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: Just wanted to make a quick note that the Corbin Field Battle is completely made up for this story.

A/N #2: Great receiving the feedback for the last chapter so I'll go ahead and get started on my thank yous for that! TORONTOSUN (Nice to read you liked how I brought Darnley into the story. And I was really happy that you liked how it was intense in the chapter!) and

Mb (I was happy seeing you thought this chapter was a nice introduction to the case. And not surprised you're not thinking the murder with the plane crash being connected won't be a typical case, or easy for them to explain to their superiors. Also wasn't surprised you mentioned what's going on with his superior, which yeah, I know happens definitely. So happy to see you're looking forward to twists and turns with this one! You're welcome for the first half of the chapter! I was really pleased that you had the reaction you did to the second half. And not surprised you thought the sniper attack happening was out of the blue with the plane coming in damaged right behind it. I wasn't surprised either at your reaction to that plane crash at the end being witnessed by the investigators. I'm glad you think already the story is going to be action packed and intense, hopefully you'll continue to think that as this goes on! You're welcome for the second half!).

Thanks so much for the reviews, I loved reading them all and as always appreciate the time taken to write them out and send them my way!

A/N #3: The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Fire & Rain by James Taylor, from his album Sweet Baby James.

Flying Machines In Pieces

The weight of the baby carrier was heavy in her hand and Beckett was running to one of the first responders. "They're fine, just crying," she said to the woman who was taking the carrier from here. "No visible injuries."

"Are you with the NTSB ma'am?" the woman asked.

"No," Beckett said shortly before she was racing back to the plane. Her husband was coming out of the fuselage, coughing and cradling a young boy in his arms who was yelling in pain. She wanted to ask if he was okay himself but knew they had to keep going. So she went inside and reached a woman who was staggering down the aisle though she was obviously turned around as she was going to the emergency exit on the other side of the plane. "Ma'am," she called. She ran over to her and took her arm saying gently, "We'll get out, this way," leading her over to the hole in the side of the plane with her arm wrapped around her.

"We'll take her," a firefighter said as Beckett was stepping out.

"Ma'am!" Beckett heard behind her as she had turned back around to the inside of the plane. Each time she was helping someone out the first responders were trying to stop them, but she and Castle didn't allow them. She tried not to become too personally involved with each person, but with the children she couldn't help thinking of her daughters. She was carrying some of them and murmuring to them if they were conscious, most of them, but was racing as safely as she could to get them to help before returning to the plane.

Castle and Beckett kept going until Skye was grabbing the two by the arms and she wrapped hers around Beckett's shoulder to make them stop.

"We've gotten everyone out," the investigator said. "You two need to go back to the hotel."

"Not a chance," Beckett said. "Were there any fatalities?" she asked as they walked across the ground and away from the plane.

Motioning to Castle, Skye let him take her before she said, "As far as I can see I don't think there were. But we need to go to the hospital after I look at the site with Trevor. You two need to stay somewhere until we can go okay?"

"You don't need our help," Beckett said.

"No, you've done a lot here," Skye assured them. "And I appreciate it, believe me, we all do. But you two need to rest… did you inhale much smoke?"

"I don't think so," Castle answered.

"We'll wait at the hangar," Beckett said then.

Studying her, Skye nodded and said, "Call your daughters, your parents."

"We will," Castle said, though he knew their family was at the girls' dance class. He watched with his wife as Skye jogged to where Nkosi and the other investigators were, and he was about to ask Beckett if she wanted to sit when he heard Darnley calling behind them.

"Kate are you alright?" the detective said once the pair had reached him.

"Yeah, I want to call my daughters," Beckett answered. "Now."

"We can talk to our families over here," Darnley said, motioning to the hangar. "Trev told me to call his parents, I'll do that over here."

Watching him go, Beckett turned back to her husband as his phone was dialing and she took his hand when he held it out to her, squeezing it a little weakly as she suddenly felt exhausted.

"Richard?" Martha asked her son in surprise as she answered the phone.

"Mother," Castle began. When his wife nodded her head he said, "Do you think we can talk to the girls?"

"They're… alright," Martha said. "Let me call you back, we'll take them home."

"Thank you, Martha," Beckett said so her mother in law would know she was okay. After her husband hung up the phone, she leaned against him and felt him wrapping his arm around him tightly before he pressed his lips to the side of her head. "I'm okay," she said as firmly as she could.

"Yeah," Castle replied. "Me too," he then added quickly as he could tell she wanted to ask him. He held her closer while they were waiting to hear from their family before he asked, "Would you want to Skype now?"

"Yeah," Beckett said with a nod. She paused and then said, "But your face is smudged."

Touching his cheek, Castle said, "Yours too."

"There's a bathroom over there," Beckett said, nodding to it. "If we hurry…" she wasn't surprised when her husband nodded, and they went quickly to the sink one of the two bathrooms near the back of the building. They washed their faces and after they were ready, they returned to the two chairs they'd found at the table with the parts from the 777 in the hangar.

"It's them," Castle said as his phone started to ring just as they'd sat down. When Beckett nodded to him, he slid his finger over the screen to accept the call and then said, "Hello?" as he wasn't sure who'd be on the other end.

"Hi Dad," Alexis said.

"Sweetheart," Castle said quickly. "We want to Skype with you, could-"

"Wait, we know already what happened," Alexis said.

"You do?" Beckett said.

"Yeah, Grandpapa went on his phone to look at the news and he saw the plane crash," Alexis explained. "You guys really are okay?" she asked them.

"We are, we were helping them getting people out but… we were in no danger," Beckett said reassuringly.

"You went into the plane?" Alexis asked in a mix of horror and disbelief.

"We had to, there were a lot of people that we could save," Castle said, though he wasn't surprised she was reacting the way she was.

"You didn't get cut or anything?" Alexis asked.

"No," Beckett said, knowing the girls must have joined the young woman. "Put us on Skype; this will be our call for the day."

Hearing the young woman getting everything set, Castle opened their Skype app before they saw the girls. "Hey everyone," he said, smiling as the sight of the middle girls waving calmed him considerably. When his wife squeezed his hand, he realized she was feeling the same and he focused on their family as Julia was asking them an understandable question.

"How come you're calling so soon?" Julia said.

"We're going to need to help Skye and Darnley longer than we thought we would," Beckett said. "So we'll talk to you now. And I'm so sorry we took you away from your class, but we wanted to get the chance to talk to you."

"That's okay," Eliza said quickly. "We weren't really doing that much anyway."

"Okay, so that means you'll tell us all about your days at school, right?" Castle asked. He smiled when the little girl laughed before he said, "I hope so, we really want to hear how it went."

As Eliza started, Beckett felt her husband squeezing her gently and she did the same with him before their second youngest was looking at her big sister. When Julia told them about her day, she listened closely to make sure the girl wasn't worrying about her finals.

"So I think it'll be okay," Julia was finishing with. She then looked at her mom and said, "But I really hope that you'll still help me."

"Don't worry," Beckett said firmly. "We all will like I told you."

"Yep," Julia said.

"We should have a few days in Paris," Castle told his wife.

"We should," Beckett said with a smile.

"Oh, I talked with my guidance counselor today," Julia said suddenly.

"Your meeting about high school?" Castle asked since the Academy did that for the students so they would be okay going from the middle school to the high school.

"Yeah, I asked if I could take Spanish in ninth grade along with French," Julia said. "And Mrs. Gideon said I could."

"Do you think you'd be okay with two different languages?" Beckett said.

"I'd like to try," Julia said honestly.

"Okay," Castle said. "What about the dance class though?"

Julia and Eliza shared a smile before they were telling their parents about what they'd done for the dance class. "It was fun, but we didn't mind leaving," the former said when she and her sister had finished.

"Now we can play with Josa!" Eliza said eagerly.

"You can," Beckett said with a soft laugh. "But you need to do your homework first before you play."

"I will Mommy," Eliza said, nodding her head rapidly.

"How's Josie doing?" Castle asked after they stopped laughing softly.

"Good, she had her normal day," Martha said. "Standing and trying to talk though she didn't really do anything new. I'm very certain she's waiting for the two of you."

"I hope," Beckett said with a smile, waving at the baby as Julia had stood with her on her hip.

"Me too, tell her when we hang up not to do anything for the first time until we're back," Castle said. When the girls had stopped laughing, he said to his and Beckett's oldest, "Is Louis still at work?"

"He is," Alexis said. "I got off early since I finished everything up."

"Did you get any RSVPs?" Castle asked her.

"We did but I haven't opened them yet," Alexis replied. "I'll tell you what I get tomorrow."

"Okay, then tell Louis we hope he's doing well," Castle said. "And we'll try to call you a little later tomorrow."

As they were saying goodbye to their family, Beckett noticed Skye was standing by the hangar, but she tried to keep her attention focused on the others until they hung up. The investigator hadn't come up to them, talking with another investigator, and she turned to her husband murmuring, "I don't know how she's able to still work."

"Neither do I," Castle said, shaking his head. He then hugged her tightly and murmured, "They're okay."

"I know," Beckett replied, hugging him and closing her eyes tightly. When they pulled away, she said, "Do you want to stop here?"

"No, I want to find out who's doing this," Castle said.

"Good," Skye said before the two writers were looking at her. "I'm glad you share my opinion."

"No one else thinks this was sabotage?" Castle asked.

"We can't say yet, but the same airline? The same Boeing model? It's not a coincidence," Skye told them, stepping up to the table.

"How does Patrick's case add up to this though?" Beckett asked.

"The parts," Skye told her. "That's the connection but we need to start looking into the company first before we say it's for certain."

"Do you know people that are part of it?" Beckett said.

"She does," Nkosi said, walking over to them with his husband next to him.

"Kip," Skye said.

"Wait… he works for the company? How does that work if he's…" Castle started to say before he realized what that meant. "He's leaving the NTSB?"

"Next week," Skye said. "He was going to join Potomac."

"Where did the flight come from?" Beckett asked.

"Tucson?" Skye asked her co-IIC. When the man nodded, she then said, "He was investigating an incident there."

"Shouldn't that be the NTSB West's jurisdiction?" Castle said.

"He was asked by the IIC," Skye explained.

"He's a metallurgist," Nkosi said.

"Who were you going to call?" Skye said, turning to him.

"Wait, if he had been here already he was going to be part of the investigation?" Darnley asked.

"We had the thought too," Skye said, nodding her head. "But we already have a metallurgist; Jensen."

"Where is he?" Darnley asked.

"He was helping us get people out," Skye said.

"It seems to have shaken him from his shock," Nkosi said. "And we just had word about Lamont, he'll recover. You two saved his life."

"Basic training," Skye said, not surprised when Beckett nodded in agreement with her. "Okay, we can talk to Kip, he's not too badly injured and he's been asking for us."

"What do we do?" Castle asked.

"Come with us," Skye said. "Listen to the conversation at least."

Beckett was about to ask if that was necessary, but she knew the investigator wanted them to be kept in the loop for both investigations for as long as possible. "Alright, though you might want to consider canceling our reservations," she said after she and Castle had stood.

"Don't worry," Skye said. "We'll make it, both our supervisors have told us to wrap things up for the day." She was going to explain further before she heard running coming up to the hangar and looked with the others as her wife was calling out to her.

"Rose!" Mary said, hurrying to her. As soon as she'd reached Skye, she threw her arms around her and hugged her tightly.

"How did you get in here?" Skye said. "Why did they let you in? It's way too dangerous for you."

"Skye," Mary said firmly, stopping her wife from trying to let her go. "I'm not leaving, and they've put out the fire." She let her go then before taking her hand before the investigator could take her arm. "I'm staying," she said sternly.

"I got it, but we need to go to the hospital," Skye told her.

"Any fatalities?" Mary asked the others.

"There don't appear to be at the moment," Nkosi said. "We need to see how things go now everyone's headed to hospital."

"Just one?" Beckett asked.

"No, different ones," Skye was quick to say. "That's just how we say it."

"You're okay?" Mary said to her wife, cupping her cheek that was still smudged with smoke.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Skye replied. "Um," she said, looking at the others. "We'll go in the car… Patrick?"

"I just got a call from Sumner," Darnley replied. He saw the others were looking at him in confusion and said, "She went with an ambulance. The wife of a Representative her family is close friends with was on the plane, but I don't think it was a critical injury. She told me Commissioner Weaver; our new supervisor; wants me to go home today. Jodie too once she leaves the hospital."

"Will you go home to the children?" Nkosi asked him, taking his hand and entwining their fingers.

"I will," Darnley said. "But… should we still have this dinner?"

"I think we should," Mary said, looking at the five of them.

"Decompress?" Castle asked.

"You guys need to rest too," Mary said, wrapping her arm around her wife's waist. "Take a bath, a shower, sleep a little, something to get your mind off what you had to do just now."

"We still need to go to the hospital," Nkosi told her.

"He's right, we need to," Skye said before her wife could protest. "For the investigation and I want to see how Kip's doing."

"Kip?" Mary asked. She looked out to the plane in the distance and said, "He was on the plane?" When her wife nodded, she took her into her arms and hugged her tightly, murmuring into her ear before Skye nodded and she let her go. "Please come back to the hotel after," she urged her.

"I will," Skye replied with a nod. "We need to talk to the pilot and co-pilot if we can," she added.

"Do you know who was flying?" Castle asked them.

Shaking his head as Skye was Nkosi said to her, "Hopefully you know them."

"They'll know her won't they?" Beckett asked.

"Very likely," Nkosi said.

"Let's go," Skye said so they would leave the hangar.

"Can you two leave after the hospital?" Beckett was asking the two investigators as they were walking to the cars.

"We were ordered to ourselves; the Chairman," Nkosi commented. "I'll be glad to." They had come to the car Darnley and Sumner had driven in and he turned to his husband saying, "I'll be home as soon as I can."

"We'll be waiting for you," Darnley said before he glanced over at Mary. He was about to ask the doctor about them being able to play with their children when she was speaking first as she was smiling slightly.

"If you want to play with your kids, that'll help too," Mary said.

"Oh good, I really wanted to," Darnley said, his husband nodding in agreement. He hugged Nkosi tightly before they let go of each other reluctantly and he was about to speak when his husband was.

"We'll ask if they might know Villa," Nkosi said reassuringly.

"Thank you, do you have the picture?" Darnley asked.

"I do, on my phone," Skye reassured him. "We'll see you."

Watching the detective go, Mary said to the others, "He's taking that car home?"

"He'll take it to the station and then get his car to go home," Nkosi explained before they were waiting for Skye and Mary to say goodbye. "Would you like me to drive?" he asked his co-IIC when she returned to them after the doctor was leaving.

"If you could," Skye replied before she got into the backseat. "I'm fine," she said in Russian to her friend as the car was leaving the hangar.

"You still need to relax though," Beckett said. "With Mary."

Smiling briefly; as she knew her friend wasn't insinuating anything; Skye nodded and leaned back, closing her eyes until they had reached the hospital they knew their fellow investigator had been taken to. "The pilot-" she started to say as they were walking up to the entrance when Nkosi interrupted her.

"They're both here," the investigator said. "I think they left around the same time."

Nodding, Skye turned her attention to walking inside the building and going to the nurse's station with Nkosi so they could find out where the two men and woman were.

"I'm hoping this doesn't take that long," Castle said. When his wife turned to him, he was staring back at her seriously and he said, "I don't want you to have nightmares tonight," speaking in Irish.

"And I don't want you having them," Beckett told him. When he squeezed her hand firmly, she gave him a smile before they turned their attention to the investigators as the two were walking up to them.

"They're all on the same floor and within rooms of one another," Skye said.

"Injuries?" Castle asked.

"The pilot, Kalvin Matsuoka, has a broken arm and broken femur," Nkosi said, recalling what they'd been told by the nurse. "They're going to keep him overnight since he was unconscious after the crash though he came to quickly."

"Do you know him?" Castle asked them both.

"I do, he used to fly with JAL… Japan Airlines," Skye said. "I met him in a few past investigations. The co-pilot is Marcia Rozenn and she did receive a concussion and a laceration on her leg so she's staying for now too. I know her from a past incident investigation, but I don't know her much more than that. And Kip has a broken nose, broken foot and wrist but he's lucky it's nothing more than that."

"Are you sure about us being here?" Beckett asked.

"We are," Nkosi answered though the writer had been talking to Skye. "Let us see what they'll say, and we'll call you in if we need to."

Castle and Beckett nodded before they followed the two to the elevators and then headed up to the second floor where they came to a nurse's station. They hung back while Skye was talking to the women behind the counter before she walked back to Nkosi.

"We should have just gone back to the hotel," Castle murmured to his wife.

Though she agreed with him, Beckett shook her head and said, "Just wait."

About to speak again, Castle stopped himself as he was studying his wife and seeing she likely wanted to be there for Skye until their friend could stop investigating for the day.

"Alright," Skye said. "They're down this hall, we may peek in on some of the other passengers before we talk to Kip, but I'll see."

"What about interviewing them?" Castle asked while they walked down the hall.

"That we'll have to leave for the others to do," Nkosi said. "And that will be tomorrow."

"We need to let everyone receive treatment and see their families if they're able to come see them," Skye added. "Two-fifteen, the pilot's here."

"I'll go speak with the co-pilot," Nkosi said.

"Let me talk to Kalvin," Skye told Castle and Beckett. "And then we'll go in to talk to Kip."

"What about Trevor?" Castle asked.

"I'll see when I finish in here," Skye said.

"Don't forget about Villa," Beckett told her.

"I won't," Skye said before she went into the room.

"What if they talk in Japanese?" Castle whispered to his wife as Skye had left the door slightly open to them.

"She won't," Beckett said, though she wasn't totally sure about that as they were listening to what was happening inside.

"Skye," the pilot said inside. "I was so glad I heard correctly that you were here."

"You hear about the other flight?" Skye asked him.

"We did," Matsuoka said. "But what about my passengers; my crew?"

"As of this second everyone's survived," Skye replied. "And I'm so glad to see you've survived. How're you feeling?"

"The pain is dulled," Matsuoka answered. "But I worry about my wife, I don't know if she knows what's happened yet."

"I'll let you call her with my phone," Skye said.

When she could hear the pilot having a one-sided conversation; obviously with his wife; Beckett turned to her husband and said, "I just realized something." She waited for a moment to see if her husband would realize what she was talking about when a look of understanding spread across his face and he was telling her what she'd been about to say.

"Julia didn't mention anything," Castle was saying. "Did you think of a door or anything? Like she does?"

"No, I was thinking of her, all four girls," Beckett said, shaking her head. "I… I can only hope that their grandmother and my grandmother helped them," she murmured.

"I'm sure they did," Castle said, wrapping his arm around her before they looked at Nkosi as he was walking up to them. "She's there," he said quickly.

Nodding, the investigator knocked on the door before Skye opened it fully and Nkosi told her, "It appears Rozenn is suffering from amnesia. She can't remember anything from the moment the plane began its decent to now."

"Is that possible?" Castle asked in surprise, soon seeing the way his wife was looking at him. "Sorry," he said quickly as he recalled Julia.

"It's understandable," Skye murmured. "Trauma started at that moment. She doesn't remember a thing about them having trouble."

"I tried to coach her through it from what we saw but it was no use," Nkosi said.

"Alright, Matsuoka is talking to us so come in with me," Skye said. She turned to go but only heard one pair of footsteps before she looked back. "That includes you two, he saw you when I walked in earlier," she told the writers.

Sharing a look with his wife at their being recognized, Castle went after her as they followed the investigators into the room.

"It is them," Matsuoka said, smiling at them. "Wow, I didn't think I'd meet three celebrities today."

"They gave you really good drugs," Skye teased him.

Breathing out after he'd lost his smile, Matsuoka said, "Investigator, you need to ask me about what happened."

"We do," Nkosi said with a nod. "But if you would prefer to wait then we can."

"No, I realize you need to ask now because you're investigating," Matsuoka replied. He shifted a little on the bed before saying, "We descended to six thousand and right after we'd gotten to that level, we had an alarm about the flaps configuration but… I don't know how I knew but I felt it wasn't the flaps. There were no bangs or shudders in the plane, but we were quickly starting to bank while we were descending."

"We could see that," Skye said.

"We could tell," Castle said quickly as the investigator looked at him and Beckett. "It looked like the plane was fighting you."

"She was," Matsuoka replied.

"How did you manage to level yourself?" Skye asked.

Beckett glanced at the investigator; as she had a feeling her friend already knew the answer; but was aware why she had asked.

"I increased thrust to the left engine though it sped us up," Matsuoka explained. "It worked but I had to keep on them and the unevenness drove us towards 19C… I angled us up slightly but…"

"The fuselage cracked in the middle," Nkosi told him. "I believe that's what saved the passengers in the rear of the plane. You and Rozenn did some amazing flying today."

"Will you be able to find out what happened?" Matsuoka asked.

"We should, we'll have your boxes by now and we'll be looking into this until we find out what's going on," Skye said. "But there's something else I need to ask you. Do you recognize this man?"

Peering at the picture on the screen, Matsuoka nodded before saying, "I do, that's Rodriguez Villa."

Glancing behind her at the writers, Skye said, "How?"

"He's going to be the model for the airline," Matsuoka replied. "Why?"

"He was murdered on Friday night," Nkosi said.

"He… have you talked to Mr. Proulx?" Matsuoka asked in obvious shock.

"Yes," Skye replied as she recalled the name of the owner of the alloy parts factory. She paused as it came to her and she looked at Beckett behind her as she had caught the same thing.

"How do you know that name?" she was asking as she and Castle had seen the information in the folder at their suite.

"He's going to be my boss," Matsuoka said.

"You're retiring from flying?" Nkosi asked.

"I am, Mr. Proulx is the owner," Matsuoka explained.

"But… he's the owner of the Western Hemisphere Manufacturing," Beckett said.

"Yes, but he just became the owner of Potomac Airways," Matsuoka said.

"Does that mean he was going to the ceremony in a few days?" Nkosi asked.

"He was, I was too," Matsuoka said with a nod. "Today was my last flight."

Watching the man's eyes struggling to stay open, Beckett touched Skye's hand and wasn't surprised when the investigators ended the interview. When they were outside, she asked, "Ceremony?"

"The aircraft reveal ceremony," Nkosi explained as they were heading down the hall to where Kip was. "Boeing is going to reveal their 777-10X model and they'll do that later this week."

"Where?" Castle asked.

Looking through the window in the door to her friend's room, Skye saw Kip was asleep and she turned to the others, "We'll have to wait to talk to him. But for now, I think we should head out." She noticed the way Nkosi was looking at her and she said, "He's asleep, he'll be alright until tomorrow."

"Good point," Nkosi said, nodding his head. "Mary would want you to."

"He's right," Beckett told him. When Skye looked at her, she said, "Seriously, Mary wasn't kidding about that."

Letting out a sigh, Skye nodded and then said, "Will you tell Patrick about Mr. Proulx?"

"Of course," Nkosi said with a nod. "But thank you two for coming, I'm sure you wanted to go back to your hotel."

"At first," Castle said. "You have some leads for the murder."

"We do," Beckett said, unable to help smiling slightly as the investigators turned to her. "It'll make Patrick happy, so head back okay?"

"I must take the car back to the airport," Nkosi said as they were going downstairs in the staircase.

"I think you can take it with you," Skye said, looking at her phone. "Lamont's out of surgery and resting comfortably."

"Wonderful, I'll try and call him tomorrow," Nkosi said, not surprised when his co-IIC nodded in agreement. "Then may I give you a ride to your hotel."

Shaking her head, Beckett answered first telling the man, "Go back home to Patrick, I can imagine how he's feeling right now after going through all that."

"There were too many children on that flight," Nkosi said roughly.

"Go," Skye said, giving him a hug before Beckett was doing the same after she'd stepped away. She gasped when Nkosi suddenly grabbed her, so they were embracing at the same time. She smiled genuinely then and said, "Junior."

"Rosie," Nkosi said. "Katie?"

"Yes," Beckett said with a smile, not surprised he was hesitant since he knew her parents were the only ones to call her that in their present life. "But I'm not kidding, go. And dinner-"

"Will still happen. Patrick has looked forward to seeing you for months," Nkosi said. "Thank you, Rick," he then said as the other writer had been watching them.

"It's not a problem," Castle replied.

"We'll see you at six," Skye said before they were watching Nkosi leaving, alternating between jogging and walking until he was out of sight.

"Taxi?" Castle asked the investigator when she turned to him and Beckett.

"That's the idea," Skye said before she was getting onto her phone.

"Patrick will be okay right?" Beckett asked as they walked out of the hospital to wait for their cab.

"If he and Trevor do what Mary said I believe so," Skye replied. "For now though tell me how your book is going. I'm in a San Francisco state of mind suddenly."

Beckett smiled at the phrasing and she turned to her husband as he was starting with the plot of their latest twenties book. She couldn't help thinking of how familiar the hug had been between the pair; her siblings in their former life; and she tried to think of that instead of her worry for her friend after their experience at Dulles that afternoon.

"Dada!" Maddy squealed as she hurried to her father when he walked into the front door.

"Maddy, my little queen," Darnley said as he picked her up. He shared a kiss with her and asked, "Did you like school?" At her nod he laughed and said, "Good," before setting her down. He picked up Keo and kissed his son before saying to his mother in law, "Trev should be here soon, he just has a little left for the day."

"Of course," Bethany said. "Children, please go to your grandfather, he was not finished with his story for you both." When they had left the entry, she took her son in law's hands and said, "We know."

"You heard?" Darnley asked.

"We did," Bethany replied with a sigh. "The newsmen were filming you, Trevor and your three friends going in and out of the plane with passengers. We have not watched the news since the children woke up from their naps, but is everyone alright?"

"As far as I know they are," Darnley replied. "I just don't know about now, Trevor will." He led his mother in law into the house until they were in the living room and he told her, "I was supposed to keep working but my supervisor ordered me to come home."

"And she is right to do that," Bethany said. "You look… stricken."

"It was a horrible sight," Darnley said. "I'm just relieved it's not something Trev needs to see constantly."

"Sit, you look like you could use some rest and something cooling to drink," Bethany said, making him sit on the couch.

"Seeing the kids would help a lot," Darnley replied.

"I made lemonade," Bethany told him.

"Thank you," Darnley said with a smile before he watched her leave. When he was alone in the room he groaned and covered his face with his hands, trying to forget what he'd seen and gone through at the site. He almost couldn't do it when he heard tiny footsteps, running to the room which made him lower his hands before his kids were rushing to him. He smiled widely and picked them up at the same time, letting them cuddle against his sides as Maddy was telling him about her day at school.

"You were supposed to wait for your tata to come home to tell him," Joseph said as he walked into the room. He clasped his son in law's shoulder, not surprised Darnley only nodded at him in response. "Ah, here is your grandma with lemonade for us all," he said as his wife was walking into the room.

"What about Tata?" Maddy asked as she was taking her sippy cup.

"He'll be here soon," Darnley promised.

"I will save some for him," Bethany said.

"Are you still going to dinner with the others?" Joseph asked as they were all having glasses of the drink.

"Yeah, Mary felt it was best," Darnley said before he turned his attention to Maddy who was tapping his stomach. "Yes sweetie?" he asked her.

"Is Izzy's mama here?" Maddy asked.

"She is, she's eager to see you," Darnley said. "It's funny," he said then. "I never thought of when we should do that."

"Invite them to dinner tomorrow," Bethany said. "And the McDouglases, I will make Gatsby sandwiches if they don't mind."

"They wouldn't, you wouldn't mind making them?" Darnley asked.

"Oh no, I do enjoy the practice," Bethany said, nodding when her son in law smiled and told her thank you. They sat in silence before Maddy and Keo were playing together by carefully running around the coffee table and that went on for some time before they heard the front door open.

"Tata!" Maddy and Keo cried out at the same time before they went to the entry.

Going after them, Darnley felt better seeing his husband embracing their children, though he realized the man was emotionally exhausted. He held himself back, watching his in laws greeting their son before he was hugging Nkosi as tightly as he could.

"I must speak with you in the office," the investigator whispered into his husband's ear. "Your case," he murmured in Xhosa. When Darnley's eyes widened momentarily, he was about to speak before his father was talking to the kids before him.

"Why don't we go and take our glasses back to the kitchen?" Joseph was asking them.

When they had gone Nkosi looked at his husband and asked, "Should we just stay here?"

"We should," Darnley said, nodding his head. "What did you find out?"

Nkosi explained what he had learned with the others at the hospital and said, "I think Kate would have liked to call Mr. Proulx but that's for you."

"Exactly," Darnley said as he was getting his phone out of his pocket. He went onto his app for investigations and put in Heath Proulx name before the man's information came up and he said, "He's still owner of the alloy factory and I guess they updated since it says now he's co-CEO of Potomac Airways."

"Co?" Nkosi asked.

"I was thinking the same," Darnley replied. "I need to try and check in on where Proulx is at least."

"Now?" Nkosi asked, looking over to the doorway.

"Yes, I just need to check," Darnley said with a nod. "I'll call his office number."

Nkosi was watching his husband dialing the number before a secretary answered and he looked at Darnley in surprise when the woman talked about the co-CEO being at a Civil War battle recreation.

"Okay, he'll still be there tomorrow?" Darnley asked.

"He will sir," the secretary replied. "Would you like to leave a message for Mr. Proulx?"

"No, that's okay," Darnley said. "Thank you so much for your help." After the woman had said you're welcome and goodbye, he hung up and said to his husband, "I forgot about the Corbin Field battle."

"So did I," Nkosi said. "Will they still be doing the ball too?"

"They will," Darnley replied. "And that's something we'll have to do tomorrow first thing."

"What about telling the others?" Nkosi said. "What about our connection?"

"Well… for the connection I think we'll have to talk to Skye, Kate and Rick if we have enough," Darnley replied as his husband was standing up from the couch they'd been sitting on. "I will need to tell them about the reenactment battle since we're going but we really need to talk about something else during dinner."

Hearing their daughter squealing in the kitchen at something Nkosi said, "The children."

"I agree," Darnley said with a nod. "It's not a bath but still…"

"Still," Nkosi echoed. He reached for his husband then, cupping his face with his hand and leaning into him so they could kiss. When they had parted, he smiled saying, "Or this."

"A little more?" Darnley suggested, smiling when his husband laughed. They kissed again, holding onto one another and when they slowly parted, he nuzzled his lips and murmured, "Maybe later."

"I would like that… greatly," Nkosi said, recalling the fact that they'd been unable to have much intimacy with his husband's job taking over. "Would you be able to?"

"I will, don't worry," Darnley told him. "But first the kids," he said.

"Yes," Nkosi replied easily before he took his hand and they walked together to get their son and daughter.

"Come and play with us," Darnley said as he picked up Keo.

"What about your dinner?" Bethany asked the two men.

"We have more than enough time," Darnley replied. "Want to play?" he asked his son. He smiled at the baby squealing and hugging him around the neck before he and his husband went with the others into the family room. They started to play with their children, teaching Keo colors as his big sister had learned in school with his help. When they'd been doing that, and playing other games, for some time he sighed as he looked at his husband and said, "We have to stop."

"We… oh he's right," Nkosi said. "We need to get ready or we'll be late to the dinner that we're holding." He kissed Keo's cheek before he let the baby walk to Darnley and he hugged Maddy tightly when she came to him.

"We'll say goodbye once we're ready," Darnley told his in laws. He looked at Keo and stood up with him in his arms before saying, "We'll be right back."

"Of course you will, come here little one," Bethany said with a smile as she held her arms out to her grandson.

When their daughter was set with her grandparents, Darnley followed his husband upstairs to their room and he stated, "She looks happy still."

Nkosi turned to him from his closet and said, "Are you still worried about her being settled with Rick?"

"Not that, I told you about how she was back when I lived in NYC too," Darnley replied firmly. "And I want her to have something to be wildly satisfied with."

"Don't let Rick know you referred to him like that," Nkosi commented with a smile. "Or Kate either for that matter."

"I know," Darley said. He watched his husband undressing and asked as he was pulling on new clothes, "Think she wonders about me?"

Turning to his husband, Nkosi said, "She still loves you; she was happy seeing you. I could tell even though I saw you after you greeted her." He went to Darnley and squeezed his shoulder saying, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Darnley said, shaking himself. "I guess I'm feeling nostalgia and the distance between us. I'll get dressed now." He was relieved when his husband was nodding and going into the bathroom to finish preparing and he was racing a little to do the same. "I'm glad they don't mind dressing up tonight," he said as he walked up behind Nkosi at his sink.

Turning around the investigator said with a smile, "You need to wait for when we're back."

"I realize that, but I can't admire my husband?" Darnley replied.

Leaning over, Nkosi kissed him on the lips gently before saying, "You may, but not for that long."

Darnley closed the gap between them again and kissed him deeply before they were holding onto each other. When they parted, he was intending to lean into him to kiss him a second time when his husband stopped him. He frowned slightly and was about to protest when the investigator was speaking first.

"I know, but we must go," Nkosi said. "You'll be seeing Kate soon."

"Are you using her as a treat?" Darnley asked.

"I may be," Nkosi replied easily. "Does it work?"

"It does," Darnley said after pretending to think that over. "But don't let Kate know you did that."

"I would be insane to," Nkosi said before they were laughing together and leaving the bedroom. They walked downstairs to the family room, seeing Joseph was telling their kids a story.

"Is it one he told you?" Darnley murmured to his husband.

"Of course," Nkosi said, smiling.

"And they returned to their village," Joseph was finishing with. "And they met two girls whom they married."

"Babies?" Maddy asked.

"Many," Joseph said quickly as he noticed his son and son in law coming into the room. "But you see, you must be careful in nature."

"Tata! Dada!" Maddy squealed when she saw them.

"You look very dashing," Bethany said as she stood up and put Keo on her hip.

"Thank you, Mother," Nkosi said, taking his son from her. He kissed her cheek before he turned to Keo and said, "You will be a good boy for your grandparents."

"Yeah," the baby said, nodding his head.

"I'm glad he got the hang of that word and not no," Darnley said.

"He did with that word too," Nkosi reminded him.

"Yes, but luckily he will use both," Darnley replied, turning his attention to Maddy. He picked her up and kissed her cheeks before he said, "You'll help your grandparents with your brother."

"I wanna go Dada," Maddy replied.

Laughing, Darnley hugged her before saying, "I know, but we'll get to see Eliza and Julia and everyone else this summer in Spain." He was laughing as Maddy held her hands above her head before he said, "I'm looking forward to it too. But for tonight have fun with your grandma and grandpa and we'll take you to school in the morning." He and Nkosi said goodnight to their kids and then the investigator's parents before they were going out to his car. "You're not in trouble for taking the SUV are you?" he asked as he let his husband take the keys from him.

"No, but if I don't return with it tomorrow I will be," Nkosi replied. "And I will," he said before climbing into the driver's seat. Heading to the Mandarin Oriental, he and his husband were listening to music and once they'd gotten out at valet parking he said, "I hope that counts as relaxing."

"It's Mary, she'd say Queen was relaxing," Darnley said with a smile before they walked inside the lobby. They headed to the restaurant and found they were the first ones there, so he turned to his husband and asked, "Make out."

"Stop it," Nkosi said, rolling his eyes and smiling at the same time. "They'll be here soon." He then pretended to look thoughtful and said, "Though it would reassure Kate."

Laughing, Darnley squeezed his husband's shoulder before they looked at the elevators they could see, waiting for the rest of their friends to arrive.