150. Chapter 150

AN: I've been trying to respond to reviewers more often than I used to, but sometimes it's a choice between that and time to work on the story. I'll catch up soon. I do appreciate that you take time to let me know that people are still reading. There are several guests who also review often, and I appreciate all of you, too. Since I can't answer the guests directly, please consider this a blanket thank you.

And I need to take a minute to profusely thank Helen, who signed on to help edit the 8-10 chapters I originally intended this story to be. She has gone way over and above to stay with it after I wandered this far off course.

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Chapter 150

The first order of business on Tuesday was Kate's appointment with her doctor. Dr. Holland examined her, assured the Castles that both mother and baby were healthy, and said she saw no reason that Kate shouldn't travel; and she agreed that the time frame they had set for the European trip was sensible. With that question no longer an issue, they had a leisurely lunch after the appointment and went to the meeting with Gina and Paula. After some pleasantries, and general discussion, the meeting settled into planning.

"We saw the doctor this morning, and Kate and Jamie will definitely be coming with me," Castle reported.

"I'm glad she's cleared to go," Gina stated. "That means we can get the planning underway. From your emails, I gather the entire family has agreed to get together for a week or so. Is that still the plan?"

"It is," Castle answered.

"With Kate's pregnancy in mind, we thought the earlier in the summer, the better. Our tentative plan would have you leave on May thirtieth with the first event on June first, and the last event on June thirtieth, arriving home on July second."

Castle looked at his wife and she shrugged. "It sounds fine to me, as long as the rest of the family can get there sometime in June."

"We'll talk to them about the dates and let you know as soon as we can; but at the moment, it sounds good, Gina."

"Kate, can we possibly talk you into retiring after this new little Castle is born?" Paula asked. "He's so much easier to deal with when you're going to be there."

"Sorry, but I plan to go back to being a police captain in January. I might be able to take a week of vacation now and then, though," Kate answered good naturedly.

Castle added, "I should probably tell you now that I won't be travelling through Europe again until this baby is at least four years old. By then Kate should feel more comfortable about taking the vacation time she's earned, and both children will be old enough to be more independent. I don't like being separated from my family."

"Things are going too well for this trip right now. Let's not worry about the next one yet," Gina suggested. "Here's the tentative list of cities and the itinerary if you want to run it past the rest of the family for preferences. There may be a few changes as the planning progresses, though. That can't be helped."

"Thank you, for working with us on this." Kate told the other women appreciatively. "We have a close family, and this kind of time together is important to us."

"We can see that, Kate," Gina answered, "and it's become obvious that it's to our advantage to work with you that as much as possible."

With that, Castle took Kate's hand, stood, and helped her from her chair. "I can still stand up by myself, Castle," she teased. "Another few months might be a different story, though."

"Just practicing," he answered with his lop-sided smile. "Let's go." Turning back as they left, he promised to call Gina and Paula as soon as he had talked to the rest of his family, all of whom were happy to join them in Europe for a family visit.

"There's nothing else pressing between now and your birthday," Kate said. "You've already finished the next book. Is there anything you'd like to do while we have all this time on our hands?"

"Just enjoy it. We could go home and get Jamie and take a walk in Central Park…let him run around, chase some pigeons, feed some ducks, get grass stains on his pants legs, and enjoy being a little kid."

"That sounds great."

Castle hailed a cab and gave the driver his address, and they went home to relieve Meagan of Jamie duty.

While Kate got an excited little boy into his jacket, Meagan asked Castle quietly, "Have you told him yet?"

"No. We decided we'd take him with us for the next visit, the one where we find out if we have a girl or a boy…little brother or little sister. That still gives us several months for him to get used to the idea."

"That makes sense."

"Do you want to come with us to the park, Meagan?" Kate asked.

"Not this time. I have a client to meet later," Meagan answered. "Maybe we could get together for coffee or lunch sometime soon. It's been too long."

"I'd like that, and my schedule is remarkably free these days. Call when you have time."

Meagan left, and they took their son to the park for the rest of the afternoon, stopping for dinner on the way back and taking a cab home from there. Kate took a shower and changed while Castle sat on the sofa with Jamie and read to their son.

When Kate came back, Jamie wanted Mommy to read him something, too; so she sat down with them and sent him to choose another book from the Jamie shelf in the study. After that they cleaned him up from his day in the park and tucked him in for the night.

"A few more months and we'll be worrying about getting two tucked in," she mentioned. "Do you think we're up to it?"

"I think we'd better be. It's too late to back out now," Castle answered. "Besides, the two of us can do anything we set our minds to."

xxxxx

The night before Castle's birthday, Kate had Castle dress for a dinner on the casual side and was ready to take him for his surprise. They had dinner in one of their favorite little restaurants, one possessed of a staff with a finely honed balance of good service and some privacy for their guests.

"So when are you going to tell me about my surprise?" Castle asked about halfway through their meal.

"Closer to when we leave here. I don't want you too impatient to enjoy this."

"That sure of yourself, are you?"

"Yeah. Pretty sure you're gonna like it."

"Okay."

They smiled at each other and enjoyed the rest of their meal.

During dessert, Castle asked about his surprise again, and Kate took an envelope from her purse. She handed him a birthday card with a silly but loving message. Inside the card was another envelope with two tickets.

"Batman on Screen – A Retrospective," he read. "How did I not hear about this? We should have brought Jamie. He would love it."

"I thought about that. He would love it. But I brought you without him because you'll savor it, and I'm going to help you enjoy every little piece of it you want to talk about. This goes all the way back to the old movie serials from 1943. That was during the war, and they used World War II plots and villains. I think those were the first time Batman was on screen, and they were mentioned in the advertising I saw. Once when I was in junior high, I was reading a Batman comic book, and my granddad sat down and read it over my shoulder with me. He said he was a big Batman fan when he was a kid, too. He told me that, in the early fifties, the theater close to him was rerunning those short movies, the Batman serial episodes, on Saturday mornings, along with a few other things for kids. He'd go every Saturday so he didn't miss any of them. I don't know if any of that film is still around or not, but it covers from those to now."

"Are we ready to go?" he asked excitedly.

"As soon as I take care of the check," she answered. She signed for the bill, took her credit card, and said, "Now we can go."

Both of them enjoyed the exhibits, Castle because he was fascinated with the costumes and drawings that were used in the films and on the TV shows, live and animated; and Kate because her man child was enjoying it so much. Being a comic book fan herself, it wasn't hard for her to get into the spirit of the event and help her husband be excited about the wealth of displays and information there. There was a lot of trivia about the shows, the actors, the different characters and how they had changed over the years, and everything from pieces of older costumes to full costumes from more recent movies.

After they had examined absolutely every display and Castle had asked questions and had animated conversations with some other enthusiasts, he thanked his wife on the way home and admitted he enjoyed it more without Jamie.

"If we have another shot at it when he's older, I'll take him to that, but you were right. He wouldn't have appreciated it as much as I did, and I wouldn't have felt as free to enjoy the details. I know it seems silly at my age, so thank you for indulging me that way…and for encouraging me to be excited about it. It was a great birthday present."

She held out her hand and he smiled and took it, lifting it to kiss it before resting their hands on his thigh as he drove home.

"Did you have fun?" Martha asked him when they came in the front door.

"It was spectacular. You would have enjoyed some of it for the costume and production information, Mother. Kate enjoyed it with me…and helped me enjoy it more. I loved every minute."

"My wonderful grandson is sound asleep. I was about to have some wine before bed. Would you like some," she asked them.

"Maybe just a taste," Kate answered. "I haven't had any in a while."

"Richard?"

"Sure. I'll be right back. I'm going to hang up this jacket."

As she took down glasses and poured, Martha asked, "Did he really enjoy his gift as much as it he seemed to?"

"If he didn't, he should have be on the stage with you. We were right back to the nine year old on a sugar rush. Martha, he practically wallowed in all the trivia and the costumes…and then the development of some of the secondary characters over the years, especially the villains, and evolving production techniques. He was right that you could have appreciated some of it on generic production principles. I can't remember ever feeling more certain that I chose the right gift."

"Having you there approving of his fun was the best gift you could have given him. I can't imagine any woman he's ever been involved with doing that for him, even if they were certain he would have loved it. But you…" She sighed and finished with, "Alexis and I will be forever grateful that the two of you found each other."

"Me, too, Martha."

Martha handed her a glass with a small serving of wine and gave her son one with more when he returned from his bedroom.

"Have you been talking about me?" Castle asked suspiciously.

"You're not always the topic of conversation, you know," his mother teased.

"I wouldn't care if you were. I talk about you, too." Conforming to the nine year old persona Kate mentioned, he stuck his tongue out at his mother.

"Richard, will you ever grow up?"

"I hope not," he answered with a grin, "but if it helps you sleep, I'll try to pretend sometimes."

"I think we may have to accept those terms, Martha," Kate teased.

Martha finished her wine and left the glass on the counter. "I'm going to get some sleep and hope that my son, the pretender, will be here in the morning…at least looking like an adult. Goodnight, children."

"Goodnight, Martha/'Night Mother," said in unison followed her to the stairs.

When she was out of sight, Castle turned to his wife and said hopefully, "I think there was another promise for tonight…something about a pre-birthday wish. Is that still an offer?"

"Anything for the birthday boy."

"Then let's retire to the playroom."

"I love you, Goofball."

They walked to their bedroom hand in hand, not in a hurry, just in love.

The following night the women in the Castle household gave him a well-planned party. Family, extended family, some of Castle's writer friends, and his Gotham poker buddies, and even Gina and Paula and their dates, were there for excellent catered food and Bradford's excellent planning. Bradford was asked to enjoy the party as a guest when his planner's duties weren't needed. At this point, everyone in the family had enjoyed working with him through some of their most memorable moments and enjoyed his company. When he left the party, he had made a good enough impression that he had a couple of new clients.

Jamie was allowed to stay for the beginning of the party, but after Castle blew out the candles on his cake, Kate took their son upstairs to settle him down for bed. With the door closed, the noise of the party wasn't bad, and she rocked him and talked to him quietly for a while. Then she read him a book and sang to him, rocking him a little longer as she did; and he finally began to give in to sleep. Castle came in and listened as Kate sang to him, then he held his son and rubbed his back for a long moment before they put him in his bed with Bear. When it seemed he was really settled in for the night, they slipped out and returned to the birthday party. They would take turns checking on him periodically as the party progressed.

After all the caterer's servers had cleaned up and left and all the guests were gone, Martha went to bed, and Kate asked Castle if he was tired.

"It's a good tired again," he answered. "Thank you for the party and the birthday surprise. We haven't had a party like that here for a long time. I hadn't realized how long it's been." He put his arm around her shoulders and they walked toward their room. Halfway through the study, Kate told him, "I have one more surprise."

"Yeah. Is it going to top last night's?"

"I don't know. You had a lot of fun at that retrospective."

"Well, where is it?"

She took a folder out of the drawer of her nightstand and handed it to him. "I wrote you a story. For our eyes only."

"For our eyes only? Like my anniversary night story?" he asked, and she nodded, her teeth gently biting her lower lip. He opened the folder with anticipation and read the first line, then said, "Wait right here." He left and came back wearing the tie he had taken off during the party, and Kate laughed. "What? I want to do this right." He eagerly read through the rest of the story and said, "This is going to be way better than the retrospective."

"I'll do my best," she answered with a seductive smile and grabbed his tie. "I believe it starts with me grabbing your tie and pulling you into the bedroom." She turned, letting the tie fall over her shoulder and pulled him in behind her before she locked the door, loosened the tie and slid it out from under his collar. "This is your last birthday surprise. Feel free to make the most of it."

"If we get to even half of what you wrote, this will go down as a very memorable birthday," he assured her, fulling intending to feel free to cooperate.

xxxxx

During the week of the birthday preparations, Alexis had read Jamie another of the books Castle had written for her, and Kate again sat with them and listened. That one impressed them as much as the first two.

"Dad, have you given any more thought to publishing these books? I really think you should."

"But I wrote those for you. I never intended to make a profit from them. They were just for us."

"Well, if you don't want to profit from them, you can always donate the profits to a children's hospital or something; but they're too good not to share. I loved it when you read them to me, and Jamie loves them, too. So does Kate. You should talk to somebody at Black Pawn and get a more objective opinion. I'll bet they'd jump at the chance. And the beauty of it is that they're already written. You could publish them with a minimum of work."

"Who taught you to argue so convincingly?"

'I think that would be you…just giving you a taste of your own medicine."

"And you really don't mind if they're published?

"I would love to see it happen."

"Maybe I'll make a call, then. We'll see. I just feel like I'm giving up something that should be for us."

The weekend after the party, he and Kate were sitting on one end of the sofa, Kate sitting in the vee of his legs and leaning back on him. Both of them were reading the Sunday paper, and Jamie was playing with puzzles on the coffee table.

Out of the blue, Castle asked, "Kate, do you think I should publish those books I wrote for Alexis?"

"I think I do, as long as it doesn't feel like a family betrayal to you…if it doesn't feel like a crisis of conscience."

"It did feel like that at first. It obviously doesn't bother Alexis; but to me, it feels like parting with something special between my little girl and me. She had a good point about contributing the proceeds to a children's hospital, though. There are a few that offer all their services free to families who need it. It's a good cause. I don't know if it those books would sell well enough to provide much to them, but I'm sure they wouldn't turn down whatever is offered."

"I suspect you might be surprised at how well they would sell. Even if someone else had written them and I found them at the bookstore, I'd buy them for Jamie in a heartbeat."

"We have another meeting with Paula and Gina this week. Maybe I'll talk to the head of the children's division and make arrangements to take a couple of them with me when we go. I could drop them off for him to read while we're in the meeting. We can stop by to see if he's even vaguely interested after the meeting is over."

"That sounds like a good plan. You should call him tomorrow." Kate paused a moment and looked lovingly at her husband. "It's the helping kids who need it that made the decision, isn't it?"

"There had to be a good reason for me to part with the idea that it was just for family."

"I'll be anxious to see if he agrees with Alexis and me."

"Me, too."

"Does that mean you'd be doing book signings for little kids?" she asked with a grin.

"It probably means I'd be sitting in the floor in some bookstore reading it to them, but that could be fun."

xxxxx

The family spent the next few days enjoying the novelty of doing things together whenever they pleased. Castle had completed one book tour, and didn't have to leave for the next one for at least another month or more, his newest book had been edited and was in line to print and launch in time for the holidays, he had started outlining the next Heat book, and Kate's schedule was wide open for a change; so nothing was pressing enough to keep them from doing what they wanted.

They decided one day to go on an adventure in their own neighborhood and struck off in a direction they didn't usually go; and within a few blocks, they discovered new places. They took Jamie to a little bookstore they had never seen before and bought him a couple of new books, stopped at a fish store and looked at aquariums and all the different kinds of fish, had lunch at a restaurant they had never noticed before and decided they would try not to notice it again, found a little playground they didn't know was there, and Castle let Jamie pick out some flowers for Mommy at a florist on the way home. Another day they took Jamie to a children's activity at the library, and Castle told him how much he used to like checking out books. They renewed their library cards, got one for Jamie, and each of them checked out a book.

Castle did call Brad Myers, who headed the children's book division of Black Pawn, and he agreed to set aside time to look at a couple of books while Castle was meeting with Gina.

Later in the week, having called them with the consensus of opinions on when and where the family would like to get together during the Castles' stint in Europe, they met with Paula and Gina to work out a plan they could all agree on for the book tour. On the way to the meeting, He and Kate went to see Brad and dropped off the two books he brought with him. Brad promised the objective evaluation Castle requested and told them to see him after the other meeting.

The publisher and publicist were already armed with schedules of available dates at the stores their European affiliates suggested would bring the most publicity and the list of cities they would like to see covered in the publicity blitz. There were several appearances on TV and radio shows planned for the English speaking countries, and they floated the idea of Kate being there to join him in countries where she spoke the language. They were told that Jamie was a factor in that decision and they would need to consider it.

"Can't you take his nanny?" Gina asked.

"We don't have a nanny," Kate told her. "We have family or friends who babysit when we really need it, but he's with us most of the time."

Gina dropped the subject. Nannies were clearly off limits.

By the end of the session, they had a loosely organized plan they could all agree on; and plans with overseas partners would be set up and presented to Castle for approval. Just as they were preparing to break up the meeting, there was a knock on the door of the conference room.

Gina got up to answer it and said, sounding surprised, "Brad, can I help you? Why are you here?"

"I came to see Rick. Totally different subject from yours."

"Then come on in."

"Rick, these books are award worthy. Did you say there are more?"

"What books are you talking about, and why is the children's division looking at them?" Gina asked, sounding a bit territorial.

"These," Brad answered, holding them up. "They're children's books."

"I wrote them for Alexis years ago," Castle explained. "Alexis pulled them out and read them to Jamie recently and started badgering me to publish them."

"And I helped her," Kate added. "I was as interested as Jamie. They're very good." Turning to her husband she said, "But I think badgering is too strong a term. Alexis and I would prefer the word 'encouraging'."

"Well, keep it up. Rick, if you're ready to consider publishing, I'd like to follow up on this with Walter. He's been a surprisingly good judge of quality in children's books…probably because he knows how his grandchildren would respond, and he's mentioned an interest in expanding our division."

"How is this going to affect the Heat books?" Gina asked, still sounding concerned.

"I doubt that it would right now," Castle stated. "We already have one as yet unpublished Heat book ready for production and printing, and I've started outlining the next book in the series. I have six of the children's books already written, so it would be a while before I'd foresee any conflict."

"Children's books, Richard? Where did this come from?"

"Having a small child while being a best-selling author?" He almost added, "Duh!" but restrained himself. No good would come of it. "I only intended them for Alexis, but I think you heard mention of the badg…um…encouragement." Kate smiled and patted his hand.

"Do I have your permission to discuss these books with Walter?" Brad asked.

"Go ahead. I'm still not quite sure of this new direction, but it can't hurt to get his opinion. Thanks for the quick feedback."

"Thanks for the new material. I'll get back to you after I speak to Walter." Brad shook Rick's hand and left.

"What would this do to your public image, Richard?" Gina asked.

"Prove that I was much more of a family man than the publicity presented, as long ago as when Alexis was Jamie's age. That was part of Alexis's pitch for publishing."

"I always knew that girl was brilliant," Paula answered with a smile.

"I told her you'd be proud," Castle responded.

"I'm telling you, Gina, this family is the best publicity we could ask for."

"Paula…"

"I know, Rick. Stay away from your kids."

"That's right."

"We'll talk now and then. You can't blame a girl for trying."

Castle looked at his wife and proclaimed his publicist incorrigible, and the meeting broke up from there.

As they headed home, Kate asked, "Are you ready to be a children's author, an award worthy children's author according to Brad?"

"It isn't something I ever pictured for myself; but it's gaining some appeal, especially the idea that it could provide funding for a good children's cause. And the length of a book for young children isn't nearly as demanding to write as a full length novel."

"But you've put them together with the same care you give your novels. The stories are seamless."

"When I have a little unscheduled time, maybe I'll outline a new story for Jamie."

"Jamie and I would love that, and I think Alexis would, too. Little Brother would be real in this one, and he and The Girl With Red Hair could share the fun of a new story together. They should be the first ones to read it."

"I like the way you think wife. Let's go pick up Little Brother and enjoy our free time while we can."