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

Mom and Dad decided to invite Gram and Granddad and Alexis to brunch on Sunday so they could tell everybody in the family about the twins all at once.

"Beckett, this is my job. Leave it to me, okay? Cooking, flowers, everything. The menu is going to be a surprise."

"Surprise, hmm? You don't think the information is surprise enough? Is there perhaps a mystery element to this meal?"

"I'm not a mystery writer for nothin'."

Ooh, I love mysteries.

The next morning after Mom left for work Dad said, "Ready to be my assistant?"

"Yah, Dada!"

"Okay then, follow me into the office."

We got in his chair and he turned on the computer. "We're going to look for things to make place cards. Do you know what those are?"

"No."

"Sometimes at a fancy party or just for fun when there are a lot of people who are going to sit down to eat at the table, there is a little card at each place. Each one has a person's name on it so everyone knows where to sit. Got it?"

"Yah."

"One time before I knew Mom I was at a party like that and I saw the card of the person who was supposed to sit next to me but I didn't like her at all, so you know what I did?"

"No?"

"When nobody was looking I switched her place card for the card of a lady I did like at another table!"

I clapped for that! "That's so funny, Dad!"

"Oh, you approve of that, huh? You're definitely a chip off the old block."

"I'm not a chip, I'm a boy. And my blocks are pretty new. Granddad gave them to me for my birthday."

"Okay, you and I are going to make place cards for our brunch. But I won't switch any this time, I promise. This brunch is going to be about doubles, which are two of the same thing. Our twins are doubles, because there are two of them, right?"

"Right! I knew that ages ago." I tried to give him a Mom look and it must have been pretty good because he laughed.

"Oh, Eliot, you've got your mother down pat."

I think he meant that I made a face like she does, even though she's not here so I can't pat her.

"Our place cards are going to be very cool, because each one will have a different picture, not just the person's name. The first thing I'm going to look for online is a picture of a double play. That's something in baseball that Mom and Granddad love, at least when the Yankees do it, not when some team does it to them. Let's see what we can find."

Dad was looking at a lot of pictures and I saw Mom's favorite player from before so I patted the screen to show Dad. "Mama!"

"Hey, kid, eagle eye. That's right, that's Mom's all-time favorite player, Don Mattingly, and he is, indeed, executing a double play with Willie Randolph in, hmm, nineteen eighty-seven. She was just a little girl in pigtails then. I'm going to download this and work on it later. This is for Granddad, though, not Mom. We're going to do Gram's next."

"Gaga!"

"You're right, gaga. Sometimes Gram goes a bit gaga. Over the top is her specialty. When she was a kid she rocked a jump rope game called Double Dutch. See? Look at that video! But we need a photo, so, ah, here we go, one from nineteen fifty-three of two girls in Double Dutch. Right time frame for Gram. Done."

It took a while to get everything. The last one was a picture of peas for EB and Obi. "Two peas in a pod, Eliot. That's what the twins are."

"Peas are vegetables, Dad. The twins are babies."

Dad wouldn't show me what he picked for me because he said I should get a surprise like everyone else. I guess that's fair except I'm his assistant.

"While we're here I'm going to order some beautiful flowers for the table. We need double ones, that's flowers that have extra petals and look like a little flower inside a big flower, like peonies. Mom loves those. They're out of season, but I bet we can find somebody who has them. He was humming and then he said, "Bingo!" and showed me a picture of the peonies, which were white with red in the middle.

"We're all set. I know exactly what I'm going to make for us to eat for brunch, especially since I found a place right near us that sells the magic ingredient I need for eggs Benedict. You haven't had those. You'll love them. So, it's twelve-thirty now, you want some lunch?"

"Ehs!"

"Eggs? Oh, you want eggs Benedict?"

"Yah!"

"You don't want to wait 'til Sunday?"

"No."

"Okay, here's the deal. This will be eggs Benedict, just not with the sauce, okay? And the magic ingredient. It will taste the same but the magic ingredient makes it look different."

I loved them. I could eat them every day because they have bacon underneath and an English muffin. Scrapple liked them too, the bacon part, anyway, since by mistake I dropped a piece on the floor and he ate it.

Finally it was Sunday, which is today. Dad showed me the place cards he made, except mine, and the name part is all swirly, not like letters in my books. While he was getting the brunch ready Mom took me for a walk. I decided to tell EB and Obi what was going to happen so they could get ready for a lot of carrying on. That's what Gram calls it when people are excited, carrying on.

We sat down for a while on a bench in the dog run at the park so Scrapple could bark and chase the ball.

"Hi, EB and Obi."

"Hi, Eliot."

"Everybody in our family is going to find out about you today, so watch out!"

"Watch out for what?"

"I bet Gram and Alexis put their hands on Mom's belly to see if they can feel you."

"We'll swim away too fast!"

"We'll fool them! I'll hide behind EB again so they won't know I'm there. And I'll hold my breath."

"Oh, and another thing. Dad is making something really good called eggs Benedict. You guys will love it. Bye."

When Mom and I got home it smelled so good. "Ooh, what's in the oven?"

"In yours or mine?"

"We all have the same oven, Dad."

"Castle!"

"Right. Double apple pie."

Dad had set the table with the special cards and the flowers and Mom was amazed. "I believe I have detected a theme here."

"That's because you're a detective, Mom."

"You have?"

"I'm seeing double, right? Smelling double, too, with that pie. Double everything. My card has a knot? A double half hitch?"

"Because I'm so glad we got hitched, tied the knot."

"Oh, brother, Castle. But really, they're so imaginative. And the calligraphy, wow. It's gorgeous. Don't tell me you did that?"

"Of course I did. I told you this was all my job."

"Doesn't mean you couldn't have found a helper."

"I helped, Mom. I was Dad's assistant."

"A calligraphy helper? Nope, all me. I researched it for a book years ago and then never used it, but I knew it would come in handy someday. If I give up writing I can become a wedding invitation addresser."

"Good to know we won't go hungry."

"You won't be hungry, Mom. Wait 'til you taste the eggs!"

And then the doorbell rang and everybody came in all at once. "Welcome to brunch brunch," Dad said, which was a hint. They were starting to sit down in the living room but Dad said everybody had to come to the table right away before the food got cold, which I think was a fib. I think he was just excited for everybody to guess the mystery theme.

"The table looks beautiful, Katherine."

"Thank you, Martha, but it was all your son's doing. He's in charge today."

"Oh, yes, the place cards. I should have known. Calm Before the Storm. He even wrote the grocery list in calligraphy when he was working on that. Left me notes in calligraphy. Oh, my Lord, look at this picture. Double Dutch. That takes me back."

"Mine has Mattingly and Randolph. Gotta be, what, eighty-six, Katie?" Granddad held the card up to Mom.

"No, eighty-seven."

Gram looked at Mom and did this thing with one eyebrow making it go up that I wish I could do. I tried, but I don't have very much eyebrow yet. Dad said, "Don't even ask, Mother."

Alexis leaned over to look at her card. "Double doors, Dad? What's that about?"

"Because you're opening another door in your life with grad school."

"What do you have, Eliot?" Alexis picked me up and put me in my high chair. "Ah, double-decker bus. That's one of your favorite toys, isn't it? And what did Dad give himself? Hmm. Double scoop ice cream cone? Understatement, Dad. Yours should be triple, at least."

"Wouldn't be appropriate for the day," Dad said, which was another hint.

When everybody sat down Dad brought in the plates with the eggs on them. "Here we are. Eggs Benedict. I haven't put the hollandaise on them—that's the pitcher of it there, next to Jim—because I wanted you all to see these great double-yolk eggs. There's a farm near here that specializes in them. And here's the baby pea salad with cashews, watercress, water chestnuts and scallions in a mustard vinaigrette. Dig in!"

"When is somebody gonna guess the doubles theme, Dad?"

There was a lot of talking but nobody said anything about the theme. It was almost time for dessert when Gram said, "Katherine, weren't you supposed to have your first sonogram a few days ago?"

"Yes, I did."

"And I'm hoping since you didn't say anything that everything's fine?"

"Oh, yes, fine. More than fine."

"Are you going to show us the picture, Katie? I still have the first one of Eliot."

"Me, too. Kate. I want to put them together, a pair."

"A pair, right. You have no idea," Dad said and I could tell he was trying hard not to jump up and down and yell "twins!"

"You look like you're going to explode, Dad!"

"Excuse me for just a moment," Mom said and she got up from the table. I thought she was getting the sonogram pictures but she walked to her and Dad's room and I could hear her rattling around in the closet. When she came back she was wearing her bullet-proof vest that Dad gave her! The one that says POLICE + 1, but she had put tape over the 1 and made a 2. The first person to see it, besides me, was Dad. I could tell he didn't know Mom was going to do that because he burst out laughing so hard he couldn't talk.

Mom stood by her chair and said, "Surprise!"

Gram dropped her fork and it bounced on the table and some peas flew off it onto the floor but Scrapple was right there so no one had to clean it up. "Katherine! Are you having? Is that, uh, two? Twins?"

"Yes, surprise, surprise!" Mom said.

"Here they come, Obi and EB!"

And then everyone jumped up and ran over to Mom and was hugging her. And they were all yelling at the same time and asked about a million questions. And Alexis asked if she could put her hand on Mom's belly to see if she could feel them.

"Told you she'd do that."

After a while everyone sat back down and Dad gave us all some apple pie and the sonogram pictures. Granddad was the one who finally figured it all out.

"Double. Everything today was about doubles, wasn't it, Rick? That's so clever. A bell went off in my head when I looked at all the cards, but—."

"You should have answered that bell, Dad."

"I should have."

"Thank you, Jim, and I salute you. It took a lawyer to figure out my theme. Your daughter clearly got her gift of deductive reasoning from you. She likes to torture me with it from time to time."

"Mama?"

"Yes, Eliot?"

"Mama?"

"Oh, you want to sit on my lap?"

"Yah."

"While you still have one, Beckett."

"Castle!"

Mom's lap is going away? Where?