Xxx

Rome couldn't help but notice how quiet his dad was being as they took the taxi from the doctor's office to downtown, where one of their favorite restaurants was located.

At first Rome thought his dad was just deep in thought about his new character, (which he still had yet to tell Rome about, he was hoping for an all access scoop during lunch) but Rome could see it was a little more than just his dad contemplating something, he that was his worried face, something was obviously on his mind and he was trying to hide it from Rome, but Rome was pretty observant, he knew his dad and hated to see him like that.

As the car paused at a light, Rome glanced over at his dad again, watching as his dad stared out the window, frowning. Rome sighed, he wanted to ask his dad what was wrong, but he was a little afraid of the answer he'd get.

So instead, he looked out his own window, watching the people rushing by the cab, the bikes, and the other motorists, Rome liked to people watch, when he was younger if they were sitting in a car or waiting somewhere, he'd make up stories about the people.

When they were going to on a trip, like the trip to Disney when he was six, as they sat in the airport him and Alexis would play a game to pass the time, they'd pick a person for each other and they'd have to come up with a whole story about who the person was, where they were going, and why.

It was one of Rome's favorite travel games and it always amused their dad. In fact a villain in Deadly Storm, one of the Derrick Storm novels, had come from Rome and Alexis getting really creative with the story game, a guy wearing a trench coat, walking through LaGuardia, carrying a briefcase, became the basis for Herr Von Brackenstein, a Soviet spy from East Berlin, still trying to hold onto the old Communist party, long after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, his ties to the former USSR had Storm second guessing himself at each turn with Brackenstein.

Rome and Alexis were both extremely proud to have been able to help their dad. Rome had even sketched the guy from the airport and altered him to turn him into Herr Von Brackenstein, complete with giant handlebar moustache and a walrus like appearance, it was his first attempt at sketching a real person, well a real person he didn't know, and given the fact he was only seven at the time, it came out pretty good.

The problem was, the game wasn't much fun to play alone and Rome wished his dad would play this time around, it was one of his favorite games too. But Castle was to deep in thought to play, he was thinking of the phone call, the event…the night that he was sure Rome was going deaf. He remembered the phone call to Meredith, he remembered how honestly frightened he was that Rome slept through a fire alarm screaming through the loft.

xxx

2003

Castle was nearly asleep, he had just spent the last six hours on a writing roll, taking time off only to tuck four year old Rome and nine year old Alexis in. Now his own bed had called his name and he had collapsed into it, exhausted.

Rome would be starting pre-school in a week and as happy as Castle was that his son was ready for pre-school at the same time that meant their one on one dad and son time was going to be shortened. He loved having both kids home with him, and it had been tough sending Alexis off to school, but that had left Rome to play with, now he wouldn't have Rome either.

The bedside clock read three AM and Castle felt his eyelids getting heavy, he accepted defeat shutting his eyes.

He couldn't have been asleep for more than five minutes tops, when a loud wailing noise echoed through the loft; it took him a second to register the sound, realizing it was the smoke detector.

Seconds later, his bedroom door, which he always kept open a crack in case Alexis or Rome had a nightmare, burst open hitting the wall as Alexis ran in screaming. She dove into his bed and hugged him tight, shaken by the noise.

Castle didn't smell any smoke, so he wasn't concerned that there was an actual fire, what he was concerned about was the lack of Rome, the same wailing noise that had sent Alexis screaming into his bedroom, should have done the same for Rome, even more then Alexis, Rome was going through a very clinging phase and frightened easy with loud noises, when he heard them that was.

Castle had been getting more and more concerned about Rome's hearing over the past few months, between the long drawn out ear infections and the regular occurrence where Rome didn't respond when someone was talking to him, or the constant need to repeat things to him.

With Alexis still clinging to Castle, he lifted her up and carried her down the hall to Rome's room. He was fast asleep on the bottom bunk of his new bunk bed set, Balto wrapped securely in his arm and his thumb snug in his mouth, his favorite blanket kicked off at some point.

"Alexis I have to get your brother, I need you to walk okay? You can hold onto me, but I have to carry your brother." Castle said gently, Alexis nodded, sliding down her dad, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Carefully Castle lifted Rome up, Balto falling to the floor; Alexis picked the stuffed wolf up and held it in the crook of her elbow as she returned to her clinging to her dad. Rome stayed asleep as Castle carried him (while attempting to walk with Alexis holding tight) through the loft and down the stairs.

The alarm was still wailing and Alexis was crying, obviously fighting between holding on to Castle, and blocking the noise that was clearly hurting her ears.

But no matter how loud the noise was, Rome didn't wake up, he stayed fast asleep, not even flinching. Now Castle was even more concerned, this kind of noise should have woke Rome up, in fact he should've been screaming and crying, Castle almost would've been thankful for that bit of normal behavior.

He looked at the offending smoke alarm, there was no smoke, no fire, the thing was just malfunctioning. Still, the tenant below them had heard the detector going off and had called the fire department who arrived pretty quick considering. Castle, realizing there was no danger, had set Rome down on the couch and instructed Alexis to stay with her brother no matter what.

The firefighters checked the smoke detector and determined it was just as Castle suspected it had malfunctioned somehow.

After they had left, Castle returned to the couch, Alexis had calmed down and had fallen asleep, using Rome as a pillow, Rome however had slept through the entire ordeal and now Castle was not only concerned, but he was pretty sure he was right, something was wrong with Rome. He hated to even think it, but he was pretty sure his son couldn't hear correctly.

Deciding he wanted both kids close, Castle didn't carry them up to bed, instead he moved Alexis so she was no longer using her brother as a pillow, pulled a couple of blankets out and tucked them both in on the couch. While they slept on, he went to the house phone and dialed a number he tried to avoid calling.

Meredith picked up on the third ring, and considering the time difference Castle was impressed she'd picked up at all.

"Richard? What's wrong, it's like four in the morning in New York, oh my god are the kids okay?"

"Meredith the kids are fine, sort of."

"Richard, please, not the time for riddles, what's the matter?"

"The smoke detector in the loft just malfunctioned, it woke Alexis and I up, sent her screaming into my room."

"As long as there was no fire I don't see the problem, why are you?" Meredith paused for a second "wait you said Alexis went screaming, what about Roman?"

"Meredith that's the thing, he…he slept through the whole thing. The alarm, me carrying him downstairs, the firefighters, the whole thing, he never woke up."

"Richard what are you saying?"

Castle took a deep breath

"Meredith, I think we need to talk to Dr. Fieldman, see if he knows any ear specialists, Meredith I think Rome is going deaf."

There was a long pause on Meredith's end

"Make the calls, I'll book a flight and be out there by tomorrow afternoon. I hope you're wrong Richard,"

"Believe me, so do I," Castle replied but I don't think I am, he thought as he hung up with Meredith.

He walked back over to the couch where the kids were still out cold, Rome had wiggled himself so he was curled up in one corner of the couch, as far from his sister as he could, so she wouldn't use him as a pillow again, his thumb wedged in his mouth Castle moved to the couch and sat down in between the kids, Alexis moved so she had her head in Castle's lap, Rome however stretched out and put his feet on his dad's lap, pretty close to Alexis' head and Castle was pretty sure it was intentional.

Castle tried not to laugh, but it was still weighing on his mind, all the ear infections Rome had been getting since he was a baby, his constantly asking 'what', Castle hated to come to the conclusion that his son was going deaf, but that alarm should have woken him up, he should not have slept through it.

xxx

2009

He was pulled out of his flashback pretty quick as he felt Rome getting fidgety a little next to him. Castle glanced over at Rome, concerned, he was scratching at his ears, as if they were bothering him, it wasn't unusual, the new hearing aids were supposed to be lighter, and after not wearing them for nearly a week, Rome was just going to have to get used to them again.

However, Rome was getting more annoyed with the itch, it was persistent, and then the aids began whistling a little. It always occurred after the hearing aids were adjusted and these ones being new, it was worse than usual. He was tempted to just take them off, at least for a little while, but he didn't get the chance.

The first two whistles were just annoying, but suddenly it got worse, causing Rome to cry out in pain, rubbing his ears as the sharp noise stabbed his already weak and sore ear drum, he began clawing at his ears trying to pull the hearing aids off.

Castle reached over and pulled Rome's hands away from his ears, trying with one hand to keep Rome from ripping the hearing aids off and using the other hand to fumble with the hearing aids, adjusting the volume to soften the noise

"Dad, dad! Ow, ow!"

"Hold on, shh, Rome it's okay I've got it hold on, one second it's okay, easy pal, I'm going to take them off, don't pull I got it."

Rome squirmed a little more, he knew his dad would help him, but the pain was intense and he just wanted it over with, he'd gone through something like before, but never this intense, this was the worst, he just wanted to pull his hearing aids off, that would get the noise to stop.

Castle managed to get Rome to stop moving long enough for him to take the hearing aids off and adjust the volume. Castle didn't have the hearing aids even close to his own ears and he could hear the screeching.

As soon as the noise stopped, Rome calmed down a little, his ears were still sore and he continued to rub them trying to sooth the pain.

Castle reached over and hugged him tight, trying to calm him down, he rocked him a little. Castle wasn't ready to admit it, but his conversation with Dr. Winter had shaken him up more than he expected.

He couldn't believe that Rome was going deaf quicker than they expected. How could Rome's hearing change so drastically in just six months? Six months ago Dr. Winter had said Rome's hearing hadn't really changed, that they were still on the five years or so timeline. Now suddenly a year, two years left before his son would be completely deaf? It was unfathomable, but it was going to happen.

Castle wasn't sure how he was going to tell Rome, but at the moment all he wanted to do was hold his son, sometimes the dad needed the hug more than the kid, Alexis and Rome had both experienced that on occasion. Castle figured he was being pretty suspicious and knew Rome wouldn't take long to figure out something was amiss, but that was the least of their concerns for the moment.

"Ow," Rome said softly as Castle helped him put the hearing aids back on, he kind of winced back from them, expecting the noise to attack again "dad, that really hurt,"

"I know, I'm sorry Romey,"

"Everything okay back there?" the taxi driver asked looking in the rearview mirror, a look of concern on his face

"Fine," Castle replied "everything's okay,"

Rome leaned closer to his dad, he hated to be babied, he was ten after all, but for some reason he really needed a hug, he really needed his dad to hold him and he had the feeling, his dad needed it just as much.

"Dad?" he said softly, Castle seemed to know what his question was and gave him a quick squeeze

"Rome why don't we walk from here, it's not that far,"

Rome nodded

"Okay," he said, anxious to get out of the cab, he had a feeling that whatever had caused his hearing aids to go haywire, had not come from outside, he was pretty sure it had come from the cabbie's cell phone, if not it was his two-way radio.

"We'll get out here," Castle told the cabbie, the driver pulled to the sidewalk and Castle paid him the fare and tip, before sliding out, Rome following him.

It was a good day to walk, considering it was March, it was actually pretty nice out. Once they were on the sidewalk, Rome reached over and took his dad's hand waiting hand, something was clearly bothering his dad. Castle looked down when he felt Rome's hand and he couldn't help his smile as he gave Rome's hand a gentle squeeze.

Rome remembered when he was little, his dad's main rule was if they were out of the loft, he was to be holding his dad's hand and never wander off without making sure it was okay.

The whole thing was based on something Alexis had done when she was five. She'd wandered off and got lost. Of course Rome didn't remember the event, he was barely ten months old, but he knew the story, he'd been told it enough times.

The three of them were at the mall Christmas shopping, ten month old Rome in his stroller, sleeping, and their dad was trying on hats. Some of the hats he put on Rome for a good chuckle, again Rome had been fast asleep so he was pretty sure he was cooperative about the whole hat thing.

Five year old Alexis apparently got really bored after a while, she whispered to the still sleeping Rome that she was going off to explore, and that he was to tell their dad, and had wandered off. Castle had the entire mall in a frantic search for her, before she was finally found, sleeping under a clothing rack.

Needless to say, Richard Castle became even more overprotective of the kids after that, never letting either of them out of his sight. In all fairness, Alexis was lucky their dad didn't put a harness and leash on her for the next few years. Which Rome had brought up when he first heard the story and he'd earned a push from Alexis, as she reminded him he tended to wander off more than she did, if anyone was going to be leashed, it was Rome, he couldn't help it, he got distracted easily.

Rome knew he was getting old enough to not really need to hold his dad's hand, but it was still New York City so he knew the hand holding rule really applied, plus, Rome could see his dad relax a little when he felt Rome's hand in his.

"Dad," Rome started as they weaved through the crowded streets of downtown "is everything okay?"

Castle winced at the question; he had been going over in his head how to talk to Rome about what Dr. Winter had discovered, he'd asked Dr. Winter to let him tell Rome. Both father and son liked Dr. Winter, and Castle trusted his son's doctor and respected him, but he wanted to tell Rome one on one, or at least in the safety of the loft, where the family could give their support.

But now Castle wasn't ready to tell Rome. After all, how was he supposed to tell his ten year old son that the time frame they originally had for his hearing loss was going to be null and void, because in about a year Rome would be completely deaf, Rome was a smart kid, but how was he supposed to understand that.

Castle's mind flashed back to the tearful conversation a few nights earlier, when Rome had expressed his fear about losing his hearing completely. Castle had assured him that they would figure it out and face it when the time came, but when he had made that promise; he'd assumed they had years to worry about it, now they had a year at most.

Castle pulled himself out of his thoughts as Rome asked again if he was okay, worry washing over his son's face, Rome was pretty good at reading facial expressions, he used it as well as lip reading to follow conversations if he couldn't hear the person or they didn't use sign language, Rome could see that the worry lines on his dad got worse when he asked if he was okay, prompting Rome to ask again.

Castle looked down at him and smiled, putting on a mask that was good enough to fool Rome, (at least he hoped that was the case.)

"Why don't we forget the restaurant, how about we grab a hotdog, than go to the museum? The shorter lunch takes, the longer we can spend in the museum. I know you wanted to sketch that new exhibit they added last week." Castle suggested.

Rome looked at him suspiciously, but nodded, he was hungry at this point he didn't care where the food came from, he just wanted something to eat, he also hoped his dad realized he wasn't fooled by the subject change and he definitely wasn't fooled by Castle's facial change.

They found a vendor selling his hotdogs right outside the Museum of Natural History, it was one of the Castle family's favorite places to visit.

When Rome and Alexis were younger if it was too rainy to go to the park, the museum was the next best thing and all three of them loved it. When Alexis started school full time, Castle kept up the tradition with Rome, the two of them sharing hours at the museum, before picking Alexis up at school.

Castle knew no place was a good choice to tell Rome his news, but if he had to pick a place that would be better than most, it was the museum, and if it was possibly, maybe he could delay it for a little longer.

They finished up their hotdogs quickly and Rome grinned at his dad, tossing his trash in the nearby can.

"Race you inside?" he asked, getting ready to race, Castle wanted to do just that, but he had to get this over with first. Rome saw the look on his dad's face and recognized it from the cab. "okay, forget the race for a second, Dad, come on, what's going on? You've been acting funny since we left Dr. Winter's office, I don't want to go in until you at least tell me something."

Castle gave Rome a forced smile, he reached over and picked Rome up, sitting him on the base of the statue dedicated to Teddy Roosevelt, putting father and son eye level with each other.

"Rome,"

"Man this must be serious; you never look like this unless it's really big, am I in trouble again?" Rome asked wincing, "I swear I didn't do it whatever it is."

Castle chuckled, he couldn't help it and when Rome saw his dad laughing he felt a little better at least for the moment.

"You're not in trouble Rome, I…look pal, the truth is Dr. Winter told me something in his office and I've been debating on how to tell you since we left. I don't want you to worry, but apparently I've been pretty obvious, so you've already guessed something is up."

Rome sighed, he looked at his feet for a second, of course he knew, he also knew why his dad was hesitant to tell him, he was trying to protect him, but Rome had to know if he was right. He sighed, and then looked at his dad.

"It's getting worse isnt it?" he guessed "my hearing, it's not going to be much longer huh, that's what Dr. Winter told you, the new tests he ran today, it was just confirming that huh?"

Castle knew he should be surprised that Rome had guessed it, but he knew his son was good at figuring things out.

"I'm sorry Romey, he thinks we may be looking at a year, maybe two tops. He doesn't know why all of a sudden it's gotten worse, but he knows it has. I think we all had that feeling huh?"

Rome nodded pulled his knees to his chest, he bit his lip trying to hold back tears. He hated to cry, especially over something that was inevitable, but a part of him still wasn't ready for this, he knew it wasn't fair that he was going to lose his hearing when he was older, but now to learn that it was going to happen sooner than it was supposed to was even less fair.

"Is that why my hearing aids went off in the cab? 'Cause they had to adjust the volume so much?"

"I'd say so kiddo," Castle replied he leaned on the stone base, so him and Rome were eye level "this doesn't change anything Rome, remember what I said the other night, we deal with what comes as it comes."

Rome took a deep breath

"It still sucks,"

"Rome, come on…" Castle paused "it's a pretty apt description of the whole thing, but pick a different word."

"Sorry," Rome replied shrugging.

"Don't worry about it, I feel the same way right now. Look, this things going to happen, we both know that, sure the timetable just jumped a little, but we still go as we have. We don't have to talk about this now; we can talk about it tonight."

"As a family?"

"Only if you want to; gram and Alexis are going to be curious about how your appointment went, if you want to hold off telling them that's your decision Rome, but you can't keep this from them forever."

"No, they deserve to know…we can tell them, I just mean, are we going to tell mom?" Castle was a little taken aback by that question

"Of course we'll tell mom," he looked at Rome gently "Romey your mom loves you very much, she knew we went today, I'll be surprised if she doesn't call tonight to check on you."

"Dad she forgot my birthday, I don't think she's going to remember that I was going to Dr. Winter today." Rome argued carefully, he didn't want to sound bitter, because he wasn't, he was just telling the truth. "I know she loves me, but she's got her own life too, so it's okay if she doesn't remember everything. I've got you, gram, and Alexis here, and I know mom's there for me too." Sorta, Rome thought to himself "are we going to have a family meeting?"

"Just a small one if you're up to it,"

"Why a meeting though? I mean there's nothing we can do to change what's going to happen, why do we have to talk about it?"

"Dr. Winter gave me some other options that we may have Rome, it'll be your decision, but I'd rather we all talk about it as a family."

Rome nodded; he looked behind him at the museum, then back at his dad, his blue eyes getting wide

"Can we go in now please? Talk about all this later, we're wasting valuable museum time." He asked, giving his dad a grin "please?"

"Of course," Castle reached up and lifted Rome down from the statues base. "So, race inside? Winner picks the first exhibit and the IMAX movie."

"Loser carries the map?"

"Sounds like a deal to me,"

Rome's grin got wider

"So, count of three," he said

"One, two,"

"Three!" Rome exclaimed before his dad could and bolted up the stairs, his dad right behind him.

Inside the museum, Castle showed the family membership passes to the woman at the ticket counter who stamped their hands and handed them a map and a list of times for the Planetarium and the IMAX Theater. Rome loved both of those, especially the IMAX, because even without his hearing aids, the acoustics in the IMAX Theater were so good that he could hear what was going on pretty well.

In the back of his mind his conversation with his dad played out and he wondered how much longer that would be the case, before he would have to resort to those devices the museum offered so that someone who was deaf could enjoy all the exhibits, even the ones with sound.

"All right Rome you won the race where do we go first?" Castle asked spreading out the map, it was pretty unnecessary to have; Rome and his dad both knew the museum's layout perfectly.

Rome knelt down took off his backpack and pulled out his sketchbook and pencil, before he looked up at his dad grinning.

"Hall of birds, there's a really funny looking bird I didn't get to finish sketching last time," Rome said quickly, he opened his sketch book and showed his dad the half finished sketch of a some kind of bird, Castle couldn't identify it, it was definitely one of the weirdest and ugliest animals he'd ever seen.

"What…what is that?"

Rome's grin turned mischievous

"Well, I didn't finish sketching it, so I didn't get to label it, follow me to the Hall of Birds and we'll find out."

When they finally got to the hall, Rome made himself comfortable on the floor, just out of the way of foot traffic and went to work sketching his bird, the Marabou Stork. Castle leaned over his shoulder for a second watching him work. Rome was always serious about his artwork, he would get so lost in his work that he didn't notice the other museum guests, he didn't notice his dad watching over his shoulder, he just concentrated on the details of the drawing.

Castle chuckled at Rome's focus; he loved how his son's face scrunched up when he went to a particular detail of the bird that was tough. He ruffled Rome's hair and moved to the other side of the exhibit taking in the stuffed birds and giving Rome his time to work, but keeping him in sight, Rome had a habit of finishing one sketch then moving onto the next thing that caught his attention.

More than once Castle had looked away from Rome for what he felt was a second, only to look back and Rome be heading to a different exhibit, Castle always thought it was amusing that Rome was the typical artist in that regards, at least he never migrated far.

However, when Castle looked up from the info-card about the North American Bald Eagle he was reading, and looked over to the spot where Rome had been sitting, he felt his heart start to race; Rome was gone. Castle felt panic set in as he pushed back through to the exact spot that he'd been sitting, Rome was nowhere to be found.

The hall of birds was good size, but Castle could see the entire room and didn't see Rome at all, it was the mall with Alexis all over again as he looked around, panic getting worse.

"Rome?" he called "Roman!" instinct had taken over, Castle wasn't even sure if Rome would be able to hear him calling, even if he was still in the hall. "Rom-"

"Dad?"

Castle felt a wave of relief wash over him as he turned and looked down; Rome was looking at him curiously. He adjusted the strap on his backpack and tucked his sketchbook back under his arm.

"Rome, where did you go!?"

"I finished the bird and got up to stretch, I've been behind you the whole time, why are you panicking?"

Castle rolled his eyes and took a deep breath

"Sorry pal, I just…"

"You thought I got distracted and wandered off," Rome finished, he started laughing "I didn't go far dad, I barely went three feet."

"It wouldn't be the first time you've wandered off."

Rome shrugged

"Not like I go far." He opened up his sketchbook "want to see the finished project?"

"Always," Rome handed the book to his dad who flipped through the pages, nodding and grinning. "Rome these came out awesome, I'm glad you date these."

Rome reached over and found the page with the Marabou Stork

"Here's the new one"

"This bird may be one of the ugliest birds in the world, but you did a great job making him better looking. I think the bird should hire you to do his entire PR, he could be bigger than Big Bird, bigger than Toucan Sam."

Rome laughed

"Funny dad," he paused and took the book back, putting it gently in his bag "can we go to the IMAX now? The one about the Arctic is starting in like twenty minutes."

"Of course, let's go," Castle put his arm around Rome's shoulders and the pair headed down to the main entrance of the IMAX Theater.

"So dad, you promised to tell me about the new book," Rome prodded as they sat down in the theater, considering the time of day, the theater was pretty empty.

"Okay, so it's about a detective,"

"Like Detective Beckett?" Rome asked grinning, "does she know that you're basing a character on her?"

"Well, no not yet, I'll tell her soon. But, I need to do a little research so I'm going to see if I can shadow her."

"So it wasn't just this case you're going to get a chance to really be a detective and follow one around! This is so cool dad!" Rome exclaimed

"Thanks kiddo,"

"What's the detectives name?"

"I've been throwing some names around, what do you think of Nikki Heat?"

Rome thought that over, he shrugged

"It's not Derrick Storm," he replied "but I kinda like it."

"Well Rome, the title will speak for themselves. How does this sound 'Heat Wave?' huh?"

"That's cool, I mean, you can come up with tons of titles to follow that, just like Storm Rising, Storm Furry; you've got Heat Wave, you could have a title like that TV show Gram watches all the time, In the Heat of the Night, or what about 'It's Only the Heat," Rome's grin got wider, Castle reached over and ruffled his hair

"Slow down Dr. Watson, we'll start with the character first and build her up. Then we'll see how the titles flow after that."

"Is she going to be like Detective Beckett?"

"As much as I think I can get away with." Castle replied grinning, "that's why I need to follow her around. Do you know last night after you and your sister went to bed I actually got a few pages written?"

"She was the muse you needed!" Rome exclaimed,

"Exactly, so imagine what I could get written when I shadow her?"

"But, how are you going to get her to agree to that? Wasn't she ready to kill you over your help with the last case?"

"Smart Alec," Castle paused "I'll pull some strings."

"You're going to go ask Uncle Rob aren't you? Ask him to talk to the police commissioner to get you permission," he asked, Mayor Robert Weldon was one of Richard Castle's oldest friends, even before he became mayor and a regular guest for the Castle poker parties, Alexis and Rome had grown up knowing him. Rome often called him Uncle Rob when he was younger and the title had kind of stuck.

"Well, what do I always say, use the tools at your disposal?" Castle replied,

"Can I go with you when you ask him?"

"We'll see," was all Castle had the chance to say, just as the lights began to dim, the IMAX film starting. Rome leaned back in his chair, and put his hand behind his head. He was ready to enjoy the movie, but the itch from his hearing aids was returning, which reminded him about the conversation they'd had outside the museum, two years…Rome thought two short years, if that. Rome wondered for a second if his dad was really going to bring up the cochlear implants, he knew his dad had been hesitant about it and had been trying to talk to Rome about it, but hadn't found the right time. A family meeting might just be the push, but Rome wasn't sure if he really wanted to go down that road.

On screen the camera zoomed across the frozen tundra that made up the Arctic and Rome felt himself pulled in, the upcoming family meeting faded to the back of his mind.

XXX

A/N: Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, the next chapter will involve dialogue from the episode 'Nanny McDead' and if it works out all right I should have some more Beckett involvement, so just giving you guys a heads up. Thank as always for the reviews, alerts, and favorites that this fic has received, it means so much to me, you guys will never know! Hope to keep hearing from you all, till next update!