205. Chapter 205

Chapter 205

Kate woke up in their room at the ski resort with Rick spooning her, his arm around her waist. He kissed the side of her neck, and said, "I didn't think you'd ever open your eyes so I could do that. There was tempting bare neck just taunting me, but I didn't want to wake you up." Then he moved in closer, kissing her neck again and tangling their legs together; and she turned over, making his efforts easier. "It's still pretty early. Shall I lock the adjoining door to the kids' room?" he asked hopefully.

She checked the time and answered, "Yeah. We can probably get away with it this early."

He locked the door and leaped back into the bed, immediately nuzzling and nipping quick, playful little kisses to her mouth, neck, shoulders, and upper chest and making her laugh. "Keep it quiet, Woman," he teased in the midst of his distribution of tickling little kisses. "The idea is to get away with this."

They both laughed, and giggled…quietly…and playfully sated their need for each other well before their children should be up, so they opted for a shower before that happened…the shower being just as playful.

As they got dressed, Kate said with a satisfied little grin, "This is one of the perks of being married to a rich guy. There's an adjoining door to a very nice room for the kids next door…with two big beds and plenty of room. We don't have to leave our room to check and make sure they're safe, but we can lock the door to our own very nice room and 'get away with stuff' while they sleep." After a little pause, she added, "Jamie is nine now, though. They're getting close to old enough to need their own separate rooms when we're on a trip. They're growing up so fast."

"We'll just enjoy what we have while it's here, and we can deal with how fast growing up happens as it goes by. There's nothing else we can do."

"I know. It's just hard to think about."

"Yeah, it is." He wrapped comforting arms around her and gave her a soft lingering kiss before he let her go. "I'm going to shave and then we'll get our little skiers some breakfast and get them out on the slopes. They're going to be keeping up with us on the tougher trails before too much longer. I didn't expect them to pick it up so quickly…especially Jo. They get that from you."

"Yeah? Who was it giving them tips yesterday? Tips that worked well, I might add. It isn't all me. I think they got the best of both of us, physically and emotionally. The things that we had the most trouble getting past, they don't seem to think about; and the things that were the most over the top for each of us, are there to some degree for both of them, but it's…controlled, I guess… sometimes an asset."

"Yeah, you're right. They're perfect," he answered with his signature smirk.

Kate laughed and swatted his arm. "Okay, now you're entering your old wild theory territory."

"Okay, so none of the Castles are quite perfect," he admitted. "But we're perfect for each other."

"No wild theories there," she answered, pulling him in for another kiss. "Now go shave. I'm going to open the door and make a little noise to ease them into the waking world."

xxxxx

The children were growing up, and they were developing their own interests…some of them shared between both, others not. Although she was good at sports and thoroughly enjoyed that, Jo still enjoyed girly toys and playing dress-up with her friends…and video games. She still took dance classes, as Sarah Grace did; and Jo's two best school friends were the girls who introduced her to the dance school. When all four girls were together at the loft, they would sometimes make up dance routines to their favorite music.

Jamie liked to write…usually short little stories. He wasn't obsessed with it, but Castle kept notebooks and journals stashed away for him so he would always have one when the current one was used. He loved video games and he and his friends enjoyed the competition. He had military and superhero toys and games, and both children were awash in Legos and building toys. Both of them were good at sports, but neither of them seemed interested in the more competitive select teams. And both of them loved it when Granddaddy played baseball with them in the park or took them to the batting cages or to baseball games. Sometimes the rest of the family got involved, too. And the entire family loved books.

Jo and Jamie both enjoyed their friends, but they were both also capable of finding ways to entertain themselves.

The children grew up watching their parents spontaneously dance in the kitchen or around the furniture in the living room. When the music playing in the loft appealed to him, Castle would grab Kate and pull her into his arms to dance. Styles were varied, and the children picked up on a couple of things they liked and tried them out. The parents danced with Jo and Jamie as well as with each other, and sometimes they would move the furniture back and grandparents and/or older siblings would dance with them, too. If their friends were there when Castle had one of his dance moments, the other children were added to the mix, and the Castles enjoyed it enough that it encouraged the others to join in without feeling self-conscious.

xxxxx

There was an incident at a local, evening book signing during Kate's first year with interns. Kate was going to pick the children up at the bookstore after work, about the time the signing was scheduled to start. While Paula, Blake, and Castle were with the manager quickly going over the setup for the signing, Jo wandered away to where she saw a display of children's books, something she didn't usually do. But she followed the rules and was well within sight of her father. Jamie saw her walking away and went to get her; but as he approached his sister, he saw a woman walking up to her with a camera. When she lifted the camera, Jo turned away and started walking back to Castle; but the photographer followed, and Jamie wrapped his arm around his sister's shoulders. "My dad doesn't want people we don't know to take our pictures," he told her without looking back; but the woman reached out and grabbed his arm and yanked at Jo's shoulder sharply to try to turn them around again, saying harshly, "I just want one picture.", and both children broke away to get to their father. Castle had already turned to see where they were just in time to see what the photographer did. He was only about three feet away by then and stooped to catch them as they ran to him. Kate arrived a little earlier than she was expected, caught the buzz running through the line of fans who had just been allowed in, showed her badge, and immediately went to her family to see what was wrong. Castle was kneeling and holding his children, apologizing for dropping his guard and praising Jamie for taking care of his sister; and Security was detaining the photographer. Kate, in her police persona, took care of matters, and officers for the local precinct took witness statements and arrested the woman for assaulting a minor and took her in. After officers had taken the woman away in cuffs, Kate told the others that it didn't matter whose children they were, she had no right to assault a child or anybody else to get a picture. She noted that the punishment would probably be minimal, but it would hopefully be enough to make her think twice about using that method to coerce subjects into her photos again, especially children. Then she took her children home and pampered them.

A couple of weeks later, Castle and Jamie were watching The Karate Kid, and Jamie said quietly, "I want to do that. Can I take lessons?"

Something in his expression led Castle to ask, "Does this have anything to do with the photographer at the bookstore?"

"Maybe." After a long moment of stalling, he finally said, "I felt like I couldn't do anything to stop her. I don't want to hurt people. I just want…" He leaned his head against his father's arm and sniffled. "I thought she might hurt Jo and me. I'm Jo's big brother, and I couldn't do anything."

Castle pulled him into his lap and held him. He was nine years old; but he was still Castle's little boy, and he was hurting. "I'm her dad, and I'm a lot bigger than you. It's more my job than yours, and I feel guilty that I missed it when she left. But you didn't. The whole thing happened in not quite a full minute, and in that time, I was looking for the two of you, and you had already brought her almost all the way back to me. So you did do something to help. I thought Mommy had shown you some things to do if you need to get away from somebody."

"She did. But somebody still grabbed us, and I didn't remember fast enough. I want to be fast…and strong…and I want Jo to go with me. She should know what to do like Mom does."

"Then we'll talk to Mom and Jo and see how they feel about it." He wrapped Jamie in a tight hug, kissed the top of his head, and held him for a while.

Right after the incident with the photographer, Jo had been clingy and hadn't wanted to be anywhere without an adult with her. She was willing to go to the classes with Jamie, as long as a parent stayed there with them. During the year following the incident, both children were advancing in their martial arts class and enjoying it. They practiced in the gym at home from the first day…everything from the beginning stances and the kicks to the heavy bag to their present levels. Castle decided to take an adult class to see how to help them…the same way he picked up on soccer basics when they were younger. He seemed to be enjoying it, even though he complained about an ache or pain now and then. The younger men in his class teased him good naturedly about his age but now and then admitted he was doing pretty well "for an old guy".

Martha insisted Jo and Jamie should have piano lessons, too. She had spent a lot of time sitting at the piano and singing with her grandchildren, especially when they were younger; and those were fond memories for all of them; so they gave it a try. She had also taught them some easy duets by rote when they were smaller, so she knew they each had a good ear for music and a good, musical touch for the keyboard. Kate had played piano from when she was about their age until her rebellious stage, and when their teacher gave them duets, she began to practice a little bit, too. Her retirement gave her time for it. She or Martha would play the second part of the duet with each sibling until they knew their own parts well enough to play a brother/sister duet…which made everybody smile.

Of course, Richard Castle's children did not escape video games, or laser tag and light saber duels, or comic books. And books were enjoyed in abundance. The family also made occasional trips to the theater, various museums, the symphony or choral concerts, and the opera and the ballet. Both children still liked to dress up and use their grownup manners, and Rick and Kate provided experiences that would contribute to what Castle referred to as creating Renaissance children.

Amos and Julie from Jamie's class at school, Jo's two classmates, Traci and Caroline, and Ryan's two children were frequent guests at the loft as well as on adventure days and during time at the beach house.

xxxxx

Esposito's family still came for a few days at the beach, and a party or family get together now and then; but his life had gradually taken a new direction. He wasn't unwilling to be there more often, just busy. Maria's family life had always revolved around the church near her family home, and Javi was gradually pulled into the fold and became a more active participant there. He worked hard to retain strong, positive ties between his precinct and its community, and the church spoke to him the same way. Everyone at the church knew he wasn't a devout believer, but they also knew he was a good man who provided a fine example for the young people of the church as well as for the young people of the community around them.

The Castles and the Ryans would attend when Javi's children passed milestones within the church, including the christening of his newborn son, Javier Ryan Esposito. He said it was only fair that if Ryan's little Irish boy had to live life with a Hispanic middle name, his little Esposito could live with some Irish. The two men, despite having their own precincts to command now, obviously still felt they were friends and partners "till the wheels fell off".

xxxxx

Westerly Academy was in the first few years of its founding when Jamie started pre-school there, so the Castles were on the ground floor of its development as an excellent pre-school through fifth grade center. By the time Jamie finished fourth grade, the school had established a fine reputation and the owners were beginning work on their plans to add an upper school, starting with middle school. They had secured a building on the same block as the existing school, which meant that the children could move directly into the middle school after fifth grade, and then into the high school if things went according to plan. Castle could still walk them both to school and have Jo as an excuse so Jamie wouldn't be embarrassed to be with a parent. When the middle school had a visitation night before Jamie's grade level became the first sixth grade class in the new upper school, Castle was surprised to find several of Alexis' favorite teachers from Marlowe Prep. After speaking to them about old times, he discovered in their side of some very careful and diplomatic conversations, that they didn't appreciate the change in the outlook of the new headmaster and Lower School director at Marlowe any more than he had. One of them predicted that when the high school level of the Westerly Academy Upper School opened, Castle would probably see some of Alexis' high school teachers as well.

Amos and Julie were still in most of Jamie's classes, and they all enjoyed the little bit of extra freedom of changing classes and the new challenges of upper school expectations.

xxxxx

All the grandparents except Meagan were in their early to late seventies, but all of them were still active and in good health. That allowed the younger adults in the family to temporarily push away thoughts of what the next ten to fifteen years could bring.

Martha's school was still successful, and she had surprised her son by showing herself to be a good business woman. She was in the midst of auditions for the following fall's admissions and her panel of adjudicators was set up and ready. Among the first few applicants was a young woman who had just graduated from college with a degree in English and a strong college involvement in theater and stagecraft. Her presentation was something she had written based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, which the adjudicators would all know well. When given the go ahead, she struck her pose, twirled her hair around her finger, and launched into her Valley Girl version of the story synopsis…straight from the high school class Castle had worked with for his community service time. The panel members gradually ranged from leaning back in their chairs or doubled over in them to leaning on their desks or holding their sides and laughing as quietly as they could manage so as not to miss anything. But there was still the occasional snort or guffaw. The presentation was timed perfectly.

"So you're that Lila," Martha said, still laughing and dabbing at her eyes with a tissue to clear away the laughter tears. Then she explained to the others that Lila had presented the creative writing assignment she had written in high school when Richard Castle had worked with her class for a while. "She has also submitted some of her more recent writing, including a one act play her college presented during her junior year there. We can look at those later." Turning back to Lila, she said, "We'll hear your…more serious presentation now." Lila gave a poignant interpretation of a young woman's thoughts on the death of her mother and easily took the panel from laughter to tears. "Thank you, Darling," Martha said, making use of another tissue for her eyes and passing the box to the person beside her. "That was excellent. You'll hear from us in the next week to ten days. It was lovely to see you again, and I'll mention you to Richard."

"Please tell him I kept writing."

"I will. I certainly will."

When she got home that night, Martha made a bee line to Castle's door and told him about Lila's audition and how well she did. "Wasn't she the shy, quiet one?"

"She was. Looks like she must have found her way past that," he answered. "And she's still writing. That's good to know. You sound like she's going to be at your school in the fall."

"Even if I have to give her a full scholarship to get her there," Martha answered. "She moved us from nearly uncontrolled laughter to tears in a matter of minutes, and it looks like she was active in almost every facet of stage production while she was in college. She was exceptional."

"You'll be sure to let me know when she's in a production?"

"I wouldn't allow you to miss it. Well, I suppose it's only right that I should let my husband know I'm home," she said, taking off her gloves. "I just wanted to tell you," she said as she turned to leave.

"Thanks, Mother," Castle answered. She waved her gloves over her shoulder at him as she left in her own inimitable way.

xxxxx

When Kate's last six month stint as a training consultant was complete, she told Chief Dawson, who was on the edge of retirement himself, that there were other captains he could call on now. She was forty-seven, Castle was fifty-seven, Jamie was thirteen, and Jo was eleven. Jo would start sixth grade that fall, and Jamie would be a freshman in Westerly's new high school.

Alexis was thirty-two, had finished her surgical residency, including the last two years working with a trauma team whose chief surgeon was well known as one of the best in his field and was also an excellent mentor. And she and JD were expecting their first baby just before Thanksgiving. They had always thought that when they tried to have a baby, it would just happen; but they had tried for a couple of years before she was pregnant. Granddaddy Rick had already volunteered to keep the baby for a while after she finished her maternity leave, and a now retired Grandma Kate had no objections. Jamie and Jo were excited about the idea that the baby would be with them that often…as well as the fact that they were going to be an aunt and an uncle. Two sets of grandparents were also available for short stints of baby care. Meredith was still staying in touch with Alexis but had no desire to be called anything designating her as a grandmother.

JD was thirty-three, still working with Wes, Castle's financial planner, and he and Wes were both happy with the partnership. Wes had mentioned to Castle that that he'd better treat JD right because one day he would be taking over the business and handling Castle's finances.

Rick and Kate were now at the stage of juggling the schedules of active, involved children, making sure they were there for dance classes, martial arts classes, school activities, piano and dance recitals and still finding time for family…generally finding time for each other after the children were asleep…which was much later in the day than it used to be.

xxxxx

The phone call came from JD as soon as he got Alexis to the hospital. She was in labor. "There's no sense in all of you coming now." he told them. "The doctor said it would be a while, but I wanted you to know. I'll call when it looks like it's a little closer to time."

Castle started pacing immediately.

"Rick, try to calm down. Women have babies every day. She'll be fine," Kate reassured him. If we go right now, it's probably going to be a really long wait. JD won't leave you out. He'll let you know…good or bad."

"I know that. But what if it happens all of a sudden?"

She smiled at him indulgently. "We'll go now if you want to. But why don't you call people first. It'll give you something to do. Go next door and tell Martha and John. Then call my dad and Meagan… and Ryan and Javi would understand that you need something to do. So would Lanie. I'll change clothes, and we can leave anytime you want after that." She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a long, slow kiss."

"Thank you," he said, resting his forehead on hers. "For humoring me…understanding." Then he went to the door, pointed to the hall, and said, "Mother and John..." as he left quickly.

"Was he like this when you were having us?" Jo asked.

"He had a little something to do then. He was with me the whole time, and he took good care of me." Kate chuckled. "To tell the truth, he was trying so hard to be sure I had everything I needed I wanted to smack him a couple of times."

Both children laughed, and Jamie said, "If it was anything like he is right now, I wouldn't blame you."

"But Alexis is his little girl. You look at her and see a grown woman. None of us knew her before she was pretty much grown, but he's remembering his baby girl…the one he held the day she was born, the one we only know from the pictures. He'll be the same way when you have a baby, she said to Jo," placing a palm to her cheek lovingly.

"Eeeew! That's not happening for a really long time. I don't even want to think about it," she said with a little shudder.

Jamie just laughed at her response.

At the hospital, Rick went straight to Alexis to be sure she was okay. They had already decided that John was allowed to hold the baby first, and he looked in awe, saying, "I have a great grandson. What's his name?"

"John Danton Farnsworth IV." As a couple of unchecked tears fell from the corners of John's eyes, Alexis added, "We'll call him Danny until he wants to shorten it to Dan or to sound more impressive and call himself Danton."

"We're gonna have fun together, Danny," John said softly as he cradled his great grandson and smiled. He talked to him a little more and then felt a presence behind him. "Let's go meet your Granddaddy Rick before he wears out all his patience and snatches you away from me." He turned to find Rick right behind him and handed the baby to him carefully.

"Look, Kate. My baby girl has a little boy. I'm a granddaddy. This is Grandma Kate, Danny. You're gonna love her. We already love you." Turning to his other children, he said, "And this is your Uncle Jamie and your Aunt Jo."

Danny's eyes were open, and he seemed to be taking in what was in his new world.

"He's so little," Jo said quietly, and both children reached out to lovingly touch the newest member of the family.

"Alright, Richard, hand him over," Martha said softly but firmly. "You have more of your life left to enjoy him that we do. I want to hold my great-grandchild."

Alexis was leaning against JD, who was sitting on the side of the bed next to her, and they were both smiling at the outpouring of love for their son…watching as he was being welcomed to their quirky but very loving family.

When Jim and Meagan arrived, Martha introduced Danny to Granddaddy Jim and Grandma Meagan. The older children seemed taken by surprise to hear Grandma being applied to Meagan, but neither of them said anything.

On the way home after another round of congratulations to the new parents and everyone having had a turn at holding Danny, Jamie asked, "Why didn't we ever call Meagan Grandma or anything like that?" Didn't she want us to?"

"That was my doing," Kate admitted. "Meagan was my good friend before she and my dad got together, and she asked me if there was anything I wanted her to do or not to do after they were married. You had always just called her Meagan, Jamie. My mother really wanted grandchildren someday, and she would have loved you so much; but somebody took her life away from her before she could hear anybody call her Grandma. I missed her so much when you were little, and I was happy for Dad and Meagan; but he and my mother were so in love. They should have had their always, but I was having to see him married to someone else. I couldn't deal with having Mom's title as grandmother taken away from her, too. Meagan understood. She said she would just be your Meagan and love you as much as if you were hers…and she does…both of you. I meant to talk to you about it when you were older, but I never got to it. I'm sorry."

"I didn't know you still missed her that much," Jamie said softly.

"Most of the time now, I remember the good things when I think of her, but something reminds me of her almost every day…mostly little fleeting thoughts. A lot of it comes with things that remind me of how she was with me when I was your ages. And sometimes I hear her words coming out of my mouth. She's had an influence on you whether you realize it or not."

When they got out of the car to go back to the loft, Jo wrapped her arms around Kate with sheen of tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry you don't have your mom anymore. I don't want to ever not have you."

Kate wrapped her arms around her daughter and assured her, "And you won't…not until I'm old enough that it's normal for it to happen. By then you'll be grown up and have a life of your own. Come on. Let's get inside. I didn't mean to upset you. We're all supposed to be happy about Danny."

"Are you and dad really going to babysit him when Alexis goes back to work?"

"For a while at least. Until he's big enough that he doesn't feel so fragile. And we'll keep him for evenings or weekends now and then like Alexis and JD did when you two were little. You're going to see a lot of him."

"I'm an aunt.

"All your aunts and uncles love you like you're theirs, but Danny is actually your nephew. You can legitimately claim that title, Aunt Jo." Jo smiled and seemed to feel better.

Thanksgiving was spent being thankful for family, especially for their newest family member.

xxxxx

In the lull after his first semester in high school, Jamie brought some printed pages to Castle with an outline of a much longer story than he usually wrote and asked, "Dad, would you read this and see what you think?"

Castle took it, read through it quickly, and teased him about his handwritten edits a couple of times when he had trouble reading something. Jamie had put together a pretty well formed science fiction story with a young teenager and his friends in the forefront. "This is great, Son. Is it for a class project?"

"No. Just something that was in my head. I kept thinking about it and finally had to write it."

"Is this what you've been doing when you've disappeared to your room lately?"

"Yeah. I played around with it when I had time and then got back to it after exams." He seemed a little ill at ease and hesitant about saying anything else, but he finally blurted out, "Do you think it could turn into something worth publishing? I really like writing."

"You want to be a writer?" Castle asked with a big smile, trying not to overwhelm the boy with his enthusiasm.

"I don't know yet, but I might." He gave Castle the little smirk he inherited from his father and joked, "But I'm still thirteen, Dad. It's a little early to decide for life."

Castle grinned at him. "Yeah. No pressure, Munchkin. What did you have in mind for this?"

"Well, you're taking a break now that your final Nikki Heat book is in, and we had a lot of fun working on the Girl With Red Hair books. Black Pawn would probably be happy to see you working on just about anything. I was thinking a story for young adults…kind of like Twilight without the sparkly vampires. A Sci-Fi mystery."

"You want to collaborate with your dad again? I'd like that. And this story has real possibilities. It would take longer to write than the children's books, though. And if Black Pawn wants it, we'd have to meet deadlines. Do you think you could handle that? We all stay pretty busy, and you guys are sticklers for keeping up with your classwork."

"I was thinking maybe we could start it and see how it's working out before we talk to them about it," Jamie proposed.

"You're being very sensible about this. Let me look it over again tonight and think about it. And don't think I'm going to do all the writing this time. We'd have to figure out how to collaborate on that, too. And you'll have to put up with edits…let somebody else tell us what might work better than what we wrote."

"As long as it's Blake, not Miss Gina."

"No problem with that from my side. She's too far away now anyway."

"Thanks, Dad. You really think we can do this? I know I'm not ready to write it by myself yet…at least not to put it out in print."

Castle stood and gave his son a hug. "I think maybe we can. And I'm honored that you want to work with me again." He kissed the top of Jamie's head, and his son brushed his hand through his hair in mock protest. "Brush it away as much as you want, but I've been kissing the top of your head since the day you were born, and I'm going to kiss the top of your head until you're tall enough I can't reach it anymore. 'Cause I love you." Then he grabbed his son's head and scrubbed his fist across it while Jamie laughingly pulled away to escape.

"Night, Dad," he said from a safe distance.

Jo breezed in to say goodnight and planted a kiss on her father's cheek before she went up to her room.

"I miss tucking them in sometimes," Kate said as she watched Jo bound up the stairs, and she wrapped an arm around Castle's waist.

"Did Jamie tell you why he came to talk to me?" Castle asked, pulling her closer.

"No. But you look like it was something good." He told her about their conversation, and she answered, "He made you feel pretty special, didn't he?"

"He did. Care to join your special feeling husband to indulge in a glass of wine?"

Squeezing a good handful of his backside, she answered flirtatiously, "Sure. You always feel pretty special to me."

xxxxx

When Jamie was almost fifteen, the family was in the basement storage room searching for a riding toy, one from the children's toddler days…something they wanted to find for Alexis' not quite two year old son to use while he was with them at the loft. In spite of its size, it was eluding them, though. In moving the boxes, Jamie came across one marked "Swords".

"What's in this?" he asked.

"Swords," Castle answered matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean, 'swords'?" his son persisted.

Castle stood to stretch his back and answered, "You know. Swords. Long skinny metal things, fancy hilts, sharp edges, pointy tips."

"Why do you have swords?"

"Fencing. When I got into it, I started collecting them."

"You can swordfight?" Jo asked, looking impressed. "Why didn't you ever tell us that?"

"It just never came up. Alexis and I took classes after watching a few too many knight and pirate movies. We liked it, and I started collecting them."

"Where did you keep them before?" Jamie asked. "Can we see them?"

"The study. I packed them up when you were old enough to get into things so you wouldn't get hurt, and they've been here since then. You can open the box if you want."

"Alexis can swordfight, too?" Jo said, an almost visible growth of her already strong hero worship of her older sister shining through. Can Mom?"

"No," Kate answered. "Dad and Alexis had done that before I met them, and I decided it was for them. None of us had time for me to take lessons then, anyway."

Jamie opened the box and drew one sword at a time out to look at it, and Castle explained the differences between them and the things that appealed to him specifically when he bought them for his collection. "Some of them aren't the kinds of swords used in standard fencing matches. Alexis and I would go to some of the medieval fairs or historic reenactments in the parks now and then, and I'd ask questions about the different types of swords. I found a couple of people who taught me how to use them without killing myself or anybody else. One of those guys had a collection, too. We'd call each other when we found a new one and get together to take a look and envy the other one for having it."

"Dad, you keep saying you aren't much of a sportsman, but you're in good shape, you work out, you ski, and waterski, and swim, and fence, and you're learning martial arts. Those guys in their thirties in your class may not say it to you; but I've heard them talking, and they're impressed," Jamie told him."

"Yeah, Dad," Jo chimed in. "I think you just aren't that interested in team sports. You're good at a lot of things you do on your own."

"I married a woman ten years younger than I am. I have to keep up with her," he answered with a grin.

"I've tried to tell him the same thing, but he doesn't listen," Kate added.

"You're the one I'm trying to impress. Maybe I'm just wondering if you're humoring me."

"Nope. We agreed on honesty, right?"

He leaned and kissed her, and Jamie said nothing. Since the day one of the older girls in middle school pulled him over in a corner and kissed him, he'd had a better understanding of why his dad always said he kissed Mom because he liked it. Jamie had now had the opportunity to do some indulging of his own.

Then someone spotted the wheel of the toy and pulled it from its hiding place.

That hunt through the storage unit was the beginning of adding fencing to the family schedule for a couple of years. Even Kate joined in. At the end of one fencing session about a year later, Kate looked around as the four of them were in a restaurant looking like a conventional family having dinner out at the end of the day's activities and said," Our family is a little odd, isn't it?"

Castle laughed out loud, and both children looked up. Then he lowered his voice to deter undue attention from other diners and leaned in toward Kate. "You mean because it started with Mom and Dad meeting over a copycat killing based on one of Dad's murder mystery books and solving grisly murders together and getting shot at, nearly frozen, and almost drowned as part of the courting process, our children having Medical Examiners and homicide detectives as aunts and uncles, the eldest daughter interning with said Aunt ME in the morgue at eighteen, a step grandmother who's an ex-marine, who worked for a security company that provided support for clandestine operations overseas…and all of us working with martial arts and swords as a family activity?" Castle asked.

"We are a little odd, aren't we?" Jo answered with a giggle. "I never thought about it. It's just us."

"When we get home, you're going to need to revisit that part about getting shot at and an ex-marine, clandestine operations grandma figure," Jamie challenged.

"Yeah. I think there was something about almost drowned and nearly frozen. Don't think you can offer us cookies and distract us anymore. We'll take the cookies, but you're still gonna have to deliver," Jo agreed.

"But for now, we're happy, well-adjusted, and have skills a lot of other people don't have." Jamie concluded. "It can't be that bad."

All of them grinned, did a family fist bump and finished their meal.

xxxxx

"Kitchen table. Family meeting," Jamie ordered as they entered the loft. "Getting shot at? Nearly frozen? Almost drowning?"

"Yeah, Dad," Jo continued the thought. "And you called it part of your courtship? What does that mean?"

"Do you wish you hadn't brought all that up?" Kate said.

"I wasn't thinking," Castle told her. "I was answering you the way I would have if they weren't there…but they were."

"Still are, Dad," Jo responded with her arms crossed. "Just in case you forgot your children again."

"Kate, would you rather let them hear some of this when someone mentions it at a random time when we aren't there? Wouldn't it be better to talk about it while we're right here to answer their questions and reassure them?"

Kate nodded. "You're right." Looking at her children, she said, "You were both either non-existent or I was still pregnant with Jamie when most of it happened, so we had put most of it behind us before you were born. But you have a right to know. Alexis was fifteen when we met, so she remembers at least the aftermath of all of it, even if she doesn't know all the details of everything."

"Actually, the almost drowning wasn't part of the courtship." Castle qualified. "That was after we were married, but not the explosion."

"Explosion?!" the children asked in unison.

The parents started at the beginning with their first case together…the copycat killing, Captain Montgomery, the mayor, writer's block, following Kate for research. Sometimes they passed the story back and forth as they had done when they were theorizing. As they talked, they slipped back into using Castle and Beckett, and it was obvious that the children were both appalled and fascinated by their parents' descriptions of some situations they had encountered. It was also obvious that their parents remembered a lot of it fondly…now that they had lived through it.

"You sound like all this is nothing, but it was dangerous," Jamie noted. "And that was really a part of getting together?"

"It was part of learning to trust each other, being able to depend on each other. We got out of tight situations now and then, backed each other up. We joked around a lot while we worked on cases…got to be friends," Kate explained.

"All of it isn't fond memories, though," Castle told them, putting an arm protectively around Kate's shoulders. "There was one case where my books came into play again, and somebody decided Nikki Heat was real and came after Beckett. That's where the explosion came in. He blew up her apartment."

"Was she in it?" Jo asked, looking a little pale.

"Yeah, I was. I had just taken a bath and checked Castle's voice mail on my phone," Kate answered. "He was warning me about the bomb, and I ran and got in the cast iron tub. That's what saved me. Your dad was outside when the place exploded and he came running in to find me. Most of the place was burning, and he gave me his jacket…"

"She was naked," he whispered mischievously.

"Daaaaaad!" Jo groaned. "This isn't funny."

Kate swatted his chest and smiled. "He gave me his jacket and got me out with at least some of my dignity intact. I wasn't hurt badly enough to worry about, but I was suddenly homeless; so he brought me here and I stayed in the guest room until I found another place."

Is there anything else that bad?" Jamie asked.

"Have either of you heard of Senator William Bracken?"

"He was arrested for all kinds of crimes, wasn't he…murder and something about drugs? He's still in prison, isn't he?" Jamie asked.

"He never committed any of the murders himself. He hired other people to do it for him. He was using money from his drug operations with a man named Vulcan Simmons to finance his campaigns, including the one for president. And he would hire someone to kill people who got in his way. He hired a man to kill your grandmother."

"The one Jo is named for?" Jamie more stated than asked.

Castle nodded and Kate leaned her head on his shoulder. Pulling her closer, he told them, "Your mother was an amazing detective, and she got too close to the truth a few times, so he sent a sniper to kill her while she gave the eulogy at her captain's funeral, and he came close. Kate flat lined more than once, but the doctors saved her. Aunt Lanie worked on her in the ambulance all the way to the hospital and had to be practically dragged off the gurney so they could take Kate to the operating room at the hospital."

"Mom," Jo whimpered. In spite of the fact that she was already fourteen and nearly as tall as her mother, she went to the other side of the table and sat in Kate's lap, wrapping her arms tightly around her neck, burrowing her head against her mother's shoulder.

"Your scars?" Jamie scolded. "You said they were surgery scars. Is that why you had the surgery?"

Pointing to her chest and then her side, she said, "Entry wound, exit wound and surgery incisions."

"What else?" Jamie demanded, sounding borderline angry and looking concerned. "I want to know all the worst of it and get it over with. Like ripping the Band-Aid off. You can tell us the rest later."

Castle and Kate had one of their eye conversations before she nodded, but seemed reluctant. Then Castle told them the worst, without going into much detail…the situation with Captain Fowler and Vulcan Simmons, the last Tyson case.

"You were there for the last two, Jamie. We found out we were going to have you when your father insisted on taking me to the hospital after Vulcan Simmons was arrested. After that horrible day, knowing we had you and you seemed to be okay…you were my moment of sanity…my return to joy in life. As soon as I knew about you, I followed all of Captain Gates' instructions about desk duty. The FBI case against Bracken had to be moved forward faster when they helped arrest Simmons and his people, and they offered to let me be part of Bracken's arrest. We had provided some important information for them."

"So you helped arrest him?" Jamie asked.

"No. I wasn't about to let Bracken anywhere near our little Peanut."

"None of us on the team had ever seen her accept desk duty without argument," his dad assured Jamie. "But for you, she rarely complained." Then Castle got to the car at the bottom of the Hudson but refused to tell them anything about the CIA case that got them to that point, and he glossed through the CIA double agent almost shooting both of them. Then he mentioned Tyson's last case, ending on the bridge and the hostage situation…again with as few details as possible to upset the children further in telling the story.

"You were there for that, too, Jamie, Kate told him. You and I were five months into it together then. I was so afraid he'd hurt you. We thought he was gone, then he came out of nowhere."

"How did you get away?" Jo asked, still holding on to Kate, who had her arms firmly wrapped around her daughter.

"Your dad provided a distraction, several others who were with us followed it up, and Tyson was surprised enough that I managed to move a little bit away from being a human shield. Captain Gates had the clearest opening and shot him."

"Aunt Captain took out a serial killer? I didn't see that coming," Jamie answered. "Then again, I didn't see any of this coming."

"Explosions and serial killers, including that senator, and a CIA double agent… Those aren't little things. If any of those things had gone any farther south than they did, one or both of you might not be here anymore… Jamie and I wouldn't even exist." Jo held on to her mother a little tighter.

"It's okay, Baby Girl. It's all in the past. Tyson and the CIA agent are dead, Bracken and Vulcan Simmons and a lot of their cohorts, will never see another day of freedom again. But we, and a lot of other families Bracken hurt or intimidated, will enjoy freedom from his threats as long as we live."

At that point, Jamie took his chair to the other side of the table and pulled it up, sandwiched between his parents. Castle made room for him, wrapped his arms around all of them, and they sat together for a short while, heads together, being grateful for what they had.

Finally, Castle stood and said "Come with me. You need to know about this, too." He took them to his closet and uncovered the safe they all knew was there. Then he said, "This is how you open the rest. He showed them the hidden mechanism to open the storage area behind the safe, and both children were suitably impressed. There were still a couple of extra, even if outdated, laptops and the boxed copies of paperwork they had compiled on Bracken and Simmons and passed on to the FBI.

"Alexis knows about this, and it's time you know, too; but understand that it should never be mentioned to anyone outside the family. Over here, we have ID's, birth certificates, and passports in other names for the entire family. There was a while there when we were worried enough to think we might need them. When Jo was born, we thought we were past that, but we have documents for her anyway…and added them for JD, John, and Meagan as they became part of the family. Aunt Lanie, Aunt Captain, Uncle Kevin, and Uncle Javi's families have documents stored, too."

"Do we still need to worry?" Jo asked.

"I don't think so, Castle answered, but we spent enough years in Bracken's crosshairs that I'm going to be prepared. As far as we can tell, we'll never need it, but there's also cash in zipper bags in the box over there, weapons in the box beside it…"

"Weapons? Are we adding gun clubs to our odd family activities?" Jo asked. "Actually, that sounds like…"

"Not now, Jo," Kate warned.

Castle continued, "And there are go bags for all of us beside that. Since we haven't felt threatened in a long time, Jo's bag still has bottles, diapers, formula, and burp cloths." When Jamie laughed at his sister's expense, his father followed with, "And Jamie's has clothes for a three year old boy, including tiny little tighty-whities."

Then it was Jo's turn to snicker. "Nice, Dad," Jamie grumbled.

"Yeah, both of you might want to update." Castle grinned. "Here's how you lock this back down." He showed them, and they walked out of the closet.

"You can tell us about Meagan and anything else another time," Jamie announced. "I don't think I can take anything else tonight."

"Are you sure you've told us all the really bad stuff? I don't think I can take any more of that ever," Jo added.

"If I didn't think we were safe now, you probably wouldn't have heard about it at all. I certainly wouldn't have been able to laugh about any of it. I'm sorry it upset you." He hugged Jo and put an arm around Jamie's shoulders. "But it's over. There hasn't been anything else to threaten our family since before you were born."

"But if there ever is?" Jo asked.

"I know people, Honey. All kinds of people. That's how I got the documents. And I have the money and connections to allow us to just disappear if we need to…and we know how. You don't need to worry. We would do anything to protect our family."

"Alexis knew all that…and she didn't tell us, either," She must have worried about you all the time," Jamie said quietly. After a deep sigh, he added, "I think I'm going to bed now."

"Me, too," Jo echoed. "And if you guys tried to tuck me in tonight, I probably wouldn't even roll my eyes at you."

"Just don't expect me to go up the stairs carrying one of you dangling under each arm these days," Castle warned.

"Deal," Jo answered with her little Beckett clone smirk.

Kate draped one arm around her daughter's shoulders and walked up the stairs with her. Castle did the same with Jamie, all of them moving in contemplative silence. The children retreated to their bathrooms to change into their pajamas and actually accepted being tucked in and kissed goodnight by loving parents. Both chuckled self-conscientiously at the now rare gesture, as their parents dropped loving words on them before they went downstairs.