Demand

The night after Beckett's birthday had come up quite fast. Martha had exited stage right with all four of her grandkids in tow. They were going to have dinner out at Le Cirque and then they would go somewhere after dinner where the little ones could blow off some steam before they headed home.

Beckett spent a lot of time in the kitchen cooking. Castle flitted between writing and playing his computer games. Just as she had thought many times before; Beckett thought that she was married to child instead of a grown man. But she also knew that Castle's childish nature was one of her favorite things about him.

Beckett was making Castle's favorite dinner. It was also over dinner that Beckett was planning on telling Castle that she wanted him to get a vasectomy. She didn't want to worry about the possibility of having baby number six coming around after they had baby number five. She also wondered how Castle would take her demand. In the back of her mind; Beckett was hoping for the best but was prepared for the worse. It was the cop in her.

"Dinner is ready; babe. Time to put the toys away."

"Five more minutes; mom, please!" Castle called back.

"Richard Edgar Alexander Rodgers Castle; get in here now, it's dinner."

Castle begrudgingly came to the dining room.

"But Mom, I wanna play."

"Cute Castle, but you can drop the act."

With that dinner got underway. Beckett let Castle eat a bit before she dropped the bombshell she had in her arsenal.

"So; there's something that we need to talk about."

"Okay fire away."

Beckett took a sip of her water and took a breath before she laid out her demand.

"I want you to get a vasectomy as soon as this little one is here. Four biological kids plus a step-daughter is more than enough. I don't want us to be the Brady Bunch." Beckett said.

Castle's reaction to Beckett's vasectomy demand was one of uncertainty. He could understand where she was coming from. But at the moment there was one thing that was on replay in his mind.

"Split right down the middle. From the top of his head all the way down to his…"

"Eh!"

"Please. The guy was sliced in two. I'd say his unit is the least of his problems."

"Then you do not understand the sacred bond between a man and his unit."

It was clear to Beckett as they sat in silence and enjoyed the rest of their dinner that Castle wasn't ready to have his unit snipped.

They both knew that this conversation would lead them both to talking it out with their respective parent before they came to an agreement. That was Castle and Beckett's way of working things out like this.