Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC and the others who do own them.
A/N #1: Loved getting the responses I did for the last chapter, so I'll start my thank yous for that! TORONTOSUN (Great you liked how I wrote that everyone likes the case they're investigating!) and
Mb (I wasn't surprised that you were wondering about the door closing and about the layout of the basement. And I also wasn't surprised you were doing the same about the book they found. Yeah, I figured there would have to be some point where Skye wouldn't be sure about information from a spirit, didn't think it would be constantly perfect. Not surprised either you were mentioning how at this stage of the investigation the information, and lack of, are making everyone frustrated. Great to see you're looking forward to more! You're welcome for the first half of the chapter! I think you misread… actually I may not have put it clearly since I try to be vague, but it's more they just killed him. And I wasn't surprised you mentioned Matthias trying to calm himself so he could help Skye though his memory where he is at the moment is fuzzy. I'm glad you thought it was good that things were cleared up and Skye understands why he wants Julia to help moving him on after they find the killer. You're welcome for the second half of the chapter!).
Thanks for the reviews, I loved reading them and I appreciate the time taken to write them out and send them my way!
A/N #2: The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Pisces Fish written by George Harrison, from his album Brainwashed.
Through My Soul
"Okay, thank you so much for letting us know," Beckett said. "We'll go take a look at it right now." She turned to her husband and covered her phone asking, "Are you ready?"
"I think we all are," Castle replied.
"We're going in right now," Beckett said to the construction boss that was on the other end. She and Castle had just ordered dinner when the man had called them to let them know that everything in their pool room was ready. "Thank you so much for being able to finish everything so quickly," she told the man.
Glancing at the girls as his wife was saying goodbye to the man after speaking with him a little more, Castle smiled since Eliza was obviously eager to go into the room.
"I don't know if we should go," Skye said.
"She's right, this is your guys' house," Mary added.
"We told you we don't mind," Beckett said, setting her phone aside.
"Why don't you let us go in first and after we look around come in?" Julia suggested.
"Good point," Skye said, pretending to think that over. "And better, we'll wait here for one of you to call to us," she said, looking at Castle and Beckett.
"Okay, then I think we should get ready to go," the former said.
"Go ahead and open the door Rick," Beckett told her husband in amusement. When he looked at her in surprise she smiled and said, "Really, I know what you want to do," not surprised when he gave her a playful frown before he was speaking to their daughters.
"Should I do that?" Castle asked them.
"You want to Dad," Alexis commented.
Pursing his lips as Eliza giggled; setting off her baby sister; Castle then said, "Okay," before he turned to the barn door and pulled it open. "Here we go."
Beckett smiled when her husband walked over to her and said, "Very nice love."
"I try my best," Castle said before he realized no one was moving. "Guys?" he asked the rest of their family.
"You and Mommy should go first," Eliza told him.
Sharing a look with her husband Beckett said, "Then let me have Josie."
"We'll take her," Alexis said.
"I think they're serious," Castle told his wife.
"Looks like it," Beckett said in amusement. She took her husband's hand and they walked into the entrance of the room, seeing the Jacuzzi first though they had already seen it finished. After they were past where the upper level ended above them, they were looking around the room.
"Well," Castle finally said. "After the changes we made… I think it looks great," turning to his wife.
Smiling at him Beckett said, "It does. We better call them in before they go crazy."
"You can come in now," Castle called back to the door. He watched the kids walking in before they were staring around the entire room in awe. "Not bad?" he asked after letting them take in everything.
"No, it's beautiful," Julia said eagerly. "I'm so glad it's done."
"When can we swim?" Eliza asked.
"After dinner, remember what we said," Beckett said in amusement. She watched the little girl nod before she squirmed and was about to ask what was wrong with her before she spoke in a rush.
"Can I touch the water?" Eliza asked.
"Oh, you need to," Castle said quickly before his wife could respond. "That way we know if we can swim or not." As Eliza was going over to the pool he asked his wife under his breath, "They turned the heater on, right?"
"They had to," Beckett said. "To check that it worked." She then turned her attention to Eliza and asked, "How is it sweetie?"
"Warm," the little girl said with a wide smile. "So we can go?"
"Yes, but let's head around the room, okay?" Beckett said in response.
"What about Skye and Mary?" Louis asked.
"I'll get them," Beckett said with a smile before she walked toward the door. "You guys can come in."
"Are you sure?" Skye asked doubtfully. "You can't have seen the entire room."
"We've looked around," Castle said, having walked up behind his wife. "A three sixty view."
"We're sure," Beckett then said to address the investigator's question.
"Okay," Skye said, looking at her wife who was soon nodding.
Walking over to the couple Mary said first, "Nice."
"I know," Beckett said as the doctor was referencing the Jacuzzi.
"Wow," Skye said in amazement as they stepped out towards the start of the pool. She turned around fully and shook her head saying, "I don't believe it, it looks beautiful."
"The changes?" Castle asked.
Nodding, Skye said, "I see now why they wanted to have a walkway all the way around."
"But I see a problem with that," Mary said. "Just a slight problem…" she added, trailing off before Julia was replying while she spoke slightly laughingly at the same time.
"Mom and Dad made all of us promise never to even think of jumping from up there," the girl said.
"And us… for some strange reason," Martha said.
"Just to make sure Mother," Castle said.
"And they promised," Beckett said.
"It's too high," Eliza then said.
"Are you two ready for that slide?" Mary asked the kids.
"I am," Eliza said eagerly.
"But we have dinner," Beckett said before she heard the chime for the gate.
"I'll get it," Castle told his wife, touching her back briefly.
"I'll help him Katie," Jim told his daughter, stopping her since she had begun to turn to go after him.
"Me too," Louis said, smiling at the others before he was leaving the room.
"Can we walk around Mommy?" Eliza asked.
"Is the elevator working?" Mary asked Beckett.
"It is," she said with a nod. "Girls," she called to Julia and Eliza while they were walking around the side of the pool.
"Can't we go by the grotto Mom?" Julia asked.
"Wait for us," Beckett said simply before turning back to the others.
"Actually," Skye said slowly. "Why don't we just head around now?"
"Alright," Beckett said. "But we might not have time to go all the way around." She started walking, getting the feeling the others were going to tell her to do that and they managed to get to the end of the pool before her husband was walking in with her dad and their son in law.
"We'll start taking everything up," Castle called to his wife.
"You don't need any help?" Beckett asked.
"We're good," Castle replied before they were going into the elevator.
"Do you two mind he's testing out the elevator?" Skye asked the girls. "Well… the three of them."
"No, we'll go up after," Julia said.
"Yeah, there's the grotto!" Eliza said eagerly.
"I think the pool's the more important thing," Mary said in amusement as they watched the girls running their hands over the white rocks.
"I think so," Beckett said in amusement. She then looked up at the second floor and saw the three men were at the table there calling up to them, "How was the elevator?"
"Good," Louis said, waving to them and laughing when Josie squealed seeing him.
"Should we help them?" Skye then asked.
"I'll ask him when they come down," Beckett said, walking to the elevator seeing they'd left the second floor. When her husband was the first out, she was about to inquire about the rest of the food when he was speaking first while he took her hand.
"Everything's up there but the drinks," Castle said. He couldn't help smiling at her surprise and said, "I thought you might be wondering but we were able to bring everything."
"Plates?" Beckett asked, looking at her father and son in law as well.
"Check," Louis said, smiling when his in laws laughed briefly at that. "Also chopsticks and forks."
"And napkins," Castle reminded him.
"Just the drinks," Louis said, nodding his head.
"Okay, then we better tell them," Beckett said.
"I don't think you need to," Castle said. When his wife looked at him in surprise, he nodded behind her and said to everyone walking up to them, "We just need to get drinks."
"Awesome, I'm starving," Skye said.
"Awesome?" Alexis echoed.
"I'm from SoCal remember," Skye commented.
"Please tell me you never had a Valley Girl accent," Alexis said.
"Don't worry," Skye said. "Neither of us did because we were barely two years old when the song came out."
"Song?" Eliza asked in confusion as they reached the kitchen.
"Valley Girl, it was a song," Skye said.
"Sing it!" Eliza said eagerly.
"No, no," Beckett said immediately. She smiled when her daughter looked at her in obvious shock and explained, "It's not exactly singing."
"It's talking in Valleyspeak," Mary said. "And you wouldn't like it, it's annoying." She then looked at Julia and said, "No comments from you?"
Shaking her head the girl said, "I've heard part of it, it was annoying."
"You know why that song was written right?" Skye asked her.
"I saw the lyrics," Julia replied.
"What ones?" Eliza asked in obvious confusion.
"Here I'll give you a bit of singing but this is about it," Skye said before she sang the chorus. "She's a Valley Girl, And there is no cure." She smiled when she finished and saw the expression on the little girl's face and said, "The man who wrote it was parodying the girls like that. That they were annoying."
"We might have to play the song for her," Castle said.
"I think so, she's never heard Valleyspeak has she?" Mary asked her parents.
"No," Castle replied. "She wouldn't have had a chance to."
"We'll show you," Beckett said. They got their drinks and as they were walking into the pool room she said to Skye, "Did you ever wear those Laura Ashley dresses?"
"She did," Mary said before her wife could answer. She smiled when Skye gave her a mock glare before she said, "I did too. You?"
"I did, unfortunately," Beckett said.
"Who's she?" Eliza asked.
"They were dresses," Julia said. "You've seen Mom wearing them; the ones that had flowers all over them."
"Oh… those were ugly," Eliza said. "Sorry Mommy," she added.
"I'm not surprised," Beckett said with a smile. "But are you two ready to head up?" She wasn't surprised when they were both nodding rapidly, and she laughed softly before she pressed the button for the elevator, and they were stepping inside with Castle.
"Can it hold all of us?" Eliza asked.
"It will, it held me with your grandpapa and Louis," Castle said, wrapping his free arm around her. He held her close as they headed up and were very shortly after stepping out onto the second floor. He watched with his wife as the girls rushed to the railing and said, "Don't forget dinner."
"So we walk that way to the slide?" Julia asked, pointing to the path around the room to their left that her parents added to the design.
"The other way too," Castle said. "But I'd go around to the right since you can see the ocean that way."
"Oh yeah," Julia said before the elevator doors were opening. She turned to see who it was and smiled as Skye was speaking stepping out with Mary, Alexis and Louis.
"Not a bad elevator," the investigator commented.
"Since that was only the third trip I'm not surprised," Castle commented. "But great, it works."
"That's everything right?" Mary asked when Jim and Martha came out of the elevator.
"Now it is," Castle replied.
Sitting down at the table with the others, Skye looked around before he said, "This is nice too."
"I thought this was just going to be a table here," Mary said as they were starting to eat the Dim Sum.
"We were going to originally, but we decided looking at the space there still was we could put some day beds," Beckett said, glancing at her husband.
"I said two," Castle said after he'd smiled at his wife. "Since it seemed lopsided."
"It would be nice to lay there," Alexis commented, looking at the daybed behind where she was sitting. "You'd have a great view of the water."
"My point exactly," Castle said, smiling when his wife rolled her eyes. "What do you girls think?" he then said as the two were merely eating and watching them.
"I wanna go on the slide," Eliza said immediately and with a smile.
"I'd like to invite Mari over," Julia said.
Laughing with the others, as the girl's tone was so serious, Beckett told her, "You know you'll need to wait."
"Do I really?" Julia asked.
"Yes, tomorrow's a Tuesday," Beckett said firmly. "This weekend maybe, but not during the week."
Sighing Julia confessed, "I thought I could manage this week."
"Unless," Louis said slowly. "You just had her over for dinner."
"You're not helping," Beckett told him teasingly.
"I remember being a kid myself," Louis said seriously before he was smiling while the adults were laughing before Julia was suddenly speaking to her parents in a rush.
"Could she come over for dinner?" she asked.
"Yes," Beckett said with a sigh as her husband was looking at her. "But Rebecca and David need to agree with it as well."
"Great, I'll tell Mari to text her parents at lunch," Julia said. That made her think of something, and she said, "Could I text her after dinner?"
"Sure, I'm surprised you were talking about asking her tomorrow," Castle commented with a smile.
Giving her father a mock look, Julia then picked up half a dumpling and ate it, hoping her friend would be with them the next night. That brought another thought to mind, but she was focusing on finishing and she did so before she was and telling her mother, "We have to clear the table."
"We do, you can text Mari after," Beckett told her.
"She might not be done herself," Castle said.
"I know," Julia said, trying not to sound impatient. "I was just saying that we have to carry everything in the elevator."
"We don't," Beckett said. "Show them," she told her husband.
"Alright," Castle said, heading to the wall that was where the door to the kitchen was on the floor below. He opened a panel and said, "This was your mom's idea."
"After your dad mentioned eating here the first time we used it," Beckett said.
"Whoever came up with it exactly it was a good idea," Martha said, bringing her plate over to the dumbwaiter.
"Can I go in it?" Eliza asked.
"No, and do not put your little sister in there either," Castle said swiftly. "I know you're kidding, but still."
"I know Daddy, it's like jumping from the side," Eliza said, giving him her plate. She took his hand as they were walking to the elevator and said, "We are gonna swim now, right?"
"We have to clean the dishes and your sister needs to see if Mari's coming over," Castle said.
"And we need to wait a little until we go in the water," Beckett added.
"But not that long," Eliza said.
"No, or else we won't have the chance to go before your sister needs to go to bed," Beckett replied. They grabbed their plates before heading over to the kitchen and she watched Julia hurry to her phone with Eliza following her and asking her about the next day.
"Are you gonna tell her about the pool?" the little girl said a couple times.
"Yeah," Julia said, starting her message.
"What're you saying?" Eliza asked.
"Sweetie," Beckett called to her firmly. "Come and help us put stuff away."
Looking over at her mother thankfully, Julia turned her attention back to her message, finishing it as fast as she could.
Guess what? We got to go into the pool room today it's finished and we're going to go swimming soon. But Lizzy and I want to come back tomorrow, so I thought of asking you over. I asked Mom and Dad, but they said we can't have a sleepover so just come over after school, stay for dinner and go home when your parents say.
Julia waited for her friend to respond, soon seeing she was answering back before they began to talk together.
Really? Mari asked her friend.
Yeah, do you want to come? I didn't even ask if you wanted to go, Julia then said.
Of course I do. Let me ask them.
Julia tried not to fidget too much as she waited before Mari was answering back.
They said yes! Mari said. They just want me to come back at eight thirty. So I'll bring my bathing suit with me.
Great, I can't wait until I see you tomorrow.
Me too! Thanks so much for asking me!
You're welcome, Julia texted with a smile. She then turned to her father as he was walking up to her before he was talking to her while he smiled himself.
"They said she could come?" Castle asked her.
"Yeah, I can't wait now," Julia said.
"You need to swim first," Castle commented.
Laughing softly, Julia said, "I'm ready, can we go?"
"Right now," Castle said, looking at his wife who was nodding to him.
Watching the others head into the pool room ahead of them, Beckett said to her husband, "I'm glad they didn't make us lead the way again."
"I thought the same," Castle said, reaching for her hand and holding it tightly.
"Mommy!" Eliza called to her mother.
"Yes?" Beckett said in response while they were walking into the pool room.
"Josa's going swimming right?" Eliza asked.
"Of course," Beckett replied. "But not for too long and in her pool."
"But-" Eliza started to say.
Grabbing her sister's arm, Julia told her, "And then in the big pool, we're still going with her there."
"You didn't let me finish," Beckett told her with a smile.
"Mommy!" Eliza said in mock anger before she was laughing and going to her to hug her tightly.
"Come on sweetie, let's get your dress off," Beckett said after embracing her tightly back.
"Are you okay on your own?" Alexis asked her sister.
"Yeah," Julia replied as she pulled off her sundress. She smiled at her little sister and said, "Cool to wear these when there's snow," not surprised she was replying immediately.
"We should do what they do up north," Eliza said.
"That's a sauna," Julia reminded her.
"So? The Jacuzzi is still hot," Eliza said.
"You are not doing that," Beckett said to the girls, walking up to them with Josie in her arms. "But I'm not surprised you thought of it," she told Eliza. "Now let's go before it's your bedtime."
"Are we going to Josa's pool?" Eliza asked as they went to the end of the pool.
"If you guys don't mind," Castle said, joining them. He smiled when both Eliza and Julia shook their heads and they walked to the small pool that was only two and a half feet deep.
"Don't start running sweetie," Beckett said to the baby before she kissed her temple. She set her down, watching the girls getting on their knees together before they were calling to her.
"Come and swim with us Josa," Julia was saying.
"Jules," Josie said with a wide smile, walking to her. She sat down with her sister's help and reached out to Eliza who had crawled on her knees to her.
"Do you like your pool?" the little girl asked.
"Pool," Josie said. "Me pool?"
"My," Julia corrected her. "My pool."
"My, my!" Josie squealed before she laughed with the others. She laughed when her sisters kissed her cheeks at the same time and said, "Swimming!"
"Okay," Castle said. "I think we better head into the main pool." He laughed with the other adults while the girls cheered and then got out of the pool helping Josie. They took her to the entry, keeping her hands before he went to them and said, "You two can go ahead," not surprised when Eliza looked doubtfully at her big sister before speaking to him and Beckett.
"Are you sure we can go first?" Eliza asked.
"Yes, we got this pool for you and your sisters," Beckett answered first.
"Let's go," Julia said, reaching to her little sister and taking her hand.
"Wait," Eliza said. "Come with us 'lexis, Louis."
"Are we jumping in?" the young man asked.
"Walking," Alexis said, giving her husband a feigned glare.
"Okay," Louis said before they were walking into the water further. They came to the transition to the pool itself and he wasn't surprised when Julia and Eliza hurried out into the water before they were swimming. "So much for us all going together," he told his wife.
"We took too long," Alexis said in amusement before she was following her sisters and swimming.
Watching them go, Castle looked at his wife and asked, "Are we going now?"
"Yes," Beckett replied before they were walking in. They didn't follow the girls in swimming, instead turning their attention to Josie to let her float in the water while they supported her.
"We'll have to help you learn to swim," Castle said to the baby as she was kicking her legs.
"Another reason for the pool," Skye said.
"You guys know you can swim right?" Beckett asked as her father walked over to her husband and took Josie from him, looking at him in surprise when he was speaking to her and Castle.
"Let me take her, you two can swim yourselves," Jim admonished them slightly as he smiled.
"Well…" Castle said slowly to his wife. He wasn't surprised when she was moving into the water, and he was quick to follow before he heard more swimming after them. "Oh good," he said in amusement while he and Beckett were treading the water together.
"Oh good what?" Skye mimicked him. "We don't want to make it seem like we came here just for this."
"How would you have known?" Beckett said simply. "We didn't even know it'd be finished."
"Still, thanks for letting us join you," Skye commented while she looked at the grotto. She then looked at the kids swimming back to them and said, "They've started breaking ground on ours."
"They finished demolishing what they needed to?" Louis asked as they were treading the water.
"They did," Skye said with a nod. "And they'll start setting everything up."
"Can we go to the grotto?" Eliza asked suddenly.
"Why didn't you guys go?" Beckett said.
"Mommy," Eliza groaned though she was laughing shortly after.
"Come on," Beckett told the girls, following them to the rock formation. Since the pool was so wide, she and Castle had decided to go a little over half of that end of the pool. When they were inside, she sat with the girls on the bench there and said, "This is nice."
"It is," Julia said, looking around. "Shouldn't you be with Dad though?"
"Another time," Beckett said wryly.
"Just saying," Julia replied, smiling at her. She then moved to go into the water and went under the waterfall before she told her father, "Go in Dad."
Spotting Eliza popping out shortly after, Castle said, "You two are horrible."
"No we aren't," the little girl replied with a giggle.
Gently pinching her cheek, Castle went through the waterfall and brushed the water from his face before he said, "Why do we let them push us around?"
"I think it's because we want to," Beckett said, wrapping her arms around her husband once he was sitting next to her. They kissed deeply, but only briefly before pressing their foreheads together.
"Thank you for going along with this," Castle murmured.
"You're welcome," Beckett said. "But it was your idea. I'm glad you came up with it, the kids will love it."
"And we have it once we become empty nesters," Castle commented, not surprised when his wife laughed briefly.
"That's not for a while," Beckett replied. She brushed her lips against his and told him, "Let's go."
Nodding, Castle followed her out and they watched the others take their turns inside the grotto before Skye and Mary were last out.
"That's quite big," the investigator commented. "You could have your whole family there."
"Are you thinking of doing that ourselves?" Mary asked in amusement.
"Perhaps," Skye commented.
"What are you going to have at your pool?" Alexis asked interestedly.
Before the women could respond to that Castle then asked everyone, "Why don't we get out and get to the slide before we talk about that? The girls are inching their way over to it."
Laughing, since they hadn't been able to help doing that, Julia and Eliza led the way to the entry on the side of the pool at the deep end before they walked out. They headed up the spiral staircase first and they paused to wait for the others before Eliza was speaking eagerly to her parents.
"Who goes first?" the little girl said.
"I should have stayed down there," Castle said to his wife with a frown.
"Richard," Jim called up to his son in law. When they were looked down at him, he told his daughter and Castle, "Martha has Josie, I can make sure Eliza's okay."
"I really get to go first?" the little girl asked eagerly as the others were turning to her.
"Yeah," Julia said, speaking rapidly since she hadn't expected her parents to look at her to answer. She smiled when her little sister was squealing and going to the slide while their parents followed her.
"Do I need to lay down or anything?" Eliza asked them.
"No, you can sit up," Beckett said. "Have fun."
"I will," Eliza said before she pushed herself down the slide. She cried out as she was going around until she straightened out and reached the water.
"How was it?" Alexis called down once Eliza was with their grandfather.
"Fun! I'm glad it's open!" the little girl said.
"That's right, you two had picked a tunnel slide," Skye told them.
Nodding Castle said, "We weren't sure we could have it open but when the builder asked us if we were sure about the design I asked, and we have this now."
"I can go now, right?" Julia asked.
"You can," Beckett said, going to her and squeezing her shoulder. She watched her heading down, smiling when Julia was whooping while she went before her father checked on her and she swam out of the way. "Alexis?" she asked her oldest, not surprised she shook her head quickly before Castle spoke quickly.
"You are next," he told her.
"Okay, okay," Alexis said in amusement before she went to the slide.
"Now," Skye said, once Louis had gone down. "You're making us go first."
"I think age wise it would go that way anyway," Castle said.
"Oh fine," Skye said, going to the slide though she was smiling soon after.
"I think she forgot the order," Mary said wryly before going after her wife.
"After you love," Castle told her.
Beckett smiled at him and kissed his cheek before she went down the slide, not surprised the girls had had so much fun since it was. When she had resurfaced, she went to the shallow end and took Josie from Martha, kissing her cheek. "Will you ever try that?" she asked her mother-in-law as they watched Castle going down.
"One day, but not yelling like that," Martha said in amusement since her son had been yelling out and making his daughters laugh. She then looked at Josie and spotting the baby yawning said, "It's nearly her bedtime."
"I better tell Rick," Beckett said. "We have to give her a bath."
"Why don't you let me take her?" Martha asked.
"Would you mind Mother?" Castle asked, coming over and hearing that since he knew what time it was.
"No, I'll bring her if you'll let me tuck her in," Martha replied.
"I think we're going to do that," Castle said, sharing a look with his wife.
"Well, I had to try," Martha said jokingly before she took Josie and left.
Watching them go once her mother-in-law had her shoes on, Beckett said to her husband, "Good thing she didn't swim."
"I know, but next time we're giving her a bath," Castle said firmly, surprised at what his wife said in response.
"Tomorrow night?" Beckett asked. She smiled when her husband looked annoyed for a moment and said, "We can leave the pool to do that."
"True," Castle replied. "I guess we'll see how we feel tomorrow."
"Are you gonna swim again Mommy, Daddy?" Eliza asked, swimming over to them.
"Yes, I actually would really like to try the diving platform," Castle said, looking at his wife.
"Go ahead," Beckett said. "I wasn't planning on stopping you."
"Can I dive?" Julia asked.
"Yes, but after we have," Beckett said. She wasn't surprised when the girl nodded, and she and her husband swam to the deep end and went up steps in the back of the rock work for the grotto. "You first love," she told her husband.
"I think I'll let you," Castle replied. "I'm not being noble; I want to watch you," he said.
"Pervert," Beckett said in amusement. She squeezed his hand and then turned her attention to the water, waving to their family before she dove.
"How cool," Eliza said. She turned to her sisters and said, "I have to wait to do that don't I?"
"Do you want to?" Alexis asked. She smiled at how rapidly the little girl was nodding and told her, "Ask Mom and Dad when they come over here. They might let you go as long as you jump out really far."
Eliza thought about that while they were watching their father jumping and she cheered for him when he resurfaced. She waved to him as he and Beckett were swimming towards them, intending to ask about her diving when her mother was talking to Julia to her slight frustration.
"I'll go with you, but remember to jump out," Beckett said before Eliza was taking her hand. She was about to turn to the little girl when Martha was entering the room with Josie.
"She's nearly asleep," Martha said with a smile. "But she's been asking for you two."
"Say goodnight to her," Castle said to Julia and Eliza. He and Beckett followed the others out of the pool and quickly dried off before he took Josie from Alexis. "We'll be right back," he told the others. "Keep swimming, but Julia-" he started to say.
"I'll wait until you come back," she promised him.
"Good," Castle told her jokingly. He laughed when she made a face at him, and he and Beckett went into the house. "How was it today sweetheart?" he asked Josie once they were on the second floor.
"I swim Dada," the baby replied.
"I know, we'll try to let you go for longer tomorrow," Castle assured her. "Since your sisters are going to want to swim for a lot longer."
"Yeah," Josie said.
Laughing, Beckett said, "She'll be just like them."
"I think she almost is," Castle told his wife, not surprised when she shook her head to his surprise.
"She already is," Beckett replied. "If she wasn't she'd be screaming about the water."
"Good point," Castle commented. They had reached Josie's room and said, "Who's doing this?" to his wife before she went to Josie to kiss her cheek then answered his question.
"Go ahead," Beckett told him.
"But you're getting her to sleep," Castle said. When his wife was about to speak, he told her, "You love."
"Fine," Beckett said with a sigh.
"Unless you want her to decide," Castle commented as he took the baby to the changing table.
"I think she's too tired to," Beckett replied, watching him take Josie's robe off. "Is she okay?"
"She's good," Castle said after checking the baby. He set her robe aside and then turned his attention to Josie, kissing her cheek and telling her, "Goodnight sweetheart, I love you."
"Love Dada," Josie said, staring at him with wide eyes.
Castle hugged her close and kissed her cheek gently before he went to where his wife was waiting at the rocking chair. Kissing Josie gently on the lips he handed her to Beckett, watching as she sat and cradled the baby in her arms.
"I love you too sweetie," she told the baby. Kissing her gently, Beckett said, "Sweet dreams Josie."
"Mama, I love," Josie told her sleepily.
"Thank you," Beckett said with a smile, starting to gently rock the chair. She and Castle were waiting for her to fall asleep, but it didn't take very long before they saw she was closing her eyes. Gently brushing her lips to Josie's forehead, she went to the crib and set the baby down, Castle covering her with a blanket before she was sure Josie was set. Outside in the hallway she let her husband take her hand but was startled when he was stopping her, and she quickly turned to him before he explained why he'd done that.
"I just wanted the chance to do this," Castle said before he leaned down to his wife and kissed her tenderly on the lips.
The kiss was brief and once they'd parted, she said with a smile, "The grotto wasn't enough?"
"Not really, no," Castle said. He smiled when his wife rolled his eyes and he leaned down, gently brushing his lips to hers. Pulling away he said, "We should go?"
"We should," Beckett said before they held each other's hands and headed down to the kitchen when her husband stopped her again.
"What about having some hot chocolate?" Castle asked. "Popcorn?"
"Sure," Beckett said. She laughed softly when her husband looked startled and told him, "I don't mind, at least you said popcorn."
"I'm not six years old," Castle said. "Seriously."
"Don't worry," Beckett said, trying to keep her amusement down since she was aware why he'd said that. "If you'd said cookies, I would have said you were that."
"Good thing I didn't," Castle said, raising his wife's hand to kiss the back of it. They parted to start working on the drinks and popcorn until they had everything ready and headed into the pool room.
"I hope you don't mind hot chocolate," Beckett said to her father and mother-in-law.
"I don't," Jim said.
"Are you finished for tonight?" Beckett said with a smile as she handed him a mug.
"I am," Jim replied since he was wearing his shirt.
"The girls aren't," Martha said.
Beckett was about to respond to that when Eliza was scurrying up to them and grabbing her hand, speaking in a rush before she could ask her what was wrong.
