"I love you too," she whispered back. Another I wuv you mixed in would be a nice thing. Another cuddle monster. Another sweet face. Another Castle. As long as this kid didn't bite while nursing or projectile vomit when placed in her hands every morning, she could do it. Castle was already excited at the prospect.

"I gots ta hold ya, Mam-der." Smo squeezed her in a bear hug. Kate sighed. Mam-der was the best job in the world.

Chapter 4

Kate tiptoed out of Smo's room planning on meeting her husband for desert. She got as far as the stairs when she was pulled into motherhood again. "Momma," came a soft voice. Kate turned and bent down. "I don't have any water." Joe held out his cup. Kate took it.

She had changed her mind about going alone. Joe seemed to need a little more than just water. "Want to come with me?" He smiled wide and skipped after her. She took his hand. Castle didn't say anything when he saw her walk down the stairs with a four-year-old trailing behind her. He walked into their room and let the two have their peace. Kate lifted her little boy onto the kitchen counter and filled his glass.

"Why do I have yellow hair?" Joe picked at his blonde strands. "You and Daddy don't." Kate hummed. She sat down and pulled him into her lap.

"When Daddy was your age, he had yellow hair." She kissed his head. "It's very cute, Jo-Jo-bee." Joe huffed and pushed into her chest.

"But he doesn't have yellows hair now." He looked up at her with those dazzling blue eyes, just like his father.

"No. It got darker the older he got. And one day it will be lighter again, like Grandpa." Joe pushed his chin into his chest.

"I want to be like Daddy," he moaned. Kate smiled.

"You are like Daddy." He gasped. "You have his blue eyes. His smile."

"So does Nico." He slumped in her arms.

"No. Nico has my smile. You two have his eyes and brow and ears, but you guys have my nose and chin." Joe nodded sadly. "Do you want to know about just you?" His eyes gave him away. "Well. You have your father's listening abilities. And yes, he is a good listener. You can translate what others are feeling, thinking, and saying to all of us. You're very patient."

"Dad's not patient!" Kate smiled a low knowing smile of the past.

"He is very patient." Thinking back to the four years he waited for her. "You're always up for new things, exactly like Daddy. You take care of people without asking for anything back. You love first. You always want to play. You never give up."

"That's you!" he complained pushing against her chest. She kissed his temple.

"No. Daddy never gives up too. You do and give everything you can for your family. And most importantly." Joe's eyes looked up at her with deep meaningful love, seeking guidance and help. "You're the big brother without trying. Before you ask that doesn't mean you're older than Jack. That means you help your brothers with anything troublingly them. You have Jack or Nico say something and you repeat it so it sounds the way they want it to. You watch people making sure to understand them before you help. You have the inner need to help and make people's lives easier."

Joe squished his head against her chest. "I love you, Mama." He squeezed her tight. "No ever forgetting that. Even if I die, you die or the world is gone. I love you." He kissed her cheek and bounced upstairs. Kate skipped into her room.

...

Rick was promptly woken two hours after Kate had let him pass out. He heard a rustling. Not in the mood to wake his wife, who had finally fallen asleep after a few hours between the sheets and another hour of writing on her back, he walked out of their room with a plastic bat he had confiscated from Jack in his hand. He tiptoed as quietly as he could he reached the office with a pounding heart.

"Boys?" he whispered. No one answered. "Alexis?" Nothing. "Mother?" he squeaked. He was at a lost cause. Then he tripped over something and hit the couch hard. "Beckett!" he squealed.

She must have really been out, because she only rolled onto her back and moaned deeply. He did get an answer though, "The name's not Beckett. It's Growler." Castle sucked in a deep gasp and chuckle. Castle looked down and saw a bright blonde head. Only in his Batman boxer-briefs in a crawling position was their "miracle boy."

"Nico?" Castle tilted his head and crawled over to the crawling boy. He barked to his father. "What are you doing?"

"Growler," Nico growled. He barked once more and slid around on all fours against the floor. Castle pushed down a cackle and carefully picked up the stick of a boy up. Nico's mop of yellow white flung in the air. "Nyet! Nyet!" Castle wrangled the sleep-crawling Russian dog up the stairs. "Nyet! Growler not boy! I'm dog," he screeched. Nico was carefully placed in his bed and covered with his covers. His yelling calmed when Rick sat on the edge of the bed and wrote the boy's name on his bare chest.

Nico's blue eyes popped open and he cringed at his father. "Daddy?" Rick kissed the mop head.

"You were Growler?" Nico grumbled and rolled onto his stomach. "What were you dreaming about?"

"Our puppy," he moaned. Castle noticed the remains of Nico's pajamas around his bed. "He's still big and soft and he smiles all the time and he wrestles with us and he jumps and he barks and he loves us and Mommy loves him." Nico's eyes glimmered again. Rick kissed his head.

"We'll talk about it later." Nico grumbled stuffing his face in his blue pillow. Rick dropped a kiss on Joe's mop head and tiptoed across the hall. A peek inside Jack's room informed him he had doubled with Smo. Onto Smo's room he went. The "baby" boy was on the floor half under his bed with a blanket and his stuffed doggy in hand. Rick knew not to touch him, so he blew a kiss. With Jack, carefully tucked under Cosmo's blankets, he placed a slobbery kiss on Jack's cheek.

"Dad," Jack whisper groaned. Rick grinned wide and walked out of the room with Jack dozing into sleep. Rick grabbed two glasses of water and slipped back in bed. Two seconds later Beckett's arm flew across his mid-drift and she sleepily dragged her body on top of his.

"Hello," Castle whispered with fear. Beckett rubbed her cheeks against his chest and nuzzled in. She only ever cuddled when she was in deep sleep or after a crying spell.

"Don't worry, Cazzzzzzz-le," she slurred. "You're too good gentleman to do stuff ta me." She wrapped her legs tightly in his and sweetly gnawed on his shoulder slipping into sleep faster than she threw her arm around him.

…

The next morning Nico and Joe were first up. Kate was still trapped in the sheets. So Rick stumbled upon two identical faces huddled together in deep conversation. Their heads turned like Children in the Corn. Castle shuddered. "Identical twins are so creepy," he whispered under his breath. "Morning."

Joe stood with his chest pushed out. Clothed in his red footy pajamas for extra effect he said, "We want a puppy." Castle huffed. This had been a want of the Castle boys since Jack was two. A wish of Castle's since he was a boy, and a wish of Beckett's since before she babysat Royal. Many discussions had been held over the matter. All ended with one word, "responsibility."

"Boys," Castle started.

"We are responsibility," Nico stated. Castle's twitch to correct but was stumped by Nico's mouth. His plump pink lip was caught between his sharp white teeth. A Beckett look. He pulled it off nicely. With the same tense face, but yet not fulling knowing he was doing it.

"We have to talk about this as a family." Rick started getting food out. The boys were not happy. One crossed his arms across his chest and the other tucked his chin tightly to his chest. Castle didn't say anything. He really wanted to break down and go get a dog, but he couldn't. They couldn't. Not yet at least. Especially if they were trying for a baby. And if last night, or the last few nights were any indication they were definitely trying for a baby. Baby fever was in the house and it was hot.

Joe and Nico accepted his answer and rushed into Rick's bedroom. They climbed up onto the bed and jumped. Kate yelped when a foot hit her thigh. She kicked back and a body slammed down onto her. "Mommy!" Kate cringed and opened her eyes. "That hurt." She consoled one of the twins not quite sure who.

When the other boy in the bed froze before he dashed off out of the room. Kate still wasn't positive on the boy moaning in her arms. "I'm so sorry, baby." She petted his bareback and kissed his fluffy head.

"Hurt," he moaned deeply. Kate searched for a tell on the skin of the boy. She crossed a patch of skin that was slightly puckered in a horizontal line. A scar.

"Sorry, Nico." She kissed his head. He didn't correct her so she smiled.

"You hurt me," he mumbled. Kate frowned deeply. "I get a puppy now." Her brow pushed together as she pushed her son off. He was trying really hard to stifle a grin.

"No." Nico scrunched his face up at her answer. He started to tremble and tried to cry. "Nicolas Houghton Castle." He huffed in defeat. "I'm sorry I hurt you, but you are not getting a puppy."

"But it's not fair!" he cried. "Ruby has a doggy. Sarah Grace and JJ, London, and Banjo all have doggies. I want one." Kate slipped the sheets off the bed and walked into the bathroom as Nico threw his fit. She came out dressed in warm clothes to find Nico face down on the bed and hands in his hair.

She sat crisscross on the bed and watched him come to. He sniffled before turning his head to her. "Please," he whispered. Kate rubbed his back and shook her head. She wanted a puppy, but she wanted a baby more according to her gut. Castle and Beckett would have to have another dog talk. She kissed his mop head and walked into the kitchen.

Joe was causally stripping out of his jumpsuit so he was wearing nothing. Kate scrunched her nose knowing no underwear in that thing must have been uncomfortable. She tapped his head with two fingers. "Clothes, goober." He walked around the couch twice, jumped once on the cushions before getting a glare of a blue eye, wiggled his booty, and dashed upstairs to his clothes. His red suit was left on the floor.

Nico stumbled out of their bedroom like he would after naptime and onto a stool. "Pancakes?" Rick asked. He didn't wait for an answer filling a plate with way too many cakes. Beckett had stuffed her head in the fridge looking for something a little heathier. "Pancakes?" Castle asked again this time to Beckett.

"No," she grumbled. He looked over her shoulder at the choice of foods.

"Are you sure? Nothing appealing is in there," he teased. She grumbled quietly and settled for a grapefruit. "Really?" He shook his head and turned to the pancakes.

Jack tiptoed down the stairs all ready for the day but with an interesting look on his face. "Why is Nico? Joe," He shot a look to Nico then back to his parents. "Peeing in the fern thingy?" Castle was gone in a flash. He pushed past his first son and rushed to his second.

When Jack sat down, they heard a comically upset voice of Castle shouting, "Why?" Jack and Nico giggled. Beckett shuddered hoping she'd get out of cleaning the floor around the plant. She sunk a pancake and held her finger to her lips to the two boys in front of her. One's eyes glimmered, the other smirked.

Castle came down carrying a hastily clothed Jonah under his arm. "Daddy, No fair! I want pancakes!"

"You peed in the fern! You don't get pancakes." Castle placed the boy on a stool and stiffly walked back to the pancakes. His hand heavily fell to the table. Beckett rubbed his lower back and pressed her lips to his neck.

"Is Joe gonna clean it up?" Jack asked. He seemed to be minding his own business just eating slowly, but he had an evil glint to his brown eyes.

"No!" Joe squirmed off the chair. Nico was simply buzzing with energy. Just as Beckett caught Joe by the front closet, Nico ran straight to the stairwell. His aim was off. His head slammed into the banner and he fell to the floor with dead weight. The sound of his half naked body thump dully against the floor killed Rick and Kate.

…

Castle got there first. He checked the dazed boy. He had a, thankfully, goose egg of blue and purple on his forehead. His eyes were blinking but he hadn't registered the pain just yet. "Ni-." Castle was cut short by a breathtaking cry of pain. Nico quickly started crying loudly and holding his head. Beckett tossed a bag of frozen peas to Castle. He caught it, thanking Jack for those baseball practices, and gently placed it on the forehead.

"Why'd you run?" Joe asked. He had taken a place on the floor next to his brother. Nico crying gibberish at him. Joe seemed to understand. "But Gumba doesn't help when Momma and Daddy get mad." Gumba being their blankets.

"Da pee," Nico explained. Jack screeched in laughter holding his belly. No one seemed to understand, but he did. They looked to the big brother for an explanation.

"'Da pee'," he quoted. "He wanted to soak up the pee with Gumba." Beckett bit her lip holding in laughter. Castle still didn't seem to get it, still in shock. Nico was led to the couch by his closest brother. Castle was dragging a butt load of paper towels upstairs. Beckett was leaning against the counter opposing the "first" born.

"What did you do this morning?" she asked. Jack's face darted to the stairs confused. Kate shrugged. He pursed his lips and thought of his answer.

"I woke up. Went pee. Got dressed. Saw Joe peeing in the plant. And came to tell you." Beckett tilted her head.

"You don't rat." Jack's went pale. "Truth," she ordered. He swallowed thickly. "I can always ask Jonah myself." Threateningly she took a step toward the couch. Nico and Joe were messing with the peas or more to the point Joe was messing with the peas.

"No!" Jack narrowed his eyes at his mother, knowing what she was doing. "I didn't let Joe into the bathroom." He shrugged. Beckett leaned into him wanting more. "That's it!"

"Did you dare him to do it?" Jack didn't move a muscle. "Was it a contest?" Again nothing. Sometimes this kid was a vault. Honestly her hardest interrogations were with this one. Rarely lies happened. It was the extracting of the information that stumped her. "Want to tell me what happened with the fern?"

"I came out of the bathroom and saw Joe peeing in the fern."

"That's it?" He nodded. "Then you came to tell us right after." Jack took his time to retrace his steps before shaking his head. She wanted and visualized her anger that she didn't get him with that. "Well what did you do?"

"I was in my undies. I got dress then told you." She nodded. "I'm too big to be walking around in my undies and not big enough to have boxers like Daddy." She smirked a little at this one child who didn't run around naked.

"Okay. You usually come straight to us when you see something like that."

"I was cold." He shrugged. Kate raised a threatening brow. "It's February." His voice shook. He was breaking, slowly but so.

"Yes, but he was peeing on the fern. It was all over the place, yes?"

"Yes," he managed to squeak.

"Something that is high priority in this house." Jack nodded. "You're dressed nicely, usually buttons are messed up when you dress quickly. So why did you take your time?" Jack took a deep breath.

"Mom, stop interrogating me." His head fell a little. "I'm not lying. I messed up the order. I was dressed, went to the bathroom, and didn't let Joe in because he was naked and whining. When I came out, he was peeing in the fern. He was going pretty long. It was awesome." His eyes managed to reach hers now. "So I told him to keep going. You should have seen it. Just on and on. Then he stopped and slipped in the pee. He started to cry and that's when I got you."

"Why did you make it seem like he did all the work?"

"Cause he did! I just didn't tell you right away." Jack shrugged. Then he stared her dead on with a serious face, except for one arched eyebrow. "I'm not a rat." He tilted his head as if asking her if this were true. She narrowed her eyes. The boy got her.

She cut the grapefruit in half. "No." The knife chopped into the wooden plank. "You're not a rat." She looked at him. "Loyalty to your brothers is important, Jack. But loyalty to your father and I is more important. I need to know that you'll tell me the truth. I don't care when you tell me as long as you tell me the truth." She's leaning closer to him. "You only rat with two occasions in this family." She paused to make sure he was listening. He sat up straighter. "When you're asked, and when there's a mess."

"I thought it was just when you're asked," Castle said coming back with a second boy under his arm. This one was in clothes the fashion of gansta-preschool-cutie. Baggy crotch pants, cute elephant shirt, black ankle boots, and spiked hair.

"No," she dragged. "You rat for two occasions. Messes and when asked." She glared at him.

"I don't rat at all!" Smo shouted. He raised his fists then clutched to his father when he became unbalanced.

"Why'd you spike his hair?" Kate moaned. Rick looked at her innocent.

"He stole Jack's hair gel and did it himself. It looks really good for a three year old."

"Why does Jack have hair gel?" She looked to the boy in question but he was ignoring her looking to his pancakes.

"For the black tie events and when he thinks a girl is cute in kindergarten." Castle shrugged. Beckett rolled her eyes. Of course.

"You mean the black tie events that happen twice a year?"

"Yes. But he likes a lot of girls. Not as many as Smo, but a lot." Smo whooped at the mention of his name. Castle looked down as if he forgot the kid was in his arms. He set him down. "Nico has a bruise on his face. Go check it out." Smo dashed off without a second thought.

"How much gel?" She nibbled on some of her fruit, grimaced, and threw the rest away.

"A hand full? Don't know. He came out when I was cleaning the pee. Joe managed to overflow the plant." He was in full astonishment. Kate rolled her eyes. No wonder the boys were obessed with the bathroom. "Seven months after potty training and he's mastered peeing standing up. I'm so proud," he sighed.

"You're potty training the next one," she growled. Castle's eyes flickered. She caught it. "You still want one, right?" Her voice was below her lowest whisper. She moved closer. He looked hurt for a second before smiling. "Castle?"

"I was just thinking about the boys and how they want a dog so bad." She frowned. "We want one too. Jack's old enough now. The twins practically begged after telling me they are 'responsibly'. Smo can connect with the dog. He chases after squirrels and plays tug of war with every toy and drools a lot."

"Okay. So you want a dog. Not a baby?" She was quiet and aching in pain. Castle frowned.

"No." He stared at the four boys on the couch talking about Nico's wound.

"You want a baby. But a dog too?"

"Yes? I don't know, Beckett. I want them both, but the boys deserve a win." She shook her head still not getting it. "Smo wants a dog, he's never mentioned a little sibling. Alexis would love another one, though she talks more about her future kids than another sibling tagged to her four already. The twins have their own little thing going and that kind of excludes Jack. He and Cosmo sort of make up their own pair. And if we add another, Smo would turn to the baby not Jack. Jack's in need of a buddy. If we get a dog he's always have the dog."

"This sounds more like you think four is enough rather than you want a dog. It's fine, Rick. I get it. That's why I asked you if this was okay. This isn't only my decision. It's ours and that includes the boys. We've never told them about our pregnancies until at least the second trimester. Maybe this time we should ask if they want another sibling. They're older. It will affect them more." She stopped. He dragged his arms around her. "I want another, but you know I can survive without one." She got tears in her eyes.

"Let's see how it plays out." A smile took over her entire body.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for the time you spent to read or to skim. You're reviews are interesting and I enjoy them a lot. This story may be over soon. But don't get nervous your likes and favorites and revives remind me and I work on this. Thank you again.