The two detectives looked at Castle and waited for answer, and felt their brains shut-off the logic processing centre when he nodded.

'I did know about,' he confirmed, tossing some chips into the centre of the table. 'I'm in for twenty.'

'I'm in,' Gil agreed.

'Call.'

Ryan shook his head. 'Hold on, tweet, time-out. I think we could use a little more explanation, bro.'

'Tell you what. Instead of my money, if you win, you can ask me anything about it you want, within reason,' Shane proposed to his friends. 'If I win, it stays with me.'

Esposito rolled his eyes; this had a very familiar flavour to it, as it was the same method of information extraction they'd tried to pull on Meredeth the first time she'd met his friend as well. But then, Shane was someone they considered a friend and the fact he'd kept it to himself needed to be remedied, pronto. Despite the fact he was ready to go a little bad-cop-worse-cop on him just as much as Ryan, he opted for cool and smooth. 'Sounds fair to me.'

'I'd prefer to hear it all at once but I suppose chapter by chapter is cool too,' Ryan grudgingly agreed.

'Fine.'

They continued to play, and despite the fact that they all knew what they really wanted to ask Shane, they held off for the sake of not embarrassing Castle. Much to both Ryan and Esposito's surprise, the man was quite accepting and actually supportive of the whole relationship. And it wasn't that they didn't trust Shane to do the right thing, but the last person they'd have ever imagine him with was sweet and young Alexis Castle.

When they took a break for real food and to check on the score of the Islanders-Bruins game, Shane nipped out to use the men's room while Gil went into the office to call his family and say goodnight to his kids. The moment the doctor was out, they pounced on Castle.

'Okay, spill it. How can you let your daughter be involved with someone so much older?' Ryan hissed.

'You know they're probably already sleeping together, right?' Esposito added for good measure. 'Why aren't you freaking out like when you found out she was doing the nasty with JP?'

'And what's going to happen in three days when Alexis goes to England?'

'Shane is a good man and Alexis is going to be twenty-three on her next birthday, she's not a child anymore. And, okay, fine, he is a little older than I'd prefer but I haven't seen Alexis this happy in a long time and that counts for a hell of a lot more with me.'

Ryan shook his head. 'A year ago you wanted to drink your meals for a week because you found out that Lex was having sex with JP, and now you're just cool with it? Because let's face it, Castle, why else would Shane be asking Alexis to stay the night at his place?'

'When Mallory grows up, and Tessi for that matter,' he added, pointing a finger at Esposito, 'what will matter more to you, that your precious baby is actually enjoying sex or that she is happy?'

Before either could answer, Shane reappeared and snagged a thick sandwich off the plate, added chips. 'Let me guess, I'm the hot topic of conversation, right?' he called over from the island where the food was set up. When he came over to sit down with them while they all ate, he licked his fingers and shrugged. 'I'm the last person who expected this and so was Alexis, but honestly, it just comes very easily to us both to be involved the way we are. All aspects of it,' he added, knowing they wanted to know the really intimate details of his love-life. 'And it sucks that she is leaving for four months for school, but I'm going to see her for a week in March and we'll have the summer together once she's back then too. The bottom line is I haven't felt about a woman like I feel about her in a long time. She makes me very happy, she's the whole deal, and I'm not about to screw that up.'

'I think that says it all, Shane.' Castle looked at his friends, saw they were looking rather put in their place. 'Who wants a drink?'

When Beckett and RJ returned home that evening, she wasn't surprised to find Castle cleaning up, but she was surprised to see Ryan and Esposito helping him. 'Hey guys,' she called out, unwinding her scarf from her neck and dusting off snowflakes. 'How was cards night?'

'Well, let's see, between calling your husband an irresponsible parent and Shane Weaver a cradle-robbing jackass, it could have been a little bit better,' Ryan said in his chipper 'we-really-fucked-up' tone that they saved for when cases went pear-shaped. 'I'm still trying to get my head around it, especially since...'

'Especially since,' Beckett prompted, ditching her coat and picking RJ up from his pram.

'Well, I mean at New Years Eve, I thought there might be a little spark between them, but I figured I'd just been drinking too much.'

'Oh, New Years Eve was a complicated soap opera unto itself, even without alcohol,' she laughed, taking RJ over to the couch to unbutton his winter-coat. 'The important thing is that they make each other very happy, and since you two both have daughters now, you'll eventually realize that at some point your hang-ups will lose to their happiness.'

'Still doesn't stop either of us from feeling like a pair of first-class assholes about it,' Esposito grumbled. 'Though I suppose I'd rather Tessi be honest with me and tell me she's dating a boy rather than have her sneaking around, no matter who it is.'

'Guys, listen, thanks for the help with clean up, but go home. Really.'

Castle ushered them out the door and putting a plate together for his wife, brought it over to her where she was cuddling their son and making him gurgle in delight. 'Our boy likes the night life?'

'He woke up in the elevator because he knows it's almost time for a midnight snack. Alexis is still out?'

'Yeah, she's staying over at Shane's, she texted before he left.' Castle frowned thoughtfully. 'Should I be concerned they're together?'

'You are the right amount concerned I think. Too little and you're unfeeling, too much and you're overbearing. I was a young woman like her once and when I was involved with an older man, my dad didn't always understand it, but he was supportive. I think you're doing a great job.'

'Speaking of great jobs, look at this little guy. You're doing such a great job with him.'

'Half the time I'm terrified I'll break him or something, and when I'm done being scared I want to cry.'

'Sounds about right. You've got a great network of sisters to help you out, and...' he leaned in, kissed her neck. 'You've never looked so beautiful.'

Beckett felt the rush of hormones in her veins like lava beneath her skin and groaned a little. 'I feel almost as unsexy as when I was a thousand weeks pregnant.'

'Seriously, you look amazing.'

'It's the huge milk jugs, isn't it?' When he husband wiggled his eyebrows at her, Beckett giggled. 'What is it about men and boobs?'

'Can't help it, it's the way we're programmed. Even the grand marshal of the gay pride parade can appreciate the beauty and wonder of two juicy blouse-bunnies.'

'Hear that, RJ, that kind of fancy talk is what is going to help pay for your college education.'

Castle watched as RJ began to stick his tongue out, the sure-sign he was looking for mom and Beckett adjusted her sweater to feed him. 'See, RJ gets it.'

R&R&Enjoy.