"Where did you go?" Jim asked as he was sitting on one of the six white Adirondack chairs that had been stored in the studio.
"I was talking with Patrick," Beckett said, smiling as her father was playfully tickling Josie's neck while she was beaming at him. "And Rick has an idea for dinner."
"It's not just dinner," Castle said as the other adults were looking at him. "But an introduction to the town for the D…" he started to say before he trailed off and looked at the two men.
"Say Darnleys," Nkosi said. "It's easier, and in alphabetical order."
Darnley glanced at his husband before he said, "Thanks Trev."
"He wants us to walk downtown," Beckett told him as her friend had been looking questioningly at her husband. "Show you the shops there are and then eat at a restaurant."
"I like it," Eve said.
Laughing with the others, Lily then said, "She speaks for us all."
"And we're fine with that," David said for his family.
"I like it, it's walkable?" Darnley asked.
Nodding Beckett said, "We should have taken you before this."
"We wanted to spend time together," Darnley replied. "So… we'll go around to the shops first?"
"I was thinking of walking around the shops not just on Lake," Castle explained to the others.
"Yeah, they do need to know the area," Brad said.
"Are you saying that as a chief or civilian?" Darnley asked.
"Civilian," Brad said with a smile as he wasn't surprised he'd said that.
"Do we need to change our clothes for dinner?" Bethany was asking.
"I think we should decide on where we're going before we can answer that," Castle commented. He was about to ask if the family liked Indian when Julia was suddenly speaking and make them look at her.
"What about the café? We could eat outside couldn't we?" the girl asked.
"I'm okay with that," Castle said quickly, not surprised when Julia smiled at him.
"What kind of food is it?" Joseph asked.
"French," Beckett said. "We go there often."
"Then let's go," Darnley said, clapping his hands together once as he'd already set Maddy down.
After glancing at the others while they were agreeing, Beckett said, "We won't need to change; it's casual," to Bethany as she hadn't forgotten the woman's question.
The group was going back into the house to go to the front, getting what they needed before they were leaving with the older kids in front and the babies and Keo in their strollers.
"How is Martha?" Bethany asked Castle and Beckett while they were walking to downtown.
"She's good, she called us yesterday and let us know that she's found her replacement," Castle said. "And she'll move in with us after Mill Valley."
"How did the kids take that news?" Darnley asked.
"They were happy," Beckett said. "Very happy since they do enjoy having both their grandparents here." She smiled when she saw Darnley looking at the street sign they were passing and told him, "You'll get it eventually."
"Yeah, luckily we have GPS," Darnley said with a nod. He looked at his friend and said, "I still can't believe it."
"Give it until tomorrow," Beckett said.
"Why?" Darnley asked.
"When you go shopping at the market for supplies," Beckett replied.
Laughing for a moment, Darnley nodded and said, "True, thanks for the directions."
"That was at your insistence," Nkosi told his husband.
"I wanted her to be involved," Darnley said as he was shrugging his shoulders. He smiled at his friend and said, "Knee jerk reaction, since we did that all the time remember?"
"I know," Beckett assured him. "I didn't go everywhere in the city with him, so I had to write out directions; GPS wasn't that big yet."
"I did that for a while before I realized I was wasting ink doing that," Castle commented. He looked ahead of them and said, "Here it starts," as they were nearing stores instead of houses.
"How big is the downtown area?" Nkosi asked.
"A few blocks," Beckett said. "It's not large but really it's enough."
"Where's the library?" Darnley said suddenly.
"In the other direction," Beckett said. "I'll give you addresses once you're settled in."
"That'll be after the trip," Darnley commented. He smiled at his friend and said, "But for now I think the market's the biggest thing."
"Mom," Julia said, looking back at her. "Where are we going?"
"Around," Castle answered before his wife could. "We need to show them the stores before we go to the usual."
"Usual?" Nkosi asked.
"We tend to go in a few stores on Lake," Beckett explained. "But there are nice boutiques and other stores around the main street."
With that the group was starting to go on each block until they had made their way back to Lake and they stood together by the gazebo while the kids were playing at the top of it.
"So what do you guys usually do here?" Darnley said to the other adults.
"The bookstore and toy store for sure," Lily said first. "They'll want to show your kids the last one," she added, nodding to the kids above them.
"That's it?" Joseph asked in surprise.
"There's the clothing boutiques," Beckett started. "But we really only go there if we need something. And there's the art supplies store."
"That's essentially Mari's store," Rebecca said with a smile.
"Hmm, I'd like to go there first," Darnley said, looking at his husband.
"Do you use paint in your work?" Brad asked in surprise.
"I'd like to see if they have anything for woodworking," Darnley explained to them. "Plus we'd like to get another set of crayons for those two," he added, nodding up to the gazebo.
"We can go there first," Nkosi said. He smiled when the others looked at him and said, "He's eager to get there."
"For the kids," Darnley said before he was smiling at them. "And I'd like to look at the bookstore and toy store too."
While they were getting the kids and then walking to the art supplies store, Beckett went to her husband to get his attention when he was turning to her and speaking with a smile before she could do so.
"The florist shop?" Castle asked her. When she nodded, but looked uncertain he said, "I'm sure Bethany would like it."
"Maybe," Beckett replied, looking at her friend. She then turned to her husband and said, "It would need to be last." She was startled when he suddenly leaned over to her and she listened as he murmured into her ear.
"We could," Castle said, leaning back slightly.
"You have," Beckett said teasingly. When her husband nodded, she laughed briefly before they were walking into the store. They parted and she said to her father once she'd gone over to him, "I'm going to head across the street, help Rick with the girls?"
"I will," Jim said, watching her go before he looked down next to him as Julia was there.
"Where's Mom going?" the girl asked him.
"There," Jim said as they looked together to see her walking into the florist shop. He looked at his second oldest granddaughter; about to ask if she knew what Beckett had in mind; when he realized she'd left him. He quickly spotted her, walking rapidly to her father who was holding Josie and looking at some colored pencils in a display.
"Can I help you?" Castle asked his daughter when he noticed her.
"Did you get Mom flowers?" Julia said immediately in response.
"Easy," Castle said, motioning with his free hand to indicate to her to keep it down. "No, but she is getting flowers to be delivered to their house," he explained, knowing she'd understand who he was talking about.
"Can I go over there?" Julia asked.
Shaking his head Castle told her, "It's probably better if you stay, they might notice you're gone."
Julia pursed her lips before she glanced over at the door as it opened, and she smiled seeing it was her mother. "Never mind," she told him.
"Smart aleck," Castle said teasingly before he watched her go to her mother.
"Did anyone but you notice I left?" Beckett asked Julia as she walked up to her.
"No, what'd you get?" she asked.
"You'll see when we go to their house," Beckett answered. She expected her daughter to protest but when she didn't, she asked, "Okay?"
"Yeah," Julia said with a smile. "I figured you wouldn't say." When her mother was looking past her, she turned around and saw Darnley was walking over with Keo under his arm.
"No good?" the carpenter asked.
"No," Beckett said, shaking her head though she was smiling at the same time.
"Then down you go," Darnley said.
"Jul-i-a!" Keo cried out to her.
Watching as the girl was taking his son, Darnley looked at Beckett and said, "This is going to happen on a daily basis."
"In Mill Valley," Beckett said teasingly. She was about to tell him they'd likely spend a lot of time together when she noticed her husband was coming to them with Brad and David and stopped herself.
"Something's up," Darnley said, noticing the same thing she had. "Are we in trouble?"
"No," David said first. "Brad was talking to me about something that I agree with completely."
"I have no idea what they said to each other," Castle said quickly since his wife was looking at him.
"I'm wondering," the chief said when the other three were looking at him. "If you would mind helping on cases at all?"
"Three consultants?" Darnley said slowly. "I mean," he said in a hurry. "I know I did a little before but… really?"
"I've approved it myself," David said. "I just need to ask the board and once that's cleared you can any time you'd like. And you'll be allowed to have a gun once you register here in the state of course."
"Believe me, you've tried for me but the state isn't allowing me," Castle said, amused when the four turned to him then. "But it would be nice to have someone else around."
"Hopefully you'll help me with his theories," Darnley said jokingly. "Kate's too tolerant now."
Giving him a mock glare, Beckett said to her friend, "What do you think?"
"I'm fine with that, but I might not join you fully," Darnley said. "I would like to focus on making my company if I can."
"I'll let you know what happens after I talk with the council," David said as he could hear Dani calling for him.
"It seems weird still," Darnley said.
"I have worked on a case with three other men," Beckett said with a smile. She laughed when Darnley pursed his lips playfully and she squeezed his arm gently before saying, "I hope it works out."
"Me too," Darnley replied. "But I'm still a carpenter now."
"It's why I'm not calling you Detective Darnley in my head," Castle said. He smiled when his wife and the carpenter were rolling their eyes before Darnley walked away from them. He was about to ask his wife if she'd gotten everything set when she was telling him first.
"There'll be a vase there when we go back," Beckett said. "We just need to get to the house by seven twenty."
"Guessing?" Castle asked her. When his wife nodded, he said, "We'll have to try. At least we're just going to dinner after the stores."
"I know, I just hope the café isn't that crowded," Beckett said a little absently as she was watching some of the others going to the registers. She then turned to her husband and said, "Don't get them too much."
"I won't, we have their travel packages set," Castle replied.
Nodding, as they'd spent the week before getting items for their middle daughters, Beckett said, "I'm really glad we did that already."
"Are you nervous about next month?" Castle asked her.
"No," Beckett said in amusement as he was looking at her closely, she could tell. Since Alexis had been so busy with work, they hadn't been able to look for her wedding dress, but she had the chance one Monday and since Martha was moving in, she would be available to go as well. She shook herself and said, "But I'm hoping we can find what she'll want."
"Me too," Castle said.
"Don't tell me that you're insisting on going now Dad," Alexis said as she was walking over to them, Josie in her arms.
"No, I'm fine with you guys going on your own," Castle said. "Just let them help with the style."
"I let Gram do that before and I do trust Mom," Alexis replied.
"Good," Castle said simply.
Sharing a smile with her oldest, Beckett was about to tease him about being a little jealous when the others were starting to make their way over to them. She took Josie from Alexis before they walked across the street and headed to the toy store first. She was with Darnley when they entered and she said with a smile, "The handmade toys are the best."
"Eh," the carpenter said as he was picking up a handmade toy.
"Mass produced?" Nkosi asked, with them still though Maddy was tugging at his hand seeing the toys.
"I think so," Darnley said slowly. He looked at Maddy and said with a smile to his husband, "You better go, she'll pull off your sleeve."
"I know, we'll be around," Nkosi said.
"Do you think you could?" Beckett asked as Darnley was starting to turn around to her.
"How… you can read minds!" Darnley said in mock amazement.
Giving him a glance Beckett then said, "It wasn't that hard to tell. But seriously."
"I could, I might start with that… just as a side thing," Darnley replied. He then frowned for a moment before telling her, "I mean I should start with that because I need to get back to it. But later."
"I had a feeling you'd say that," Beckett replied with a smile. "Hopefully the kids won't try to convince yours to get some toys."
"If they did we wouldn't, their present today to celebrate the new home were the crayons," Darnley said.
"Good gift," Beckett said with a smile.
"Especially for Keo, he seems to love drawing," Darnley told her before they were walking further into the store to look for everyone.
Splitting up with her friend as he was going over to the toys for younger children, Beckett found Julia with Mari at the games and she told them playfully, "Don't we have all of those already?"
Laughing softly, Julia turned to her mother and said, "No, but we're just seeing if they have anything new."
"Do they?" Beckett asked. She did her best not to laugh as the girls were shaking their heads in response to her and she then told them, "We'll play some games with them back at the house."
"Our board games?" Julia asked in surprise.
"Our outdoor ones," Beckett said.
"Oh cool," Julia said. "But which ones will the little kids play with?"
"I think the giant Connect Four will do," Castle said, coming up from behind his wife with Josie on his hip.
"Da-ma-mmm," the baby suddenly vocalized before she laughed.
"Think she was trying to say dada?" Mari asked her friend.
"Probably," Julia said before she looked at her baby sister. "Josa, Dada?"
"Mama," Josie said before she was smiling.
"It was a nice try," Castle said, kissing the baby's temple before Jim was calling them to the front of the store.
"She'll get it soon," Julia said. "Lizzy and I will make sure she does," she added, smiling when her parents laughed before they were leaving to go to the bookstore quickly and head to the restaurant for dinner.
May 25th, 2021
Hello Evangeline! It's Tuesday and I had a minimum day and I want to write about what happened after school, since school was the exact same.
So the big thing today was that Patrick, Trevor and their family came up from Washington DC and they moved into the house next door! I guess that part I can't write a ton about since moving boxes and furniture is what the adults did. But it did leave the ten of us kids on our own, us older ones were watching out for the younger ones of course. We walked around the house and it's really nice, it's kinda like my house since it has a staircase in the entry, but their second one is in the family room while ours is in the hall near the kitchen. Whatever, it's just a nice house but it needs painting and I know already they want to paint it.
Julia was just about to get more ink in her pen before she looked at her parents as they walked inside and she smiled saying, "Did Patrick and Trevor go in?" After they'd said goodnight to Darnley and Nkosi, her parents had stayed behind, and she'd gone to their own house with her grandfather who had said goodnight just before she'd started her entry.
"They did," Beckett said. "They're going to check everything now it's night, and make sure that the locks are good."
"Patrick?" Castle guessed. He smiled when his wife nodded and then looked at their daughter saying, "You better hurry, it's getting late."
"I know, I won't take too long, I'm just talking about what happened once they moved in," Julia said, getting more ink.
"Good thing you finished your homework," Beckett said.
"Mom," Julia said, pretending to be annoyed as her mother had teased her in not believing she'd had no homework. "I did do a little studying."
"Then that's your homework," Beckett said. She kissed the side of her daughter's head before she went to sit next to her husband on the bed. "Go ahead, I just wanted to say that one last time."
"You sound like Dad," Julia said in amusement, looking back at him.
"I was going to say," Castle said as he was nodding in agreement before he laughed as his wife pushed him and he leaned over immediately though it wasn't that hard.
"Keep going Julia, I don't want you to have to leave your entry unfinished," Beckett told her gently.
"I will, I thought it was funny you kept teasing me," Julia said quickly reassure her mother. She was pleased when Beckett nodded and then turned back to her diary to start a new paragraph and write as quickly as she could before she ran out of time.
We kids walked around the house after our parents had started to move things in the house, seeing the rooms and doing the same upstairs. Maddy and Keo have really nice rooms and we saw the new beds that their dads gave them. Keo got bunk beds, though since he's almost three they're going to let him sleep in the trundle bed under the bottom bed. Then he'll go to the bottom bed and when he's really grown up he gets to go to the top bed if he wants. And Maddy's is really cute, it's white wood and it has a trundle bed too that she'll use now until they have a net for the main bed. We saw the others' too and their beds and rooms are nice, they all have to be painted, Patrick was saying that a lot.
We ate lunch, burgers from Stanislaus' which was so good (as usual), and then the adults started unpacking. I think they got everything out of boxes, and furniture set up I forgot to say, but they didn't put everything away. That's for the family to do eventually, well… I mean the adults will. Anyways us kids played outside (I also forgot to say that we went out to their backyard before lunch once we saw the house) and we did that with the grandparents.
Once the stuff was out all the way we talked about what to do for dinner, and Dad had the idea of going downtown to show them it and we decided to go to the French café. Going around the whole downtown was fun; I could tell that the Darnleys (they said it was okay to just call them that) liked it and the stores. They really liked the art supply store, toy store and bookstore too, getting crayons for Maddy and Keo and books for them too. And they loved the café, Bethany especially since she loves French food along with South African.
But the best thing was when we went back to their house and the owner of the florist's shop was there to deliver a vase Mom ordered for them. It was a big bunch of roses and lilies since Patrick and Trevor love them, and they were really happy with it and put it on the island in their kitchen so they'll see it all the time. We played on the beach after that with our different games Maddy and Keo could play until we had to stop since it was getting late, us kids in school do have school tomorrow so we had to go.
So now I'm here and I need to stop 'cause Mom and Dad are waiting for me and I need to go to bed now. We're going to the city tomorrow night to stay so we can get to the airport Thursday morning. I'll try to write tomorrow, see if we see the Darnleys at all! Night Evangeline.
"Do you think," Julia started to say as she got up from her desk chair once she'd put everything away. "That we'll see them at all tomorrow?"
"Probably," Castle said. "At night remember?"
"I meant before that," Julia replied.
"We might," Beckett said as her husband was looking at her. "I might go over there. Or we might invite them to lunch…"
"You're gonna take them lunch?" Julia asked with a smile while she watched them.
"I think we should," Beckett said. "They're not getting that much at the market and they'll want a meal."
"Are you excited going to the city with him?" Castle asked her.
"I am, it's been too long," Beckett said with a smile. "Now sweetie," she said, turning her attention to their daughter. "Time for bed."
Julia hugged her parents and kissed them goodnight, telling them she loved them as well before she got under her covers. Just as her mother kissed her forehead after tucking her in, she heard her mother's phone vibrating and asked, "Patrick?"
"I'll tell you tomorrow," Beckett told her. "He's probably just saying goodnight."
Sighing, though she didn't really mean it, Julia said, "Probably night Mom, Dad."
"Goodnight Julia," Castle said first.
"Night sweetie," Beckett said before they were leaving together. She turned off the light as they were leaving before she and Castle were watching their daughter turning onto her side. She eventually touched her husband's arm, and they left the room before going out into the hallway as she took her phone out of her pocket.
"Is it Patrick?" Castle asked, watching his wife.
"Yeah, he wanted to talk with me a little before he turns in for the night," Beckett said.
"I bet they're going to make love," Castle said as they went down the stairs together. When his wife stopped and turned to him, giving him a look, he said simply, "We did the same."
"I'm not surprised you're remembering them," Beckett said. "But you're also talking about Patrick and Trevor."
"I'll stop," Castle commented.
Smiling, Beckett kissed his cheek and told him, "I'll be back."
"Yeah, I'll just make some coffee," Castle said. He wanted to kiss her again, but she was leaving him to head out to the backyard. He breathed out a little before he was looking around the hall and walked down to the kitchen.
Once she was outside, Beckett walked across the sand to the Darnley-Nkosi home before she spotted her friend standing in front of the two chairs he and Nkosi had placed there earlier. She wrapped her arms around him tightly as soon as they met and told him, "I was hoping you'd want to do this."
"There's no way I couldn't," Darnley told her. When they parted, he smiled at her and said, "Just a little chat before we turn in." He was startled when his friend laughed and looked at her questioningly before he said, "What is it?"
Waiting until they sat down, Beckett told him what her husband had said when she'd told him about his text and then said, "He's right, but it's weird he said it first and not me."
Darnley was laughing that time and then said, "If he was reminded of you guys then it makes sense." They were quiet for a bit before he told her, "He is right. And you too."
Giving him a look, as she knew by what he said that he was talking about her and her husband making love that night, Beckett asked, "Are Maddy and Keo okay?"
Not surprised she was changing the subject, Darnley nodded and said, "They are, sleeping deeply and very happy. Maddy asked to play with Eliza and Dani tomorrow."
"I'm not surprised," Beckett said, smiling. She squeezed her friend's hand and told him, "I hope the kids sleep tomorrow."
"With Martha? I'm sure they will," Darnley replied. "Are you sure you want us all there?"
"We do," Beckett assured him. "It's a lot easier to have your family there."
"I'm surprised your dad's friend is letting the Fosters take his apartment for the night," Darnley commented.
"Well, he is going out of town for the weekend too," Beckett replied. "And he and Dad are good friends."
"And David's the mayor?" Darnley guessed.
"Probably," Beckett said with a smile. She then looked at him and said, "Has it sunk in yet?"
"Oh no, I never thought I'd have a house this big, on the beach," Darnley began. "Next door to you to boot."
Beckett laughed briefly before she said, "Again, tomorrow it will."
"Why tomorrow?" Darnley asked in mock exasperation.
Smiling Beckett told him about her idea of bringing lunch over to their home the next day before she said, "And don't forget your suitcases… it still seems weird when you just got here and took everything out of boxes."
"Yeah, but we don't mind," Darnley said quickly. "Not for this at least; we're so excited to go."
"Excited? Is that you or the kids talking?" Beckett asked in amusement.
"Both," Darnley told her. "I'm going to remember so much there."
"I know," Beckett said. "But I was thinking about the city."
"There too," Darnley said.
Beckett laughed softly and then said, "I'm not surprised, but that wasn't what I was thinking. It was more I'm a little disappointed that we can't go somewhere we went while we were still with the PD."
"I was thinking that too," Darnley said with a nod. "But we'll have more chances, right?"
"We might stay a day before we leave for Spain, we're not sure because of the pets," Beckett said. She was able to see the slight smile on her friend's face and asked, "What?"
"While Trev and I were walking around looking at everything we talked about getting a dog," Darnley said.
"You should," Beckett said. "Maddy and Keo will love it."
"We're thinking about it and we'll focus on that more around Christmas since there are so many different breeds and we have no idea what we want right now," Darnley replied.
"I don't blame you," Beckett said.
"Oh, you were just lucky to see that Wolfhound in Ireland," Darnley said jokingly. "But we're torn between lap dogs and bigger dogs; we'll see." They were quiet for a while, just listening to the waves breaking on the shore and he eventually said, "It's peaceful here."
"Which is what you need," Beckett said.
"What you needed?" Darnley asked her. When his friend nodded, he smiled slightly and then said, "Trev was saying the same thing to me."
"I'm not surprised, and he does love you of course," Beckett replied. She then looked back at his house and said, "I'm eager to see everything you can do in there to fix it to your liking."
"It feels overwhelming," Darnley said, shaking his head. "As much as we have in there… it's crazy what we'll do. You were lucky, Rick started you early."
"We still had things here and there to do," Beckett replied. "Like the paint outside all the rooms, it took us a while to choose that if you remember me telling you."
"But the other stuff you had before," Darnley said.
"The thing is this was Rick's house first, we only painted four bedrooms; Alexis' and Martha's were left alone," Beckett said. She smiled when her friend nodded and said, "Just take things one at a time, and finish with unpacking first."
"Yeah, Joseph and Bethany were telling me and Trev that," Darnley said.
"Speaking of your husband," Beckett said, having heard something at the house. She looked back to see that it was Nkosi and she stood up saying, "Time to go to bed."
Darnley opened his mouth before his eyes widened and he looked at his friend as she was laughing softly.
"How'd you forget that?" Beckett said.
"I don't know but man I'm so glad I remembered," Darnley said, grabbing his husband and then kissing him deeply once he was close enough.
"I'll go," Beckett said teasingly as the kiss lasted for a while.
"No," Nkosi said as they parted. "I only wanted to see if you were going to continue. I'm heading upstairs but I was going to set aside my clothes for the trip."
"No, we should all get some rest," Beckett commented. "It was a busy day." She went to Nkosi first and hugged him as tightly as she could before saying, "I'm so glad you finally got that table for him."
Laughing, Nkosi let her go as she was doing the same to him and said, "I couldn't wait for Christmas, it needed to be here."
Beckett kissed his cheek, letting him do the same for her before she turned to her friend and wrapped her arms tightly around him saying, "I'm still happy."
"Good, me too," Darnley said before they were laughing together. He kissed her cheek before she did the same to him and said, "I'm so glad we don't have to say goodbye anymore."
Smiling, Beckett nodded and said, "I was thinking of that too." She embraced him tightly before they let go of each other and she watched as he was smiling at her widely before he spoke.
"Just so you know I don't really want to stop our conversation," Darnley said.
Beckett laughed softly that time and then told him, "I know, but we'll need rest for tomorrow. And we'll be traveling together now."
"Mind if we tag along here and there?" Darnley asked as they were letting each other go.
"We'll ask you to come with us a lot," Beckett said in reply. "Or just me."
"I don't think Rick would mind," Nkosi commented.
"He won't," Beckett said with a smile before she turned back to her friend.
Sighing Darnley said, "Okay, okay. Night Kate, still eager about the trip."
"Me too, goodnight Patrick," Beckett said. She smiled as the two men said goodnight to her and she walked to her home while they watched. She stopped before heading up to the grass, waving to them and turning to her home. Seeing the lights on the gazebo were lit, she smiled at her husband before walking up to the patio and down to where he was sitting before he was greeting her while he handed her a glass of wine.
"I thought we could decompress," Castle explained to her.
"After what? The unpacking?" Beckett said with a smile.
"Exactly," Castle said. He smiled as his wife laughed softly and then told her, "I just thought it would be nice to do this. We haven't yet this year."
"I know," Beckett said simply before she was drinking her wine.
"How was it?" Castle asked her with a smile.
"Nice, we… just said goodnight and not goodbye," Beckett replied. "And he's taking things easier, I can tell."
"The money?" Castle guessed.
With a quick nod of her head Beckett said, "It was a worry for them both, since they were paying for both their house and Bethany and Joseph's." she saw her husband was about to speak and she told him, "Trevor had promised them he'd buy them a home in the neighborhood they ended up getting it at. And there wasn't room in their home either for them to move in."
"I'm glad they moved here," Castle said. He took a sip of his wine and asked her, "You did tell them it's a little colder here right?"
"They know from Patrick, he did live here for a few years," Beckett reminded him before she added, "He was asking about the Academy in our e-mails together."
"Their Kindergarten?" Castle asked, wondering why she looked serious suddenly.
"That and the elementary school," Beckett said before she sighed. "He asked if there were many kids that were African-American there."
"You told him about Quentin and all the others, right?" Castle asked, as there were more than just Eliza's dance partner they didn't know personally.
"He's just worried how they might be viewed," Beckett said. "They have two fathers… though I told him there are other parents who are gay. And then Keo, since he's biracial but there's the girl Julia said is in her History class."
"Giselle," Castle said as his wife was quiet. "Did she say if she was friends with her?"
"Not really, they know each other since they were partners for that project," Beckett said. "But Julia said she has her own group of friends, but she was nice."
"So you assured Patrick they'd be fine," Castle said.
"And reminded him that Dani will be in the same year as Maddy," Beckett said, nodding her head. "And Keo would have Maddy and Dani there with him until sixth grade." She saw her husband appeared to be thinking something over and she asked, "You're thinking of Josie and Sophie?"
"I am," Castle said. "They'll be two years behind him, which I'm realizing I shouldn't have thought of."
Beckett smiled and said, "It's still a little longer until that point you know, she just turned a year."
"Good thing," Castle said simply.
Laughing then, Beckett shook her head at the same time before she finished her wine and said, "Have you checked on the girls at all?"
"Before I came out here to wait for you," Castle replied. He then smiled and told her, "They're fine, Julia's asleep by now so we don't need to worry about her."
"Are you saying that we need to?" Beckett asked him.
"Perhaps," Castle said simply, paying attention to setting down his glass.
"Pervert," Beckett told him, smiling. When he reached for her she went to him willingly, sitting on his lap before they were kissing deeply immediately. She wasn't surprised when he was holding her tightly while they were doing that and when they had to stop after numerous kisses, she pressed her forehead to his. "This was what you were waiting for?" she asked him.
"You and then this," Castle said honestly. He smiled as she laughed, feeling a thrill go through him at the sound of it, and it spurred him to kiss her again. He was passionate and while their tongues were hungrily dueling together, he ran his hands around her back as much as he could. When they stopped yet again, but only to catch their breath, he told her, "I don't think I'm going to be able to stop."
"I can tell," Beckett said with a slight smile as she could easily feel her husband's arousal under her. She leaned over to him and kissed him tenderly before they parted and she told him, "Maybe we should go to bed."
"Good idea," Castle said. He smiled when his wife did, and they shared another kiss though they were brief before he waited for her to get off his lap. They shared a second kiss once they had their wine glasses and he said, "I love you."
"I love you too Rick," Beckett said, smiling before they were kissing one last time. As they walked down the porch from the gazebo, she wrapped her arm around her husband as Castle was doing the same to her. Just as they reached the door to go inside, she took his tender kiss before they were gazing into one another's eyes and hurrying in so they could spend some time being intimate until they found their repose clasped in each other's embrace.