By the time they finished pouring through the records, it was end of shift and Beckett wanted to be out on-time, to talk to her children about what happened that day, especially her son. Many of the children at his school knew RJ's mother was a cop, the kind of cop who made the papers with her cases and they'd probably already heard early news reports on this one as it was.

Even more simply than that, Beckett wanted to hug her son after a tough day.

She unlocked the door of the apartment, and smiled when she heard she'd walked in mid-way through a conversation on airports.

'But why we need pishal bookies?'

'Because those tell the people at the airport we are allowed to fly and go places, that we aren't bad guys trying to run away from the police.'

'Oh. But why no' need'um fo' goin'-a Fuh-loh-da?'

'Because Florida is part of the United States,' RJ explained to his little sister, then grinned when he looked up. 'Look, Mumum's home! She can probably explain it better than me.'

'Mumum!' Jojo twisted in her seat and saw Beckett, scampered over to give her a hug. 'Mumum, we talkin' 'bout bookies.'

'Bookies?'

'Uh-huh, Ah-Shay say we use 'pishal bookies on a puh-lane.'

'Oh, you mean your passport? Those are for when you fly to another country.'

'I told her it was to show the airport police that you aren't a bad guy, and that you aren't running away from police like you or Uncle Gil or Mister Chief Montgomery.'

'He jus' a boy, he no' so suh-mar',' Jojo scoffed and Beckett laughed out-loud, scooped her daughter into her arms to give her a smacking kiss.

'Jojo, my bumblebee, I love you so much.'

'Love you too, Mumum.' Jojo sweetly pecked her mother's cheek, then pointed at RJ. 'Him too.'

'Yes, I love Mumum too,' RJ agreed, waiting until Jojo was back on her feet before giving his mother a hug. He patted her back, and when she drew back, he caught her face in his little hands, turned her head side-to-side. 'You have your sad eyes on. What happened today, was it a very bad day at work?'

'You sad Mumum?' Jojo's eyes went wide and round. 'No, no being sad, Mumum, it almost time fo' our tuh-rip! I know!'

Jojo wandered into her father's office where she saw him, hard at work, fingers flying over his computer keys. Without thinking twice, she walked over to him and crawled right into his lap so his view of his screen would be blocked by her body. 'Daddy, Mumum home an' Ah-Shay say she haffa sad face on.'

'Oh, I bet she does, it was a difficult case she got today,' Castle told his daughter. 'She probably wants some time alone with RJ tonight.'

'Okay, we 'tay here. We say, it okay be 'lone an' talk now.' Without missing a beat Jojo turned around, sat in his lap and stared at the screen with the page full of words she didn't know how to read. 'What we workin' on?'

'Nothing that can't wait for a moment, bumblebee.' Castle saved his work, pulled his chair closer to the desk so Jojo could touch the track-pad of the laptop. 'You feel like playing some Mah-Jong?'

'No, no Mah-Shun, I wanna puh-lay Joo-lee Bugs!'

'Jewel Bugs? Don't you ever get tired of that game, Jojo?'

'Daddy, tha' like bein' tired fo' icy cuh-ream.'

Castle had to chuckle; Jojo never got tired of ice cream. 'Okay,' he told her, pulling up the game software. 'You want a new game or keep working on our Crown of Fire?'

Back in the living room, as Beckett heard the sounds of Jojo's favourite game coming from Castle's office, she took RJ's hand and led him over to the couch where she sat down across from him, looked at her beautiful little boy. He was getting way too big on her, he was almost seven and already in grade two, and getting more and more protective of his sister by the day it seemed.

'Mumum, why are you sad to be home and see us?' RJ asked her. 'Did my teacher call you? Was I bad at school?'

'No, not at all RJ, but...you might hear it from some of the big kids at school tomorrow and Friday, that there was a teacher killed at a private school, the one where you were going to go instead of Marlowe Prep if you didn't get in there.'

'Oh no, that is so sad!'

'If you ever feel unsafe at school RJ, or one of the other kids is being mean to you, you never ever keep it to yourself, okay? You go and tell an adult or an older kid you trust to do the right thing.'

'I promise, Mumum.' RJ made a little X over his heart, then gave her a hug. 'No wonder you wanted to make sure I was okay today!'

Beckett kissed the top of RJ's head, breathed deep the cookie smell of her baby. He always smelled like cookies. 'Schools are supposed to be safe places, and when they're not, that means mumums and daddies get very scared.'

'But you're not scared of anything!'

'Oh, yes I am. Of people hurting their eyes, of sharks in the ocean, of something happening to you or Daddy or Jojo or Alexis. And vegetables on my pizza,' she added, making him laugh.

'Veggies on your pizza aren't something to be afraid of.'

'Oh yes they are,' Beckett insisted and RJ giggled harder.

'Okay, I know what you mean, Mumum, but my school is a very good school. We have cameras and locked doors and all our teachers make sure we don't bring things to school that might hurt other kids.' It was a funny thing, RJ realized, to be the one reassuring his mother. Usually it was the other way around, and was a little freaky to see her so worried. The last time he remembered that happening was when Jojo had been just a super-little baby and her skin had been itchy and red from the wrong soap on her clothes. 'I'm super-safe there, except from science class I don't li.'

'Ah, but science class is important if you want to be a chef.'

'How?'

'Because you learn about what temperature things need to cook at, and how to tell if your chicken is cooked so it doesn't make you sick, and how to make your sauces thicken up. All those things come from science.'

'Oh.' RJ frowned, made a cute little face. 'Maybe, when I am in high-school, is there a food-science class?'

'I think so.'

'Okay. Then maybe I'll just suck it up and deal with it. Isn't that what you say to Daddy when he's being a big puss-face?'

'Puss-face?' Bekcett fought not to laugh.

'Uh-huh, that's what Shane says his boss acts like when he gets cranky, Doctor Pearlmutter. Shane says he acts like a big puss-face. I think he really means sour-puss face.'

'I'm sure he does.'

RJ smiled, then leaned forward, hugged his mother. 'It's okay to be afraid sometimes Mumum. Sometimes, I think, if the cops aren't scared of things, they forget about why it's important to get the bad guys.'

'I think you're right. Hey, there's the rest of the crew,' she added when Jojo and Castle appeared out of his office, Jojo tugging her father's hand like the little tugboat for the Titanic. 'Where did you two scamper off to?'

'We puh-layin' Joo-lee Bugs, ah-cause Ah-Shay nee' Mumum-time,' Jojo said importantly. 'An' Daddy say we gonna call Alessis an' Shane fo' a fam-ah-lee suppah!'

'I figured you could use all your babies here,' Castle told her and Beckett nodded, moved over to kiss him.

'I love you, Richard. I love you so much,' she murmured against his lips, and to her surprise there were no grossed-out noises from her two youngest children. 'What, no comments?'

'Not today Mumum,' RJ told her sweetly, and took his little sister by the hand. 'Come on, Jojo, we've got science dinner to make.'

'What science suppah, Ah-Shay? What tha'?'

As RJ explained it to his little sister, Castle wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her back. 'Wanna get a little wet and wild later?'

'As promised on the phone at lunch, I owe you some good sex tonight.'