A/N Time jump of about six weeks.

Disclaimer: The only part of Castle that I own is the TV on which I watch the show.

"Castle, what's going on?"

"Nothing's going on. The usual's going on."

"No. The staring."

"Staring?"

"You've been staring at me for weeks."

"Not true."

"Oh, please. It is."

"I haven't been staring at you for weeks, Beckett, I've been staring at you for years."

"You know, I love having these hair-splitting conversations with you."

"Hair splitting? Whose hair split? All our hair looks fine to me."

"Just saying. Long-time starer here. And since we're married I can do it without fear of, uh, of—"

"Of what?"

"Reprisals?"

I better tell you what was going on. That was Mom and Dad, you probably figured out that part, at home this morning. It's Sunday and it has been cold and very rainy all day so we couldn't go out for a walk. When they were having that talk I was playing on the floor and they were sort of reading the paper on the sofa. Mom was lying down at one end and Dad was at the other end.

"Aha. You admit that you're staring, but you no longer fear reprisals. What would I have done, shot you?"

"Before. But not now. I am the father of your child. Soon to be children, plural."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with the soon-to-born children, would it?"

"What? Of course not."

"Too quick, bud, too quick. Now I'm sure that it has everything to do with that. Guilt is all over your face like Oreo crumbs at midnight."

"That's a terrible metaphor, Beckett."

"Not in your case, you midnight Cookie Monster. And you're just trying to deflect. You haven't just been staring, you've been areal staring."

"Areal staring? Is that even a thing?"

"The area being my middle. Have you been staring at me because you're charting my growth, day by day? Because I am so huge? Because I look almost as big now, at the half-way point, as I did right before Eliot was born?"

"Of course not. That's ridiculous."

"Uh, huh. Okay, then here's the big question."

"I thought you already asked that."

"Castle!" Mom had one of her looks, the one that right away makes you stop doing what you're doing if you're not supposed to be doing it. "Who are EB and Obi?"

"Dad! Uh-oh, Dad, you might be in trouble. Big, fat trouble."

Remember when Docky told Dad about the twins and me and Dad's voice got so squeaky? That's what happened next. He tried to hide behind the newspaper but Mom pushed it right down.

"Who?" That was really squeaky.

"Oh, you heard me, Castle. EB and Obi."

"Um."

"Yeah, um. I've heard you on the baby monitor three times talking to Eliot about EB and Obi. And a couple of other times when you didn't know I was in earshot."

"Busted, Dad."

"His, his imaginary playmates." That was even squeakier.

"Eliot's a little young for that, Castle. No, I think EB and Obi are the twins. You made up names for the twins. Which, for the record, is perfectly fine."

"Oh, good. Good, then. Yes, I made up names for the twins and Eliot and I call them EB and Obi. You know, when we're hanging out. Just us guys."

"Boy, Dad, I'm only a little kid, but I don't think that sounds like a true story. It sounds like a fib. Mom is gonna notice."

"And why wouldn't you want to tell me that you have nicknames for the babies? It's very weird, to keep that a secret." I was watching Mom. She was crawling along the sofa towards Dad like a lion. "That's the kind of thing you usually can't wait to tell me. So when you keep something like that a secret, my antennae quiver. And furthermore."

"There's a furthermore?" Squeak!

"And furthermore, what kind of strange names are those? EB and Obi? They aren't clever, they don't make any sense."

"Mom! Those are my names for the babies."

And that's when I started bawling. Mom didn't like my names for the twins and I made them up all by myself. That hurt my feelings. She got off the sofa and came over to me. "Eliot? What's wrong?"

"You hate my names! EB and Obi like them. You like them, don't you, guys?"

"Yeah! I know you named EB first but mine's even better. Practice makes perfect, that's what Gram says. Hey, you sound like you need some cheering up, Eliot. You know EB and I went to a concert with Mom and Gram in Carnegie Hall, right?"

"Yeah, I stayed home with Dad."

"Well, here's a joke I heard. How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

"I dunno. How?"

"Practice!"

"Thanks, Obi, that's good, but I'm too sad to laugh right now. Is EB awake?"

"I'm here. You woke me up when you started yowling. What's wrong with Mom, anyway? Obi and I have been trying to get her to do some stuff lately and it's not working."

Mom was trying to pick me up but I wouldn't let her. "Oh, sweet pea, what's the matter? Come here."

I wriggled away from her and screamed louder. "Dada! Dada!"

Dad lifted me up to cuddle, and kept saying, "shh, shh, shh," but I was still upset that Mom doesn't like my names, and I kept on crying.

"Castle, he pushed me away. He's never, ever done that. Have you ever seen him like this? Why won't he stop crying?"

"Hang on, hang on. I think I might know." He started walking around while he was holding me and whispered in my ear. "Is this about EB and Obi?"

I nodded.

"Did we upset you?"

I nodded again and mushed my face into his neck so I couldn't see Mom.

"Was it about their names?"

"Yah." I said that into his skin but he could hear me.

"Do you think it's time for us to tell Mom about you and the twins? And have Doc help us, so she would understand?"

"Yah."

Dad went over to Mom and hugged her so I was in the middle like a hug sandwich. "Eliot? You stay with Mom, and give her a kiss. I just have to go in my office for a couple of minutes."

"Castle? I'm a little panicky here. What's the matter? Is Eliot all right?"

"Eliot is absolutely fine, he's great. I'll be right back."

Mom looked worried so I gave her a kiss like Dad told me to do even though I was still mad at her. I knew he was calling Docky and when he came out he was smiling and gave me his secret wink so I was pretty sure it was okay.

Dad was rubbing his hands together. "Brrr, it's so nasty out, I feel it in my bones. I could use some coffee, couldn't you, Beckett?" He kept right on walking to the kitchen without waiting for Mom to answer so the two of us followed him.

"That's it, Castle? No discussion of this bizarre episode?"

"There will be. I'm just going to make coffee so it's ready when Perlmutter gets here, which should be any minute since luckily he was in the neighborhood."

"Docky!"

Dad put the coffee stuff in the machine. "Yup, he's on his way."

Mom reached out and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. She was talking even though her teeth were closed tight so you could tell she was really mad. "You just assured me that our son is fine, but by the way you obviously called a doctor, a doctor who is making a house call? A house call? In the twenty-first century? On a Sunday and it's pouring? No. No, this is not fine."

"Not a doctor, Beckett, Perlmutter. Our friend. I promise. I promise you it's fine. You know how close he and Eliot are and I can explain everything so much better if he's here. In fact, I need him to be here."

"Explain? You're going to explain something to me?"

I was standing next to Mom and right then Docky knocked on the door. "There he is. Please let go of my shirt and I'll let him in."

"Hey, Eliot!"

"Yeah, Obi?"

"Dad was saved by the bell!"

"No he wasn't, smarty pants, he was saved by the knock, right Eliot?"

"We don't have any pants, EB."

"Stop arguing, you guys. Docky's here."

After Docky shook the rain off his coat and came in, Dad got us all arranged in the living room. That's what he called it, arranged, with Mom, Docky and me on the sofa and Dad in the big chair next to us and their coffee on the coffee table but nobody paid any attention to it.

Mom is usually really nice to Docky but her face was red and she said, "Sidney, are you part of this insanity? My son was screaming his head off for no apparent reason, he wanted nothing to do with me, and he was inconsolable until Castle had some secret conversation with him. And then Castle clearly phoned you and I don't know what the hell is going on."

"Kate—"

"Wait. I don't know whether to be worried or pi—uh, ticked—off or both. But I'm both, so please just tell me what's going on because Castle won't."

"Kate, I'm sorry that this has upset you so much, but I think I can clear things up quickly." Then Docky turned to look at Dad. "Okay, Castle?"

"Please, go ahead."

And then Docky told Mom the exact same thing he had told Dad a while ago when we were at his house. About how he can talk to babies and how I can talk to the twins and tell Docky what they say and about Peter Rabbit and how I named the twins. It was better that Docky told the story because Dad would have taken ages and the whole time Docky was talking Mom's eyes were getting bigger and bigger and going back and forth between him and me. She was holding on to my hand, too.

When he finished it was so quiet it was like night time. Nobody said anything until finally Mom did.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"It was actually Eliot's decision, Kate."

"Excuse me?"

"It's true, Beckett. Everything. When Perlmutter finished telling me what he just did to you, Eliot thought we should wait because you had been upset and surprised when you found out that we were having twins. Eliot was concerned, weren't you? Do you remember what you said then?"

"Spl hab boh rah."

Docky translated for Mom. "Eliot said, 'Maybe you could tell her later when she's more used to having two babies in there'."

Mom bent over as much as she can because her belly is pretty big. It seemed like she stayed that way forever but it wasn't. Finally she sat up and said, "I really, really, really need that cup of coffee. And I need it to be really, really, really hot." So Dad jumped up and went to the kitchen and brought her a really, really, really hot cup of coffee.

Her face was all red before but now it was all white. "I can't believe that you let a toddler rule on the issue. But before I ask any more questions, I want to know what I did that upset Eliot, because obviously it has something to do with all—" she waved her arm around. "With all this. Castle certainly had some idea."

So I told Docky and he told Mom and Dad. Mom gave me a big kiss and put me on her knees. "I'm so, so sorry that I hurt your feelings. I don't hate your names at all and now that I know what they stand for I think they are so good and so imaginative. You remember what imaginative is, don't you?"

"Yah."

"Well, EB and Obi are better nicknames than Dad and I could have come up with."

"Ruh gaghl!"

Mom looked at Docky who looked a little bit nervous. "He says the twins really like their nicknames."

"Good. That's nice. Now, as for the adult males in the room, particularly my husband, I have to say that I feel betrayed. You've been talking with my children, my children, but I haven't had the chance?"

"Well, we haven't been talking to them, Eliot has. He just—"

"Castle." You could tell Mom was mad but she never yelled. She used her ordinary voice which was kind of scary.

"Sorry. I'm sorry."

"You didn't think that I could handle this, this, this. Agggh!" She took such a big breath I could feel it all over me. "You didn't think that I could handle this information? You don't think I have a right to it? As much right as you, Castle? In fact more, since I'm the one who is carrying these babies? It's my body."

Docky started to stand up. "Kate? I think perhaps I should go."

"Absolutely not, Sidney. And really, I'm not angry with you. I understand why you told Castle first. Eliot asked, and God knows Castle's much more open to this kind of what—of inexplicable things in our universe than I am. I do understand that. But my mind isn't completely closed to magic, you know."

"Beckett, I—"

Mom put her hand out like a traffic cop. "Please let me finish. I have Castle to thank for that, really. That incredible as all this is, it's actually credible to me. It wouldn't have been a few years ago, but it is now. And I feel so, I feel so cheated, do you see that? Because you knew and didn't tell me. So I am going to go think about this for a while and I want you to be here when I come back. But Sidney, if this is too uncomfortable for you, or you have somewhere else you need to be, all right."

"No, no, of course. Of course I'll stay."

"Eliot, you come with me, okay?"

"Yah."

So Mom put me down and held my hand and we went to her and Dad's room and we got on the bed. "You are an amazing boy, Eliot. You've been talking to the twins, huh?"

"EB. Obi."

"Right, EB and Obi. Can you tell them apart when you talk to them?"

"Yah."

"Would you ask them something for me?"

"Yah."

"You know, before you were born, when you were inside me, sometimes I thought that you were talking to me and it turns out you were, right?"

"Yah! Mama! Yah!"

"You were trying to tell me things. I wish I had known that. Because lately I've had that same feeling I used to have with you. Are the twins trying to talk to me?

"Yah. Babies."

"It's nothing scary, right? If it were bad or scary you'd tell Docky, wouldn't you?"

"Yah."

"What have they been trying to say to me? Would you ask them and then tell Docky so he can tell me?"

"Ya."

"Hi, EB and Obi. Mom figured out you've been trying to tell her stuff. What do you want me to tell her? Not a lot, maybe a couple of things."

"Yeah! I want her to eat more doughnuts. She almost never does except when she takes a bite of Dad's or somebody at work's and I really love doughnuts."

"EB, you always say that. It's not good for us."

"Doesn't mean I can't tell her. Eliot said we could."

"Okay, EB, I'll tell her about the doughnuts. What about you, Obi?"

"I like music. I want her to play more music."

"What kind?"

"Soft kind, not noisy."

"Fine. Doughnuts and music. Bye."

Mom's face was all soft now and smiling. She rubbed her hand on my cheek. "Were you having a conversation with EB and Obi?"

"Yah."

"In a few minutes we'll go back and see Dad and Docky. Right now I'm going to let Dad stew in his own juice."

"Dad has juice stew? That sounds horrible. I wouldn't eat that."

I must have made a face because Mom laughed. "I bet you don't know what that means! It's that Dad should have to wait a while and think about being sorry for not telling me about you and the babies. May I ask you something else?"

"Yah."

"Did Dad ever ask you to ask the babies anything?"

"No."

"Okay. Good boy. You're my best boy. You know that, right?"

"Yah."

"Want to cuddle a little and have me sing about the furry bunny?"

"Yah! Obi! Mama. Obi!"

"Is Obi all right?"

"Yah."

"I don't know why you're saying Obi's name but I'll ask Docky. You sure everything is okay?"

"Yah."

So Mom sang me my favorite song from when I was a baby, "Soft and Furry Little Bunny." And you know what? I fell asleep! When I woke up she wasn't on the bed with me any more but I could hear her talking in the living room so I slid right off to go find everybody.

I'm glad I did because they looked so happy! Mom and Dad and Docky. Mom was the first one who saw me. "Hey, look who's here! Our little translator. Did you have a nice nap, sweet pea?"

"Yah. Seep Mama."

Then we all sat at the dining room table and I got some apple and Mom told me everything was fine now. She sat next to Dad and I sat next to Docky and Scrapple sat under the table because he is so smart he knows people drop stuff and then he gets to eat it.

"I was telling Dad and Docky how glad I was that they never asked you to ask the babies anything, that you waited until I knew. That made me feel so much better. So now that we're all together maybe we could ask them a couple of things. Do you remember what we were talking about before you fell asleep?"

"Yah."

"That a couple of times lately I felt as though the twins were trying to say something to me, just the way I did a few times before you were born?"

"Yah!"

"And you asked them, didn't you? So now maybe you could tell Docky what they said and he'll tell Dad and me, right?"

"Yah. Docky. Flahh br thth, EB."

Docky put his cup down and had a big smile. "EB loves doughnuts and wants you to eat more of them, not just take a bite of Castle's or of one that someone at the precinct has."

Mom and Dad both laughed. "That's definitely your kid, Castle," Mom said. "What about Obi?"

"Obi laloh dah la gah! Robobbo glsh." When I told Docky that he laughed so hard he put his head all the way back.

"Apparently you have a health nut on the way. Obi told EB that doughnuts are not good for them."

"There's the Beckett DNA," Dad said, and Mom said he was right. I don't know what it means but they were both laughing so it must be good.

"Obi's request is that you, Kate, play more music. Obi loves music."

"Schla buh."

"Oh, specifically soft music, not noisy music."

"I'll tell you what," Mom said and handed me a cookie. "Tonight for dessert I will have a doughnut. A whole entire doughnut, and I will play some soft music, okay?"

"Mama. Obi phuh la."

Docky said, "Eliot wants you to know that Obi loves the bunny song."

Mom came around the table and put both her hands on my face and kissed me on the nose. "That's what you were trying to tell me before. That's so sweet. Thank you."

And then everyone was just happy and Mom and Dad asked Docky to stay for supper and Mom said we were going to have pizza because it's Dad's favorite dinner and this was a special occasion.

"Shh bo frahh."

Docky said, "Eliot wants us all to know that he loves pizza, EB loves pizza and even Obi loves pizza."

"Nn scl."

"And so does Scrapple."

"Happy!"

Dad got up and smooched me on top of the head and said, "You're right. I couldn't have said it better myself. We're very happy."

Later when I went to bed it was still raining and the wind was blowing and making a racket and I thought about Mom's favorite saying that even on terrible days there can be joy. She told me that joy is like happy, only better. And that's what today was. It was terrible and it turned into joy.