This week's chapter is a bit early, since tomorrow is Easter. Happy Easter to all who celebrate, and thank you all for continuing to support this story by reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting. We're into May 2020 now.


It was the night before Mother's Day, and the baptisms of Reece and Jake; Lily's third birthday had been two days before, and everyone had gathered at the loft for her birthday party, which Reece and Jake had been awake for, and which both boys had taken in with wide-eyed wonder.

Alexis and Javier were at her place, stealing some time together in the midst of the family celebrations, and Alexis's end-of-the-year schedule, although her graduation was coming up in just a couple of weeks, and her last final exams were on the 18th of May. (Lily's birthday was the 7th; Mother's Day and the boys' christenings were on the 10th.)

Their first meeting with Father Pete was scheduled for June 1, and everyone was already planning to go to the Hamptons for Memorial Day weekend. Then Alexis would take the bar exam on July 24 and 25, and she and Javier would be getting married on August 15 at Lyndhurst Castle. They still had a million things to do for the wedding, after which they would be honeymooning in Hawaii, and upon returning, Alexis would be looking for a job, and then there was the matter of finding an apartment that would be theirs, which they were putting off until after the honeymoon because they knew they wouldn't have enough time to devote to a proper apartment search before the wedding with everything else they had going on.

"I can't forget Mom's gift," Alexis said. They were starting to get ready for bed. "Lately I feel like my head is so taken up with law study, I'm not remembering half of everything else."

"I'll remind you," Javier replied. The gift was already wrapped and waiting on the table by the front door, so if Alexis happened to forget to pick it up on their way out of the apartment the next day, he would see it and remind her. "We should probably talk to Mr. Beckett tomorrow at some point about recommending a lawyer for the pre-nup," he continued.

Alexis turned away from brushing her hair, freezing with the hairbrush in mid-air. "Talk to Jim about what, now?" she asked.

"The pre-nuptial agreement," Javier replied as he turned down the bed.

"Who said anything about us getting a pre-nup?" Alexis asked.

"I did," Javier said, looking up from the bed to see Alexis frowning at him.

"Are you looking for our marriage to fail?" she asked.

"Of course not!" Javier exclaimed. "But you're...well, rich, Lex. And I'm not."

"I'm not rich," Alexis replied, setting the hairbrush on top of her vanity. "My dad is rich. That money is his, not mine."

"It will be yours someday," Javier said.

"Therefore it will be ours someday," Alexis said. "Javier, we do not need a pre-nup. I do not want a pre-nup."

"I'm not marrying you for money," Javier said.

"I know that."

"Well, I want to make sure everybody else knows it too."

"You really don't think my parents know this?" Alexis asked. "They don't even have a pre-nup. Unlike Meredith and Gina, Kate never cared about the money. And it's going to be a very long time before we have to worry about it, besides which whatever I inherit will be one quarter of my parents' estate, because of Lily and Reece and Jake. And knowing my dad and mom, they'll make provisions for our future kids, and Lily's and Reece's and Jake's future kids too."

"You really don't want a pre-nup," Javier realized.

"I don't want it and I don't need it," Alexis replied. She walked around the bed and looped her arms around his neck. "You know our family. You're a part of our family already. We do forever. We may not get it right the first time, but I seem to have broken that particular tradition. My dad and Kate...Jim and Johanna...even Gram and Earl."

"And Ryan and Jenny," Javier added, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I never gave forever much thought until you. It's strange for me to look back now and realize that I thought I was gonna be the odd man out after Ryan and Jenny got married, and then Beckett and your dad got their act together. I actually thought I was going to be alone for the rest of my life."

"You're never going to be alone," Alexis vowed.

"Yeah, now," Javier said, "but years ago…" He tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm in this for the rest of my life, because the rest of my life wouldn't mean much if you weren't in it." He paused, then said, "I was always so awkward in relationships with women, 'til you. Everything makes sense with you, Alexis."

"I wasn't one of those girls who pictured her wedding day a lot...or, really, at all," Alexis said. "But you're the only man I've ever seen a future with, and nothing is going to get in the way of our future, and certainly not money."

"I'm in love with you," Javier said. "For who you are. I just...I want everybody to know that for sure."

"They do. They will," Alexis promised. She kissed him then, breaking the kiss when she yawned in the middle of it. "And we'd better get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."

"The first of many," Javier agreed, kissing her forehead once more before they got into bed.

"I promise I'll be more alert, and we'll have more time together, after graduation and the bar exam," Alexis said.

Javier turned out the light and settled down next to her. "And I'll be waiting," he promised. She was already asleep. "Goodnight, wife-to-be," he whispered before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep himself.


Everyone gathered at St. Peter's Episcopal Church on Mother's Day for the baptism of Reece and Jake.

Father Kenneth, who had baptized Lily three years ago, blessed the water and the oil, asked the questions in the ceremony of the parents and godparents (Rick and Kate; Victoria, who was holding Reece, and Javier; and Kevin, who was holding Jake, and Lanie), and then Reece was baptized, crying when the holy water was poured over his head. Reece cried straight through Jake's baptism; Jake was totally unfazed by the water.

Reece finally calmed down when Kate took him from Victoria. "Looks like Reece is a mommy's boy," Jenny observed as Reece settled down while Kate gently swayed with him and talked softly to him.

"He takes after Castle that way," Kevin said. "I'd bet Jake will be a mommy's boy too. Like father, like sons."

"Yeah, Castle has always been into Beckett," Javier said. "He tried to impress her right from the start. Our first case with him, there he was, chasing the perp down a dead-end alley after he went down the fire escape, then knocking him out when the perp and Beckett both had guns drawn, and exclaiming to Beckett, 'Tell me you saw that!' after the perp was down."

"Dad, you didn't!" Alexis exclaimed.

"The safety was on the whole time," Rick defended.

"He didn't mention that to me either, until after Tisdale was face down with his hands cuffed behind his back," Kate said.

"You told Esposito and Ryan about that?" Rick asked Kate then.

"Hey, just because it took you guys four years to get your acts together doesn't mean the rest of us didn't see you were completely gone on each other from the start," Ryan said.

"Hey, as the best girlfriend, I was the one who got all the real dirt, whenever Kate was willing to give anything up," Lanie piped up then. "And in the beginning, she did a lot of complaining about you, Castle, so yeah, we knew the whole time."

"As did I," Victoria reminded them.

"Can you believe that was eleven years ago already?" Kate said.

"The best eleven years of my life," Rick replied.

"Mine too," Kate said. "Especially the last six."

Lily, who had been sitting with Sarah Grace, Nick, Will, and Uncle Alan, came rushing up then and announced, "Mommy, I'm hungry."

As if on cue, Jake began to fuss. "So is Jake," Kate said. "All right, everyone, let's head to brunch."

The Ryans and the Masters' weren't coming to brunch because Kevin's and Jenny's parents both wanted to see their children and grandchildren, and Lanie's parents and Alan's parents were both in town to see Will, and Victoria and Gerald were expected at his mother's house for the afternoon. After they all made their goodbyes and left the church, everyone else convoyed to the restaurant where Rick had made brunch reservations a month prior.

Brunch was a spirited affair, between keeping the kids more or less under control, which was more of an issue for the fussy Jake and Reece than it was for Lily, and talk about Kate's return to work, Alexis's rapidly approaching graduation, and tentative plans for Memorial Day in the Hamptons.

"So, how are the wedding plans coming?" Martha asked Javier and Alexis.

"We have a venue!" Alexis said. She pulled it up on her phone and handed the phone to her grandmother. "Lyndhurst Castle. It's about 35 minutes outside of the city, in the Hudson Valley."

"That's an actual castle," Earl said, looking over Martha's shoulder at the picture on Alexis's phone.

"They call it a mansion, but yes, I consider that a castle," Javier replied.

"A Castle getting married in a castle?" Rick asked. "That is seriously cool!" He was giving Reece a bottle while Kate held Jake in one arm as he eagerly sucked down his own bottle, and eating her Eggs Florentine with her other hand.

"And you've chosen a date?" Martha asked.

"August 15," Alexis and Javier said in unison.

Alexis looked from Kate to Lily, who was in a booster seat next to Jim, who was helping her, to Martha. "I'm thinking we can go dress shopping after we get back from the Hamptons," she said. "And of course Jenny and Sarah Grace will come along too."

"All of us guys are wearing tuxes with black pants and bow ties and white tux jackets," Javier said then. "Well, except Nick. He doesn't want to be in the wedding, so we're just having Sarah Grace and Lily as flower girls."

"My tailor can take care of that no problem," Rick said. "We'll just need to set up a time to go in and get measured. All of us."

"Q3 is yours for the rehearsal dinner if you want it," Madison said.

"We do, Madison, thank you," Alexis said.

"I'll call later in the week to finalize everything there," Javier added.

"Lyndhurst Castle has several caterers they work with, and we aren't doing anything elaborate," Alexis said, "but we'll get on that, along with the flowers and the music and the photographer and the videographer soon."

"Speaking of videographers, I got the baptisms, Katie," Jim said, picking up the video camera that rested beside his place setting at the table.

"Great, Dad. Thank you," Kate said.

After brunch, everyone but Madison and Mark returned to the loft, and Martha and Kate got their Mother's Day presents.

Jim's gift to Kate was a tri-fold picture frame. In the first slot was a picture of Johanna and Kate from their last Christmas together, when Kate was home from Stanford. The middle picture was of Lily, a snapshot Jim had taken at Lily's birthday party just a few days earlier. The third and last picture was one of Reece and Jake that Jim had taken just last week, when he had charge of the boys while Rick was bandaging Lily's scraped knee and Kate was at work.

Lily had drawn a picture of Kate, which Rick then had framed.

Alexis had gotten Kate a pair of earrings.

Martha and Earl's gift to Kate was a new briefcase.

Rick held out a small box wrapped in gold foil and tied with gold ribbon. "I had help with this," he said.

"Oh, you did?" Kate asked as she took the box, her gaze not leaving his.

"From the Fearsome Foursome," Rick confirmed.

Alexis made a face. "Really, Dad?" she said.

"No good?" Rick asked earnestly, looking at Alexis. "Well, I'll come up with something. Although Q words are hard to find, especially something that would serve as a fitting and excellent adjective to 'quartet.'" Returning his attention to Kate, he continued, "Reece and Jake were fascinated by it, and Lily and Alexis confirmed that I chose well."

Kate untied the gold ribbon and tore off the gold foil, opening the black velvet to reveal a heart-shaped locket of white gold, on a matching chain. The word LOVE was engraved on the face of the locket. Kate lifted the locket from its bed of black velvet carefully and looked from the locket to Rick. He gave her one of those smiles that made his whole face light up and his eyes crinkle. "The best part's on the inside," he said softly.

Kate carefully opened the locket revealing a picture of Rick on the left side, and a picture of Alexis, Lily, Reece and Jake, taken by Jim the day they brought Reece and Jake home from the hospital, on the right side, the girls seated side by side on the couch, Alexis holding Reece, and Lily, with the aid of several sofa pillows, holding Jake.

Unable to find words to express how much she loved the locket, Kate leaned over and kissed Rick. The kiss lingered until Martha asked, "Are the fire extinguishers still in the same place? We might need one in a minute here."

"Very funny, Mother," Rick said. He got up from the couch—Reece and Jake were in their swings, Jake dozing for a change while Reece babbled to Lily, who was kneeling by the swing, talking to him quietly so as not to wake up Jake—and went into his office, returning a moment later with Martha's Mother's Day gift: a new bottle of her favorite perfume.

Alexis's gift to Martha was a spa day for the two of them.

Rick and Kate also gave Martha framed photographs of Martha with all four of her grandchildren, taken in the past three months.

Lily had drawn a picture for Gram, of Lily and Gram together, holding hands. She was getting better at printing her name as well and had signed the pictures she had made for her Gram and for Mommy 'Lily.'

After all of the gifts had been opened, Lily asked for some juice, and Jim said, "Excellent idea, Lily Jo. I think we should all make a toast."

After everyone had bottles of water or soda, Jim raised his water bottle, and everyone but Reece and Jake also raised their drinks, even Lily with her sippy cup of apple juice. "To our mothers, both present and absent, and everything they gave to us."

"To our mothers," Rick, Kate, Alexis, Javier, Martha, and Earl echoed.

"To our mothers," Lily added, a split second later than everyone else, which caused Kate to set down her water bottle, reach down and scoop up her daughter, then turn Lily upside down, causing her to giggle and squeal. She woke up Jake, but miraculously, he didn't start crying, just babbling. Reece answered Jake back with babbling of his own.

Kate, still holding Lily upside down, looked over at the boys in their swings, happily babbling. She looked at Alexis, smiling but tired, and Javi with his arm around her shoulders; at her father, beaming at and totally besotted by his grandchildren; Martha and Earl sharing a private look; and Rick tickling Lily's sock-clad feet before striding to the swings and expertly lifting Reece and Jake up, then returning to Kate and Lily's side with a boy cradled in each arm.

Kate flipped Lily right-side-up again, and Alexis said something to Javi, who nodded. Alexis then came over to stand on Kate and Lily's other side. "Everybody smile!" Javi called, holding his phone aloft to take a picture.

Alexis, smiling, put her hand on Kate's shoulder. Lily wrapped her legs around her mother's waist and grinned for the camera, and right before Javi took the picture, Rick closed his eyes and turned his head, kissing the beaming Kate on the cheek.