A/N: Welcome to my ficathon story of 2023! I'm not planning on this being a huge story; but it was a little nugget of an idea I've had for awhile, and it did receive a very small mention in UnScared; this story is set several months before that one; McKenzie is three in this story. I hope you'll enjoy this one, it'll have a lighter tone than some stories in this universe! If you're reading, drop a review once in awhile so I know you're still out there, it makes my day.

Chapter 1

"It's already humid out," Jim Beckett complained on a Saturday morning late in June as he carried the newspaper into the kitchen.

"I know," Johanna replied. "The air conditioning just kicked on and I'm glad for it."

He smiled a little, patting his three year old granddaughter on her head as he put the newspaper on the table. "We could've just ate cereal for breakfast so you didn't have to turn the stove on."

Johanna gave him an amused smile. "You know very well that our special guest requested scrambled eggs and toast with strawberry jelly."

Jim glanced at their three-year-old granddaughter as she perched on her chair, her eyes still looking sleepy as she clutched her juice box. "Did you make Grandma make scrambled eggs?" he asked her lightly.

McKenzie nodded. "You can have some too, Grandpa."

"I'm glad to hear that," he told her. "If you hadn't given me permission, Grandma might not feed me."

Their granddaughter giggled as Johanna eyed him with an amused smirk. "Now if you keep making up stories like that, I might just have to throw your breakfast outside for the birds to eat."

He laughed. "No need for that."

"Can we feed the birdies, Grandma?" McKenzie asked.

"Yes, Kitten; I have some bread that they can have. We'll break it up and throw it out in the backyard for them after breakfast. It's been so hot and we haven't had much rain, it's probably hard for them to find things to eat at the moment."

Scarlett meowed as she sat near her feeding area in her corner of the kitchen. "I'm coming, Scarlett," Johanna said as she quickly moved away from the stove to sit down the dish she had put the cat's food in.

"She wants a treat," McKenzie stated.

"Scarlett knows the rules, no treats before breakfast," Johanna remarked. "Just like a certain little girl knows there are no cookies before breakfast but she tried to get one anyway…didn't she?"

McKenzie smiled. "Can I have a cookie after breakfast?"

"I think you can wait until a little later, sweetheart. It's too early for cookies, even after breakfast, okay? If mommy gets here before you have one, I'll give you some to take home."

"Okay, Grandma," she sighed.

Jim pulled the page of comics from the newspaper and put it on the table in front of McKenzie. "Look at the comics, sweet pea; you'll get your cookies later. As hot as it is outside you don't want your belly to be too full, it might make it feel bad. You don't want a bellyache do you?"

McKenzie shook her head as she gave her attention to the comics.

Jim couldn't help but sigh a little himself as he watched Johanna prepare their plates. The past few days had been hot and humid; work had been a pain and he wanted nothing more than to take his wife and slip away to their home in the mountains for awhile. The air would be cooler there, time would move differently and they'd find that special kind of peace they always found there. They had gone up the weekend before but they had both agreed that it hadn't been enough. They needed at least a week and as soon as possible.

"Are we going up to the cabin next weekend to stay for awhile?" he asked as his wife put his plate down in front of him.

"I'd really like to but we might be putting Katie in a bind if we go then," Johanna said, a note of disappointment in her tone as well. She was looking forward to getting away from the city for a little while herself. "Rick has a lot of press events and book signings that week so I imagine they'll need us for McKenzie more than usual."

Jim frowned a little at the thought of having to wait. "Why don't we just take her with us?" he asked.

Johanna's brow rose as she finally settled down at the table with them. "You want to take her with us?"

He shrugged. "Why not?"

She met his eye. "Usually you like it to be just me and you when we go there," she said, a suggestive note in her tone.

He gave her a grin, catching her meaning…one of the perks of them slipping off to the cabin every so often was that they were assured to have plenty of romantic moments free of interruption. "She's in bed by eight, we'll have plenty of time."

Johanna laughed softly. "I should've known you'd say that."

"You probably should have…I mean, we have managed it before when we had to take along our own kid."

"That's true," she replied with a nod.

"Do you not want to take her?" he asked.

"I'm fine with her taking her with us," she replied. "It would probably be nice…I'm just surprised you suggested it."

"I've thought about it once in awhile, actually," Jim admitted. "I'd like for us to take her up there to the cabin, let her see where we go when go away at times…teach her how to swim and let her learn about the place. It'll be hers one day, she should start getting to know it. I'd like to take her with us."

Johanna gave him a smile. "There are plenty of things we could do with her up there; we could take her to the fair in town; it'll be there if we get to go next week."

He smiled. "That would be fun for all of us."

"Where are we going, Grandpa?" McKenzie asked as she picked up her piece of toast.

"Up to the cabin for vacation. Would you like to go there with me and Grandma?" he asked her.

McKenzie smiled. "I want to go to vacation with you and Grandma!"

"We want you to go too," he told her.

"There's just one problem," Johanna remarked.

"What's that?"

She met his eye. "Her parents might not let her go…because you know, we have to ask them first."

"Well, we're just going to have to convince them that it's in their best interest."

"That might be easier said than done," Johanna remarked. "One of them isn't exactly president of my fan club."

Jim gave her an amused smirk. "True, but he is a big fan of you babysitting on your allotted three days and any other time the phone rings…case in point, last night…which is why we had this lovely little overnight guest."

"I concede that point to you," she said with a nod as she scooped up a bite of her eggs.

"I thought you might. But you know, all we have to do is point out the merits of us taking her along with us…they can have time alone together. We always liked that…still do."

"Yes, we do," she said with a smile. "Which is why I'm somewhat surprised that you've come up with this idea."

Jim met her eye. "I sense hesitation on your part about this idea."

Johanna shook her head. "No, I'm fine with taking her with us…but if we do this I do expect you to do your share of the caretaking."

"I will," he promised. "I know our vacations are usually your break…but I think we'll have a good time taking her along with us."

"I'm sure we will; there are things we can do with her up there…not to mention that it's quieter and there are less distractions…no worry of being done an activity before pick up time or stepping on someone's toes. I'm not against it at all…I'm just not sure we should get our hopes up…or hers."

"I want to go with you, Grandma," McKenzie said, looking up from her breakfast.

"I know, honey; but we have to ask your mommy and daddy first…they might not want you to be away for so long. Grandpa and I were planning to stay there for a week or so…I don't know if Mommy is going to let you go for that long."

McKenzie frowned. "I will tell her I want to go. Mommy can come too."

"Mommy will have to work," Johanna said gently. "She's not going to have that much time off until she goes on vacation with you and Daddy in August. You would just be with me and Grandpa every day until we come home…do you think you'd be okay with that?"

Her granddaughter nodded. "Yes; I like being with you and Grandpa."

Johanna smiled, her hand brushing over McKenzie's. "We like being with you too, Kitten. When Mommy and Daddy come to pick you up we'll ask them if you can go with us."

"What if they say no?" Jim asked. "What are we going to do then?"

His wife sighed a little. "Then we'll have to postpone our plans since Martha is in L.A. for the next eight weeks. If we have to postpone our plans, then she needs to make sure her August vacation coincides with our anniversary because we are not giving up our anniversary trip. She's told me she has it arranged that way but she needs to make sure of it."

"Have you been doling out some tough love, sweetheart?" Jim asked teasingly.

Her eyes glimmered with amusement. "Maybe a little…because I am not giving up my trip to Hawaii…and I don't care that we've been there several times as she likes to remind me…that's our place and we're going."

"Oh I know we are, we already have everything reserved," Jim remarked. "So barring an actual emergency, we're definitely going. But I am hoping we can get up to the cabin for awhile…I'm just ready to get away for awhile."

"I know, so am I…last weekend wasn't enough," she agreed.

"Grandma," McKenzie said shifting in her chair. "Who's going to take care of Scarlett when we go to vacation?"

"When we go to the cabin, we take Scarlett with us," Johanna replied. "She has a bed there and toys and all the things she needs. Now when Grandpa and I go to Hawaii which is far away, Scarlett will go stay with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Maggie since Gabby's away for the summer."

"Can Scarlett sleep in my room when we go away?" McKenzie asked.

Johanna glanced at her husband. "We really should've had this discussion in private."

Jim shook his head. "Not at all, this just helps our case for taking her…she knows and she'll bring it up so much they'll let her go to have peace."

"Grandma, can Scarlett sleep in my room when we go to vacation?" their granddaughter asked again.

She sighed a little, seeing a long day ahead until her daughter arrived…and who knew how Katie would take this idea. "Yes, honey, if your Mommy says you can go, Scarlett can sleep in your room at the cabin. You'll sleep in your mommy's old room."

McKenzie smiled. "What will we do on vacation?"

Jim gave her a smile. "Oh we'll do all kinds of things…we'll go fishing and swimming, we'll play outside. We'll go places in the town there. We'll have lots of fun things to do, don't you worry."

"But we have to remember not to get our hopes up," Johanna warned both husband and granddaughter. "We have to ask first; your mommy and daddy have to say yes before we can go."

"They will say yes," McKenzie said with confidence.

Johanna wasn't too sure about that but looking at the hopeful faces of her husband and granddaughter, she'd hope for the best with them.

It was nearly noon when a knock sounded at the door, making McKenzie spring up from her place on the living room floor and run toward the entry way. "Mommy!" she exclaimed as she raced toward the door.

"Let's make sure first," Johanna said, following behind her so that she could pull back the curtain on the door and peer outside. "It's Mommy and Daddy," she told her, gentling pulling her back from the door so that she could unlock and open it.

"Mommy!" McKenzie exclaimed once more as Kate stepped across the threshold.

"Hi, baby," she said, lifting her daughter into her arms as her husband stepped inside behind her.

"How was the party?" Johanna asked, looking her daughter over and getting the idea that she wasn't in the best of moods from the look on her face.

"Long and tedious," Kate replied.

"It wasn't that bad," Castle replied. "I had a nice time."

"I guess partying with the Mayor never has been my thing," Kate remarked. "I can't stand politics and the boot licking that goes along with it. I don't even know why we were there."

"Because he's my friend," her husband replied. "We were invited…and everyone else seemed to be having a nice time."

"You seem a bit out of sorts, Katie," Johanna remarked as McKenzie reached for her father.

"I have a headache."

Johanna gave her a small smile. "A little overindulgence to escape the boredom?"

Kate smirked at her. "No, I'm not hungover. I just have a headache."

"And crankiness," Castle stage whispered. "Lots of crankiness."

"I'm sensing that," her mother replied. "PMS?"

"Do I have to have a reason?" Kate snapped.

"No, not at all…I've just seen this mood before and that's usually what it is," Johanna replied. "But it doesn't matter. I'm sorry you're not feeling well. Do you need something for your headache?"

"I took something at home, it should be kicking in soon. Let's get her stuff together so we can go and you can get on with your weekend."

"There's no hurry," Johanna told her as they moved into the living room. "We don't have any plans."

"I feel like I've barely been home the last few days," Kate remarked. "I haven't even seen McKenzie since yesterday morning."

"She's fine though," Jim stated from his place in his chair. "We had a nice evening."

"I'm glad everyone but me had a nice time last night," she replied.

Jim glanced at his son-in-law. "Rick, you better find a better party next time or pretend it's a stag party and go alone."

Castle nodded. "I needed that advice yesterday, Jim."

"Mommy, guess what!" McKenzie said as her father sat her on her feet.

"What?" Kate asked.

"I'm going to vacation with Grandma and Grandpa!"

Kate's eyes widened. "What?"

"I'm going to vacation with Grandma and Grandpa!" her daughter exclaimed once again. "Scarlett's going to sleep in my room cause she's going too!"

Kate's eyes darted to her parents. "Um, you're taking my kid on vacation and haven't informed me of this? Did you think I wouldn't notice?"

Johanna shook her head. "It's not like that at all; we told her we'd have to ask if we could take her with us."

"Take her where!?" Kate exclaimed.

"To the cabin," Jim answered. "We've been wanting to spend a little time up there."

"Like a weekend?" his daughter asked.

"More like a week," Johanna replied.

"A week! You want to take her for a week!"

"What's wrong with that?" Jim asked.

"She's mine," Kate replied. "You can't just take her."

"We're not," Johanna said slowly. "We were asking…although I'm not sure we had planned on asking this very moment…we would've liked to have been better prepared."

"Then you shouldn't have told your granddaughter about your little idea, Mother," Kate remarked.

Johanna's eyes widened. "It wasn't my idea!"

Kate scoffed a little. "Oh please."

"It wasn't!"

"It wasn't," Jim stated. "It was my idea and it wasn't that we specifically told her…she was just in the room while we were discussing it."

"And you thought it was wise to have that discussion in front of her?"

He shrugged. "It's my house, I can have a discussion with my wife anytime I please."

"But you know how your granddaughter is," Kate replied. "Now she knows about this."

"That happens sometimes," he replied.

"And I'm supposed to believe this was your idea?"

"It was," Jim said as he met her eye. "We were talking about how we'd like to go to the cabin for awhile starting next weekend and your mother said it might not be a good time to go because Rick has a lot of work events to attend to that week…so I thought if it was going to put you in a bind, we could just take her with us…then you and Rick wouldn't have to worry about your schedules and you could have a little break and some time to yourselves…I know I always appreciated time alone with my wife."

"What day were you planning on leaving?" Castle asked as he finally jumped into the conversation.

"We hadn't worked out the specifics," Jim told him. "Which is why Jo said we hadn't really meant to bring it up this way. Usually we go late Friday afternoon if we can, but in this case we could wait until Saturday morning…and we'd come back sometime the following Sunday."

Castle pondered that for a moment. "Would you be willing or able to leave on a Thursday afternoon?" he asked.

"Castle, what are you doing?" Kate asked.

"I'm asking a question," he replied.

"You sound like you're saying yes to this and we haven't even discussed it."

He waved a hand at her a little. "We'll discuss it but this question first; are you willing to go on a Thursday?"

Jim eyed him. "Why? And if we did, are we still staying through the following Sunday like I want?"

"Of course," his son-in-law replied. "I'm asking because I have to fly out to L.A. on Friday morning to tape a talk show appearance…and if you already have McKenzie with you, Kate can call in a personal day and go with me, we could spend the weekend out there."

"Are you serious!" Kate exclaimed.

Her husband eyed her with caution. "Yes…I thought it could be fun."

"We have never been away from McKenzie that long…you do realize it would end up being a little over a week?"

"Yeah," he said with a nod. "But she'd be fine…and so would we…and honestly we've had a lot going on lately, so if we could have a little weekend trip and some time for ourselves in between your work and mine then why not?"

"Because it's our baby!"

"She'll still be our baby in upstate New York," Castle replied. "She'll be with her grandparents, she'll be fine."

"We'll take good care of her," Jim remarked.

Kate's eyes closed in exasperation. "That's not even a concern, Dad. The point is, she's my kid…I'm not sure I want to be away from her for that many days. You two have her all the time as it is; your trips to the cabin are your break from grandparent duty, why do you want to mess that up? You two usually enjoy your alone time…way more than people your age probably should."

Jim smirked at her. "We don't allow age to dictate our lives in any way…and neither should you one day. Life's better when you keep the spark alive."

"Isn't a little guest going to put a damper on that spark?" Kate asked.

He shook his head. "Like I told your mother, she's in bed by eight, nothing to worry about. As for the cabin being our break, yeah, it is…but it's also a place we'd like to share with our grandchild. I want her to get know the place and enjoy it…it will be hers one day."

Kate's jaw tightened. "You know I don't like it when you talk like that."

"I know and it isn't a topic I enjoy either," he replied. "But it's the truth; one day it'll be hers and she should start being familiar with it. She was an infant the last time she was there. We have plenty of trips we go on alone…this time we'd like to take her. There are things we can do and see with her…we'd like to have these memories. We're not trying to steal her from you…just trying to have something special and in the process give you two a break…I think you need it."

"But if you say no," Johanna stated. "We'll understand and there won't be any hard feelings so don't worry about that…and of course we would change our plans and go some other time when Rick wouldn't have so many work obligations."

Kate nodded. "Good, then go some other time because I don't think this works for me…and I'm sorry, Dad but I'm just not believing that you thought this idea up yourself. I think this is because she doesn't like to be away from McKenzie for long unless it's a vacation further away."

"It wasn't my idea!" Johanna said more sharply. "In fact, I've asked him several times if he's sure he wanted to do this because it is our time away from everyone."

"That's right it is," Kate agreed. "And you should have it. Thanks for offering but it's a no."

"Hold on," Castle said. "We haven't even discussed this!"

"We don't need to."

"I think we do," he replied. "I think it's a good idea."

"No, it's not; you just want to dump her off."

"That's not true," he said firmly. "I just happen to think that it would be nice if we could spend some time alone together in between our work obligations…it's not a chance we get too often, Kate…let's not just chuck it away without any discussion at all."

"Fine," she replied tersely. "We'll discuss it but the answer is still no."

Castle smiled at his in-laws. "It's not a no yet; we'll get back to you."

Johanna shook her head. "I think maybe we should just forget it. We didn't mean to upset anyone with the idea or cause any arguments. We'll change our plans."

"What if I don't want to change my plans?" Jim asked.

His wife sighed. "Then like I told you earlier, I'll go with you for the weekend and come back to watch McKenzie."

"I don't like that idea."

"Then we'll go some other time," she stated. "It's not a big deal and it's not worth a feud, so let's just drop this topic now."

"No, I don't want it dropped it," Castle said. "I think this is a good idea and we're not saying no at this moment."

"We are," Kate remarked. "It's a no. McKenzie, get your shoes and tell Grandma and Grandpa goodbye, you'll see them Monday."

"Is that when we go to vacation? McKenzie asked as she abandoned her toys once more.

"No, baby, me and you and Daddy go on vacation in August," Kate told her. "We have awhile to go before then."

"When do I go to vacation with Grandma and Grandpa?" McKenzie asked.

"We'll talk about it at home," Castle told her before Kate could say no. "Are you excited about it?"

"Uh huh; Scarlett gets to sleep in my room!"

"Wow, that would be great," he replied.

"And Grandpa said we got lots of fun stuff to do on vacation."

Castle nodded. "It does sound like a lot of fun for you; but we have to talk to Mommy about it at home first."

"Okay, Daddy," McKenzie said happily.

After McKenzie's belongings had been gathered up and the trio had left, Johanna turned to her husband. "See what you did, you got me in trouble and it wasn't even my idea," she stated.

Jim nodded. "I hadn't counted on that; my apologies for you automatically getting the blame."

She gave him an amused smirk as she settled down on his lap. "Since I love you and adore your blue eyes, I'm going to forgive you…but I think we're going to have to change our plans."

He hated the thought of that; the whole thing had taken shape in his mind, a nice getaway with his wife and granddaughter, making special memories and teaching her new things. It had taken such root in his mind that to change the plan he'd rather just not go. "We'll just wait for August and our trip to Hawaii…I guess we really don't need a week at the cabin this summer."

She frowned a little, seeing the look on his face. "Now don't go throwing out the whole plan. We'll just change it a little…we'll go up for your birthday for the week; just you and me."

"You know, I don't think you're all that disappointed that Katie said no. I think you were hoping for it," he replied.

"Why would you say that!?" she asked.

"It's just the feeling I get about it…you don't like change anymore than Katie does. Katie's afraid McKenzie will enjoy yourself too much and not miss her as much as she'd want her to and you don't want to share the cabin because it's been our hideaway since you've come home."

Johanna pushed herself off of his lap. "You know what, why don't you just go up there by yourself…go tomorrow…or go now, I don't care. Then you won't have to worry about the unbending women in your life."

Jim sighed a little as she started picking up McKenzie's toys and throwing them in the bin with a little more force than necessary. All he wanted was a damn vacation; wasn't he entitled to that? Wasn't he entitled to want something different for a change? "I just want what we planned this morning, Jo," he remarked quietly. "We live our lives around their schedules…and I thought that maybe this time, we could just do something differently and take her with us so we could go when we wanted…and you agreed that there are things we can do with her up there."

"I know…but we haven't really discussed it anymore than Katie and Rick have," she replied.

"I think Rick wants her to go."

"Katie doesn't…and you know it isn't often that she loses in what she wants."

"Well maybe this is going to be the time when the men of the family win," Jim stated. "Rick isn't going to let this go easily and neither am I…you say we need to discuss it more, fine, we'll discuss it and present it in better terms to Katie. Hopefully that and some cajoling from her husband will get us a win in this case."

"We can discuss it more. We can plan…but, honey, don't get your hopes up too high…you know how Katie is and she seemed to be in a bad mood so I don't see Rick prevailing against her for long at the moment."

"You can be pessimistic all you want," Jim replied. "But I'm holding out hope…the men of the family are due to win one and this is going to be the one."

Johanna offered him a sympathetic smile. "I hope for your sake that it is…but if it isn't, we can discuss going the week of your birthday."

Jim shook his head. "It's either the way I planned or nothing…I'm standing my ground."

"Okay," she told him. "But it's a long time to our Hawaii trip in August."

"This isn't over," he said firmly. "We're making this plan more appealing over dinner and then I'm texting it to Rick so he can work on things from his end. The men will prevail on this one…I feel it in my bones."