'It's okay, RJ, everything will go just fine.'

'Are you reassuring him or yourself?'

'Castle, not the time.'

Beckett leveled him with a look as they waited in the examination room for the pediatrician. It was a very significant day for everyone - it was RJ's first checkup with the doctor and the day for his first shots. The idea that her baby would be stuck with a thin sharp stick of surgical steel and pumped full of foreign fluids had given her pause the night before, but she also knew the alternative of leaving her son unnecessarily vulnerable to sickness and disease was far worse than the momentary pain of a needle.

She looked up when Doctor Cook and her nurse, Loudon, came in; the doctor smiled warmly at them, looked at the intake chart.

'Good morning, Detective, Mister Castle, I see we have our newest cadet ready for his check-up. I swear, your precinct has given me more business than any other group of co-workers I know. He's has some baby Tylenol in anticipation of his shots?'

'Yes, he has.'

'Okay, well then, we'll get started.'

Cook clicked her pen shut, and waited while Beckett laid RJ on his back on the table. She stayed with him, or rather, her anchored her to his side because his grip on her finger could have crushed a walnut. 'Okay, my little prince, Mommy's not going anywhere,' she chuckled.

'A lot of my first-time patients like to keep their parents close by so that he or she doesn't feel like they're experiencing an alien abduction,' Cook said as she tested RJ's skin for jaundice and his joints, all his reflexes, How may diapers is he going through in a day?'

About twelve or so.'

'That's good, it means he's getting plenty to eat.' She listened to his heart and lungs with her stethoscope, nodded as she made notes. When RJ's face darkened into a little scowl at the feel of the cool metal on his tummy, Cook chuckled. 'You think that's bad buddy, you're not going to like this one.'

Castle winced in sympathy for his son when the pediatrician unfastened RJ's diaper to check his baby-junk for any abnormalities, which made RJ gurgle in frustration and discomfort. 'I hear you, little bro, there should be a built-in tattoo for that area that reads 'Handle With Care'. All those women's magazines with sex tip features missed that note.'

'Okay, fresh nappie for you, little man, and now comes the scary part before I finish with you.'

Loudon stepped up with his tray, kept his moves quick and efficient. 'Kate you're fine where you are, Rick, I'd like you to hold RJ's right leg.'

Castle nodded and Beckett felt her heart thump thickly in her chest when the nurse swabbed RJ's leg and quick as lightening administered the shots, and was applying the Superman band-aid when RJ's face crumpled and he began to cry in gulping and confused wails. When Loudon gave her the nod, Beckett scooped her son up and held him tight against her body, kissing his forehead.

'Oh, I know, sweetheart, I know, it hurts a little but just trust Mommy, it will make you stay healthy. It's okay, you just let me know how pissed off you are with me all you want,' she murmured, patting his back gently as she walked around the room with him. 'I know, it's okay, you're such a good little prince being so brave.'

'I remember Alexis crying like that. Thought she was going to lose her little tiny voice before she could even speak.',' Castle said, watching his wife soothe their baby boy and suddenly had new-found for respect for Ryan. RJ was only getting a booster shot, whereas Dell had to deal with multiple needles on a daily basis and would for the foreseeable future. That Ryan wasn't crazy from worry for his son was a testament to his iron centre.

Beckett looked down and saw there were two little wet splotches on her sweater, along with two little splotched on the sleeve. 'Oh, my baby. Oh, RJ, shh, shh, Mommy's here, Mommy's got you,' she crooned, brushing her thumbs over his cheeks where she saw there was little tear-tracks. 'It's alright.'

She began to sing to him, hoping the vibrations would calm him and it worked like magic; in a few minutes, he was calming down so that his wails were soft little mewlings. 'Here we are, over to Daddy.'

'Okay, okay, RJ, there we are, no worries little bro,' Castle soothed the upset infant, then glanced up when Beckett turned around and stripped off her shirt. 'Uhhh, Kate?'

'I leaked. RJ crying set off the milk hormones so I'm changing my shirt. I always keep an extra one in the baby-bag.'

'Okay, folks.' Cook stepped up as Loudon disposed of the needles and exited quietly. 'RJ's looking very good, he's getting his fill of milk and his development is coming along well. I'd say within the next two weeks you should start making sure he gets about twenty to thirty minutes of tummy time a day to start getting those neck muscles developed. His next appointment, we'll draw some blood to do a test for any medical, environmental and nutritional allergies, so you'll give him the drops again. Loudon will make sure you're back in another two months at the desk.'

Cook left then, to go and meet with another patient, leaving the Castle family to collect themselves a little before they left. Castle smiled as Beckett folded her soiled shirt. 'You're well and truly covered in mommy now, Detective.'

The words were no sooner out of his mouth when RJ gave a little cough and spit up on Castle's organic cotton dress-shirt. The sight of it had Beckett snickering.

'You were saying, dear?'

Once back on the street after a short subway ride, Beckett felt a little silly pushing an empty pram but one look at her husband's face as he walked beside with RJ in his winter coat and hat and she knew her boys were sticking together after the doctor's appointment.

'How are you doing over there, Daddy?'

'Still a little shaky, but RJ's starting to get the yawns. Let's stop at Jane Sinclair's on the way home, I want some of those fancy cheddar and jalapeno bagels to put in the freezer for Shane to take to England with him.'

'Oh?'

'Yeah, he wants to take her a little I-Love-New-York care package when he goes to visit her on mid-semester holidays.'

'Gotta say, it's a little weird for a grown man who isn't in the educational profession to be going away on March Break vacation.' Beckett smiled as they turned the corner to head to the bakery. 'Well men in love do what they have to for their girls.'

'Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who said anything about being in love?'

She stopped in her tracks, gave her husband the mother of all 'you're kidding, right' faces. 'Come on, Rick. Look at it like a writer. He doesn't tell his friends about her, he always takes her calls or texts at work, he buys her little presents, meets her father. You don't do that if it's just for fun.'

'Okay, my day was bad enough watching RJ get his shots but now you're telling me that Shane Weaver is in love my daughter?'

''RJ, I think I better put you in here before Daddy has a mass coronary and drops you.'

Castle didn't protest when she put RJ in his pram, nor when she let him push the pram down the block. 'I can't believe it. Shane's in love with our Alexis.'

'And she's in love with him.' Beckett held open the door and the inviting scent of baking bread and melted buttered wandered out. 'Want me to buy you a bagel you can cry over?'

'Yes. Something full of chocolate and calories.'

R&R&Enjoy.