Disclaimer: The only part of Castle that I own is the TV on which I watch the show.
Today is going to be exciting because I am going to the precinct for the first time in my life. I used to go there all the time with Mom, but that was when I was in a womb so I don't know what anything looks like. I know what a lot of the people look like, though, because they have come to visit me. But not everybody. Like Doctor Perlmutter. I'll finish this story when we get home. I'm just telling you now because I can't wait to go.
It's taking a long time to get ready because Mom can't decide what I should wear. She has looked at about a zillion things which is very boring.
"Castle, I can't put him in something that someone from the precinct gave him because it would hurt the feelings of everyone else who sent things."
"Okay, I understand that, but could I make one suggestion?"
Mom is making a not-happy face and blowing some hair off her forehead. "Go ahead."
"The black-and-white striped onesie with the yellow crown and the yellow letters that say KING OF THE CASTLE. It should fit him now."
"Wow! How come I've never seen that?"
"I love that, but Gates gave it to him."
"Exactly. She's about to retire and having him wear this today would be a really nice gesture."
Now Mom looks happy. "That's a great idea. Thank you. And I'll put a yellow shirt under it and yellow socks."
And guess what, it fits! Now we can go. It's about time.
Hey! I'm back! I am so tired from everything we did that I need to take a nap, but before that I have to tell you all about it, especially the new friend I met.
First of all was the elevator. It's so slow and it looks like it's about a million years old and it makes funny creaky noises. I remember the noises from before but they're worse now. Louder. When we got off on our floor there were so many desks. Not like Dad's office which has only one. And so many people, too. Some of them wear uniforms and some wear regular clothes like Mom, Dad and me. Also I could hear a guy hollering a lot of bad words, but I couldn't see him. Someone said, "He's in holding." Holding what? I don't know.
"Let's put our things here at my desk, Castle."
"This is your desk? There's the chair where I sat with you for such a long time. And Dad's chair which has a torn part. I think it's older than the elevator. Your desk is neat, though."
Mom and Dad took their coats off, and mine. And then Mom said "Oh!" and put her hand over her mouth and I was afraid something bad had happened but she pointed at her desk and said, "Look!"
"Hey, it's a picture of you guys and me! Look how little I am."
"Lanie took that in the hospital. She must have gotten it framed and left it here when she found out that we were coming in. She's off today, and that's so sweet."
We walked over right away to see Ryan and Esposito. Their desks are next to each other's and they look a lot like Mom's except they don't have my picture on them.
"You working on a case, guys?"
"Yeah, bro, but we're stuck. I hate to say it, but we could use one of your Loony Tune ideas right now."
"Beckett, I'm going to take a look at the murder board. Wait, are there any gory photos? Don't want Eliot to see those."
"Nope, just DMV shots, time line, things like that."
Now I know what the murder board looks like. I thought it was a wall but it just looks like a wall and it has wheels. It has a lot of photos and things written under them and a time line, which is a long line with little lines sticking up out of it so you can keep track of what happened. And sometimes that's how you know when people have lied so that's very good. Dad was jiggling me up and down a little bit while he looked and Ryan and Esposito told him and Mom about the case which I didn't understand. That's okay because I just like to look.
"What do you think, Eliot?" Mom said.
"Ii-ii aa-a aaa."
And Dad said, "Really? I think that's Eliot babble talk for 'Interesting case'."
"No, I said who's that funny-looking guy with the hat?"
And then Dad got a little closer and I wanted to feel what the board is like so I was slapping my hand on it and then I slapped the guy on the hat in the picture.
And Ryan said, "Dude! That's our number-one suspect! Way to go, Eliot."
"Are you in the market for another civilian consultant? Because I think you just got one."
"Is that me, Dad?"
"Castle, you want to stay here and talk about the case? And I'll take the baby and go see Captain Gates."
"I want to stay and be a civilian consultant."
So Mom and I went to the Captain's office. I thought it might be scary because she used to sound scary a lot of the time when I was here before, but it was nice. It has windows even though it's inside and you can see everywhere from in there, even Mom's desk.
"Beckett, Kate, please come in. And Eliot. It's wonderful to see you. Motherhood suits you."
"Thank you, Sir. I wanted to check in with you personally. And did you see what Eliot is wearing today? He just now grew into it, so this is its premiere. It's adorable. Thank you again."
"You're welcome. Anytime you want to talk with me, just call. I hope you know that you may, and I hope you will. While you're still on leave, or afterwards. Anything I can do to help. Because, face it, I'm the only one here who's been where you are now and where you're going."
"I know, Sir, and I appreciate that. You can't imagine."
"Actually, I can. And since you're officially on leave, and since you now have the same rank as I, even though you haven't been sworn in yet, please forget the Sir. It's Victoria. Gates, if you're uncomfortable with Victoria."
Mom started laughing. I don't know, why since Captain Gates didn't say anything funny. But she's smiling, so that's nice. Plus she gave me these clothes and I like being king. "Did you ever think this day would come, Si—Victoria? We got off on such a terrible foot and look at us now."
"What happened to your foot?"
"I think we each put ourselves in the other's shoes, Kate."
"You put your foot in Captain Gates's shoes? I never saw you wearing her shoes, Mom. That must have happened before I was born."
"Good thing we both like four-inch heels, isn't it?"
And then they were laughing so hard I thought I was going to slide right off Mom's lap. Are shoes funny? Maybe I'll find out when I get some. So far I just have clothes.
Dad knocked on the door to see if anybody wanted coffee. I waved my arms around so he would know I wanted to go with him and he did! That was how I got to go to the place I wanted to see the most. It's called the break room even though I never heard anybody break anything there. It has a coffee machine like the one we have at home and a lot of other things. Mom used to come in here with me all the time so she could smell the coffee because she wasn't allowed to have very much with me inside. And she used to lie down on the sofa in here. It is not as nice as our sofa at home and it's kind of lumpy but we had good naps on it.
Dad made a whole bunch of coffee for everybody and told Mom he was sorry that we weren't going to go see Lanie and right then a man got off the elevator and said, "A morgue is no place for a baby, Mister Castle." I thought his voice might belong to Doctor Perlmutter and I was right because Dad turned right around very fast.
"Perlmutter!"
"Hi, Perlmutter," Mom said. "What a surprise. We seldom see you up here."
Doctor Perlmutter was kind of moving his feet around like he wanted them to take him somewhere else.
"Rumor had it that you were here, Detective Beckett, and I wanted to take the opportunity to meet your son. Uh, congratulations, by the way."
Dad was whispering but I could hear him. "Yeah, you won two thousand four hundred seventy bucks on him, so you should be thanking him."
"Thank you. Here he is. Meet Eliot Beckett-Castle."
"Might I hold him, Detective?"
Dad made this noise like he was strangling. Mom said, "Of course."
She handed me to Doctor Perlmutter and he held me exactly right. And he tickled me and told me a great joke right in my ear which made me laugh.
"You're, um, a real natural with him, Perlmutter." I could see Mom touch her foot to Dad's. "Isn't he, Castle?"
"He is so funny! Is that why everybody's staring at him and me?"
"Definitely."
Dad didn't sound like he meant it but I wanted him to know I like Doctor Perlmutter so I patted him on the cheek. He reached into his pocket and took something out and gave it to Mom. "I have a little something for Eliot. I hope he doesn't have it already. I know the spelling is different."
Mom took the paper off and said, "Oh! Little Elliott, Big City. No, he doesn't have it and it's supposed to be a wonderful book. Look, Eliot, it's about an elephant who has the same name as you." She held the book up so I could see it and it reminded me of my elephant at home.
She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Perlmutter. That's so sweet."
I don't know what happened but it seemed like Dad, Ryan and Esposito all got a cold right then because they all started coughing. While they were doing that Doctor Perlmutter handed me back to Mom. "He's a lovely boy, Detective. It will be nice to have you back. Goodbye, Eliot." And then he left.
It was so quiet! And then Mom said, "Really? Close your mouths, boys."
We got our coats on and drove home and it was weird because Dad didn't say a word the whole way until we got into our kitchen. And he just stood there and said, "Am I dreaming?"
"No, Dad. You're awake. Can we invite Doctor Perlmutter to come over?"
