152. Chapter 152

Chapter 152

Graduation was right around the corner, and Alexis had agreed to allow Castle to host some of her friends, her study companions who had also befriended JD, and their families for a dinner after the ceremony. However, she had convinced her father to allow her some time for frivolous picture taking and hanging out with those friends between the ceremony and the dinner. The others had made the same deal with their parents, promising that they would all show up at the restaurant together at the correct time.

The Castles had sent hand written invitations saying the family had enjoyed meeting their children over the last few years, and that they would love to meet their families as well. The invitation was to join the Castles for a buffet dinner to celebrate the friends' graduation in a reserved area at the restaurant he identified. It was also mentioned that young children were welcome. Most of the RSVPs had already been returned, all of them so far indicating attendance. The restaurant he and Kate had chosen catered to mid-sized parties and served excellent food.

"I can't believe my baby is graduating from college," Castle said that night, looking at the graduation invitation again.

"And she's going to be a doctor," Kate added. "You should be so proud."

"I am. I just miss her. I'll see Jamie playing with something that used to be hers or hear something she used to enjoy, or…I guess it's just another reminder that she'll never live here again. Sorry. I'm…"

"Don't be sorry. I miss her, too. You're just being a dad. We're lucky she still wants to hang out with us…be part of her little brother's life, even if they'll never live together in the same house. Face it, Castle, you'll never be completely without her."

"Yeah. You're right. Our independent, married college graduate is even allowing us to host a graduation get-together for her friends and their families. That was the last thing I would have wanted."

"I went out for drinks with a couple of friends after graduation. I'm glad she's willing to let us be around."

"You didn't have anybody there for your graduation, did you?" Castle asked, the realization hitting him hard. "Was your dad there?"

"He didn't even know."

Castle hugged her close and rested his head on hers. "I wish I could have been there for you then."

"And I love you for that; but it's over, and we're here for each other now. I'm happier than I've ever been. And I think Alexis has found the same kind of marriage we have. She's happy, too. Try to keep that in mind. That's what we want for our children, right?"

"Yeah, it is. Good thing I have you to keep me grounded…make me feel better when I have one of my maudlin spells."

"She loves you, Castle, and she's proud of you…still likes your company. And she chose a husband who does, too…you call him Son and mean it. Big plus there, don't you think?" He leaned and kissed her, and she smiled at him. "So are we all set for the graduation dinner?"

"I think so. We're more keeping the restaurant people informed than doing anything ourselves. Too much going on right now to try showing off our cooking skills. It's better to take the easy way out this time."

When graduation day arrived, The entire family cheered as Alexis walked across stage to accept her diploma, graduating summa cum laude. Just as at her high school graduation, pictures were taken with everyone in the family, individually, in small groups and large groups, and the entire Castle clan. The difference being that there were more of them this time.

Alexis had arranged to meet her friends at a landmark not far from the graduation site; so after the many pictures were taken, the family released her to meet her friends. JD went along and took most of the pictures there.

Six families other than Castle's descended on the restaurant at the appointed time and were escorted to a private room for the dinner. As promised, all the graduates were there to meet them, and they all enjoyed a fine buffet meal, allowing informal mingling and conversation. One young woman who showed no signs of having been brought up by such a pretentious set of parents seemed embarrassed that they were making themselves overtly annoying. Another graduate's mother was an absolutely star struck fan who kept trying to spend as much time as possible with Castle. He plastered on his book signing smile for them and pushed through it when they were around him, excusing himself from the fan on one pretense or another as often as possible. The others, some of whom had young school age children, were very easy to enjoy. None of the other children were as young as Jamie, but he found company with some of them anyway.

As things were winding down, the pretentious parents claimed they read only more serious books than mystery novels, but they still wanted a picture with Castle…to show their friends that they had been invited by a well-known writer. Castle called up both his patience and his book signing smile (after the first encounter with the same couple, Kate was referring to it as his BS smile) and posed with them while their mortified daughter took the picture and promptly encouraged them to go back to the hotel with her. She made an excuse to return for something after they were in the restaurant lobby.

"Mr. and Mrs. Castle, I'm so sorry about my parents. They were totally obnoxious…worse than usual."

"Well, it can't be that bad. They gave the world a fine young woman who will always be welcome in our home," Castle answered.

"Thanks. Alexis is lucky to have you for parents. Thank you for the dinner. All of us appreciate it."

"We've enjoyed having everyone here," Kate answered.

"That's nice of you to say," she said with a sigh. "But I'd better go before they try to come back," she said with a little grin. "'Night."

"Now we're down to just the very attentive fan," Castle said quietly. "Much easier to take."

Looking over his shoulder, his wife said with an evil smile, "And here she comes."

He leaned and kissed the smile off her face before walking away to speak to a group of other parents he had enjoyed earlier.

"Oh, I was hoping to speak to him again; but it looks like he's busy," the woman said disappointedly. Then her embarrassed son caught up with her and said, "He'll be free later on, Mom. He has a lot of guests, and Mr. Castle always tries to make everyone feel included. Mrs. Castle, would you like to meet my dad? Mom, I think Dad was looking for you a few minutes ago."

"I'd love to," Kate told him, "and then I need to relieve my own Dad from three year old boy duty for a while."

As they walked back to her husband, the woman said, "The tiny little guy in the vest and tie is yours, isn't he? I noticed how much he looks like Mr. Castle. How in the world do you keep him in those clothes, especially the tie? He's absolutely adorable."

"Thank you. We just got lucky about the clothes. Rick has to dress well for things like book events, and Jamie likes to do things his dad does. Dad wears a suit and tie, so for my birthday, he dressed Jamie like a little Richard Castle, taught him the gentlemanly manners to use when a man wears a suit, and they took me…and his mother, Martha, to see The Lion King. Jamie was so proud of his suit and tie. Castle kept giving him quiet reminders, and Jamie tried so hard to remember how to behave. That was about six months ago, and he had outgrown all but the tie; so we had to replace the suit, and he was thrilled."

"You must have been so proud of him."

Kate smiled a proud mother smile, and answered, "Yes, we were. It's a birthday I'll never forget."

"You really do call your husband Castle?"

"That was part of getting to know each other in a police setting. He still calls me Beckett sometimes, too, and it doesn't feel odd to us. I guess it sounds strange to others, though.

The young man introduced Kate to his father, and she stayed to talk for a couple of minutes before going over to check on Jamie and give her father a break.

"All I've had to do is watch," Jim told her. "He's found a couple of kids about Gabe's age, and they seem to be having fun; so I haven't bothered them."

"Well, I've got him now. Go stretch your legs, get something to eat or drink, find your wife, whatever."

"I could probably take care of another piece of that lemon cake, now that you mention it," he answered and went to take another look at the dessert table.

For another forty-five minutes the relaxed atmosphere of the gathering had people moving easily from group to group, the children creating their own entertainment without getting too much out of hand, and the members of Castle's family moving around among them, initiating conversations between the various family groups. All of them had the six new graduates in common, and all of the graduates would be newly minted Columbia Medical School students in the fall. When the party began to break up, the proud parents thanked Castle and Kate for dinner and the enjoyable opportunity to meet the friends they had heard their children mention so often. After all of them were gone, Castle's family breathed a sigh of contented relief.

"Alexis, do you know if Denise is adopted," Castle asked.

"Not that I know of. Why?"

"Because I can't imagine there could be a DNA match between that sweet girl and those two distasteful people who claimed to be her parents."

All of them laughed and agreed, then JD said, "Derrick was so embarrassed that his mother was fangirling and following you around every chance she could find. He said he knew she had all of your books but he'd never seen her like that before. Now he's wondering if he was named for Derrick Storm."

"He came and rescued you from having her follow when you escaped to talk to Nigel's family," Kate told Castle. "He offered to take me to meet his father, and it looked like they were plotting to keep his mom in check. I think I eased her disappointment, though. She thought Jamie was adorable in his vest and tie; so I told her about the suit, and the gentlemanly manners lessons, and the trip to see The Lion King. Then I called you Castle, and she was fascinated that we really still call each other by last names now and then. She didn't get you again, but she seemed happy with a little personal information. And I mentioned what a good dad you are."

Castle smiled and put his arm around her waist. "She got a couple of pictures before she left. One with me, and one with her family and me. She was sweet, just awfully persistent."

The staff came back to clean up and the family got themselves together to go home. Castle settled the bill, Alexis thanked them for including her friends, they exchanged hugs among them, and all of them went to their own homes.

xxxxx

In the five years they had been married, they had never missed their secret anniversary in the Hamptons, so Rick and Kate asked Martha if she had time to stay with Jamie overnight. They told her they didn't anticipate much time alone for the next month and just wanted a day to themselves before they left on the tour. They walked on the beach, sat outside in the ocean breeze, skinny dipped in the pool, made love, and enjoyed each other's company. It gave them the little boost they needed to be prepared for another book tour.

xxxxx

In what seemed much less than the time that had actually passed, Kate, Castle, and Jamie were facing a transatlantic flight. The night before, the adults checked carefully to be sure they had all their necessary documents and ID's and enough necessities to get through the next day if their checked luggage mysteriously travelled elsewhere. The next morning they were again going through airport security, their son already tuned into the routine and standing his little dinosaur suitcase upright for his parents to put through the security check then handing Kate his shoes before they all walked through the metal detector.

"It's a little scary that he's three and already knows what to do in airport security," Kate said as they walked out of the security area.

"Kind of two parts impressive and three parts concerning," Castle answered. "I got video of his little routine back there before I put my phone in the security bucket, though. And by the time we're home, he'll know about passports and customs, too."

"Who knew we'd have turned him into a world traveler before he's four."

"I think it's fun. Alexis was pretty well travelled by that time, too, not quite a world traveler, though."

"His little sister probably won't be far behind when she's that age. Do you realize he'll be seven or eight by the time she's three or four? It sort of makes me want to cry," Kate admitted.

"Parenting requires enjoying the present, remember?" He reminded her. "It won't last but so long, but something else good always comes later."

"Thank you, oh wise one, who was recently bemoaning the fact that his daughter is married and not at home anymore. Pot, meet Kettle. I'm still going to need to hug him when we get somewhere that I can."

Castle looked at her with his signature smirk but a lot of love in his gaze as well. "I'm hearing things I would never have thought I'd hear when I first met you."

"Yeah. I still surprise myself sometimes, too," she answered, bumping her shoulder into his as they walked. "Jamie, slow down and walk between us," she called to her son. He was a few steps too far out of their comfort zone, and he stopped to wait for them. "If you look on both sides of you and don't see Mommy or Daddy, you're too far away from us. Remember that the airport is a very big place. We don't want you to get lost. Understand?" she asked him with a hand under his chin to be sure he was looking at her and paying attention.

Jamie just nodded.

"Thank you." Kate took the hand her son wasn't using for his little suitcase to be sure they stayed together. Arriving at their gate, they saw that Paula and Gina had found seats for them to all wait for their flight, and they boarded the plane together when first class was called.

Jamie still liked sitting in the window seat. They had again brought his car seat for safety, sleeping, and being able to see out the window. It was a nuisance to carry but a blessing once it was in place.

Gina and Paula were in the seats behind them, and Kate was again across the aisle. After the last tour, they now had a routine. The two parents traded places at times to relieve each other of taking care of Jamie while he was awake, and they both slept while he did. The flight was a little longer than the one from New York to the West Coast; and at one point during the flight when all three Castles were sleeping, Gina commented that they seemed to handle keeping Jamie under control well.

"They've been partners and friends since he started following her at work," Paula reminded her. "They've solved murders together and kept each other from being killed more than once. All of that transferred into their marriage and taking care of their child. And he's a really good kid. Smart, sweet, nice personality...like Alexis."

Gina looked surprised. "I never thought you were a child person."

"I'm not. I love my niece and nephew…my sister would disown me if I didn't. But this little guy is growing on me fast."

"I guess he's kind of cute," Gina conceded. "He looks so much like Richard that he'll probably grow up handsome. But that doesn't mean I want to babysit."

"I doubt they'd ask you anyway."

"Probably not."

After that brief exchange, they both went back to their books.

When the plane was landing, Kate was with Jamie; and at the first sign of pressure changes, she reached for the package of gummi bears Castle now kept in his coat pocket from the time they got on the plane to the time they reached the hotel. When they got off the plane, they had to go through customs and then navigate through the crowds at Heathrow airport. A tall, handsome blond man about Castle's age was waiting near the baggage carousel and flagged them down when he saw them. It seemed that Black Pawn's European representative was there to meet them himself.

"Mr. and Mrs. Castle, and Jamie is it?" he asked as he shook hands with all three of them. And Ms. Cowell and Ms. Haas, it's wonderful to have all of you here after so long. I'm sure you're tired. We have two cars waiting for you. Let me help with your luggage. Our driver can have the car seat in place by the time we get your checked bags."

The two drivers took the hint and took the Castles' carry-ons and the car seat then came back for Paula and Gina's. When the checked bags came out on the carousel, the drivers and Bentley Keane, the Black Pawn rep, helped Castle get them into the trunks of the cars.

"We can talk when we get to the hotel," Keane said. "Ladies, I'll ride with you if you don't mind."

"Not at all," and "Fine with me, was heard from the women.

The cars soon pulled away and were moving through the London traffic to the hotel.

"Where are we?" Jamie asked, peering out the window at the lights of the city.

"We're in London," Castle answered.

"Is the bridge fixed?"

"The bridge?"

"London Bridge is falling down." Jamie sang, that presently being his only London reference.

His parents chuckled. "There's a new bridge there now," Kate answered. Their driver seemed to be trying not to smile but was having a little trouble containing it.

"I'm assigned to you and your family while you're here, Mr. Castle. Sorry I can't drive you to the right bridge. I'm Alton, by the way."

"Thanks, Alton. I don't have anything scheduled tomorrow, so we may want to do some sight-seeing. It's late here, but at home it's only about four in the afternoon, so we're likely to be up for a while longer. We probably won't call you until at least mid-morning. Then we need to find something to wear us out tomorrow to help us adjust to the time difference."

"I understand, sir. I'll give you my card when we reach the hotel, and you can call when you're ready."

Once both cars were at the hotel, Bentley Keane was out of the car before anyone else and in the hotel arranging for a large luggage rack to be brought for his guests. Everyone's bags were stacked and taken to the front desk for check in and then taken to their floor and distributed to the appropriate rooms.

"Could I take you for a late dinner or drinks? Bentley asked. I believe there's a little restaurant/bar that serves this late. I'm sure we could find Jamie a soft drink or juice."

"We might follow you there and get something to take to our room, but I think we need to settle in and see how soon we can call it bedtime for him," Castle answered.

"Leave him with me and have a drink while you wait for whatever you decide to bring back," Kate suggested. "Jamie and I can get his things into his room. None of us are sleepy right now, so we can eat something when you get back. No rush."

"Thank you, Sweetheart," he said, taking her aside for a moment and keeping his voice down. "I don't know how appropriate the bar is for Jamie, and I didn't expect Bentley Keane to be the one to meet us. I probably should spend at least a few minutes with everybody to keep Gina and Paula happy and give Bentley his due respect."

"I know. It's part of your job, but it's probably a good idea to take Jamie where it's calm. We know he'll probably be awake for a while, but I can at least get him settled. I'll be sure Bentley knows I appreciate his attention tomorrow. Go. We'll be fine."

"You're a perfect wife," he told her. "I won't be too long, and I'll find us something good. I'll make it up to you tomorrow." He gave her a firm, loving kiss and said. "Mmm… That might get me back a little faster." Then he smiled, gave her one more little peck, and joined the others to go back downstairs.

Kate looked at the two bedrooms and pointed out the one she chose for Jamie. "This will be your room, she told him. Why don't you bring your toys in here and I'll bring your clothes.

Jamie brought his little suitcase and unzipped it to get Bear, and Kate turned back the covers and asked him, "Do you want to tuck Bear in so he can get used to his room? He doesn't have to go to sleep yet. He can just lie down and watch us while we play with some of your toys and read a couple of books."

Jamie climbed up on the bed and put Bear under the covers with enough of him visible to watch them. "Can we play with my Magna Tiles?"

"That sounds like fun. What have you and Daddy built with them?"

"We built a house…and a garage for my cars." They built a few small structures and then used most of the tiles he brought to build a house that was considerably bigger. When Kate said it was bath time and took the plastic box with the tub toys to the bathroom with them, they played some more. There was a basketball hoop that packed flat but could be put together with a suction cup to hold it on the wall. The balls would squirt water…always a favorite activity for the toddler. And there were a couple of small plastic wind up boats they'd use for racing each other. Kate gave him his bath first then let him play with his toys for a while. Castle came back about the time they were putting away the bath toys and draining the tub, and he got a towel and growled as he grabbed his son out of the tub. Jamie laughed and tried to get away as Castle flopped the free end of the towel over his head and scrubbed most of the water out of his hair. Then he stood him on the floor and dried the rest of him as he told Kate he had brought food and suggested she put it on the table and take a break.

They ate and talked, Kate warning Castle against too much roughhousing and silliness before bedtime. The time difference from home was substantial and left them feeling it was much earlier than it was in London. Jamie didn't look at all sleepy, so they checked the streaming possibilities and found The Lego Movie, which satisfied both father and son while Kate made the parents room more functional for them. By the time the movie was over, Jamie was finally looking sleepy.

When Kate sat down with them, he crawled into her lap and snuggled close. "You know what? I'll bet Bear is getting lonely," she told him. "He's probably ready to go to sleep. Let's get you into bed to keep him company." She lifted him into her arms and took her sleepy, droopy little boy to his room, tucked him in, and rubbed his back for a couple of minutes until he relaxed completely.

Castle followed and leaned to kiss his head before putting his arm around Kate's waist and guiding her out of the room. "I can't believe we brought the baby monitor on both tours." he whispered. "We're kind of hopeless, aren't we?"

"Good thing the pieces aren't too big. It's better than getting up during the night to be sure he's okay. We've been in a lot of new places, and I'd rather know right away if he wakes up and feels scared."

"I love sharing a kid with somebody who loves being a mom as much as you like seeing me be a dad. I hadn't experienced that until you, and it means more than I have words to tell you."

"I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything. Now, could we have a shower for two and then get some sleep?"

"Is there room in there?" he asked, nodding toward the bathroom.

"Not a lot, but close quarters doesn't sound like a bad thing. I haven't had you to myself all day."

"All yours, Love," he answered, unbuttoning his shirt and then hers. Then they took a leisurely shower in the limited space that they didn't seem to mind sharing at all.

xxxxx

The entire family slept late the next morning. Jamie didn't wake up until almost ten, and the plan was to wear him out during the day so they could adjust to the five hour time difference more quickly.

Castle, allowing time for his family to get themselves dressed in casual going-to-a-big-park-for-the-day clothes and have breakfast, found Alton's card and told the driver what time to pick them up. They had decided to visit Hyde Park and maybe Kensington Gardens.

Dressed for the day and fed, the Castles were driven to Hyde Park and told their driver when to pick them up. Then they embarked upon their day. There were plenty of wide open spaces, and Jamie alternately walked, galloped, bounced, and ran, stopping now and then to point out things that interested him or ask questions about something, his parents reining him in when there were others close by. The park wasn't terribly crowded that day, so it was relaxing for all of them. Now and then they would stop for one of Jamie's investigations of something, and the adults would consult a map of the park. Castle pointed out the Princess Diana memorial playground and said, "Let's surprise him."

"He's going to love that," she answered.

"Alexis did," he said with a fond memory look on his face. "I brought her with me on a book tour a year after the playground opened. She was seven and fascinated with it…the whole place, actually. We went out on the lake in a boat. Want to do that later?"

"Sure. Should we do that first or turn him loose on the playground and then let him catch his breath?"

"Are we watching the same child?" he asked with a little laugh. "We may need to let him catch his breath before he has the energy for the playground. Although it might be a good idea to take him before the schools close for the day. More competition from older children after that."

"So let's start maneuvering him in that direction, then." The next time Jamie stopped for a distraction, they planned their walk to aim them toward the playground.

The first sight to catch anyone's eye on entering the playground area was a wooden pirate ship that would capture almost any child's imagination, and their son was no exception, letting his parent's in on his excitement in no uncertain terms. He climbed the ladder to the deck and started to explore, reporting his finds to his parents, who were on the ground. Within a few minutes he had either found or had been found by another boy about his age with a vocabulary to match Jamie's, no aversion to strangers his age, and another lively imagination; and the two of them were enjoying each other, occasionally interacting with others. Kate and Castle moved themselves around at ground level to keep an eye on what was going on and laughed as the two little boys excitedly took turns steering the ship inside the cabin. Eventually the children came back down one of the rope supported walkways and went to investigate the teepees and totem poles and climb into the smaller boat that hung from chains. Then they moved on to other things. There were things to climb on, things to crawl into, things to stand on after climbing on them, things that made noise, sand like a large beach around the ship, several places to wade in water…if parents of small children were fast enough to assure wading was the limit of water activity. The two little boys tried everything they saw, and after a little while, Kate asked Jamie, "Who is your friend? It looks like you're having fun together."

"He's Oliver," Jamie reported distractedly, both boys eyeing their next target. "That's my mommy and daddy," he told his friend.

Castle and Kate turned to the woman who had consistently shown up everywhere the boys had, and Castle said, "Should we assume you're Oliver's mother?"

"The woman answered, "Yes. And being equally ignored. Your little boy is delightful."

"We can say the same of yours," Kate answered. "I'm Kate, and this is Rick."

"I'm Phoebe. You're not from here, are you?"

"What gave us away?" Castle asked with mock seriousness, and the woman laughed.

"Just a notion."

"We're from New York. Just visiting."

"His father is working late, so tea will be late tonight. I intended to take Oliver for something to eat, but he's having so much fun."

"We were just having the same discussion at their last stop. Why don't we wait until they show signs of wearing down and take them to the snack shop we saw earlier? They can enjoy a snack together, our treat. A thank you for providing him a playmate since he got here knowing nobody,"

"I'm sure Oliver would be over the moon about it, but I'll pay for us."

"There's a bench over there. We might as well sit down and watch. We've been here much longer than we intended," Kate said. "We just arrived yesterday, and we're trying to wear him out enough to make up for the time difference. It's a definite blessing for us that he and Oliver found each other."

"For me, too. He's usually after my attention every ten or fifteen minutes." Phoebe answered.

They watched the boys and talked, moving to their next point of interest as they played, now and then remembering to look for their parents and wave. When they headed for the shallow waterfall, all three parents descended on them promising snacks and managed to distract them before they could get wet.

"Can Oliver and his mommy come with us?" Jamie asked.

"Absolutely," his father answered. "We were planning on it."

The little boys made their excited noises and took their parents hands to walk there. As they ate, Castle said they were thinking of renting a boat. "They used to have paddle boats and row boats."

"They still do," Phoebe assured him. "But we haven't tried either one yet."

"The paddle boats look like fun," Kate said, "but we were worried about both of us pedaling and not having a safe place for Jamie."

"It looks like these have room for non-pedalers, but that's why we haven't tried it, too." Phoebe answered.

"Let's go and look at them. If there's room, we could have one adult with the boys and the other two pedaling." Castle said.

The two boys had finished the healthy part of their snack and were allowed ice cream, which they were playing with using their spoons and giggling. "What are you doing, Jamie?" Kate asked. "You're turning it into mush."

The boys laughed, and Oliver said "Chocolate mush-mush." Jamie repeated it, and they each broke into a little kid belly laugh.

"If there's a better sound in the world, it's two of them making it at the same time," Phoebe said, laughing with them.

Rick and Kate were laughing, too, and the chocolate mush-mush wasn't flying from the bowls or making a big mess; so they all just let the children enjoy their ice cream their own way.

The five of them walked down to where the boats were rented, and discussed their options. It was decided that the women would pedal and the men would just ride. The women were about the same weight, and Castle argued he was too big and would make the boat tilt, so he should sit with the boys. There was a lot of teasing about laziness and gender roles, but that was the final plan. He sat with the boys and joined them in silliness, songs, and stories. At one point, Kate looked at Phoebe and asked, "Have you noticed I married a very tall five year old?" There was a lot of laughter; and when they parted for the Castles to meet their driver and Phoebe to go in the opposite direction to take her son home, they thanked each other for a lovely afternoon.

"Can we come here tomorrow?" Jamie asked.

"We'll go somewhere else tomorrow," Kate promised. "Daddy has to work tomorrow."

"Is he writing in books again?"

"Yes," Castle answered, and I have to be on TV again in the morning, too. And the next day, Mommy will take you to a giant bookstore with more children's books than you've ever seen in one place. I took Alexis there when she was little."

"Did you take her to the pirate ship, too?"

"Yes, I did. You can talk about it when you see her."

By the time they returned to the hotel, they were all tired but relaxed and happy.

"I think we just had another good adventure, Mr. Castle."

"I believe we did," Mrs. Castle. Sometimes it just works out that way. And Jamie had a good introduction to London."

"And a nice long, active day without a nap." Kate answered with a smile.

"Let's see how fast we can get him in and out of the bathtub. We can order room service, have a light dinner, and tuck him in about the time he would normally go to bed…at least according to the British clocks."

"It can't possibly be this easy."

"Shhh. Just go with it. We'll know soon," he encouraged.

They had dinner, washed the park residue off their son and out of his hair, and got their tired little boy into bed. They read him a book, spent a little time soothing him, and he was soon asleep.

"I'm afraid to believe it," Kate said quietly outside Jamie's door.

"I know how to test the theory," Castle said, draping his arm around his wife's shoulders."

"How's that?" she asked.

"We take a shower and try wearing ourselves out with our own activities; and when things get really interesting and he still isn't awake, we'll know we can believe it."

"How is it that a lot of your ideas have us testing them out in the bedroom?" She asked flirtatiously.

"Because you like it there, too. Don't bother to deny it. Shower. Now." He swatted her backside and pushed her gently toward the shower.