AN: Sorry about the wait. I had about three billion things happen in the past month, and this took an unintentional backseat to real life. But hey, I finally managed another chapter for you!

IBYL
xo

Disclaimer: I own a whole lot of merchandise, but no rights. I just like to play.

"Road trip music?" Rick asked.

"Check! Mommy has her iPod!" 7-year-old Liam cheered. "Vacation time!"

"Okay, squirt, cool your jets." Kate laughed as she playfully wrestled with her growing boy, twitching her well-placed fingers against his ribs and watching him squirm happily. "Got your bag?"

"Yep. You helped me pack it, Mommy." He said with a long-suffering sigh, making Castle laugh.

"And I have ours. So, shall we?" Castle asked with a grin as Liam bolted through the now open front door of the loft to press the lift's call button. Kate grinned, sauntering towards the door and pressing a kiss to the lips of her bag-laden husband.

"I love vacation." She murmured, and he grinned.

"Me too." He pressed another peck to her lips, delighting in her soft exhale.

"Stop playing kissy face and let's hit the road!" The impatient boy hollered down the hall, causing both adults to chuckle.

xxx

"So which playlist, Liam?" Kate asked from the passenger seat. Castle briefly took his eyes off the road with a smile – usually, she would drive, she'd always liked being in control, but she'd quickly learnt that longer drives meant that Castle got bored. And when her husband was bored, well…

Safe to say it was easier just to let him drive. At least then he had something to focus on.

"The one named after me, Mommy." He said, the sigh from earlier returning with a vengeance. Kate wasn't altogether sure where he picked that one up from, but she wasn't fond of it. Her little man had attitude – though with the attitudes of his parents, it was almost a given.

"Alright. Just shuffle it?"

"Yes please Mommy." Just like that, Kate exhaled in relief. At least his manners were intact. Michael Jackson's Thriller began, and Kate relaxed back into her seat, eyes closed as she bathed in the sunshine and listened to her gorgeous little man trying his very best to be the King of Pop, reincarnate.

This was the life.

xxx

They stopped for a quick lunch at a diner, just a few minutes away from their Hamptons home. Kate could feel her excitement building, despite the place being their home away from home. No matter how often they came here, she'd never lost that sense of anticipation for a vacation – whether impromptu or planned. There was something about cruising along the LIE, knowing that every mile brought you closer to the blissful paradise of sand and surf. It was a chance to let her hair down, relax, and simply enjoy some time away.

For years, though, the best thing wasn't the vacations – it was going on said vacations with Richard Castle. It only took her one trip to realise that he was in his element in The Hamptons. He was truly himself – no façade, just being the man who enjoys playing in the sunshine with friends and family, going for a swim or curling up of an evening in front of a movie.

She loved that about him.

And now, she had the pleasure of watching her little man bloom too. He adored The Hamptons, much to Kate's delight. A true water baby, she was sure Liam would spend every waking minute in the ocean if given the option. He also adored making his 'creations', on the beach – his term, surprisingly, not his father's. The trio always made a point to make a sandcastle of ridiculous proportions every time they came – it was Daddy's one rule for vacations to The Hamptons, given their family name.

Back on the road, Liam dozed in the backseat, sated from a delicious burger, while Rick chattered softly about his latest scheme for Nikki to fall into.

"So, there's a vigilante, seeking justice against those who are above the law due to their power and position. He spends his life exposing politicians, lawyers, executives and all of their white collar crimes – fraud, tax evasion, insider trading, anything like that. Falco, that's the vigilante, eventually exposes himself in a massive fit of narcissistic pride, and Rook decides to start researching a story about him. Rook meets him, but the next day Falco is found dead, hanging from a fire escape in Midtown with a rat super-glued to his bare chest – and yet there's no obvious cause of death. And, given the dirt he'd already exposed and the millions of secrets he'd been cultivating, there are literally hundreds of murder suspects – enter Nikki and Roach. What do you think?"

Truthfully, she could already feel the anticipation build for this story, purely on the back of his rushed description – but she couldn't let him have it that easy.

"Title ideas?" She asked, giving away nothing.

"Packing Heat. Taking the Heat? I've got a couple." Rick replied, giving her the eye as they pulled into their street in The Hamptons.

She let him sweat for a while, breaking her silence as her husband navigated the car up the drive.

"It sounds fantastic, Rick. Current, potentially exciting, lots of opportunity for twists. You'll just have to make sure it doesn't encourage more power-hungry vigilantes." Kate said with a smile, and Rick beamed like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Do you mind if I go get an outline down? You can take Liam in, settle in the lounge?" He asked, his excitement building.

"I've got this. Go." Kate said with a smile, and Rick pressed a kiss to her cheek and bolted towards the front door, inspiration flowing through his veins.

As the door slammed, Kate jostled her sleeping boy gently, removing his seatbelt and cradling him in her grasp.

"Where'd Daddy go?" The boy murmured sleepily.

"He's got to do some work quickly." She said simply, and Liam smiled.

"The bug. Gotcha." He said, burrowing into his mother's chest.

"The bug?"

"When Daddy's had an idea and has to do some work, he tells me it's the bug. If he has an idea and can't play all the time, he blames the bug."

"And you know what his work is, don't you?" Kate checked.

"He writes books!" Liam said, pride seeping into his tone. "He says they're the best books ever, but whenever he says that when Grams is around, she tells him that he shouldn't lie."

Kate couldn't help the little chuckle – Martha could always be called upon to keep her only son grounded, that was for sure. She wandered through the front door, mindful of the little man in her arms – who, she had to admit to herself quietly, was getting bigger by the day. Carrying him into the sunken lounge, she settled on the couch, keeping her boy cradled in her arms despite his size. He was probably slightly too old for this now but Kate couldn't bring herself to let go quite yet. While her boy was still content to cuddle, she was going to take her opportunity.

"He writes great books, squirt."

"Why can't I read any of them?" He whined. "I'm getting so big now."

"You are." Kate agreed with a nod. "But his books are for older people, like adults."

"How old was Alexis when she got to read Daddy's books?" He asked.

"I think she was about 14, but you'd have to check with her." Kate said. "We can Skype her later tonight."

Alexis usually joined them out here at The Hamptons, but just because her brother was on spring break from school, it didn't mean she was able to enjoy such luxuries - not while she was completing the final semester of her Masters in Medical Science. She'd promised to take a study break later anyway, so Kate figured it would be nice to let her gorgeous child and step-child chat for a while.

"So, if she was allowed to read them at 14, I should be too – right? That's justice." Liam smirked, proud of using his newfound understanding of the justice system. His dad had explained it to him in basic terms last week, after he'd made a backhanded comment about there being no justice in the world. Liam's ever-present curiosity reared its head and Castle had to explain the concept of justice in detail – because a basic outline was never enough for their inquisitive child.

"That would be just, yes." Kate said, the subtle correction not going unnoticed by Liam.

"Just. Is that another one of those words where it's got lots of meanings?" Liam asked.

"Yep." Kate replied simply.

"Okay." Her boy said mildly, cuddling closer as they enjoyed the peace for a short minute. Liam was a good kid, though much like his father, he wasn't very fond of silence. It didn't take long for him to break.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, baby?" Kate replied, coddling him a little more than strictly necessary.

"Can we please go play in the sand now?" He asked, bright blue eyes shining hopefully.

"Absolutely. Run and tell Dad while I collect the supplies." Kate said, and she beamed as her boy clapped and pressed a noisy kiss to her cheek before sliding off her lap and taking off towards his Dad's office as fast as his little legs could carry him. Kate knew Castle well enough by now to know that he would've sketched out enough of his idea to be happy with it, and she knew he'd pout for weeks if he missed out on the fun. In this case, it was best to interrupt and get him to join in.

As she moved to collect the Castle family sand toy supplies, she heard Castle chortle in the distance as two sets of footsteps made their way to the back of the house, ready to start their holiday fun.

By the time she made it outside with all the equipment, her husband was already helping their son dig a hole big enough to be buried in – and she wasn't sure who was enjoying it more – her child or her man-child.

As Liam's giggles rang out across the calm stretch of beach, Kate couldn't resist sighing as she took in the moment. She really did love family vacation.

Another chapter bites the dust - review? x