The Beginning of the Middle

Everyone has an origin story.

Spoilers for 6X11. Kind of a post ep. Kind of complete fluff also…

Beckett softly pushed the front door of the loft shut and was greeted with warm familiarity. She caught a wry smile that likely matched hers on Ryan's face as he drew his coat from his arms and drooped it over the stand. Giggles and screams were typical this time of day. It was story time. Uncle Rick was in his element.

Sarah Grace was tugging on Castle's sleeve with intent, a lopsided look of determination clouding her expression. She'd caught Ryan's tenacity… and his willingness to believe Castle's crazy theories. Still, most the stories he told the children had an element of truth. Especially the one he was about to tell, or retell, tonight if the next words out of sweet Sarah's mouth were any indication –

"Uncle Rick, I want to hear my origin story. Tell it to me, please!" her mini-Jenny puppy dog eyes were no match for any creature with a heart. Ryan cleared his throat at her plea and Sarah turned to acknowledge his existence. "Oh. Umm, what I meant was… pretty please Uncle Rick, will you pretty please tell my origin story. Please?" She fluttered her eyelids in such a manner that Beckett knew the little girl would have no trouble getting her way in life. Despite the cute factor, Beckett had to bite back a chuckle at the girl's rephrased plea. She wasn't entirely successful and Ryan turned to glare at her.

"We're working on manners at the moment," he ground out of the corner of his mouth, just loud enough for Beckett to hear. He puffed out his chest, evidently a little impressed with his parenting efforts.

"You just need to teach her to do it when you're not around," Beckett stage whispered back. Ryan deflated a little. Her voice must have carried just loud enough for Castle to overhear as his lips curved upwards in the beginning of a grin he reserved just for her. She shot him a wink. His grin broke through, along with a graceless snort.

Sarah pouted.

"Un-c-le R-iiiii-ck," she reminded, very much on the cusp of whining. She chanced a glance at her daddy, only to see he was less than impressed. She rolled the image of her mother's eyes in a manner that was very befitting of her Auntie Katie. Ryan shot Beckett a bristling glare.

"That Beckett eye roll so does not align with our manners teaching," he shook his head.

"Shush," Beckett chided lovingly. "Uncle Rick's about the tell Sarah's origin story. Aren't you, Uncle Rick?"

"Indeed," Castle grinned. "If you two ever stop chattering…" Sarah beamed at Castle, throwing an impatient and frustrated look over her shoulder at her father and aunt. She clamoured unceremoniously into her uncle's lap. Her face a mask of pure unadulterated expectation.

The little girl had heard the story more times than Beckett cared to count. She never tired of it. The first time Castle had told the story, it had been almost a coping mechanism. Fresh from the fire that had almost cost them their brothers, their partners, or in Jenny and Lanie's case, their lovers. The fire that had almost cost precious, light in any room, infectiously joyous, Sarah her beloved daddy. Castle had cooed over the crib, the whole family revelling over the new life and the lives licked but renewed by the flame, and concocted a tale. A truth, but a story all at once.

Beckett and Ryan moved towards the pair already settled in the room. Castle's eyes sparking alight with the story and its telling. Sarah's mouth slightly agape in awe of her magnificent uncle and his perfect stories.

"Some say the world will end in fire, some say the world will end in ice," Castle's voice rang through the loft, his audience entranced despite the worn words. "Others, like myself for example, choose to believe the world isn't going to end…not in this story anyway. In this story, two brave knights and their families slay fire and ice and save the world. One of those brave knights is your father, miss Sarah Grace," he tugged gently on her hair and she released a tiny chuckle in response.

"I know," she whispered happily. "This is my origin story."

"Yes," Castle acknowledged, "this is your origin story." Beckett felt Ryan's eyes on her and returned his strained smile. Four years later and it was still the best-worst night of his life.

"It's the best story, Uncle Rick," Sarah smiled sweetly, snuggling into her uncle's broad chest. He hummed his agreement.

"It's certainly one of my favourites. Shall we continue?"

Sarah nodded, "we're up to the part where the evil man with the heart like ice tries to hurt daddy and Uncle Javi."

"Right. Every story has a villain. This story is no different. The villain in this story wasn't your typical villain. He was worse. He had a heart like ice. No matter what he did, he couldn't thaw it out. All the ice inside left him feeling cold and miserable. He couldn't get warm like a normal person in winter with a nice cosy blanket and cocoa. Instead, he set fire to things. Not just little things either. He set fire to big things. With all the ice that was in his heart he probably would have burnt down the whole of New York City if your brave daddy hadn't stopped him."

Beckett loved that Castle had managed to turn the whole night into a children's fairytale. Truth, but the child adapted version. Not too scary, but just enough fear to grasp that it was a big deal. She knew Castle would catch her and mock her relentlessly for staring at him dreamily during his storytelling mode. His stories were the first thing about him she fell in love with so she was allowed to get a little moony eyed. He caught her eyes for a soft shared smile as he continued with the story.

"Your daddy knew that the ice villain existed. He knew that the ice villain had hurt people and had lit a lot of fires that had threatened to hurt more people. It was up to your daddy, the courageous knight and all his friends to find the ice villain before he hurt anyone else. They caught a break when they realised a fire investigator had been tracking the ice villain. The fire investigator hadn't been able to escape the evil clutches of the ice villain himself, but he had left a map which led the knights to the ice villain's next target. The knights strode fearlessly into the targeted building. They found all the sorts of things that villain's use to light fires and realised that they had actually stumbled into the ice villain's lair! The knights searched for clues but it was too late… the lair was booby trapped and the knights accidently set off an explosion. Soon, the whole building was on fire, just like the ice villain wanted."

Beckett's eyes shifted to Ryan's and she could read the tension rolling in them. It dulled with every retelling. Jenny was pregnant for the second time and Beckett couldn't help but think that the team would have to stage something grand so that the new baby didn't feel left out origin story time. Still, she figured the Ryan's could probably deal with having a baby born in a less dramatic circumstance. Sometimes the origin story of, 'we were all gathered in the hospital and it all went smoothly,' was the best origin story. Little Sarah loved her unique one though, her eyes locked on Castle's waiting eagerly for his every word.

"Your mummy was beside herself with worry. She rushed to the ice villain's lair but it was just too hot and she couldn't get in to rescue your daddy. It was such a powerful fire that the fire-fighters couldn't even get in to the building to save the knights. Besides, your mummy had other things to worry about. She had to worry about you. See, you, sweet Sarah were so worried about your daddy that you wanted to come out into the world and help rescue him too. Deep in the pits of the burning building, the knights were fighting valiantly to get out. If they could just escape the fiery clutches of the ice villain then no one would have to put their lives in danger to rescue them. Simple. Or, at least it would be simple if they could find a way out. Your daddy had hurt his leg, so they couldn't climb out. Plus, the fire was worse above them. So that ruled that out."

Ryan and Esposito, already brothers but bonded all the more by the experience. They had told the story categorically in the beginning, the emotion masked, but when the loyalty surfaced both their eyes had shone with unshed tears. Neither wanting to leave the other, but Ryan injured and unable to move far. Beckett knew it would have been the same had it been her and Castle down there. Loyalty between partners a resonating factor connecting the team intricately.

"They scoured the room entombing them and came up with nothing. Your clever daddy thought about you and how much he loved you and managed to make a phone. He told your mummy how much he loved you and together they gave you your name. Then, just like that, your daddy's phone stopped working and all hope was lost. Your Auntie Katie got really angry after that. She knew that the knights were stronger than the ice villain. She knew that if they found him, they could stop him. She also knew that they were running out of time. Luckily, your Auntie Katie is the cleverest of all clever people. She used her super cleverness and realised who the ice villain was. Even better, she realised where to find him. Auntie Katie defeated the ice villain in seconds. She melted the ice in his heart with her love for the knights. Without the ice in his heart he would never be strong enough to terrorise the world again. The fire-fighters cleared a path for the knights to march victoriously into freedom. The very first thing your daddy did was to find your mummy and meet you."

"…and that's my origin story," Sarah breathed with delight.

"Yes, Squash, that's your origin story," Castle murmured. Beckett snorted at the attempted term of endearment. Castle grinned defensively –

"She has blonde hair! What do you expect me to call her? Corn?"

"Must you insist on nicknaming all little girls in this family after vegetables? Pumpkin is kind of cute, I'll give you that. Squash, not so much," she griped, her tone rich with humour.

"It's better than potato!" an adorable voice squeaked. Beckett spun to see her daughter in the doorway, bemused older sister in tow.

"Hi Sweetie," she pressed a gentle kiss to the girl's temple. "Hi Alexis," she smiled.

"Potato? Seriously, Dad?" Alexis groaned.

"What? She has brown hair. You try thinking of a brown vegetable," Castle muttered defensively.

"Potato's aren't even brown. That's d-i-r-t," she enunciated with a disapproving click of her tongue. It was very Lanie-ish, the woman was a constant negative influence. He was going to have a stern word with her. (Or maybe not, Lanie was kind of scary and totally capable of gouging out his eyeballs).

"Hush now, Alexis. We both know that your little sister bathes at least twice a month," he winked at his wife. She pressed her fingers to her brow and cursed him inwardly with a slow shake of her head.

"Daddy eww!" giggled his baby.

"Well," Ryan coughed, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. "This has been fun. See you later Castle's. Princess, it's time for bed. What do you need to say to Uncle Rick?"

"See ya real soon!" Sarah chirped, prancing from Rick's lap and into her father's outstretched arms.

"And…" Ryan hinted. Sarah chewed on her lip, careful consideration etched on her face.

"Oh… Thanks for telling me my origin story, Uncle Rick," she beamed, clearly very impressed with herself.

"Work in progress," Ryan mouthed to Beckett who curved her lips upwards in a show of support. "And, thank you for looking after her all day," Ryan added, clapping Castle on the shoulder in farewell.

"No problem. See you tomor…" he was cut off by his daughter –

"Did you tell Sarah's origin story? I wanna hear my origin story. Daddy, please!" Castle opened his arms to his daughter with a nod. She plunged into his lap. Beckett settled on the couch. This one was her favourite.

"Once upon a time, the greatest crime novelist in the land had a book launch…"