued in two thousand sixteen. Now, think about it? He just turned eighteen, three months ago from what his ID stated. He would've been eleven in this year. It makes complete sense why his ID says two thousand sixteen. I'm telling you guys."

"I can't believe you guys are seriously falling for his story," she interrupts, the laughter spilling from in between her lips. The laughter only grows at the twin chorus of "we don't believe him" rings through the bullpen and forces Castle to grab his chest to vocalize his mock hurt of the boys listening to him under false pretenses of interest.

She wishes she could time-travel, force the day to go faster, land in her bed faster than normal today even if her boys are making are laugh. It's been too long of a day.

May 22nd, 2016

"We can't go." She's standing her ground. They can not and will not do this. No.

"Beckett please, we have too! It's literally for the greater good of ourselves," Castle pouts. Even though she is head deep into the refrigerator at the moment, she can clearly hear the pout from across the room. She knows her husband.

"He's right, you know."

She internally groans. Two Castles against one. She straightens herself up, closes the fridge door to keep the cold air from hitting her any longer, no longer hungry anymore. As she tosses a glare back towards the voice that is going to make this a lot harder than it needs to be.

She watches Alexis raise her hand as a sign of surrender, and she has to hold back a smug smile as she hears her reply, "I'm just saying, mom. Dad has a point." The internal smug smile now dissolved.

"You see, the reasonable, logical Castle in this household even agrees that we should do it. I don't understand why you're against it. We can do it, you know we can. We can change things. We can make things better. We can find the missing puzzle pieces and come back. You know we can."

"And if we changed the past? If we mess up something? If I lose one of you? Then what? For what? Because I want to find the person who took the hit out on my mom? Do the two of you hear yourself?"

They don't understand even though she knows that they do. That the idea of the two of them being in danger is enough to rip open wounds they have long covered before today. The very idea of losing Castle or Alexis sinks a deep hit to her solar plexus, forces an ache in her bones she hasn't felt since she was 19. She can't, she won't go through this again.

She doesn't understand why she's having this discussion. She doesn't understand with she is having this conversation with her sixteen-year-old daughter in the room, to begin with. That thought is enough to have her lifting her eyes narrowing them at the both of them, but focusing on her husband, knowing he'll understand the message.

He sighs in defeat, "Can you go to your room, pumpkin?"

"But – wait no – mom I want to be a part of this, I am a part of this. That's not –"

"Alexis, I promise I'll speak to you about this after but please go to your room." She has to fight the urge that tells her to stay because she knows that Alexis just wants her to be happy, but she doesn't need this to be happy. She has them; someone else can do it. It doesn't need to be either her or her family.

TBC