A/N: Hey, hillyhp2590 here, and I am writing this story with royalmagician. I'll be doing the Castle side of things, and she'll be working on the Artemis Fowl side of the story, so direct your hatemail accordingly. The angry stuff to her, the love to me! Thanks!
Disclaimer: Not our's, but the story is! Although, royalmagician is working diligently on marrying Arty, we'll get back to you on how that goes down.
Prologue:
"Daddy, will you push me on the swings?" the little girl asked as she trotted beside her father, clutching his finger with her fist. Her brown curls bounced as she beamed up at her father, brown eyes twinkling.
"Of course, sweet heart," said the father cheerfully as he flicked his eyes over to smile at his wife who was on the other side of his daughter, holding the little girl's other hand. The father looked a lot like his daughter, curly brown hair in a playful mop on his head, deep brown eyes surrounded by laugh lines. His hands were worn but meticulous as his daughter leaped and he swung her forward, his hands had seen a lot in his line of work as an EMT.
The wife tried to smile nervously back, but her eyes flicked to a man staggering a few feet in from of them. He couldn't be drunk already? Her eyes asked her husband and he shrugged, anything was possible in New York City. She had strawberry blond hair with sharp green eyes. Her features were soft and lovely, and her belly was pleasantly round with the expectation of another sibling on the way for their little girl.
The man in front of them seemed to be wearing a heavy trench coat, which was odd in the sweltering July weather, and yet he didn't seem to be breaking a sweat. There was just something off about him, the way his head lolled to the side, the way his feet scrapped along the ground, almost as if he wasn't making contact with the pavement. All in all, it made the wife shiver in the coming dusk.
Even though it was getting later in the evening, New York City still blazed with the summer heat as it bounced off the buildings, the pavement and the nearby Hudson River. Riverside Park had settled down slightly for the day, the two parents could still see children in the distance playing in the fountain of River Run playground to cool off, but there were definitely fewer children now and the play was more subdued.
"How about we get some ice cream first?" suggested the wife carefully, noticing that the drunk man seemed to be heading towards the playground.
"Yeah, nothing goes better with hotdogs," said the husband, mentioning what the family had eaten for dinner, "than ice cream," he finished, catching on to what the wife was hinting at. He didn't think the man was dangerous, if someone was walking like that this early in the evening, they probably had more problems than they knew what to do with, but he trusted his wife's instincts.
"Yummy!" cheered the girl, jumping up and swinging between her parents as the trio changed direction slightly to head to the nearby ice cream street vendor. Suddenly, out of the corner of the father's eye, the staggering man collapsed and rolled, almost as if he was thrown to the side by something.
The father's training kicked in. "Stay with your mommy, sweetie," he said to his daughter as he bounded over to the fallen man, large feet pounding the pavement.
The wife bit back a yell to her husband not to get involved, knowing it wouldn't do any good anyway, before she whipped out her cell phone and dialed the police.
Meanwhile, back over with the fallen man, the husband grabbed him by the shoulder and shook slightly. "Sir, can you hear me? Are you alright?"
The drunken man's only response was to roll limply to the front, revealing a scruffy face with clouded eyes staring up at the sky. The EMT swallowed and stood up, eyes not looking at the man's face, but at the wound in his chest that had caused this man's death. His brain tried to process what he was seeing, but he just couldn't understand it, of all the wounds he had ever seen working as an EMT, he had never seen one that looked like someone had been killed with a laser.
The air-conditioning system in Richard Castle's apartment was doing its best to try to keep the three inhabitants of the space cool, but it just wasn't enough. Alexis, Castle's red-headed, 16 year old daughter was sprawled out in her bathing suit, which she hadn't taken off since she went swimming with her friends, with a towel underneath one of the air vents, shivering and sweating at the same time.
Martha, Castle's mother, had draped herself on the couch, wearing a green sun dress that clung wetly to her skin in a way that was most uncomfortable. Castle himself, decked out in khaki shorts, brown Chaco's, and a blue Hawaiian shirt, stood in the kitchen with the freezer door open, staring at the food inside and trying to keep himself from sweating anymore.
"Dad, if you leave that open, everything in there is going to melt," said Alexis wearily, as if she had said that more than once.
"I'm trying to decide what I want," replied Castle, whining slightly.
"As long as it doesn't involve eating something straight out of the box, sign me up," said Martha dramatically, trying to move as little as possible.
"Well, that rules out what I was going to suggest," Castle said, finally closing the door as Martha and Alexis moaned out a sigh. Castle sat down in a stool at the far side of the kitchen bar and pressed his head against the cool counter top.
"When is this heat going to break?" Alexis whined in turn, breaking out of her usual mature self to sound rather pathetic.
"Not until August or so," Castle said reasonably, casting a worried look down at his daughter, it must be really bad if she was being reduced to a typical teenager.
"I wish I could take an ice bath," said Martha, rubbing her temples to fight off the oncoming migraine.
"Ice?" repeated Castle, perking up before scuttling back into the kitchen and digging around some of the top cupboards.
"Dad? Now what are you looking for?" asked Alexis, slowly lifting up her head to peer over at her father curiously.
"I know it's here somewhere. You said it was a stupid thing to buy, but I knew we would need it someday," Castle ranted, searching frantically through the kitchen.
"Need what?" asked Martha, managing to get interested enough to turn and watch her son search as well.
"A-ha!" said Castle, pulling a box out from underneath the sink and showing it to his mother and daughter. The box read "Make Your Own Sno-Cone! Family Fun for Everyone!" in bright cheery letters. The box bore a red border on the top and bottom with a white background in the middle. A picture of the strange Sno-Cone maker was plastered over the front next a child looking like this was the most posed fun he had ever had. The box itself, however, looked like it had never been opened.
"Oh, this will be so much fun, guys! Come on, let's make Sno-Cones!" cheered Castle, setting the box down on the counter before he swung back over to the refrigerator and began pulling out all different kinds of drinks. "And we can have it any flavor you want!"
Alexis and Martha traded looks. They were skeptical at first but as Castle began puttering around the kitchen, trying to figure out how the Sno-Cone Maker worked, they both got slowly to their feet.
"He'll hurt himself if we don't go help him," said Alexis, a smile beginning to dance on her lips again.
"I'll get the fire extinguisher," added Martha dryly as both headed over to the kitchen area.
In the end, the fire extinguisher wasn't needed and everyone agreed that the Sno-Cones were a good idea, which Castle wouldn't let anyone forget. Castle was just finishing off his awesome root beer, chocolate, marshmallow, whip cream extreme when his cell phone rang. Alexis and Martha traded a conspiratory smile as Castle answered the call.
"Hello," Castle said, smiling as well, but for a completely different reason. "Ah, Beckett, would you like a Sno-Cone with your murder?"
A/N: Really, we enjoy love mail more than hate mail, so read and review! If you like it, review so we'll post more of the story sooner.