Reece woke them both after a nightmare and would only go back to sleep if he could sleep with his parents. They'd heard his whimpers as he'd descended the stairs, both rushing out to him to avoid another tumble. This was the third night in a row their little guy had nightmares and all three of them were losing sleep because of it. It was a miracle Jake was sleeping through it when the two shared a room.
Safe in his Daddy's arms, Reece slept the rest of the night undisturbed. Beckett watched them both sleep a little while, her littlest guy looking so small and innocent in the warmth of his Daddy's big arms. The boys looked so much like Castle.
She wished she knew how to save him from these nightmares. They couldn't work out what was triggering them in him, seeing as he spent every day with his brother and his Dad and so far Jake seemed to be okay. She played with a strand of his hair, flicking out the same way his Dad was. She pressed a kiss to the hand that she'd kept a hold of all night and rolled out of bed, leaving him with his Daddy before she prepared to face the day ahead. Coffee first.
When Reece joined his brother and sister at the table for breakfast, he was the same cheery boy he usually was, happy to follow his Dad round like his little shadow and when Kate said bye to them he didn't cling, just simply said 'bye Mommy, catch all the bads mans' and chased Jake into the playroom.
At the precinct, Kate found a few moments to mention the problem to Ryan, more out of parent solidarity than anything else. She remembered a lot of days when Ryan had been dead on his feet. Sarah-Grace had a period when she hit three when she started having nightmares and they'd found that giving her a 'protector', in SG's case one of her stuffed dolls, to sleep with had helped ease them and she started to sleep better.
Kate suggested it to Castle.
As they got the boys ready for bed that night, Castle and Beckett put their plan into motion. They sent Jake off with Lily to choose books for their storytime and pulled Reece aside to talk to him.
Kate sat down on his bed, pulling him into her lap while Castle sat on the bed beside them.
"Am I in twouble?" Reece looked at them.
"No buddy, no, Mommy and I are just worried cause you've been having bad dreams lately and we want to try to help." Castle reassured him.
"Otay," Reece leaned into his mother, resting his head against her chest.
"We thought about it a lot and we decided you need a partner," Castle told him, like he was building up to a grand story.
"Dike you and Mama?"
Castle nodded as Reece looked up at his Mom.
"When scary things happen, who has my back?"
"Daddy."
"That's right, Daddy does. I have his. Because we're partners," Kate started to explain.
"Now, we know you and Sergeant Jakey are partners," Castle said and Kate smirked at the nickname the 12th had bestowed on her kids. "But you get to have a team. Like Mommy has all those officers that are her team. So, Sergeant Reece, you've got a new team member," Castle pulled the bear he'd hidden under the bed before bringing the boy in.
"Dat my bear!" Reece told them, clearly his little mind not keeping up wi.
It was the NYPD bear Esposito had bought for him when he was born. Both the twins had them.
"Yes, it is. And as Captain, I've made him an officer. And his first order is to watch over my best Sergeant and stop him having bad dreams."
Reece looked up at her in wonder.
"Weally?"
"Really. If you need me or you need Daddy we'll always gonna come get you, but Officer Bear here is our backup. You cuddle him tonight and he'll stop bad dreams."
Castle smiled up at his wife as Reece took the bear and hugged him.
"Now, do you wanna go choose your book and we'll get story time started?" Castle asked.
Reece shot off his mother's lap and took his bear with him as he fled the room.
"Reece Alexander Castle, do not run down the stairs!" Kate called after him. They heard his running halt and then the slap of feet as he took the stairs more carefully.
Castle pulled her to her feet and they headed down to the kids to see what had picked from their shelf of books downstairs.
"You realize you're going to have to promote Jake's bear too,"castle laughed but Kate just shrugged.
"After the amount of Barbie dolls I had to make Detectives, I'm surprised we don't have a full squad under this roof already."
"Remember when you were worried we'd be normal and boring."
"Any kids I had with you were never going to be normal Castle."
"Alexis turned out just fine," he joked.
"Yes, and I'm thankful everyday that there's one other adult in this family," she teased right back as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Hey, I resemble that remark."
That night the Castle loft remained quiet and when Kate went to get the kids the next morning, Reece was still tucked in with his bear.
AN When I was little I had a lot of nightmares and I remember my Mum giving me a bear and telling me as long as I slept with it at night I wouldn't have bad dreams. It worked for a really long time. Still does on occasion.