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Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or it's characters.

Pocono's Vacation

Aunt Kate, Castle, Alexis, and I decided to head out to the Pocono's for a nice four-day weekend before school started up again. It was also a trip for Castle, so he could take his mind off of not being able to help with cases anymore. It sure was some surprising news after Christmas, but Castle said that it'll give him more time to write and find some hobbies. But lately he's just been moping around the house, especially when Aunt Kate gets a case.

Since there hasn't been much to do, Castle purposed that we go on a family vacation. Mrs. Rodgers decided to pass up the vacation, so she could work on her new play, and that's why it's only the four of us. It was sure exciting to go to the Pocono's again, I just hope Castle doesn't bust his knee cap like the last time we went, but it did turn out to be an awesome birthday for him.

We pulled up to the cabin that Castle rented out for the four-day weekend, and it looked really cozy and rustic. It was pretty big too, and the way the snow covered the roof and around the yard made it look fit for a holiday postcard. We all got out of the car and gathered our belongings before heading inside to check out the rest of the cabin. We walked inside and Aunt Kate said, "Wow, this is a really nice cabin Castle."

"Yeah, dad. It's different than the other one you usually rent," Alexis said as she looked around.

"Yeah, and the price was pretty steep too. But this was the only cabin they had left at the last minute, so why not splurge a little bit," Castle said with a shrug.

"Thanks Uncle Rick, this is really awesome," I said as I looked at large staircase leading to the second floor.

"No problem mini Beckett. I think this little getaway will be good for all of us."

"Come on Emily, let's go check out the rooms," Alexis said while heading upstairs.

"Okay," I said as I followed behind her with my bags.

We got upstairs and there were five rooms spaced out around the second level, and there was also a nice sized bathroom. There was a large master bedroom that I knew Aunt Kate and Castle would take, and the rest were mid-sized rooms that came with a couple of dressers and a nice queen sized bed.

"Hey Emily, I think I'm going to take this bedroom," Alexis said by the bedroom near the stairs.

"Okay, I think I'll take the one at the end of the hall," I said.

She chuckled at me and asked, "Are you sure you want to be in the room all the way down there?"

"It's a neat room and it has a cool window overlooking the mountains."

"Well okay, but if you get lonely you know where I am."

"All right, thanks Alexis."

"No problem, see you in a bit."

She went into her room to unpack her stuff, so I went and did the same. As I put my clothes and items away, I watched the small flakes of snow trickle past my window and couldn't wait to go out on the slopes tomorrow. I must have been so entranced with the view in the window, I didn't hear my aunt come into the room. I felt someone stroke my hair, and I jumped slightly at the sudden touch.

"It's just me Em," my aunt chuckled softly.

"Sorry Aunt Kate, I didn't hear you come in," I said, smiling awkwardly at her.

"It's okay. So, what are you looking at?"

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Nothing in particular, just watching the snow and thinking about things."

"Anything important on your mind?"

"No not really, just normal kid thoughts."

My aunt giggled and said, "Okay, that's good."

"Why'd you come and find me?"

"Right, we made some dinner. I just came to see if you were ready to eat."

"Yeah, I'm starving."

"All right, come on and let's eat."

We were all sitting around the dining table, eating and talking with one another, while we ate the food Castle and my Aunt Kate cooked up.

"So, we have two days to enjoy ourselves. What do you guys want to do?" Castle asked.

"I'm going snowboarding tomorrow and maybe some snow-tubing," I said.

"Sounds like fun. How about you Kate?"

"I have a spa appointment at noon, and then I was planning on skiing a bit," my aunt said.

"Huh, okay… Alexis?"

"I was going to hang out with Justin, maybe hit a few slopes and go to the movie showing at the main lodge," Alexis said with a shrug.

"Justin… Who is Justin?"

"It's fine dad… We know each other from school and we ran into each other when you were getting the keys to the cabin. We thought we'd hang out and catch up since high school."

"Oh, okay."

"What are you going to do uncle Rick?" I asked.

"Well, I'm not sure, since all of you already made some plans."

"You can hang out with me on the slopes. Just try not to break your knee cap again."

Castle glared at me and said, "That was a total fluke. I could have nailed it."

"Uh-huh, sure."

"Well, I guess it'll just be mini Beckett and me tomorrow."

"There's still another day after tomorrow dad. We can all do something then," Alexis said.

"Alexis is right, I think tomorrow is just a day for ourselves, and then Sunday can be a family day," my aunt said.

"All right, fine… Sunday we can have a family day," Castle mumbled.

We chuckled at him and finished the rest of dinner with light conversation.

The next day came around; Castle and I were on top of one of the many slopes at our resort. Castle was on his ski's and I was on my snowboard, getting ready to go down the mountain for the second time that day.

"Isn't this fun?" I asked Castle with a wide smile.

"It is pretty fun. Too bad Alexis and your aunt Kate couldn't come with us," Castle said.

"Yeah, but at least we get to spend some time together."

"Yes, I like when I get to spend time with you Mini Beckett. It reminds me of the times I spent with Alexis snowboarding and skiing."

"See, you're having a great time. Plus, Aunt Kate said she might join us after her spa treatment and we're having our family day tomorrow."

"Mm-hmm… I guess you're right," Castle gave me his goofy grin when he's excited and said, "I'll race you down the mountain mini Beckett."

"You're so on Uncle Rick… Just don't hurt yourself," I giggled.

"I won't because I'm going to beat you."

"Sure, we'll see about that."

"Oh, we will."

We got ourselves ready on top of the slope and I waited for Castle to give the signal to go.

"Ready?" Castle asked.

"Ready," I said as I put on my goggles.

"And…. Go…" Castle said.

We both took off down the mountain, breaking off and going around some of the trees and rocks littering the slope. I went over a few small humps on my side as I continued to make my way down. I kept making sure I knew where Castle was located, so he didn't pass me as we went down the rest of the mountain. There were only a few feet left to go, and Castle was just a few seconds behind me. I pushed myself to go just a slight bit faster, so I knew I could guarantee my win and of course bragging rights.

We reached the bottom of the mountain and I threw my arms up in victory as I came to a stop. Castle stopped himself and waddled over to me, "I had a few bumps on my side and a few more rocks… I could have made it otherwise."

"Uh-huh, sure Uncle Rick," I said to him with a smirk.

"It's true, your side looked a lot smoother than mine."

"Are you sure it's not your age?"

"Ooh, mini Beckett hits low today."

"I'm just messing with you Uncle Rick. I think you could have beat me."

"Why thank you Emily."

"You're welcome."

Just before Castle could get out his next words, a piercing scream came from the woods by the slope. We both looked that way and I asked, "Should we go investigate?"

"Yeah…" Castle said matter-of-factly.

We took our feet out of the bindings and walked over towards the woods where the scream came from. As we made our way further into the woods, I got a little nervous about what we'd come across. It could probably be nothing and just a simple mistake, but it's usually always something, especially with us. We made it to the location and what we found wasn't a pretty sight.

There was a guy face down in the snow and his back was scratched really badly and blood was quickly dying the snow around him red. Castle turned the man over carefully and found more deep scratches littering his body.

"What do you think did this to him?" I asked as I looked over the dead man.

"A bear?" Castle said questioning himself.

"I don't think a bear did that, and aren't they hibernating?"

"Yeah, they should be… But I honestly don't know what else could have done this to him."

"Me either, but I'm sure we're going to find out."

The local sheriff department showed up, along with the owner of the lodge after we contacted him about the heinous incident. As we were telling everyone what we found and heard, Aunt Kate was making her way over to us.

"I got your message, what happened?" she asked.

"We heard a man scream, and we found his body in the woods. We think it might be a bear," Castle said.

"Of course you two would stumble across a body while we're on vacation in the Pocono's."

"We have interesting luck," I said with a shrug.

"You sure do… So, are we sure it's a bear?"

"Actually Detective Beckett, we're not quite sure what did this," a sheriff said as he made his way over.

"How'd you know I was a detective?" my aunt asked the man.

"I may have mentioned I was with the best detective from NYC," Castle said with a smug smile.

"I wouldn't go that far and I don't have jurisdiction here. Besides we're on vacation, not solving a murder, if this is even a murder."

"Come on Beckett, since when have we cared about jurisdiction. Like that time in the Hamptons or California."

"Yeah, and we almost got into a lot of trouble for sneaking around without permission."

"But it all worked out in the end, and we helped solve each murder."

"Actually Mr. Castle, I think we can handle this. It might just be a random bear attack in the dead of winter, it's rare, but it could happen," the sheriff chimed in.

"See, they have it under control. Now let's spend the rest of our vacation without any other incidences."

"But…"

"Castle…"

"Okay, I'll let them handle it and spend my vacation with you guys."

"Thank you."

We made it back to our cabin and decided to have a nice warm lunch. As we ate our lunch at the table, Castle spoke up, "What would you guys like to do tomorrow?"

"I don't know, Castle. Do you have anything in mind?" my aunt asked.

"Well, we could go down a few slopes, maybe have a nice sleigh ride, and ice skate a bit," Castle said with a shrug.

"That sounds good. How does that sound to you Em?"

"Sounds like fun," I said.

Aunt Kate's phone started to buzz and she said, "It's probably the precinct. I'll be right back."

She gave Castle a peck on his cheek before leaving the room to take her phone call. I looked over at Castle and said, "I know you're still wondering about the case."

Castle raised a brow and said, "What? I'm not. I don't care about the case."

"Come on Castle… I know you, you want to know how the story ends."

"Ugh… Yeah, I do. But how are we supposed to investigate without your Aunt Kate finding out?'

"It's not the first time we tried to sneak around her. I'm sure we can think of something."

"True…"

We both sat there, trying to think of a way to go out and investigate this strange case without Aunt Kate getting suspicious.

"Hey, I got it," I said.

"Got what?" my aunt asked as she walked into the room.

"Well… It was going to be a surprise, but I was thinking maybe Castle and I could make a fancy dinner. Go down to the shop a couple of miles from here and get some supplies."

"Yeah, I thought that would be really cool," Castle said, trying to go along with my lie.

"Uh-huh, and it has nothing to do with you two snooping into the case," my aunt said with her serious face.

"Nope," we said.

She gave us both a hard stare and sighed, "Fine, but if I hear anything about you two putting your noses where they don't belong, you're both in serious trouble."

Castle chuckled and said, "You can trust us Kate. We'll be back before you know it."

"That's not suspicious."

"It's okay Aunt Kate. I'll keep him out of trouble," I said.

"That's even more suspicious."

Castle went over to Aunt Kate and gave her a peck on the lips, "Trust us. We'll be back soon."

"Bye, Aunt Kate," I said as Castle dragged me out the door.

Castle and I were in the woods around the area we found the body, and there were still remnants of blood and police tape, but all in all, it was pretty much cleared away.

"So Castle, how are we going to explain what took so long at the grocery store?" I asked as we made our way through the woods.

"Easy, we just say that it was crowded," Castle said as if it was as simple as that.

"You know Aunt Kate isn't going to buy that. She'll see right through us."

"How? Grocery stores get crowded."

"Yeah, but if we're out here for two hours and it takes us however long at the grocery store after, she's not going to buy it. Plus, we're in the middle of nowhere and most vacationers at the resort eat at the main lodge's restaurant. So, I doubt there will be many people at the store."

"Well, we'll figure it out when we get there. But for now, let's try to find some evidence of what happened in these woods."

"You know; I have a feeling we won't find anything."

"Hey, no backing out now. I'm sure that this wasn't a bear attack."

"What else could it be. There's not too many things that could leave scratches like that."

"You have a point, but maybe it's someone with Freddy Krueger's knife glove."

"Yeah, sure… And that's the best theory you can come up with."

"What do you have mini Beckett?'

"Well, I don't really have one yet."

"Ha, so your best guess is as good as mine."

"Okay, so we really… don't… have…" I started to say before I saw something intriguing in front of me.

"Why'd you stop mini…" Castle looked at the spot I was standing near and said, "Whoa…"

"I think I have a theory now…"

"A yeti," we said together.

Castle took a picture of the large foot print before we headed to the grocery store, and headed back to the cabin to show Aunt Kate our new information. When we got into the cabin, we found Aunt Kate and Alexis casually chatting in the den. We went over to them and Aunt Kate asked, "Just the grocery store, huh?"

"You're so busted," Alexis chuckled.

"Okay, so we didn't go straight to the store like we said, but we found evidence," Castle said with enthusiasm.

"Yeah, and it's awesome," I said.

"Castle, Emily, what did I tell you about sticking your noses into a case that is not ours? You're lucky you weren't caught," she said with anger.

"Yeah, I know, but check this out," Castle said as he brought up the photo on his phone, showing it to Aunt Kate and Alexis.

"What is it?" my aunt asked with a raised brow.

"A foot print and not just any foot print, a yeti's footprint."

"Also known as the Abominable Snowman," I said.

Alexis and Aunt Kate both started laughing and Aunt Kate said, "Do you two seriously believe that there's a yeti here and killing people?"

"How long have you known us? When would we ever joke about our theories," Castle said with irritation.

"Come on dad, there's no such thing as a yeti," Alexis said.

"Alexis is right. That footprint must have a reasonable explanation, but it's not a yeti. And let the sheriffs handle it, this isn't our case," my aunt said.

"But don't you want to know who the killer is?" Castle asked.

"According to the phone call a little while ago, it was just a random bear attack. There is no yeti or murder. So let's just enjoy the rest of our vacation."

"Beckett's right, we came up here to relax and get away from solving crimes. So let's just have some dinner and talk about tomorrow," Alexis said.

Castle and I sighed with a nod of our head. We knew we weren't going to persuade them about our findings, so it was best to go along and not make it worse for ourselves.

I felt someone shaking me and calling out my name as I laid in bed. I groaned and dug my face into my pillow. The person shook me once again and whispered my name louder. I looked up at the person and found Castle standing over me with an anxious face.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Almost five," he said.

"In the morning!" I said loudly.

Castle put his hand over my mouth and said, "Shh… Don't wake your aunt or Alexis."

He removed his hand and I said, "Why are you waking me up this early?"

"I need my mini Beckett to help me with the case."

"If we continue working this case, Aunt Kate will kill us."

"She's not going to find out because we'll be back before anyone gets up."

I sighed and said, "Fine, I'll help."

"Great! I'll see you downstairs," Castle whispered yelled before heading out of my room.

I flopped into my bed and rolled my eyes. What am I getting myself into?

Castle and I were trudging through the snow and making our way towards the lodge.

"Why are we going to the lodge?" I asked.

"We're going to break in and see if my theory is correct?" Castle said.

"Wait! We're breaking in!?"

"Um… Yeah…"

"I think I'm going to head back."

"Come on, mini Beckett. Since when have you've done what you're told?"

"Well, okay… So, I haven't been the greatest, but I don't need another strike with Aunt Kate."

"Help me out mini Beckett. I promise if we get caught, I'll put it all on me."

"All right, fine. Plus, I could break in faster than you can."

Castle smiled and pulled me towards him, "I knew I could count on you. Now let's get this over with."

"Okay, but what theory are you trying to prove?"

"I found out that this resort has a group tour of the mountains."

"And…?"

"And one of the tours is the Myth of the Yeti, which takes place every week."

"And if they have a tour about it, why not have something memorable at the end for the audience, like a real yeti."

"Exactly, so if my theory is correct, there will be a yeti costume in the lodge."

"Okay, but where are we going to find it. There has to be several different locations in the main lodge. I'm sure they don't keep it hanging in the locker room."

"Eh… I haven't really thought that far ahead, but I'm sure we'll be able to find it."

"How much time do we have?'

"The main lodge doesn't open until 7:30 am, so about an hour and half give or take."

"Let's do this," I said with a smile.

Castle smiled back and we continued to make our way to the main lodge.

When we got there, all the lights were out and it didn't seem like there was any guards on duty. Castle kept watch as I picked the lock to the front office of the lodge. It was tricky, but I managed to get it open in a grueling couple of minutes. We both made our way inside and I said, "Do you see any trip wires?"

"I'm sure they don't have any trip wires in here, but I do know they have a few security cameras, so look out for them."

"Okay, got it."

We made our way through the office and looked around. Castle shined his flashlight in the direction of a couple of doors and said, "Why don't we check the locker room first?"

"Okay, but I don't think we'll find it in there," I said.

"Possibly, but let's check."

I nodded and quickly got the door unlocked. Castle flipped the light on when we got in and I said, "Should you really turn on the light?'

"It'll make it easier to see and we can go quicker with the light."

"Fine, let's do this quickly."

"I'm right ahead of you," Castle said as he opened the first locker.

"I guess they're not used to break-ins. Most places would have locks on their lockers."

"Very true, but it makes this even easier for us."

"Yeah, definitely."

We continued opening the lockers and still didn't find anything linking to a possible yeti.

"Last locker Castle… I don't think we're going to find our yeti costume," I said with a sigh.

He sighed too and said, "Maybe this'll be our lucky locker."

"Maybe…"

Castle opened the locker and we found pieces of white fiber that resembled fur on the bottom of the locker. Castle picked a few strands up and said, "I think we found our yeti."

"Yeah, but we're still at square one. We don't know who the locker belongs to and all we have is some pieces of fiber that resemble the yeti's fur, not the whole costume."

"Well, yeah… but it's some kind of evidence, and maybe Kate will believe us now."

We heard someone clear their throat and we turned around to see a security guard staring at us with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Of course we're busted…" I mumbled.

"Eh…" Castle sighed out.

Castle and I were sitting in the lounge of the lodge and Aunt Kate came storming over with fire in her hazel eyes.

"Wait, before you get angry, let me explain," Castle said while standing up.

"Please do Castle… I want to know why my niece and husband were breaking and entering into the lodge early in the morning."

"Okay, I had a theory and I think I'm right."

"Seriously Castle, another theory."

"It's actually a good theory Aunt Kate, and we found evidence," I said.

"What did you two find?"

Castle showed her the fibers and said, "They're from a yeti costume."

"Castle, it could just be someone's hair," she said with a sigh.

"Hair that looks and feels like fur, I don't think so."

"Mr. Castle," the owner said as he walked over.

"Look Pete, I'm sorry, but I think I know who might have killed the man in the woods."

"Okay, I'll listen."

"Thank you. You have a Yeti tour right?"

"Well, yes, but we have no yeti's Mr. Castle. They aren't real."

"Yes, I know that, but do you have someone who plays a yeti?"

Pete thought hard before answering the question and said, "We do. At the end of our tour we have an employee sneak around some trees and make people think there's a yeti."

"Are the claws sharp?"

"Honestly I don't know. I haven't really paid attention to it."

"Do you know who wears the yeti costume?" my aunt asked.

"Our main yeti is Justin, but we also have a backup in case he can't do it and he's on leave for a family emergency."

"Wait, did you say Justin?" Castle asked.

"Yes, why?"

"That's Alexis's friend from school."

"We don't know if he did it though. The locker room is open to tons of employees and none of the lockers are locked. Anyone could have grabbed the costume," I said.

"Yes, but Alexis could be in danger."

"Okay, you two go find Alexis, and I'll see if I can find any more information," my aunt said.

"So you believe us now?" Castle asked with a questionable face.

"Yeah, it seems like you two were right. Now go find Alexis and let's finish this case."

Castle and I went back to our cabin as fast as we could and when we got there, we found a note on the table by the door.

"What does it say?" I asked him as he read over it.

"She went out with Justin," he said.

"Did she say where?"

"Um… Here, the slopes… they went to the slopes."

"But we don't know which one. There are at least six in this general area."

"Come on, I'll call your aunt Kate and see if she can find out if Justin has a favorite slope to hang out on."

Castle was on the phone with Aunt Kate as we made our way onto one of the many ski lifts on the mountains and I listened in, "Are you sure it's Devil's Nightmare? That sounds pretty intense, I'm sure Alexis wouldn't go on that… No… Okay… I'll keep in touch."

Castle hung up and I said, "Devil's Nightmare, that's the hardest slope here."

"Yeah, I know. They say Justin goes there a lot."

"Eh, I hope we're right about this."

"Believe me, so do I."

We reached Devil's Nightmare and found Alexis and a few others hanging out at the top of the mountain. Castle and I walked over to the group and Castle called out to his daughter.

"Dad!? What are you doing here?" Alexis asked.

"Justin is the killer," Castle said.

"What?"

"Hey, I didn't kill anyone," Justin said.

"We know you wear the yeti costume for the tour and it's missing."

"I'm not the only one who has access to that costume. Matt my backup and all of the other employees at the lodge, including the janitors, could reach it."

"But if you didn't do it, then we're back too square one. We have no other suspects."

Castle's phone started to ring and he answered it, "Hello… No it's not him… Wait, I can barely hear you… Keith… Keith Myers… What… I don't… Kate… Kate…"

"Dad what's wrong?" Alexis asked.

"I have no signal, and I could barely make out what Beckett was saying."

"Did I hear you mention Keith Myers?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, but I couldn't hear the rest of it, why?"

"Keith worked the yeti tour with Matt and I before he was fired."

"Why was he fired?"

"He started getting a little too convincing as the yeti and started to get more aggressive with the guests. We also think he was drinking on the job."

"Why would he kill a random man in the woods?" I asked.

"Maybe it wasn't a random guy in the woods," Castle addressed me before asking Justin another question, "Did anybody tell on Keith before he was fired?"

"Um, yeah… A few of us got together and told Pete what we saw," Justin said.

"Who was everyone?"

"Matt, the Janitor George, and I all complained about him together."

"Do you think the guy in the woods was George?" I asked Castle.

"More than likely," Castle said.

"What about Matt, he's not here?" Justin asked.

"I don't know, maybe he should consider his family emergency a blessing for not being here."

Castle's phone rang again and he answered it, "Kate I know who the killer is… Yeah… What, Matt was found dead… Wait, your breaking up again… You can't track Keith down…"

"Dad!" Alexis yelled pointing behind us.

A tall man in a yeti costume came trudging out of the woods and let out a large growl.

"Kate! We found him… Kate?" Castle asked.

"Did you lose signal again?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"You guy's run, I'll distract him. This is my fight anyway," Justin said.

"No Justin, you can't," Alexis said.

"I'll be fine."

Justin grabbed a ski pole and went over towards the man in the yeti costume.

"You brought this upon yourself Keith! I'm not afraid of you," Justin yelled before swinging the ski pole at Keith.

Keith grabbed the ski pole and ripped it away from Justin's hands, making him stumble slightly. Keith grabbed Justin by the front of his shirt and lifted him up, so he could be at eye level. I grabbed one of the other ski poles before running over to Keith and jabbing the point into his thigh. Justin fell to the ground when Keith let go of him and Keith grabbed his injured leg.

"Ahh… My leg," Keith yelled as he tried to yank the pole out.

I helped Justin to his feet and we quickly ran over to Alexis and Castle.

"Justin, are you okay?" Alexis asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Justin said with a small smile.

"Mini Beckett, what were you thinking?" Castle asked with seriousness.

I motioned towards the downed yeti and said, "Well it worked didn't it?"

"What are we going to do?" Justin asked as he looked at Keith.

"No need to do anything," Castle said as he pointed to the ski lift.

The owner Pete, Aunt Kate, and several sheriffs were coming towards the mountain top on the ski lift. Each set got of their respective seat and made their way over to the scene. Aunt Kate came over to us and said, "What happened here?"

"Justin went to take on Keith, but it wasn't working out," Castle started.

"So with some quick thinking, Emily grabbed another ski pole and jabbed it into Keith's leg," Alexis said.

"What am I going to do with you Em?" My aunt chuckled.

I shrugged and said, "You can reserve me a spot at the precinct."

"Yeah, we'll see."

Eventually everything was taken care of and Keith was brought down to the local station for booking. We went back to the cabin and hung out in the living room together.

"This turned out to be an eventful vacation," Alexis said.

"Yeah, it seems like our vacations always have a unique ending to them," Castle said with a chuckle.

"Yes, we can't seem to get away from solving crimes. It tends to follow us wherever we go," Aunt Kate said with a small smile.

"Yeah."

"You know, we still have a little time to have a family day," I said with a smile.

"You're right mini Beckett, what should we do?" Castle asked me.

"Maybe skate a bit, then go for a sleigh ride, before ending the day with some hot chocolate."

"I like the way you think. How about you two, are you up for it?"

"Yeah, sounds like fun," Alexis said with a smile.

"I think that would be nice," Aunt Kate said.

"All right, let's go have some fun," Castle said while clapping his hands together.

We left the cabin and spent the rest of our vacation hanging out as a family like we planned on doing since we got here. I had a great time and even though we had to deal with another murder, I'm pretty sure we all enjoyed the vacation anyway.