A/N: Castle isn't mine. Le sigh. But, can I just say, I love all of your reviews and comments and the like. I can't believe how many people read this in the 24 hours it's been up. It makes me so... :O PEOPLE LIKE IT! So, thanks! :) - Immac
Alexis had no idea why she was so nervous about Kate meeting Noah. She shouldn't be. He was just a friend, and Kate had always been cool about meeting friends, male or not. It wasn't like she was some teenager, bringing home a date for mom and dad to approve of. And Noah wasn't even a date. Just an old friend she'd reconnected with while hanging out on the beach.
So why was it that every time Noah spoke, she was wondering what her stepmother was thinking of? Did Kate approve?
"Alexis pretended to be a sea turtle with me!" Jo told her mother. "She put me on her shoulders and swam in the water and it was really cool! I had my goggles and everything, so whenever I opened my eyes, I could see and there were little fishes-or is it fish? I don't know-but they were, like, right there! One swam past my nose, mama!"
"Wow, Joey," Kate smiled. "Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun."
"Matthew and I caught these little crabs in the sand," Lyle said eagerly. "One of them bit me, and it hurt a lot. But it's okay, now. It stopped bleeding, see?" He held up his pointer finger, where there was a Band-Aid around the top. It had the ninja turtles on it. Naturally, as kids are, Jo and Edgar were enthralled and proceeded to show off their own bumps and cuts and Band-Aids from various adventures.
"Thank you again for letting us eat here, Mrs. Castle," Noah said in an attempt to steer the conversation away from boo-boos. "How's Mr. Castle, by the way?"
"He's the same as always," Kate smiled. "Nine year old on a sugar rush. But it's fun, and I like having him in my life. I'm sorry, I don't think you ever mentioned how you and Alexis know each other."
"When we were little, my parents had the house down the beach from here. We always saw each other when we were little, and there weren't that many other 8 year olds on a beach like this one. My dad and Mr. Castle played poker together, and my mom went to see plays with Ms. Rodgers," he explained politely. Kate nodded. "But around the time I turned 14, my parents sold our house down here. They've been more preoccupied with wealth and status in the Upper East Side than paying attention to me and Lyle."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Kate frowned.
"It's fine. We have each other, and our parents do love us, but they're… well, they get busy," Noah shrugged calmly.
"You're welcome here anytime, you know," she said, standing and grabbing a napkin, cleaning off Aggie's face. The two year old resisted, but the smears of grease were eventually cleaned off.
"We ought to be heading back to our side of the beach. It's getting late, and these two have to be in bed by 9:00 or my mom will kill me," Noah said, standing. "Thanks so much for dinner, Mrs. Castle. It was a pleasure to meet you."
"Can you play on the beach with us tomorrow?" Jo asked immediately. Noah chuckled as Matthew and Lyle hopped out of their chairs and pushed them back in.
"Of course. We'll come hunt you down tomorrow morning, okay, Miss Jo?" Noah said with a smile.
"Pinky promise?" Jo asked skeptically, holding out her littlest finger. As sacredly as if he were signing some important deed, Noah linked his pinky with hers and squeezed reassuringly.
"Would I lie to you?" he asked.
"Bye Jo! Bye Edgar! Bye Aggie!" Lyle called as Noah steered them towards the door. "Bye Alexis! Bye Mrs. Castle!"
"Bye, Alexis," Noah said, grabbing her hand and kissing it gently. She tried not to blush, but could feel her face grow as red as her hair. "Come on, guys," he said, suddenly turning back to the kids and steering them towards the back door.
"Alexis, do you like Noah?" Jo asked once the door closed behind them. "Do you like him like him? Are you going to marry him? Can I be your maid of honor?"
"Whoa, slow down, Joey," Alexis chuckled nervously. "I'm not marrying anyone any time soon."
"But he likes you likes you," Jo protested. "I can tell. He's got it in his eyes."
"I'll bet," Alexis said, sticking her tongue out.
"Come on, kids, it's getting late. We'll call daddy and let him say goodnight, but then it's bedtime," Kate said, jumping in to save her stepdaughter from any more questions, much to Alexis' gratitude. All three of the kids groaned, even Aggie. "Nope, don't whine. You already stayed up late playing and eating. I'm not going to let you stay up all night and sleep tomorrow."
"Daddy would've," Jo grumbled as she and Edgar started for the stairs.
"Not if daddy wanted to sleep in his own bed, he wouldn't," Kate chuckled. "Go on up and change to your pajamas. Alexis and I will be up in a minute with Aggie and we'll call daddy."
Edgar and Jo trudged up the stairs.
"He's cute," Kate noted as she scooped Aggie into her arms. "Your friend," she clarified. "Funny, too. Polite… good with kids… very charming."
"Oh, I, uh," Alexis stammered.
"He gets the mom seal of approval, in case you were wondering," she added with a chuckle. "Plus, Jo, Edgar, and Aggie seem to like him."
"Kate, he's just a friend," Alexis insisted.
"Uh huh. And your dad was just my friend for four years," Kate smiled coyly. "I'm not going to be all crazy, demanding you two hook up, but I do think he's a nice guy and would treat you right, should you ever decide to cross that line. Just letting you know."
"Whatever you say," Alexis grinned. She looked at Aggie, who had snuggled her chubby toddler cheek against her mother's shoulder. "Oh, someone looks sleepy."
"I'll bet," Kate smiled. "She was out playing all day. Normally, she gets a nap, but I guess she fell asleep in the car on the way here."
"Well, we wouldn't want her majesty here to fall asleep on your shoulder, would we? Let's get them to bed," Alexis suggested, taking the dozing toddler and slinging her onto her own shoulder, leaving Kate's arms free.
"And, just when all hope was lost, Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook burst into the room and stopped the nefarious Doctor Horrible from freezing all of the world!" Rick narrated from through the speaker of Kate's cell phone. "And while Nikki took apart the evil weapon so Doctor Horrible couldn't use it again, Jameson watched Roach put the bad man away so he wouldn't ever make anyone sad… or cold… ever again. The end."
"I liked that story, daddy," Jo said, clapping her hands together.
"I don't know… I think I like the one where Nikki and Rook go solve that crime on the Serenity with Mr. Reynolds and his friends," Edgar chimed in.
"Both are excellent, if I do say so myself," Rick said superiorly, making his kids giggle, Alexis chuckle, and Kate smile.
"Story, daddy?" Aggie asked, clearly fed up that she couldn't just use facial expressions and hand gestures to communicate.
"You want another?" Rick asked, confused. She shook her head.
"She wants to know how the one you're working on is going," Kate translated. Aggie nodded. "Did Nikki Heat find the killer yet?"
"Yeah, daddy, did she?" Edgar asked.
"Well, she and Rook are discussing the case with Raley and Ochoa, and they're about to go look for a suspect at a TV station," he explained.
"Is Nikki going to be totally awesome?" Jo asked.
"It'll be completely shiny."
"I'll bet," Kate rolled her eyes. "Well, we gotta get everyone in bed. Writer-boy, why don't you go talk to Alexis why I tuck in our little monkeys?"
"I thought I was Writer-man," he whined.
"When we get home next week, you can prove it, okay?" she asked, her innuendo going over the heads of the children and making her stepdaughter groan in embarrassment when Rick responded with an eager 'Okay!'
"Bye daddy!" Edgar and Jo exclaimed as Aggie waved to the phone.
"Aggie says bye, too," Kate said.
"Goodnight, Joey-Boey. Goodnight, Writer-Monkey. Goodnight, Silent But Deadly," Rick said, using nicknames for each child in turn.
"We need to talk about Ag's nickname, Rick," Kate said as she switched it off of speaker phone and handed it to Alexis. The eldest Castle child took the phone and sauntered off to her room while Kate snuggled all the kids into their beds.
Jo and Edgar fought over who got the top bunk as usual, so Kate started with Aggie, who was snuggling herself into her crib with her stuffed animals. At home, she didn't sleep with that many animals, or any at all, really, but whenever they left the big apple, she always became a little snuggle-bug. She would bring monkeys and dolls and teddy bears, and they were all in her bed, adjusted so that she could flop around and adjust herself throughout the night without getting harmed.
"Goodnight, Aggie," Kate said, leaning over to kiss her forehead. Aggie smiled, then looked at the baby bump and waved to it. "Baby says goodnight, too." The toddler pressed her fingers to her lips and pushed them through the bars and touched Kate's stomach with them.
Jo had decided on the bottom bunk for the night, so Kate took turns kissing either of them goodnight before they had a chance to change their minds. The two didn't normally share a room, except on vacations, and when they did, the arguments got a little more out of control than usual. Any opportunity she had at squashing their bickering, Kate took.
"Goodnight, Joey," she said, kissing Jo's forehead.
"Night, mama," the six year old replied.
"And goodnight, Edgar," she continued, kissing her son.
"G'night, mama," he murmured.
Kate was woken up at 7:00 AM the next morning by Edgar and Jo at the side of her bed, prodding her shoulders and whispering her name. She blinked. They never got up this early. Not willingly, at least.
"What's wrong? Is everyone okay?" she asked, yawning and sitting herself upright.
"Can we go out on the beach with Lyle and Matthew? Noah and Alexis will be there," Edgar asked.
"That's fine. Just leave Aggie in bed, okay? Don't wake her up," Kate nodded, rubbing her eyes.
They thanked her and scurried down the stairs, having dressed in their swimsuits already. The two took the pathway from the house to the pool and the pool to the beach, where Alexis, Noah, Lyle, and Matthew were waiting.
The four children immediately went for the water, while their siblings lounged on the shore, catching up and talking about high school and college and things that 6 year olds don't care about. They floated around, getting knocked around by the waves, and loved every second of it. But after a few hours of floating, and playing, and pretending to be various sea creatures (slash plunderers), it got a little boring. The children, tired, relaxed in the shallow water, letting the waves drench their legs while they dug in the mud.
"I'm gonna go see if Aggie's up," Jo said, getting out of the dirt and kicking clumps of mud onto her brother.
"Bye!" Lyle called after her.
"Do you like Jo?" Matthew asked. "Like, like her like her?"
"What? No! 'Course not. I just think she's fun to play with," Lyle said, his face turning red. Edgar decided to be polite and pretend it was the sun.
"Good. She talks too much. Like, nobody cares about all of her baby dolls," Matthew laughed cruelly. Edgar frowned. Jo hadn't talked about any baby dolls, and, in fact, didn't own a single one, or even any Barbies. Aggie did, but not Jo.
"Jo plays with Batman action figures," Edgar said, his brows furrowing together.
"Cool!" Lyle said eagerly. "Did she bring any with her?"
"That's not the point," Matthew shook his head. "She just talks too much. It's annoying. Always 'my mama's a cop' and 'my daddy writes books.' Can't she just play?" Edgar and Lyle looked at each other. Sure, Jo had bragged a little about her parents and how awesome they were, but didn't most kids? Some girl at preschool told Edgar that her daddy made dresses for models in Paris. That didn't mean he didn't want to play with her. Well, he didn't, but that was because she didn't share the blocks.
"Jo likes to talk. My daddy says she's a…" Edgar frowned, trying to remember the word. "Chatterbox," he eventually thought of. "It means she likes to talk."
"Well, I guess someone has to be the kid who never shuts up. Every family has one, and Jo's yours. What about your little sister, Aggie? Why doesn't she talk?" Matthew continued. Every time he said something, Edgar felt more and more like hitting him, even though mama and daddy forbid hitting. Why did he have to be so mean to Jo and Aggie?
"She doesn't like to. She likes using her hands and nodding and mumbling and shrugging. I mean, she talks sometimes, but-" Edgar tried to explain.
"My brother, Brad, says that weird people like Aggie are just retar-" Matthew interrupted snidely. He didn't finish the word, though, because Edgar tackled him, punching him in the face. Lyle yelped, jumping back as the two tussled in the dirt, scratching and biting and punching.
"Hey!" Noah yelled, running up to break the two apart. "Break it up! What's going on, guys?"
"He's a wiener!" Matthew yelled, pointing dramatically at Edgar. "He doesn't know how to take a joke!"
"Matthew's a buttface!" Edgar growled, lunging again. Noah grabbed him by the wrists and slung him over his shoulder, walking him back up the shore to Alexis.
"Stay here. I'll talk to Matthew, okay?" Noah said, setting Edgar back on his feet. The five year old had a scratch on his cheek, bleeding badly enough that he'd probably need a Band-Aid. Alexis noticed he was shuddering, on the verge of tears.
"Come here, buddy. Let's go inside and let you clean up, okay?" she offered gently. He nodded weakly as she wrapped him in a towel and handed him a juice box.
Edgar sat in the living room, still crying. His face was bandaged up with a Superman Band-Aid, and he had changed into dry clothes, though his wet hair still stuck up in odd angles. Alexis had gone to take Jo and Aggie into town to give him some privacy while he talked to Kate.
"So Alexis told me that Noah had to break you and Matthew out of a fight," she said slowly, sitting beside him on the couch. "Care to explain why?"
"Matthew's a buttface," Edgar muttered.
"No name calling, okay?" she warned.
"Mama, he called names first. He made fun of Jo, and said she talked too much about dolls and you and daddy and other things nobody cared about," Edgar explained. He was on the verge of tears again, and he snuggled against Kate while she rubbed his back soothingly, trying to keep him calm.
"Is that all he said?" she asked when his shuddering died down. She could feel him shake his head, 'no.'
"He called Aggie that really bad word, the one you and daddy said to never use, ever," Edgar whispered weakly. Kate immediately knew which word he was talking about. While she knew it wasn't really all that bad of a word, and she herself said it as a young adult and teen, she absolutely abhorred the word. She knew Aggie was completely normal, aside from not talking, and she hated if anyone thought any differently and used that word to describe it. So, she and Rick decided to ban the word from their home. Nobody, not Alexis, or either of them, or any friends, relatives, or visitors, was allowed to say it within their loft.
"So you punched him," she said, more as a statement than as a question.
"I'm sorry, mama."
"It's okay, honey. I'm glad you stuck up for your sisters. But next time someone says mean things about either of them, tell me and daddy. We'll make sure it's okay, and you won't have to get hurt in the process," she replied coolly, stroking the bandage on his face.
"Yes, mama."
The rest of the afternoon passed in a haze. Kate and Aggie napped while Alexis, Jo, and Edgar played board games and watched movies. They snacked here and there on various treats, and Alexis went to swim laps in their pool. Jo called Rick to remind him to write, which he appreciated since he had spent the morning playing Guitar Hero on expert and pretending he was Gene Simmons. All in all, the Castles spent their second day at the Hamptons very lazily.
There were stories before bedtime, like always, and they slept comfortably again. The next morning, however, Kate was surprised to not be awoken by her children at the crack of dawn. In fact, it was almost noon by the time she got up. And when she did, she was surprised to find the blue and red flashing lights of police cars outside of her house. Wrapping herself up in a robe, she began down the stairs, seeing an officer talking to her children. Her kindergarten-aged children were being interrogated by a cop.
"Excuse me, what's going on?" she asked, barging into the conversation. She looked from the blank expression on the officer's face to the faces of her children. Jo and Edgar both looked petrified, and she could see Aggie in Alexis' arms outside, crying while Alexis tried to talk to a different cop.
"Ma'am, there was a body found on the beach behind your house this morning," the officer explained calmly.
"Mama," Edgar said, looking up at his mother with wide eyes, "Matthew's dead."
A/N: Dun dun dun. I feel like I should apologize for such a long chapter, but I don't really want to, because I feel like if you read this far, you must like it at least a little. So, yeah. Which Caskett Baby is your favorite? Sound off in the reviews! - Immac