A/N: I don't even have the dvds in my possession anymore. My teacher has hijacked them and I can only hope to get them back one day.
XxXxXxXxX
Kate slid into the drivers seat of Castle's SUV with a cheeky grin, as a pouting Rick managed to bully his giggling daughter out of the passenger seat.
"Come on, at least let me pick a CD." Rick prostested as Kate also manned his radio, glancing back at Alexis until they both silently agreed on a station. "This is so not fair."
"Careful, Rick." Kate teased, adjusting the seat and mirrors before buckling herself in. "You're sounding awfully a lot like the ten year old in the backseat."
"Hey!" both Rick and Jonah protested, earning Rick an told-you-so look from Kate.
She was still smirking as she slid the keys into the ignition and the pout on writer's face was the source of much amusement to both Alexis and Jonah as they started the drive south, until the man found another distraction. He began stealthily fiddling with the radio, changing the station from the one Kate had selected to one of his presets, flipping down the line in an attempt to find a satisfactory song.
Ten minutes later, as they pulled back onto the road, Jonah smiled at Rick sympathetically as he ducked down in his new seat. "Happens to the best of us." he whispered across the rear seat, jumping as his mother turned up the volume to a song with a catchy beat.
Out of the corner of his eye, Rick caught the huge grin on Kate's face in the rearview window as she and Alexis sang the chorus.
"Girls." Rick shook his head at Jonah. "They'll always be out to get us."
XxXxXxXxX
Bouncing from foot to foot anxiously, Jonah looked up at Kate before turning to Rick. "You're tall, do you see the water gun game?" Soon after arriving, the four of them had steadily made their way through the games right inside the main entrance, but now that they had reached the midway, Jonah was eager to find his favorite.
Peering around quickly, Rick shook his head before grinning. "Wait a second." Without warning, he stuck his hands under Jonah's arms and easily hoisted him above his head, a burst of laughter escaping the boy's lungs as his legs kicked the empty air. "See it?" he called up to him.
"I don't think so." Jonah sighed as he was settled down to the ground. "We'll go look for it!" Before Kate could protest, Jonah grabbed Alexis's wrist and began to lead her away. "Be right back!"
The redhead and her determined companion quickly vanished into the crowd, causing Kate to let out a long sigh.
"You okay?" Rick teased.
"Mmm." she hummed noncommittally. "Weighing the pros and cons of a little GPS transmitter under his skin. I hate when he runs off in places like these."
"Bad idea." Rick said immediately. "Tried it with Alexis when she was six, and my mother tried to murder me. Chased me around the house with a fake axe from props. "
"Damn." Kate sighed in mock disappointment, fighting a grin as they both sat down on a nearby bench. The image of the seemingly docile-tempered Martha Rodgers chasing around her son with a fake axe was too great not to picture.
Less than two minutes later, she heard a familiar voice calling out to her. "Mom! Over here!" Kate turned her head and spotted her son waving his arms above his head, his eyes wide and eager as Alexis tried valiantly to push Jonah through the crowd back towards the safety of their respective parents.
Shaking her head, Kate grabbed Rick's sleeve to tug him along with her and the two girls dragged them both to meet each other halfway. "You know," Kate told him, once she was within comfortable earshot. "You don't need to smoke signal. Your highlighter yellow shirt basically does the trick."
Jonah frowned. "I like this shirt. "
Kate rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that mustache on it really gives it a nice touch."
"It has character." Jonah protested.
"Like you don't have enough of that."
"Whatever. We have to hurry! The line wasn't too long when we saw it." Jonah said excitedly, reversing the roles and dragging Alexis back the way they came.
After a solid minute of enforced speed walking, the Castles and Becketts found themselves in front of one fo the many booths lining the midway. Eight stations were set up, each with a mounted water gun and a stool in front of it, and a track with brightly colored cars on the other side.
"Ready, mom?" Jonah asked, as the most recent set of players vacated their seats.
Kate grinned at him. "Ready to kick your wimpy butt."
"Not wimpy." Jonah huffed, "But I want the green car."
"The color's not gonna help you, kid."
"Wanna bet?"
Jonah paused thoughtfully. "Winner gets the last jellybeans in the jar."
"Deal." The two shook hands before Kate turned to hand the game operator money for everyone to play a round.
Both Kate and Jonah took seats next to each other, Jonah with the green car and Kate with the blue, and Alexis chose the purple car next to Jonah while Rick chose one next to Kate with an orange car.
Turning her head to eye the writer, she raised an eyebrow. "Think you've got what it takes?"
"Oh, Detective Beckett, I am a water gun champion." Rick puffed, glaring over both Kate's and Jonah's shoulders at his daughter's skeptical expression.
Kate simply smirked at him. "We'll see."
They all settled into their seats, each testing their reflexes before the operator started the game. "Ready, set, go!" he called, and they all grasped the triggers.
"You think that your cop training'll really come in handy for this, Beckett?" Rick murmured, not tearing his eyes away from his car.
Kate smirked, even though he couldn't see it. "More than your precious fingers stuck to that keyboard of yours will, Castle."
Their focus was almost comical. Jonah's tongue was poking out of his mouth, resting against his upper lip, while Kate gnawed on her lower one. Rick's face was pinched in concentration, and Alexis simply narrowed her eyes and stared resolutely at her car. The seconds dragged on, the plastic cars gaining and dropping leads as they raced towards the finish line at the end of their respective tracks. The final bell dinged, and each of them looked at each other
"Who won?" They had each been focused on their own cars that they hadn't bothered to pay attention to each others.
The operator motioned to a small screen behind him, which replayed the last five seconds of the most recent race until a new one was completed. With bated breath, they all waited to see whose car finished first. They all seemed neck and neck, orange, blue, green, and purple, until one pulled away from the rest and beat the rest by nearly an inch.
"Alexis?" Rick asked incredulously.
"Dang it." Jonah groaned, despite his willingness to high-five Alexis after she danced around victoriously. Alexis and Kate high fived each other for good measure and Alexis turned to her father with a triumphant grin.
"Who finished second?" Jonah whirled on his stool to eye the man behind the counter.
"Blue." he replied easily, and Jonah squinted at the screen until it was verified.
"Oh!" Kate cheered as she watched her car touch the wall just after Alexis's. "Two for the ladies, zero for the boys." She and Alexis slapped hands once more, still grinning when the operator offered Alexis her choice of small stuffed animals.
Five minutes later, the boys were still sulking as Alexis proudly carried a plush dog under her arm.
"So, we've got games covered," Kate began, sneaking a glance at her son who was walking on the other side of Rick, his pout was becoming less prominent as his eyes took in the familiar yet still enchanting sights of the fair. "Rides? Or food?"
"Rides before food, always." Rick said firmly.
With an approving grin, Kate bumped into him lightly. "Good choice."
Nudging into Kate's other side, Alexis whispered into her ear. "Once, when I was seven, he loaded up at the Continental breakfast at Disney and hurled all over the Dumbo ride."
Failing to contain her laughter, she had to settle for faking a coughing fit as she surreptitiously wiped the corners of her eyes as Rick aimed his suspicious gaze on both of them.
XxXxXxXxX
They had full-access passes for the day, so they decided collectively to not skimp out on the rides. Even the drop towers, a point of contention between Jonah who loved them and Kate who despised them, were fully appreciated by the group.
As they approached the gate to ride the Tornado, a small girl slid herself in front of Rick.
Rick looked down at the pigtailed head, all blonde hair and blue eyes and popsicle smears. "Hey," he began, but before he could finish, the girl stuck her purple-stained tongue out at him and slid under the bar.
"Hey, you can't cut." Jonah protested, watching with wide eyes as the girl was let in and Rick was held back to wait for the next ride.
"We're full, buddy." the attendant shrugged. "I can only let in 30 people."
"Cutting's not fair." Jonah shook his head before turning to Kate. "Mom, you should arrest her."
Kate laughed as Alexis shot a sympathetic glance towards her father. "I don't have my cuffs, buddy. Besides, what would I take her for?"
"A gross lack of human decency." Rick offered, his own protests having gone ignored by the attendant, who had walked away to prepare the ride.
Rolling her eyes, Kate led Alexis and Jonah to an empty gondola, ushering them both inside before shrugging back at Rick, who had given up and leaned moodily against the railing.
Once the ride started, the three of them took turns in spinning the wheel inside as fast as they could. Jonah quickly realized that talking inside of the ride made his voice sound almost alien, and began speaking in gibberish as the girls cracked up. Their uncontrollable laughter was only stopped once they'd been released from their restraints by the haughty look on Rick's face as he stepped through the gate for his turn.
"You'll be so kind as to wait as I rock this ride out like it's never rocked before." Rick called, unable to resist shooting a glare at the line cutter as she exited through the adjacent gate.
"You go, Rick." Kate called to him, once he was seated with two kids who couldn't have been older than 8 and their preteen companion. "Show them grade schoolers how it's done."
They chatted idly as they waited for the ride to end once more, taking turns spotting the most uniquely dressed person.
"Why would you put a garbage bag on your head?"
Alexis shrugged with an amused smile. "Maybe he thinks it makes him look cool."
"It makes him look homeless."
"Well," Kate tried not to laugh. "Maybe it's the style from where he's from."
"Pretty sure they don't have people on Pluto." Jonah protested, unable to tear his eyes away from the bag-wearer.
"Don't stare." Kate lightly chastised, and they watched the ride slowly come to a stop.
"Fun?" Alexis asked, once Rick rejoined them on the other side of the gates.
"Apparently," Rick huffed, looking thoroughly windblown and haggard, "Mindy gets carsick. And didn't think a spinny ride would make her feel sick."
"Ew, vomit?" Jonah asked, as Alexis sniffed his sleeve curiously.
"Why would you smell for it?" Kate mouthed to her, and the redhead shrugged.
"He looked too clean for puke." she whispered back, before they both turned their attention back to the older Castle.
"Worse." Rick sighed dramatically. "High pitched screaming."
XxXxXxXxX