"Who's going to go first?" Julia asked her sister after her mask was on.
"I think we should go in order of age," Alexis told her with a smile.
"So you're up first Julia," Castle told her.
Julia smiled at him and then sucked in a breath of air before she dove under the water and very quickly picked up the wands that she was easily able to find. When she came back up she said, "They were really close together," laughing a little.
"We can't throw them out too far," Beckett told her. "Other people might come in and step on them."
"But they're supposed to swim," Castle said. When Beckett shot him a glare he said, "Well they are."
"Why don't you try?" Alexis said then, watching them with a smile.
"I can," Eliza said quickly.
"When you're a little better at swimming Eliza," Beckett told her gently, kissing her temple. "Why don't you go Rick?"
Giving her a quick glance Castle said, "It'll be too easy, even without a mask." He watched as his daughter ducked under the water at that point and then said to his wife, "Would you want to take them up there?" he asked as he pointed to the Jacuzzi he had seen while waiting for the others to come out of the changing room.
"Of course," Beckett replied. "But towards the end of the family swim."
"The end?" Jim said, turning to them.
"We have until six," Castle said. "So we'll head up to our room for dinner then, after we get ready of course."
"Daddy I wanna swim," Eliza told him then.
Hearing that Beckett set her in the water and watched her start to dog paddle her way to her father until Castle was picking her up. She stepped up to them and kissed her husband gently on the lips before she murmured to him.
"I've got it," he replied with a smile. Castle watched his wife then start to swim away from them, out of the way of their daughters. When Eliza started to pat his cheek he smiled down at her before saying, "Want to jump?"
"Yeah," the toddler replied before her father lifted her out of the pool to set her on the outside of it. She waited for him to step back enough for her and she leapt out into the water quickly, hearing laughter as she was underneath.
"How long are we going to play?" Julia was asking her sister after she had grabbed the wands again.
"Do you want to stop?" Alexis asked.
"Yeah I'm getting bored anyways," Julia said before smiling at her sister so she knew she was just kidding. "Should we play?"
Glancing at their dad Alexis said, "I don't know, he's going to cheat."
"You should let him," Jim said, standing up next to them. "You never really give him the chance to play these days and when you do you usually let him play the last game."
"Have you ever watched them play?" Alexis asked with a smile as she went to the side of the pool to set aside their things.
"I have," Jim replied. "But one game at the very least," he said before Julia giggled and Alexis smiled and then swam in separate directions to get their parents.
"What is it?" Beckett asked Julia with a smile as she started pulling her over to where Castle and Eliza were.
"We want to play a game," the little girl replied.
"If it's Marco Polo I don't think we should," Castle said, looking over to the other end of the pool.
Turning to look with him Beckett saw people coming into the water and she smiled saying, "I think he's right. But you really wanted us to play that?"
"What else can we do?" Alexis asked.
"You have a beach ball you know," Martha called from her chair. "It's a little deflated but Richard…"
"What if I told you I got easily winded," Castle said jokingly to his mother as he took the ball.
"You've never had trouble with that before," Beckett said, picking up Eliza who had swum to her from Alexis.
Castle glanced at her before he inflated the ball watching Eliza swimming with Beckett's help as she pulled her through the water. He tried not to smile at the way the toddler was kicking her feet furiously but it was hard not to as she was looking up at her mother so earnestly as she was encouraging her.
"You're getting better every time we swim," Beckett said as she finally picked Eliza up.
"Yeah you are," Julia said as she swam to them. "Keep practicing."
"So I swim like you?" Eliza asked.
"And Mommy," Julia said with a nod before she giggled slightly. She then wrapped her arms around their mother saying, "Mommy taught me too."
Beckett was smiling as Eliza hugged her around her neck and she looked at her husband to see that he was watching them with a slight smile on his face. "I love you two," she told their daughters, kissing their youngest before handing her to Castle who'd come over to them. She hugged Julia tightly before kissing her and then said to Alexis, "Are we ready?"
"For volleyball?" Alexis asked.
"I think we should just pass it around," Castle said. "And I'll be playing for Eliza-"
"I wanna play Daddy," the toddler said firmly.
"Okay then we'll play together," Castle said. At her nod he kissed her temple and said, "Are you joining us Jim?"
"I think so," he replied, going to stand in the circle they were in. "Is there a way I need to pass?" he directed to Julia.
"No whoever you want to," the little girl said, hitting the beach ball to him. She jumped up and down until it came back to her and hit it to her little sister.
"You were close sweetie," Beckett told Eliza after the toddler had hit the ball in a down motion. "Try and hit it up."
Castle started them going around again and after a few pauses when Eliza couldn't quite get the ball to go to someone else he hit it to Julia.
"Daddy!" she squealed as it hit the side of her head since he'd been pretending to hit it to her mother.
"Take Eliza, I'm out of here!" Castle said playfully as he handed the toddler to his wife. He pretended to try to run to the side of the pool; though he wasn't going that fast; and laughed when Julia jumped on his back.
"Say sorry!" the little girl said, trying to sound stern but laughing too heavily for that.
"No," Castle said easily as he bent down a little so she could climb onto his back fully.
"Hey no wrestling in the pool," Beckett said as they were watching them.
"We're not wrestling Mommy," Julia said, still laughing slightly. "But you cheated."
"We were playing for points?" Castle asked.
"Why don't we set aside the beach ball and swim a little more?" Beckett suggested, letting Eliza swim over to Castle. "And then head up to the Jacuzzi?"
"I'll do that, I'm eager to see that water corridor," he said to their daughters.
Though the girls were holding onto their father eventually they let go to start swimming, Eliza beginning by letting her father pull her through the water as she again kicked her legs. The others swam around the rest of the pool and they spent a long time doing that as they had forgotten that they would have to leave at a certain time.
"Rick," Beckett said when she had remembered that suddenly. "What time is it?"
"We have about forty minutes," Castle said, looking at his watch.
"Let's go," Beckett said to Eliza, picking her up out of the water. She went to the ladder setting her on the outside before she climbed out; turning to make sure Julia was coming with them.
"We get to walk around the water now," Julia said happily, though she missed swimming around and diving to the blue tiles at the bottom of the pool in her mask.
"Yeah," Eliza said. When they went back around the pool she was surprised to see at the ladder down into the corridor was Martha. "Gram!" she said excitedly, hurrying to her to hug her.
"You're here for the Jacuzzi aren't you?" Castle asked her.
"Of course," Martha said simply.
Going in first Castle held his arms out to take Eliza and said, "The water is nice but Julia be careful with these fountains."
"I know," the little girl said, climbing down into the water at that point. She swam over to the rushing water, ducking under them to hear the roaring sound of it hitting the top of the water. When she resurfaced she was startled to see her entire family was there with her. "Hey, now we're all swimming."
"We are," Beckett replied, leaning against the wall in front of the fountains and watching Eliza touch the water coming down from one.
"Ow," the toddler said.
"I know it's fast," Castle told her before he kissed her temple. "But it's very warm."
"A bath," Eliza commented.
"Do we have to take one?" Julia asked then.
Not surprised they'd been asked Beckett said, "No we'll take you to the showers to rinse off and we'll give you one tomorrow at our hotel." She saw her husband about to open his mouth and hurriedly said, "Not because we're going to be in Bath because they'll need one."
"Remember we're going to Bath tomorrow," Castle said, seeing that Julia and Eliza were watching them in slight confusion.
"Oh," Julia said, sharing a look with her sister. "Are we gonna see baths?"
"We are," Alexis answered. She laughed slightly as she went with Castle and Beckett through the corridor then. "They're Roman baths and they used them like a spa."
"Like that," Julia said, nodding to the small pool in front of them.
"Sort of," Castle said.
"They were heated but they didn't have jets like that," Beckett added.
"No bubbles?" Eliza asked. When her parents shook their heads she frowned and said, "I don't like."
"We're just going to walk through it," Jim said laughingly as he had joined them. "Not go in."
"Do you wanna see it?" Eliza asked him with slightly wide eyes.
"Of course I hope you'll walk through with me," Jim told her as he took her from his daughter.
"Yeah," Eliza said with a smile.
After working their way through the corridor a few times the family went up to the pool where they soaked in the warm water together, the girls swimming together around it entirely while the others looked on.
Turning around after she was sure that the girls had someone watching them Beckett leaned her arms on the top of the wall, watching as the rain from the storm outside trailed down the windows. She felt her husband moving next to her to do the same and she looked at him with a smile saying, "Nearly three hours."
"Did you want them to fall asleep at dinner?" Castle asked in amusement.
"I just want them to sleep eventually," Beckett replied. She glanced back at their daughters, seeing that Julia was still swimming around on her own as Eliza was sitting on Martha's lap.
"I'm sure they will," Castle said, turning back ahead of them. "Not much left." He could see her glancing at him out of the corner of her eye he elaborated saying, "I've been enjoying this vacation a lot, I don't want it to end yet."
"Me neither," Julia said, suddenly swimming over to them and going to her mother's left. "But don't we have a lot to see still? We didn't even make it to Paris yet."
"So now you want to see Paris more than London," Castle said teasingly.
"No I want to see them the same," Julia replied. "But I can't wait to go on the Chunnel."
Glancing back as Eliza started to try to repeat that word; but unable to really say it exactly; Castle shared a glance with his wife before he drifted over to his mother. "I'm going to borrow my daughter," he told her even as Eliza was jumping over into his arms. "Come on and join us sweetheart," he told her as she looked at him questioningly.
"Are you having fun?" Beckett asked when they were near her and Julia.
"Yeah I wanna stay," Eliza said as she was transferred over to her. "Forever."
"I don't know about that," Castle commented as Beckett helped their youngest hold onto the wall. "Eventually you'll want to sleep… and eat dinner too."
"Then I come here," Eliza said before she then started to giggle.
"Did I just get tricked by a three year old?" Castle asked his wife and oldest daughter.
"If you think you did then yes," Beckett said with a smile, leaning over and kissing him gently on the lips. She kept that quick before turning her attention to their daughters. "Are you ready to go back to England tomorrow?" she asked Eliza.
"Yeah I wanna see London," the toddler replied.
"And Paris," Julia then said. When her parents looked at her she explained, "Alexis told us more about it when we were in Stratford. When we played cards while you were at the play."
"A little," Alexis said as she was going slowly around the pool behind them. "I didn't want to give away everything."
"There's not much to give away," Castle said.
"So we're really only going for a day?" Martha asked.
"Technically a day and a half," Beckett replied. "We leave from London early, get there about… ten the ticket says."
"We leave at seven and it takes nearly three hours," Castle replied since he'd been the one to get the tickets. "But we'll have breakfast and it'll be a fun trip… better than by boat."
"Boats aren't bad," Julia protested.
"True but it takes longer to get across the Channel by boat," Castle reminded her.
"And once we're in Paris we're staying the night," Jim stated.
Knowing that her father must have guessed what she and Castle had decided to do Beckett nodded and turned back around to sit with her husband and their daughters; Eliza climbing onto her lap. "We're going to stay at the George V," she then said finally.
Castle glanced at his wife in surprise when their daughter didn't react to that and he said, "Julia?"
"Yeah?" the little girl asked. She was a little confused and then said, "Should I know that hotel?"
"It's where the Beatles stayed when they went there," Beckett said.
"It's that one?" Julia said, wondering why she'd forgotten the name of the hotel. "And we're staying?"
Nodding Beckett then added, "It's not the same as it was back then."
"Can we swim?" Eliza then asked. She looked around at her family in slight confusion, wondering why they were laughing and said, "Why Mommy, Daddy?"
"We're not surprised you said that," Castle said first. "And speaking of swimming."
"I think we need to go," Beckett said to Eliza as Julia had understood what he'd meant and was slightly groaning.
"No Mommy," Eliza said, though she wasn't serious. She sighed as she was handed out of the pool to her grandmother and they waited for the others to join them so they could go back to their rooms. But she then remembered they were going to have dinner in their parents' room so she became a little more eager, wanting to be able to play with them before dinner.
"Boo!" Alexis exclaimed as she went around the dresser the TV was on, her little sister crying out in surprise. She let Eliza run back to the table which was 'home' and caught up to her very quickly before picking her up as she squealed. "Not much room to run around here," she told her father who turned from looking out at the balcony.
"I don't think they intended a family to stay here," Castle said.
"But as far as rooms go this is a nice space to have a family dinner," Beckett said as she was coming out of the bedroom. She smiled at Eliza as the toddler called to her and leaned over in her sister's arms. "Did you get back home?" she asked her, holding her on her hip and gently swaying back and forth to calm her daughter down.
"No 'lexis is fast," Eliza said. She then smiled saying, "She has more legs."
"I think you mean longer legs," Castle said, trying not to laugh as his mother, Jim and Julia were doing as they came back into the room from the balcony.
"Yeah," Eliza said. She then hugged her mother before starting to play with her hair saying, "I want Mommy."
"Want what?" Beckett asked though she knew already.
"You're not going to translate?" Castle asked Julia in surprise.
Shaking her head Julia said simply, "Mommy knows already. And I want my hair brushed too."
"Luckily we have your brush here," Beckett said.
"Should we order?" Castle asked. He pretended to jump when the girls; sitting on the couch with their mother; said, "Yes!" at the same time. "All that swimming," he said to his wife with a slight grin.
"I was aware that was going to happen," Beckett replied. "And I'm a little hungry myself."
When the others had agreed Castle was about to go get the menu when his mother placed her hand on his arm before handing him a camera. He looked at her in slight confusion before taking it and seeing it was his wife's. It was then he turned to her and saw that Beckett was brushing out Julia's hair while Eliza was leaning against her. He took a picture of them hurriedly and then went over to them, putting the camera on the coffee table/ottoman in front of the couch. "I guess I can't order just yet," he told his wife who glanced at him.
"We don't know what to get Daddy," Julia said.
"That's exactly right," Castle said, picking up Eliza before she wrapped her arms around him and leaned against him. "You should have the same style they do love."
Knowing he was kidding Beckett pretended to go along with him saying, "Great I'll have Julia try to put my hair up in a French braid… or Eliza can put it up in braided pigtails."
Smiling as the girls giggled at that Castle said, "Or you can try both."
"Dad I don't think any of us are buying that," Alexis teased him as she looked away from where she was standing at the window, taking some pictures of the bay outside in the rain.
"She's right, you far prefer her hair down," Martha said, picking up on that as she looked up from the menu for room service.
Glancing at his father in law Castle was relieved to see that Jim didn't seem to mind that and he then said, "Then I guess I'll have to agree with you, you can leave your hair down love."
"Thanks for grudgingly agreeing to the choice I made earlier," Beckett told him teasingly. She leaned into his kiss to her cheek then and said, "Read the kids menu to them," as his mother handed it to him.
"Right, pay attention you two," Castle said, pretending to sound pretentious which he saw was making them smile.
As they were listening to the selections Julia furrowed her brow when he finished after the burger and said, "No more?"
"No more," Castle replied. "There's not too much to pick but they sound good to me." He looked down at Eliza when she tugged his sleeve and said, "What would you like?"
"No, you get chicken Daddy," the toddler told him seriously.
"I'm not a kid though but I know what I'd like," Castle said simply to them. He then handed Eliza to his wife after she'd finished doing Julia's hair and brought the little girl over to them.
"Do you like it?" Julia asked with a smile as her father made her turn around.
"Very nice, you're a pro at this Kate," Castle told her.
"I have a lot of practice," Beckett said wryly. "Though you're still better at French braids than I am."
"Still, nice," Castle said before he pulled Julia to sit on his lap. He hugged her as she looked at the menu he'd still been holding and kissed her temple. "Let your sister see it," he told her as Alexis came over to them.
Reading it quickly the young woman said, "I'm ready, Kate?"
"I know what I want, Rick?" Beckett told him, parting her daughter's hair before braiding it.
Castle put in the order for their dinner in the bedroom since the phone was there and he watched as Julia and Eliza; her hair finished; came in and climbed onto the made bed. He smiled at them as he ordered their dessert as well, since the two gasped though Julia did so a little quicker than her sister. "Do you know what I got us?" he asked the little girl.
"I think so, it's sweet," Julia replied. "We can have dessert?"
"I said it was okay," Beckett replied, coming inside. "Your mom, my dad and Alexis are watching TV."
"And you?" Castle asked as he sat on the side of the bed next to the girls.
"Getting my clothes for tomorrow," Beckett said simply. She let a few seconds pass before glancing at her husband, who she saw was staring at her though Eliza was jumping repeatedly against his back.
"Hey no wrestling on the bed!" Castle said in mock anger as he turned and grabbed both girls as he tried to distract himself from the obvious invitation in his wife's eyes.
Beckett watched him tickle their daughters until they were nearly crying with laughter before she went over to him and leaned against him. She whispered in his ear, smiling at the girls until he had stopped and stood up once she had.
"Thanks Mommy," Julia said, still laughing. She then looked over at the doorway and said, "Were we too loud?"
"No we were just enjoying watching the show you were putting on now," Martha told them.
"What did you tell him?" Alexis asked her stepmother as they stepped out into the room and went to the table since Castle had brought over two chairs for them to use with the four already there.
"That the couch out here is comfortable for sleeping on," Beckett said.
"So that's why you stopped," Julia said to her father.
"It is… Eliza you don't need to sit down yet," Castle told the toddler.
"I am hungry," Eliza replied simply but firmly.
"Mommy what are we having for dessert?" Julia asked eagerly.
"I think you should be more concerned about your entrée," Martha said in a mock-stern voice.
"Ent-y… ent-r-y," Eliza tried to pronounce.
As Julia tried to help her sister say the word the others sat down at the table too Castle sat with Eliza on his lap since there wasn't a chair she'd be able to sit and eat on. They were talking together when the food was delivered and after everything was set out they began to eat.
"I didn't expect things to be this fancy," Alexis commented, looking at the lamb that Jim was eating.
"I like it," Julia said, eating the chicken she and her little sister had ended up getting. "How are the fish and chips?" She smiled widely at her mother as she handed her the end of one of the pieces of fish that she had on her plate. She dipped it into the sauce and ate it saying, "It's good. But no newspaper still."
Laughing at that as Eliza was eating a piece he'd given her, Castle said, "You won't let that go will you? And it's kind of barbaric to have that oily fish and fries on the printed word."
Beckett rolled her eyes though she was smiling and said, "Of course you'd think that."
"And why not," Castle said, though he was a little absent as he was trying to help Eliza dip a fry in ketchup.
"One thing about tomorrow," Alexis said after they'd been quiet for a little. "Are we going to see more than the baths?"
"We'll go to the Jane Austen Center," Castle replied. "I figured you'd want to go there. And so does Kate."
"You like Austen?" Alexis asked her in surprise.
"I do, I don't just read mystery," Beckett commented.
"I knew you read history," Alexis said. "I just didn't see you liking her books."
"Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey are her favorites," Jim said.
"That one makes sense," Alexis replied.
"Yes it's… Eliza," Beckett started to say when she saw her youngest had ketchup on all her fingers.
"Luckily we have enough napkins for this," Castle commented before he cleaned her hand.
"One thing I need to ask if we're going to see," Martha said as they watched him. "Is Stonehenge."
"We're going to stop on the way to London from Bath," Beckett answered. "It's not that far and Rick and I already talked about wanting the girls to get a chance to see it."
"You've never seen it?" Jim asked Castle.
"I did, I came out once when I was here, with Alexis," he replied.
"I had remained in London," Martha said as Jim and Beckett both looked to her. "Which I suppose I should count as a mistake but I'm going to see it now."
"I can't wait to see that, The Beatles went there," Julia said happily.
"Of course, in their movie," Martha said.
"But I don't think we're going to be going to the place where they played," Julia said, musingly. "And there probably aren't any haystacks like they hid in." She then giggled looking at her family and said, "At least they won't be trying to get a ring."
"I'm glad I didn't buy your mom an oversized ruby for her engagement ring," Castle said.
Looking over at her husband Beckett didn't say anything to that and instead turned to the others to see that they had finished eating. "I think we should let them run around."
"Why? There's dessert," Julia pointed out.
"Desserts!" Eliza crowed as she grabbed onto her father's arm after he'd set her on the ground.
"Play hide and seek first," Castle told her. "Julia, let her be it."
"Okay is the table home?" the little girl asked, knowing their parents weren't going to let them eat their sweets until after they had played for a bit.
"The door to go out to the balcony," Beckett said. "But do not go out."
Eliza's eyes widened a little at that but looking to the window she saw that it was raining harder. She smiled and said, "I get a shower there."
"And then you go to bed," Castle said simply. He shared a smile with his wife as their youngest covered her eyes with her hands.
As the two were playing Castle, Beckett and Alexis cleared the table and Jim and Martha sat on the couch to watch the girls. When they'd played a fourth round; going quickly with each one since the room was so small; Beckett took her daughters to the table where they stood while the rest of them sat down to eat their desserts.
"Are we sharing?" Julia asked, watching her father cut what looked like a tart in half.
"You are there's more than enough here for you both," Castle said. "It's apples."
"Which you're supposed to eat," Beckett said in amusement as she watched Eliza suck the sugar and cream off one of the pieces of fruit on her fork. "Sweetie."
Shaking her head after the toddler made a sound of protest Alexis said, "They didn't do this with their chicken strips."
"You have to eat that quicker to have dessert," Julia commented. She then went over to the window; since she was standing at the closest point to it; and looked out saying, "I hope it doesn't rain when we go to London."
"It's going to until tomorrow morning and then we should have a couple days of good weather," Castle said. "I've been checking on the report when I could today. I don't want it to rain when you see Stonehenge either."
"If it were cloudy it would make it much more…" Martha said.
"Make you think the people who built it would come out from behind the stones?" Jim suggested. When she looked at him in surprise he said, "I've heard from friends who have been there it can feel like that. I'm sure it's just atmosphere and the fact there's no sun."
"How're your pears?" Castle asked, leaning over on the pretext of trying some. Before Beckett gave him a piece he murmured to her, "Did you ever tell him what happened at the vaults?" He wasn't surprised when his wife's response was to feed him and he guessed she wasn't sure her father would understand what had happened; never mind the fact he was well aware his wife wouldn't let herself understand. "Hopefully the sun will come out when we go to the Roman baths," he then said to try and change the subject but not too directly. "It would be kind of depressing to see them in cloudy conditions."
"I would still like to see them," Beckett told him, reaching over and squeezing his hand.
"Katie?" Jim asked when Eliza hurried around to him.
"A little," Beckett replied, knowing her father wanted to give the toddler some of his sticky toffee pudding. "It's… oh so you're going to sample now," she said teasingly as Julia came over to her.
"Not everything, Gram and Grandpapa have the same thing," Julia said.
"Still you're getting a lot of dessert tonight," Alexis said as she let her sisters try a very small amount of her chocolate mousse. She wouldn't let them take any themselves as it was flavored with whiskey and she was surprised their parents hadn't tried to stop her.
"What you had was enough," Beckett said, smiling at her stepdaughter.
"I thought you'd be making sure," Alexis said. "So after this who wants to play a quick game of hide and seek with me?" She laughed with the others as Eliza cried out and raised her hand.
"It's early though so we don't need to go to bed after that do we?" Julia asked, looking at her father's watch.
"We'll play cards for a little," Castle said. "Though I'm wondering if we shouldn't all play hide and seek," he commented as he finished his panna cotta.
"Six of us trying to hide in here?" Beckett asked teasingly.
"Then two can be it," Castle said simply. He wasn't surprised when his wife shook her head and they got up to start clearing the table while their daughters were playing.
After their game the family gathered around the table once more and played a game of Cinquillo before they played Michigan rummy which they'd bought while in Liverpool.
"I'm so glad we found this," Alexis said as they were putting chips into the slots on the game.
"I don't know if we can really lug this around on future vacations even if it is smaller," Castle said. "But for this one it works."
"We're taking more vacations like this one?" Martha asked.
Beckett shook her head though she had a small smile on her face and said, "He's talked about next summer already."
"I'm assuming we're staying in Ireland that time?" Jim said.
"Unless anyone wants to go somewhere else," Castle replied. "But we need to be near Ireland since we're renewing our vows there."
"We might as well go through Ireland more than we did this summer," Alexis said. "Would you two want to go?"
"I do," Julia said firmly. "We can stay longer in some places right?"
"We will," Beckett promised. "So does anyone want to start because they're holding the first card."
With a bit of laughter at that Jim set it down in the middle of the game tray and that began the first of several games they would play as evening became night.
Turning as he heard footsteps behind him Castle said, "They delivered the coffee."
"I thought I told you wine Rick," Beckett said wryly as she took one of the mugs from the table and went to sit on the couch.
"Wine, coffee, it's too easy to get those confused," Castle told her in a slightly offhanded tone. He grunted slightly when she punched his chest and he took her hand before she could pull it away.
Sighing in slight exasperation at the way her husband proceeded to kiss the back of her hand Beckett said, "You realize I can't really keep you out here right?"
"You have no reason to put me here, I did what you said," Castle said simply. He smiled when she shook her head before he followed her gaze over to the view they had. He kissed what was exposed of her shoulder because of her sundress and he said, "I'm going to miss this."
Beckett didn't protest him saying that since she had to agree that it was hard not to think of the fact that they were more than half way through their vacation. She then said, "I know but consider what we have to look forward-" before her phone rang. "It's Brennan," she said in surprise, looking at the number.
"Kate I'm so sorry," Brennan said. "I hope you weren't about to go to bed."
"No we're still awake, is something wrong?" Beckett asked, amused at how quickly she and her cousin had begun calling each other by their names though they still hadn't met.
"My wife's mother is here and talk naturally focused on you and your husband and your visit in a couple weeks," Brennan said. "She insisted we have a party for you."
"That's not too bad-" Castle began to say.
"A ball in fact," Brennan interrupted. "My wife agrees but we're not going to make it about you, you'll just be our guests."
"People still have balls?" Beckett asked, sharing a look with her husband.
"We have, they're not so formal as they were back in the time of the Regency but it's a way for us to hold onto a bit of the past… that's what my wife and her father thought," Brennan said.
"If you don't mind us there they we would be honored to go," Beckett said. She shrugged when her husband looked at her in surprise at her wording and then said goodbye with him to her cousin. "So I guess I need to find an all purpose dress in Paris; for the restaurant and the ball," she said. She shook her head and said, "We're going to a ball."
"Yeah good thing I have my tux," Castle replied.
"Lucky that you do," Beckett couldn't help tell him. She took a sip of her coffee and said, "We'll have to tell your mom and Alexis."
"So they'll go shopping as well there I'm sure," Castle said.
Looking at each other Castle and Beckett said at the same time, "The girls."
"I would like to take them to Harrods," Beckett said to her husband after thinking for a moment. "Since we're going there anyways."
"Then maybe your dad can take the girls," Castle suggested.
Nodding to that idea Beckett finished the last of her coffee and then looked back out to the view saying, "He can take them… somewhere; I don't know if there are playgrounds in the city."
"We can look," Castle said, watching her before he finished his coffee and set his mug next to hers on the ottoman/table. He reached up to her and pulled her back a little until she was firmly against his front and he kissed the side of her head gently before murmuring to her, "I want you my love."
At that Beckett shivered and she stood up carefully, walking over to stand in between the couch and table to wait for her husband to join her. She tried not to smile too widely when he was soon there and bit back a heavy moan in response to his lips on the junction of her shoulder and neck. She let him move around what he could kiss there until she turned around to him, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly.
As they kissed passionately Castle wasn't sure if his wife was aware of how fast his heart was beating. His excitement was rising and his arousal was reminding him that it had been there for some time. Finally they pulled apart and while he pressed his forehead against hers he said, "Tell me you want me Kate, please."
Beckett felt something in her mind recognize the opportunity she had and she couldn't help smile thinking of that. "You want me to tell you Rick?" she asked him, studying him closely. She kissed him very gently on the lips and then murmured, "Then show me you want me lover."
The last word out of her mouth nearly jolted Castle as much as her leaving his embrace. But when she went into the room and was framed in the doorway; the huge bed in front of her; he rushed to her, determined to do exactly as she had asked. He took her back in his arms and they were embroiled in another frantic, sensuous kiss as they allowed their passion take them over from that point on as they disappeared into the bedroom.