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

A/N This chapter is the second of a two-part arc.

"Sorry, Castle, I have no oxygen on hand, but if you put your head out of the window and breathe deeply it might help."

Dad smiled and put his glass down on the coffee table. "I'll be okay. I want to make sure that I haven't concocted something in an eighty-proof haze, so I'm swearing off alcohol for the rest of this conversation. It's going to take a few minutes for me to digest everything you've been saying, though."

"Would you like some coffee? I'll make it while you're mulling all this over."

"Thanks, that would be great."

Docky went into the kitchen and Dad moved me on to his lap. We sat for a minute and then he put his hand around my chin. "You know what? I'm pretty amazed at what your friend told me just now. So if you ever want to talk to him, talk to him about the babies or anything, you just tell me, all right? And we'll go see him or call him on the phone."

"Doc? Yah."

"Yah."

Docky came back with coffee and cookies that he baked all by himself. When he sat down I got off Dad's lap and sat between him and Docky again.

"When Beckett was pregnant with Eliot, fairly early on, she said that sometimes she had a strong sense—usually when we were together, not with other people—that she heard a voice, the baby's voice. She said it was indistinct, that there were no words, but she had the sense that the baby was saying something to us. I told her that it kind of made sense and I still remember her response, exactly. 'This makes sense? Only in your universe, Castle. You don't think I'm nuts, do you?' I said no, I didn't, and that any kid of mine was bound to be a talker. I was kidding, but I wasn't kidding. We didn't really discuss that again, but now I'm wondering. Do you think that's all part of this? Do you think that Eliot was trying to speak to us?"

I was so excited! I patted Doc on the hand. "Mhho la shla bobo ro!"

Dad moved his head fast, fast, fast to look at me. "What?"

"Eliot says yes, he was trying to talking to you and Kate."

"Dur bluh doh."

"And he says that he talked to Kate more because, to quote him, 'I was hanging around with Mom all the time'."

"Th ho hoh! Glxx."

That made Docky laugh. "He says that's his joke. Because he really was hanging around in there, sometimes upside down—again, his words." Docky looked at Dad. "You know, Eliot loves to make up puns. He excels at puns."

Dad's face was really different all of a sudden. He looked like he might cry and he looked like he was going to laugh, right at the same time.

"I apologize, Castle. Rick. I shouldn't have said that. I'm afraid I may have overstepped."

"No, no, not at all. Sorry, I'm a little bit choked up. Never thought you'd see that, right? This is all just so—so fantastic. Like the best kind of fantasy, except that it's real. I was gobsmacked at first and here I am, over the moon, you know? When I looked at Eliot just now I thought of that old-fashioned English slang, how wizard. He's wizard, this whole situation is wizard. He was talking to Beckett and me before he was born. And now he has conversations with his unborn siblings. Wow. And on top of everything else, I suddenly learn that my little boy not only loves word play but initiates it. You know how you said a few minutes ago—God, can you believe it was only a few minutes ago?—that when you met Eliot and felt an immediate connection that it was Kate's gift to you? I feel as though this is your gift to me, your telling me this about him. So thank you. Thank you."

Docky asked Dad and me if we would like another cookie and Dad said we'd share one.

"You're welcome. But it's Eliot who should get the thanks because it's he who insisted that I tell you. I was reluctant, but he didn't want me to be the only one to know about the twins, about him talking with the twins. I'm his friend, but you're his father. There is also a practical reason for me telling you, and for me the more important one. Multiple-birth pregnancies can be difficult. I know her first pregnancy was trouble-free, but there is the issue of her heart and also, at least at this stage, that one twin is significantly smaller than the other, is that right?"

"Yes."

"EB, the larger baby, told Eliot that he discovered Obi only a few days ago, when Obi said hello from behind him or her. EB was startled and asked why Obi hadn't talked before. Obi's reply was, 'I didn't have anything to say'."

Dad squeaked again and put his hand over his mouth, and then took it off. "Oh, my God, that's mini-Beckett! That's Beckett exactly."

I laughed so hard I got the hiccups!

"That's funny, isn't it, Eliot? Do you think Obi sounds like Mom?"

"Yah."

"Excuse me, Perlmutter. I know you were saying something important."

"It's, well, the twins already seem to tell Eliot everything and I think that they would tell him if there were anything wrong, should that happen. That they would tell Eliot long before it became apparent to Kate. And I'm sure that if you wanted to ask the twins something, Eliot could be the intermediary."

"Gls oo?"

"Oh, an intermediary is someone who talks to someone for another person who can't. It's a good thing to be. So if your Mom or Dad needs to know something about EB or Obi, you could ask them and then tell your parents. Or rather, you could tell me and I would tell your parents."

"Yuh tuh!"

That made Docky laugh, too. "You're right! I'd be an intermediary, too. You've got a very smart boy here, Castle."

"I hope we don't ever have to do it, but you're right. I understand. But, on a happier note, or, um, to be a little less serious for a minute—"

"I was hoping you would be."

"This, well, Eliot, can I ask you what you and EB and Obi talk about?"

"Yah."

"Doc will tell me your answers, okay? That all right with you, Perlmutter?"

"Of course. I never knew that I'd someday I'd function as a simultaneous translator."

"Eliot, did they tell you if they're boys or girls? Or maybe one is a boy and one is a girl."

"I never knew when I was in there, Dad, and neither do they. You can find out though, can't you? With another sonogram picture? You wanted to with me and I wanted to know but Mom didn't want to, did she?"

"You're right. It would be fun to know, wouldn't it?"

"Hey, Dad! If you want to know and I want to know and EB and Obi want to know, how many people is that?"

"Four."

"Well Mom is only one person and we are four people so we should be allowed to find out."

Dad laughed. "In a perfect world, yes. But Mom gets the big vote on this subject. What do you like to talk about with the twins? You're their big brother, so do you give them advice? Help them with things?"

"Yah!"

"What's the best one so far?"

"How to get what they want from Mom sometimes."

Docky was smiling and Dad said, "Really? Perlmutter, this could be a gold mine."

"What's that?"

"Just an expression. I think your Dad would like to know what kind of things the twins want."

"I just tell them to do what I did. Like if they want her to take a bath, which they really like, they can make swishy noises and swim around a lot and that could make her think of a bath and give her the idea of having one, even though it's really their idea."

"I might have to try that one myself."

"What, Dad?"

"Nothing, nothing. I'm just being silly."

"Do you want to take a bath with Mom? Just make some swishy noises and I bet she will."

Dad and Docky made these sounds like they were laughing but trying not to. I don't know why because I wasn't telling a joke.

"You sure you don't want the rest of that drink, Castle?"

"I believe I will. Thank you." Dad had some more swallows from his glass. "I think that might be enough for now. Not the Scotch, though that, too. I mean, I don't think my brain can absorb any more right now. I feel as though I've been living in a parallel universe and didn't know it. When this all sinks in I'll probably have to run outside and scream."

"Feel free to do it here, if you like. The neighbors are out."

"Do you remember the ghost wrangler case a few years ago? Probably not, since Lanie worked on it."

"No, I remember it. Quite intriguing, haunted house. Even though it turned out not to be haunted."

"Right. Well, Beckett wouldn't admit to the possibility of a ghost."

"I would have. Not out loud, of course."

Dad chuckled. I like that word, chuckle. "Thank you! A fellow believer. Anyway, I called her Skepticus Maximus at the time, and I'm afraid that's what I was when this whole afternoon began. But not anymore. About this, though. She was open to the possibility of hearing a fetal, um, commentary, but I don't know about this. This isn't a possibility or a suggestion, it's fact. Magic, but fact."

"I leave it up to you, Castle. Telling her about this is entirely your decision. I'm comfortable with whatever you do."

"Dada?"

"Oh, Eliot. I'm sorry. Yes?"

"Mama. Fee. Mama."

"Perlmutter, can you help me out here?"

"Remember what happened after we went to the doctor and you found out there were two babies? And Mom was crying and everything because she was so surprised and scared for a minute? She called that freaking out? I think she might freak out if you tell her about this part. Maybe you could tell her later when she's more used to having two babies in there."

"That's our boy, Perlmutter."

"Quite a boy."

"But you know that."

"I do."

"I'm a boy, I know that!"

"Well, Eliot, I think it's time for us to go before we take up all of Doc's time. It's been a big day, hasn't it? And Scrapple must need to go out."

So we said thank you and bye to Docky and he shook Dad's hand and gave me a kiss and patted Scrapple and said he'd see us soon. And when we got to the door I said, "I'm glad you didn't tell Dad about how you and Scrapple and I talk."

"That's just between us."

"You and Eliot keeping secrets from me?"

"Just one. Friends have to have one, don't they?"

Scrapple barked then, but luckily Dad didn't know what he said. He thought it was just a bark.