A/N: Shush don't tell them that I'm ignoring this speech. They think I'm diligently taking note.

"Thank you Jimmy. Next Lily will show the class what she brought for show and tell."

"Hi. Today, I brought this container filled with all the bullets that was in my mummy's body. There's three in here and three scars on her for each of them. She got the first one at her captains funeral when she was shot at the chest and the second and third at home when a bad man shot mummy and daddy. Daddy says mummy is a superhero because she survived being shot at four times even though there's only three bullets here. I think she's a superhero too because she makes me happy and the best Sunday brunch. Thank you," Lily ends her presentation with a smile and moves to take her seat at the near front of the class.

"Was your mum really shot four times?"

"Have you seen her scars"

"What does she do"

"How many people has she shot"

"Were you there when she was shot"

The questions are asked one after the other in a series of rapid fire, without actually giving Lily time to answer any of them. Students are talking over each other, all shouting trying to get their question across.

Mrs Sanders, the teacher of the class sits there shocked, unable to say anything for a moment.

She's met Lily's mother. Sweet lady with a kind smile and power heels always present. How she strode in them, she'd never understand.

In Lily's forms it says that her father is a writer and her mum a senator. She made it a point to know each of the students and their parents and Lily Castle was one of her favourites. How does a senator get shot four times? Never mind that, how does a person survive getting shot that many times. And once to the chest as well? She has new respect for the lady with the green eyes and somewhat childish husband.

Lily's mother was easily distinguishable from the other mums. She didn't walk around like she owned the place or put on false airs. She was straight to the point and never claimed her daughter could do no wrong, a lesson many of the parents desperately needed to learn. Kate and Richard Castle were her two favourite parents, never causing unnecessary drama and now she could see why. They clearly had more important things to worry about.

"Class," she starts, trying to get their attention.

"Okay. Silence. Lily can't answer questions if you are all talking at once."

She allows a few and vetoes the rest because there is a fine line she is walking with what's appropriate. She tells Lily that she needs to see her parents after class, that she's not in trouble. Frankly Lily's presentation is the only one that she's properly taken notice off but they are all still seven year olds.

''Mr and Mrs castle, so nice of you to take time off your busy schedules to join me," she greets as enter the classroom.

"Is Lily in trouble? What did she do?" Kate asks, not one for small talk.

"Well, no she's not in trouble but there is an issue that I need to bring to your attention. Today was show and tell and Lily brought bullets apparently from when you were shot Mrs Castle?" She ends in a question, slightly unsure if that was true knowing the girls knack for letting her imagination run wild and telling a convincing story.

"She did what? Castle!" Kate says, clearly frustrated.

So it's true then. Mrs Sanders muses to herself.

"I didn't think she was actually going to use it. Kate, in all fairness she came to me and I told her that story but I never said take it to show and tell."

"Why would you even show that to our daughter. Actually no, why do you even have the bullets?"

Mrs Sanders stares at the couple with slight amusement. "Mr and Mrs Castle," she reigns them in before this can turn into an argument.

"Umm, well while Lily is not in trouble for this, it would be better if she didn't bring in things like this that could possibly be an issue for the children. Most of the other children are not as exposed to this lifestyle as Lily is."

She didn't mean it as an insult or a snide comment, and was merely stating a fact but she can see the moment the couple in front of her take it the wrong way.

"Her uncles are cops. Captains of their own precincts. I used to be a cop, detective when I took the first bullet and then captain with the other three. Lily grew up in a precinct, she's close to her uncles and her mother used to be in that line of work. I was a captain for the first four years of Lily's life. Needed to make sure that there was someone capable of taking over. It was dangerous the work I did, not as much towards the end but her uncles, they were still in the middle of it. How do you explain that mummy and her uncles do a dangerous job and that they sometimes get hurt? You don't stop talking about work in front of your children when you're a cop. There's nothing wrong with it. You just water it down for little years."

"Lily may be exposed to this but there's nothing wrong with it. She's slightly desensitised yes but she's also not fully aware of what the repercussions of her mum's job is. Was. She's seven and we know what's appropriate to tell her and what's not," Castle adds backing up his wife.

"I'm so sorry if I offended you. That was not my intention. I was just stating that most parents don't talk about these things because there is no need to. To be quite honest, Mrs castle I'm impressed that you're sitting here. It's pretty amazing that you survived all that. But next time, I'd rather not find out from your seven year old," she ends the meeting with a smirk

Next year she hears from Mrs Blake that Lily brought her father's old phone with a Chinese throwing star in it. She shakes her head at that, silently wondering what those two got up to when they were in the NYPD and thanks her lucky stars that Lily Castle did not inherit that gene for finding trouble.

A/N: Let's pretend that Castle kept all the bullets and I took some creative license with the timeline of Kate's departure from the NYPD and her subsequent job.