"So what have we learned today?" Kate says, twisting in the foyer of their apartment to look at him. Alexis is already heading upstairs with her phone out. Castle has an urge to take it from her, but he lets her go instead.

Kate takes a few steps back then comes to a stop at the threshold of their living room, waiting for him.

"What have we learned?" Castle gives her a questioning grin, letting Dashiell get down. "You have no idea where the kid-friendly places are in New York?"

"Haha. Very funny," she mutters and reaches forward to snag Dash before he can escape. She wrestles with him for a moment, then manages to yank the dirty tshirt over his head.

"Am I supposed to keep guessing?" Castle stoops over to pry off Dash's shoes, tossing them beside the door. "Or are you gonna tell me?"

"Here's what we learned." Kate says, sitting in the floor now to pull off Dashiell's pants and socks as well. She lets the kid go in just a diaper, depositing his dirty clothes in the hall. "Hey, Dash, wait a sec. Let me-" She corrals him with an arm around his belly, grabs a wet wipe from the box Castle always leaves at the end of the couch, and tries to wipe down Dash's face and hands.

Castle throws the clothes towards the laundry room and begins unpacking the bag, pulling out a sticky sippy cup, three empty snack containers, the plastic bag with the dirty diaper from the quick change on the subway, and the box of neosporin that Kate bought on their way home.

"First off, we learned that fate is against me using your money," she says, reaching past him to get her wallet. That extra debit card to the home account that Castle has been saving in his wallet for her? It didn't work when she used it at the pharmacy. Of course.

"Fate. Right. Because you believe in fate," he says, taking the card from her when she produces it. "I'm sending out for a new one. In the meantime, take mine." He fishes into his back pocket but his wallet isn't there.

Kate produces it with a flourish from the side pocket of the Dashiell bag. He sighs in relief.

"Thanks for keeping up with me," he murmurs, pulling out the other debit card and handing it over. He's gets a little thrill when she takes it and puts it in her wallet without another comment.

"Someone has to." She tosses her wallet onto the hall table and heads for the couch. "Second thing we learned?"

Castle watches her sink into the couch. "No teasing in public places." He is still on the razor's edge of aroused.

Kate shoots him a grin, that full-bodied smile that knocks the breath out of him. "At least not with small children around."

"I'm going to hold you to that one of these days." He grins back and follows her to the couch. "True. Third?"

"Third. We don't communicate very well," she sighs.

He settles down beside her and drops a hand to her knee. She shifts her legs to knock his hand away, but draws her feet up onto the couch and turns to face him, leaning closer.

Rick circles her ankles with his hands, despite having been knocked from his earlier perch. "We don't, do we?" He squeezes her legs. "I guess I rely on observation too much, like I'll just know what you need because I've been watching you for so long."

Kate reaches out a hand and rubs at the corner of his mouth with her thumb, like he's got a spot or something. "Which is creepy, we've already established that."

"Sure, I'll give you that one," he murmurs, loathe to dislodge her fingers from his face.

"But how am I supposed to know what you need?" she says softly, then shakes her head. "Alexis reminded me that maybe I haven't been too clear." She moves to withdraw her hand.

"What?" Confused, he captures her hand and draws it to his chest. This is what he needs.

"She said you didn't know why I named the kid after Hammett."

"Oh." He flattens out her fingers, presses her palm to his chest. "Um. I thought you said it was because you liked his writing?"

Kate's mouth twitches and Castle can see that's the wrong answer.

"She asked me why I let you name the kid."

"You *didn't* let me name him," he whines. "You kept the name from me until he was born, which is so not fair."

Kate's middle finger pushes against the muscle of his chest in silent amusement, but her eyes hold some real regret that he's surprised to see. "Probably not that fair. At the time, I still thought. . ."

Castle watches her, tilting his head to study her face, the swirl of dark color in her eyes. He can't pinpoint this look exactly, but he knows she's got something serious to say, and no good way of saying it.

"You still thought it wouldn't last," he offers. He's not stupid; he knew that when she moved in with him during the pregnancy, she expected to move out as soon as she could satisfy his abject need to hover. "You thought I'd let you go. How little you know."

Her lips twitch again, this time in real amusement. "How little I knew."

"Never going to let you go, Kate," he says, and he realizes his voice is rough with emotion he doesn't want to look at too closely. All she'll let him have of her is her hand, so he presses it hard against his chest and watches her, hoping this time she sees what he needs.

"Have you figured out what Dash's name means to me?" she says back, watching him as well.

"What his name means," he says slowly. What does this have to do with not communicating?

"Do you know what it means to me, Castle? To me. Dashiell's name." She narrows her eyes at him.

"You like to read?" he questions, lifting his eyebrows and going for levity. He still has her hand trapped against his chest; she pushes on him a little.

"Dashiell Hammett wrote detective fiction, Castle."

"I do know that."

"Well, do you see how that's perfect for our son's name?"

Our son. That's his clue. Castle smiles, sees exactly what she's trying to communicate. He lifts her palm to his lips and kisses it; she curls her fingers. "I do see. But I'd really love to hear you say it."

Kate slides a little closer, twists her hand so that she can brush her fingers along his cheek and then palm his neck. "I named our son Dashiell because it reflects both of us. A writer, a detective. Making him: part me, part you."

He lets his grin spread across his face slowly, raises his hand to thread through the hair at her neck. "Part me, part you," he repeats. "I hoped so."

"I thought you knew so," she says back, and Castle manages to see the brief flicker of vulnerability in the back of her eyes.

"Maybe I did," he soothes, leaning forward to touch her forehead with his own. "If we have a girl, what would you name her? Agatha?"

She grins slowly and pulls back from him. "No. It's your turn to name. And does that mean. . .?"

"While that's a very tempting offer-" Castle drinks in Kate's grin for a moment, then shakes his head. "I can't do it, Kate."

She sighs. "Not today, Castle. But later? Not soon. Just. . .eventually."

"I can't see me changing my mind on this one," he says softly, trying to cushion the blow.

"I couldn't see me changing mine either. But-"

"Kate, please don't ask me to put your life in danger," he rushes out, squeezing her neck with the force of his need. "Please don't."

Her face smooths out, making the soft expectance disappear along with all of her fight. She pulls against his hand at her neck, and he lets her go, sighing.

"Kate."

"No, that makes sense. I get it."

"Just give me some time," he pleads, recognizing that while he'll do anything for her, anything, this is one thing he's not sure he can do. "I don't know. Just. . .hold off for awhile. Please?"

Kate shakes her head. "Forget I asked. It was irresponsible. Risky. I know. I was-" she shrugs her shoulders. "Caught up. Don't think about it."

"I still think about it," he answers quickly, wanting to reclaim some of her tenderness for himself again. "Of course I think about it. But then I think about how you almost died, and I can't. . ." He clenches his hands into fists, presses them into the couch. How selfish it is, to block her in this when he was the one to bring it up in the beginning.

Kate has already pulled her limbs back into her body, sitting elegantly against the couch, closed off from him.

"Kate."

She turns her head to look at him, but the distance is in her eyes.

"Let's say eventually. Okay? Eventually. Give me a chance to stop being a coward about losing you."

She must hear him, but she still doesn't look happy. Rick leans in closer, wants to wrap her up in his arms and hold her but he doesn't think she'd like that either.

"Okay? Just. . .let's wait until Dash turns two. Give me 6 months. Can we just not talk about it for 6 months?"

"Six months," she repeats, then nods. She still doesn't look happy. In fact, she looks fragile.

"Kate?" He holds his breath at her silence. "What about that communicating stuff?"

She waves away his concern. "I'm just. . .confused."

"Confused?"

"When did *I* become the one asking for this?" she says, shaking her head.

Castle chuckles, lets a hand trail along her arm. "You love me."

Kate laughs back, surprised it seems, and shifts smoothly to her knees, leaning in closer to him, practically draping herself along his chest.

"Don't sound so smug when you say that, Castle."

He wraps his arms around her, thrilled by the contact, by her offering herself up to it. She seems to know, more and more lately, exactly when he needs to feel her, close against him, exactly when he needs that reassurance. He's not sure how she knows what he needs, but he's grateful for it.

"Too late. I'm already naturally smug. Add your love to the mix and I'm insufferable."