A/N: Just a little thing written for MLK Day and for Castle Fanfic Monday this month. It's a bit meh, but I like it.

Enjoy!

"Hey, buddy. What're you doing?" Rick asks his son, who is sitting at the breakfast bar, a blank piece of notebook paper in front of him, a pencil in his hand.

"Homework," Liam responds, tapping the eraser on the granite countertop, his mind obviously working on something. "Martin Luther King Jr. Day is on Monday and my class is talking at the assembly," Liam starts. "And we all have to write a paragraph about how Dr. King affected us in our lives right now. But I don't know what to write," he whines, waving his hands.

"Do you want me to help you?" Castle asks, taking the bar stool next to him.

"Can you?" Liam turns to him, blue eyes like his own, looking all flustered and nervous.

"Of course. Why do you tell me what you know about Martin Luther King Jr. Day."

"Well Martin Luther King was a man who lived a long time ago when there was segregation in America. The white people didn't like the black people and the black people were mad about that because they were just like everyone else, just their skin color was different. They liked watching movies and playing at the park, like everyone, but they weren't allowed."

"So what did Dr. King do about it?"

"He protested and fought for the black people cause he wanted his children to grow up in a world where everyone was equal and they could play with everyone."

"Do know what that was called? What Dr. King was fighting for?"

"Civil rights," Liam nods, proud of himself for remembering all the information he had learned in class.

"That's right! And he gave a speech in Washington D.C, didn't he?"

"Yeah! It was his 'I have a Dream Speech' and Dr. King didn't want to fight with hands and guns and stuff. He wanted to use words and be peaceful, because the problems didn't need to be made bigger cause of guns and people hitting other people."

"That's right," Castle nods.

"But what do it write about," Liam insists, eyes widening towards his father.

"Write about the changes he made. Write about how he helped people accomplish things they didn't think they could. Like how Tio is a cop or Nani is a doctor. If Dr. King hadn't fought for civil rights a long time ago, your aunt and uncle probably wouldn't have been able to go to school and become what they are, right?"

"Yeah," Liam nods, his brow furrowing as her starts to formulate his paper."

"Okay," Castle smiles, and, ruffling Liam's hair, he leaves the bar for the fridge to start getting dinner together.

And aside for a few questions about spelling and to further his train of thought, Liam wrote his entire paper, getting it ready to be proof read by his teacher the next day.

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The next day, Thursday, Liam brought home his edited, and re-drafted, essay and was told he had to type it up for homework. And with a little help from his dad, the third grader accomplished that and put the final copy, freshly printed on clean copy paper, into his homework folder and safely put away from siblings and toddler nieces with crayons and cups of juice.

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Monday rolled around, and Liam could not sit still during class; he was just too nervous and excited for the assembly. And after what felt like forever, the principal, Dr. B, came over the intercom to announce it was time for the assembly and everyone should go to the gym.

Liam walked with his class, his essay in a folder to keep it nice, to the gym. They sat in their assigned spot, right behind the first graders, and started talking among each other. Liam was sitting next to his friends Oliver and Emilia, and the group happily talked until the assembly started.

"Alright, guys," Dr. B began. "Does anyone know what today is?" Hands shot up everywhere, and the administrator chose a fifth grade girl who screamed from the back: "Martin Luther King day!"

"That's right, Ava!" Dr. B smiled. "And because of that, we have someone special to come talk to you so I expect everyone to be on their best behavior, get it?

"Got it!" Chorused the school.

"Good," the principal nodded. "Okay give a round of applause for Ms. Lucinda Parker." At that she stepped away from the microphone, and an older African American woman stepped up. She was wearing a tan sweater and blue jeans, her hair straightened and curling under at the ends. She was wrinkled with age, but very bright and bubbly, her dark eyes kind.

"Hello everyone," she began, receiving scattered 'hello's' from the kids sitting on the floor in front of her. "Like your principal said, my name is Lucinda, but you all can call me Ms. Lucy."

Ms. Lucy goes on to tell her story and how the Civil Rights Movement affected her and her family and how her father was put in jail because he marched with Dr. King. She talked about how the little boys and girls she played with knew all about segregation and how there were places for blacks and places for whites and that the two rarely mixed. She talked about how she and her siblings had to go to a school three miles away from their home, even though there was a school down the block that was perfectly fine.

"But how come?" A first grade girl, with glasses and pig tails asked.

"Because the school near me was a whites only school and us kids couldn't go there," Ms. Lucy explained. "It wasn't all fun; it was scary and it hurt our feelings. But because of what Dr. King and my daddy did, by the time I was in high school I was able to go to the school near me, which had been a white's only school before. So tonight what you go home, I want you all to think about how lucky you are that you live in a world where kids of all skin colors can go to school together without having to worry about getting hurt." The speech ended and the whole school applauded for their speaker, who proceeded to sit in a folding chair off to the side.

By now, everyone was starting to get restless, and teachers were starting to scold and discipline the unruly ones.

"Okay, before we go, Mr. Davis' class is going to come up here and share a paper they wrote for today," Dr. B says, giving the second graders the cue to come up to the front.

Liam was the third in line, and after Loren Allison and Christine Booth shared their essay, it was his turn. He took a breath, scanning the crowd for his siblings, finally finding them, and getting smiles in return, before stepping up to the mic.

"Dr. Martin Luther King was an important man. He protested and fought for equal rights for him and everyone in the country. He wanted his kids, and every other kid in the world to be able to go to school and be friends even if they look different. Because of what Dr. King did, everyone was able to do great things. Without him, my Tio and my Nani wouldn't be able to be a doctor and a police officer, and my cousins would not be allowed to go to school with me," He pauses, finding his twin cousins smiling at him from the front row. "Dr. Martin Luther King is very important and because of him we can all be friends and play together."

Liam walks away from the microphone proud of himself and stands there listening to the other eighteen kids in his class read their essays.

And finally the assembly ends and everyone goes back to their classrooms.

"Put your paragraphs into the inbox and take out your math books, please," Mr. Davis instructs his class as they enter their room, amid much chatter.

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When Liam gets his paper back at the end of the week, a giant red 100% sits at the top, with a note of praise from his teacher; and is hung on the class "Wall of Fame"