Disclaimer: The only part of Castle that I own is the TV on which I watch the show.

There was a huge storm a couple of days ago and it made the waves so rough that we couldn't go into the ocean afterwards. It was the last day of our vacation, and even though we didn't get to be on the beach we had a great time in the pool. Mom says I am a water baby and I keep saying I'm not a baby anymore but she calls me that anyway. I told the baby about the pool.

"How do you like swimming in there?"

"It's fun."

"Wait 'til you get out and see the swimming pool. You get cool things called water wings and there's a ton more room."

"I'm getting out?"

"Yup."

"Good. Although so far it's really nice in here."

You know how Mom and Dad sometimes have these conversations that I don't understand? Yesterday in the pool was one of them. Maybe you can figure out what they were talking about, but don't ask me!

"Stop ogling me, Castle."

"I am not ogling, Beckett. I am appreciating."

"Is this a semantic debate? Because it sure looks like ogling to me. Leering."

"Well, let me just say in my defense that it's your fault. Your tiny excuse of a bikini's fault. That there's more of you in the top half to appreciate than usual. I mean, your bottom half is still so flat that no one would guess you're pregnant, but the top—"

"More of me to appreciate than usual? Really? You might want to stop now."

"Stopping."

I guess I have to pay more attention or something.

When we drove to the city later I was thinking that it will be good when the baby is born because then there will be someone in the back seat to keep me company. Scrapple always falls asleep in the car so I can't talk to him and I get bored. I was happy to see the loft again and everything looked the same, but I was sad too because Mom had to go to work in the morning and we won't get to spend as much time together.

Sometimes it seems as though Mom and Dad can see inside my head because they know what I'm thinking. It's spooky. Sometimes Dad says, "You're reading my mind, Beckett," and sometimes she says, "Castle, you're a mind reader." That's what seeing inside your head is. It must run in the family. That's a funny expression because nothing's running, but it means more than one person in the family has the same thing, like Dad and Gram and Alexis and I have blue eyes. Mom must have seen inside my brain last night because I was wanting to have a nice long bath with her before she does to the precinct again.

After supper she lifted me out of the high chair. "Eliot, you and I are going to have a nice long bath together because I have to go back to the precinct tomorrow and we won't get to spend as much time together as we did out at our house."

See what I mean? Amazeballs. We got all soapy and she washed my hair and then we rinsed off and sort of floated around in the tub. Not really floated but we were just quiet and peaceful and I was lying on her chest.

"Hey, Baby, can you tell we're in the tub?"

"Yes, it's nice and warm."

"Mom and I are relaxing. That's like being awake and asleep at the same time. Tomorrow she's going back to work so I won't get to talk to you during the day. I'll be at home with Dad. You have to go everywhere with her while you're in there. Do you remember the precinct?"

"Not really. I was very little and I was trying to figure things out."

"Mom is a police person. She used to be a detective but now she is the boss of the other detectives and is called Captain. When I was inside like you she was still a detective and you should have heard her when she was talking to the bad guys in the place called interrogation. She was more ferocious than a lion, which I saw at the Bronx Zoo the day after my birthday so I know what I'm talking about. I guess you'll get to hear her do that because she still talks to the bad guys. She says she doesn't go to crime scenes very much any more. You should be glad because some of them were very scary. Anyway, when you come back from the precinct tomorrow you can tell me what she did and also ask me questions, okay?"

"Okay."

"Don't forget."

"I won't."

So today I stayed home with Dad and we had fun, but I thought about the baby a lot and what questions it would have. I don't like to call Baby it but we don't know if it's a boy or a girl. I was excited when Mom got home, not just to see her but to find about the precinct which I miss some of the time.

"Hi, Baby. Did you have fun?"

"Yes. It seems like no one knows that I'm in here, though."

"They will, later on. Was there anything exciting?"

"Not too much because we didn't go to the interrogation place. But I have a question. You know Ryan and Esposito, right?"

"Sure."

"Well, they were talking about a suspect. I thought his name was Ron Morgan because that's what Mom said but then Ryan and Esposito called him chud and scum and sleazestack and piss-head. So I was mixed up."

"Ha! I love those! Those are just other ways to say a suspect. Mom doesn't like it when Dad and Ryan and Espoito use those names but once in a while when she's really mad she does. She uses worse words than that, even! When you get out, don't say 'piss-head' though, because Mom told Dad not to say that in front of me. You could say it to Dad when she's not there because he would really laugh."

I'm not sure if the baby heard all of that because when I asked something else it didn't answer. I think Baby had gone to sleep. I remember when I was Baby's age I slept a lot.

Here is my project, which is a word I learned from Dad. It's like a plan you're doing. One of Dad's projects right now is the book he's writing, Sizzling Heat. One of Mom's is clearing out the closets. So, I have my first project! It's to think of a name to call the baby until it gets born, so it can have something better than I had before, though Plus One was pretty good. Mom said the baby is being born around Easter, in April. I could call Baby that, but April is also a girl's name and what if Baby is a boy? Remember I thought about calling it Bunny, for Easter Bunny? If I could find out what the first letter is of Easter and Bunny, I could use that. We know two people called MJ, one for Matthew John and one for Mary Jasmine, so MJ can be a boy or a girl. That way I could use the two letters for Easter Bunny and it would be a good name if the baby is my brother or sister.

And you know how I know that's a good idea? Because I had just thought of it this afternoon and Dad said, "Eliot, it's story time. How about The Runaway Bunny?" He saw inside my head, just like Mom did yesterday with the bath. Amazeballs.

A/N Thank you so much for the tidal wave of support for Eliot and his soon-to-be-sidekick.