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

Yesterday was not a happy day. Until the end.

The first thing that wasn't happy was when Mom sat down with me in the rocking chair in the morning and tried to feed me. What happened then I didn't mean to do, I promise.

"Ow. Ow. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! It hurts!"

"Ouch! You bit me!"

"Sorry, Mom."

She held me up then and put her finger in my mouth. "Oh, poor baby, I thought you must be getting a tooth. Yup, I feel something."

"OW!"

"You've been so fussy and drooly for the last couple of days. We're going to the kitchen to get you a nice cool washcloth to chew on, okay? I put one in the refrigerator yesterday when I had a feeling that tooth was on its way. That's going to help."

Dad heard me crying and heard Mom ouching so he came out of his office to see us. "Everything okay?"

"Eliot's teething, poor thing. I can see how swollen his bottom gum is right here in the middle. He bit my nipple, which, believe me, is no picnic. But I read about this, I just have to adjust the way I nurse him and it'll be okay for both of us."

She put that washcloth in my mouth and it did make me feel better. It's still sore but I am very excited about a tooth. I'm going to have teeth like everybody else! I don't know how many I will get. Does everyone have the same amount or different? That's another question for my list.

"Do you want me to cancel my thing with Alexis and stay here?"

Then the next bad thing happened. Mom said, "No, no, you go. We'll be fine. Besides, you need to have a good visit with Alexis, and as of next week you're going to be alone with him here, so you should take the opportunity now."

"What? Dad is going to be with me by himself? Why? Where are you going, Mom?"

"The time has gone by so fast, hasn't it? Our six months together, the three of us." Dad looked very sad.

"We're not going to be together anymore?"

I didn't think something could hurt more than where my tooth is coming, but it did. It hurt everywhere, even in my head where I think. And in the place on my chest where Mom kisses me and says, "Hello, my little heartthrob." Especially there. And I couldn't help it that I started crying harder than I did when I accidentally bit Mom.

"Let me comfort him, Castle. You go. I need some mother-and-son time."

So Dad kissed us both good-bye and he left. And it was just Mom and me in the bedroom.

"Why are you leaving? You're not going to see us any more? What will happen? Where will I get my milk?"

"Shh, shh, shh. Eliot, you and I are going to get on the big bed together and cuddle. And I'll tickle your tummy and you can roll over for me and show me all the other things that you can do. You can practice sitting up all by yourself the way you started to the other day. It's amazing that you can do that. I'm so happy that I saw you do that the first time. But now I have to go back to work at the precinct and I won't get to spend the whole day with you, not every day, anyway. But I'll see you in the morning before I go and I'll nurse you and get you dressed. And I'll see you when I get home at night and I'll feed you and we'll take a bath and read a story. And on the weekends we'll be together the whole time. And most days when I'm at the precinct Dad will be here with you and take care of you. You'll have great adventures and he'll Skype at lunchtime every day so we can see each other. I bet that you'll have so much fun with Dad that you won't even notice that I'm not here."

"I will so notice."

"And."

Then she didn't say anything, and you know why? Because Mom was crying. She was sad, too. But at least I felt better because then I knew that I will see her every day after all, even if it isn't the whole time, and she isn't going away except to the precinct. She was holding me on her chest so I patted her face because she likes it when I do that.

"Aww, thank you, my little heartthrob. I will miss you every minute, but I have to go to work and catch bad guys. That's my job and I really, really like it. Dad's job is to write and he really, really likes it, but luckily he can do that at home so he can be here with you. Some days he is going to come to the precinct to work with me, but you know Sarah who takes care of you when Dad and I go out? When Dad goes to the precinct with me, she'll be here with you. And then Dad and I will come home at the end of the day and all three of us will be together."

The rest of the day was okay even though my tooth hurt, but Mom gave me that cloth. And she got on the floor and played with me and later on Dad came home and Alexis and Gram came, too. And Alexis told me that when she was little like me Dad took care of her and they had a great time. Gram told us stories about when Dad was a baby. She said he was a little monster but he doesn't look like a monster to me.

This morning Dad came up to get me all by himself. He changed my diaper and my PJs and then he said, "We're going to let Mom sleep a little later because when she goes back to work in two days she'll have to get up early. Okay? And I have an idea for us to buy something right now for a surprise, and you're going to help."

"Do I get to choose the surprise?"

We went downstairs and Dad got his laptop and we sat on the sofa. "We're going to pick out a present for Mom. Something to use when she goes back to work. What do you think?"

"Glagla ha nana."

"What's that? High heels? We should get her high heels?"

"That's not what I said, Dad. But you always want Mom to wear high heels. She says, 'Castle, you have a one-track mind,' but that's funny because our train has a lot of tracks."

"Okay, that's settled."

"No, it's not. I said you should get her a new car. I think you should because the one she drove in before I was born was so lumpy and bouncy and she should get a comfy car for work. And a new siren."

"Here they are, Eliot. What do you think? They're high heels that look like police cars. Cool, right? They're called Hot on Your Heels Stiletto Police. See how the toes look like the front of Mom's car? And the little lights on the back? And the nine one one, which is the police phone number? And they're at least four-inch heels. They are so hot, so incredibly hot."

"Dad. Why would Mom want hot feet?"

A/N Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. Eliot sends special thanks to the two guests and Moochiechat who answered a lot of the questions that he asked in the last chapter. He's pretty sure now that no one knows which came first, the chicken or the egg, since one person said chicken and another said egg. He says he might figure it out some day. He'll tell you when he does. Seriously. Also, thanks to temple01uk for the heads-up on those stilettos!