'Thanks Julian.'

Beckett watched the receiving officer take Nicky by the bicep and lead him towards the elevator to send him back downstairs to Booking; she still felt hairs on her neck rising from the way he'd been so calm and cool. All she felt like she could do now was pray the jury would make the right decision. The kid needed help, no question, so perhaps going away for a long time wasn't such a bad thing.

'Jesus I need a drink. Never thought I'd say that again.'

She turned to Adam; he'd come up behind her and she'd known he was there but hadn't said anything yet, just let the silence do the talking.

'Adam, I'm sorry.'

'For what?'

'For brushing you off as I did.'

At this, Adam quirked an eyebrow. 'You didn't brush me off, Kate, you did the job, just as I would have if Watkins were my subordinate. Plus we also sussed out a dangerous woman who has virtually no moral principles.'

'And left a daughter without a mother.'

'Sometimes that's not a bad thing, depending on the parent. Look at Alexis. She's not from your genes but she's yours, right?'

'Every inch of her is my child.' Beckett thought of the way Sarah Ritter's step-mother had simply taken along Ashley with her when they had to get thigns to look after Sarah. 'I wonder if Ashley Archer is going to be legally emancipated, invited to live with her friends.'

'Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world,' Adam concurred, 'especially if she and Sarah are going to university together.'

'They probably will, and if they don't I have a feeling they'll be like Alexis and Sloan.'

Sighing, Beckett went to her desk and looked at the paperwork and actually said, 'Fuck it. This can all wait until tomorrow. I'm going home to my family.'

'As am I,' Adam agreed. 'See you in the morning. Oh, hey Beckett?'

'Yeah?'

'Ashley left me a voicemail. She said she called Alexis and she's going to have an appointment with her next week.'

Beckett smiled, felt the weight in her heart lift a little. 'Well that's something, at least.'

'Okay, Jojo, we're all set! You have your books, your crayons and paper, everything is ready to go.'

'Wha' 'bout my Joo-Lee Bugs?'

'I have the game packed with my Nintendo DS, bumblebee,' RJ assured his sister, looked over at his father as they helped Jojo get her carryon ready for the plane trip. 'I can use that on a plane, right?'

'Of course you can as soon as the captain says we are allowed to use our electronic devices.'

'Yea! Joo-Lee Bugs fun.' Jojo looked around, pouted. 'Daddy, when Mumum home?'

'She'll be home later, sweetheart, she had a busy day today at work.' Castle remembered the text he'd gotten from her after Nicky had been brought into the precinct, how his gut had clenched when he read her note telling him not to wait dinner since this kid was seriously messed up and would probably use his lawyer to draw it out and get off on his own overinflated ego. 'And we're going to show her that we are all ready to go for Wednesday, right?'

'Right, Daddy,' RJ replied with a serious nod.

'Si-si-si, and Bib and Omeo too,' Jojo agreed, then went still when she heard the front door open, her mother's voice calling out for her family. 'Daddy! Ah-Shay! That Mumum, she home now!'

'Whoa, whoa, just wait little sister!'

RJ scrambled to his feet as his sister took off for the stairs; he breathed a sigh of relief when Jojo waited for him at the top of the stairs. She took his hand in her smaller one and they went downstairs together to find Beckett taking her shoes off by the door, putting her bag down beside them. Her head lifted up and RJ could see she didn't have her sad eyes on today but her tired ones. He knew exactly what tactic to take with his mumum for that one.

'Mumum!' Jojo, being Jojo, was there first and giving her big hugs; she rocked back and forth, then put her little hands on Beckett's cheeks to turn her face back and forth. 'You look suh-leepy, Mumum. You suh-nacky, you nee' suppah?'

'Absolutely, and a nice cold drink.'

'Milk, Jojo, Mumum needs a nice cold glass of milk,' RJ decided and when he got his turn to give her a hug, like his sister he put his hands on her cheeks to look her in the eye. 'You aren't sad today, Mumum, you are tired. Did you have a long interview with the bad guy?'

'I did, and it made me a little sad to see what kind of bad guy he was.'

'He a meanie?' Jojo asked sweetly, and Beckett wanted to weep at her baby girl's innocence.

'No, sweetie, he was very very sick in his heart and his head.'

'He nee' talk-a 'Lexis,' she decided, 'she help pee-pills wit' sad hearts.'

'I love you, Jojo,' Beckett laughed; oh to be three and a half again and have all the answers be so simple in life. 'You too RJ.'

'We love you back, Mama,' RJ said, kissing her cheek, then looking over his shoulder as Beckett rose from her crouch to see Castle there behind their children. 'Daddy, Mumum needs her supper.'

'It time fo' fam-ah-lee suppah?' Jojo asked, which had Castle winking.

'You know it sweetie.'

'Wit Shane and 'Lexis too?'

'They're having dinner with Sloan and Jeremy and the boys tonight,' Castle replied and Jojo shook her head.

'Then it not all us fam-ah-lee, it ah-mos' piff-eck.'

Beckett laughed, gave RJ a little loving swat on his tush. 'Go wash your hands, you two and we'll make something together. I needed to be here as soon as I could tonight,' she told her husband, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his shoulder. 'God, it was awful Rick, this kid, the killer, he was such a nice kid but there was nothing in here.'

She leaned back, tapped between her breasts with her fingertip. 'Whatever there might have been in here, it's gone from him. He...he just isn't there, he's a shell and it is so sad, Rick. I just...I had to be here, not there.'

'I know what those ones are like for you,' Castle murmured softly, and kissed her gently. 'What you need is a good meal, time with your children and then time for you and me.'

'Sounds perfect.'

While Beckett prepared for a family night, over on Waverly Place Adam combed his fingers through his hair as he shut off the water from the shower. Lindsay wouldn't be home for another hour, and as much as Adam appreciated having the space to simply go home and have a nap for an hour in total solitude he didn't like the feeling of coming home to the empty space. He liked coming home to Lindsay, though not in the nineteen-fifties housewife kind of way. Even if she had played dress-up for him one night and donned French maid costume for him, he chuckled.

After finding a pair of sleep pants and a loose-fitting t-shirt Adam decided he would role reverse and having dinner ready for her instead after she finished saving lives in the Saint Vincent ER with Doctor Cannell. He went to the fridge and was perusing his options when he heard the keys in the door; it opened and he smiled when he saw Lindsay coming in. She looked about as wiped out as he felt, but there was a sweet brightness in her voice that told him tonight wouldn't be for pouting.

'Hello my cute little couscous.'

'Hello taco-butt.'

Adam laughed, straightened up to kiss her, letting his lips linger on hers. She must have sensed his melancholy because she put her hand to his cheek.

'You wrapped the case,' she commented, and Adam nodded.

'We did, and all I can say is I'm glad my drinking days are long over because a day like today, the interview with our killer, it was just so draining.'

'I know the feeling. You want me to make you dinner?'

'No.' On this point Adam was totally immovable. 'I need to do something with my hands.'

'Then I'll sit down and tell you about my day.'