Exactly one week before Alexis was due to return home, Beckett awoke with excited cartwheeling butterflies in her stomach. Castle was taking Ryan's day off to work from home, setting up his story-arc murder boards, while RJ played in his playpen with him in the office, toys and his stuffed bunny at his mercy. Beckett knew though he was trying to play it cool like his head was totally in his fictional version of the lives of the Twelfth Precinct's players, she knew he was just as jumpy as she was, and the Smart-board was merely a prop.

'What time is it?'

'About seven-thirty. Relax, Daddy,' she teased him, bringing in a fresh carafe of coffee. 'You're not going to miss the surprise. Shane said he was going to call us first when he was outside her building, remember?'

'Right, right. What do you think of having Maggie Ochoa go into labour while she's watching her hubby interrogate a guy who was trying to make it look like Ochoa was cheating on her with Lauren Perry?'

'I think you'll be Missus Castle the Second after Meredeth, Lanie and Esposito get through with you.'

'Right, that is never a cool thing to do to your readers. What about if Maggie Ochoa goes into labour while she's stuck in the old elevator at the Precinct with Riley and Lauren Perry?'

'Much better.'

'Bedda,' RJ agreed from his playpen, turned bright eyes to his mother. 'Omeo?'

'Yes, sweetie, it's time for oatmeal.' Beckett helped her son out of his playpen, held his hand as they walked into the kitchen. 'Are you sure you don't want Cheerios or soft toast?'

'No. Omeo.'

Beckett could only roll with it, and was tempted to start singing Henry the Eighth a-la Sam Wheat from Ghost; she'd just plunked RJ into his chair when the house line rang long-distance and her heart did a somersault to her stomach and back. 'Hello?' she asked, picking up the handset.

'Hey, Detective, it's Shane. I'm just outside Alexis' building now.'

'Great! We'll get her on Skype. Talk in a few.'

She hung up, then bellowed for her hubby as she sat down to dial Alexis on Skype, webcam and all. A few seconds later, Castle had pulled up a chair beside her and a few seconds after that, they were looking at Alexis in her apartment kitchen while she cooked something on her stove.

'Hey guys, how's it going early in the morning over there?'

'So far so good, we've barely been up, though,' Castle replied. 'How was your last day?'

'Good, a little sad. I'm going to miss working in that clinic, I learned so much from the other counselors, not just medically but like coping mechanisms, approaches, everything you want to try to get through to a trouble youngster.'

'You all packed?'

'Not even close. I'm starting today to look at books, seeing what I want to keep, what I want to sell. It's not going to take a long time, but it's still heavy, you know?'

'Sure, it's been your home for four years. What about-'

'Hold that thought, someone's knocking on the door,' Alexis interrupted, and Beckett squeezed Castle's hand out of frame excited. The angle of the webcam allowed them to see Alexis going to the door and they heard her shriek of surprise and delight as she opened the door to her boyfriend. They watched only for a split second when Alexis threw her arms around him and then looked away as they heard the sound of the happy couple having a reunion kiss. RJ, of course being an almost one-year-old little boy, wrinkled up his nose and expressed his opinion quite vividly.

'Ewwwww, Less moosh,' he said with abject disgust. 'Yucky.'

'Trust me, in about fifteen years, you will not be saying kissing is yucky,' Castle chuckled as Alexis all but dragged Shane over to the kitchen table, a great big grin on her face.

'Dad! Look who's here!'

'I know!'

Alexis looked confused. 'You know?'

'Shane told us he was going to surprise you, and we co-ordinated it a little so we knew you'd be at home when he arrived,' Beckett explained to her, and saw the gratitude in her girl's eyes. 'Now you've got someone to help with the packing, and maybe take that trip over to Paris like you thought you might back in May.'

'Hey guys.' Shane offered them a friendly wave. 'Thanks for the help.'

'How was your flight over?' Castle asked, knowing he was going to lose Alexis and Shane to their burgeoning hormones in about thirty-five seconds.

'Good, uneventful, glad to be here in one piece.'

'Glad to hear it. Listen, Lex, don't let us keep you, I know you want to help get Shane settled.' Beckett knew the young woman would read the subtext perfectly and wasn't disappointed when she nodded. 'Give us a shout around dinner time, okay? Your dinner time, not ours.'

'Sounds good. Love you, see you next week!'

The Skype call was dropped and Castle sent his bride a withering, uncomfortable look. 'You know they're going to do it, right?'

'Why do you think I got her off the phone? She hasn't seen her boyfriend since August and as much fun as cyber-sex might be as a novelty, most of the time it serves to remind you that you're not able to do those things in person with your boyfriend or girlfriend.'

'Says the voice of experience?' he teased her, thankful to have a slight distraction from the knowledge that his firstborn had hung up on him to go get all freaky with her boyfriend. 'Still, the fact Shane flew over to see her should prove once and for all to any doubters that he really loves her.'

Becket scratched the side of her nose. 'Rick, I hate to break it to you, but that moment was back in March when he flew over to see her then.'

'Oh? How do you know? Is this like one of those feminine mystique things, that only someone with boobs and the ability to bear children will understand?'

'No, it's the fact that Shane Weaver, the bad-ass pathologist, has a crippling fear of flying.'

'Seriously? How do you know that?'

'There was a seminar run by the FBI on profiling down in Quantico just before you came on with us, and Shane and Lanie flew down with us. He was popping Valium at the baggage check, then the moment they brought around the drink carts, he ordered a double rye and ginger. When he got off the plane, you couldn't even tell he'd self-medicated, that's how tense he gets. And he flew over to England, and then to Amsterdam and back in March, when he and Alexis had only been together three and a half months. That's saying something about commitment.'

'I'll say.' Castle thought of when he'd had a book debut at number one for the first time, and Evil Meredith hadn't been bothered to hop on a plane home from her spa week in Aruba to be supportive of him and Alexis, yet had no problem taking advantage of the lifestyle his best-sellers afforded her.

'You think they'll make it over to Paris?'

'Shane's already booked the tickets and the hotel. They're going there after Alexis stuff is all shipped home, and then flying to New York from Paris.' Castle chuckled. 'Quite the jet-setting daughter we have, huh?'

'Less home?' RJ asked, making both his parents glance over; he'd been so quiet they almost forgot about him being right there.

Castle shook his head. 'Not yet. Soon.'

'Soon?'

'Soon,' he repeated. 'I know it feels like forever but trust me, it will be next week before you know it.'

R&R&Enjoy