"You two did a wonderful job today," Martha said as Julia, Mari and Eliza were walking from the girls' dressing room. She was going to mention the fact that Mari's parents weren't there when her second oldest granddaughter was talking first and speaking rapidly which made her smile in response.
"I invited Mari to come over to play, do her homework with me while I do mine and have dinner with us. Is that okay?" Julia asked before she was breathing a little fast. She smiled when her grandparents were laughing softly and said, "I was excited to ask."
"I can tell," Martha said. "And I have no problems with that."
"Neither do I," Jim added. "But what about your parents?"
"I texted my mom before the class started," Mari answered since he'd been looking at her. "And she said it was fine." She bit her lower lip then, looking over at Julia as she wasn't sure if she should continue.
"We were wondering if she could spend the night tonight," Julia said.
"Did you ask her parents?" Jim asked her.
"Not yet," Julia said, looking at her friend. "But it would be really nice if she could. We won't talk all night or anything… I just would like for her to come over."
"Text your parents now Mari," Jim said to the girl after he and Martha had shared a look. While she was doing so he took Julia's hand and pulled her away from the others and asked, "What's wrong honey?"
Though she wasn't sure if she wanted to tell him, Julia knew she would have to explain why she was so desperate, and she explained what she had felt earlier. "I'm just glad Mari helped distract me," she commented.
"Your parents are probably fine," Jim told her though he wasn't sure if he was right.
"They are," Julia replied. She couldn't help smiling slightly as her grandfather looked surprised at that and said, "Grandmama told me," speaking softly as she wasn't sure how he would react.
"Okay, but you're still worried," Jim said.
"Something happened," Julia began. "And Mom was worried and I want to know but I know she won't tell me while Mari and Eliza are there. Josa too," she added hurriedly, looking back at her baby sister.
"If you want to talk with your mom and dad after we talk all together with them you can," Jim told her.
"Okay… what about Mari?" Julia asked.
Smiling, Jim squeezed her shoulder and said, "Let's see what her parents say first."
Julia nodded, though she was a little frustrated at it not being a yes for sure before they walked back to the others. "Did they answer back?" she asked her friend.
"Yeah, she said it would be fine if your grandparents and parents say it is," Mari told her.
"Sneaky," Julia said. She smiled as her friend was laughing and said, "But I'm not surprised. Let's go so we can talk to them now."
"Katie did just text me," Jim said, looking at his phone. "She said they're ready." He and Martha were gathering the three girls before they were walking together out to leave the school and make their way to the house.
Just as they were walking inside Martha's phone gave out its text alert sound and she said, "Can you take Josie?" to Julia who nodded.
"Watch her?" the girl said to her friend and sister. When they nodded, Julia rushed to the downstairs bathroom before she washed her hands and went back out to her baby sister. "Come here Josa," she told the baby taking her out. Once Josie was on her hip, she nuzzled her nose to hers and said, "Are you ready to crawl around?"
"Amaa," Josie vocalized a little loudly.
"Does that mean she wants Mommy?" Eliza asked her.
"Probably," Julia said before she took her sister to the family room. She kissed her cheek before she noticed where the baby was looking. "Do you remember they talk to us on this?" she asked, the baby looking at the TV screen which was blank.
"Amaa," Josie was said more quietly.
"Don't say that yet," Julia told her quickly. "Mom and Dad will be back soon I'm sure and you can say it then. Promise."
"Pa!" Josie exclaimed.
"Is she calling Daddy Pa?" Eliza asked while she and Mari were walking into the room.
"I don't think so," Julia said before she watched as her grandparents came inside. "What was on your phone?" she asked her grandmother.
"That was your sister," Martha replied. "She'll be working late and so will Louis so they're going to stay at their townhouse tonight again. They'll try and come tomorrow after work if they can."
"Oh… what about them talking to Mom and Dad?" Julia said.
"I think your parents call her after," Martha said. "And speaking of that we'll go ahead and call them."
"I can't wait to talk to them," Eliza said eagerly. "Can I tell them about the dance class first?"
"Yeah," Julia said as they were sitting on the coffee table as Jim was getting the TV ready. She had set Josie on her lap and then kissed the side of her head telling her, "We'll talk to Mom and Dad right now."
"Hey everyone," Castle said as he saw them. "Well… everyone but Alexis and Louis."
"They're both working late," Martha explained to her son. "Alexis said paperwork and Louis is helping a new pony being born."
"Will you call her later?" Julia asked.
"After we talk to you," Beckett said. She was watching her second oldest, seeing she was nodding quickly and knew she had understood what she'd meant. She then said, "So now we want to hear about how school went for you guys."
"Me first?" Eliza asked her big sister.
"Go," Julia said. When her little sister wriggled in her excitement she couldn't help laughing with Mari before Eliza was talking about her day. She realized eventually that she had forgotten to talk to her parents about Mari being there but realized she could after relating her own day at classes which she was soon doing. "So would it be okay for Mari to stay the night?" she asked when she'd finished.
"It is, but make sure you don't stay up all night talking," Beckett told her.
"And that you do your homework," Castle added.
"As soon as we hang up Dad, I promise," Julia said.
"Okay, that brings us to your dance class," Beckett said with a smile at the three girls. "And you can tell us too Mari."
"Sure," the girl said before she and Julia were both turning to Eliza at the same time.
"Oh," the little girl said, blushing a little as she recalled what she'd asked Julia earlier suddenly. "I wanted to say first that Quentin danced the Waltz with me, and he didn't make a gross face like he did before." She then frowned and said, "Is that not big news?"
"It is," Castle said first to reassure her. "Since he's always taken a while to dance with you like that."
"Yeah, I'm glad he did that," Eliza said.
"Did you tell him that?" Beckett asked her.
"I did, so did Ms. Grey," Eliza replied.
"Did he say anything about it? Why he changed his mind about not liking it?" Beckett then said.
"I asked him and he said, it wasn't that bad, and we didn't have to get married," Eliza said.
"Is that what he thought?" Castle asked, trying not to let his amusement seep into his tone.
"I think so… well, he said be boyfriend and girlfriend," Eliza explained. "But since we danced so many times he said married. I asked him and he said that. I said he was kinda silly but then he said he was glad that we could be friends."
"They danced really cute together," Julia said when she saw her mother glancing at her. "And great too since they're learning."
"Good, what about you two?" Castle asked her and Mari.
As she and her friend were talking about their dancing with their partners Julia was lightly bouncing Josie since she was shifting a little. "We'll be dancing the Jive tomorrow which will be great since we love it of course."
"Does Quentin?" Castle asked Eliza.
"Yep," the little girl said immediately.
"Good," Castle said, laughing slightly with his wife. "Now what about Josie?"
"A normal day," Jim said first. "But we've noticed her saying amaa more often now."
"Amaa! Amaa! Amaa!" Josie suddenly vocalized, bouncing on her sister's lap.
"We see you sweetie," Beckett said, smiling at her. She was continuing as Josie was reaching for her and she said, "Besides that nothing new?"
"No, but she's happy," Jim said as the baby was suddenly laughing.
"We're glad to see that," Castle said. "And hear it too. I think that's it though, you girls need to go do your homework don't you?"
"Wait!" Eliza said then. "What about you?"
"We finished the case," Beckett said after she and Castle had exchanged a quick look. "And we'll come home soon but we need to see when that'll be; we might stay a little longer to spend a little more time with Patrick and Trevor."
"That's it?" Eliza asked.
"Well…" Castle started to say, looking at his wife.
"Okay," Beckett said with a sigh. She and her husband quickly explained about the ball and their invitations to it, with her talking about them needing to dress up for it last.
"You're going to wear a dress from the Civil War time Mom?" Julia asked eagerly.
Beckett was startled at how enthusiastic her daughter was but nodded before she said, "Do you know what they look like?"
"Of course! I've looked at the book Mari got from the library about dresses in history," Julia explained.
"What does it look like?" Mari asked a little shyly.
"We don't know yet," Castle said. When the girls looked at him in confusion he said, "We won't see it until later today, but we'll send you a picture once we're dressed okay?"
"Okay, you are going to wear it right?" Julia asked her mother.
"I will, don't worry," Beckett told her. "Now you need to get to your homework you three." She shared a smile with her husband when the three groaned in disappointment before she said, "I know, but you have to go, you do want to play right?"
When the girls said yes, Castle said good night to them with his wife before they were saying the same to their parents. When the screen went dark, he said, "We're talking to Julia?"
"She wants to," Beckett replied as she looked at her phone as she received a text message. "She's going to her room… with Mari," she said slowly.
"Oh no, text her back," Castle said.
Beckett was trying to type out the message but before she could the Skye app on her husband's tablet was activating and she sighed saying, "We'll tell them." When the two girls appeared on the screen she said, "You can't-"
"She won't have a nightmare Mom," Julia interrupted her. "Tell us what happened."
"I want to know," Mari said suddenly. "Julia was so worried and I was too, but you are okay."
"Except for the little cuts on your face Dad," Julia said then.
Sighing, Castle leaned over to say into his wife's ear, "We can't really get around this. Neither one is going to let us."
"Okay," Beckett said, speaking both to her husband and the girls who were watching them. She and Castle told them about their time at the field, being careful not to speak about McRae or the motive to rape Dyson. "So we did finish the case and Patrick is okay, we just want to see if he can be released in the morning. But he will since he'll likely be able to walk; his wounds weren't as bad as we thought."
"Is he really only going to get a week off?" Castle asked. When his wife glanced at him he pointed out, "How long do you think those stitches are going to take to heal?"
"I know, but I think he wants to go back to prove he's not that badly hurt," Beckett said.
"Did Maddy and Keo see him?" Julia said.
"They were going in as we left," Beckett replied. "They have no idea he's been hurt, just that he's a little sick."
"Good thing," Mari said, seeing her friend was nodding in agreement next to her. She then turned back to them and said, "But you're okay?"
"We're fine," Beckett said first.
"Yeah, these scratches I barely notice," Castle said.
"Good," Julia said firmly. "And you have the ball tonight."
"We are going to dance," Beckett commented. "You don't have to worry."
"I know," Julia said with a smile. "Too bad Patrick wasn't going; you could dance with him."
"I was thinking the same," Beckett said with a slight smile. "But he'll come to the ball in February next year, we'll dance then." She saw the look on her daughter's face and told her, "He'll dance. Luckily it'll be long enough that he'll rest and heal." She laughed briefly when her daughter nodded, and she was about to ask if they had any more questions when Mari was inquiring about what her husband would wear that night.
"Are you going to be wearing a soldier's costume at all?" the girl asked.
"I'm not sure yet," Castle said. "I said soldier since I'm hoping that's what they'll give me in the end."
"You don't think they would?" Julia asked him.
"That's the thing, I'm not sure," Castle replied. "But you'll see in our picture."
"Who's going to take it?" Julia suddenly said as that had come to her.
"There's a mirror in the bedroom," Beckett replied. "We'll take a selfie through it so you can see my full dress."
"Hopefully it's a pretty dress," Julia said.
"It probably is," Beckett said. "You two need to go," she then said gently. "You have your homework."
"And playing," Julia said, smiling as she wondered what her mother's reaction would be.
"Hopefully your homework first," Beckett answered.
"It will be," Julia said reassuringly. She then said, "Thanks for telling me what happened though," knowing they did need to say goodbye.
"I just hope you two won't have a nightmare," Castle said. "We hope," he corrected himself.
"We won't," Mari said.
"She's right, and we'll have each other if we ended up," Julia said before she shook her head. "We'll be okay Dad, Mom."
"Alright, then we'll let you two go," Beckett told them. "We'll see you tomorrow girls."
"Night!" the two said, waving together.
Smiling at the sight of them doing that, Castle turned to his wife and said, "They should be okay."
"I think she's right," Beckett said. "They have each other and since they're such good friends…"
Castle nodded before he opened his mouth to speak when there was a knock at the suite door. He checked his watch and said, "Maybe that's them."
"We should open the door," Beckett teased him.
"Sure," Castle said as he followed her over to it. He watched while she was looking through the peephole and saw her surprise before he asked, "What is it?"
"It's Skye and Mary," Beckett said, unlocking the door before she opened it. "What're you doing here?" she asked them.
"Oh, nice way to say hello," Skye said wryly. She smiled before saying, "I got a call from Corbin; someone from the field gave him my number and he texted me," as she and her wife walked into the suite.
"Wait-" Castle started to say.
"He texted to make sure he could call Skye," Mary interrupted him.
"We're uninvited?" Beckett asked.
"No," Skye said simply. "He said he wasn't sure if we knew but we would need to style our hair a certain way."
"You're wearing a dress," Castle said.
Glancing at him, Skye couldn't help smiling before she shook her head and said, "I'm not, but he told me that I would have to put my hair up as it was at the field; but that makes sense of course. Also he sent suggestions for you Kate and Mary as well."
"What are they?" Beckett asked her.
"He sent pictures," Skye replied, holding her phone out to her friend.
Swiping through them, Beckett said, "What're you doing?"
"I'm torn between a snood and a regular bun," Mary said.
"What does Skye think?" Castle asked.
"Why is it up to me?" the investigator said slightly laughingly.
"I think he means what you're more interested in," Beckett pointed out.
"Oh," Skye said in surprise, looking at her wife with wide eyes.
"You can say," Mary told her, smiling at her wife. She watched as Skye was taking the phone and then going to a picture before she was handing it to her. "I'm not really surprised," she commented.
"Which style did she pick?" Castle couldn't help asking. He wasn't surprised when his wife went over to look and he waited, trying to be patient before Beckett was bringing it to him. "That's not bad," he commented, looking at Mary.
"I thought the same," the doctor replied with a smile. "And that's fine Skye."
"Good," the investigator said before she looked at Beckett.
"I'm not sure," she said honestly as she knew what her friend's look was. Beckett took back the phone and looked at the choices again before she shook her head saying, "I guess that one."
"It's not a bad one," Skye said. "And really one that fits you."
"Can I know or am I being surprised?" Castle asked as Skye was putting away her phone.
"You'll be surprised, but only after I finish with their hair," Skye said, taking her wife's arm and then Beckett's.
"Now?" she said in surprise.
"Yes," Skye said firmly. "We'll be right back," she said, ushering the two women inside the bedroom. She closed the two doors to Castle giving her a slight wave before he was sitting on the couch. "I feel bad doing that," she commented. "But really we need to get these finished before we go."
"I wish you didn't have to wear contacts grá," Mary said, handing her wife the small bag she'd brought with them.
"Me too, but I can't really change the rules," Skye said, nodding to her wife.
"Let me go brush my hair," Becket said.
"That would help," Skye called after her. "I'll be doing yours first since I won't be able to do hers until we go back to our room."
"I thought you were doing both our hair?" Beckett asked in confusion as she was brushing her hair and walking to the bedroom.
"Well… I brought Mary's curler just in case, but I realized it was weird to do that in your room," Skye said slowly.
"It's alright," Beckett assured her. "It'll help you out concerning time, right?"
"It will," Mary said before her wife could respond. "And thank you."
"It's not a problem," Beckett said. "Are you that sure they're not going to give you a dress?"
Laughing, Skye said, "I am, I just made sure with Corbin and he reassured me he was aware already of my preference for trousers." She pointed at Beckett and said, "The one time I'm happy of me being known for the show."
Smiling Beckett said, "I'm not surprised. He didn't mention what my husband would be wearing did he?"
"No, but I'm sure it'll be fine," Skye said.
"She's right, I think we're guests so we'll be… honored," Mary said, ending slowly as she smiled at her wife.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Beckett asked the investigator.
"Corbin asked if I could sing," Skye said. When she saw her friend smiling, she said, "You're not surprised."
"No," Beckett said firmly. "But I wonder what you'll sing."
"Me too, I said it depended on the song, but I'll have to see once we get there," Skye said. "And you've brushed your hair. Let me start or we'll be here for ages."
"Are you still doing that for me first?" Beckett asked.
"Yes," Skye said firmly. She had expected her friend to comment on that, but when she didn't and sat down on the edge of the bed she said, "Are you sure?"
"I am, we can't really wait that much longer," Beckett said. "And I'm sure it's going to be fine; I get the feeling I'll be more comfortable with this style."
"You should be," Skye said before she started to work on Beckett's hair. The first thing she did was to braid it in three separate plaits before twisting those three on the back of her head, just above her neck.
"You missed one hair," Beckett said. "Unless you made an executive decision to curl that one."
"I can tuck it up with the other braids if you don't like the idea," Skye said.
"Let me see how it looks," Beckett replied before the investigator was going into the bathroom and plugging in the curler. She watched her going to Mary, starting her hair style by twisting two thick ropes of hair she pulled together before pinning them.
"Okay," Skye said. "You two ladies into the bathroom please. And should we have some gossip?"
"Really grá?" Mary asked, looking back at her.
Skye smiled and then turned her attention to curling Beckett's strand of hair that was over her shoulder and when she finished, she moved out of the way as she was in front of the mirror. She and her wife were watching as the writer was looking at her reflection, waiting to hear her reaction though she was speaking soon after she had taken in her appearance.
"It looks… authentic," Beckett said, turning to the two women. "And really great even though I can't see the back."
"It is nice," Mary assured her. "You do good work grá."
"Thank you," Skye replied. "Now sit down," she told her before her wife was doing so rapidly.
"Are you always that abrupt with her?" Beckett asked, going to her jewelry roll she'd brought with her.
"Sometimes… why do you have more than your necklace?" Skye asked in surprise.
"You saw me wearing this the other night," Beckett said in amusement, watching her friend curling her wife's hair.
"True," Skye said, watching with Mary for a moment as Beckett was checking on her pearl necklace. "I thought you were going to put that on."
Smiling, Beckett told her as she set the necklace down but out from its pocket, "I'm waiting to see what color I'll end up getting."
"That makes sense," Mary said. "I just hope my dress will be a color I can work with."
"Do you have much in jewelry?" Beckett asked her.
"A little, I always take on trips since you never know what you're going to wear," Mary replied. She looked up at her and asked, "How is it going?"
"Good," Beckett assured her. "You don't mind it being curled that much?"
"For one night? No," Mary said with a smile. She then looked at her wife in the mirror and told her, "Also I would have told you already."
"I'm glad to know that since I'm well into these curls," Skye replied, speaking a little absently. She then focused on her work for a little longer before she had finished and she turned off the curler before setting it down and unplugging it. "All set grá," she then said before her wife was looking at her reflection.
Moving her curls around to drape over her shoulder, Mary nodded with a smile and said, "Perfect as always grá," going over to her wife.
As the two women were leaning into each other, Beckett looked away at her reflection, making sure the curl over her shoulder was set since she knew they would be going out to the living room. She then turned to the pair and saw they were looking at her, "Are you finished?" she asked them teasingly.
"Oh, for now," Skye commented.
Smiling when Mary rolled her eyes Beckett said to her, "That's a weird reaction."
"Oh, stop it," the doctor replied, smiling. Mary then grew serious and said, "Shouldn't you be showing your husband?"
"Yes, I-" Beckett started to say.
"She will right now," Skye said, taking the curler. "And we'll head back to our suite." She stopped Beckett before she could walk out and told her, "Let us lead."
"It doesn't need to be a grand entrance," Beckett said. When the two women; in the bedroom by then; called back, "Yes it does," she rolled her eyes but didn't try to stop them before she was walking after them to the doors.
Looking up from his phone; as he hadn't wanted to watch TV; Castle saw the door was opening and he stood up.
"Surprise?" Mary said with a smile.
"More your hair," Castle told her with a smile as he'd noticed it quickly. "But it looks really nice, you did a great job," he said, directing the last to Skye.
"Thank you, Kate's right behind us," the investigator said.
"And I'll step out if you get out of my way," Beckett said in mock annoyance. She smiled at Skye as the investigator was laughing while she moved and she said, "You're too much."
"You're welcome," Skye said before she turned to Castle to see his reaction.
Turning her attention to her husband, Beckett saw he'd grown serious and she murmured, "Okay?" while he walked up to her.
"We're going to leave," Skye said abruptly.
"We'll meet you in the lobby at five to see Patrick," Mary added, speaking rapidly as her wife had.
"And don't mess up her hair!" Skye said before she and Mary were nearly rushing out of the suite.
"Well…" Castle said as he and his wife had been watching the pair. "We would have waited for them," he told her.
"Try telling them that," Beckett said.
Shaking his head Castle told her, "It was their choice."
Looking back at her husband, Beckett wasn't surprised to find him leaning down to her and she met his kiss eagerly. Once his lips had met hers, she was wrapping her arms around him tightly before his were going about her waist before they were pressed tighter against each other. When they slowly parted, he was nuzzling her lips and she smiled before she was instigating the next kiss. When they had parted after that passionate one, she told him, "Thank you."
"For kissing you?" Castle asked her. When he saw her nodding he then said, "How can I resist? You look beautiful."
"I'm not dressed yet," Beckett told him.
"No, but that really doesn't matter," Castle said.
Beckett was a little confused at his tone and the fact that he was just staring at her which made her ask, "What is it?"
Shaking his head, Castle leaned down to her neck and began kissing at the side of it lightly, on her right opposite of where the strand curled over her left shoulder. He could feel her shivering as he was still holding her and it spurred him to start sucking on her pulse. He did that briefly before he said, "I can't keep going."
"No, I don't want to get makeup on whatever necklace I wear," Beckett told him though she had been enjoying his ministrations.
"Whatever necklace?" Castle said, reaching for her hand before he pulled her over to the couch.
"I don't know what color my dress will be… and to be honest I have no idea if this one would work with it," Beckett told him, indicating her aquamarine pendant.
"You have your pearl set," Castle told her.
Nodding, Beckett said, "That's the one I was thinking of."
"It'll look great," Castle said.
Beckett smiled and kissed her husband's cheek before she said, "Thank you, but I wonder if we should leave tomorrow if Patrick goes home."
"You don't want to?" Castle asked, not surprised she was saying that.
"I want to," Beckett said simply.
"Then you think Patrick wouldn't let you?" Castle asked.
"I'd like to ask him," Beckett told him.
"You need to tell Skye and Mary about that," Castle pointed out. "But I'm sure they'll let you talk to him alone first."
"Why first?" Beckett asked.
"Why not first?" Castle said immediately. "You do know that they wouldn't care, you were his friend first and out of all of us his closest friend." He held up his finger and then told her, "Note that I said friend."
"I got it," Beckett said with a smile.
"We'll let you talk to him first," Castle said firmly. "And then we'll go inside and see him before we go party."
Laughing softly at his tone, Beckett shook her head and said, "Thank you. I really want to see him again; awake. I'm not that used to seeing him injured like he was."
"No, I can see you wouldn't be," Castle said, hugging her tightly to him. He kissed the side of her head gently before he told her, "Tell me something."
Smiling, as she wasn't surprised he'd said that, Beckett thought for a moment and then said, "I have something, something short though."
"We don't have too much time," Castle said as he was looking at his watch. "So it doesn't matter."
"Okay," Beckett replied. "I told you we went to play mini-golf again."
"You did," Castle said as he recalled she'd said that to him though she hadn't gone into detail.
"There wasn't really much to the game itself," Beckett told him. "We played and teased each other of course."
"Of course," Castle said with a slight smile.
"After we had lunch together, pizza and some wine," Beckett said.
"Wine?" Castle asked in surprise.
With a smile, Beckett leaned over and kissed her husband quickly before she leaned back and said, "He said the same thing," beginning to relate to him what they'd talked about over their meal.
"This is one fancy place," Darnley said.
"Why, the wine?" Beckett asked him. When he nodded, she smiled and said, "I know, that was a surprise."
"You didn't know about that? You did say you've been here before," Darnley told her.
"Oh I did," Beckett replied. "But I've never eaten here before," she said.
"Oh… well I guess that would make sense," Darnley said. He took a sip of his wine and asked, "Why didn't you?"
"I came with Mom and Dad," Beckett explained. "They preferred eating elsewhere."
"True," Darnley said, knowing her father by then and his preference in where he ate. "But you guys did play here."
"We did," Beckett replied, nodding her head. "It was a lot of fun," she then related. "And I loved it."
"That's definitely understandable," Darnley said. "Did you guys play the arcade games?" he asked.
"Once in a while, Mom didn't want me playing video games too much," Beckett said with a soft smile. "And I would only get to play at arcades. That's fine though, I enjoy reading a lot."
"That's obvious," Darnley said. "But would you want to play now?"
"I'd love to," Beckett said with a firm nod of her head. She smiled and said, "You didn't have to distract me."
"It wasn't a really good one," Darnley admitted.
"It wasn't necessary, so it doesn't matter," Beckett told him. "And I wonder what exactly you'd want to play."
"I'm going to get you a stuffed toy," Darnley said. "So you can hug him and think of me."
"Oh god," Beckett said in laughter, covering her face with her hand. "That sounded horrible."
"Good, I wanted it to," Darnley replied.
Rolling her eyes, Beckett said, "Okay, finish your pizza so we can go play."
"Awesome," Darnley said, speaking in a nasally tone of voice that made her laugh outright which had been his aim. They ate and talked a little together about their plans for the next weekend before they had finished and went to get money for the games. He was getting his wallet before his friend was grabbing his hand and he said, "What? Did you change your mind?"
"No, are you drunk at all?" Beckett asked.
"Are you asking as Officer Beckett?" Darnley responded quickly.
"No, someone who's hoping to kick your ass in air hockey," Beckett said simply.
"Ooh, such language Kate," Darnley told her teasingly.
"So you're not going to play with me?" Beckett asked.
"Don't worry, I am," Darnley said. "What about you though?"
"What? Am I drunk?" Beckett replied. "No, so let's see who wins."
"Who wins what?" Darnley asked.
"I was just going to make it who wins," Beckett said though she wasn't surprised he was saying that.
"That's so boring," Darnley whined before she playfully pushed him and made him laugh. "Something to make it interesting. But not a drink. Or else I will end up drunk." He pointed to the café they'd eaten at and said in feigned inebriation, "That was some good wine."
"Oh good," Beckett said. "That means I'll win," she said to his perplexed expression. She then said, "But seriously, let's just play."
"Okay," Darnley said before he was getting the money. When he looked at Beckett, he wasn't surprised to see she looked confused and he explained, "I just realized maybe I shouldn't bring out your competitive side."
"Competitive side?" Beckett asked. She scoffed and then said, "I'm not that bad. If I was I'd be like Bachmeier was when we went out with the other officers," reminding him of the week before when they'd gone to a cop bar with their fellow officers at the station. They'd played what was supposed to be a friendly tournament of pool, but since Darnley was so good he'd won and the officer she'd mentioned had stormed out of the bar in a rage. "Have you heard from him at all?" she asked.
"No, but I'm guessing he'll just joke he was getting buzzed or whatever," Darnley said. "But you know that I'm just going to let it pass right?"
Sighing Beckett said, "I know, there isn't much you can do anyways. He seems to be that type of guy." They were walking to the air hockey tables when she felt her arm being grabbed and she looked back at him.
"Promise me you won't end up with a guy like that," Darnley told her. "Or at least to that degree."
"I promise; I don't want to end up with that either," Beckett said reassuringly and firmly. "So are we going to play or not?"
"You're going down," Darnley said.
Beckett laughed at his tone before she let him feed the quarters into the side of the table before they were starting to play, and she let herself enjoy it as they were teasing one another the entire time.
"I know you're probably wondering," Beckett said as she finished there. "But Patrick won that time, we played a second and I won. We stopped at that point and left it even." She expected her husband to laugh at that, but seeing his serious face she squeezed his arm asking, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Castle said quickly. "I'm not like that one officer-"
Stopping him before he could continue, Beckett tugged him down to her gently before they kissed lightly and she told him, "You're not. You can be competitive, but you won't just leave in a rage like Bachmeier. Believe me I'm fine with how you are… after nearly seven years of marriage I should be."
"True," Castle said before he leaned down to his wife and kissed her lovingly on the lips. When she wrapped her arms around him he did the same to her before they were making it much deeper. He would have been happy to let it go on for some time, but the sudden knock on the suite door made them jerk apart, ending the kiss. "If that's them…" he said in mock annoyance.
"It's not," Beckett said, standing up before he did. "The costumes?" she said when he looked surprised. She couldn't help laughing softly as he was nearly running to the door and waited for him to let a woman inside.
"I'm from the field," the woman said as she had three garment bags; one of them hoop shaped. "This is your dress; this is your costume and I'm sorry to be so short, but I really have to go."
"That's fine," Beckett said, knowing she was likely coming from the McDouglas' suite and was going to the ball later. "Thank you for dropping these off."
"If you need any alterations, we'll do it at the home," the woman replied before she left them.
Once he was walking back into the living room after locking the door behind her Castle said, "Should we change?"
"I think we need to," Beckett said, having checked the time. She picked up what was hers and said, "Wait for me out here once you're done." When her husband nodded seriously, she smiled and cupped his cheek before she went into the bathroom. She took everything out to consider what she had to wear and put on first before she nodded to herself and turned to undress so she could begin.