Chapter 34

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"Castle, can I just remind you for the fifteenth time how absolutely insane this is?" Kate picked up the complicated application form for yet another preschool. "What are we? Sending her off to college? She's three years old!"

"Trust me, Kate," Castle replied, "I know how crazy this is. It wasn't this bad when Alexis was little but now, if we want Zoey to get in..."

"You make it sound like a competition," Kate said.

"Oh, it is. You should hear the parents at the playground I take Zoey to."

Kate picked up another brochure from the dozen littering her desk at the precinct. "I don't think I want to." Castle had come in an hour ago, Zoey in tow, freaking out about preschool admissions after his afternoon at that exact playground. Luckily, Kate was case-free at the moment and had some time to spare.

"Oo, don't go to that one," Velàzquez said, pointing to one with a kid's drawing at the front, "My sister sent my nephew there and he hated it. Had to switch out." She plopped Zoey back down onto Kate's lap, "Got called on a lead," she said and then pointed to a group of officers in the breakroom, "The boys over there gave your daughter some chocolate."

"Maybe this is why she never wants to leave when you bring her here," said Kate to Castle.

He grinned. "Or maybe she just wants to follow in mommy's footsteps."

"Well, according to some of these information booklets, she won't be able to get anywhere in life unless she gets into the right preschool."

Zoey, seeming to sense how annoyed Kate was, scrambled around in her lap so that she could wrap her tiny arms around her neck. "It's okay, mommy," she said, giving Kate a sloppy kiss.

Kate pulled Zoey into a tight hug and kissed the top of her head. "Thank you, Zo," she said with a smile.

Castle held up a particularly bright and enticing flyer. "Your mommy and I are just trying to find the very best school for you to go to."

Zoey shook her head. "I don't wanna go. I want to stay home with daddy."

"You still have a year – many, many sleeps – before you start school, Zo," said Kate, "And by then, I think you'll want to go."

"Oh definitely," Castle added, trying to sound as excited as possible, "School's fun! You'll get to play and meet new friends…"

Zoey shrugged noncommittally.

Kate and Castle knew that Zoey's lack of enthusiasm had less to do with the idea of school and more to do with the fact that she would be separated from people she knew. Even though it was a very common source of anxiety for children, it worried them a lot more to know that it could potentially bring up some very bad memories for Zoey from the first time this had happened. They only hoped that, because she had been so young at the time, she wouldn't remember. Still, at least they had a year to get her used to the idea.

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Kate knew there was a reason she had saved up all of those vacation days because she used up a lot of them during the entire preschool admissions process.

First came the tours. She and Castle had decided to tour eight different schools in order to get a feel for them and see which ones were worth it. Kate, for one, did not plan on filling out more than four application forms.

The first school they visited was one-on-one with an administrator. Naturally, they brought Zoey along since, really, the most important thing was that she felt at ease and encouraged by the environment.

The administrator, though, seemed surprised to see a child with them in the waiting room of his office. "You must be the Castles," he greeted, "I'm Micah Young."

"Actually," said Kate, "He's Rick Castle—" she extended her hand, "I'm Kate Beckett."

Micah shook both of their hands. "Well, it's nice to meet you both. And…" he looked down at Zoey.

Kate placed a hand on Zoey's shoulder. "This is our daughter, Zoey. Say 'hello' to Mr. Young, Zo," Kate encouraged.

Zoey gave a shy little wave and a quiet 'hi'.

Micah smiled and led them out into the hallway. "Did you both take off work to come visit with us today?"

"Well, I did," said Kate, "A half-day."

"And what is it you do, Ms. Beckett?"

"I'm a detective with the NYPD."

"Oh," said Micah, eyebrows raised in jest, "I better not mess with you then."

"Yeah, I have to remind myself that every day," said Castle, grinning in Kate's direction.

"And you, Mr. Castle?" Micah said, "What do you do?"

Castle smiled. "I stay at home with Zoey."

Now Micah really did seem surprised. "Is that so?"

Castle nodded. "I'm a writer so I work at home." He glanced down at Zoey who, with one hand in Kate's and the other clasped with Castle's, was happily skipping along between them. "We like it better this way."

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During their next tour, Kate and Castle realised why Micah Young had seemed surprised. This time, there was a group of about half a dozen parents, none of whom had brought their kids along. The sight of Zoey in her bright red coat and polka-dotted headband created a ripple of bewilderment.

"Oh," said Kate, surprised herself, "I didn't know we couldn't bring Zoey along."

The director of the school, a woman named Josie Plante, shook her head and smiled, "There's nothing that says you can't. I imagine you brought your daughter along in order to show her what her potential new school would look like."

Castle nodded. "Exactly and we would have had to find a babysitter," he added, keeping his tone light.

As the tour started, a husband and wife came up to walk beside them.

"Hi, we're the Brewers," the woman said.

Kate smiled politely. "I'm Kate Beckett—"

"—Rick Castle."

"And this is Zoey," Kate finished.

"We were just wondering if you two were looking for a new nanny," said Mrs. Brewer, obviously having misconstrued Castle's babysitter comment, "Because we know of a great one we could introduce to you."

"Thank you," said Castle, "But that's alright."

Mrs. Brewer chuckled, "You must think we're being nosy."

"Oh, no," Castle replied, "It's just that we don't really need one. I stay home full-time with Zoey."

The husband and wife exchanged looks. "How lovely," Mr. Brewer said.

"So," said Mrs. Brewer after an awkward pause, "Is this your first preschool tour?"

"Our second," Castle answered, mentioning the name of the other.

Mrs. Brewer nodded. "Yes, we made an appointment as well. Very hard to get into, I heard."

Kate shrugged, "I haven't really looked into all of that to be honest."

"We just started researching preschools about a month ago," Castle added.

"Really?" Mrs. Brewer said, surprised, "We've been preparing our little Gabriel for months."

Castle had nothing to say to that while Kate bit her tongue to keep from commenting. Once they were left alone again, she leaned towards Castle. "I'm thinking we do not have a typical family situation in this community."

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By the time winter rolled around, all four of the schools they had finally decided to apply to required an 'interview' with Zoey which, basically, consisted of a playdate with a few other children at the school.

Kate took another four days off of work to see what this absurdity was all about.

"Who decided to schedule these things during naptime?" Castle commented as they stepped off the elevator and saw a kid having a complete meltdown in the middle of the hallway.

Kate shrugged. "The same people who thought it would be necessary to interview children?"

"I think it's more to make sure the kid isn't overly disruptive and plays well with others."

Kate rolled her eyes. "I never played well with others."

Castle grinned. "I'm sure that's not true." He tilted his head, "No, wait, yeah, I could believe that."

Kate gave Castle's shoulder a nudge.

The room they entered was colourful but almost too organised. It coincided with the strict vibe they got as they watched, from a designated corner, two teachers lead the kids through various puzzles and art activities.

"Did you have fun?" Castle asked Zoey afterwards.

Zoey shook her head immediately. "No."

The next two went better and Zoey slowly warmed up and stopped being so shy. By the time they were taking her to the last playdate, she was happy to run around the room with the six other kids. This one also happened to be the school where they had toured with Micah Young. He remembered them, and Zoey, immediately.

"Mr. Castle! Detective Beckett! How nice to see you two again," he said.

A good portion of the other parents in the room glared at them as they talked, probably wondering what it was they had done in order to get a leg up with the school.

"I was happy to see you sent us a First Choice Letter," Micah said.

"Yeah, Zoey really liked it here when we visited," Kate said.

"I think it was the pet fish that won her over," Castle joked.

Micah pointed over to the corner of the room. "It seems she really enjoys our guinea pigs as well."

Kate and Castle turned. Zoey was hard to miss in her sky-blue knit dress, charmingly conversing with the two furry animals. When she looked up and saw them, she gave them a wide grin and an enthusiastic wave.

"Zoey's vocabulary is really developed for a child her age," Micah remarked as she hopped over to join another little girl who was playing dress-up.

"I think it helps that her daddy is a bestselling author," Castle quipped.

"Oh sure, Castle," Kate retorted. "Or it could be that she has an older sister who talks to her and…"

"—and who do you think taught Alexis?" Castle cut in.

"As I recall, Martha told me you didn't start talking until you were well past the age of—"

"Whoa, whoa… you talked to my mother about me in diapers?"

Kate smiled slyly. "She showed me pictures, too."

"Okay, I am so calling your dad when we get home."

"That's not really a threat, Castle. I happen to think that I was a very cute baby."

Castle grinned. "I'm sure you were."

"Are you two always like this?" Micah chimed in. He had been observing them with amusement for the past couple of minutes.

"Yes," they both answered simultaneously.

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After putting Zoey to bed that evening, Kate was brushing her teeth in their washroom when Castle walked in, all jittery.

"I think Zoey did really well," he said, pacing back and forth behind her.

Kate looked at him in the mirror, taking out her toothbrush to answer, "Of course she did."

"So… you think she'll get in, right?

"Well, it's not really up to us now."

Castle nodded. "Right. You're right."

Kate shook her head, looking down into the sink in order to hide her smile. She found Castle's stage-dad antics to be kind of endearing.

She turned around after she had finished rinsing, reaching out to pull him towards her. "You're worrying too much," she said, smiling when she felt his arms loop low around her waist.

He stepped forward in order to press his body flush against hers. "You're gonna say I'm being crazy again, aren't you?"

"Well, you are but no…" she replied, her two hands fisting around the material of his t-shirt so that she could bring him even closer. Her tongue swept across his lower lip before she brought it between her own and sucked on it gently. "…I was going to ask if you wanted me to help you take your mind off it…"

He lifted her up onto the bathroom counter in one smooth motion, positioning himself between her legs. "Kate, you should know," his hands settled against her hips, "you don't ever have to ask that."

A/N: I have nothing against preschools in New York City (nor do I have any personal knowledge about them). All of my information comes from that one episode of 'House' where Cuddy was trying to get Rachel into her 'first-choice' preschool and some books and articles that I have read about the whole application process… I know they were probably exaggerated but the exaggeration is what made it fun to write this chapter. ;)

Coming up: something borrowed, something blue...

Thoughts?