Genre: Romance, Family, Humor, Supernatural
Rating: M for sexual situations and language
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: I was very pleasantly surprised and pleased at the feedback I got for the last chapter so I'll get into my thanks for it! Guest (Happy to read that you love my series since you do love the show. Glad I can write it well enough that you do!) and
TORONTOSUN (It was great that you thought the short prologue was a very nice start to the story!).
Thanks so much for the reviews, loved reading them and am grateful for 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 You're My Best Friend by John Deacon, from the Queen album A Night at the Opera.
That My Feelings Are True
"Is Mommy fake sleeping?"
"Shh, you'll wake her up."
"But we need to."
"Oh Lizzy."
Turning over onto her side, Beckett heard the voices of her middle daughters before she realized the bed was empty next to her. She quickly recalled what day it was and tried not to smile as she heard Alexis joining the two.
"I think she's still asleep," Eliza was saying.
"Probably, but we do need to wake her up," Alexis replied. "Breakfast is going to get cold remember."
"Yeah," Eliza replied. "So we go now?"
"Yes," Alexis said. "You two go first."
"You should let Josa do it," Julia was saying.
"Sure," Alexis said before they were walking into the room.
Beckett was doing her best to look like she was still asleep as she heard the girls walking around the bed. She heard Josie being put on the bed and kept her eyes closed as the baby was crawling to her before sitting up. As soon as she felt Josie's hand on her cheek, she opened her eyes and smiled at the baby before looking behind her at her daughters.
"Happy Mother's Day!" Eliza cried, climbing on the bed quickly.
"Thank you, girls," Beckett said as Julia and Alexis were telling her the same. She sat up and picked up Josie, kissing her gently before she reached for Eliza.
"Did we surprise you?" the little girl asked eagerly.
"You did," Beckett said with a nod before she shared a kiss with her. "Come here you two," she said with a smile looking at her other two daughters. When Julia had climbed up on the bed, she hugged her with her free arm before they shared a kiss.
"I hope you have a great day today," Julia told her. "Since you're a great mother."
"Thank you, sweetie," Beckett replied. "And I'm sure I will."
Going around to her mother's side of the bed, Alexis hugged her tightly before kissing her mother's cheek. "You did pick what you wanted to do right?" she asked, remaining where she was while her mother was holding Josie a little closer.
"I did," Beckett said with a nod. "We just need to go." She glanced over at the doorway and said, "Where's your fiancé?"
"He's in our room," Alexis replied. "He'll have breakfast with Grandpapa and Gram."
"We-" Beckett started to say as she was frowning.
"They have our permission to eat on our own here," Alexis said.
"Your dad is eating with us, right?" Beckett said then.
"He will, he was almost going to go with Gram and Grandpapa," Julia said. "But we told him to come with us."
"I would say demanded," Castle said as he walked inside the room. "They're all like you Kate."
"Thank you love," Beckett said as he was carrying a tray with two stacks of plates on it. The one on the left had pancakes and the other a large pile of scrambled eggs. "Are there five plates?"
"If I counted correctly, yes," Castle said, setting the tray on her lap while their oldest was getting Josie out of the way. He was going around to sit next to her; at their daughters' insistence and he leaned over to her, kissing her gently on the lips. "Happy Mother's Day love," he told her.
"Thanks," Beckett replied before she stopped him from leaning in to kiss her. When he looked at her questioningly, she told him, "They are here you know."
Castle turned his head and saw she was right, their daughters all smiling at him, and he said, "Oh fine, we'll eat," though his tone was joking. He and Beckett turned their attention to the tray and were working together to get the pancakes and eggs divided onto their plates. Once they were starting to eat, he said, "Hopefully those are still your favorites."
"They are," Beckett said in amusement, as he'd made her pancakes with dark chocolate chips. "And they're very good."
"You're not thanking me again are you?" Castle asked.
"I already did," Beckett replied before she smiled at her. She fed Josie a little of her scrambled eggs and then said, "No one's going to ask me?"
"I'm curious but I figured you'd want to wait until we finish eating," Alexis told her.
"No, now is fine," Beckett said. "And I want to go to the family fun center."
"Really?" Julia asked in surprise as Eliza was gasping in eagerness.
"Really, I want to do something fun and that'll be going to the center," Beckett told them all as her husband was studying her.
"Arcade?" Castle inquired. He was startled when she leaned into him and they kissed gently before they turned their attention to the food. "Wait, did you talk about this with Lily?" he asked when he realized something before they were nearly finished.
"I did, but it was later last night," Beckett said.
"Are we still celebrating Sophie's birthday?" Julia asked.
"We will, but it's not going to be that big of course," Beckett said. "Rebecca and I told her we could have the party at her house but she said we didn't have to and I suggested the family fun center, she said they'd had Eve and Jake's first birthdays at places like the one we're going to."
"Really?" Castle asked.
Opening her mouth, Beckett had been about to ask if he hadn't heard about that from Brad but knew it likely hadn't come up between them. She then smiled and said, "I know, but they didn't have that much money yet and it was just the three of them and then the four of them after Jake was born."
"And they honestly don't mind this time," Castle said. "They could afford something big."
Seeing her father pausing, Alexis asked, "What're you thinking?"
"Are they going to do a big party package thing?" Castle asked.
Beckett smiled at him guessing that before she told him, "They're going to look into what they can do for a one year old."
"We're going to eat there?" Eliza asked.
"You're hungry already?" Castle said to her jokingly.
"No, I'm just wondering," Eliza said with a smile.
"We'll have lunch and then we'll have dinner here," Beckett said. "Though I'm still not sure what we're going to do for that."
"You don't have to worry about it Mom," Alexis said.
Sighing Beckett said, "Just don't go to a lot of trouble okay?"
"We're not," Castle said, squeezing her hand gently before he and Alexis were getting off the bed.
When her husband and their two oldest had left, Beckett turned to Eliza and said, "You need to go see your Gram."
"Okay," Eliza said. "I know I gotta say Happy Mother's Day to her too." She watched her mother playing a little with Josie before she said softly, "She's watching us now Mommy."
"Who?" Beckett asked in surprise as she raised her head.
"Grandmama," Eliza said. "She…" she started to say before she turned to the corner of the room by the windows. "She said she's happy you're happy now that you're a mommy."
Beckett looked down at Josie for a moment before she said, "Thank you for telling me sweetie."
"You're welcome," Eliza said before she followed her mother as she got off the bed. "Are we gonna get ready?"
"Yes, we want to go to the center right when it opens," Beckett told her before they left the room. When they reached the stairs, she smiled at her husband as he was coming up with their two daughters and said, "We have to get going."
"Yeah, I was coming to get Josie," Castle replied.
"I'd like to change her myself," Beckett said. She smiled as her husband nodded and they went to the baby's room; their other three daughters going to their own bedrooms to start preparing for their outing. Once they were inside, she took Josie straight to the changing table and let the baby sit there before she said, "Would you get her tunic from Mexico City?"
"Sure," Castle said before he was getting it and leggings that went with it. "What're we letting her do?"
Beckett smiled at the question and said, "Let's see what they have and make sure before we say now."
"Sure, I'm just remembering when you were pregnant with her," Castle replied.
Since she had to change Josie's diaper before dressing her, Beckett focused on that and waited until she had finished and handed the baby to her husband before she said, "I was too, but luckily I'm not now."
Turning to her, Castle watched her going over to the bathroom and he called, "Do I want to ask about your intentions."
Beckett laughed quickly before she said, "You know the word request might work better." She walked to her husband and their youngest before she said, "But I'd like to talk in our bedroom."
"Sure," Castle said quickly before they were leaving the room.
"Happy Mother's Day Katie," Jim said as he met the two stepping into the hall.
"Thank you, Dad," Beckett said as she gave him a hug. "Martha," she said when she saw her mother in law coming up off the stairs. "Happy Mother's Day."
"Happy Mother's Day to you kiddo," Castle's mother replied. She smiled and exchanged a quick embrace with her daughter in law telling her, "I hope it started well."
"Yes but-" Beckett started to say.
"Oh no, don't worry," Martha said hurried, stopping her. "We'll eat the next two meals together, so I think it works out better that way."
Unable to help laughing, Beckett finally nodded and said, "Okay, I agree. But I hope you'll spend time with the girls at the center."
"Oh of course," Martha said. "And you too."
"Don't worry, I plan on it," Beckett said.
"Now we have that all set," Martha replied. "Please let me spend time with my youngest granddaughter."
"Keep her attention occupied," Castle said jokingly while he was giving her Josie.
"I will," Martha said, kissing Josie's temple before she went to the stairs to go down as she was changed already.
"Go ahead and join her if you two are finished," Beckett said to Julia and Eliza as they'd come out to the hall.
"We are," Eliza said before she was hurrying to the stairs.
As the others followed, Beckett turned to and said, "We need to talk."
"Okay," Castle said quickly. He smiled at his wife when she looked back at him and then said, "But it's up to you what we talk about."
Beckett smiled before they walked inside their room and she waited for him to close the door. As soon as he had she was wrapping her arms around him tightly and they kissed deeply, her husband holding her close against his body. "Rick," she breathed when he moved to begin kissing around her neck. "Wait, we… that's going to go too far," she said to him gently.
Huffing out a breath Castle said, "Yeah, but really…"
Hugging him tightly Beckett brushed her lips to his and then said, "I'd like you to plan out tonight." When she pulled away and saw the way he was studying her she smiled and said, "Seriously."
"All of it?" Castle asked. When his wife nodded, he became thoughtful for a moment, trying not to become aroused at the ideas in his mind already, and said, "Okay. But I'm going to have to figure it out when I have the time to."
"I'm sure you'll think of something," Beckett said in amusement before they shared one last kiss and walked to their closet. When she was dressed, she went to the bathroom to brush out her hair, not surprised when her husband was coming up behind her and took her brush.
"Is there anything you don't want?" Castle asked.
Looking at his reflection in the mirror Beckett told him, "No, you know already what I like and what I don't. The rest I do trust you with."
"I'm glad to hear it," Castle said, finishing with her hair before she was turning around to face him. He set the brush on the counter before he looked at her and was about to ask for another kiss when she was speaking first.
"This is the last one," Beckett told him.
Castle moved rapidly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to him before their lips met. He hadn't been sure exactly how he was going to kiss her but once they began, he made it deep immediately and they were soon lingering until they needed to breathe. When they had he pressed his forehead to hers and murmured, "You're sure?"
Smiling, Beckett nodded before they brushed their lips together and she told him, "I am, that's the last time?"
"Yeah," Castle said, reluctantly letting her go before they went through their bedroom and headed downstairs. As they were going, they could hear the laughter of their three youngest daughters and he shared a smile with his wife before they went to the family room to gather everyone and head out.
"Should we go on the rides first?" Jacob was asking his mother.
"Are we deciding?" Lily asked him with a smile.
"You should," Julia said. "It is Mother's Day."
"Putting the pressure on us," Rebecca said jokingly.
"Yeah," Beckett said, smiling at her middle daughters as they were playfully frowning at her. "Luckily we know you like everything here; so we'll go on the rides first." As they were walking to the rides outside the building she went to Eliza and took her hand saying, "Will you go with me sweetie?"
"Okay… what're we going on first?" the little girl asked.
"We should go on the kid's roller coaster," David suggested. "Since there are so many of us that can go on it."
"And then the bigger roller coaster?" Mari asked her dad. When he nodded, she smiled and went to her mother before they were stopping by the window to buy tickets.
"Let us go up there first," Brad said before he and his wife were hurrying to the window.
"They're not too subtle," Eve said, unable to help smiling as she watched her parents.
"No but this is going along with whatever we're doing for lunch for Sophie, right?" Beckett asked her.
"You don't need to answer that Eve," Brad said. "Interrogating my daughter?" he asked her jokingly.
"Asking why you're being so secretive," Castle said for his wife.
"That's reasonable," Brad said after pretending to think that over. He then smiled and said, "We have a package for a little party once we eat lunch. And that includes wristbands for all our guests. These are good for the bumper boats too, along with the rides and for mini-golf but not the cosmic course they have."
"That's okay," Mari said quickly. "Thanks for these," she told the Davises.
"You're welcome," Lily said with a smile as the others had said the same. "The least we could do since you're celebrating Sophie's birthday with us."
"Were you afraid we'd just be here for the rides?" Beckett asked her friend. She laughed when Lily shrugged, and she squeezed her shoulder before they were walking over to the roller coaster. She sat with Eliza in the last row and said, "Are you excited?"
"Yeah," the little girl said. "What about the bigger one?"
"You can go," Beckett said before she was smiling as they were starting down the track. Since it was a short one, they were going around ten times in all before they got off and were walking to the next ride which was a carousel for little kids with old cars on it.
"Can Josa go with me on this one?" Eliza asked eagerly.
"When she's a little older," Beckett said. "But you can go with Dani." She watched as the little girl hurried to go over to the ride with her friend before she felt a hand on her arm. "You're not going on?" she asked, seeing just Eliza and Dani were getting into one of the cars.
"We're a little big," Julia replied. "We were thinking of going on the bumper boats," she said, unable to help sounding hopeful as her mother was smiling at her.
"Wait for them," Beckett said gently. She wasn't surprised when her daughter looked disappointed and she said, "They won't take that long."
"I know, we'll try and be patient," Julia said before her mother squeezed her shoulder. She walked over to Mari and said, "My mom said no."
"Of course she did," the girl said with a smile. "At least we are going to go."
"That's true," Julia said. "We're still going on the roller coaster, right?"
"I might have to go with my dad," Mari told her. "Since Mom will probably stay with Dani."
"I forgot," Julia said. She glanced at her little sister and said, "I should go with one of my parents too; I heard Mom giving Lizzy permission."
"But we can go again can't we?" Mari said. "We'll go together then."
"Yeah," was all that Julia had time to say as the ride was finishing and their little sisters were getting off it. She went to Eliza and said, "Let Mom pick what's next. All the moms."
"Girls," Beckett told them. She smiled when the two turned to her and said, "We're going to go around these rides before we get to the bigger ones." She was outright laughing when they nodded their heads at the same time and eventually asked, "So you approve?"
"We all do," Jacob said.
"Let's keep going, we're going to miss inside too," Castle commented before they were going to the next ride. Since the little kids' rides were all together, they were able to finish them and they headed to the larger rides. They let the four oldest kids go to the swinging ship and watched with the youngest kids as they were yelling and crying out going back and forth. "This was what you wanted?" he asked his wife.
"The three of us," Beckett said, nodding her head. She smiled and took his hand saying, "Really we just wanted all of us to get together and spend time with friends."
"Adults and kids?" Castle asked. When his wife nodded her head, he smiled and leaned down to her, sharing a kiss with her before they were looking at the ride as it began to slow down.
"We're going to go on the roller coaster next?" Jacob was asking his parents once the four of them were back with their families.
"Yes, but after that is the bumper boats," Lily said.
"And then the arcade?" Eliza asked.
"Lunch," Brad said, checking his phone. "We need to have lunch at twelve and it's almost time."
"Then let's go!" Jacob said in mock urgency before they were laughing together and walking to the next ride.
"Who do you want to go with?" Beckett was asking Eliza as they were walking.
"You decide Mommy," the little girl replied. "Really Mommy, you should pick," Eliza said as she was just looking at her.
"Okay," Beckett replied with a laugh. "Since I haven't been with your big sister yet, I'll go with her."
"Jules! Oh!" Eliza said in surprise when her sister suddenly appeared in front of them. She was about to speak before her big sister was doing so first and making her smile widely.
"I could hear you," Julia told her. "You don't want to go with Lizzy though?" she directed to her mother.
"I'm sure, you should give your dad a chance to go on a ride with Eliza," Beckett said, reaching for her hand.
"Speaking of which," Castle said as he'd walked up to them. "We're here." He took Eliza and said, "You're not scared?"
"No, excited Daddy," the little girl said as she was taking his hand. She saw the way he was looking at her and Eliza told him with a smile, "And nervous."
Chuckling for a moment, Castle said, "I'm not surprised. But your sisters love it and they're excited to go."
"Me too," Eliza said, hugging him tightly as he laughed.
Watching the others on the roller coaster as it was going up the lift hill, Martha turned to Jim and said, "I'm not looking forward to leaving."
"You still haven't found anyone to take over?" Beckett's father asked her, glancing at her quickly from the roller coaster train.
"No, I'm intending to see someone next week," Martha replied.
"You could stay," Jim pointed out to her, letting Dani get off his lap so she could stare up at the track in front of them.
"I was going to ask Richard and Kate if I could," Martha said, smiling before they saw the train going back to the station after the second time around.
"What did you think?" Castle asked with Eliza with a smile once they stepped out of the train.
"It was fun!" Eliza said. "It reminds me of the one that was in Santa Monica."
"Going around twice?" Castle asked.
"Yeah," Eliza said with a nod. She squeezed her father's hand and asked, "Can we go on the bumper boats together?"
"I was just going to suggest that," Castle said with a smile. "Let your mom go on her own." He hugged Eliza to his side while she was nodding rapidly and then told her, "Go ahead and tell her."
"I can hear you Rick," Beckett said with a smile at her husband. "And it's fine."
"Don't keep running into us," Castle told her. He laughed when she pushed him and then turned his attention to walking back to the younger kids and their parents before they walked to the bumper boats. He and Eliza sat together in one of them and as soon as the motor was started, he was getting them out of their dock. He drove them out into open water and told the little girl, "There you go."
"Thanks Daddy," Eliza said, grabbing the handles and pulling the lever to get the motor moving them forward. She went after Julia, laughing as her big sister was turning so they could bump into each other. She drove them around an island and then came to Mari saying, "Jules says hi!"
"She says hi to you too!" the girl said before leaving them.
Beckett had been following her husband and daughter, bumping into the others in the water, and she went around the smaller island before bumping into them. "Hey," she said with a smile as Eliza was laughing.
"Have you seen Julia yet?" Castle asked, intending to distract her to squirt her with the water gun built above the water. But before his wife said anything, she was squirting him to Eliza's cry before he was responding.
"You guys are wasting time," Alexis called as she and Julia were going over to them.
"Not really," Castle said, trying to squirt her before she was doing that to him. "Why am I so slow?" he asked in mock annoyance.
"Maybe you shouldn't… bye," Beckett said in amusement as she watched her husband leaving since Eliza was steering them away. She turned to her daughters and laughed as Julia squirted her. She started her boat to get away and wasn't surprised when they followed her. Once they were being called back in, she said to Julia, "Satisfied."
"Definitely," the girl replied, nodding. After they had left the ride they went together to the building and the café part of it where they found tables pressed together for the eighteen of them. The tables were covered with a birthday themed tablecloth and balloons were tied to some of the chairs surrounding it. Julia was surprised to see the party hats at each plate, glancing at Jacob and Eve as she wasn't sure how they'd react to the colorful and obviously child-like hats before the two were grabbing a hat each.
"Oh cool, will Sophie wear one too?" Jacob was saying as he put the band under his chin.
"Yes, but I'm not sure if she'll keep it on," Lily said.
"Hopefully she will for pictures at least," Brad said, watching his wife set their daughter into one of the two highchairs that were next to each other at one end of the table. "Besties?" he asked Castle as his friend had set Josie in the other chair.
"We'll let them decide that later," he replied with a smile, taking the party hat Beckett was handing him. Castle put it on the baby's head and said, "You look great Josie, leave it on for a little at least." He hurried to step out of the way as his wife was taking a picture with her phone as Brad was doing too. He went to look at the screen of his wife's phone and said, "They look adorable," he said with a smile.
"They do," Brad said, smiling at his daughter before he went to Sophie and kissed the top of her head.
"It's funny," Lily said, smiling tenderly at her husband as she was watching him. "They both ended up with their father's eyes."
"They all ended up with their father's eyes, didn't they?" Louis asked her.
Nodding Lily turned her attention to her children and said, "I am happy about that."
Hearing a loud growling, David blanched and said, "Yeah, that was me. Sorry about that."
"No, it is lunch time," Rebecca said, squeezing her husband's arm before they were sitting around the table.
"She's right, running around the rides like that, I'm starving," Brad commented.
"You know you never told us what we're having," Beckett said to him and her friend.
"Pizza," Eve said immediately. When everyone looked at her, she smiled and said, "We did that for our first birthdays; it's not going to be any different."
"What about cake?" Mari asked jokingly.
"We'll have that after," Brad said as Rebecca was shaking her head at her daughter, though smiling at the same time. "But we have extra cheese, sausage and veggie for you."
Once the pizzas were brought out and put on stands above the table top the families were starting to eat, talking to each other though they were doing so in groups.
"I'm so jealous of you getting to go to San Francisco," Eve was saying to Mari when they were finishing the meal.
"Are you sure you sure you can't go?" Julia asked her.
"Dad can't, if he goes now we wouldn't be able to go to Spain for the whole trip," Jacob said, his sister nodding next to him.
"And we really want to get to do that," Eve said. "Since I can try practicing my Spanish!"
"Are you still going to take Spanish next year?" Julia asked with a smile.
"Spanish III," Eve said. "If I do okay with that, I'll take AP Spanish in my senior year."
"Don't mention that to Dad," Jacob teased her.
"Eventually you're going to go to college," Mari commented.
"Yes, but he doesn't like the idea," Eve said. She smiled and said to Julia, "I think he'll have to talk to your dad."
"That doesn't mean he's not going to freak out with me going… and Lizzy and Josa," she replied.
"Luckily Josie's still so young," Jacob said.
"Eliza too," Eve reminded her brother.
"Yeah," Jacob said before he was laughing. Looking at the other three he said, "Sorry, Eliza stomped on my foot."
"Hey!" the little girl herself said though she was smiling after.
"Okay, she pressed on my toes," Jacob said, laughing again when Eliza wrinkled her nose at him.
"Kids," Beckett said, getting their attention. When they looked at her at nearly the same time, she had to keep from laughing at the sight before she said, "We're going to have dessert first and give Sophie her gifts."
"Oh cool, what's the cake," Julia asked with a smile.
Before they could answer that, the siblings were watching as the adults were getting up and Eve was about to ask what they were doing when Castle spoke first.
"Go ahead and sit with your parents and sister," he told them.
"But… Josie?" Jacob asked.
"They're best friends," Eliza said.
"I think that's explanation enough," Lily said, motioning her kids to the empty chairs on either side of the table. She watched her husband going to get the birthday cake and then turned her attention to Sophie who was whimpering. She was going to comfort her when Jacob jumped up out of his chair and went over to the baby, kissing her cheek before he was talking to her.
"Believe me, you'll really like the cake," Jacob was saying to his baby sister. "And Mom and Dad made sure it has your favorite fruit too." He smiled when Sophie reached out to him and laughed before he squeezed her smaller hand.
"Thank you," Lily said as her son sat to her right.
"Welcome," Jacob said before he was looking at his father as Brad was bringing over the cake with a single candle at the top. They were all singing Happy Birthday as his father set it in front of Sophie and the babies were watching them with wide eyes.
"The cake is so cute," Rebecca said to Lily when they'd finished, and all the other kids were blowing on the noise makers and making the babies laugh.
"I know, luckily we know what animal she likes," the chef said as she stood up to start cutting the cake. It was one tier and had a cartoonish penguin in fondant on the very top with pennants in reds, greens and blues around the side. Happy 1st Birthday Sophie! was written on the top and Lily smiled at her baby daughter seeing her staring at the penguin.
"Us too," Castle said, smiling when the woman looked at him. "Hey, she can't understand," he said, playfully holding up his hands.
Smiling, as she shook her head a few times, Lily got the thin slice for Sophie and then turned to her friend. "Are you getting Josie's?" she asked her.
"I'd like to," Beckett said as she got up and went over to the cake, taking the cake server the café had given them to use. She cut another thin slice and set it on the tray in front of Josie before she helped Lily in getting slices for everyone else. Sitting down she saw in between the layers of cake were strawberries and she looked at her daughters seeing they were obviously enjoying the cake since they were eating in silence. She turned her attention to her slice before Eliza was getting up and going to her.
"Do we give her the presents now?" the little girl whispered to her mother.
"Once we get Josie and Sophie cleaned up," Beckett replied, hugging her daughter for a moment. She was going to get up to do that when her husband was stopping her by squeezing her shoulder. She watched him go and turned her attention to Eliza saying, "Put the presents from us by Lily, okay?"
"Okay," the little girl said, grabbing the gifts they'd piled on a table near them that wasn't being used. She took the two to Lily and said, "These are from us."
"I see," the chef said with a smile as Mari and Jacob were bringing all the other gifts. "Thank you." Lily turned to her husband cleaning off Sophie and when she saw he had finished she waited for him and Castle to sit before she grabbed the smallest gift.
"If you can't tell," Brad said with a smile. "She loves going the smallest gift to the largest."
"Just for their birthdays," Lily said, looking at her husband across the table from her.
"Yeah, Christmas she lets us go in whatever order," Eve commented. "But one at a time," she then said at the same time as her brother. She and Jacob were laughing together before they turned as their little sister was squealing.
"Thank you Fosters," Brad said as he picked up a dress. "Oh… and for this one too… and the third. Guys," he said to them.
Laughing David said, "They're in different sizes for while she grows."
"I figured you'd appreciate that," Rebecca added, speaking to Lily.
Nodding her head, the woman said, "I do. We'll have to take this one to Spain," holding up the smallest one which was a sundress in a deep green color with white polka dots. "It's beautiful," Lily added before her husband was getting the next gift. "This one's from her brother and sister," she said with a smile as she was explaining it to the others.
"We bought it together," Eve said before they were watching her father ripping off the paper.
"That's so cute," Julia said when Brad pulled out a growth chart with cartoon penguins on it.
"It is," Lily said, smiling when Eve and Jacob were looking at her and her husband. "We'll hang it up in her room and measure her tomorrow."
"Right, great idea you guys," Brad said with a nod. He grabbed the next gift and after reading the tag said, "This one is from the Beckett-Castles." He ripped the paper and pulled out a stuffed white baby penguin and a book about penguins after that making him say, "Not much surprise here."
"The girls picked that out," Beckett said, nodding to Julia and Eliza.
"We thought she would like it," Julia explained. "And she should have a lot of stuffed animals."
"She loves this one," Lily said in amusement as Sophie was holding onto the penguin. "She even dropped her other penguin," she commented in amusement as Brad was moving the stuffed Emperor penguin aside so the baby wouldn't knock it to the floor. She took the next present and seeing the tag looked over at her friend with a slight frown on her face. "You know you didn't have to," she told Beckett though she was starting to tear the wrapping paper, not surprised when her friend was quickly responding.
"We are her godparents," Beckett pointed out. "Did you really think Rick and I wouldn't give her anything?"
"I guess I did," Lily replied before she was looking down at the box. Opening it she was looking back up at her friend and said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Beckett replied as her friend was taking the book out of the box and starting to look inside it.
"What is it Mom?" Jacob asked.
"It's a book of pictures of Sophie," Lily said. "Wait," she said suddenly. "How did you-"
"That would be because of me," Brad said. "She asked for pictures of Sophie. But she did mention a collage of pictures of her and Josie."
"That was my idea," Castle said, raising his hand before his wife made him put it down.
"It was the best way to make that book," Beckett said.
"I really don't care how you did it," Lily said, closing the book and then looking at her friend and Castle. "It's perfect."
"Good, I'm glad you liked it in the end," Beckett replied, smiling at her.
"That's all?" Martha said, surprised.
"The gifts were just from you guys," Brad said, taking the book from his wife. "We're giving her the rest of our gifts later at home."
"It's simple stuff," Jacob said.
"Like what?" Eliza asked.
"Oh no, no way I'm gonna say while she's listening," Jacob said, smiling at her as he knew she was joking.
"Are we going to keep going around?" Eve asked.
"We will," Lily said as the others were looking at herself and her husband. "Will you take these Brad?"
"I will," the chief replied with a nod. Brad leaned over and kissed the top of Sophie's head before squeezing his wife's hand. "Don't wait for me," he told everyone, putting the gifts into a bag the wrapped presents had been in.
"We'll head to the mini-golf," Lily said before watching her husband walking away from them.
"We're staying together," Beckett said.
"She's right," Rebecca added. "Since it is a birthday party."
"And we'll come back in the future," Castle added, speaking absently as he was taking Josie out of her highchair. He then looked at the others and said, "What?"
"I don't think you finished that," Beckett informed her husband, smiling.
"Oh, sorry, but we'll come on our own in the future," Castle said before they were walking to the start of the indoor golf course. "They redid it," he said as they looked over the holes they could see.
"Holiday themed?" Julia asked.
"It is," Lily said.
"It's cool," Jacob said, looking at Eliza who was next to him and nodding. "You think so too?"
"Yeah," the little girl replied, smiling. "But it's funny they put in St. Patrick's Day."
"Isn't it a big holiday in the city?" Eve asked her though she was looking at Julia too.
"It is, Mom never let me go out during it," the girl replied. "She said people went kind of crazy; drinking."
"Oh yeah, I've heard of that," Jacob said. "Dad said he's glad he was never there. It was a nightmare." He looked at his big sister and asked, "What?"
"You were listening to us?" Eve said in response.
"Yeah… oh come on I can listen and look at the arcade you know," Jacob said.
"Are you guys fighting?" Brad asked as he was walking up to them.
"No," Jacob said first.
"Just joking Dad," Eve added. "Can we play?"
"Go ahead," Brad said.
Smiling when the two protested, wanting their father to play as well, Beckett got Julia and Eliza so they could get ready to play. She hugged the little girl to her and ran her hand over the back of her head as they were waiting for their turn to start the course, pleased her daughters were having fun as they talked eagerly about what games they would do when they eventually reached the arcade as the afternoon wore on.