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Since Halloween fell on a Tuesday, no one was going to be in 'party all night' mode since they had work and classes the next day, but it was Lily's first Halloween, and Rick was determined that it would be memorable, even if Lily herself wouldn't have any firsthand memories of the holiday.
Kate and Rick had gone back and forth on their costumes, and they had finally agreed on 1950s-themed costumes. Kate was rocking a red-and-black-plaid poodle skirt with a black poodle on it with a black belt around her waist and a black long-sleeved scoop-necked sweater. Instead of saddle shoes and white bobby socks, however, she was wearing black flats with fishnet stockings—thigh-high with the seams up the back, which were common in the fifties. Rick hadn't seen that part of her ensemble yet, since he had been tending to Lily while Kate was getting ready, so he was in for a surprise at the end of the night. Her hair was fixed in a ponytail, tied with a black scarf, and she wore the pendant necklace Rick had given her for her first Mother's Day as a mom, with Lily's and Alexis's birthstones in it.
She exited their bedroom just in time to see Rick descending the stairs, holding Lily, who was dressed in her little pea in the pod costume, her sweet little face shining under the hood on the costume, which Kate was encouraged to see Lily was leaving on instead of trying to take it off her head. The costume covered Lily, her feet inside the sleep-sack-like costume, which was all dark green, the three peas on the front of the costume a lighter shade of green than the rest of the costume. Lily waved her hands and gurgled, reaching out for Kate as she met Rick at the bottom of the stairs.
"Wow," Rick said as he took in Kate's costume. "Wanna go steady with me?"
"What, are you gonna give me your letterman's jacket?" Kate quipped as she beamed and then made a funny face at Lily as she took Lily from Rick.
"If I had a letterman's jacket, I would happily give it to you," Rick replied. "But they don't give those out to actual men of letters. I never had the athletic ability to earn one of those."
"Well, you've given me yourself, two amazing daughters, and a life I never thought I'd have. That beats a letterman's jacket any day," Kate replied. "And you, Lily...You are seriously adorable in this costume."
"She is, isn't she?" Rick said rhetorically as he smoothed his palm over the back of Lily's covered head. "Speaking of costumes, I'd better get ready. Everyone will be here soon."
The annual Castle Halloween party was limited to family only this year, although Rick had spent most of the week decorating the loft, and all of the food and drinks were prepared, waiting in the refrigerator to be set out once the guests did arrive, along with a massive bowl of candy by the front door for any trick-or-treaters.
Lily was fascinated by Kate's necklace and her tiny fingers went right to the pendant. "Ah ah ah," Kate said. Deftly shifting Lily to one arm, she tucked the pendant beneath her sweater. Lily scrunched up her face, unhappy at Mommy hiding the shiny thing she wanted to play with. "I had to do that, sweetie, so you didn't put it in your mouth." At the mention of her mouth, Lily jammed one of her little fists in her mouth. "And you just proved my point." She carried Lily to the kitchen to double-check that the refreshments were ready. Then they returned to the living room. Lily looked all around at the decorations, still seeming more puzzled by all the pumpkins, ghosts, skeletons, witches, cauldrons, and miles of fake spider webs. "Daddy goes all out for the holidays. Just wait until Christmas. I'm looking forward to your reaction to all the lights and ornaments on the Christmas tree," Kate said. Lily was still gumming her fist, but her eyes were focused on Kate. "I think you're really listening to what I'm saying," Kate mused. "You're amazing, Lily. And I love you more than I knew it was possible for any human being to love." She kissed Lily's forehead.
Rick emerged from the bedroom then dressed as a quintessential '50s greaser—black leather jacket unzipped over a plain white crewneck t-shirt that was tucked into dark blue Levi's, a black leather belt at the waist, the cuffs of the jeans rolled up to show off his black-and-white Chuck Taylor Converse high-tops. His hair was slicked back with plenty of product. "You look great, babe," she said.
"Great, or hot?" Rick asked.
"Great and hot," Kate replied. The doorbell rang then. The three of them went to answer it together. Alexis and Javier were standing on the other side, dressed as Buttercup and Westley from The Princess Bride. Alexis, wisely deciding not to give her dad a heart attack by showing up in Buttercup's wedding attire, was wearing a copy of Buttercup's red dress from the movie, while Javier cut a dashing figure in Westley's Dread Pirate Roberts costume, complete with mask, plastic sword, and a mustache he had grown specifically for the occasion.
"You guys look great!" Kate exclaimed when she saw them.
"Thank you," Alexis replied. "So do you." She smiled at Lily. "Oh my gosh, you're the cutest thing I've ever seen, Lily! Peas in a pod for Sweetpea." She looked at Kate now. "Dad dressed me up as a pumpkin for my first Halloween."
"I had to continue the tradition," Rick replied as he hugged Alexis, then exchanged back slaps with Javi.
Alan and Lanie arrived next, in their Comic-Con costumes of Captain Mal and Inara from Firefly. Then Martha arrived, dressed as Grizabella from Cats, complete with full face makeup. Lily tilted her head and quizzically studied this giant cat who had Gram's voice, not quite understanding why the cat sounded like Gram.
There was no such confusion with Grandpa Jim, who showed up in a navy blue sweater over his dress shirt and gray slacks. "No costume, Jim?" Rick asked. He'd been wondering what Jim would come up with.
"I didn't know they were a requirement," Jim said somewhat ruefully.
"I forgot this is technically your first Castle Halloween, Dad," Kate said apologetically.
"You guys look great," Jim said. "All of you." He grinned at Lily. "And you, Lily Jo, are the cutest little pea in a pod in the world." He started to reach for her, then stopped himself and asked Kate, "May I?"
"Of course," Kate said. Lily was already reaching out for Grandpa, the only person who looked the same as he usually did.
"So, Castle," Javier said, "when are Richie, Potsie, and Ralph Malph getting here? Is Arnold's Drive-In catering this shindig?"
"Very funny," Rick said.
Their conversation was cut off when the doorbell rang again. Rick crossed the foyer to open the door to reveal the entire Ryan family, Sarah Grace in a mini police officer's blue uniform complete with toy gold badge, and a pair of brown rabbit ears strapped to her head, with whiskers drawn onto her cheeks, and Nick standing beside his sister as a cute little Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, the hat sitting at a jaunty angle on his blond head. Jenny was dressed identically to Sarah Grace, police officer uniform, badge, rabbit ears, whiskers and all, while Kevin wore a short-sleeved green dress shirt untucked over khakis, a navy blue tie with angled pink stripes with the knot loosened, and a pair of what looked like fox ears perched atop his head.
"Trick or treat!" the Ryan family chorused, Nick and Sarah Grace holding up their little plastic jack-o-lanterns.
"Great costumes, guys!" Rick said. "But I only know who Nick is."
"I'm Officer Judy Hopps from Zootopia!" Sarah Grace exclaimed. "She's a cop like my daddy, and I want to be a cop like my daddy and Uncle Javi and Aunt Kate when I grow up. And Mommy's dressed like Officer Judy Hopps too!"
Rick looked at Kevin. "So that makes you..."
"Nick Wilde, bad boy fox turned good guy police officer," Ryan replied. "You guys haven't seen Zootopia? You should. Seriously, Disney movies aren't just for kids."
"I'm sure we'll be seeing the entire Disney animated complement in just a few years," Kate said as she stepped forward. She pulled two peppermint patties from the candy bowl, dropped one in Sarah Grace's plastic jack-o-lantern and the other in Nick's.
"What do you say?" Jenny prompted the kids in a singsong voice.
"Thank you, Aunt Kate," Sarah Grace said.
"Tank oo, Aun' Kate," Nick echoed his big sister.
"Ooh!" Sarah Grace exclaimed, looking around at all the decorations. "It's Halloween in here, Mommy, Daddy!"
"It sure is," Kevin agreed. He scooped up Nick in one arm and Sarah Grace in the other and carried his laughing, squealing children over the threshold, Jenny at his side.
Everyone oohed and aahed over Sarah Grace and Nick, and Sarah Grace was almost beside herself at all of the adults' costumes, and at Lily's peas in the pod costume.
The doorbell rang again, and when Kate answered it, Sarah Grace's eyes grew as large as saucers and she gasped and dropped her plastic jack-o-lantern, spilling Halloween candy all over the floor. "It's Belle and the Beast!" she exclaimed in a whisper.
Standing outside the Castles' door were Victoria and Gerald Gates, resplendent in their costumes, Victoria in Belle's formal yellow gown and gloves, while Gerald had gone the extra mile by wearing not only the Beast's furry face and tail, and his fangs, but also the formal blue tailcoat and waistcoat with gold embroidery, dark blue trousers, and white lace cravat.
"If we were having a contest, you'd be the hands down winners," Rick said. "Excellent costumes."
"Thank you, Castle," Victoria replied as Gerald ushered her into the loft ahead of him. Taking in his greaser costume, she said, "So, when are Bowser and the rest of Sha Na Na getting here?" The adults all laughed at that. "You laugh, but I'm serious. Getting Sha Na Na to perform at his Halloween party would be a very Castle thing to do," Victoria pointed out. They all had to agree that she was right.
Sarah Grace honestly did not recognize Victoria and Gerald. Their costumes were that good, along with the fact that she and Nick didn't see them quite as often as Lily did. They were familiar to Lily, although she wasn't entirely sure why. Mommy and Daddy were dressed very differently than she had ever seen them dressed before, and everyone was wearing strange clothes except for Grandpa Jim, but they were all still familiar to her. She just didn't know why everyone but Grandpa Jim was dressed so differently.
"I don't actually know the guys in Sha Na Na," Rick admitted.
"Well, it's still a great party, Castle," Lanie said. The others agreed.
"And next year, I'll be in costume," Jim promised.
Everyone ate and drank and talked and posed for pictures together in every possible grouping imaginable. Kevin and Jenny had taken their kids to the Halloween trunk-or-treat event at their parish church before coming to the party, so when Nick fell asleep on Jenny's shoulder and Sarah Grace began to crash from her sugar high, they said good night and took their kids home to get them to bed.
Lily got fussy, ready for her bedtime feeding, and for her feet to be free of her costume, so that was everyone else's cue to leave. Alexis and Javier, Martha, and Victoria and Gerald had other parties to go to (Rick and Kate's party was much earlier than usual because of Lily), Lanie and Alan were obviously faking tiredness so they could be alone together, and Jim had an early day in court the next day.
After Lily was changed into a fresh diaper and a black sleeper dotted with orange pumpkins, Kate nursed her. Kate had taken off her shoes and pendant but was still wearing the rest of her costume. Rick removed his leather jacket and Chuck Taylors and sat propped against the headboard of their bed with Kate while she nursed Lily. "I think Lily thought we were all very strange tonight," he reflected.
"Except my dad," Kate agreed. Lily unlatched, and Kate gently lifted Lily up over her shoulder, patting and rubbing her back until she burped, then lowering her to nestle in her arm. "It was only her first Halloween. She'll get more into it when she's a little older."
"I can't wait to see what she thinks of Christmas. That'll really be something—all the lights, and the colors, and the shiny decorations and ornaments," Rick said.
"I said the same thing to Lily earlier, while you were getting ready," Kate said. She smiled at him. "You've made the holidays magical for me. I know you'll do the same thing for Lily."
"We both will," Rick said. "That's the other thing I can't wait to see: you watching Lily enjoy Christmas. I have a lifetime of those memories with Alexis. And now you get to make those memories with Lily."
"I hadn't thought about that part of it yet," Kate said.
"Seeing the wonder in Lily's eyes...Although this year, she'll probably be much more interested in the wrapping paper and boxes than the toys, but that will come. Watching your kid filled with awe and wonder and just pure joy at Christmas...I'm really glad I get to do that again, and this time I get to do it with you."
Lily sighed softly then. "She's asleep," Kate whispered. "We'd better get her in her crib."
They settled Lily in her crib with wishes of sweet dreams and declarations of love, and then returned to their bedroom. "Trick or treat?" Kate asked.
Rick looked at her, puzzled. "Run that by me again?" he asked.
"It's Halloween night," she said. "So do you want a trick, or a treat?"
"Definitely a treat," Rick said. He knew she was up to something, but he wasn't sure what...until she removed her skirt and did a slow spin. His mouth went dry when he saw the seams in her stockings, the garters holding them in place, and the black lace panties she'd been wearing under her poodle skirt.
Standing beside their bed, dumbstruck all over again at the fact that the very beautiful, very sexy Kate Beckett was his wife, Rick could only watch as she moved into his personal space, tugging his t-shirt free from the waistband of his jeans, unbuckling his belt, removing it, and tossing it aside, and then unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans. When she slid a hand inside his boxers, he pulled her flush against him, and they tumbled onto the bed, happily getting lost in each other far into the night.
On Election Night 2017, the whole family gathered once again at the loft, this time not in costume, to watch the local election returns. The City Council seat for which Kate was running was hotly contested, and all of the local reporters and pundits had predicted it would go down to the wire.
Madison was part of the group this time, and she had brought a ton of food from Q3, which everyone mostly just picked at. Kevin and Jenny had left Sarah Grace and Nick at home with Jenny's parents baby-sitting, and Kate kept leaving the room to check on Lily, who was sleeping soundly.
"When John F. Kennedy was waiting for the results in the 1960 Presidential election, it finally got late enough that he went to bed," Jim told everyone. "Of course, he had his brother Bobby to stay up all night waiting for the election returns. They sent little Caroline in to wake her father the next morning by telling him, 'Good morning, Mr. President.'"
Kate returned in time to hear her dad relate this historical anecdote. "I'm not headed to D.C., Dad," she said. She wasn't having second thoughts about pursuing this path, exactly, but she was fighting the memories of the last time she'd been in D.C. for work, and how much she had ultimately hated it. She didn't like gray areas as a rule, Rick could have died there, and she had stumbled into LokSat there. She did want to serve the city of New York, and work her way up to serving the whole state of New York. But was it possible that the United States Senate would be the same disaster that the FBI was?
There was no way to know until she was in it. Unbidden, the memory of a case she and Rick had worked a few years ago came to her: Simon Doyle, the suspect who claimed to be a time traveler, and who had said that Rick's biography blurb in his future novels would read, "Richard Castle lives in New York with his wife, Senator Beckett, and their three children."
Kate would never be as quick to believe those kinds of things as Rick would always be, but she had been approached to run for the Senate once already. Of course that was the New York State Senate. Being a State Senator would be an excellent way to serve the people of New York and she'd never have to set foot in D.C. again.
Jim Beckett saw the look in his daughter's eyes, saw that the wheels were spinning at about a million miles an hour, and knew that he had inadvertently let loose a caged tiger.
When Kate excused herself again to check on Lily, Alexis looked at Rick worriedly and said, "Is Mom okay?"
Rick was trying to figure out if he should go after Kate or not. "She's nervous about the outcome of the election," he said. And her father's President Kennedy anecdote had probably gotten Kate thinking about D.C.-a town that neither she nor he was very fond of after their last experience there.
Not only did Washington, D.C. have bad memories for both of them, but the man ultimately responsible for the murder of her mother was a United States Senator. Not that every U.S. Senator was a murdering crime lord on the take, but Kate had fought for so long and so hard to get justice for her mom, and the fact that Bracken had been a U.S. Senator was not exactly a ringing endorsement for Kate to become one. The State Senate had wanted her, though...and Rick was sure they still did. Kate had spent her adult life serving and protecting the people of New York City, getting justice for those who needed it, being a voice for those people who could no longer speak for themselves. Serving the whole state of New York as a State Senator in Albany was something she would definitely be passionate about, if that was what she ultimately chose to do. She had said at the beginning of the process of running for City Council that this was the first step, that she wanted to work her way up through the ranks, the same way she had at the NYPD.
Jim excused himself from the living room while everyone else was watching the election returns and talking amongst themselves. When Rick saw that Jim was headed upstairs, he decided to stay where he was. He and Kate could talk later.
Jim found Kate standing at Lily's crib, watching her sleep, but he also knew his daughter well enough to know that she was still having one hell of an argument with herself. "I should have thought before I spoke," he said softly, so as not to wake the baby. "The last time you worked in D.C., you hated it."
"I really did," Kate said, not taking her eyes off Lily. "There are too many gray areas, too many good old boys and backroom deals, and that's not who I am. It will never be who I am. And Rick and I could have..." She trailed off, unable to complete the sentence, unwilling to revisit those dark times again. They had survived, they were happy and healthy and together, they had Lily, and that was what mattered most.
"So you don't go to D.C. again," Jim said. "You've done very well serving the people of New York right here. You're just changing the capacity in which you'll be serving them. The State Senate asked you to run once. They'll ask you again someday, I'm sure of it."
"That's a long way away, Dad. I don't even know if I'm going to win this City Council seat," Kate said, finally looking from her daughter to her father.
"It's still close, but you're up 54% to 48%," Jim replied.
"That could change," Kate said.
"It could," Jim agreed. "And you could pull out in front and win by a landslide."
Kate remembered an old Bugs Bunny cartoon she had seen as a kid then, where Bugs fell in love with the electronic rabbit at the dog track and singlehandedly took out all of the dogs who were chasing the rabbit, not knowing she wasn't a real bunny. The dogs had all had names that had been played for puns, like Pneumatic Tire, Father's Mustache, and Motorman's Glove. When Bugs had jumped on Pneumatic Tire's back and covered his eyes, the guy calling the race had gone insane, screaming into his microphone about how the dog couldn't see, and when Bugs ran the dog face first into a wall, the man had shouted, "Pneumatic Tire is flat!" She snorted then, trying to stifle a laugh.
"What's so funny?" Jim asked.
"I was just remembering something from when I was a kid, an old Bugs Bunny cartoon," she said.
"The dog track, right?" Jim said. Then he quoted the announcer: "'Father's Mustache looks a little droopy.'"
"Yeah," Kate said, surprised. "How did you know?"
"My darling Katie, who do you think introduced you to Looney Tunes in the first place?" Jim asked with a fond smile. "I took a week off work to help your mom because you were such a terrible patient when you got the chicken pox when you were three years old, and we were in front of the TV for hours watching Sesame Street, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Looney Tunes, and The Flintstones." His smile widened at the memory. "Johanna said that Looney Tunes and The Flintstones were more for me than for you. And you did sleep through The Flintstones, for the most part. But you liked Looney Tunes."
"I did," Kate agreed. "I was remembering Pneumatic Tire."
"Crashed face first into the wall," Jim recalled. "And the announcer went crazy, shouting-"
"'Pneumatic Tire is flat!'" father and daughter said in unison.
"I don't believe for a second that you're going to get flattened like Pneumatic Tire. But whatever happens tonight," Jim said, "and wherever the professional road takes you in the future, I love you, Katie, and I'm so proud of you. And so is your mom."
Kate hugged her father then. "I love you too, Dad," she said, "and I'm proud of you too."
They heard muted exclamations coming from downstairs. "I think that's a good sign," Jim said as he broke the embrace.
Then Rick appeared in the doorway. "You really should come downstairs now, Kate," he said. His eyes were dancing, and he was doing a very poor job of trying to conceal the smile on his face.
Kate kissed her fingertips and gently touched them to Lily's forehead before heading downstairs with Rick and her father.
Javi and Alexis were pouring sparkling cider into champagne flutes (everyone had work the next day, and Kate and Jim weren't drinking at all). "You're just in time!" Martha exclaimed. Kevin reached for the remote and turned the TV volume up as high as he dared.
"...and with 96% of the precincts reporting, we are officially calling the District 1 City Council race in Manhattan for Kate Beckett," the TV announcer said.
Kate was surrounded then, as everyone crowded around her. She felt Rick's hands on her shoulders, his lips on the crown of her head. Then Lanie and Alexis were hugging her at the same time, talking over each other as they said, "You did it! I knew you would!" and Kate had one arm around Alexis and the other around Lanie.
Javi and Kevin were next, and Javi put a glass of sparkling cider in Kate's hand before hugging her and saying, "Congratulations, Kate."
"Thanks, Javi," Kate replied.
"Councilwoman Beckett," Kevin pronounced. "That has a nice ring to it."
"It really does," Jenny agreed, and then she, Kevin and Javi all hugged Kate.
Martha swooped in for a big hug next. "You'll get all those bozo politicians at City Hall straightened out in no time," she said.
"I'd hate to be a moron on one of your committees," Kevin agreed.
Alan raised his glass. "Here's to finally having the kind of representative we need at City Hall," he said.
"I'll drink to that," Victoria added.
"Way to go, Becks," Maddie said.
"That's my girl," Jim said proudly.
"I couldn't have done it without you," Kate said, looking around at everyone. "All of you. You are all my family, and you have all shaped my life and changed my life for the better. And this is new territory for me, but I'm looking forward to the adventure."
Rick raised his glass then. "To Kate," he said. "To the adventure. And to our family."
Everyone raised their glasses, some of them clinked glasses, and then they were sipping the cider.
After everyone else had gone home, when they were finally alone, Rick asked Kate, "Any second thoughts?"
"Not exactly," Kate said. "Cold feet, I think. Remembering D.C. Not wanting anything even remotely like that to happen again. I'll do my best as a Councilwoman, but the furthest I will ever go is the State Senate. I couldn't hack it in Washington. I'm not one for backroom deals and political games. I didn't like that stuff at the FBI. I don't even want to think about how much worse it is in the U.S. Senate." She shuddered, remembering Bracken, then quickly shut down that train of thought.
"I wasn't all that impressed with D.C. either, and I'm not just saying that because I almost died down there," he replied. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "We've worked hard to banish the darkness that place brought into our lives."
"I'm not letting that darkness touch us, or our family, ever again," Kate said fiercely.
"So we won't," Rick replied, rubbing her back soothingly.
In a calmer voice, Kate continued, "New York is my home. I can do a lot for the city of New York."
"You absolutely can," he agreed.
"I'm happy," she told him earnestly, seriously. "I'm living a life of sustained happiness. That's what matters most to me. You and Lily and Alexis and our whole family. And being a Councilwoman really will be a new adventure. I may not advance beyond the City Council. I don't know yet."
"There's time to figure all of that out," Rick said. "Although there is a two-term limit for City Council members."
"Are you going to write that political thriller now?" she asked, reminding him of what he had said when she was first approached to run for State Senate.
"No," he said. "I'm kicking around a few ideas outside the murder mystery genre, though. I might start on that soon. Well, soonish. It's November. We have a lot of occasions coming up. Your birthday, our anniversary, Thanksgiving, then it'll be Lily's first Christmas, New Year's Eve..."
"Our life," Kate said. "Our life grows around us every day. It gets bigger, and becomes more, and it's all just...I love you. I really, really love you, and I love our life, and whatever changes come our way, I promise you that you and Lily and Alexis, you will always come first with me."
"I really, really love you too," he said, brushing an errant stand of hair behind her ear. "And you're right about our life. When I open my eyes every morning and you're the first thing I see, I marvel all over again that this is real, that we're together and married and we have Lily, and Alexis, and if nothing else ever went right in my life, the three of you, and Mother, and our family of friends...you'd be enough."
"I don't know if you'll be able to attend all the City Council meetings," Kate said.
"If Lily and I can't be there, you'll tell us about them afterwards," Rick told her. "Councilwoman Beckett...Ryan was right, it does have a nice ring to it."
Kate smiled. "It does," she agreed right before they kissed.
