Okay so it's been a while….my only excuse is that I've been in a slump lately where writing anything seemed like a chore and I never want to give you guys anything less than my best. You deserve so much more!

Anyways, ENJOY!

Chapter Thirty Six

The rest of Christmas dinner went off without a hitch. Johanna and Jim had shown up about half an hour after the Castles with pies in hand. Castle and Sr. were grateful for the help, too. Johanna and Jim played a part in keeping Martha from adding her own "personal touches" to the bigger dishes and kept her tossing salad and making the already pre-mixed dressings.

Meanwhile, the girls—and Javi—continued to play in the living room, Kate looking up every so often to smile at Castle, whose back was usually turned towards her, but she still couldn't help but feel like he knew she was looking at him.

"Girl," Lanie said, snapping her back to their little tea party, "Princess here asked you a question."

Kate turned to Alexis, who was frowning impatiently at her. "I'm sorry, Lex," she said, "what did you say?"

"I just asked if you want more tea," Alexis said, holding up the tiny play tea pot. Kate smiled and nodded, holding out her cup. Alexis poured fake tea into it and Kate thanked her, taking a long sip.

"Mmm," she said, grinning. "Thank you, Princess."

"You're welcome, Queen," Alexis replied, adorably. Kate laughed, leaning down to kiss her daughter's head.

"What does that make me?" Lanie asked, frowning.

"Court Jester?" Kate suggested and Lanie punched her in the shoulder, making Kate laugh. "Okay, okay…how about Duchess Lanie, then?"

"Ooh," Lanie said, her eyes wide, "I like that."

"What about Uncle Javi?" Alexis asked as she poured tea for said uncle.

Lanie and Kate traded evil smiles before deciding. "Princess."

"It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" Kate asked, winking at Lanie.

Lanie nodded. "Most definitely," she said, ignoring Jabi's very pointed glare.

Alexis giggled. "Uncle Princess Javi!" she exclaimed, smiling up at him. Javi tried to glare back at her, but her face was so innocent, he practically melted on the spot.

So he sighed and grumbled, "Fine," crossing his arms and slumping, a pout on his face.

"Yay!" Alexis exclaimed, hugging him around his waist, completely taking the big man by surprise. His eyes widened at the small embrace and he looked to Lanie and Kate, as if for help, but all they could do was coo and take pictures. He rolled his eyes and awkwardly patted the little girl's head.

"Okay, okay," he said, extracting her arms from around his waist, "that's enough, Shorty."

Alexi glared up at him. "Ahem," she said, pointedly. Javier rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said, "Princess Shorty." Alexis smiled and giggled, going back to her tea. Javi rolled his eyes again, but couldn't help his small grin.

Lanie watched with a tiny grin on her face before turning to whisper in Kate's ear. "I'm not so worried about that child-bearing law anymore," she said, smiling once again at her big tough fiancé, wearing a pink tutu and clinking tea cups with a three-year old.

Kate grinned in return, squeezing her best friend's hand in understanding. They watched, silently, their hearts swelling, as Javi continued to play tea party with Alexis.

When dinner was ready, Javi seemed the most relieved to be able to stand and retreat to the kitchen, Alexis practically clinging to his leg. When they got to the table, he picked her up and placed her in her high chair, leaning over very quickly to press a small kiss to her forehead, which caused all the women at the table—and Castle—to go, "Awww!"

Javi rolled his eyes and took his seat next to Lanie, who kissed him on the cheek and whispered something in his ear that made his eyes widen, dramatically.

"Really?" he asked, turning to her. Lanie nodded. Javi had a smile plastered on his face for the rest of the meal.

They made small talk as they ate. The girls were asked about school and the adults about their work. Alexis enthralled them all with a story of her Christmas pageant at daycare and how they learned about how most of their traditions started. Castle revealed his idea for a new series and promised to start working on it immediately—after the holidays were over, of course.

Kate and Lanie made plans to start searching for schools together—or at least in the same area—so that they wouldn't be separated. Johanna laughed.

"You two have been together practically since you were in diapers!" she said. "There's nothing, short of an Apocalypse, that's gonna tear you apart. And even then, you'll probably be kicking a—um, butt," she corrected as she spied Alexis hanging on her every word, "together."

"You know it!" Lanie exclaimed, laughing, and high-fiving Kate.

"We're gonna kick some serious butt!" Kate added, winking at her mother, who laughed, shaking her head.

"Hey!" Castle whined. "What about Espo and me? And Alexis!"

"Yeah!" Javi said, pouting.

"Yeah!" Alexis echoed, copying his pout.

"Alexis can stay with us," Lanie said, "but I think you boys would just get in the way."

"Hey!" the boys whined, making Kate and Lanie giggle.

"Alright, alright," Martha said, laughing, "enough apocalypse talk; we know Richard would never survive his own clumsiness, anyway."

"Mother!"

Kate and Lanie burst into hysterics, holding onto each other while Castle pouted.

"So how about that dessert?" Sr. asked, standing from the table.

"Sounds like a plan!" Jim agreed, standing with him. The two men went off to retrieve the many pies and cookies that the Becketts brought as the two older women gathered the plates to deposit in the sink.

Castle and Javi continued to pout as Lanie and Kate laughed and Alexis looked between them, completely confused.

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