Disclaimer: I own them. In my dreams.
A/N: So, chapter 2...
...
Kate curled up against the window in the backseat as Castle's incessant chattering washed over her, feeling inexplicably tired, and annoyed, and pissed at the world.
"So." Castle, who had been chanting obscene lyrics to rap songs for the past ten minutes- okay, it was funny to hear a seven year old swear the first two times, but after that? 'Get over it!', she felt like shouting- moved on to his next favourite activity: pestering Gates. After all, how could she get angry at his adorable little face?
"So, Vicky, I heard that-"
"Castle," Gates cut him off. "Before you continue, I should just tell you that anything and everything even the slightest bit inappropriate that you say now will be held against you when you… grow up."
"What?" Castle folded his arms across his chest. "But that's not fair!" After a second: "What about Ryan and Esposito?"
"Oh, feel free to mock them all you want."
"Hey!" Ryan objected from his place in the passenger's seat- he and Esposito had flipped a coin to decide who sat where. Gates had assumed that Ryan won. No one bothered to correct her.
Gates simply shrugged coolly. "Better you than me."
"That's a good idea," Castle decided. "But maybe later. Right now we should sing more."
Esposito, who was finding this way too amusing, grinned at that. He opened his mouth and started to sing in a low, trying-to-be-sexy voice. "Here's the situation, been to every nation- but nobody's ever made me feel the way that you do…"
Castle picked it up. "You know my motivation, given my reputation. Please excuse me I don't mean to be rude. But tonight-"
Oh, here we go again. When Kate gave a little groan and buried her face in her arms, Castle stopped mid-verse and turned to Esposito, head cocked to one side. "What's wrong with her?"
Esposito glanced over at her before replying. "She's just tired."
"I have my own mouth," Kate growled, lifting her head for a second. She was perfectly capable of speaking for herself! And why couldn't they all just shut up? Esposito raised his hands in apology.
"I know, I know."
"So stop talking for me."
"Sure. Calm down, okay?"
She screwed up her face, feeling close to snapping. "I am calm!"
Before Esposito had time to reply, Castle interjected. "No, you're not," he pointed out happily, ignoring her glare.
"Yes. I. Am."
"You're in a terrible mood," Castle argued, displaying a typical seven-year-old inability to let go off anything.
"No, you're in a terrible mood!" Kate was starting to breathe quickly. The adults in the cars willed Castle to stop, sensing an impending explosion.
No such luck. "Nice comeback," he retorted.
"Shut up!" Kate snarled, wanting to punch his smug little face, and scaring herself because she felt so irrationally incensed. She was supposed to be more even-tempered than this. And it was all his fault she wasn't. With renewed vigour, she repeated, "Just shut up!"
"No," Castle countered calmly, looking like he was enjoying himself. "Why should I?"
"Because I'm telling you to," she hissed, hands balled into fists.
"So you're gonna make me then?"
She clenched her jaw. "Yeah. If you don't zip it."
"I wish both of you would zip it," Ryan muttered, but was ignored.
"I think," Castle stated coolly, "that you're in a very bad mood today." He didn't notice her suck in her breath angrily. "Like my mom used to say," he put on a wise, knowing expression and wagged a finger in Kate's direction, "you've gotten up on the wrong side of bed today."
That was it. She launched herself at him over Esposito, trying to claw at him and pull his hair out. Esposito grabbed her just in time and held on as Castle's superior air slipped immediately, and he backed as far away from the thrashing girl as he could.
"Woah, calm- I mean, relax, Kate!" Esposito said, trying without success to still her. In response, she attempted to bite him, and he yelped in surprise.
"Stop that!" Gates commanded over the commotion in the back seat. "Beckett! I'm going to stop the car if you don't stop."
Kate wanted to stop, she did, she really did, but she couldn't. She was confused and upset and irate and she knew, somewhere in the back of her mind, that she was being unreasonable and Castle hadn't done enough to warrant this sort of reaction, but she couldn't seem to make herself care.
"Beckett! Kate! That's enough! Knock it off!" Gates ordered again sharply. When she received no response, she executed a quick, exaggerated right-turn to startle them. It worked, throwing Kate off balance, and allowing Esposito to push her back into her seat and clip the seatbelt in place. He kept his hand over the buckle so that she couldn't undo it as he tried to pacify her.
"Hey, hey, calm down, Kate," he whispered, holding her still so that she wouldn't twist away. The others allowed them their privacy, and started a quiet conversation about the roads in New York- Ryan and Gates having to force Castle to participate, seeing as he was far more interested in the whispered conversation Esposito and Kate were having.
"Are you okay?" Esposito asked her, unsure of where the line was- she was a child, after all, and as she'd just displayed, very much had the reactions of a child. But she was still his boss, and his partner, and he had a feeling she wouldn't appreciate being handled with kid gloves.
"Yeah, fine," she answered after a pause, struggling to push his hand off her arm. When he didn't let go, she sighed and leaned back in her seat, understanding his reluctance, but not liking it one bit. "Look, no fighting. See? Let go."
He slowly loosened his grip on her, relieved to see that she had calmed down. "What was that all about?"
Kate fiddled with the hem of her dress. What was she supposed to say? 'Oh, I'm just not too pleased about being turned into a kid, and I hate that I can't control my emotions, and I'm making a fool of myself in front of my boss, and Castle's suddenly turned into an ass- oh, and by the way, I have no idea how I'm going to live on my own without getting kidnapped! That's all, though'.
Finally, after almost a minute of silence, she spoke hesitantly. She should apologize, right? "I… sorry. I don't… I just don't like this, that's all. Sorry. I'm fine."
"Okay." Esposito, to his credit, didn't push it.
She suddenly felt a rush of gratitude and was about to add more when Gates interrupted. "We're here, people. Let's go discuss this inside."
"Hey, this is my house!" Castle exclaimed happily, forgetting his fight with Beckett for a second. "Why are we here?"
"Because, Castle, I think we should continue the discussion of what to do with you with your mother and daughter present, don't you?"
"Oh, she's gonna love this." He rubbed his hands together in glee, jumping out of the car and running into the lobby excitedly. Ryan and Gates followed him wearily, already tired of him, leaving Esposito and Kate to trail after them. Kate was trying to channel enough poise and grace to rival the Queen of England, figuring that would make up for her earlier transgression.
As they all filed into the elevator, Castle sidled up to her. She glanced at him warily. "What?"
"I annoyed you, and then you tried to kill me," he told her easily. "So are we even?"
"Not really, but okay then," she said, rolling her eyes. More like he purposefully provoked her for upwards of ten minutes, and she never even touched him. Okay, she tried to. But she didn't really, did she?
"Fifth floor," a voice announced grandly, and as the elevator doors ping-ed open, she squared her shoulders and prepared for the warm welcome that was no doubt waiting for them inside.
Martha didn't disappoint. The second the door opened and she took in the sight of her son and his entourage, her jaw dropped.
"I… what?" she stammered, leaning on the door frame for support. "How? You…"
If the reason for her disarmament weren't so awful, Kate would've laughed.
"Hello, mother." Castle flashed that stupid grin, loving the attention.
God, he was so annoying.
"Richard?" Martha finally managed to gasp out, just as Alexis came down the stairs. She smiled when she saw the group at the door.
"Hey, Detective Esposito. Oh, and Ryan."
"Hi, Alexis. Long time no see," Esposito greeted. As an afterthought: "By the way, this is Gates."
Alexis' curious eyes immediately flitted to Gates. No doubt Castle had given her an earful about the chief. "Hi. I'm Alexis. Come in, we were just waiting for Dad. He hasn't called yet but if you're here then…" Her face suddenly turned ashen, all color drained away. "Oh God, no, please don't tell me… Dad didn't… He's not… He's okay right? Nothing happened to him?" She started speaking quickly, almost to herself. "I mean he didn't call and he usually does, and now you're all here and- oh my God, it's Beckett isn't it? He's in the hospital looking after her! Or they're both in the hospital because-"
"No-one's in the hospital," Martha interrupted shakily, her eyes still glued to her son. When she finally noticed Beckett, she looked confused for a second before understanding washed over her face and her eyes widened. "Kate," she murmured by way of both confirmation and greeting.
"Hi," Kate mumbled back, trying to hide behind everyone else's legs. God, this was awkward. This was beyond awkward. This had moved past awkward hours ago- now it was her very own personal hell.
Her shyness did nothing to ease the focus on her, instead causing Martha to laugh loudly. "Oh, she's so adorable!" Well, at least Castle was fuming at the attention she was receiving, she thought happily, as Martha bent down to her level.
Her smug expression quickly slipped as Martha's fingers loomed closer. Oh no. She wasn't going to pinch her cheeks or ruffle her hair or anything, was she?
Alexis was glancing from one to the other, confused. "I don't get it. Am I missing something?"
Martha, who was trying to pinch an unwilling Kate's cheeks, paused for a moment. "I knew you were lying when you said you'd gone through those family albums! Richard, tell her."
Castle cleared his throat and stepped up to the plate, chest puffed out. "Lying is not acceptable, young lady," he said sternly, watching Alexis' face in barely-concealed anticipation.
First she looked amused. When nobody laughed, she looked from Martha, to Castle, and back.
Her hand flew over her mouth.
"Oh my God." Alexis took a step back, tripped over the rug, and scrambled back even more. "Oh my God."
"Hi, honey."
"Dad? What the- Dad? Is that even… How is that even possible? Jeez. Oh my God!"
Martha, ever the voice of reason, took charge, something which Kate was grateful for since she was positive her cheeks were bright red by then. "Well apparently, it is very much possible, so if you would all like to enter our lovely home, we can discuss this inside. Alexis, make some coffee, there's a dear. I have a feeling we're all going to need it."
"I'll say," Kate muttered, trooping into the immaculate loft after the others. This was all going to give her a hernia, she was sure of it. Could little kids even get hernias? Well, it didn't matter, because she wasn't a little kid, anyway. This was only for a week, right?
And how bad could it really be?
"Why don't you two go watch TV while we talk?" Martha suggested.
Kate scowled, as did Castle. Oh, so that was how it was going to be. They were 'the children'. The 'little ones'. Without a word, she turned on her heels and stalked off, flopping onto the couch. It wasn't fair. She was thirty three for crying out loud! How dare they not include her?
When a shadow crossed over her face, she looked up to see Castle. "Hey, that's my seat!"
Of course it was.
"Don't care," she replied petulantly, hugging a pillow. And Castle was a horrible ally. She didn't even like him anymore. Damn it all! Now she didn't even have a friend to-
"I care," Castle informed her, breaking her out of her thoughts. He marched over to her with all the airs of a self-righteous seven-year-old. "Come on, get up, that's where I always sit."
"No."
"Come on, Kate, please?"
"I said no."
He huffed. "Move, or I'm calling my mom."
That struck her as odd. "You always call her 'Mother'."
"Yeah, but not always," he replied scornfully. "Sometimes I called her Mom, before."
"Whatever."
He crossed his arms, face murderous. "Move. Or I'm telling."
"Fine. See if I care. Then I'll tell-" She broke off, but disguised the slip as a sneezing fit. Who would she tell? Her dad was miles away. Probably working. And her mother-
"You're annoying. I don't like you," Castle told her coolly. "I used to, but now I don't."
"It's mutual, trust me."
He stared at her for a second, not used to not being liked. She knew, when he was young, he'd been the playboy, the male version of the Belle of the Ball, and she felt a sudden stab of pity for anyone who'd been at school with him then. She pitied herself, now.
"Fine, Beckett, if you want to sit there, you can. But then I get the remote."
"Oh my god, Castle, just take it!" She threw the remote at him- luckily her aim was worse than she remembered- and stormed off to the kitchen to find something to eat.
This next week was going to be awful.
...
Author's note: Castle is not being mean, per say. He's just being a normal kid. And if you imagine Beckett and Castle as kids, especially with their age difference what it is (three years is a lot in little-kid-years), they would not hit it off right off the bat.
