"Daddy?" Rick Castle turned over in bed at the sound of Jamie's voice. Kate had gone in early, which she did sometimes even if she was the captain. "Daddy, what did the Mets do last night?" Ah, yes, the reason for the early wake-up call. Kate had made Jamie go to bed before Game 4 of the National League Championship Series was over, and he needed results.
"Well," Rick drew the word out as much as he could. "They won, Jamie, they won!"
"They did? They did!" the five year old bounced on the bed. "Oh wow, Daddy, they won! Now they go to the World Series, right?"
"Yes they do," Rick answered. And that made him smile to himself. Before he met Kate, he'd had little to no idea what went on in the world of sports. Being the only child of a Broadway diva meant he'd grown up knowing about the latest Broadway opening, not when the Mets or Yankees won the World Series. Yeah, he'd followed sports when he was in boarding school so he could talk to the guys, but once he'd left school, he didn't care anymore.
Then, he met Kate; Kate, who loved sports of all kinds. And Ryan and Esposito were sports crazy too. So he'd started to follow the New York teams again, just so he could join in their conversations. And when he and Kate got married, he had really found out how much she and her dad loved the New York Mets. He'd become a big fan too. Baseball might be kind of dull, as his mother had said at the long ago dinner with the parents, but with Kate to explain all the nuances, he started to love it.
And when Jamie was born, he had the Beckett baseball loving gene. Rick swore the kid actually watched games, even as an infant. (He was born on Opening Day, for goodness sakes.) Kate just laughed, but Jamie did love baseball, and he loved the Mets. From an early age, he'd sit on his Grandpa Jim's lap and clap when they did. He looked adorable in his mini Mets uniform his big sister gave him for his first birthday. His eyes lit up when they took him to Citi Field to watch the Mets in action. And when they let him pick the theme of his bedroom when he was three, of course he wanted a Mets themed room. Now the Mets made the playoffs and Jamie was in the middle of it; even if he couldn't stay up much past the second inning.
"Daddy?" Jamie's question cut into Rick's thoughts. "Can I call Grandpa? Mommy let me do that the other day," he said.
"Well, son, it's only six in the morning. Why don't we wait a little while?" Rick replied with a grin.
His son grinned in reply, and then started jumping on the bed again. Rick knew he'd never go back to sleep, so he jumped out of bed, grabbed his son in mid-jump, and carried him into the kitchen. "I think it's a good day for strawberry happy face pancakes!" Rick said to his son.
"Yeah, it is! Hey Daddy, did Mommy go to work already?"
"She did. She's probably busy, so you can't call her. Maybe after you talk to Grandpa, okay?" Rick started to gather the ingredients for the pancakes as Jamie jumped around the room. Then came the question Rick was waiting for.
"Daddy, when will the World Series start? Because I have to watch with Grandpa so the Mets will win again!" Jamie grinned as he said it. Jamie was a superstitious Mets fan, just like his mother. Yes, the woman who didn't believe in Santa or UFOs or anything otherworldly, was a believer in all sorts of superstitious stuff. She blamed her mother, who made sure Kate always wore the "lucky" sweater during the 1986 World Series. But no matter whose fault it was, Jamie was going to be disappointed. The other series started on the weekend, but the World Series was starting next Tuesday. Now that Jamie was in kindergarten, Kate had put him on a regular sleep schedule. She was flexible when it was a special occasion, but there was no way he could stay up too long. And he would probably not be too happy about that.
"It starts on Tuesday, my man," Rick quietly said. As he watched, Jamie made the connection.
"Oh no, Mommy won't let me stay up too late. And I won't be able to go to Grandpa's house, will I?"
"Probably not. But Grandpa can come here and watch," Rick gave him the plan he and Kate came up with late last night after the game was over. "Mom will make hot dogs for dinner, and we'll make sure we get the same snacks, okay?"
"I guess," Jamie said sadly. "I hope the baseball gods are okay with that."
Rick turned so Jamie wouldn't see his smirk. Kate always said that Jamie was his mini-me, and the kid certainly had the Castle/Rodgers dramatic gene. At that moment, the first pancakes were done, and Rick plated them, and placed one in front of his son. Jamie looked at the happy face of the pancake and smiled.
"You know what, Daddy? I think it will all work out. I'll just make sure I wear my lucky shirt. And my lucky socks. And my lucky underwear!"
Rick started to ask, but decided it was probably best not to question him about the lucky underwear. There are some things best left to the universe to deal with, he thought as he watched his son devour his pancakes.