Disclaimed.

Chap. 3

"Why do I hear banging?" Castle groaned into his pillow as he turned over to grab his wife.

"That is most likely your youngest making breakfast," Beckett responded in the same 'I'm exhausted fashion'.

"How come when the kids are 'bad' in any way I suddenly birth them myself, like I didn't have any assistance in making them," Castle said, rolling onto his side to look at his wife. "Speaking of making kids, I could use a little reminder on how that happens. Perhaps a little show and tell before work?"

"Wow. Even after all these years you still know how to get a girl in the mood Castle," Kate said jokingly while getting out of bed. "I'm going to go make sure she doesn't burn the kitchen down. We don't want a repeat of last summer."

"This show and tell conversation isn't over!" Castle yelled.

Seriously, it's 6 a.m. why is Charlotte even awake he thought.

"I swear that kid is more and more like Alexis every day," he said to himself.

Castle got out of bed and took a shower before exiting the bedroom to find his wife and kid. The two of them were at the breakfast bar chatting. Castle quietly made his way over to them and silently went to tickle the sides of Charlotte.

"Stop it dad! I'm stressing out right now," Charlotte said.

"What could you be stressing out about? You're 14, and you have me as a your father!" Castle responded with a smirk.

That statement earned a quick huff from both Charlotte and Kate.

"Alright ladies, what's wrong?" he said with a serious tone.

"Everything," the young blonde said as she threw her head into her hands.

Castle gave a desperate look towards his wife. It wasn't like this was new territory for the two of them. Charlotte was a bit like her Gram when it came to the dramatics, but this reaction was different than her past tantrums.

"Baby, it's just high school and you'll have Emilia there if you ever need anything," Kate said as she slowly rubbed circles in her daughter's back.

"But she'll be a senior and she won't want to hang out with her freshman sister," Charlotte groaned.

"You got that right kid," Emilia said as she emerged from the hall. "You guys raised a smart one here," she said to her parents.

"You're sister is just being snotty Charlotte," Kate said as she gave Emilia a well deserved Beckett glare, "you have nothing to worry about starting high school, and besides you still have the last two weeks of middle school and the summer before it even begins."

Castle sipped his coffee and watched as his Beckett girls discussed high school courses, where to sit in the lunchroom and even boys. It was bad enough Alexis was married, but now his youngest wanted to start dating. Not cool, very not cool.

He still vividly remembers the day they brought Charlotte home. It wasn't necessarily a hard pregnancy for him and Kate, but it was a stressful one. Emilia got diagnosed in February so they barely had time to get the nursery ready again before Charlotte was born. Kate stayed at the hospital for weeks before he could convince her to even consider coming home.

"My daughter is sick Castle. I'm not leaving her side. I'm never leaving her side," Kate whispered into Castle's chest as he hugged her in the dim lighting of Em's hospital room.

"Kate," he said softly to her, "you have to take care of yourself too. The world hasn't stopped yet, we need to be there for all of our kids," he said as he rubbed her pregnant belly.

"My world has stopped Castle," she spit back as him. "Our child is sick, our 4-year-old girl is laying in that bed with cancer and I can't do anything to help her. I'm pregnant with our third child and I can't even be happy because what if this one gets sick too. I can't even look at my son because I see parts of Emilia in him. I can't stand to look at you because I just see the hurt that I'm feeling. I'm not in control of my world Castle and it's terrifying."

And it was terrifying. Emilia went into remission after being in the hospital for a month, which allowed Kate and Castle to rest easy for a moment so they could welcome Charlotte into the world, but Em's fight was far from over.

Charlotte was born in early April, just as the spring rolled into New York. The perfect season for this bundle of joy to enter the world, he thought. Emilia had only been home for two weeks before they brought Charlotte back. Kate was still reeling from the last 3 months, but it felt good to have his whole family back under one roof. Alexis had even stopped by for a weekend visit.

The touch of his wife's cold hands around his waist brought him out of his trance and he turned to find the kitchen now empty.

"Wait, where'd everyone go? I thought we were really getting into some serious topics here," he said.

"Castle you haven't been paying attention for the last 10 minutes, the girls went to go get ready for school," Kate said before pouring herself another cup of coffee. "Where'd your brain go anyway?"

"Oh nothing. Just thinking about you, and Emilia, and Charlotte, and Alexis, you know the ladies in my life," he smirked.

"All good thoughts I hope?"

"Only the best," he lied. Kate hated when he talked about or even thought about that part of their lives. She loved Charlotte and her being born, but the thought of Emilia being sick was just a sore subject.

"Good. Well I have paperwork patiently waiting for me at the precinct so I'll see you after lunch?" Kate asked.

"Always," he said placing a kiss on her cheek.

"Also Castle don't forget that we have Ethan's graduation dinner with the family this weekend," she called back entering their bedroom.

He stood there for a minute lost in his thoughts of his family. He had a beautiful wife of 20 years. Alexis was living in Boston, married and with a kid on the way. His son was graduating from high school in a couple weeks and moving across the country at the end of the summer. His middle Beckett, Emilia, was healthy and his youngest was going to start high school in the fall. He didn't mind thinking about the past or about any of the hardships him and Kate had to face because they all lead up to this point of their lives. This happy moment.

"Hey Castle," he heard his wife call out for him, "I thought you wanted to participate in a little show and tell before work?"

And with that he padded back to his bedroom to show his wife how happy he was about their life.

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A/N: Awesome. So I hope you guys enjoyed chapter 3 and chapter 4 will be up shortly. I've planned out this little fic out and it will roughly be about 10-12 chapters long. However, I do plan on continuing with the characters in another story so stay tuned for that. Also if you have any feedback or questions feel free to ask!

Stay extraordinary, -K.