Author's note: Thank you for your kind words. Per request, I've decided to write some more one-shots in this realm. See end notes for the prompt :)
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing, except for the laptop and the fingers that typed these words.
"See you in two days, and stay safe everyone," Castle said, as he ended his online class. He was sitting in his office, the sun beaming strongly through the drapes. His stomach rumbled; if it weren't for a certain New York senator, he would have been able to have breakfast before his 8 am class this morning. Now, his body was practically screaming to be fed.
He went with his hands through his uncombed hair, let out a sigh of exhaustion, when he heard light footsteps approach the door to his study. A second later, Jake's face appeared in the door frame.
"What's up, son?" Castle got up to join him in the living room. While Jake had always been the more talkative of the twins, something clearly had happened for him to be this… shy. His son followed him to the kitchen, as Castle poured himself some cereal.
"How was class?" Jake eventually asked, not really looking at his father, nor anywhere else for that matter. Castle stopped what he was doing, eyed his son with suspicion. Last time Jake had come to him and Kate like that, it had been because he had "accidentally" drowned Lily's school chick in the bath tub. He and Reece had been seven, and had thought they could have great adventures with the chick in question, until they learned that chicks don't swim.
Jake, being the braver of the two, had made his way over to their parents, tears in his eyes as he told them how they had murdered Chip (the chick). Once he had started talking, his body had begun to shake, his breath had become uneven as he whispered: "Please, don't send us to jail. It was an accident. Please, mommy and daddy, I don't want to go to jail," he started sobbing.
Kate and Rick had glanced at each other, doing their best not to laugh at the ridiculousness of the matter, then they had quickly wrapped their arms around him and assured him that no one was going to put him in jail for accidentally murdering an elementary school's pet. They had held a little funeral for the animal, just Kate, Rick and the twins; after that, Castle had gone to buy a new one so Lily wouldn't know what had happened and she wouldn't get in trouble at school.
Later that week, Lily had come up to Castle in a similar fashion as her younger brother; "What's wrong, Lilipad?" he had asked, unaccustomed to a silent daughter who had a knack for unsolicited storytelling just like her father.
"Daddy, Chip keeps dying," she whispered, as if she was sharing state secrets.
"What do you mean? I thought it was your friend Angie's turn to take care of him?" his brows furrowed, as he placed her onto his lap. Lily glanced around to make sure they were alone before she said under her breath:
"Angie tried to play with Chip in the bath tub, but then he died. Her parents bought a new one, so she wouldn't get in trouble," Castle did his best not to look amused, chuckling silently that other families were dealing with a similar situation, "I did some asking around, like mommy taught me," good girl, he thought, "Oi Ping and Achmed had the same happen to their Chip. And I know Jake and Reece did the same," she concluded with a threatening glare, strongly reminding Castle of his wife.
"How do you know about that?" he went along with Lily's interrogation; that kid was going to be a good detective if she wanted to one day.
"I cannot reveal my sources," she said solemnly.
"Ah, I see. Maybe I can bribe your sources out of you with a little potato fudge ice-cream?" he had wiggled his eyebrows enticingly. At the mention, her eyes widened, but then she regained her composure.
"That and no dish washing duty for a week," she added, her eyes narrowing, her hand stretched out.
"Hmm, you drive a hard bargain. But ok," he shook her hand. Lily beckoned him closer, her head lowered, creating suspense. Holding on to it too long, Castle lost his patience and blurted: "It was Reece, wasn't it?"
"How'd you know?" completely forgetting the power game she had been playing.
"A man never reveals how he knows things," Castle said mysteriously, which earned him an eye roll Lily had perfected by the time she was six. Then, she got all serious again.
"Daddy, we've got to do something about it; can't you call the school?"
"And tell them what? That we killed their chick?"
Her brows furrowed.
"No, if you do, they'll know it was us too. Can't you call them anonymously? Tell them to stop giving chicks to ten-year-olds?" her voice broke, clearly concerned about the wellbeing of the animals. So, Castle had. He had promised Lily it would stay between them, and up to this day, not one ten-year-old was aware who was behind the cancelling of the school's chick program. Kate did know; Castle had told her straight away.
"Class was ok," Castle responded to Jake's question, his mind going over all possible scenarios of mischief his son could have gotten himself involved in. Thinking back to his own life at fifteen, the list of possibilities was endless. As he suspected, Jake wasn't really interested in his dad's teaching performance at all; barely reacting to what Castle had just said, Jake scraped his throat.
"How do you know when you're in love?" he eventually asked, his ears reddening. This caught Castle of guard: "Ahh…" Images of his redheaded daughter asking him the exact same question years ago filled his mind. Who would have known she would end up marrying the guy years later, making him a grandfather for the first time.
"All the songs make sense," Castle eventually went with, remembering what his future wife had answered when he had asked her the same exact question.
"Um, I don't really listen to that kind of music," Jake shrugged.
"Right," Castle had come to learn the kind of music his two sons listened to in the last couple of weeks of their quarantine. He agreed that beats probably didn't explain the feeling of love all too well.
"How about you and mom? How'd you know you loved her?" he looked at his father expectantly. The first four years of their partnership flashed before him. He'd always known he was attracted to Kate, from the first moment she had flashed her badge at him; but when he had first known his interest – read: obsession – had evolved into love… was less easy to pinpoint.
Clearly taking too long to reply, Jake added: "When did you tell her you loved her?"
Again, Castle didn't reply instantaneously. While he and Kate had told their children the PG version of their crime fighting days, they hadn't told them too much about her shooting. Mainly because they themselves didn't like to be reminded about Beckett's close brush with death.
"I told your mother four years into our partnership," seeing Jake shoulders lower discouragingly, Castle quickly added, "but while your mother and I's love story is one for the ages," Jake's eyes rolled at that, "I don't think it would serve as the best example in your case. Why don't you tell me about this person instead? What makes you think you might be in love?" he smiled at him encouragingly.
Jake's eyes glazed, a wide smile painting his face as he started rambling: "She's the most incredible girl I've ever met. She loves Star Wars, she's into Christopher Nolan movies, she's a gymnast and she speaks three languages, dad! Whenever I see her, I feel alive, and nervous and stupid, but then she smiles at me, and I forget what I wanted to say in the first place. And now I can't see her, because of this stupid virus, so we are texting but I suck at texting, dad. What if she doesn't get my jokes? You know how things get lost in translation?"
Castle grinned at his son.
"What?" Jake asked, insecurity lingering in his eyes.
"Sounds like you've got it bad, kid," he said, roughing his hair. Jake smiled at him sheepishly.
"So, um, what do I do?"
"I'd say keep at it. Keep talking to her, maybe a phone call wouldn't hurt? If she's as great as you describe her, I'm sure she'll be able to tell how great of a guy you are. Just be yourself, and time will take care of it," he winked.
"Thanks, dad," he said, his phone already in hand, his fingers moving over the keyboard rapidly.
"You're welcome," he muttered, while his son was already on the staircase, back to his room.
Castle chuckled to himself, finally taking his first bite of the day. He wasn't left in peace too long, though, as another pair of feet made its way down. Looking up, he saw it was the youngest member of their household, Reece.
"Hey, dad. How was your class?" he took the seat next to him.
While he loved his children fiercely, they weren't really what you could call subtle. That's all you, Kate had said one night after Castle had told her how their children had tried to cover up one of their latest incidents involving coke and Mentos.
"What do you want, Reece?" Castle cut to the chase, his stomach unamused by the prolonged lack of food.
"Hm?" Reece looked up, already forgotten he had started the conversation.
"Something you want to ask me perhaps?"
"How'd you know?" his ears reddening in the same fashion his brother's had only minutes earlier. While they were identical twins, Kate and Rick never had had trouble telling them apart; they seemed in the minority, however, seeing as the twins had pulled many a prank at the 12th precinct when Beckett was still captain.
"Hmm, my spidey senses were tingling," Castle joked; while he could normally count on a - sympathy - laugh from his youngest son, Reece's head clearly wasn't in it.
"Reece?" he tried again.
"Right, um… Dad, how do you when you're in love?"
"I'm telling you, Kate, it's the same girl," Castle said. It was evening; their kids had just left the table and retreated to their rooms. Castle was drying some of the cutlery as Beckett was rinsing the final glass of wine.
"Castle, are you seriously telling me that our sons, Jake and Reece, have a crush on the same girl? Apart from their shared DNA and similar looks, they are more different from each other than that they differ from Lily," she said, letting the dirty water run down the drain.
Lily, having a strong personality of her own, seemed to be in the middle of the Castle-Beckett children spectrum, Jake and Reece being on opposing ends. Where Jake was loud, Reece was quiet, where Jake was spontaneous, Reece was calculated, where Jake was a realist, Reece was an idealist; put them together, they reinforced each other's strengths, and became the ultimate amalgamation of Beckett and Castle.
"Okay, you don't believe me? How do you explain that they both love Star Wars and Christopher Nolan movies, huh?" he said, his arms snaking around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Beckett pretended to be annoyed by their closeness, as she refuted his example: "Everyone loves Star Wars and Nolan, Castle. That's like saying they both like water."
"I don't like water?" he said, his lips meeting her neck, placing soft kisses where he knew she liked it.
"Right, because you're an eight-year-old on a sugar rush who only likes to drink soft drinks," she huffed, pretending his ministrations didn't quicken her heart rate. Castle's lips paused at that, Beckett damned herself already missing the touch of his warmth on her. While a younger her would have remained quiet, this version of Beckett didn't have as much self-restrained anymore, as she whined to let her annoyance be heard. Castle chuckled at that, continuing to kiss her down her neck, towards her collarbone.
"How do you explain that they are both gymnasts?" Beckett let out a satisfactory sigh, Castle's hands lowering to cup her ass.
"Easy, they're on the same team. Jake and Reece must have seen them perform before the pandemic," she gasped as Castle's teeth grazed her skin.
"Ok, how about this? She speaks three languages," he looked up, his eyebrows raised.
"Crap."
With the promise that he owed her big time, it was eventually Beckett who made her way to her sons' room. If it were up to her, she would stay out of her sons' love life, unless they came to her themselves. She didn't want to be a prying parent, much like her father had often been during her teenage years. Yet again, there she was, knocking on their bedroom door softly. She heard a grunt, which was enough permission for her to enter.
As expected, both were on their phones, while a movie was playing in the background.
"Hey, d'you mind if I come in?" she asked, her heart warmed at the sight of them. She had been a mother for seventeen years now, and still, she could never get over how much love she felt for each of her children.
The day she first held Lily in her arms, everything else in her life seemed to dissolve. It was as if her life hadn't had any purpose until that little bundle of joy, a miracle as the doctors called her, made it into her life.
"Sure," Reece said, shortly looking up, from his phone to acknowledge her presence.
Kate sat herself in between them on the beanbag, sinking into the material.
"What are you watching?" she asked, eying the gory images of a bunch of medieval clothed people being stabbed to death.
"Game of Thrones," Jake answered, looking up for a second too, smiling at her kindly.
"So," she coughed, going over the possible ways to approach the subject. You used to interrogate criminals for a living, Kate. How hard can it be to ask a simple question?
In the end, she decided to be to the point, no use in making it awkward for anyone; she'd like to have an open and honest relationship with her children and hoped they would continue to come to both her and Rick for anything they'd might want to discuss. Having always been closed off herself, she had learned the value of honesty, and not holding everything in.
"Your dad told me you two might be in love?" both heads turned at that, Reece halting the episode immediately.
"He told you?" Jake asked, his voice two pitches higher than his new low and "cool" voice, as he called it himself.
"Yes, he did. He didn't think you two would mind, but if you don't want me to know, that's also fine," she assured him.
"No, it's ok," Reece responded, "you just weren't there. Plus, dad's a guy and all," Reece's voice trailed away.
"Right, totally get that. Your father and I, um, were just a little concerned," she said hesitantly.
"Why's that?" Jake's brow furrowed.
"Castle," he heard her voice from the living room. He had retreated to his desk, reading over essays that needed to be graded by tomorrow. He looked up as his wife stormed into the office, her face a little annoyed.
"What?" he got up, a little wary, not entirely sure what he had done this time. He was sure he hadn't washed her more daring lingerie with their kids' clothes again. Last time, one of her one pieces had accidentally ended up in Lily's closet. Lily having a sharp tongue, didn't let her parents live it down for weeks. In the end, they'd had to promise they'd think about the possibility of a scooter to get her to stop bringing it up.
"Your sons' crushes?"
"What about her?" he stepped a little closer.
"They're twins, Castle. Lina and Erin Gomez."
"Ow," that would make a lot more sense.
"Yeah, ow. Now, if I remember correctly, you owe me big time," she grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt, and pulled him towards their bedroom.
Author's note: Thanks Leingh for the prompt "Castle thinks Jake and Reese are dating the same girl except they are twins. He keeps trying to tell Kate".
Hope you liked it :)
