~Woohoo, I remembered to update! Sorry for any grammatical errors. I'm on college time. Meaning nothing is perfect. But thank you for your continued support, and let me know what you think in the reviews!

-Alyssa~

She hates leaving them while she goes to work.

He's bustling around the kitchen, making her coffee to-go and placing her bag on the counter to grab as she leaves.

She's upstairs, holding her almost year-old son as he babbles in baby talk and plays with a car on the ground. He giggles and laughs as he picks it up and throws it down over and over, and she can't help but smile has his excitement. Her arms are wrapped around his torso, keeping him close. She doesn't get to see him all hours of the day, like when he was first born. She's loves her job, and did miss the thrill she gets from working a case, but now that he's in her life, it's just another reason to look forward to coming home every night.

The baby throws the car a little too hard, and it bounces away in front of him. He stops babbling, and his face scrunches in confusion.

"Oopsie," she says. "Momma will get it."

The car is out of her reach, and as she motions to stand up, the baby throws a hand down on her thigh, the babbling beginning once again. She looks down at him, confused. "You don't want the car?"

But as she asks, she realizes her son is using her thigh, not as a punching bag, but as an anchor. Her mouth falls open wide as she watches him push himself up onto his feet. She quickly comes back into focus as her hands barely let go of him-enough to give him room to move on his own.

"Oh my god," she whispers, as her son begins to move his feet one by one towards the car. "Castle!" she exclaims. "Castle! Get the camera!"

The boy continues to take a couple slow, wobbly steps, before falling down on his bum, sighing, then crawling the rest of the way to his car, and starts to play once more.

She's still sitting, motionless, staring at her son, when he walks in, looking frazzled with a camera at the ready. "What?" he asks. "What happened? What's going on?"

She continues to look at her son. "He walked," she says quietly.

"What?"

"He walked, Castle," she says louder, turning to him. A smile starts to grow on her face. "He pushed himself up, and walked to his car. I-"

"No," he argues. "He couldn't have walked. I told him specifically that he can't take his first steps unless I am there to see it. Right, Grayson?" he asks, turning towards his son.

The boy is laughing at the car, and completely oblivious to what is being said.

"He just, knew!" she says. "He threw the car over there, and I was getting up, but he pushed up from my leg, and just…walked. Ha!" Her smile encompasses her entire face, and she lets out a laugh. "He walked!"

He looks down gloomy at his son. "He walked without me here. And we didn't even get it on camera. This sucks."

"Don't worry, Castle. I'm sure he'll do it again soon. He didn't get very far. Next time will be better anyway. And you will definitely get to see it." She looks down at her wrist and takes note of the time. "I gotta head to the precinct." She moves from sitting to all fours, and crawls to her son, smoothing his hair and kissing his head. "Bye bye, baby boy." The baby turns his head and looks up at her, his smiling making hers grow wider, and then returns to his toy.

She stands and walks over to him, kissing his cheek as she leaves the room. "Bye bye, big boy. Maybe he'll walk for you while I'm gone, huh?"

She turns down the hall, and he's left to his son. He walks over to where the boy is and sits beside him, looking at him intently. "I know you were just tryin' to impress your mom with that walking stuff, but you're saving the really good stuff for me, right? More stable walking? Talking? Can you say 'dada'? Please say 'dada'. Or at least say it before you say 'mama'."

His son continues to play, ignoring the statement his father says. He rolls his eyes, and draws the camera towards himself, readying the position.

"I'm ready when you are, champ."

She comes home from a long day at work, tossing her keys and bag on the counter next to the front door as she enters the loft. She sees him sitting on the couch squinting in pain, while their son claps red and blue blocks together, the "clank" sound echoing throughout the room.

"How long has he been doing that?"

He looks up at her. "On and off for the last hour. It comes in short bursts."

She sits on the couch next to him, leaning over for a quick greeting kiss. When she pulls back, he looks at her expectantly. "So, did you finish the case of the robbery gone wrong?"

She nods. "Got a full confession out of the guy today. The victim dealt to him a while back, stopped selling, and our guy got pissed." She moves her hand to play with the edges of his hair. "How'd your day go?"

"Pretty well, I think." He looks to their son. "Got some writing done while he napped. And he spent two hours playing under the kitchen table for god knows what reason. But he was happy, so I didn't try to figure out why. You like to confuse your parents, don't you Grayson? Sending us mixed signals."

The boy looks up at his name and smiles at his father. She laughs, and he rolls his eyes. "I'm taking that as a yes," he says.

Suddenly, the boy begins to move. Still facing his father, he lifts his hands slowly onto the edge of the couch, and begins to move upwards.

His parents mouths begin to widen.

"Castle…" she starts.

"Camera. Right. Uh…" he frantically looks around. "Crap. I left it in the kitchen. He was being cute at lunchtime ."

They continue to look at their son, who's now practically vertical. With one final thrust, he lifts himself from the ground, and his father lets out a gasp as the boy starts to shuffle his feet towards him, his hand hovering by the couch for guidance.

"Kate…he's walking."

"He's walking."

The boy, a smile still on his face, reaches his father, and stretches out his arms. His father laughs and lifts him up onto his lap. "Did you just walk, Grayson? Did you walk? I knew you were smart." He turns to her, a knowing look on his face. "I knew he was smart." He looks back to his son, lifting him into the iar and shaking him around, the baby giggling loudly in response. "You did it, buddy! Woohoo!"

"And you let Daddy see it," she adds, giving him a knowing look. He laughs in response, pride beaming from his features.

"You know what this calls for?" he says. "Celebratory take-out. I'm feeling Chinese. Let's do it."

She laughs at his ridiculous segue, but nods her head nonetheless. "That sounds like a great idea. I'll order it."

As she gets up and heads to the phone in the kitchen, she hears him call out to her. "Can you bring the camera in here while you're up? We've already missed him walking twice for the first time- I don't want to miss another thing."

She looks back at him, a wide smile on his face, their son resting on his chest and playing with the buttons on his shirt, looking content.

"Trust me Castle," she says. "There's plenty more to come."