Sorry, this one is kind of short but do you know how hard it is to write something thats all happy and involves sunshine when its been raining for days? Its always dreary outside right now... So I had pretty much no inspiration for this chapter but! I managed to do it anyway!
No, I do NOT own Castle.
Despite getting on up in his years, Jim Beckett was just as able as ever in the water. After Castle and Jim were formally introduced to one another, the four of them goofed around for a while, splashing and dunking each other, until they realized that everyone else had left and they had the whole pool all to themselves. An offhand comment from Kate about her dad being on the swimming team back in his day prompted another round of races. Except for this time, it was relay races. It took a bit of pleading but finally Martha gave in and refereed for them, taking up a chair near one end of the pool. First they did father-daughter teams with Jim and Kate against Castle and Alexis. Jim and Castle were neck and neck as they tagged their respective daughters but, Kate underestimated Alexis's swimming ability and ended up getting beaten. Next, Kate and Alexis teamed up against Jim and Castle and left them in the dust, or rather, water in this case. For the third and final race, it was Kate and Castle against Alexis and Jim. Castle went against Jim again but old age was taking its toll on Jim and he wasn't as fast as he was in the first round so Castle quickly got ahead of him.
Castle approached the edge of the pool and reached a hand up to tag Kate. She quickly jumped into the water and swam past Castle but as she went by, his eyes were drawn to the red and white ties that were around Kate's neck. Just like a kitten drawn to a piece of string, his hand reached out and plucked the tie as she went past.
Kate felt a little tug on the ties of her bikini top and she came to a complete stop when she felt it slide down her neck. Quickly she gathered the ties and tied them back securely around her neck, this time making sure to double tie them. When she turned back to Castle, she noticed that he had the same shocked expression that she did.
"I…I… Um…Didn't mean to?" She raised an eyebrow at that and he tried to back away from her but he was already at the edge of the pool. She took a step closer to him and he noticed that she had that little twitch above her left eye that she got when she was really irritated at something.
"You know, that is a very lovely swimsuit you are wearing by the way. I kinda figured you for a one piece kind of girl but this is much better. Red is such a lovely color on you." There was a light red tint to her cheeks now but Castle knew it was more likely from anger than embarrassment. Since he was already completely sure she was going to find various ways to make his life hell from now on, he decided he might as well put the proverbial cherry on top and say what he had been wanting to say ever since he spotted her relaxing on one of the chairs.
" And look, we even match." Kate looked down at herself then at Castle and noticed that they did in fact match. Both were wearing red and white flower print swimwear. Before she could even think of a reply, they heard laughter coming from the other end of the pool. Both Alexis and Jim were casually leaning against the side of the pool while Martha shook her head at them. They had completely forgotten they were in the middle of a race.
"Well, guess we know who won that race!" Alexis shouted from her end of the pool and both Castle and Kate looked away embarrassed.
For a while they all just lazily lounged in the pool, with the occasional splash fights between Kate and Castle, until Alexis suddenly remembered that something new was added to the pool recently. Without a word, she got out of the pool and walked over to a small shed, that housed various pool stuff, and pulled out two poles with a net between them. Recognizing what it was, Castle got out and helped her bring it over to the pool and set the poles in the slots on either side of the pool.
"Who's up for a little volley ball?" Castle said as he pulled out a beach ball and started blowing it up.
Taking the ball with him, he jumped in the water on one side of the net with Alexis while Kate and Jim were on the other side. Martha moved her chair so that she would be next to the net and then gave a sharp whistle. The games had begun.
Huff…Huff… I haven't moved like that in years! To say that Jim Beckett was worn out would be an understatement but then again, they all were after having played so long. Judging by the sound their stomachs were making, it was dinner time so, both Kate and Jim finally hauled themselves out of the pool and started gathering up their belongings as the Castle clan did the same.
Not wanting to be rude, Jim walked over and gave Castle a firm handshake, thanking him for letting them use his pool. Castle, of course, gave him one of his brilliant smiles and said they were welcome back anytime but just as they were turning to leave, he called out to them.
"Why don't you two come upstairs for dinner?"
His suggestion was turned down with the polite, but expected, "Oh we couldn't" from Kate and an agreeing nod from Jim.
"Really, you should. I know we are all hungry and I also know that anything that's been sacrificed to the 'styrofoam temple' in Beckett's refrigerator really shouldn't be eaten. So you two could either pick up take out on the way home or, you can enjoy a nice home cooked meal here."
Deciding not to think about how Castle knew the contents of Kate's refrigerator, Jim turned to Kate and let her make the decision. Kate started nibbling on her lower lip in thought but at both Alexis's and Castle's pleading looks she gave in.
"Are you sure?"
The first part of it seemed a little forced to me so I'm not sure how good this chapter turned out... It was hard to get started on this story with all the rain lol! Anyway so the next chapter will probably be the last (and it will probably be longer than the chapters I've been posting on this story so far) unless I come up with some more stuff to happen.
Also, If I do not get another chapter up by the 12th (which would be a miracle if I did) there won't be another one at least until the 16th because a friend of mine is coming down and I don't think I will have much time to write.
