Castle was pulled from his sleep by the distraught cries of a toddler. He sat up with a start, his sleep addled brain confusing these cries with the ones he'd been woken by nearly fifteen years earlier.

Realisation hit him quickly as he listened to the little boy scream. He couldn't hear Kate, but knew that she woke at a pin's drop so she clearly couldn't sleep through this, especially given how the tiny person that sounded so distraught was her own blood.

He sat there for nearly ten minutes, knowing it wasn't his place to interfere. He wasn't Charlie's father and wasn't his mother's romantic partner so he had nothing to do with the boy. But once he heard Kate pacing up and down his corridor, he decided 'friend' was enough to go offer his help as a someone who had done this before.

He climbed the stairs quickly and watched as Kate paced the hall, dressed only in a pair of shorts and a tank top, her purple silk rob hanging off her shoulders, cradling Charlie as he screamed bloody murder. Kate sighed when she saw him standing at the top of the stairs.

"I'm sorry." She apologised wearily, barely loud enough to be heard over Charlie. Rick shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. Alexis and mother are both out for the night and I don't mind." She flashed him a smile and resumed pacing. "Is he teething?" Rick asked knowingly. Kate shook her head.

"No. He doesn't like being away from me. Every time I'm away overnight, or I'm late coming home, he cries the entire night. It's like he doesn't know how to tell me he was scared and anxious, so he just cries." Rick nodded slowly.

"That's why you looked so tired the other day after Frankie had called and you ran out. Because you were late back and Charlie didn't like it." Kate nodded, gently bouncing the toddler on her hip in a desperate attempt to settle him.

"I didn't mean to wake you." Rick shrugged her off.

"Come here, let me have a turn."