They ended up at a family restaurant that none of them had been to before. None but Montgomery, that was. From the friendly familiarity that that the hostess greeted the captain with, it was obvious that he'd been there many times. When they were seated and the waitress addressed him by name as she brought them all glasses of water, it was clear that he was a regular. As they were looking through the menus he told them that he frequently took his wife and children there pretty much every Sunday, and proved it by not bothering to open his menu.

"I'm having the number 4," he announced.

Castle was sitting across from Beckett, who had been flanked by Esposito and Ryan – the two deciding that they had seen far too little of her the past week and were going to have her for themselves for a while. He watched as the guys made a show of asking her to read their menus for them since she was so good at it all of the sudden and watched as Beckett's expression lightened with every joke and laugh.

"You okay?" Lanie asked him quietly, while Beckett was distracted by Esposito's very bad – but humorous – imitation of someone tripping over a coffee table and breaking a wrist. There was no question who he was pretending to be, and Castle smiled, equally amused, even as he turned and nodded.

"Yeah. Just…" he trailed off, his eyes still on Beckett. "I'm relieved."

Lanie nodded her agreement.

"Me, too. But we didn't have any doubts, right?"

He met her brown eyes with his and they both admitted their fears with that glance, and then Lanie winked conspiratorially and Castle smiled.

"Right."

Of course, she hadn't been the one that had been up almost all night with Beckett the night before. Kate had been restless, and scared, and hadn't been able to get to sleep. He'd tried everything, knowing that she was going to need her rest; a warm bath, a massage, even a glass of warm milk and another story made up on the spot. None of it had worked, and eventually he'd just ended up holding her in his arms while she fretted about every possibility that might come out of the doctor appointment. She had drifted off, only to wake up from some nightmare that she wouldn't tell him about. Then she'd shivered for a while, and had fallen asleep again, but he'd stayed awake in case she needed him to be there for her, and he'd actually had to wake her up when it was time to get ready for the appointment.

"Castle?"

Startled, he and Lanie looked over at the others and found that during their very short exchange the waitress had returned to take their orders. He hadn't actually looked at his menu, and he knew Lanie hadn't either.

"You ready?" Esposito asked, amused.

"I'll have whatever he ordered," Castle told the waitress, and Lanie echoed him a moment later.

"Now…" everyone turned to Montgomery as the waitress left them to go turn in their order, but he only had eyes for Beckett just then. "You're off duty for another few days," he told her. "The department will require a note from your doctor saying that you're fit to return, and they'll need you to refire on the target range, just to check your vision there, so make sure you schedule that for sometime soon."

Beckett nodded. She wasn't surprised by any of that – and had pretty much expected it.

"Yes, sir."

"Good."

Unsaid was the fact that if she needed anything she should call him, but he didn't say it because he knew he didn't need to. Instead, he changed the subject to the bombing case itself, letting them all know that the DA had decided on what to charge their bomber. They discussed all aspects of the case until their food came, and Castle frowned at the meal that was placed in front of him. A moment later the same dish was put in front of Lanie.

"You ordered a burger for breakfast?" he asked Esposito.

"It's got an egg on it, dude."

"Which doesn't make it breakfast," Lanie told him.

Beckett frowned at the two of them, but there was amusement in her expression – and they were all pleased to even be able to see her expression.

"Why did you order what Esposito ordered if you didn't want a burger?"

"Well, obviously because we weren't paying attention…" Castle told her.

"You don't want it?" Esposito asked. "I'll eat it."

Castle scowled, pulling his plate closer.

"I didn't say I didn't want it."

Lanie pulled her plate away from Esposito's gaze, too. She was hungry, too, and not above eating a burger for breakfast – although she had assumed it'd be an omelet or something like that.

"Me, either."

They talked about mostly little things after that, the conversation broken up by the sound of forks and contented munching. Eventually, though, when the meal was finished and the last of Lanie's fries had been stolen and wolfed down by Ryan, Montgomery called a halt to things. He hadn't missed that Beckett looked tired, and Castle looked about to drop now that he'd been fed. Better to take the lead on things – even when he didn't exactly have any authority over them while they were out to breakfast.

"Castle? Take Beckett home," he ordered. "It's been a long morning and she looks tired."

Castle nodded, looking surprised and a little grateful. He was tired, now that the strain of worry was off his shoulders.

"I will."

"Good. Beckett? Get some rest." His gaze softened, though, to belay the sternness of his voice. "I'll be glad to see you when you're ready to come back."

Kate smiled, feeling warm and just a little gooey inside at the sincerity in his voice and expression. She was surrounded by her friends – and they'd been with her that morning when she'd needed the support the most. It felt wonderful.

"Yes, sir."

The waitress brought the check and the captain grabbed it before anyone else could, reminding them that he was buying their breakfast and that was an order.

"You guys get out of here," he told them, signaling for the waitress to pour him another cup of coffee. "Go catch some bad guys, or something."

They all walked out into the bright sunlight, and Beckett squinted and pulled out a pair of sunglasses that Castle had procured for her. The others said their goodbyes and Castle looked over at her, slightly concerned about having too much light for her eyes – which had to be pretty sensitive.

"You okay?"

Her smile was as warm as the sunshine, and she nodded when she looked at him.

"Yes. Take me home."

He nodded, and automatically reached for her to guide her to the car, but hesitated, realizing that she didn't need the help any more. Still smiling, she slipped her arm into his and gave his forearm a slight squeeze. Castle grinned, and they turned and headed for the car.