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: It was great to get the reviews I did for the last chapter so want to get to my thank yous directly. vetgirlmx (Had to laugh a bit at what you said about the motive for murder, but you're right, it is a better motive for murder; being left out of a will. And you'll need to see about the baby of course, but you'll find out. I wasn't surprised to see that you liked the fact that Ryan gave them a clue to solve their case, as I thought it would feel like old times a bit and looks like I was right! And another thing you're right about, a lot of trouble caused by the existence of a baby but hopefully that'll be explained a bit. Not surprised either that you're hoping they can get to the baby and soon. Great to read you can't wait to see what's next and now you of course don't need to!), life's a mystery (I was happy to see in your review that you weren't expecting what happened at the end of the chapter, nice I could take you by surprise with that!) and Beckett-Castle4ever (Glad to see that you thought the last chapter was a good one. And I laughed a little at what you said about laughing when they started talking about the case after they had made love, but that's how I see them. Was pleased that you enjoyed the family time in the morning. Not surprised to see you commenting that the case turned out to be crazy, it's what I was aiming for so really happy about that. And I can't really answer your question about Julia; it remains to be seen in the future. But your second question, it's more them worrying that the memories might come back to her and the unknown of what would happen if she did remember; plus them hoping that she doesn't recall). So thanks a ton to those of you who took the time to send me some feedback, I loved reading it and I appreciate it as always!

A/N #2: The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Sat Singing by George Harrison, from his album Somewhere in England.

Moment That I Lose My Mind

Almost as one, Castle, Beckett and Brad turned from the water and ran towards the shed to their left, the chief shooting off the lock on the door before he called backup as the other two were getting a boat out from inside.

"You're going to need to stay Castle," Brad said in a whisper as they all looked at Gaspara, who hadn't reacted to the gunshot.

"I knew already," Castle replied as they made it down to the water and his friend and wife went in. "Be careful not to tip."

"We know; how deep is this pond?" Beckett asked the chief as she was taking the oars from her husband.

"About eight feet in the middle," Brad replied grimly as he started to row over to the man. He went slowly before pausing as he heard sirens in the distance and he turned to see Hutchinson and Bernier soon running up to them, along with a news van.

"Go, he's got his nephew," Castle said to the officers before he went to the news crew that was coming up to him. He managed to stop them before Kirby appeared and took over handling the media. That done, he ran back to the shore, watching as the chief was starting to row yet again.

"He's got him in the water," Beckett said in a low voice, clenching her jaw as she could see the green flannel onesie the baby was wearing was turning dark with the water soaking into it.

"Alright, I don't have time to plan this more than I have just now," Brad said, bringing the oars in, whispering and turning his head back to Beckett. "More EMTs are here," he said, looking back at the shore and seeing the two there. "So we just need to get him out of Gaspara's arms."

"I can take him, you'll be able to row faster than I will," Beckett said, taking off her grey coat and putting it at the back of the boat but within easy reach. "I'll keep him warm, just watch he doesn't let go before I can get him."

Taking hold of one oar, Brad turned then so the left side of the boat was at Gaspara's back and he looked at Beckett who nodded quickly. Turning back to the man he took the oar in both hands and leaned over after using his hand in the water to bring them closer.

Martha, coming downstairs after getting the dress that she was making for Julia to work on, walked into the family room saying, "What do we owe the pleasure of for this visit?" to Lily Davis who'd arrived before she'd gone to her room.

"Just a quick visit, I thought Brad said he was finished with the case, so I was going to invite Kate for lunch," the chief's wife said. "But I guess-" she began to say as she set Eliza down. Her phone rang then, cutting her off, and she answered it saying, "Hello? No, I'm not… he's what? I'll, I'll watch right now," looking at Martha.

"What's wrong?" Castle's mother asked in concern at her expression.

"It's on TV, but…" Lily replied, looking down at Eliza.

"Darling, why don't you play over here…" Martha told her granddaughter, taking her to a tiny table for her and her sister that was against the wall so the couch would block the toddler's view of the screen. "Play and we'll do a little reading before lunch okay?" she asked, giving Eliza the large, colorful counting bears she used. When she nodded, Martha kissed her temple and then hurried over to the TV, pausing in mid-step when she saw that Lily had already turned it on, seeing what was on the screen. She opened her mouth to speak but just remembered not to for her granddaughter's sake. "Oh my god," she whispered, sharing a look with the chief's wife as at that moment, Brad was bringing the oar up against a man's throat, the baby in his arms crying shrilly before he began to move.

Pulling the handle against Gaspara's neck Brad had to tighten his grip on the wood, feeling the man starting to fight by trying to step forward. He was about to call to Beckett for her to help him, when he saw her glove covered hands appear in his vision.

Reaching down for the baby but trying not to tip them over was a difficult task for Beckett to accomplish. But she managed to get a hold on the baby under his arms, trying not to grasp Christopher so tightly that she hurt him. "Now, I have him Brad," she told the chief quickly.

With that, he wrapped his arm around Gaspara's neck to leave the oar free for him to use if he needed. "Can you get him?" Brad asked.

"No, he's got… his arm is around the baby's legs," Beckett said, seeing where Gaspara's arms were. She then suddenly felt a flash of pain on her right arm and she nearly lost her hold of Christopher.

Running right to the edge of the water when he saw the knife in the killer's hand slash at his wife's arm, Castle had to stop himself from launching into the pond. "Don't shoot!" he yelled at Bernier and Kirby who had run to the shore on the other side with their weapons aimed.

"Hold your fire," Brad said before he saw the knife coming up out of the water again in Gaspara's free hand. He quickly acted, slamming the handle of the oar down on the man's head as hard as he could. But his movement was too slow, trying to make sure the boat stayed upright. He hit again and that time managed to make Gaspara stagger. But since he was no longer holding on to the killer's neck the man was able to go forward and he yelled Beckett's name as he pushed the boat forward with one hand and then grasped on to killer's shoulder, digging his fingers into it as hard as he could.

Beckett had no idea how exactly it happened but suddenly the baby was slipping out of Gaspara's arm and she nearly fell back. "I've got him!" she told Brad as he was still struggling with the killer. "Let go, we need to go," she insisted while she was finishing wrapping Christopher in her coat. She wrapped her arms around him tightly as Brad was rowing them back to shore, murmuring soothingly to the baby to try and stop his crying.

"Hutchinson, I need you to help me once we get the baby out and Beckett's out," Brad was yelling to the officer as he slowly neared shore; one of the oars he'd had floating in front of Gaspara.

Beckett glanced over to the man, seeing that he was staying still in place and for a few seconds she kept an eye on him, though she couldn't do much where she was. But because the other officers were standing on the shore around the end with their weapons trained on him she turned back, seeing one of the EMTs was standing almost in the water, the other behind her to make sure she didn't fall in as she leaned over. She moved onto her knees as they neared and was able to put Christopher in the paramedic's hands. When the two EMTs had left, starting to run, she began to step out of the boat as Hutchinson came over to take her place. But before she could get one boot on the ground she was almost lifted up by her husband, landing on the snow on her feet effortlessly.

"Here," Castle said as he started to unbutton his coat.

"No, I'm fine," Beckett said, though she had her arms around herself and was beginning to shake. After her husband had draped the black jacket on her shoulders she felt instant warmth and murmured a quick thanks to him before they both turned their attention to the boat nearing Gaspara again.

That time, without the baby to make things more urgent, the chief and Hutchinson were able to herd the killer to the shore; the female officer threatening him with a tazer gun; where Kirby and Bernier grabbed him before he could run. But as soon as he was on the snow covered ground Gaspara began to fight and it took Brad and Hutchinson jumping from the boat to help them get him handcuffed.

Watching the killer being dragged through the snow to another ambulance, Castle said, "Where do you want to go?" to his wife.

"The hospital," Beckett said. "Since that's where he's going."

"Come on, I'll give you guys a ride," Brad said, coming up to them then as he'd sent Kirby with the ambulance.

"You don't need to change?" Castle asked as they were walking, avoiding the news crew still there. "And love, your arm?" he asked.

"It's fine," Beckett replied quickly.

"I have a spare shirt in my cruiser," Brad said as the one he was wearing was wet. "But I need you two to do something for me."

"Sure." "Anything," Castle and then Beckett said.

"You need to see if you can talk to Nesta and Alison about the attack, Enos will meet you," Brad said. "I'm sending you two," he said quickly as he could see their confusion at that. "Because I'm sure Nesta will talk to you Beckett. And Rick… I know you wouldn't just leave her."

Castle didn't really have anything to say to that, so he just nodded before he and Beckett got into the cruiser after his friend.

"Where is he? Where's Brad?" Lily Davis said as she was running down the hall in the hospital to where Castle and Beckett were sitting. "I couldn't tell if he was hurt, the cameras got pushed back," she said in a rush.

"Lily, calm down," Beckett said, standing up with her husband. "Brad is fine, he got wet but not so much that he's going to get hypothermia."

"He's talking with the killer he was apprehending right now," Castle said. "So he's well enough to work."

Breathing out heavily, Lily said, "I was so worried, I'm just glad I didn't scare Eliza enough to-"

"Eliza, were you at our house?" Castle asked in surprise.

"I went there to invite you to lunch Kate," Lily told her friend. "And I got a call from Kim that Brad was at a pond and your mother and I watched what happened. But Eliza played by herself, away from the TV, but still with us."

"Oh, Mother must have been putting Eliza down for a nap," Castle told his wife as his phone started to ring. "Excuse-" he began before Beckett grabbed his arm to stop him.

"How are you Kate?" Lily asked, that move reminding her that her friend had been cut according to the reporter.

"It's fine, my blouse being so thick helped," Beckett said, looking at her arm where the shallow but long cut was under the sleeve of her husband's coat. She then turned her attention to Castle, listening to him speaking to his mother as he then put the phone on speaker.

"So she's alright?" Martha was saying.

"She's fine," Castle told her. "You're sure Eliza didn't see anything?"

"I'm certain and she's asleep now," Martha said. "But she was asking for you two."

"We'll be home soon," Beckett told her mother in law, leaning over slightly. "Probably before Julia's class is over if we can. It depends on how things go here."

"We'll call you Mother, to let you know when we're on the way," Castle said.

"We need to go Martha," Beckett said, seeing Brad at the entrance to the waiting room.

"Brad!" Lily cried as Castle was hanging up his phone. She ran to her husband and hugged him tightly, asking if he was okay.

"Yeah, I'm doing great," the chief said simply. "You know I wouldn't be walking around if I wasn't."

"Do I need to go?" Lily asked as she could see Castle and Beckett were glancing over at them from the corners of their eyes.

"I'm afraid we're not finished with this case," Brad replied. "But I'll be home tonight as soon as I can. Give my love to the kids if you see them before I do." After exchanging a kiss with his wife he watched her go and once she had he gestured to Castle and Beckett's chairs so they'd sit again. "So I tried to talk to Gaspara but he's not talking," he started with. "But we have the case wrapped up."

"In what way?" Castle asked.

"The .45, in his car he'd driven to the Seymour house," Brad said. "It needs to be tested; Enos took it in to do that; but I think we can all agree it's more than likely the gun. And as for motive, we have it; Antonio gave the track to his son."

"What about the sister that owns it now?" Beckett asked.

"Hutchinson was able to contact her; you know she's from Columbia so she speaks Spanish," Brad said. "According to her, the idea that she was doing anything illegal was laughable, but there was a gang that was trying to muscle her out. That gang is one that Gaspara ran with in his youth. It's why Antonio brought his brother here as they dealt and did drugs and worked the prostitution at the track."

"Does that mean that his father was innocent?" Castle inquired.

"No, his father wasn't," the chief replied. "It seems that out of the three children he had, Gaspara was like him the most. I'm of the theory that Gaspara thought killing his nephew would allow him to take over but you saw the addendum, it was his sister that would get it."

"So more than likely he would have gone back to Argentina-" Castle began.

"And kill his sister to get his hands on the track since he's handy with a gun," Beckett added.

"I think so," Brad said with a nod.

"And the drugs, did you manage to get that set?" Beckett asked.

"We did, searching the name we found property that had an old cabin built on it, the drugs were stored there," Brad said. "And so was the paperwork to pay the drivers to stage the abandoned horse trailers. There was never any cocaine in there, except for the trace amounts they left as the records were specific in telling the drivers where to put the small baggies worth of powder."

"He was trying to set up his brother," Castle and Beckett suddenly said at the same time.

"It looks like it, since the trailers immediately made me think of him," Brad said, his jaw clenched in his anger.

"I would have thought the same," Beckett said quickly, reassuringly to him.

"So that's what we have," Brad said.

"And Gaspara? Is he fit to stand trial?" Castle asked.

"He will be, he has mild hypothermia, but he'll recover," Brad replied. "But he's not talking as I mentioned before, I don't get the feeling that he will."

Nodding at the same time as her husband, Beckett then said, "We've been waiting for the Seymours, they were brought here after their doctors released them, they'll be fine."

"Did you try to talk to them?" Brad asked.

"I did," Beckett said. "We both did."

"They were in a hurry though, to check on the baby," Castle said.

"Not a surprise," Brad said. "Have you asked the doctor if he's okay?"

"We don't have the authority," Beckett said, smiling as the chief immediately stood up, and walked over to the nurses' station. She looked over at her husband then and still smiling told him, "Thanks for picking me up out of the boat. And I mean that literally," as she took his hand, entwining their fingers.

"My pleasure, also I needed to get you into my coat," Castle said. "You looked freezing out on the water; I'm going to guess that adrenaline helped out with that?"

"It did," Beckett said, looking at her arm then. "Another wound."

"We pick up a lot on our cases," Castle said.

"We do, but this one I don't mind," Beckett said. "Or this," she then added absently, touching her riding crop cut that the doctor treating her had taken a look at. "At least I should be relatively okay by Christmas. Not our date though."

"Really, you- Oh, I see," Castle started to say in surprise, thinking she was worried about her appearance. But she then smiled and he wrapped his arm around her saying, "I know, but I'll still think I'm with the most gorgeous woman. Now, if you tried to say which of us was more handsome, then it would be me. But that's more because I've never called you handsome."

Rolling her eyes, Beckett said, "You manage to compliment both of us at the same time a lot."

"It's a gift," Castle said, smiling. He took his wife's hand that squeezed his knee with his free one and said, "Are you emotionally exhausted right now?" as they looked over at Brad, still talking to a doctor.

"Yeah, it was rough, I was so afraid he'd slip through my fingers," Beckett said with a sigh. "And into the water, but he is okay now."

"He is," Castle assured her. "You were keeping him warm as soon as you got him out of the water and to the paramedics."

"Now though, we have to worry about the girls," Beckett said. When her husband looked momentarily puzzled, she raised her arm and said, "I can't wear long sleeves all the time."

"They'll be okay, I think they know what we do is a little rough," Castle said, more to assure himself than her. "And they saw that you're okay after the cut to your cheek, so I wouldn't be concerned. We'll figure something out to tell them when we see them."

"That I'm leaving to you since you're the better storyteller," Beckett replied, leaning against him more to put her head on his shoulder. But she didn't last that way long as Brad was coming back to them and she stood before Castle did.

"He'll be fine, they just want to make sure with a few more tests he wasn't harmed in any other way," the chief told them, not surprised at their sighs of relief.

Before any of them could say anything, a nurse called, "Ms. Beckett?"

"That's me," she said, turning to look at her.

"Ms. Seymour is asking to speak with you," the woman said.

"Go," Brad said when Beckett looked to him. "If she wants to talk about what happened, ask if we can come in."

"Thanks for including me man," Castle said as they watched Beckett walk away with the nurse.

"Not a problem brother," Brad said, bumping fists with his friend.

Walking to the room where Christopher was being kept, Beckett was a little startled when his mother flung her arms around her, starting to cry. She then was able to discern a thank you in that and she quickly told her, "It's alright Ms. Seymour-"

"Nesta," the woman said quickly letting her go and trying to dry her cheeks with a tissue.

"Nesta, I couldn't let anything happen to him," Beckett assured her. "I'm sure if the situation was the other way around, I'd be thanking you for saving my daughter."

"Please, come see him," Seymour said, taking Beckett by her uninjured arm and leading her to the bassinet where the baby was laying, asleep.

"I'm sorry Ms. Beckett," Mrs. Seymour said, sitting in a chair next to her grandson. "I shouldn't have been so abrupt the other day."

"It's okay," Beckett replied seriously. "I know what you thought I was doing there and I can't blame the sentiment. So he's okay," she said, turning her head to the baby.

"Just fine, a little cold but his temperature is back up now, we'll be able to take him home once we get some results back," Seymour said before she leaned down and kissed her son's forehead tenderly. When she'd stood up there was a determined glint in her eye and she asked, "Do we need to talk to the police about what happened?"

"That would be helpful," Beckett said.

"Then please, tell them to come, we'll talk," Mrs. Seymour said.

"Is it alright if my husband joins us?" Beckett asked.

"Was he helping too?" Seymour asked.

"He was and he actually was the one that spotted Gaspara with your son," Beckett told her.

"Then he can hear this as well," Seymour replied before Beckett went to get a nurse to bring the Chief and Castle into the room.

Looking down at the baby once she was back in the room, Beckett smiled as she reached down and let him take her finger, feeling him grip it tightly. There was a big sense of relief in that, as she knew for sure that the baby was alright.

"Thank you so much," Seymour was saying then as Castle and Brad appeared in the doorway then. She took the former's hand saying, "Your wife told me you saw Antonio's brother taking Christopher before he disappeared."

"I'm happy to help," Castle said, glancing at Beckett and seeing the smile on her face. When the mother let go of his hand he went over to his wife, looking down with her at the baby.

"So Nesta, Alison, you're prepared to speak with us about what happened?" Brad asked, getting a notepad and pen.

"Yes, we were getting lunch ready for Christopher," Mrs. Seymour said quickly. "And we heard this loud crash, which was my front door being kicked open. I ran out first, telling Nesta to call the police-"

"I couldn't, Christopher was crying and I needed to make sure he was okay," Seymour said a little defensively as the other three looked at her.

"I would have done the same," Beckett told her.

"So would I," Brad said. "Please, continue."

"It was that man, he had a knife and he was demanding to know where the baby was," Mrs. Seymour said before she shivered heavily. "His eyes were… wild and he forced me to the kitchen where he hit me here on the back of the head. And that's all I remember until I woke up and called 911."

"He hit her as soon as he saw my son," Seymour took over. "And I tried to run, but I…"

"You just gave birth," Beckett said, reaching to her on the other side of the bassinet. "I can imagine it wasn't easy."

Shaking her head furiously, Seymour said, "It was painful and he was able to catch up with me and that's when he hit me after he had turned me around. I guess to catch Christopher before he could fall to the floor. And the next thing I remember is seeing you two above me."

"Okay, well, Mr. Gaspara will be charged with assault and kidnapping of course; as well as murder. So he'll be going to jail for a long time," Brad said. "Did you know him at all? Did Antonio ever talk about him?"

"No, but we weren't that close," Seymour said, looking embarrassed. "But he did mention his cousin, his brother I know now. And when he did he just said loving horses didn't always run through a family." She paused and said, "He did tell me once that he thought his cousin would rather use horses, than care for them. Did he?" When the three nodded she sighed and said, "Then that would explain why Antonio was mad saying that."

"What if your son loves horses?" Beckett asked, looking at Brad. When he nodded to Seymour she sighed inwardly and quickly told the mother, "Antonio left something in his will for your son. He's now the official owner of the racetrack his father had in Buenos Aires."

"What?" Mrs. Seymour said in shock.

"And he added that if Christopher was under eighteen when he inherited it, you'd be able to run things for him Ms. Seymour," Castle added.

"Nesta," Seymour said automatically in her shock. "But… I don't know anything about running a racetrack." She then seemed to comprehend what they'd said and asked, "Is that why Antonio was killed by his own brother?"

"Mr. Gaspara thought he was going to get the racetrack, either by his brother's death or Antonio would transfer it to him, we're not sure," Brad said. "When he found out what his brother had done with his will… he snapped."

"Are you going to be okay?" Beckett asked, knowing the woman was thinking about her deceased husband at that.

"Yeah, I will, I just… I'm not sure what to do with the racetrack," Seymour said.

"Antonio's half sister runs it now," Castle said. "You should try and get in contact with her, maybe have her take care of it. According to the authorities she's running a more legitimate business with it."

"Until Christopher here is of age and can decide what he wants to do," Beckett said, smiling down at the baby who was staring up at them seriously.

"I'll do that," Seymour said. "Thank you, again, for everything you've done," she told them earnestly before she started to cry.

"We should go," Brad said, Castle and Beckett nodding in agreement.

"Keep in touch with us," Beckett said hurriedly as Mrs. Seymour had her daughter sit down. "If you ever need anything, for you and Christopher."

"We will, thank you," Mrs. Seymour said for her daughter, hugging her tightly.

"Alright, so I'm going to head back to the station," Brad said once they were out in the waiting room. "Once I have the two of you sign the papers you're off until next year."

"Sure you don't want us to help with that paperwork?" Beckett asked while they headed to the elevator.

"I'm good, you know the mayor would protest that," Brad replied.

"Me too," Castle said under his breath, smiling when Beckett nudged him in the side as they leaned against the wall of the elevator car before the doors closed.

As Castle pulled the car around to the front door, Beckett was looking at her phone saying, "I guess they're at her class now."

"At least we'll be there to see some of it," Castle said as they went into the house.

"Some being the keyword, we might be too late by the time I finish changing," Beckett said as he checked his watch then.

"That's true," Castle replied. "But," he told his wife as he followed her up the stairs. "We're off for a while now; we can go to her classes all week."

"We could but you know she doesn't want us to do that," Beckett replied.

"Then most of the week," Castle said as they went into their room.

"Are you changing too?" Beckett asked him with a slight smile on her face as he didn't really need to follow her.

"No, just providing you some company," Castle said simply, sitting down.

"You mean you just want to see me change my top," Beckett replied wryly.

"And that too," Castle said. He smiled as she shook her head and then headed to their closet before he said, "Kate?"

"Yeah," Beckett said absently, her voice muffled.

"We've never worked out what we're going to do about the dog," Castle said as he watched her walk out to the wood table behind the headboard of the bed.

"We had the case to distract us," Beckett replied as she took off her torn blouse and set it aside to get rid of since the cut in the fabric was too big to fix. "But you're right, we should figure out what to do. Obviously we need to pick it up, but when?"

"We can get it the day before Christmas Eve," Castle said. "And beg Rebecca and David-"

"No, are you crazy? It's way too risky," Beckett said. "What if Julia runs over there to play? We can't risk her seeing it."

"Then Brad and Lily," Castle said.

"Better, but we need to ask first," Beckett said, buttoning her dark blue blouse. She glanced at her husband and seeing his concern she smiled saying, "I'm okay."

"I know, just… want to make sure," Castle said.

Beckett was going to go over to him when her phone rang, and she said, "It's Esposito."

"I wonder if the news in the city got footage from the pond," Castle said, standing up and meeting her next to the bed.

"Hey Beckett, Castle," the detective said when both had greeted him. "Found something in Yonkers, a man was shot during a robbery at a bodega earlier this morning. His name's Cory Lynch."

"And we should know that name because…?" Castle said.

"Because he was in jail with 3XK," Esposito replied. "And suspected of a dozen muggings in the area but they were unable to pin it on him as their witnesses kept saying it was a woman, but the woman in question always had an alibi."

"Sounds like a student of Tyson's too," Castle said grimly.

"So that's one less adherent," Beckett replied. "There was nothing suspicious about the murder?"

"It wasn't really murder, the robber was trying to shoot at a cop outside the bodega and hit Lynch instead," Esposito said. "Talked to the investigator myself and confirmed that."

"Okay, thanks for letting-" Beckett started to say.

"One other thing I heard about what happened out in the Hamptons, they're actually showing the footage right now on the news," Esposito said before he was quiet. "Are you okay? That baby?"

"I'm fine, the baby is too and the case is over," Beckett said quickly.

"You need to go somewhere?" Esposito asked.

"Yeah, we told our daughter we'd try and pick her up today," Castle said.

"Alright, Ryan… stop dude," Esposito said as there was talking in the background. "He wants you to tell our nieces hello for us."

"We will, thanks for calling again Javi," Beckett said before she and Castle said goodbye to their former partner. "Okay, so, if we were in doubt about Tyson."

"Were you?" Castle asked in slight surprise.

"No, never," Beckett said. "But at least that's one sycophant down."

Nodding, Castle knew what she wasn't saying; that they had no idea how many more there were out there, having learned some sadistic lessons from 3XK. But he knew they should really go to pick up Julia with that on their minds so he said, "We're set on the dog?"

"I think so," Beckett said, smiling briefly as she knew what he was doing. "What are you thinking?" she asked as she studied his face, knowing by his expression that he'd just had an idea.

"Well, it needs to wait until we get the girls," Castle said. "More to the point if Julia has a lot of homework."

"You want to do something with them," Beckett stated. She smiled when he nodded and said, "I agree, but what?"

"I was going to surprise you…" Castle muttered under his breath. When his wife just gave him a look he quickly told her, "Go out to the movies, you know they're screening cartoons at the theater downtown."

"We could do that," Beckett replied, smiling again. "Actually, I would love to do that," she said, her tone of voice taking on more force.

Castle quickly wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him for a tight hug as he knew she was thinking about what had happened at the pond and wanting to see their daughters. He murmured to her, "I know, I want to see them too. So we should probably go."

Beckett nodded, though he couldn't see it, and she pulled away, reaching up to him to cup his cheeks. "Before we do though…" she told him.

Leaning down immediately, Castle took his wife's lips with his own and they kissed but very slowly and tenderly. He was just at the point of breathlessness when they parted and he wrapped his arm around her while they were leaving the room saying, "We can get some popcorn and candy, and-"

"Not if you want them to eat dinner at all," Beckett told him.

"And where are we taking them for that?" Castle asked, relieved to see she sounded a lot happier with that.

"The Studebaker," Beckett said simply.

"And this is one of many reasons why I love you Kate," Castle said before he leaned over and kissed her tenderly. "Now let's go get the girls and surprise them with our day out."

"One of many reasons why I love you Rick," Beckett said with a smile at his eagerness as she made him stop at the top of the stairs so they could kiss again. That one was a little deeper, and when they'd parted, she pressed her lips quickly against his in a brief peck before they left for Julia's school.