Genre: Drama, Crime, Romance, Family, Humor
Rating: M for violence, language and sexual situations
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC, and the others who do own them.
A/N #1: I was very pleased to get the reviews I did for the last chapter so I'll get straight to my thank yous for those! vetgirlmx (I had to laugh a bit at the beginning of your review, though I'm not surprised you'd thought I'd go with a cliffhanger. And I figured it'd be around here you'd begin to call Palmer crazy with her motive for the killings, you're right that's definitely drastic! And interesting to see you don't feel like it's over even though she gave that message to them. I'm not surprised you mentioned family time, which I hope you'll enjoy. And also it was nice to see you can't wait to see what happens with Eliza's class!), Beckett-Castle4ever (Happy to see you thought the last chapter was a great one. And not surprised you were glad they got the killer, or the fact that they need to find the orchestrator since I figured readers would be thinking of that. Very pleased that you can't wait to read more which you don't have to wait to do now!) and TORONTOSUN (I couldn't help laughing a bit at your comments in your review. But you made a pretty good point; they do tend to find adventure when they go places. And yeah, does seem like the bad guys know when they're coming). Thanks so much to those of you who sent me feedback, loved reading what you had to say and I am grateful for the fact you took time to write them out and sent them to me!
A/N #2: The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song I Don't Want To Do It written by Bob Dylan and sung by George Harrison, from George's album Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison.
Come Back Into My Arms Again
Spinning around, Julia laughed when she saw her sister running around trying to catch up with her before she stopped and her skirt went back down around her legs. "Good?" she asked Eliza.
"Yeah," the toddler replied immediately with a heavy giggle. "More?"
"I- Mommy, Daddy!" Julia cried before she turned her head and saw the two people coming in were their parents. She was a little slower than her sister and had to run after her to catch up before they were throwing their arms around their mother's waist.
"Hey, we're glad to see you too," Castle said before the two were hurriedly turning to hug him. He leaned down and kissed the tops of their heads before Beckett was speaking.
"Ms. Grey is back, you better go Julia," she told her. As the little girl rushed back to the dance floor, since her teacher was in fact coming out from the changing rooms, she picked up Eliza and kissed her temple before they sat with Rebecca, Mari and Julia's classmate Dawn.
"Hi," Castle said to Dawn, who smiled back and him before she watched as Ms. Grey started to talk to the students standing in front of her.
Waiting for the teacher to finish, Rebecca took the chance to talk to Beckett telling her, "Julia asked if Dawn could go over to your place to play."
"And what did you tell her?" Beckett asked in amusement.
"That she'd have to ask you," Rebecca replied. "I can't make those decisions."
Beckett smiled as her friend's tone was a little scoffing and then turned her attention to the class who had paired off. She looked down at Eliza as the students started to dance, since the toddler was starting to bounce on her lap. She kissed the side of her head as they watched the teacher calling out steps to the pairs and then stopped the music to give them a final step to learn.
"She's gotten really good at this," Castle said, leaning over to his wife.
"I know," Beckett said, smiling at him before the students were trying out the step themselves.
"Again," Grey called to them when they'd stop. "Again," she said. And she called the same one last time until she had them stop and dismissed the class saying, "Great job, we'll of course go through that step a little more in depth tomorrow. But since you need to head home, that's enough for today."
While her classmates were going to the changing rooms, Julia ran to her parents and said to her mother, "I invited Dawn to come and to stay to dinner, can she?"
"She can," Castle said, seeing that his wife was nodding in agreement next to him. "But what about her parents?"
"We texted them," Rebecca said. "And they said as long as it was fine with you two, she can stay until seven… unless…" she trailed off, getting her phone out. She reread the message that had been sent to get and said, "Unless that's too late."
"Let me text her," Beckett said, getting her phone out of her pocket then. She already had Dawn's mother's number; since she was friends with the woman; and texted her. "Okay Dawn, you're more than welcome to stay for dinner but your mom wants you to do your homework before you play."
"And can Mari come over too?" Julia asked in a rush.
"That's up to Rebecca," Beckett said, exchanging a smile with her friend as she knew she'd been expecting that too.
"You can," Rebecca told her daughter as she and Julia turned to her expectantly. "But when I come to get you; or your daddy, it depends; you better come with us okay?"
"I will," Mari promised. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Rebecca said, smiling as her daughter hugged her tightly.
"Go change so we can head home," Castle told Julia who had hugged Rebecca quickly in thanks.
"Okay, I'm going to head home now," Rebecca said. "Have fun Mari, and behave."
"I will, say hi to Daddy and Dani," the little girl replied.
"I will, bye," Rebecca said before she hurriedly left.
"Dani?" Castle asked knowingly.
"Yeah," Beckett replied with a smile before she let Eliza down from her lap.
When her sister came outside, the toddler ran over to her saying, "Dance at home?"
"No, I think I'm going to take a break so I can play with my friends," Julia told her before taking her hand.
"Oh," Eliza said, sounding disappointed.
"And you too silly Lizzy," Julia said, smiling as her sister then giggled.
"What do we play?" Eliza asked eagerly, jumping up and down.
"For now, getting you dressed," Castle said, grabbing her and tickling her sides before she cried out in laughter. He got her coat on and then her other layers before he stood to get his own on as she watched. "What do you want to play?" he asked as he then picked her up.
"Dunno," Eliza replied after stopping to think for a moment.
"You'll see after they all finish their homework," Beckett said as they were leaving the dance class once they were all bundled up. "You all have your backpacks?" she asked the three older girls.
"Yeah," Julia said. "Did you drive?"
"No, we walked," Castle replied.
"Do you have to work tomorrow?" Julia asked her mother then.
"We might have to go into the station but for the most part we're done," Castle said.
"My school?" Eliza asked worriedly as they stepped outside.
"Your class," Castle corrected her. "And yes, I'm still going to go," he assured her. He smiled at Beckett when she turned back to him at their youngest's cheer before he kissed her temple. He then said, "Wanted to join us love?" as she walked back to them while the three girls walked ahead.
"I did," Beckett replied, slipping her arm through his, holding onto the upper part with her hand as she leaned in to him. "Warm?" she asked Eliza, making sure her hat was on securely.
When the toddler nodded Castle said, "I did a pretty good job I think in getting her all bundled up. Do you feel like a marshmallow?" he directed toward Eliza.
"Squishy Daddy," she replied with a nod, her voice muffled by her scarf.
"Then he did a great job," Beckett said with a smile. By then they were walking around to the driveway of their house, the girls waiting at the porch before she opened the door. She helped the three take off their layers in the entry, having to talk to Macca a little sternly when the dog jumped and licked at all of them. "Go ahead and take him into the kitchen, start your homework," she told the girls. "And take Eliza with you," she added, directing that to Julia.
"We'll start," the little girl assured her. "But what is she going to do?"
"I'll get something for her," Beckett said.
"Daddy?" Eliza asked as her sister took her hand.
"I have to make some cocoa for you three but you don't want to do something with your mom?" Castle asked her.
"Both," Eliza said stubbornly.
"We will, go," Beckett urged the three. "So what should we do for dinner?" she asked her husband when they were alone and had started to take off their scarves.
"I already thought about it," Castle replied. At his wife's raised eyebrow he said, "And since we have Dawn with us too, Chinese."
Smiling, Beckett said, "I'm not surprised that came to mind but a mix of Dim Sum and other dishes would be better."
"Let's ask what they'd prefer," Castle suggested. When Beckett rolled her eyes; smiling at the same time; he leaned over to kiss her gently but slightly lingering. "I'm glad you didn't get hurt," he murmured to her.
"Me too," Beckett replied before they shared a quick kiss and started to walk over to the kitchen together.
"So girls," Castle said, appearing in the kitchen first since Beckett had detoured to the family room. "We were thinking about getting Chinese tonight but we want to know if you would like Dim Sum and Chinese or just one of those?"
"Just Dim Sum," Julia said quickly.
"Eliza?" Beckett asked, coming in with some items before she sat next to the toddler.
"That," she said quickly in reply.
"Mari?" Castle then said. When she and then Dawn agreed to just Dim Sum he told his wife, "So I guess I was right."
"We'll order in a half hour," Beckett said, smiling and slightly shaking her head.
"That's not enough time to play," Julia protested.
"Afterwards you can play," Castle assured them. "For now, cocoa!"
Beckett wasn't surprised when the three older girls giggled at that and she turned to Eliza, seeing she was trying to take the jar of buttons that she held. "You want to do this?" she asked.
"Yeah," the toddler replied.
"Okay, we're going to do something though, that's a little like homework too," Beckett told her.
"Like us Lizzy!" Julia said as she could see her sister was a little confused by that.
"What?" Eliza then asked her mother.
"We're going to teach you about colors," Beckett replied before she then glanced over to the kitchen.
"Hold on, hold on, I'm coming," Castle said, having checked his phone quickly for a text since he'd had it on silent during the dance class. He started to take the mugs of cocoa over to the table, setting them out in front of everyone before he sat down on the other side of Eliza. "So what's the lesson exactly?" he asked.
The toddler giggled then and said, "Daddy can't know?"
"I didn't have a chance to tell him, so it's a surprise for him too," Beckett said. "What we're going to do is make circles with colors made from two other colors."
"That's a great lesson, you'll love it sweetheart," Castle said, leaning over and kissing her temple.
"How do I do that?" Eliza then asked.
"Okay, first, you know the primary colors already, remember we taught you," Beckett told her seriously.
Eliza nodded and when her parents urged her to pick out three buttons in those colors, she studied them, taking a blue, red and yellow one. "Now what?" she asked.
"Now we're going to make the colors," Beckett said, putting down three colored pencils in the same colors. "Take the blue and color a big space with it," she said, setting down a smaller piece of paper in front of her. Once Eliza had done that she then picked up the red crayon and told her to do the same. "What color is that?" she asked once the two were together on the paper.
"Purple!" Eliza said proudly.
"Now pick out some purple buttons," Castle said; Beckett having whispered to him what she wanted Eliza to do for the 'lesson' while she'd been coloring.
With her tongue sticking out slightly the toddler did so and Julia said to her, "You learn really fast Lizzy."
"Are you three getting your work done?" Beckett asked them, leaning over to look at their papers.
"Yeah, we are," Julia assured her. "Are you going to teach her the other two colors?"
"Right after we glue these…" Castle said, helping Eliza do so.
After teaching her about green and orange and making circles of buttons in those colors, Castle and Beckett had finished their lesson and the three girls had finished their homework. While his wife was helping them pack their backpacks, Castle called in their order at the local Dim Sum restaurant before going to where the five were waiting for him.
"We have twenty minutes," he told them. "So they could play something," Castle said to his wife.
"Yeah, something short," Beckett replied.
"Or we could start a game," Julia began. She smiled when Dawn whispered something to her and said, "Can we play dancing party in the living room?" to her parents.
"Go ahead," Beckett said, nodding to the doorway. "Is your sister going to be joining you?"
"Yeah," Julia said seriously as Eliza was watching her anxiously. When her mother made a gesture with her hand towards the door, she hurried out with the other three and up to her room.
"You know I never saw, but your dad is pretty cute," Dawn said as they were looking through the costume trunk in Julia's room.
Pausing, the little girl looked at her friend and said, "Yeah… why?"
Giggling at her friend's unsure tone, Dawn said, "I'm just saying… you know I think Peter is a lot cuter. Plus your dad doesn't stop looking at your mom."
"I told you all parents have special looks for each other," Julia said, since they'd talked about that before.
"Do your parents?" Dawn asked Mari.
"Of course, they're in love," she replied. She then paused and said, "Julia, why don't we do something else?"
"You don't want to dance at a ball?" Dawn asked in surprise.
"Remember what she told us at recess?" Mari said to her. "About writing?"
"You want to write?" Dawn said in confusion.
"No, I want to see Julia do that," Mari said, shaking her head before she turned her head to her friend.
"But that's not fun for you," Julia protested though she let Mari and Dawn close the lid of the trunk.
"Just until we eat," Dawn said. "We want to see what it looks like and your parents are writers so it should be cool."
"Okay," Julia said hesitantly before she led them back downstairs, holding Eliza's hand. When she got to the door of the family room, she stopped abruptly and was almost run into by her friends. She coughed loudly and Castle and Beckett nearly jumped apart as they broke apart from their kiss.
"You guys didn't dress up," Castle said, not realizing his voice was a little higher in pitch than normal.
"I think they changed their minds love," Beckett said. "What do you want to do instead?"
"Can we start the book?" Julia asked then.
"You want to do that?" Castle said in surprise.
"We want to too," Mari was quick to say.
"Well, we can't do too much," Beckett said, looking over at her husband.
"No, but we can plan it out like we said we'd do first," Castle took up then. "And the best part is that you can ask your friends what they think of the ideas we get."
"Will you say the truth?" Julia immediately said to Mari and Dawn. "If it's good or not?"
"Yeah, 'cause I want to read this book when it's done," Dawn said firmly.
"Me too, but you'll write it great," Mari said, squeezing her friend's hand. "You hear them writing so much how will you not?"
Smiling as Julia beamed at her friend, Beckett watched Castle leave to grab some paper before she had the girls gather at the coffee table. "Okay," she said, "Do you want them to help us too?"
"They can but do we say if we use their ideas?" Julia asked.
"You remember we thanked you for the idea for the second story," Castle said, coming back in then. "In our dedication, so yeah, we should." He sat down next to Beckett on the couch and said, "Do you want to think of a title first?"
"Um… yeah," Julia said. "What about Inspector Macca and the Case of the Stolen Scones?"
"Nice," Castle said, nodding his head as Beckett was doing the same next to him. "Alright, so now that we apparently have a case, you need to figure out who it is."
"Which means you need characters," Beckett said with a smile. She and her husband exchanged a look when their daughter rattled off a bunch of names; of dogs with names that started with the same letter as their breed. "Wow, you've been thinking about this a lot I think," she commented.
"I was, I really wanted to get good names, since you and Daddy have good ones for yours," Julia replied. "And I think the thief should be…" she started to say before trailing off and looking at her friends.
"We'll get that later," Castle said quickly, knowing she didn't want to spoil it for the two. "But first, setting of the crime… I think it should be in the laird's kitchen," he suggested.
"Yeah, kinda like the nursery rhyme," Dawn said.
"That's true," Beckett said with a smile. "But with this we should have the scones for a special party."
"And even after they find the scones they have the party still and the dog that stole it is there too," Julia suggested.
"Do you want him to be punished?" Castle asked after writing that down.
"I don't know, should I?" the little girl asked her friends.
"No, let him say he's sorry and he shouldn't have," Mari suggested.
"Or she, it could be a girl dog," Julia said with a smile.
"What about getting to the point when they find the scones and who it is," Beckett said.
"I think we should have him go to an older dog and see if she knows who took the scones because she knows everything that happens where they are," Julia said. She then looked thoughtful and said, "What about going to Edinburgh?"
"To look for the thief?" Castle asked.
"Yeah, to try and find someone he thinks is the thief there but he doesn't, the dog just took some… doggie treats that the cook gave them," Julia hurriedly said.
"Good idea," Castle said, writing that down quickly. "We also should have a little background story about Macca in this book."
"So will he go to his parents?" Mari asked.
"He should, and they should help him with the case too," Julia said earnestly.
"Like your mommy and daddy are doing," Dawn said quickly with a smile.
Julia glanced at her parents out of the corner of her eye with a small grin on her face, relieved when they both smiled back at her. "So is that enough for the story?" she then asked as her father had written a few more things down.
"I think so, remember a kids' book isn't going to be as long as ours are," Beckett pointed out to her.
"And there's dinner anyways," Castle said as there was a knock on the door and Macca barked once.
Watching as the two adults left for the front door Dawn said, "I hope you get to work on the book some more, you're so lucky."
"I know," Julia agreed. "We better go; I have to set the table."
"We can help," Mari said immediately as they all stood up.
"So can I," Dawn added.
"And me?" Eliza asked as she walked to the kitchen holding her sister's hand.
"Yeah, of course, you have to get your plate ready too," Julia said, squeezing her hand gently.
"Let me get the plates for you guys," Beckett said, coming back with a bag of food. She got the plates, forks, chopsticks and napkins for the girls and helped Castle take the food out as she also kept an eye on the four going around the table.
"Okay, buffet or on the table?" Castle asked when they'd finished, looking over at the set table to see if they had room.
"On the table, so we won't need to keep going back and forth," Beckett decided after following his gaze. She started to take the containers to the table, not surprised when Julia begged to help, Mari and Dawn asking right after her. So she and her husband had all four girls help carry something until they were gathering around the table.
"Have you had this before?" Julia asked, unable to help beaming at the sight of her parents sitting next to each other, Eliza to their father's right.
"Yeah," Dawn said as she was asking her. "But not a lot, do you?"
"Chinese is my favorite," Beckett said with a smile as she and Castle were dishing out the food. "So we get it pretty often."
"It is great food," Castle said as he was taking a bao for himself and then a shrimp shu mai before setting his plate in front of him. "Okay, you can eat," he said as the girls had waited for them. After the first few bites, he wasn't surprised when Dawn spoke, bringing up something he'd been wondering about since the four had come down to the family room before the meal had arrived.
"What are we going to do before we have to go home?" the little girl was asking.
Shrugging as she was eating at that moment, Julia waited until she had finished and said, "I don't know, do you still want to do the dance ball still?"
"Let's do something else," Mari suggested.
"Like what?" Julia asked her.
Beckett watched the three then talk about what they could play in amusement, not surprised that they couldn't really agree on what to do. "Why don't you wait and see what time it is when we finish dinner to decide?" she suggested.
"Better idea," Castle said. "That way you'll know what you have time for when you pick."
The girls shared looks before they went back to their food, answering Castle and Beckett's questions about their day at school. When they'd finished eating they also helped them clear the table while Eliza stood against the island, watching them all coming back and forth from the table.
"So you have about an hour and a half," Beckett said, looking at her watch as Castle was washing the dishes. "Now you can pick something to do."
Looking at her friends, Julia then said with a smile, "I think we want to play a video game."
"Is that what you were whispering about just now," Castle said as he'd seen the three talking together at the table before bringing more plates over.
"Yeah, we decided," Julia said firmly, nodding her head.
"Give us a second and then we'll join you," Beckett said. "But you can take your sister and friends over to the family room to wait okay?"
Nodding, Julia took her friends' hands and led them over to the room before she started to go back for her sister, stopping when she saw her walking over to the door with Macca. "Sorry, you were standing in the corner, I didn't see you," she said, going over and taking her hand to lead her inside.
"Do I play?" Eliza asked.
"Yeah, I bet you Mommy will say we need to play one of your games first," Julia replied with a smile as she looked at her friends. "I hope that's okay."
Shrugging Dawn said, "Maybe we can play too, what do you have for her?"
Leading her friends over to the cabinet under the TV where their video games were, Julia said, "They're for young kids, but the I Spy games are really good."
"Then let's play that," Mari said as Eliza was nodding while her big sister held up the game for her to see.
"You've played that before here though," Julia said.
"That's okay, it's still fun," Mari said. "And I'm gonna have to do that with Dani."
"What about a game for us?" Dawn then said, looking at the two who were smiling at each other.
"Those are mine," Julia said, pointing to some games to the right of a small space after the games that were Eliza's.
"Let's play this one," Dawn said, taking one out.
Smiling as she saw that it was the Dancing With the Stars game, Julia said, "My big sister gave that to me, since she doesn't play it anymore. You really want to do that?"
"Yeah, even though it's not the same dancing that you do," Dawn replied.
"You don't want to learn to dance?" Julia asked.
Just as Dawn was shaking her head, Castle and Beckett came into the room and he said, "So you're dancing tonight it looks like."
"Dawn picked it," Mari explained. "And then Eliza wants to play the I Spy."
"Do you?" Beckett asked, turning her attention to the toddler. She smiled when she nodded her head quickly, her eyes wide and then said, "Okay, then get that ready."
"Daddy?" Eliza said, going to him and holding onto the pocket of his pants tightly.
"Yeah? And be careful," Castle said a little absently as he was setting up the game.
"'lexis?" Eliza asked pleadingly.
"We'll call her soon, I think she's got a late class tonight, so after seven we'll see if she's ready to talk," Castle said. When the toddler nodded at that he then handed the controller to Julia and went back to the couch, sitting with Beckett as they watched the four in front of them starting to play. "I got something from Brad, a text," he murmured though the girls wouldn't be able to understand him.
"About the case?" Beckett asked. When he nodded she then asked, "And are you going to tell me?"
"He got proof that the awl Palmer was holding was the weapon," Castle said, still keeping his voice low as he didn't want the girls to ask who that was. "The blood matches all of our vics. They think she grooved out spaces in the metal near the end of the awl, put the vics blood in and used the rest to stab."
"So with that in her possession and her confession, did he stop-" Beckett began to ask.
"No, they're still looking into it but he told me to warn you they're having a hard time trying to get anything to point out who the master is," Castle interrupted.
"Considering the trouble he went to… I'm not surprised," Beckett said under her breath.
"Daddy, we're ready to play the next game now," Julia said then, turning to them.
Beckett watched as the three girls then tried to get Castle to play one round after he had set up the game but he quickly declined. "You're lucky there's not too much time left," she teased him as he sat down next to her.
"I know, I'm terrible at that game," Castle replied, shaking his head. He wasn't too surprised as Dawn played, helped by their oldest since Julia had played the game so many times over the years that she was almost an expert. They applauded Dawn's round before he said, "I should have bet with you love," his voice a little loud so Julia and Mari could hear. "That they would dance together."
"Who're you dancing as?" Beckett asked as the two girls glanced back at them, Julia making a slight face.
"I'm Derek," the little girl replied.
"And I'm Jennie," Mari said. "Who we always play."
"Of course," Beckett said, leaning over against her husband as they began the round. She laughed softly as they seemed to be a little startled when they finished, and called, "A higher score than the last time you played."
"I know, we're getting better," Julia told her friend with a grin.
Before Mari could reply to that, Beckett's phone suddenly rang and she picked it up from the coffee table, seeing it was Dawn's mother. "Hello?" she answered.
Looking over to the window as Beckett said, "I see, yeah, you can I'm sure they'll understand," Castle had a pretty good idea as to who she was talking to. Once she'd finished talking to the woman he asked, "She's coming to get her?"
"Yeah, your mom's a little worried Dawn," Beckett said to the little girl. "And I'm going to call your mom, Mari," she said, going to her contacts. "Just in case she wants you home too."
Sighing, Dawn was about to speak when Julia took her hand and led her to the nearest window. "Well, I guess that's why Mommy wants to get me," she said, looking at the snow. "But still, it doesn't feel like we got to play too much. Maybe this weekend we can?"
"I hope so," Julia replied. "But I don't know what I'm doing that day."
"Me neither," Dawn said, looking with her at Mari who shrugged in response. "We have to see."
"Your mom is coming too Mari," Beckett said, hanging up her phone then. "So we need to get you guys bundled up to go."
"Can they come over tomorrow Mommy?" Julia asked as they all went out to the foyer.
"I don't think so," Castle answered for her. "Another day I'm sure but Mari will be with you in your dance class."
"Yeah, I already asked Mommy and she said it was okay," Mari said as her friend looked at her quickly.
"Great," Julia said, smiling widely. She watched as both her parents helped Dawn and Mari, looking at her little sister who was watching them as she leaned against Macca. "I'm glad you could come today," she said when Mari was finished first, hugging her tightly.
"Me too," the little girl replied, her mouth not covered yet. "I'll see you in the morning?"
Julia looked at her mother to see what she would say and when Beckett nodded she hurriedly told her, "Yep, like we always do." She then went to Dawn and hugged her saying, "I'll see you at class, we'll play at recess right?"
"I wonder where we'll play but yeah, like we always do," Dawn replied, nodding.
There was a knock on the door then and Castle, Beckett and Julia shushed Macca who barked once before calming down.
"Hey Emma," Beckett said, opening the door after seeing it was Dawn's mother. "She's ready to go."
"I had fun Mommy," Dawn said quickly. She then turned to Castle and Beckett and said, "Thanks for letting me play with Julia and have dinner here too."
"You're welcome," Beckett said.
"What she said, and you're welcome to come again," Castle said.
Turning with her daughter, Emma stopped abruptly before saying, "Your daughter's ready too."
"Hey Rebecca," Beckett said, leaning over to see around Dawn and her mother.
"We need to go, David's giving Dani a bath and I want to be there when he's done," Rebecca said. "So thanks for taking her."
"Yeah, thank you," Mari said quickly, looking up at Castle and Beckett since she and Julia were just behind them. She hugged her friend and waved before she hurried out onto the porch to take her mother's hand.
Once they were out of sight, Castle closed the door as he was taking his phone from his pocket at the same time. "Just texting Alexis," he explained to his wife as he knew she was likely wondering what he was doing.
"Can she talk?" Julia asked, a little anxiously.
"We probably need to wait for her answer," Beckett said, going to Eliza and picking her up. "And your little sister is freezing, so come on, back to the family room."
As they were going through the doorway, Castle heard his text alert sound and said, "She's in her room and ready to talk to us," a slight smile on his face.
"She wants you to hurry?" Beckett asked in amusement.
Nodding, Castle quickly went to the TV and got it set up to Skype before stepping back and said, "Hey kiddo."
"Hi Dad… and Lizzy and you too Jules," Alexis said on the screen, smiling as her little sisters had suddenly appeared from behind their dad. "So you two wanted to talk to me?"
"Yes!" Julia and Eliza cried out at the exact same time.
"Okay, then let's talk but first you two tell me all about how school went, you first Eliza," Alexis said, turning to look at her youngest sister.
Talking about what she'd done in her classroom, Eliza finished by saying, "They said Daddy is coming tomorrow and he is. And he's gonna read a book."
"That's right, I remember he's supposed to go over there," Alexis said. "So you're excited for him to go?"
Nodding her head rapidly, Eliza then said, "And so are my friends."
"You'll have to call me and tell me how that goes tomorrow," Alexis replied. "And Julia?"
It took a little longer for the little girl to talk about her day, since it also included playing dodge ball outside during recess. But once Julia had finished she asked, "How was your day?"
"Oh, you know, a lot of homework tonight," Alexis answered truthfully. "And I have an essay due in two weeks but it's going to be an easy one."
"I'm glad I don't have to write those- oh!" Julia suddenly exclaimed. "Me, Mommy and Daddy started getting our book ready today."
"You did?" Alexis asked, looking over at her dad and stepmother who were sitting on the coffee table behind the girls.
"Just planning the plot," Castle replied. "And it went pretty well but we need to see how writing it will go of course."
"Of course," Alexis said with a nod, looking back at Julia.
"I can't wait for that," the little girl said immediately.
"We'll try tomorrow if we can," Beckett said, since Julia had turned around and was looking at her.
"And you two?" Alexis asked.
"We're finished… sort of," Castle said.
"What does that mean?" Alexis asked, looking confused.
"That we have to wrap up the case, though we did find the person who committed it," Beckett said quickly.
"I see, well, I hope you two can get that finished," Alexis said. "But I should go, I have that homework to do and I should get started on the essay too."
"Are you going to plan it?" Julia asked.
"I was thinking of doing that," Alexis said with a nod.
"So we're both doing planning," Julia said with a wide smile.
"We are," Alexis replied, smiling back at her little sister. "But we'll talk… I think tomorrow, I'll text you Dad, to see how things go."
"Alright, take care Alexis and goodnight," Castle told his daughter with a smile.
"Night Dad, Kate," she replied as her stepmother murmured that to her. "And you two have a great day at school. Is Dad staying for recess?"
"Oh that's right, I forgot to tell Dawn and Mari that," Julia replied.
"They'll find out tomorrow," Castle said quickly.
"Then you'll have a great time with him," Alexis told them. "I love you two, have a great day okay?"
"We will, and I love you too 'lexis," Julia said quickly.
"Love you too 'lexis, lots, lots," Eliza then added.
After Alexis called goodnight to the whole family, the screen went dark and Castle got up to get the TV back to normal before turning to his wife. "So, what are we doing now?" he asked her.
"Since we have the time, would you two like to play with Macca?" Beckett asked.
"Yeah!" Eliza cried before her sister could say anything and she jumped up, rushing to where the dog's toys were.
Sharing a smile with Beckett, Castle stood and walked with her to the hallway where Macca was already running after the chew toy that Eliza had thrown. "Whoa, hold on sweetheart," he said, nearly running to her as he saw the toddler was trying to get onto Macca's back as he was sitting. "You know your mom doesn't like you doing that."
"Especially since Macca is nowhere near big enough for you to do that," Beckett told them.
"I wanna ride a horsie," Eliza said, frowning though she stepped aside to let her sister throw the toy next.
"When we can take them out I'll let you ride on Alex with me," Beckett told her.
"I can't wait for lessons!" Julia said, looking up at her parents. "And for your games to start again Daddy."
"Me too, I feel so fat and clumsy," Castle said, giving a mock dejected look.
"I don't think that's going to work love," Beckett said, glancing out of the corner of her eye at him. "Remember this morning… last night?" she whispered as she leaned against him as she knew Julia would understand those words.
His eyes slightly widening at her words, Castle swallowed a little roughly and said, "Then I feel a little out of practice playing," looking into her eyes.
"You'll practice," Beckett said simply with a small smile. "David will make sure you do."
"That's true," Castle said as they watched their daughters. He then felt her moving from him and glanced after her to see that she was going to their office.
Beckett was about to grab her camera when she suddenly felt Castle wrapping his arm around her, sliding it through her arm so he could do so. "And Julia and Eliza?" she asked with a smile as she looked back at him.
"Julia's watching her sister and Macca's watching them," Castle murmured before he reached up and pushed her hair out of the way of her neck before descending. "You smell like roses," he muttered before brushing his lips against the side of her neck up to her ear.
Smiling at that; since she knew he enjoyed the scent on her; Beckett whispered, "Would you believe I wore it for you?"
"No, you enjoy it yourself," Castle said. "Just helps that I like it too."
Beckett turned around then and wrapped her arms around his neck before whispering against his lips, "I can use the lotion later."
"It's… you would do that?" Castle asked, swallowing a little roughly.
"Mmm-hmm," Beckett said, as with the idea of using her rose scented lotion she got a second one to go with it. She then closed the gap between them and their lips met before they were hungrily kissing. She held onto the back of his neck with one hand as their tongues started to lightly duel at first and her other hand slid up to the back of his head. Her fingers going through his hair, she felt Castle tense up before he was almost smashing his lips to hers in response.
Castle couldn't stop himself and he pulled away before he started to kiss around her neck and then jaw before taking her lips again. He was soon so involved with her; their kisses becoming shorter and more frantic; that he completely forgot they weren't alone in the house.
"Where are Mommy and Daddy?" Eliza asked eventually, looking up from Macca who was lying down in front of her.
"I think they went to the office," Julia said, turning then. She took her sister's hand before she could go past her and they walked down the hall together. She glanced back at Macca, not surprised when the dog stayed where he was already lying. They were at the doorway to the office by then and she peeked around the doorway, trying not to giggle as she immediately saw that their parents were kissing, and heavily. She tried to pull Eliza back out so they could leave them alone but her sister broke her grasp to run inside and throw herself at their parents.
"Oh, girls," Beckett said, having pulled away from Castle when she felt their youngest hugging them both. "Sorry, I was just getting my camera, your daddy insisted we…"
"Kiss?" Julia replied. "It must be nice," she said as Beckett stepped away from Castle to grab her camera.
"It is," he said, following them to the hall again. "But you know, you're a little young to be kissing boys." When Julia wrinkled her nose in disgust he glanced at Beckett who nodded to him before they turned their attention back to the girls as they began to play again with Macca.
"Do you want us to pose?" Julia asked after throwing the stuffed toy down the hall.
"No, just play, you know I don't like you to pose," Beckett said with a smile. "Not when you're playing." She took a few pictures then, smiling as she watched them appear on her screen before showing them to her husband. When he wrapped his arm around her she smiled at him and asked, "Again? Right in front of them?"
"No, but it's tempting…" Castle said. He paused and then said, "How long do we have?"
"Why?" Beckett asked, looking at him in slight confusion.
"Can I play?" Castle asked instead of answering.
"Yeah Mommy!" Eliza cried, running to them when she heard that.
"I don't know why you have to ask me," Beckett said, her smile wide as the toddler was looking up at her pleadingly.
"Okay, then what do you want to do?" Castle asked.
"Run back and forth," Julia said, taking off down the hall.
"Julia!" Beckett said before the little girl nearly skidded to a stop. "You know-"
"But I'm wearing my slippers!" Julia complained.
"Still, no running," Beckett replied.
"Horsies!" Eliza then cried.
"That's better," Castle said. "Julia, get your horse."
"My horsie too?" Eliza asked, a little confused that he hadn't said her name as well.
Shaking his head, Castle nodded to Beckett, smiling as his wife picked up their youngest, setting her on his back. He went to the doorway of the family room and waited for Julia to grab her hobby horse and join them.
Beckett tried not to laugh as she watched the two pretend to gallop down the hall and she was quick to take pictures until they'd come back to her. When they neared her she could hear more clearly Eliza's squeal of pleasure and she did laugh until she said, "Love, you better stop."
"Yeah, I'm out of practice being a horse," Castle said, pretending to be out of breath.
"Not that," Beckett said, smiling as she got Eliza off his back. "They need a bath. Well, Julia?" she asked.
"That's fine," the little girl replied immediately. She then said, "Can we play?"
"I think so, we don't need to wash your hair," Beckett said, smiling again at Castle as he was looking at her for her to answer. She led the way up to Eliza's room, going to the bathroom before she sat down with her daughter on her lap as they waited for Castle and Julia to come with Julia's things.
"You're not starting?" he said when he saw Beckett hadn't started the water going.
"I think you can," she replied simply as Eliza was tangling her fingers through her hair. She kissed the toddler's temple before she reached over to Julia and pulled her against him. "Hurry," she said simply to her husband.
Having been watching the tableau the three made, Castle hurried to get his phone out and took a picture before he spoke saying, "Will do."
Shaking her head, Beckett waited until the water had been running for a bit and stood up then, having Julia undress before she started helping Eliza. "Okay, I hope you don't mind your daddy helping you tonight, I think I'll take a break," she said, smiling at her husband as he mouthed the words thank you to her, knowing he had wanted to help them after having been gone the night before.
"Was work hard today Mommy?" Julia asked.
"I'm fine," Beckett said with a smile, knowing that she meant if she was tired. "And things weren't too bad actually; we mainly worked in the station."
"They went to the boats," Eliza told her sister with a smile.
"And there," Castle said, having helped Julia lather her sponge before he started to wash the toddler. "We needed to check on something."
"Did you go on a boat?" Julia asked then as she washed her arms last.
"I did, but really fast to make sure it was empty," Beckett said.
"Was it an old boat? Like Rebecca and David's?" Julia said interestedly.
"Yeah, is it?" Eliza asked, gasping a little.
Smiling as she knew how much the toddler loved boats, Beckett shook her head and told them, "No, actually it was a yacht, a smaller one."