The usual disclaimers apply: I'm not making any money off of this, Castle belongs to ABC and Andrew Marlowe, and any similarities to real people or places are strictly a coincidence.

Author's notes are at the bottom. Please enjoy!

The Spellbound Affair - Alternate Ending

Chapter Sixty-Seven

At this time of night, he figured they had about an hour until the courier showed up. As much as he didn't feel like it, his manners plagued him to do his part to tidy up the house that Josiah Nichols had been so generous to lend them. He slipped out of the room silently. At the far end of the hall, the door to the smallest guest room was still tightly shut, though he could see light shining around the edges of the door. He stepped into the middle room, only to find that the twin beds were both neatly made up and not a thing was out of place. The small duffel that had contained the boys' effects was sitting by the door, ready to be simply picked up and tossed into the Mercedes' trunk. Castle figured he could do that.

Downstairs, a surprising number of witches milled about. He hesitated on the lowest step, but then decided he wasn't going to let the Council members bother him. Castle had almost made it to the front door when one of the witches called out to him. He turned slowly, only to come face to face with the owner of the small cottage. "What's your name again, son?"

"Uh, Richard Castle, sir," replied the writer.

"That's right," said Mr. Nichols. He snapped his fingers. "I knew it had something to do with castles."

Castle nodded uncomfortably. "I, uh… Well, thank you for letting us stay at your house. I'm sorry about the mess we made in your front yard."

"Mess?" The old man chuckled. "You're clearly not used to spending time with the gifted. It's all cleaned up, good as new."

"I'm glad to hear it," said Castle. "I was on my way out to start loading up our car." He gestured vaguely toward the front door.

"We'd like to have a word with you when you're done," said another witch. Castle thought he vaguely remembered him being one of the "useless Council members" as Kate liked to put it. The man was flanked by two other Councilmen, each regarding him with determined expressions.

"I don't know how much help I can be," deflected the writer.

"It's simple, really," said one of the women behind the first Council member. "Now that it's been proven that the retrogression cannot be undone, and we've let you have your fun playing house, it's time for you to turn the spellbound ones over to the Council."

Castle's Stranger Danger alarms were going off loudly inside of him. "There's no chance of that," he said incredulously.

"They're a part of our world now," said the third witch. "They don't belong with ones such as yourself or that bitch detective." Castle's trepidation was melted by his anger at the witch's derogatory reference to Kate.

"They belong with people who love them and will take care of them," said Castle. "Not with people who will treat them like slaves or lab rats." He may not have magic, but he was a good six inches taller than any of the trio who'd dared to even suggest he'd give up his boys without a fight. He put every inch of his advantage to use as he stared down the witches.

"This isn't a good time for this discussion," said Mr. Nichols with an awkward chuckle.

"There will never be a good time for this discussion," said Castle. "Sir, I thank you again for your hospitality." With that, he marched out of the front door. His silver Mercedes was parked at the end of the driveway, thankfully out of the way of the fireball that had once been a pretty sweet GTO. His shoes scraped vengefully against the gravel as he walked towards the car and he jabbed the unlock button on his key fob harder than he really needed to. The locks faithfully disengaged, despite their abuse.

As he was slamming the hood of his trunk shut with a satisfying thud, he realized that Kate and the kids were currently alone in the house with the greedy witches. They were trapped on the second floor without him. He had to get back inside before someone decided to "borrow without asking" his boys, since borrowing with asking hadn't worked. At least Kate was armed. If anyone suggested to the detective that she hand over her partners, that someone would surely end up shot.

Things were better than he expected when Castle entered the second floor guest room again. Kate had managed to calm down and then clean up her youngest partner. Kevin sat morosely in the middle of the bed, keeping a watchful eye on Javier's sleep while the lead detective shoved their belongings into the second duffel bag.

"Where'd you go?" Kate asked.

"I was going to see about doing a bit of cleaning before we left, but the place is crawling with 'concerned' Council members." Kate couldn't see his air quotes while concentrating on packing, but she looked up when she recognized their tone.

"Do I need to go down there and shoot someone?"

Castle laughed out of genuine amusement and love for this woman whom he knew so well. "Just make sure you're fully loaded and primed," he said. He was half-joking and half-serious. He could tell that she wanted to ask what had happened, but stopped herself after glancing at Kevin. They could talk about the Council's interest in the boys later.

Kate zipped the duffel shut and ran her fingers through the locks of hair framing her face that had escaped her ponytail. "I think that's probably everything we brought that I care to take back with us."

"Martha is having a change of clothes for the boys and the C-A-R S-E-A-T-S couriered up here. We can leave as soon as the stuff arrives."

"I can still spell, jackhole," snapped Kevin. The long shadows in the dim room helped him look more menacing than he would have otherwise. Kate gave Castle an equally unimpressed look. The writer grinned sheepishly and Kate merely shook her head before going back to cramming random articles into the stuffed nylon bag.

"It's starting to feel claustrophobic in here," said the lead detective. "I'd rather wait out in the car than in this house."

Castle agreed. He couldn't wait to get out of the house full of witches. Adopting a humble tone of apology, Castle asked Kevin, "Do you want a ride, squirt?"

"Not from you, I-D-I-O-T."

"You deserved that," said Kate with a tired laugh as she pressed the duffel bag into Castle's arms. She leaned down and easily hefted their four-year-old up again. She kissed Kevin's rosy cheek. "This is one benefit to being smaller," she told the boy. "You were too big for me to carry around when you were nine."

"I'd rather be nine," the Irishman grumbled.

Castle shouldered the duffel bag so he'd have both hands free to pick up Javier. He made sure the borrowed blanket was wrapped snugly around the six-year-old. Together, the little family made their way down the stairs, across the short entry vestibule, and out onto the front porch. As they passed the loitering witches, Kate made sure to glare at each of them in turn and tighten her hold possessively around her partner.

It was easier to breathe out in the muggy July air. Thanks to the humidity, the heat hung around well after the sun had gone down, but it wouldn't be long until the coolness of the night overcame it. They stowed the duffel in the trunk with its mate and Castle carefully laid Javier across the back seat. The Hispanic boy spent a few seconds shifting to find a comfortable position on the lumpy leather seats and Castle momentarily felt guilty about moving him from a perfectly acceptable bed to a cramped car. The feeling passed when Javier settled into a contented curl and slept soundly.

Kevin wandered across the drive to plop down in the soft grass of the front yard. Castle kept a close eye on him from where he leaned against the side of the car, next to the open rear passenger door. The little guy was adorable in his pajamas that were multiple sizes too big, with his hair sticking out in every direction, and his mouth set in a cute pout. The detective, or rather ex-detective now, focused all of his anger and frustration on pulling up slender blades of grass and shredding them into narrow strips. After just a few minutes, he had quite the pile of murdered vegetation going.

Kate sat sideways in the front passenger seat, her door also hanging wide open, and tried to get a hold of various people that apparently had such busy social lives that they were out and about on a Monday night. She finished her third voicemail and pocketed her phone with an irritated growl. "I always answer my phone when people call me," she groused.

"I know," said Castle. "It's one of your most annoying habits." He had no shortage of memories of her phone ringing and interrupting some of their most pleasurable encounters. Kate halfheartedly flipped him the bird and shook her head. Castle grinned and glanced over at the preschooler with his mountain of dead grass. "Hey…" he said when a thought struck him. "Doesn't Kevin have a July birthday?" Half of the month was gone already and he worried suddenly that they'd completely missed the occasion thanks to the curse.

"The 27th," confirmed Kate distractedly.

"That's in less than two weeks," said the writer. "And Javier's is October…"

"23rd."

"Oh goody, a Halloween birthday. I love Halloween."

"I hate to break it to you, but I doubt either of them is going to willingly play along with your ideas for dress-up."

"Spoilsport," grumbled Castle. He didn't let it get him down. He had three months to wear on the pair. That was still much later than their most pressing engagement. He couldn't wait to plan a birthday bash that his new son would never forget. Kevin had no idea yet how lucky he was to have such a prime RHD. "We need to start planning. It's not every day a little boy turns five."

"Castle." Kate's tone was low with warning. "First of all, I'm sure that every day, somewhere in the world a little boy turns five. Second, I very much think that Kevin will not at all be in the mood to celebrate his thirty-fifth birthday when he's in the body of a kid. Third, if you humiliate either one of them, I will personally remove your ability to procreate such that no unfortunate child of mine has to endure you as their RHD."

"I thought you liked my ability to procreate," pouted the writer.

"I wasn't talking about that," said Kate. "I would never want anything bad to happen to happy Mr. Castle Jr. We'll just have to take more invasive measures."

"Mr. Castle Jr. won't be very happy if you cut off his millions of merry friends."

"I can't believe we're talking about this," said Kate with a giggle. "Stop being ridiculous."

Castle liked it that Kate was laughing and letting off a little steam. Still, for his own sake, he did change the subject. "I was thinking about The Plan while you three were sleeping. Capital T, capital P."

"The plan?"

"The Plan, Kate. The one where we get Detectives Ryan's and Esposito's affairs in order since they're not coming back for at least fourteen to sixteen years."

"I'd rather talk about Castle Jr. and his merry friends," said Kate darkly.

"This is me, stepping up and being a responsible father," said the writer. "I think it will make things a little easier if we let my lawyer in on the secret. He can help us put together the paperwork to transfer power of attorney over to me."

"I'm really grateful that you're here to help me deal with all of this," said Kate. "But can we please not talk about it right now?"

"Okay," he said soothingly.

The end of the block was lit up with red and blue flashing lights as an unmarked police car cruised down the residential road. Castle worried that one of the neighbors had decided to very belatedly call the cops on them. His worry multiplied when the black Crown Vic pulled into the drive behind the Mercedes and the combination of strobe lights and headlights blinded Castle. He panicked as he lost sight of his younger boy. By the time he had finished crossing the gravel drive and had scooped up the cursed detective, the police car's engine cut out, though all of the lights remained on. All four doors opened and loved ones poured out of it as if from a clown car. Well, loved ones and Demming. Though, Castle supposed the robbery detective did have his uses.

"Uh, Mother?" he asked as the actress walked up to him.

"I called Captain Gates to let her know what happened," said Martha. "She insisted that we'd get here faster if we took a cruiser."

"And that somehow meant bringing the cavalry?"

"Damn straight it did," said Lanie, walking around the car from the opposite side. She was still in her work scrubs. She must have dropped everything when she heard about the failed spell and the trip up to Riverside. "Gimme."

Castle was helpless to stop her from stealing Kevin and walking a few steps away with her prize. All of Kate's hard work at calming down her partner was undone as Lanie prompted her "little sugar pie" to "tell Mama all about it."

"Mr. Castle, what happened?" asked Captain Gates. She pushed her glasses up so she could stare at the writer unwaveringly.

"Nora Bellefonte had built in a failsafe to her spell so that if anyone but her tried to undo it, it would cause the boys' hearts to stop," explained Castle quickly. Both older women gasped in alarm. Martha rubbed his arm soothingly.

"How did you figure that out?" asked Gates.

Castle checked to make sure that Lanie was sufficiently distracted by Kevin sobbing into her ear. "We figured it out when Javier's heart stopped."

"No," breathed out the captain. She glanced around them quickly, just now realizing she'd only seen one of her cursed detectives since arriving. Martha's fingers pressed painfully into his flesh through his shirtsleeve.

"Dr. Bellefonte brought him back," Castle hurried to assure them. "At great personal expense. He's over in the car with Kate." He motioned to where Demming was catching up with his old fling. Predictably, the captain hurried over to check on the six-year-old for herself. Martha loosened her grip on her son, but still maintained a contact that was comforting to them both.

"Richard, the suitcase is in the trunk of Detective Demming's car. The car seats as well."

"Thank you." Together, they walked over to the car and signaled to the robbery detective to pop the trunk. He obliged. Castle opened the suitcase right there, looking for something more appropriate than a blanket for Javier to wear back into the city. Not that the comatose kid would know any better. His heart constricted momentarily as he lifted the long-sleeve NYU tee from the pile of neatly folded clothes.

"I found an outfit for you and Katherine, too," said Martha. "Just in case."

"You're wise beyond your years, Mother." He gave her a small smile. He helped her pull the suitcase out of the trunk once he'd gotten out of it what he wanted for his older boy. Martha pulled it over to hand off to Kate. The homicide detective looked equally surprised and touched that Martha had thought of them as well. She corralled her best friend into joining her inside so both she and Kevin could change.

"Excuse me," said Castle, gently nudging Captain Gates out of the way so he could slide into the backseat of his car. The bright lights had drawn Javier out of his sleep, though the poor little thing barely had the strength to do more than lie there and look miserable. Castle quickly and skillfully stripped Javier out of his eleven-year-old's clothes, which the cursed detective was still wearing within his blanket cocoon. A minute later, the six-year-old was promoting his alma mater of days past, paired with comfortable black track pants and thick fleece slipper socks.

The shrunken detective didn't want to be lifted from the car so the car seats could be installed. "Castle," he whimpered, clinging to the writer as tightly as he could while the older man set to pacing up and down the driveway.

"Shh. You're okay," soothed the writer. He rubbed Javier's back in large, slow circles. "You want some more purple smoothie?" He really needed to ask Bianca if her signature concoction had a name.

"Nng."

"It'll make you feel better," said the writer. Javier let his silence speak volumes.

A muted thud from the direction of the Mercedes drew Castle's attention. "Son of a…" Demming's barely censored frustration at Kevin's five-point car seat caused Castle to crack a wide grin. Take that, ex-boyfriend, the writer thought. Can't even defeat a simple old car seat. You'd never be an RHD.

"Let me help," said Captain Gates. The older woman showed surprising acuity at strapping in the child safety restraint, putting the detective to shame.

"Captain Gates, I never would have pegged you as a connoisseur of car seats."

"I may not have children of my own, but I come from a very large extended family," the captain rejoined. "Where's the other one?"

Demming handed her the much simpler booster. Captain Gates had it strapped in place in no time. Castle gently set the six-year-old in his booster. He wadded up the discarded older kid clothes to act as a substitute pillow. Thankfully, Javier was already mostly asleep again. "Can you kill the lights?" the writer asked after noticing the child's face scrunching up subconsciously when the blue and red flashed over his eyes.

"Sure."

"You should go change, too, Mr. Castle," said Captain Gates. "I'll watch him." She perched on the very edge of the leather seat and stroked the back of her index finger over Javier's smooth, pale cheek. Just the same, Castle waited until Kate and Lanie returned before taking his turn to put on fresh clothes.

to be continued…

Author's Notes:

Thank you very much to TXMedic for beta-reading.

Please let me know what you think, especially if you have ideas of ways I can improve. I cherish all my reviews. I write for fun but I always want to improve, so constructive criticism is always welcome. All mistakes are my own.