Jim Beckett loved nothing more than to sit in a boat and fish. It had always been one of his ways to relax. He had learned at the family cabin when he was a boy, and he had been happy that he was the one who inherited it. He remembered many happy hours with Jo and Katie here, and some bittersweet ones when Katie came here to recover after she was shot.
Now it was a happy place again. Yes, Rick and Katie had the Hamptons house, but they loved this place as well. And Jim's grandkids were thrilled to visit whenever they could. (About the only member of the family not thrilled with the place was probably Martha. But they all understood that.) The kids loved it so much, Rick had asked if Jim was okay with a few additions – when they all came, there simply wasn't enough room for everybody. So he and Jim had worked together with a contractor and the cabin could hold more than three people now. They'd even updated with a satellite dish, even if they almost never watched it.
So Jim often had a fishing companion these days. All three of his young grandchildren loved to fish. Heck, even his honorary granddaughter, Alexis, was known to sit and fish with him from time to time. But right now, he had one of his favorite fishing pals – his seven year old granddaughter, Hannah.
From the moment she was born, everyone said she was a mini-Kate, and Jim led the way. When Rick first put her in his arms, Jim looked down and flashbacked to the moment of Katie's birth – Hannah looked exactly like her mother. As she got older, it became more and more apparent. But Hannah was also a Castle – which meant she loved a good story, either to listen to or to tell. So every time they fished together, they also talked.
"Grandpa, did Grandma Jo love to fish?" the young girl asked.
"Oh no, she didn't like it at all! But she was always a good sport. She'd come along with me, and sit on the porch and read a book. I remember a lot of those books being written by one Richard Castle," Jim replied.
"Daddy's books? Grandma read Daddy's books?"
"Yes, she loved them. She'd read and wait for me to come back to the cabin. I'd have fish that I'd caught and cleaned and sometimes she'd cook it, and sometimes I'd cook it."
"What about Mommy – did she love to fish?"
"Yes she did – just like you guys do. She would sit in the boat with me for hours," her grandpa replied. He smiled at Hannah, and he knew that more questions would be coming. He wasn't disappointed. She asked him if he'd ever gone fishing anywhere else (yes), she asked if her mom caught fish a lot (yes, Katie was good at everything she tried), and she asked if he liked fishing with her.
"Of course I do," he answered. "Even if you do talk a lot," he teased. She laughed and kept on talking. Jim let her because it warmed his heart. Years ago, if you had asked him if he would be lucky enough to have grandchildren, he probably would have said no. He had let himself sink into a bottle. Katie had thrown herself into her work, or her mother's case. But Katie had helped him get out of the bottle, and she had dropped her mother's case. She still threw herself into her work, and her relationships had gone nowhere. And then Rick Castle had pushed himself into her life. Jim remembered some of those original conversations when she had told him about her shadow. He could see she wasn't as annoyed as she pretended to be. And then when he actually met the man, he could see how much Rick cared about his daughter. Soon, they were obviously in love with one another, and he began to think about the possibility of a grandchild or two.
So now he had four of them – he always counted Alexis – and right now, sitting in a boat, fishing with his youngest granddaughter was his favorite place to be. Just then, Hannah got a nibble on her line, and he helped her reel it in. "Nice catch, sweetheart," he told her as she grinned. He helped her bait her hook again, and they continued to enjoy being together. Ah yes, he thought. Someday, when she tells the story of this fishing trip, that fish would be big enough to eat. But for now, he had quietly returned it to the lake. Every fisherman had a fish tale to tell, even seven year old girls.