As the paint was still too fresh to be safe for a pregnant woman, Castle wasn't surprised when Jim suggested they all go out for a bite of dinner. He was a little surprised, though, when he heard his father-in-law say they should make it a true family night and have Agnes, Andrea, Daniel and Nessa there as well.

'You think that would be too weird?' Jim asked Castle as they tidied up the paint cans, sealing them and opening the windows of the baby's room to let the air in for quicker drying.

'Well...I don't know,' he replied honestly, 'on the one hand it would be a nice way to show Agnes is an important part of your life, but on the other hand, it might seem like you're trying too hard to be one big happy family, you know?'

'I see what you mean. We could always ask, or would that seem like I'm asking my daughter's permission?'

'I think that would be a wise move, since you were keeping it from her for four months, that you don't want things to be weird anymore.'

'I'm a grown man with grandchildren asking if my daughter is okay with me inviting my girlfriend and her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter to dinner. What part of that is any kind of normal?'

Castle laughed, tilted his head side to side in consideration. 'You do have a point, Big Jim. Still, I don't think it would hurt to ask Kate.'

'Ask me what?'

Both men glanced up, and Jim was at the entrance to the nursery in a flash, guiding Beckett away from the room. 'Sweetie, it's not good for you to be around this paint.'

'I know, I'm already having a sleepover at Lanie's,' she reminded him. 'Ask me what?'

'Ah, we - Rick and I - were discussing and thinking that we should all have dinner out tonight. Including Agnes and her family.'

'Oh. I see.'

'I understand if it's too weird for you, but-'

'No, no, I think that's a great idea. If you and she are going to be together for awhile, we're going to be including her in the family so we should make her feel welcome, right?' Beckett reasoned and Jim's heart unclenched.

'Exactly. I'll call her and let her know.'

Beckett laughed as she turned into her bedroom, put together her clothes to stay two nights at Lanie's apartment. She'd been so caught up with work and her family that she felt like she hadn't had a proper girls night with her bestie in ages. Of course, it was also partly due to Lanie still being on maternity leave and using the summer months to spend quality time with her father and her in-laws so Carey and Violet and Finn could see their blood cousins. But it was water under the bridge, as they were going to have a fun night together doing awesomely girlie things; Lanie was a champ at awesomely girlie things.

As she came out of the ensuite with her overnight toiletries bag, she stopped and pressed a hand to her heart when she saw her father there. 'Dad, you scared me!'

'I'm sorry Katie-Lou, I just wanted to make sure you're really okay with me inviting Agnes and not putting on a happy face for my sake.'

'Daddy, really, it's fine. I like Agnes, and it's not even like I'm feeling you are betraying Mom or something. It's just...why did you think you had to hide something important from me? That's the part that had me the most upset, that you didn't think you could trust me enough. And I know, I know,' Beckett waved a hand even before Jim opened his mouth, 'we talked about this and I thought we'd already settled it. She is a lovely lady, and she makes you happy.'

'Well then.' Jim's voice went gruff at the sound of his daughter's support, if not yet approval. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, then yanked them out when she picked up her overnight bag. 'Here, let me do that, sweetheart.'

'I'm going to be carrying it to the elevator and the car and up Lanie's elevator, Daddy.'

'Let be be the overbearing parent for just a moment.'

Since he looked so happy to help, Beckett followed him out and down the stairs to the living room where Alexis and RJ were tidying up his toys while Shane and Castle looked at something on Castle's laptop.

'Here we are, Mama's all set for her sleepover,' Jim announced. 'Where'd Martha go?'

'Her understudy for her night off has food poisoning, so she was called to the theatre,' Castle informed them. 'And Andrea's working until nine, so it'll be us, Agnes, Daniel and Nessa.'

'Yea! Nessa haffin' dinner wit' us!' RJ crowed from the living room, dumping his toys into the bright blue bin that was kept downstairs for his easy access. 'She pidy like Alessis.'

'Aw thanks, RJ,' Alexis held out her hand for a high-five.

'Now I know-a se-cuh-ret?'

'Nope, we're waiting until everyone is there, that includes Poppy Jim's new girlfriend.'

At this news, RJ looked scandalized. 'Gil-fin? Mumum, Poppy Shim haffa gil-fin?'

'He does, and you know her well too, RJ. It's Nessa's nana.'

'Miss A'nes?' His eyes went wide. 'He gonnna moosh atta table?'

'RJ schooled Javier Esposito a couple of weeks ago on good manners and that means no kissing at the dinner table,' Beckett explained to the confused Alexis. 'He thinks it's bad manners.'

'Save mooshin' fo' dessert,' RJ added sternly, then rubbed his mother's belly. ' 'Mon, bumpy, it suh-nack time!'


Dinner proved to be far less dicey an affair than Castle had anticipated. He knew his wife was still coming to grips with the idea of her father having a girlfriend no matter how okay she said she was with it, not to mention the fact their oldest girl was planning her wedding to a man only seventeen months younger than Beckett herself, and actually older than Meredeth Esposito by nearly a year while the nearly three year old babbled like a little monkey to the baby bump his mother sported.

To call it mind-boggling was a little bit of an understatement.

They opted to go to Bamboo Garden, as Beckett could have unlimited salad and veggies to go with the copious amounts of turkey and beef she was consuming to grow their little dumpling inside and RJ and Nessa could have their curiosity and appetites satisfied simultaeneously. As the adults were all fond of Asian food, it was an easy sell.

The moment they were seated and waiting for their drinks to arrive, RJ pounced. 'Now share, Alessis?'

'Okay, now we'll share.'

'Shah?' Nessa looked at her second-favourite redhead after her mother, then her father. 'Shah?'

'Yes, Nessa,' Daniel laughed. 'Alexis is sharing a secret now.'

'Oh right, Jim mentioned you have news, Alexis.' Agnes' eyes twinkled with the anticipation of gossip. 'Come now, don't be stingy.'

Alexis sent Shane a gleeful, giddy smile he mirrored and let a little 'whoo' of her breath. 'I just found out this week, yesterday really, that I have been selected as part of an internship program for the youth counseling pilot project being run by the NYPD in conjunction with the American Psychology Association!'

'Oh, congratulations honey!' Castle held out his fingertips across the table since he couldn't give her the hug he wanted to; that would come in a moment when they stood up to fill their buffet plates. 'Is that why you had to sit your boards so early?'

'Uh-huh. It's a twelve week program done in three four week sessions,' she explained at a babbling gallop, 'and it will have group and one-on-one sessions with children in Manhattan juvenile detention centres as part of their rehabilitation.'

'So, if you don't mind me saying as the cop here, how is it different than the other therapy programs in place already?' Beckett asked, and to her relief, Alexis didn't deflate in spirit. In fact she puffed up even more, if that were possible.

'Because most focus on the kids who are newly arrived, and I'll be working with kids who are going to be facing early release or who have served their time and are making the transition back into society. Those kids who get the therapy and then have no follow up once their out are usually the ones that fall through the cracks and become recidivists.'

'Tell them the best part,' Shane added.

'The best part, oh God, the best part, it counts towards teachable hours for my degree in addition to my clinical hours I'm already accumulating, so I'll be in consideration for a service award!'

'Look at you rocking this out,' Daniel exclaimed, leaned around Shane to brush at her shoulders. 'Lemme get that diamond dust for you, there.'

'And that's not all,' Shane added with an equally gleeful grin. 'We've managed to do some wedding planning as well, and we've got our first down payment done.'

'Oh?' Intrigued, everyone leaned forward at the table.

'We've got our honeymoon booked and our date at my synagogue confirmed as well. We'll be married next July on the eighth, and then we're spending a week in Bermuda followed by a week in Italy.'