Disclaimer: I do not own Castle.

AN: Just wanted to give a shout-out to one of my guest reviewers 'Steve'. Your review put a huge smile on my face. Thank you :) You make me want to keep writing. Also, thank you Tom1292 for your continuous support :P Thank you to everyone who leave me a review after my updates, I enjoy writing for you guys :)

Chapter 34

Half an hour later, they were seated on the couch together and Rick had just finished with the soup Kate had served him.

"Ahhh" he sighed contently as he sat back on the couch, and put an arm around Kate.

"That was delicious" he said and kissed her temple"

"I'm glad you're feeling better"

"Oh trust me, it wasn't the soup as much as it was what you did for me in the shower"

"Shut up!" she hit his chest playfully

"Make me"

She raised an eyebrow at him, and kissed him. She shifted closer to him, and he brought his other arm around her, pulling her closer

"The kids will be here any moment now" she whispered between kisses.

"We'll take our chances." he mumbled.

She laughed "you're a mad man"

"Mad for you" he admitted and kissed down her neck, his hand wandering up her shirt and just when he had his hand where he wanted it to be, they heard the door open and three noisy young girls entered.

They pulled away and straightened themselves up.

"How did you know?" he said while running a hand through his hair to set it down.

"I'm a mother, I know these things."

"You jinxed it" she glared at him.

"Hey!" came Avril's voice as she came and sat herself down beside her mom. Kaylee jumped into her father's lap and asked "where's Jamie?"

"Jamie's asleep honey" Kate told her.

Alexis left the bags on the kitchen counter and then sat herself down on one of the single sofa seats.

"Did my munchkin worry you guys too much?" Castle asked Alexis and Avril while he tickled Kaylee.

"Daddy!" she squealed and laughed.

"Oh no, she was quite the angel" Alexis said. "I can't say the same about Avril though"

"Hey!" Avril whined in protest "All I did was go to a shop with a few friends I ran into, they couldn't decide between two pairs of shoes, and they needed my expert consultation"

She said proudly.

"Well, you could have told us. I wasn't worried, but you should have seen the look on Kaylee's face when she turned around and you were missing"

Kate gave Avril a disapproving glare.

"What? I tried texted her, she didn't check her phone. And you know how I get about shoes." Avril said.

Castle chirped in "oh, don't worry, Kate would have done the same thing. You got your love for shoes from her. It runs in your blood. "

Kate chuckled "That doesn't mean you give your baby sister a panic attack." Kate said.

"Anyway, how are you feeling dad?" Alexis asked.

"I'm completely fine" he replied.

"Okay, I don't want to ask what you did to get completely fine while we were gone, for fear that you'll have something inappropriate to say" Avril said and got off the couch to see what was for lunch.

Rick laughed "You're right, I did have something inappropriate in mind."

"See, I know you so well. Who would believe we weren't the same blood." she said as she walked away and Rick looked at her with pride.

Honestly, Avril had the looks of her mother, but the mischief in her eyes and the attitude, the playfulness, all of that were traits that she shared with her dad. Maybe it was something she picked up from him over the past few years or maybe she had them, all along, whatever it was Rick felt proud.

That night when Kate got into bed and snuggled into Castle's side, she seemed deep in thought.

"Penny for your thoughts?" He asked.

"Is that all they're worth to you?" she asked with a smirk.

"Of course not, I'd pay anything for you"

She kissed his chest "It's nothing"

"No, tell me"

"Castle, I feel like I'm forgetting something, something big"

Castle took a moment to try and think, but came up with nothing. Kate shook her head and said "well, I can't for the life of me figure it out, maybe I just need sleep"

"Yea," he kissed her head "sleep, maybe you'll remember tomorrow"

"Goodnight babe, I love you" she said, as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

"Wait, I have something for you" he said. he reached out somewhere near his bedside table and the held a rose out to her.

"Castle, what is this?" she said, amusement and awe on her face.

"it's a rose" he said with an innocent look.

she hit him playfully. "I can see that silly, but why?"

"Can't a guy buy a rose for his wife?"

She looked up into his blue eyes with love, he never failed to surprise her, this man. She leaned in and kissed him passionately. "you make me fall more and more in love with you each day, you know that?" she said.

"That can only be good for me" he said with a wink and then took the rose from her hand, placed it aside and began to make love to her.

The next morning, everything went on as usual, she still couldn't figure out what it was that she was forgetting, but in the rush of daily chores she didn't have time to ponder on it for long. She kissed her husband and children goodbye and walked out the loft, ready for another day at work.

It was around 11 am that she got a text from Alexis

"Mom, Kaylee isn't well, she's been crying all morning and dad's trying to calm her down but she won't listen to him. She's been crying for you ever since you left."

Kate tried calling Alexis the, but for some reason, Alexis was unreachable. She tried calling Rick. But his phone seemed to be out of reach too. She began to worry. She couldn't just sit here at work this way. She needed to go back home. Rick probably wasn't telling her something's wrong because he didn't want to bother her, but Kate thanked her stars that Alexis told her. She quickly knocked on Gate's cabin door, and asked to be excused from the day, explaining that her daughter was suddenly feeling ill.

Gates understood, after all, Kaylee was Kate's little miracle baby. She'd move the stars and oceans for her. Even if Gates had to say no, Kate would have found a way to leave. Kate drove on back home as quickly as she could, all the while worrying about her little girl. What could it be that had her crying so much for her? Kate tried calling Castle again, but it went to voicemail, and it was making her feel uneasy. Something was wrong. Something seemed wrong about all of this. She could feel it in her. In fact, she'd been having this weird sixth sense that something was amiss since last night.

She took the elevator up and quickly let herself in only to be met with a strangely quiet loft.

"Castle?" she called out.

She looked in the living room, the kitchen she called up the stairs, not a sound in the loft. She ran her hand through her hair in frustration, what was going on? She ran upstairs and pushed open Alexis and Avril's door's they weren't there, she then checked Kaylee's and Jamie's room, they weren't there either.

"Castle? Avril? Alexis?" she called out again while running downstairs.

She walked briskly into the study calling out, her voice at a higher tone, panicked "Rick, where are you?"

And just as she put her hand to the bedroom door, it flew open and on the other side was a surprised Castle, looking at her in confusion, standing in just a towel that was wrapped around his waist. He had been showering.

"Castle!"

"Kate? What are you doing home?"

"Rick, where are the kids?"

That's when the silence of the living room caught his attention. He walked past Kate into the living room and she followed

"They were right here, I told Alexis to keep an eye on them while I took a shower, they must have gone upstairs, Kate what are you doing here?"

"Rick they're not upstairs, I checked!" she was losing her patience. "What is going on? I got a text from Alexis saying Kaylee was crying for me, that she wouldn't calm down?"

"What? No. Kaylee was fine, why would Alexis tell you that?" Rick said. Both of them were getting more and more tensed by the second. The sudden absence of their children making their thoughts wander to places they feared.

"Rick, where are my children?" Kate asked.

And he could have sworn he almost heard a sob in her voice, but she was holding it together. The look of panic on her face was something he never wanted to see on her.

Kate looked around and was on her phone again, trying to reach Alexis or Avril, when suddenly, a yellow note on the kitchen counter top caught her attention

"Mom,

Don't worry, we're fine. I'm sorry we used Kaylee as an excuse to get you home, we didn't mean to scare you. That part was completely Avril's idea, not mine, so ground her when all of this over, not me.

Moving on, where are we? We're at Grandpa Jim's place, all four of us. I sent dad in for a shower and then called him to come pick us up. Don't blame dad, he has nothing to do with this, it was all our plan."

Kate had only read the first part of the letter and she couldn't understand a thing. Why were her children at Jim Beckett's place? Castle had made his way behind Kate and was reading the note along with her from over her shoulder.

"We've got a spectacular day planned for you guys today, and don't worry about work, Avril and I spoke to captain gates, and you have the next three days off work.

On dad's desk, you'll find two tickets to the afternoon show at the theatre. We arranged for a private screening of your favorite movie, 'Sleepless in Seattle'. Go have fun, and don't worry about us, grandpa and grandma are keeping all of us well entertained. You'll have your next note given to you after the movie. Enjoy. This is just our way of saying thank you for being such great parents to us.

Oh and, happy pre-anniversary mom and dad!

Love, Alexis."

Kate stood there speechless for a moment. Castle came in front of her and stood. She kept the note down and looked up at him.

"Kate I just figured out what it was you were forgetting" he said with the most serious expression.