A/N: The next two or so chapters are going to be a little longer and actually have scene breaks in them because there was just so much I wanted to include. I've been mentally writing this since my own family reunion in September, so there's a lot I have to decide to keep or dump.
"I thought leaving at six was his idea," Alexis groans, dropping her head to her folded arms on the counter.
"It was," Kate yawns in response, pouring a cup of coffee. "And he's the one dragging his feet."
"We could have just had breakfast here, saved ourselves the aggravation."
"I don't disagree."
"Dad! Would you hurry up?"
"I'll be ready in two seconds?"
Alexis sighs and shakes her head.
"Two seconds, right. Want to pour me a cup too?"
Kate smirks and hands her the mug of coffee, making another one for herself.
"You're still sure you want to go?" she asks, uncertain about the entire situation now.
"Of course. It'll be fun. Once I take a nap in the car anyway. I'm just sad we couldn't convince Gram to come. I'd pay big money to see that woman roughing it."
"I think this was the only time she claimed to be too old."
Alexis snickers and finishes the rest of the coffee before taking the mug to the sink to rinse out.
"Dad! Hurry up!"
"Yeah, we're going to miss the mega-pancake flipping contest!"
"The what?" Castle says, finally coming out of the bedroom.
"Mega-pancake. Flipping. Contest."
Castle chuckles.
"Your family is awesome."
"Yes they are but they will also eat everything and we will starve until lunch if you don't get a move on."
"I was just making sure I had everything on the list. The car is packed, the bags are ready, you are both caffeinated-"
"Not quite enough," Kate mutters, topping off three commuter mugs. "There. That should take the sting out."
"There wouldn't be a sting if you two didn't stay up until one in the morning, watching that stupid Bob Saget show."
"How rude," they chorus, punctuated by yawns.
"Very cute. Let's go."
They pile into the car, Kate behind the wheel and slapping Castle's hand away from the radio while Alexis curls up in the back seat with a book. She puts her headphones in absentmindedly but then changes her mind and leaves them out. This is a family trip after all.
"So explain to me this pancake thing," Castle says after a while, pulling the sun visor down as they head north away from the city.
"What is there to explain? It's flipping a pancake."
"What's the mega part?"
"Okay, so it's a giant pancake. And there's no spatula, you have to actually take the thing off the fire and flip it in the pan with your own skills."
"How big is giant?"
"Like⦠eighteen inches across? Maybe bigger."
"I'm beginning to get it. How many burns have been had?"
"Quite a lot but that doesn't stop anyone."
"And you think I'm stupid enough to do it?"
"I don't think you're stupid, but I do think you'll do it."
"And you won't laugh at me?"
"No, of course not."
"I'll scope out the competition."
She snickers and shakes her head at him, knowing that he's going to participate, not to prove himself to her family or display his manly prowess for her, but because it was an experience that could spark an idea.
"Alexis, I'm surprised you're not protesting."
"Dad, remember the conversation we had a long time ago about you finding someone to take care of you? You found her. I don't have to worry anymore, I just have to document the insanity for the tell-all that I'll sell to Enquirer."
"Don't be your mother."
She giggles and kicks her shoes off, leaning against the door while she pulls a blanket into her lap.
"Castle, you can't talk about Meredith like that."
"Oh it's fine," Alexis assures. "He doesn't mean it badly. Like the other day when he told me that I was acting like you. It's not a put-down because I know he loves you."
"What were you doing like me?"
"I was right and he was wrong."
"Oh, okay."
Castle smirks at the exchange; the easy banter between the two women has been a long time coming. He has always known that eventually they would settle into a comfortable relationship, but he was worried that they would never really bond. Now he spends more time worrying that they're ganging up on him.
They drive for a long time, stopping once for gas before heading down a long and winding road in the woods that most New Yorkers wouldn't know existed. Kate's fingers tap on the steering wheel to the country music that filters out of the speakers, the only station that comes in. Castle can see her getting lighter and lighter with every mile that passes, the horror of this last weeks case forgotten as she gets closer to home. She told him that she spent summers here with her cousins, outside all day, splashing in the creek instead of bathing, barefoot until walking on gravel was no different than walking on carpet, falling asleep under the shade of a large tree, waking only to the sound of a lone car passing on the road. He covets the Kate of back then, free and happy, unencumbered by life. He hopes he gets to see her soon.
Alexis sits in a camp chair and observes the pandemonium around her. Knowing Jim and Kate, she assumed their family would be warm and accepting, which they were, but she never guessed that the children would be running around screaming while various adults chased them with water guns. Never in her wildest dreams would she imagine that Jim would be the one to bring the plethora of water guns and instigate the entire thing either. Even sitting on the sidelines like this, she's enjoying herself immensely.
"Doctors, lawyers, EMT's, firefighters, cops, military," Castle ticks off, sitting down next to her. "This family is like the Justice League of America."
Alexis giggles and nods her head.
"Between you and me, lets call them that forever."
"Deal."
He reaches over to shake her hand on it and she smiles.
"Do you think that her day to day handling of firearms gives her an advantage?" Castle asks, motioning to Kate who has just dived behind one of the lean-tos that are used as clubhouses for the kids.
"Yes, but if she keeps firing like that she's going to run out of ammo."
As if on cue, Kate took aim and fired, then frowned and looked into the water tank. Cursing, she crept over to the old horse trough turned wading pool and plunged the gun in, watching over her shoulder the entire time.
"She's out, she's out!" Jim hollers from his spot behind a bush.
"No! It's a refueling station! Olly-olly oxen free!"
"Attack!"
Kate jumps up from the ground and begins haphazardly squirting at the kids who have seemed to place the highest value on her head. She twists carefully out of their grasps and hops into one of the buildings, closing the door behind her.
"Chicken!" a few of the kids chorus, guns aimed at the door.
"More like winner, winner, chicken dinner!" Kate hollers back, shuttering the windows.
"You're gonna cook like a chicken dinner in there."
"And you'll be out there starving!"
"That doesn't make any sense!"
"So?"
Alexis chuckles and shakes her head.
"I think Beckett family water wars are more intense than Castle family laser gun tournaments."
"Which is why we never invite Kate, she'd take us both."
"Okay first of all, whoever built that fake school house with a hatch on top is a genius. Second of all, how long is she going to perch on the roof like that?"
"We take our games seriously," Jim's sister Carol notes, pulling up a chair next to them. "The first water gun fight was all Johanna's idea. Jim and Katie keep it going for her."
"They really go all out," Castle says. "That Super Soaker back pack doesn't come cheap."
"My big brother sometimes thinks he's still seventeen."
"Hey, it happens to the best of us."
One of the children suddenly fired, catching Kate in the stomach. She fell dramatically and rolled off the back of the building and all the kids rushed around to bag their catch.
"One hundred points, one hundred points!" they chanted.
"What do one hundred points get?"
"Eternal glory."
"Good to know."
"I don't know why they always go for Katie, she may be worth the most, but if they collected a few of their parents, they would come out with more points all around."
"So how much is a military guy worth?" Castle asks, pointing at Kate's cousin Jeff, who is upset that none of the kids ever go after him.
"He's a specialist in the Guard so basically he does math all day long. He's a nerd with a powerful employer."
"Is this all written down somewhere?"
"In the book of family folklore," Carol jokes. "There used to be water gun war rules but they were abandoned once too many people started playing, which is the mark of any civilized society."
Castle chuckles.
"Anything else we should know?"
"I'll let you find out on your own."
"Fair enough."
There is a loud scream from the direction of the kids and a moment of pandemonium before Kate emerges from the group carrying Cassie who looks just fine, but is creating quite the racket.
"Just let me see it," Kate is saying, while the little girl continues the crocodile tears.
"No! It is hurting!"
"Yes I know that but I don't think looking at it is going to make it hurt worse," Kate reasons, sitting down at the picnic table. Cassie sniffles and removes her hand from her knee, whimpering and making a big show of it.
"Well there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that your leg is going to have to come off."
"No!"
"Yep, we're going to have to chop it off right here," Kate explains, making a cutting motion with her hand. "It won't take too long. But the good news is that I am sure someone would be willing to run into town and buy you a peg leg. And maybe a parrot for your shoulder and a patch for you eye."
"That is not funny Kate," Cassie says darkly, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not gonna fall for it."
"See, now you're mad at me and you've totally forgotten that you even got hurt, huh?"
"You are more eviler than I imagined."
"You're welcome."
"I've never had popcorn made over a campfire," Castle muses, tipping the bowl in Kate's direction. "I don't think I will ever be able to make it a different way."
"I'm in total agreement," Kate says with a nod.
"You know what I think?"
"Hmm?"
"I think that the Hamptons are nice, but I wouldn't mind having a house out here. It's quiet."
"Yeah, it's nice. I always forget how much I love it until I'm here for a while."
Castle nods and drops his arm around her while they continue to watch the fire and listen to her family's hijinx as they play some game on the lawn. Kate has been up all day participating, even pulling Castle and Alexis in with her. Now that night has fallen, she just wants to sit back with her husband and relax.
"I always wanted this for Alexis," he confesses after a moment. "A big family, lots of love. I mean, no one could ever love her as much as I do, but it doesn't hurt to have more, you know? I think she really missed out."
"She's got it now," Kate says with a grin. "I think they like her better than they like me."
Castle chuckles and reaches into the bowl for more popcorn.
"You've got it too, you know. My family is your family and all that."
"There's a deep Appalachia joke in there somewhere, I just can't find it."
"I owe you a pity laugh."
He smiles and kisses the top of her head while she sighs and tries to figure out how to word her next sentence.
"Castle?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"
"I'm just glad that whatever children we might have someday will get to grow up like this."
She smiles; clearly they are ruminating along the same lines. She finds that for the first time the thought doesn't scare her out of her mind, nor does it even frighten her a little. For some reason right now she wants to jump in with both feet. The last time she did that she ended up happier than she'd ever been in her life. If she believed in signs, this would be one.
