Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC and the others who do own them.
A/N #1: I was pleased to get the feedback I did for the last chapter so I'll get started on my thank yous for those! TORONTOSUN (Really happy to see you liked how intense I wrote the chapter. Also that you like how they really love each other which I definitely do my best to convey!) and
Mb (Really nice to see you thought the chapter was a nicely done wind down. And I was really glad you enjoyed the banter between Eliza, her parents and grandparents. Great too you thought it was nice how they all had dinner together and got caught up on the plans for the holidays and the Lennox's new home. Glad to read you thought the first half of the chapter was nicely done! You're welcome for the first half of the chapter. I had to laugh at your description of the start of the chapter, lol, with Skye and Mary, glad you enjoyed them as you said enjoying their lost and won wagers they had in the game room. And I was really pleased that you enjoyed Castle and Beckett after enjoying being fully together and their wagers too. I was glad you thought it was nice to read them shopping for their friends and family. You're welcome for the second half of the chapter!).
Thanks for the reviews, I loved reading them and am grateful for the time taken to write them out and send them my way!
A/N #2: The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Comin' Home for Christmas, written by Dolly Parton and Kent Wells, from her album A Holly Dolly Christmas.
Family And Friends To Celebrate
"You know staring out the window won't make them get here faster."
Glancing behind her Skye said, "Don't lecture me," though she feigned her annoyance. She laughed with her friend and said, "What is it?"
"I came to check on you," Beckett replied.
"Mary didn't ask you?" Skye asked.
"She didn't, I noticed you were still gone," Beckett said.
"I did get my sweater," Skye commented, tugging it lightly.
"I see that," Beckett replied. "But come back with us, we're going into the game room until they're here."
"Did they say what we're going to do?" Skye asked her.
"They want to wait for your daughters," Beckett commented.
"I'm not surprised," Skye replied. She glanced at the door as her friend was pulling her to the hallway and she said, "What do you think they're up to?"
"Philippa and Mia? I have no idea," Beckett said with a smile. "They do have Christmas shopping."
"Where's the nearest mall to you?" Skye asked with a smile before they were laughing together. But she wouldn't help recalling their visit the day before to the two women at Harrington's new home, wondering what the two had been discussing before they'd arrived at the security booth.
"Do you mind if I don't take these two down yet?" Harrington was saying to Fox as she walked up to her at the fireplace mantle.
"Not at all," the officer said. "They're pretty stockings. But after this year?"
"In the office," Harrington said swiftly. "Since there's a fireplace in there."
"You're lucky," Fox told her with a smile.
"I know," Harrington replied. She set the box in her arms on the table next to them and said, "It's not much but I like to decorate a lot."
"I would have but I was a little busy with work this season," Fox said, making a brief face. She then shook it off and told her girlfriend, "At least you're letting me do that here."
"It'd be a lot to decorate this by myself," Harrington said simply. She wasn't surprised when her girlfriend was leaning into her and they shared a brief kiss before they parted abruptly at the land line phone ringing.
"Who's that?" Fox said since she was aware the director wasn't expecting anyone after what they'd had to do that morning.
"No clue, hopefully it isn't someone from the museum," Harrington said. "They should have called my cell first." She hurried to pick up the phone and after the guard at the front spoke she said, "Oh that's fine, let them in." When she'd hung up she said, "It's the Castles and McDouglases."
"It shouldn't be for the case," Fox told her girlfriend in a rush. "If it was Chief would be here."
Nodding Harrington said, "You said they'd texted."
"They weren't sure," Fox said. "But I guess they managed." She wasn't surprised when the director nodded and they were walking to the entry to wait for the couples.
Once there was a knock on the door, Harrington waited a moment before she was opening it and greeting the two couples on the other side. "I'm glad to see you again," she told them once they were inside and she had the door locked. "But what are you doing here if I can ask?"
"And me," Fox said.
"We brought these for you," Skye said first, getting hers and Mary's gift out of the bag Castle had carried in for them.
"For Christmas?" Harrington asked in surprise.
"Housewarming," Mary corrected her. "Hopefully that's alright."
"Oh no, that's really nice of you since the decorations are going to be… moved probably," Harrington said first. "Eileen and I weren't always the same when it came to décor… if it's décor."
"You should open them," Fox suggested jokingly.
"Right, come this way," Harrington told them before she led them to the living room. "Sorry about the boxes, I'm just moving everything right now."
"That's fine," Beckett said, looking at the tree. "What you have is nice," she said once she had turned to the museum director.
"Thank you," Harrington replied, gesturing for the others to sit. Once they had she was opening the present Skye had handed to her though it only involved taking the lid off the box. "Oh," she breathed. "It's Bernard's plane," she said with a slightly shaky smile.
"I hoped you would like it. I'm not sure if it's something you would want but I thought of Bernard too," Skye said.
"I'm putting this in the office," Harrington said quickly. "Thank you so much," she then added. "And you're right, it definitely reminds me of Bernard." She couldn't help smiling before she said, "On the bookcase. Thank you again."
"You're welcome," Mary said, Skye saying the same. "We had fun finding it."
"Groves'?" Fox asked them.
"Ours too," Castle commented.
"Oh, sorry, I was just… admiring this," Harrington said, shaking herself. She turned to give the figurine of the plane to Fox and put the box from the writers on her lap. After she took off the lid she said, "How… you found the match to my lamp," taking it out while she was speaking.
"It's an exact match?" Castle asked in surprise.
"It is," Harrington said, smiling. "There's even the name here, Linder Co." She looked at the writers and asked, "Did you find this at Groves' too?"
"We did, if you haven't been there you might want to look at what they have," Beckett said with a smile.
"I think I might have to," Harrington replied. "I've put my other in the family room and I'm definitely going to take this there." She then looked at the others and asked, "Would you like me to take you around the house?"
"If it's not a problem," Skye said immediately, glancing at the others.
"It isn't," Beckett said, smiling when Harrington looked at them. "We need to pick up our daughters from school," she explained. "But we have a while until then so we'd love to see the house," she said, not surprised when the director was responding.
"Great, though I don't have everything of mine ready yet," Harrington said as she stood up. "Just to let you know."
"I think we expected that," Skye commented since they were all getting up from their seats. "How has it been?"
"Was I… were they going to visit me or something?" Harrington started to say before she asked the last in concern.
"No," Skye said swiftly. "I honestly wanted to know."
"Oh," Harrington said. "It's been great," she said, cursing her cheeks heating up as she glanced at Fox out of the corner of her eye. "But a little hectic moving in right before Christmas."
"I'm not surprised," Mary said. "Though you've got the furniture at least."
Nodding Harrington said, "I'm keeping it, Eileen got my opinion about it."
Squeezing her girlfriend's hand when she heard the slight catch in her voice, Fox said, "We're obviously starting here right?"
"Yes," Harrington said swiftly. "The décor will change eventually and the decorations are mine." She looked at the others and said, "They liked more rustic decorations but I did keep a few of their ornaments on the tree."
"It's a beautiful one," Castle said, stepping close to it. "Nice ornaments. You should see our house."
"And ours, every room has a tree," Skye said.
"Really? I've always wanted to do that and theme the trees except the main, real one," Harrington said. "I didn't tell you."
"My mom loved doing that," Fox said since her girlfriend was talking to her at the end. "You'll have to try it next year."
"I'd love to," Harrington replied before she was leading everyone to the family room and kitchen. "Since they kept up their house; they love to hold parties, I don't really need to do much here… maybe just painting."
"Inside or outside?" Mary asked.
"Likely both," Harrington replied with a smile. "Their colors are alright but they're not my style."
"I remember the bedroom," Castle said. "Orange for an accent wall?"
"It made her happy," Harrington replied. "Bernard didn't care since it was just one wall. His office was his choice."
"Too dark?" Beckett asked.
"It is, but I'll worry about it later," Harrington answered.
"I love the backsplash," Mary said, studying the decorative tile. "I'm surprised it's blue."
"She decided to have the cabinets in blue on the bottom so she wanted to tie all of that in," Harrington replied, smiling a little wistfully. "When she told me her idea I told her she was crazy but it does work. And I like that the pattern isn't all that busy." She went to one of the tables flanking the end of the sectional couch and set her new lamp there before she told Castle and Beckett, "A perfect match."
"We're lucky we remembered seeing that in your house," Beckett said.
Nodding in agreement Harrington then said, "I hope you'll be alright leaving this room for last."
"Not at all," Skye said, the others agreeing with her. "Have you been in there yet?"
"Yesterday," Fox answered simply. When they went into the office she gave her girlfriend the figurine and watched her setting it on one of the shelves that wasn't part of the door to the secret room.
"Is it okay here?" Harrington said, turning to Skye swiftly.
"It is, when they pass on after a murder they don't always linger where they were killed," the investigator said. "My method is to have the people there to say goodbye to them so they'll want to focus on their loved ones instead of places."
Nodding, Harrington said, "That was my worry."
"What are you going to do with this room?" Beckett asked.
"Will you send the engine back?" Harrington directed to the investigator. When Skye nodded immediately in response she said, "Store that and likely a lot of their things I'm never going to be able to give away or throw out…" She paused then and said, "I think I mean give away, there isn't much to throw out." Looking towards the hidden room she said, "There's more than enough room in there for everything." She glanced at her girlfriend and she wasn't surprised when Fox nodded before she said, "There is one thing before we go."
Watching the director go to the desk, Beckett shared a look with her husband before they glanced back to her in time to see her handing a folder to Skye.
"This is for you," Harrington said with a slight smile. "I had to square everything away with the lawyers, but it's all set now."
Taking the folder, Skye opened it to find there was a letter on the top of the short pile of papers and she read it before she cleared her throat. "He didn't have to," she said, looking at Harrington.
"He knew you, I read the letter and he insisted he wanted you to have a plane to race," the director said. Noticing the smile on Mary's face she said, "You thought he would do that?"
"To be honest I was hoping," Mary said. "It's in Reno still?"
"That's what I wanted to check on," Harrington explained. "To make sure the storage for that plane was transferred to your name and it has been."
"Thank you," Skye said. "And to Bernard too, I'll be happy to race the Raider."
"You're not going to change the name?" Beckett asked.
"Hell no," Skye replied immediately. "It'd be sacrilege doing that and I did admire the livery." She glanced through the other papers and added, "He asked that I consider leaving the outside of the plane as it is." When she had finished looking through everything she said to Harrington, "You'll come to see next year's race right?"
"If it's possible," the director said before she and Skye were shaking hands. She then led the others out and up the stairs saying, "I really don't have anything up here but I want to make sure these rooms will be ready for guests." She glanced at Skye and said, "And children if that happens."
After they'd looked at the guest rooms they came to the main bedroom and Fox said, "This isn't finished."
"It's not," Harrington said, smiling at her. "I'm getting rid of the carpet in the closet."
"Are you going to keep the safe?" Beckett asked as they looked around the room from the doorway.
"I am," Harrington said. "I'm going to use it myself." Glancing around the room she then said, "That's about it, the basement was Eileen's least favorite place so that hasn't been updated."
"Finished?" Castle asked.
"It is luckily," Harrington replied. "But there's a lot to do, I'll have to get to that in the new year."
"It's large," Fox said while they left and were heading down the stairs. "And she has a lot of potential."
"I don't know," Harrington said laughing when no one said anything after that. "There's a lot I could do but I'm not letting it bother me now." When they reached the pool room she opened the doors and said, "I'd been in here already with them and this isn't going to be changed at all."
"You shouldn't, it a good room," Castle said. "Actually I'm going to change good to great, I like the setup."
"You have yours separate," Fox commented.
"Out of necessity," Beckett replied with a smile as they were walking in the room.
"Thank you for inviting us for New Year's," Fox said then.
"You're welcome," Beckett said, glancing at her husband.
"You don't already have a lot of guests?" Harrington asked.
"It doesn't matter," Castle said. "We don't mind hosting." He wasn't surprised when the director laughed and said, "And we'll look forward to having you over."
"Speaking of that," Harrington said. "Would you like a drink or anything? It would be great if you said yes because I have some cookies I'd love to be finished."
"We'd love that," Beckett said, not surprised when the others were looking at her before they left the pool room for the kitchen.
"They should be here soon," Mary said as she walked into the game room where her wife still was.
"I know but Kate told me to stay here and not move," Skye commented.
"I didn't say that," Beckett said in mock annoyance while she was entering the room.
"No, but I got the gist of it," Skye said though she was smiling before the writer was responding.
"Think what you want," Beckett said wryly. "But-" she then started to add before the bell for the intercom at the gate sounded. "Go ahead," she told the women before they were hurrying out. When she stepped into the hall herself she saw Julia and Eliza were coming down and she stopped them, going over to them and saying, "Let them say hello to their family first."
"Okay," Julia said, glancing at her little sister and seeing her frown.
"Are we still going to do something?" Eliza asked.
"Of course," Beckett said, pulling her into her arms for a hug. "But I hope you'll let them decide."
"We will," Eliza said immediately.
"She thinks they'll decide to go to the pool room," Julia commented, smiling when her sister made a face at her.
"I hope they will," Eliza said firmly.
"We'll see," Beckett replied, looking towards the entry where they could hear squealing.
"Mum, Mom!" Marie and Kathleen cried before their sisters were crying out behind them.
"We're happy to see you girls," Skye said, wrapping Ivy, Fleur and Kathleen in her arms at the same time.
"And we're not going to do that again," Mary said, hugging the other two.
"But what if you have to help here again?" Iris asked.
"We'll see what happens," Skye said firmly before she and her wife were switching their daughters between them. After she had hugged Marie and Iris she turned her attention to her dad and stepfather, greeting them both with hugs before she said, "They were alright?"
"Of course, they missed you though," Liam said. He looked to the hall and said, "And our hosts?"
"I think they're letting us say hello first," Mary answered.
"Well… we have now," Pablo said. "We should greet them."
After Skye had called the families down to them there was a little time taken to say hello to the newest arrivals before they were allowed to go to their rooms.
"Are you sure you'll be okay in the basement?" Castle asked Liam when the pilot and his husband were going down those stairs.
"Better than the second floor now," Liam said with a nod. "We'll be fine," he told the writer, seeing him smiling.
After he'd made sure the two men were fine at the bottom of the staircase, Castle turned and saw his wife descending from the second floor stairs. "Everyone set?" he asked her.
"They are," Beckett replied. "And the girls were already asking them about what we'll do. You're sure it's going to snow?"
"Very," Castle said, looking outside with her. "So we'll have to leave the family fun center for another day."
"I think that was the plan," Beckett replied, letting him take her hand and lead her towards their office.
"Julia?" Castle asked. When his wife nodded he smiled and said, "I'm not surprised." He squeezed her hand gently and after they were in the room he said, "If we are swimming do you think I could request something?"
"If it's to kiss me you don't need to," Beckett told him teasingly.
"Great," Castle said, exaggerating his pleasure at her words. Before she could say anything he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to kiss her. Though he was well aware someone might walk in on them he made it deep and continued until they were parting, breathing a little roughly against each other's lips. "That's going to be it," he said, not surprised she laughed since his tone was questioning before she was replying.
"It is, we're going to be spending the rest of the day with them," Beckett reminded him.
"Unfortunately," Castle said jokingly before his wife was giving him a look.
"There is later," Beckett reminded him. She laughed when he was suddenly gathering her up in a hug and she said, "I'm glad you approve."
"Of course I do," Castle replied, pulling away from her a little and then kissing her gently on the lips. "We have to go back out?" he asked her when there was the sound of footsteps on the stairs.
"I think so," Beckett said with a nod before they were sharing a last kiss and moving to head out into the hall as the others were gathering at the bottom of the stairs.
"I'm so glad you have a pool," Marie was saying to Julia.
"Me too," she replied. "How was it without your moms?" she then said. "I was wondering how that would be."
"Not the best," Marie said. "I mean we love our grandpas but we missed Mum and Mom."
"Sorry she had to come here," Julia told her.
Shrugging Marie said, "She helped with the case."
"And she didn't get hurt at all," Kathleen reminded her twin.
"That too," Marie said with a nod. She then smiled and said, "And now it's Christmas and school's over."
"Yeah, that's definitely the best part," Peter said before he was moving to go down the slide.
"Julia," Kathleen said then. When the teen was looking at her she said, "We have to stop soon," smiling when her friend did before she spoke.
"If you're wondering what we're having for dinner I have no idea," Julia answered. "It might be Dim Sum since we haven't had that for a while."
"Probably," Marie said with a nod before they were taking their turns down the slide.
Once they were at the end and resurfacing, Julia heard her grandfather calling to her and she swam over to the entry. "Time already?" she asked, smiling at him.
"It is," Jim said, wrapping her towel around her shoulders. "But you've been swimming the rest of the day. You're not hungry?"
"Starving but I was enjoying the slide," Julia said. She started to dry herself off while she walked to her chair and said to her mother, "You're still here?"
"Nice question," Beckett teased her. "And I am, your dad insisted he could handle it and Isaac and Pablo went to help too."
"And Josa didn't want to leave yet," Eliza said, standing near them drying herself off as well.
"She loves the pool too," Julia said, smiling when Josie kept clinging to their mother's leg.
"And Mommy," Eliza said, laughing when her baby sister was doing so. She kissed her cheek before they were heading inside and finding her dad alone in the kitchen.
"I ordered," Castle said. "And sent them to change but they're waiting for their families," he added.
"How long do you have?" Beckett asked him.
"About a half hour," Castle said, looking at the clock on the ovens. He wasn't surprised when his wife nodded before they were going upstairs with some of the others before he and Beckett were in their room. "I've mentioned I'm glad Mother is here right?" he told his wife since Martha had taken Josie for them.
"I'll remind you of that next time you complain about her," Beckett told him with a smile. She squeezed his hand and told him, "We can't you realize."
"A little?" Castle asked her hopefully. He was relieved when she didn't say anything but he could easily tell she was tempted by the idea before he followed her to their closet. Once they had their clothes they were moving to the bathroom and he said, "Shower right?"
"Yes," Beckett said with a smile. "You wanted something didn't you?"
"I do," Castle replied before he closed and locked the door.
Beckett watched him, wondering if he realized how eager his voice had been before they were undressing. It took little time to do so before they were moving into the shower stall. She let him turn on the water before she was walking up to him, hugging him from behind. "Not that much Rick," she told him.
"No," Castle replied, turning in her hold. "Just touching. I'll do better later." He smiled when his wife laughed before he leaned down to her and kissed her lightly. When he parted he pulled her to the water so it was running in between them and he leaned down to kiss tenderly around her breasts.
Running her fingers though her husband's hair, Beckett wasn't surprised when it took him little time to take her nipples in turn before she was making him stop. She was aware he was expecting her to instruct him to start, but instead she leaned down to begin kissing his chest. She nipped a little at his skin before sucking his nipples but she didn't linger at the way he was grunting in reaction above her. After she had pulled away she gasped when he made her turn around but he was gently running his hands down the front of her body. When he was gently fingering her clit she sighed and leaned back against him before his fingers were sliding inside of her.
Smoothly pumping his first two fingers in and out of her, Castle wished he could see her and her reactions to him before he was leaning down to kiss around her shoulders until he pulled away. He didn't say anything to her until she was climaxing, telling her he loved her while she was crying out before she was limp against him. "Good?" he then asked.
"Hmm," Beckett said, smiling briefly. "I think you can tell."
"Definitely," Castle said, withdrawing his fingers from her gently before she turned. He then slipped his fingers into his mouth while she looked on before he was removing them and they were grabbing each other, clutching at one another before they parted from their kiss and she spoke to him a little sternly to his slight surprise.
"I'm going to get you off like this," Beckett told him.
"Don't worry-" Castle started to say before he was cutting himself off and groaning when she curled her hand around him firmly. "Kate," he said roughly.
"You won't stop me?" Beckett asked. She wasn't surprised when he was shaking his head rapidly before she began to stroke at his length. She started out slowly, moving a little faster each pass over him and listening to his breathing becoming more and strained until he was climaxing against her and she held onto his shoulder with her free hand as he was jerking against her until he slowed down and nearly collapsed. "Good?" she asked him teasingly, carefully letting him go.
Letting out a brief laugh Castle told her, "You're a vixen love." He looked at her and asked, "You're doing the same?"
Merely smiling at him, Beckett wasn't surprised when he shuddered in pleasure and moved to start gathering his release on his fingers and giving them to her. They worked quickly together and moved as fast to clean up before they left and dried each other off. "We'll have to continue tonight," she said when they moved back to their closet. "Yes I'm sure," she said with a smile when he was looking at her.
"Thank you," Castle said. "Though I really hope you want this too."
"I wouldn't have just said what I did," Beckett told him in mock annoyance. She laughed when he grabbed her and kissed her as soon as they were embracing, responding eagerly until they were calming down and slowly parting. "Hurry love," she said, saying that to them both. They were dressing swiftly and once in the bathroom to finish she said, "I'd like to ask you to do something for me," not surprised when his eyes widened for a moment before he was responding.
"Are you sure?" Castle asked her.
Beckett couldn't help smiling before she said, "Do you think it's going to be too much?"
"A little," Castle said.
"Pervert," Beckett teased him before she handed him brush. She let him brush it out and as soon as he'd finished she braided it and glanced him when she heard a groan.
"Let me undo that later," Castle told her. When she merely smiled at him as they were leaving the bathroom he let out a hard breath before walking to the door to the hall. He had his hand on the doorknob when she was stopping him and pulling him down to her. They kissed sweetly and briefly before he said, "Later."
"Yes," Beckett replied, trying not to laugh at him repeating that word. They kissed quickly before stepping out and finding Julia rushing down the stairs. "You…" she started to say before she trailed off when the teen disappeared.
"Mari must be here," Castle said when his wife looked at him.
"I think so," Beckett said, amusement tinging her tone before they headed to the staircase.
"Hey!" Julia said, opening the door in the kitchen for her friend. "How come you're here?"
"You parents asked mine to let me come over tonight," Mari answered, stepping inside and holding up her bag.
"Just tonight? We don't have school on Monday," Julia replied, leading her friend to the stairs one she'd closed and locked the door.
"I said that but we have to come over anyway remember?" Mari asked.
"True," Julia said since she couldn't help recalling her friend and Dani would be staying during the day while David and Rebecca had work to do at their law firm until the party the firm had Friday afternoon. "Well, at least all of us will be here," she added since the Davis kids would be there as well with Brad and Lily working still.
"Hey, how is it going with the house down the street?" Mari asked. "I keep forgetting to ask Eve about that."
"They're still going to get it," Peter said at the top of the stairs. "But they're not going to move in until the Wednesday before New Year's Eve."
"Your family isn't going to move into their house for the rest of the time?" Mari asked with a smile.
"No," Peter replied laughingly. "Mom and Dad would never let me be there like that."
"What're you doing up here?" Julia asked.
"I heard your parents talking about Mari being here, I thought she was upstairs already," Peter said.
"Did you guys go swimming?" Mari asked, walking into Julia's room and setting her bag on the end of her friend's bed.
"Yeah, we just took showers and changed," Peter said absently before his dance partner was speaking with a smile on her face.
"They'll be dressed when they're finished," Julia said wryly.
"The twins are in there?" Mari asked. "Marie and Kath?" she added swiftly.
"They are," Julia answered. "But we should head down, I'm sure we have to set two tables tonight."
"I'm helping right?" Eliza said at the doorway with the three youngest McDouglases.
"You are," Julia said before they were turning to look at the door to her bathroom. She wasn't surprised Marie and Kathleen were walking out shortly after and she watched her best friend greeting the McDouglas daughters before they were leaving her room and going to the stairs and heading to the kitchen.
"Hi," Mari said to Castle and Beckett when they'd greeted her. "Thanks for inviting me."
"You're welcome," Castle said first. "We thought you might want to spend time with the McDouglases."
"And Julia," Mari said, nodding.
"Of course," Castle said, looking at his wife. "That was a given."
"Do we need to set the table Mommy?" Eliza asked.
"Tables," Beckett corrected her. "And that would be nice." She turned to Mari and the McDouglas girls and said, "You don't need to help."
"We will," Marie said firmly after glancing at her sisters.
"We told them to help," Skye said, she and her wife reaching the kitchen.
Before she could respond to that, the chime rang and Beckett was following her husband to the entry before he stopped her. "Rick-" she started to say.
"I've got it," Castle assured her.
"So do I," Isaac said, appearing behind them.
Letting the two go, Beckett turned to Genevieve who was helping Liam off the basement stairs while Pablo was holding Emily. "You're all set?" she asked Skye's dad.
"Of course, of course," Liam said, waving his hand quickly. "But where are your grandchildren?"
"They'll be here soon," Castle said, walking by with one of the three bags of food. "They wanted to let everyone get here and spend a little time at home before they move," he added, not surprised when Pablo was responding first with a slight frown.
"Move?" he asked. "Or do you mean for the holidays?"
"The holidays," Beckett said after nodding to her husband's glance at her. She watched him walk down the hall with Isaac and then turned to the others still with her saying, "They're going to stay here once they're finished with work and go back after their break is over."
"Makes sense," Mary said, having joined them. She was about to ask her father-in-law if he was alright when the chime of the gate sounded and they turned to Beckett.
"That's them," she said laughingly before she left them to head to the garage. When she stepped inside she saw Louis was turning off his car and she hurried to the back.
"Was everyone asking about us?" Alexis said, watching her mother getting Emmie on the other side.
"They were but just because you weren't here to swim," Beckett replied, smiling at the baby before she was pulling the carrier out.
"We'll be here next week for that," Louis commented.
"I mentioned," Beckett said before they were heading inside. She wasn't surprised when the McDouglases were all there to greet the new arrivals and watched them looking at the twins, the girls cooing over them a little.
"Are they a lot of work?" Ivy asked as they were walking down the hall.
"They are but it is worth it," Alexis said. "Usually when they're asleep but…" She then smiled and said, "We love them, don't worry," before she was greeting her father.
"Dinner is here," Castle said to the others after he had looked in on the twins. "So we can start to eat."
"Great I'm very hungry," Louis said before they were heading to the kitchen.
"Hard work today?" Liam asked him.
"A bit, we had two births," Louis said. "And we had to do a few checkups before the stables are closed for the rest of the year."
"Hopefully you can finish in time," Jim said.
"We will, Charlie wants to get out of here for his vacation," Louis replied. He then smiled and said, "So do the rest of us."
"And you're just leaving the horses there alone?" Pablo asked in surprise.
"No," Louis said with a brief laugh. "We'll take turns to check on them. I'll have the twenty-eighth. And of course we have cameras all over, we all have access to them along with Charlie."
"At least you can have off," Eliza told her brother in law.
"And you guys all do now," Louis said teasingly to the kids before they were walking to the kitchen table since they had their food.
"Do we wait to start?" Ivy asked Julia and Eliza.
"That would be nice," Beckett said before her middle daughters could say anything. "We won't be that long." She turned to her husband since he had walked up to her and she said, "She's ready?"
"I'm hungry Mama," Josie said, tugging on the bottom of her sweater.
"Alright, let me finish getting my food and I'll take you," Beckett assured her.
"Your sister could eat with us," Marie said.
"My parents don't want her to," Julia replied with a smile before her sister was speaking in a rush.
"They want her to stay with them," Eliza said.
"I'm not surprised," Marie said, smiling when Julia made a face at her sister for a moment. After the adults had finished and were walking to the dining room she watched with the others as Julia was hurrying to the hallway.
"Okay, they're inside," the teen said, following the others. She smiled and said, "So we can eat."
Waiting until her friend was sitting on her chair, Mari picked up her chopsticks and said, "How was it today?"
"We were on a plane for a long time," Kathleen said since her little sisters were speaking to Eliza. "And we slept since Mom and Mum said we should."
"But we did have breakfast at the airport," Marie reminded her twin.
Smiling Julia asked, "You went early?"
"As a treat," Kathleen said. "Mum asked Grandda to do that and he wanted to go anyway."
"And so did we," Kathleen said before they were laughing together. When they calmed down she was about to ask Julia what they'd done waiting for them until after lunch before the teen was speaking to Mari first.
"What did you do?" Julia asked.
"The last of my wrapping," Mari said. "And just when your dad called mine I was finishing up my dress."
"Just now?" Julia said in surprise.
"What dress?" Peter and Clive asked at the same time. They looked at each other when the girls were laughing and joined them before they were calming down and eating again.
"It's my dress for Christmas night," Mari explained. "I made Julia's so it took me a while to get mine set."
"Yes she made mine," Julia said firmly when Marie and Kathleen were looking at her. "And she asked if she could."
"For practice," Mari said. She saw her dance partner was raising his hand and she asked him, "What?"
"Did you make your outfit?" Clive asked.
"I did," Mari said, laughing when Kathleen urged her to stand up.
"It's really pretty," the girl told her seriously.
"Yeah, I don't like dresses but I love your leggings," Marie said.
"Thanks," Mari said, sitting back down.
"They're right, they both came out really well," Julia said seriously.
"Thanks," Mari replied, smiling. "What about you?"
"A few things," Julia replied. "I finished wrapping too and then I wrote a little bit."
"Your next book?" Peter asked her.
Nodding Julia said, "Yeah, luckily I'm not far behind."
"Don't you usually publish them in the fall?" Marie asked in confusion.
"Yeah, but we're going to have vacations and everything," Julia explained. "So I need to make sure I'm finished in time before the end of school."
"What're we doing after dinner?" Mari asked when they'd gone back to their food and were nearly finished.
"Game room," Marie and Kathleen said at the same time.
Laughing, Julia said when she calmed down, "They're right. We told them they were picking tonight."
"What about the bowling alley?" Mari asked.
Looking at the twins when they sucked in a breath together, Julia said, "We told you your moms waited to play there."
"But we were thinking of everyone else coming," Marie commented.
"Yeah, we'd love to play with Reiley," Kathleen said. "And with her siblings too."
"It's going to be a while," Julia reminded them.
Sharing a look the twins said, "That's okay."
"How often do you do that?" Peter asked them when they'd calmed down after laughing.
"A lot," Marie said first before her twin was continuing after her.
"Our sisters are starting to do that now," Kathleen said, looking at them down the table.
"You mean Ivy and Iris," Julia said.
"And Fleur," Marie said, sharing a smile with her sister. "They started doing that."
"Why?" Clive asked.
"They're the youngest," Marie replied, shrugging her shoulders. She then smiled and said, "But they seem to like doing it."
"We're finished now," Clive said then, looking around.
"I think we need to take our plates to the kitchen," Peter told his brother. He couldn't help laughing at the face Clive made before they were standing with the others around the table.
"Oh good," Castle said, walking to the kitchen sink with three plates a little after the kids had reached it. "We thought you might race to the game room." He smiled seeing Peter nudging Clive in the side slightly before he said, "Is everyone's plate here?" After the kids had all answered yes he told Julia, "Go ahead and take them, if you can stop on the way and get your sister I would appreciate it."
"What about Mommy?" Eliza asked.
"Go ahead," Castle replied. "But please ask her if she's okay with it first." He was about to turn to the sink when he was suddenly being pushed away. "Skye-" he started to say in surprise.
"Go, you took care of this last night," the investigator replied. "Kate isn't going to start playing anyways."
"On Christmas-" Castle started to say.
"We'll all help," Skye interrupted.
"Are you going to let me speak?" Castle asked her.
"No," Mary said with a smile since she was there as well. "Go we won't be on our own."
Glancing at Isaac and Genevieve, who merely smiled at him, Castle sighed and said, "Alright." He walked down the hall, the kids in front of him before he reached the dining room in time to see Julia talking to her mother.
"Skye pushed you out?" Beckett asked her husband with a smile.
"She literally did," Castle replied, nodding. He then said, "So could I escort you?"
"That would be nice," Beckett said, taking his hand before they were walking together to the hall. After they were in the game room she wasn't surprised to see Julia starting the games before they were walking over to the propellor one at her husband's direction.
"You don't want to?" Castle asked her.
Beckett couldn't help laughing briefly when her husband raised and lowered his eyebrows at her and they shared a brief kiss before they turned their attention to the game for her to start at his insistence.