Yet another installment in the Round Robin twitter project, some of you must have seen already or even taken part in, composed by 26 fanfiction writers this time. (Again, the full, updated list as well as the link to the original twitter thread can be found in the profile). Thanks to everyone for joining in, both writers and readers. Until next time! XO.

"I was going for laughs," Rick laments. "What's not funny about a 'zombie prom'?"

"There's nothing funny about blood and guts, Dad. I bet you just looked gross," Alexis shakes her head at him and he scoffs, looking over to Beckett.

"You get it right?"

"Sorry to break it to you, Castle, but if anyone was laughing, it was probably at you, not with you."

"Whatever," he shrugs. "It doesn't matter - Mother didn't save the photos." A look of horror slowly creeps across his face. "At least... I don't think she did..."

Kate and Alexis exchange a look behind his back. They nod to each other. Their mission is clear.

"Darlings!" Martha's voice trills out over Alexis's speaker phone. "Of course I saved the Zombie Prom photos! I think they're -"

But Castle is already running for the stairs, Kate right behind him.

He hits the linen closet first, yanking out stacks of towels and bed sheets, the smell of fabric softener unfurling in the air. But he has it; it's his. No one can take it from him.

Kate plucks from his hands the box he has just unearthed.

"Blackmail," she crows.

"No. No, wait! Let me explain..."

"Explain? I thought you were going for laughs?" Kate teases, barely able to contain her giggle. She reaches for the first picture and her jaw drops.

"Wait. What is this?" She whispers, all humor suddenly evaporating from the air around them.

"What?" he asks, trying to keep some levity in his voice, even as it shakes, the truth about to come out. "Oh, that's not a prom picture?"

Kate narrows her eyes before replying. "I knew it. You are a closet Nebula 9 fan!"

'I... am?' He tries, because admitting that is preferable than the truth. 'Yes, ya got me, Kate. Such a fan! Love Chloe, sorry I made you think otherwise!'

He plasters a grin on his face but Beckett merely scowls. Okay, change of plans. 'Don't get mad, okay?'

"Even after watching, I don't like it. I kept those pictures for you. I was going to have them signed, but Chloe's in jail, what's-his-face is an idiot, so...I just hid them." He takes her hand, his thumb running circles across her skin. "I am sorry."

She sighs.

"A-ha"

Alexis' voice rings through the loft and they jump apart, turn their heads to see her arriving in the doorway.

"You really should have let gram end her sentence before running off," she says, a stack of photos in her hands and a mischievous grin on her face.

"She printed them all out and just..." the photos fall on the carpet with a muffled flop, as Alexis stares at the box, awe and surprise weirdly combined in her eyes.

"Dad? Is it what I think it is?" Castle winces, now looking more than a little sheepish, his ears thoroughly red.

"Er..." he manages, before embarrassment silences him. Beckett wonders how, since neither silence nor embarrassment normally happen to Castle.

"Yes," she says briskly. "Your Dad appears to be reliving his long-ago youth."

"Hey! I'm not old!"

"Sure you are" –

"It's just... memories," he tries, earning a glare from both Beckett and his daughter.

"You savor the memories of your first arrest?" Kate muses, swooping forward to snatch the mugshot from his 'glory days', when riding a police horse in the nude was apparently all the rage.

Castle puffs out his chest. "Well...it led me to you, didn't it?" he offers, but his voice is far from sure.

"No, it didn't," Beckett scoffs. "Your rap sheet had nothing to do with your second arrest, Castle, but nice try." She pats his cheek, a little condescending.

He looks between them, trying to summon words that won't get him tossed on the couch or banned from parental advice forever. "They're worth preserving for hindsight?"

Beckett rolls her eyes. "You need photographic evidence to know stealing police horses is wrong? Naked?"

"No. But think of it as evidence for our future children on what not to do."

"Our children are not seeing this. We can teach them right and wrong without showing them this."

"They'll find out someday. And not just my arrests but also your wild days, Beckett."

"The difference between you and me is that I was smart enough to avoid photographic evidence during my wild days."

Castle quirks a grin at her smug expression.

"Funny, that's not what your dad said-" he crumples as Beckett pinches his earlobe and twists, "- Ow!"

"But, that reminds me," He continues, one hand rubbing his aching ear as he backs toward the stairs. "There's one photo he gave me last time we were over for dinner. You were sixteen, I believe. Sitting in the back of a police car..."

She lunges at him as he sprints down the steps.

"That was my parents trying to teach me a lesson," she insists. "Not evidence of a life of crime."

"Likely story." He puts the width of the coffee table between them, smirking. "I think we should frame it. It could go on the wall beside your diploma."

"And yours?"

He smirks. "We can just cut out the 'bad parts', " he says, fingers forming air quotes." Besides, you might not want to hang it up," he murmurs, eyes darkening. "You might want it for your own personal use."

His chuckles, Kate's unamused expression wavering slightly.

"Don't need a map of you Castle," she grins.

"Ew."

"Sorry, Alexis. Hey, wait," she turns suspicious eyes to him. "You didn't go to prom! Because of the cow."

"Cow, Richard?" Martha asks.

"Alt Prom," he whispers. "Not that it was common knowledge."

Oh. "Sorry."

"What cow?"

Rick sighs.

"The one I put on the roof of the Principals office." he replies, looking daggers at Kate, who has the sense to mouth "sorry" again.

"It's why I got expelled before graduation. They did send you a letter if I recall."

"Did they?" Martha asks. "If my memory holds correctly I was on the road at the time with the theatre troupe. Must have got lost in the mail."

"Well, it's in the past," Castle asserts, glancing at Kate with warm affection. "Already had a do-over for that prom."

Kate smiles softly as the memories fill her mind; crashing the prom at (one of) Castle's old high schools, dancing to what will forever be their song, getting kicked out for making out while dancing to their song. They may have been a bit... enthusiastic.

She knows they were lucky not to be followed to the parking lot, where more than a little of that enthusiasm lingered. Still, as satisfying as that experience may have been, their conversation that night was even better.

If one considers dirty talk 'conversation'. He smirks. That tiny plaid skirt and the knee-high socks she donned for him that night... And the distinct lack of anything beneath said skirt... He doesn't need photographic evidence to remember that forever. Best prom do over ever!

FIN