"Mommy?"

Ella tapped her mother's shoulder, gently at first, then harder. She had something very important to say, and Mommy needed to wake up to hear it. She hadn't walked all the way down the stairs and across the living room in the darkness for nothing.

"Mommy?" she tried again, a bit louder this time. "Mommy!"

"Wha?" her mother murmured, opening her eyes halfway The room was pitch black, but Ella's eyes had adjusted to the darkness as she walked from her bedroom to her parents' bedroom, and she watched her mother rub her eyes sleepily. On the other side of the bed, Daddy wasn't moving- he was probably still asleep, which was good. Only Mommy could solve this problem, because Mommy knew everything.

"Mommy, my legs itch," Ella pouted, reaching down to scratch her calf as a way of proving her statement to be true. "They really itch."

"Who are you?" her mother mumbled.

"It's Ella, Mommy," she huffed, putting a hand on her hip. "And my legs really itch."

"Oh, Ella," Mommy murmured. "Legs itch. Put some makeup on them."

The five-year-old tilted her head to the side, confused. "Makeup?"

"No, no, tha's not right," Mommy mumbled, nearly breathless. "Uh, put some lo… lo… lo… lo…"

Silly Mommy. She couldn't think of the word she wanted. "Lotion?" Ella asked, hoping her guess was correct.

"Yeah, lotion," Mommy said with a sigh, her eyes slipping shut again.

Ella paused for a moment, waiting to see if her mother could offer any more advice, but Mommy said nothing more, her breathing becoming slow and steady again. She must have fallen back asleep. Hopefully, putting lotion on her legs would help them to stop itching- if not, she'd have to come all the way back down here to ask Mommy what else she could do.

Turning around, Ella tiptoed out of her parents' room, running her hand along the walls to guide herself to the staircase. She traipsed up the stairs, then walked into her bedroom, closing the door as quietly as she could behind her. She could see much better in here, courtesy of the small princess castle-shaped night light in the corner of the room. The bottle of cherry-scented lotion was on the nightstand beside her bed, and Ella tiptoed in that direction, reaching her hands out to grab it. Unfortunately, she misjudged the distance to the nightstand and ended up running smack into it, causing the wooden piece of furniture to hit the wall with a loud thud and sending the bottle of lotion tumbling to the ground.

Ella snatched the lotion from the ground as quickly as she could, then sat on her bed and opened the bottle. A motion from across the room caught her attention, and she watched as her twin sister stirred, stretching lazily.

"Ella?" Charlotte asked, sleep lacing her voice.

"Sorry, I had a clumsy," Ella apologized, pouring a healthy amount of lotion into her palm. "It's okay. Go back to sleep."

Charlotte murmured something unintelligible and rolled over with a sigh as Ella patted first one leg, then the other, splitting the lotion as evenly as she could between them and rubbing it in. Once her legs were covered, she sighed contentedly, snuggling under the covers. Her legs didn't itch anymore, and she could sleep in peace. Mommy was always right.

It had been forever since Ella woke her up, and Charlotte still couldn't go to sleep. She opened her eyes and studied the clock beside her bed, its red numbers glowing five two seven. Charlotte didn't know how to tell time just yet - after all, she and Ella had only been in Kindergarten for a week now - but she knew that five-two-seven was not a good time. It was still pitch black outside, the dim light from the full moon streaming in through the window.

With a sigh, she sat up, slipping out of her bed. She'd been awake for far too long now, and there was only one thing left to do. She had to talk to Mommy about it.

She tiptoed out of the bedroom and shut the door as quietly as she could behind her, careful not to wake Ella. The loft was dark, and she nearly tripped several times as she made her way down the stairs and into her parents' bedroom. She finally made it to Mommy's side, placing a hand gently on her shoulder.

"Mommy?" she asked, keeping her voice quiet so that she wouldn't wake Daddy.

Mommy's eyes immediately shot open. "Wha? Who are you?" she mumbled.

"It's Charlotte, Mommy," she pouted, tilting her head to the side and placing a hand on her hip. "Ella accidentally woked me up, and I can't sleep."

"Charlotte," Mommy said breathlessly. "Wha's wrong?"

"I can't sleep, Mommy," Charlotte repeated, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "I told you that."

"Oh. Can't sleep," Mommy mumbled. "Think of words that start with J or K."

"Uh, okay," Charlotte answered, dubious. It was strange advice, but if Mommy was telling her to do it, it must work. She may only be in Kindergarten, but she and Ella were the smartest kids in the whole class. She could definitely think of words that started with J or K.

Once she was back under the covers in her bed, Charlotte closed her eyes and began to think. G, H I J… what starts with J? Wow, this was hard. She'd have to make sure she told Mommy how hard it was in the morning.

J says 'juh', Charlotte thought, remembering the words of their teacher. Juh, juh… Jack O'Lantern! She grinned, proud of herself for coming up with the word.

Now for a word that starts with K, she thought. Kuh, kuh, kuh… cookie! Cookie starts with a K! And cake starts with a K, too. Um, juh, juh… jump! Juh, juh, juh…

That was her last thought before she finally drifted off to sleep, dreaming about jumping Jack O'Lanterns eating cookies.

Kate yawned as she flipped the pancakes on the griddle. Even after two cups of coffee, she was still unable to shake the exhaustion hanging like a cloud over her head this morning. Her one-year-old son, Christopher, had woken up a couple of times during the night, but that was nothing unusual. She was used to getting in the middle of the night to soothe him back to sleep, so why was she so tired?

Christopher squealed from his high chair, tossing a piece of banana onto the floor. "Hey, buddy," Kate said, turning to face her son. "You must have kept me up for longer than I thought last night."

"Nana? Uh oh," the boy babbled, a wide grin on his face. Tossing things onto the floor with a declaration of "uh oh" was her son's newest trick- one that he was very proud of, at that. Kate made a mental note to pick the piece of banana up from the floor later, certain that more would join it before the meal was over.

"Good morning, Mommy!" two tiny voices said in unison, leading their father into the kitchen.

"Morning, girls," Kate greeted with a smile, stepping away from the pancakes to give her daughters each a kiss on the head, brushing her fingers through their silky brown hair. "You two slept so late this morning. I can't believe Daddy had to wake you up."

"That's 'cause we didn't sleep good last night," Charlotte said, a yawn punctuating the end of her sentence.

"Yeah, Mommy, remember?" Ella piped up. "We told you 'bout it last night."

"You did?" Kate asked, returning to the pancakes. "I don't remember that."

"Yes, you do, Mommy," Ella whined, her hazel eyes widening. "Remember I told you my legs itched, and you said to put makeup on them? That was silly, Mommy," she finished with a giggle, her eyes lighting up.

"I… I did? I said that?" Kate asked, confused.

"Yeah!" Ella confirmed. "And then you told me to put lotion on them. 'Cept you forgetted the word 'lotion,' and I had to help you."

"I honestly don't remember that," Kate said, ignoring the look of amusement on her husband's face as she began to slide the pancakes off the griddle onto a plate.

"And I told you I couldn't sleep," Charlotte chimed. "And you told me to think of words that start with J or K. That was hard, Mommy, but it worked!"

"I told you to think of words that start with J or K?" Kate asked, unable to keep the disbelief from her voice. She didn't remember any of this.

"Uh huh," Charlotte said with a solemn nod of her head. "That would be a lot easier if I was in first grade, I bet."

"Daddy, do you remember any of this?" Kate asked, turning to face her husband.

"Of course he doesn't, Mommy," Ella answered, piping up before Castle had the chance to say anything. "We didn't ask him. We only asked you, because you know everything."

The child's simple admission elicited a grin from Kate. "That's exactly right, baby. I do know everything," she confirmed. "Don't ever forget that."

"You're right, girls, Mommy does know everything. But I do remember something, Beckett," Castle said, leading his daughters to the kitchen table with a mischievous smile. "I woke up as one of the girls was leaving the room, and I asked you what was wrong, and you had quite the interesting response for me."

"Really?" Kate asked, almost afraid to hear his answer.

"Oh, yeah," Castle confirmed, his eyes crinkling with laughter. "You said, and I quote: 'The monkey wanted me to sing to her, but she's out of peanut butter.'"

The twins immediately began to laugh, their baby brother joining in with a shriek as he tossed another piece of banana onto the ground.

"I did not!" Kate declared, busying herself with arranging the pancakes on the plate to hide her quickly-reddening cheeks from her family.

"Oh, yes, you certainly did," Castle said, his eyes twinkling with merriment as the girls' laughter began to die down. "You had a few more things to say after that, but I'm afraid that they aren't G-rated."

"Castle… why don't I remember any of this?" she asked, grateful that he wasn't sharing anything else she'd said in front of their children.

"Well, probably because you were half asleep when you said all of it." Her husband shrugged. "But can I just say, when you're not fully awake, you have some wonderful, albeit interesting, ideas about things you and I should do? Because, wow…"

"Hush," Kate interrupted, her cheeks flushing again. "We are not going to talk about this right now."

"Yeah, Daddy, listen to Mommy," Charlotte added, fixing him with a glare identical to the one Kate frequently shot his way. "She's always right."

"Even when she doesn't remember what she said," Ella added.

Kate met her husband's eyes and grinned, bringing the plate of steaming pancakes to the table. "That's right, girls," she answered. "And this discussion isn't over yet, Daddy. I want to know what else I said."

"Oh, trust me," Castle said, quirking an eyebrow. "I'll tell you all about it when Christopher takes his nap this afternoon."

Kate rolled her eyes and reached out to pat his cheek. "Uh huh. Now, eat your pancakes," she said, a tiny smirk on her face.

She was a sleep talker- who knew?

Based on a Twitter conversation with Cris, Ally, and Callie.

Thanks to Cris (SeriesTherapy) for not being able to sleep.

Thanks to my mom for offering nonsense advice to my sister when she was 5 (everything that sleepy Kate says to one of her kids is something that my mom said to my sister when she woke mom up in the middle of the night).

Thanks again to Cris for allowing me to pass this nonsense advice on to her to "help" her sleep, and thanks to Callie (whatifellinlovewith) for telling me what a great fic I could make out of all of this.

Thanks to Ally (allylobster) for jumping into the convo and encouraging me to write it. PS, happy (slightly early) birthday, Ally!

Last but not least, thanks to bunysliper for beta work, and thanks to you guys for reading!