Chapter 37
.
The sun was streaming into the loft when Castle entered, all of the curtains drawn back and the windows opened. He saw Alexis' note on the door when he went to lock it. She had left that morning for a month-long backpacking trip across Asia – an impromptu trip suggested by one of her friends who had wanted one last hurrah before entering the 'real world'. He knew that he wouldn't make it back in time from his meeting to see her off so they had already said their 'goodbyes' and 'be safes' beforehand. Still, he smiled as he went to pin the note up on the refridgerator door.
When he turned around, he was met with another sight that only made him smile wider. There, lying on the couch underneath the bright sunshine, was Kate and Zoey taking a catnap. The little girl was sprawled more than halfway on top of her mom, with her head tucked just underneath Kate's chin and her right hand lightly grasping at the cotton material of Kate's white t-shirt.
Castle sat down on the carpet beside them and gently rubbed Zoey's back while he listened to their deep, even breaths. Resting his head sideways on the couch, with his face inches away from Kate's, he couldn't help but think how quickly both of his daughters were growing up.
Kate's arm, loosely draped over Zoey, twitched slightly and a few seconds later her eyes blinked open. She smiled when she saw him so close, grasping for his fingers from their resting place on Zoey's back.
Looking from Zoey to Kate, he couldn't help the thought from entering his mind. "I want another one," he whispered.
Kate's reaction time was still a little sluggish, her eyes refusing to fully open. Her answer turned out to be a muddled, "Hm?"
He shook his head. "Nothing," he answered quickly, slightly relieved. He had surprised himself with his sudden desire for another baby and he had no intention of surprising Kate until he knew what she wanted. Hell, he was still confused about what he wanted. He waved away his confusion and extracted his hand from her grasp. "Go back to sleep," he said, kissing her gently on the lips.
"No," she murmured, "We should get up or else Zo won't sleep tonight." She forced her own eyes open. "Zozo," Kate said coaxingly, shifting a little on the couch, "It's time to get up."
It took a few more tries before Zoey sat up. She rubbed her eyes. "Is it morning?"
Castle picked her up so that Kate could move. "No, you and mommy took a nap, remember?" He peered down at her. "Are you hungry? Do you want some juice?"
"I don't know," Zoey answered, still disoriented.
Castle chuckled, "Well, let's go into the kitchen anyway and see what we have."
Zoey nodded.
Kate's cellphone rang before he could ask her if she wanted anything. She looked at the caller ID. "It's the precinct," she said. By the expression on her face, Castle knew she would have to go in. He gave her his most pathetic puppy-dog look before carrying Zoey over to the fridge.
"So," he said to the little girl, "How about some ants on a log?"
.
Castle had given Zoey the job of putting raspberries into the salad and when it took longer than he had anticipated, he looked down at the little table she was situated at.
"One for me," Zoey said, putting a raspberry in her own mouth. She dropped the next one into the salad bowl. "And one for you."
"Zoey!" Castle said, laughing at his daughter's antics. Zoey looked up at him, another raspberry poised at her lips. He shook his head. "That is not what I meant by helping me."
Castle quickly dumped the rest of the raspberries into the salad and wiped Zoey's hands and mouth with a cloth. "Is mommy coming back?" she asked.
"No, I don't think so. Mommy had to go to work, remember?" he replied. Zoey pouted and Castle had to admit he felt just as disappointed. "But—" he started, mind slowing forming an idea, "—how about we surprise mommy?"
Zoey immediately starting clapping her hands. "I like surprises!"
.
"Hey! Who ordered the pizzas?" Esposito called out.
Kate smelled them before she could see them. She looked over her shoulder from her position at the murder board and spotted the delivery guy placing three party-sized pizzas onto the nearest desk.
She knew what the next words out of the guy's mouth would be.
"Is there a Detective Kate Beckett here?" the delivery guy shouted.
"Yeah, that's me," she replied, walking over.
"I just need you to sign there," he said, pointing to a receipt, "They've already been paid for."
"Oh, I know," Kate said with a wry smile.
By the time she turned her attention back to the bullpen, the other officers had already bogarted the pizzas. She was just about to reach for a slice when—
"Aw man! The pizza guy beat me here?"
Kate whirled around at the sound of his voice. "Castle—and Zoey! What are you two doing here?"
Zoey hopped over to her, mostly managing to duck past the officers who tried to ruffle her hair. "We made a surprise!"
"Oh, you did?" Kate said, looking at Castle with amusement.
"Well, since you couldn't have dinner with us, we thought we might bring dinner to you," Castle said, lifting up the basket in his hand. "Do you have a few minutes?"
Kate glanced around at the station where everybody seemed to be too preoccupied with eating to be working. "Apparently, I do," she answered.
Zoey held onto her hand as she led the way into the lounge. "Did you eat yet?" Kate asked.
Zoey shook her head and Castle responded, "Zo wanted to wait and eat with you."
Kate sat down at the table with Zoey on her lap and gave her a light squeeze. "How very thoughtful of you, Zo," she said.
Zoey tilted her head up and smiled brightly. "Daddy make lasagna," she said, "and I helped."
"I'm sure daddy really appreciated that," Kate said laughingly. She looked at Castle, "So, the pizzas outside…?"
Castle grinned. "Well, I didn't want the others to get jealous."
Kate shook her head, biting her lip to contain her smile. "You are just…"
"…what?" he asked.
Her eyes shone. "You know what? There are no words."
Kate had to go back to work less than fifteen minutes later – just enough time to quickly eat a small slice of lasagna – but she told Castle and Zoey to stay until they finished. Not knowing how long of a night she would be having, Castle left some salad and a good portion of the lasagna in the fridge with a very clear note saying it was 'off limits unless your name is Katherine Beckett'.
Kate was distracted at her desk when Castle and Zoey finally went to say goodbye.
"Goodnight, Zozo," Kate said, peeling her eyes away from the computer screen to give her daughter a proper hug and kiss. "Mommy will see you in the morning, okay?"
"'kay mommy but you're tucking me in tomorrow, right?"
Kate squeezed Zoey's little hand. "I promise. And you—" Kate said, standing up to give Castle a kiss. She lowered her voice, "—you might find yourself getting woken up tonight..."
Castle's eyes sparkled, "Oh, you can feel free to wake me up at any time."
.
"You know I hate the morbidity of this, right?" Castle said to his lawyer.
"Ironic coming from you: master of the macabre," Joe replied wryly.
"Nice use of the word irony," he commented. "And as a writer, I think about other people's deaths, not my own."
The two of them were sitting in Castle's study on a Tuesday evening. "This is all 'just in case', Rick," Joe said, slipping Castle's revised will back into his briefcase.
"Well, now that that's over and done with," Castle said, "Would you like to stay for dinner? My mother's in town and if she's talking to you, she won't be pestering Kate and I about possible wedding ideas."
"I think I'll pass," Joe said even though he did occasionally enjoy hearing Martha's outrageous stories. "But, since you brought it up, I did want to talk to you about one more thing."
"Sure."
"Have you thought about a prenuptial agreement?"
Castle shook his head. "No. It never even crossed my mind."
Joe looked slightly concerned. "Are you sure? Maybe you and Kate should discuss it."
"It won't be necessary," Castle said.
"That's what you said about Meredith."
Castle winced at the memory of their divorce procedings. "That was different," he answered, "We were young, she was pregnant, and we got married so quickly."
"Still…"
"Look, all I wanted out of my marriage with Meredith was custody of Alexis. I never cared about the money. And there is no danger of Kate ever pulling the kind of stunt that Meredith did; she would never do that to our daughters."
"But there are still kids—well, one child—" Joe corrected, remembering that Alexis was an adult now, "—involved. A prenup would make things like child support clear."
"Kate and I would never get divorced," Castle stated resolutely, holding up his hand before Joe could interrupt, "But if, if we did, Kate's not somebody who would hit me up for child support." Castle rolled his eyes when he saw the skeptism on Joe's face. "I know what you're thinking but even in a scenario where, by some scientific mojo, Kate suddenly developed a new personality and became that person, I would give her whatever she asked for to make her and Zoey happy. I'm telling you, Joe, money's not an issue here."
"You said that about Gina too, but you ended up getting a prenup with her," Joe reminded him.
"Yeah, because she wanted one and it's not like it made a bit of difference. The divorce was still ugly." Castle pushed his chair back. "Listen, Joe, I know you're my lawyer and you're supposed to say these things but you won't make me change my mind on this. Kate and I are forever – and I'm not saying that naively – I know it. Kate doesn't care about the money or the fame or the perks; she's with me in spite of all that. I don't worry about 'ordinary' with her or that one day, we'll get bored of each other and decide it's just too much work. I'll never cheat on her and she would never cheat on me and we already bicker on a daily basis so that'll never be a problem. I mean, as long as she doesn't make good on her threats to shoot me…" Joe's eyebrows rose. "…I'm kidding," Castle said.
After a beat, Joe nodded. "I just had to make sure."
Castle shrugged. "I know."
When the two of them went to open the office door, Kate was playing with Zoey in the living room just outside.
Joe nodded at her. "Kate."
"Joe," she replied coolly. Castle knew, then, that she had heard everything. And she knew he knew.
Still, besides a wink in her direction as he walked Joe out (and an extraordinarily passionate session in bed that night), not another word was said between the two of them regarding the matter.
A/N: Ahh! Thank you for your patience guys - I'm (mostly) back now - just a couple more finals next week! I know people who are following Eyes Open are thinking of ways to murder me right now but I already had this chapter 80% written and only needed to do some light editing so yeah, happy fluffiness gets updated first! :)
Also, I would like to give a happy little wave to the new readers - thank you for all of your wonderful reviews! They made me very happy - especially all of those who said they don't normally go for stories like this - glad that I managed to lure you to the dark (except, you know, not dark) side! ;)