79. Chapter 79

"Ow, ow, ow," she hisses, back arching. "Castle."

"Sorry. Hold still."

She shivers in the chill of the air conditioning, reaches back to twist her hair up and off her neck. Castle dabs antibiotic cream to the scratches, a hand on her shoulder to keep her in place.

"Hurry. It's cold."

"I don't think we can get band-aids on this, Kate."

"It hurts."

"Now who's the baby?"

Her skin pimples with goose bumps and she rubs at an arm, searching the bathroom counter for a rubber band. "Hey, get me that."

He glances where she points, leans forward to grab the hair band; his shirt brushes her back, warm and soft. When he hands her the rubber band, she quickly winds it around her hair, creating a messy bun. The towel is pooled at her feet and she shivers again.

"Get me that, whining. What happened to Detective Beckett?" he grumps, the light touch on her skin belying his words.

"You left her in New York. Be grateful. And why can't I put a band-aid over it?"

"It won't fit. It goes from here to here," he says, drawing a line down her back. She shivers again.

"A bunch of band-aids?"

"Okay, Dash," he drawls. "You can't use the whole box just because it makes you feel better."

"I don't want to get sand in it." She peers over her shoulder but she can't see what he's doing. "What was your talk about? With Rafe."

"Oh, just. Man stuff."

She huffs at him, but he doesn't give her anything more. She figures it's about the divorce stuff, the stuff she unthinkingly brought up, but he hides his hurts under layers of humor and wit and a feigned nonchalance. It's difficult to get at the real Rick sometimes. She knows it will come if she just stays with him, keeps at him, hounds him like he always wants to hound her. It'll work it's way to the surface. Sooner rather than later, probably.

"I'll try a band-aid," he murmurs, drops a kiss to the back of her neck. She catches the side of his face with her fingers, scratches at his stubble.

"Thanks, baby."

He laughs, blows his breath across her skin. "You said that on purpose."

"I did. Reward."

"Uh-huh. I'm on to you."

"Doesn't mean it won't work."

"True," he mutters. She can hear him ripping apart the paper on the band-aid, feel his concentration. "Okay, I'm gonna try these big knuckle band-aids. I can maybe layer them all the way up on this side."

"The other scratch doesn't hurt," she offers, glancing back to look at him. "So maybe just this one?" She wriggles her right shoulder blade in indication.

"Okay. I'll try. How did I get you this bad?"

She hums and raises an eyebrow at him; he grins back.

"Yeah, yeah, ok."

"At least it wasn't your back," she says. "With that sunburn. . ."

"Yeah. Thanks for taking one for the team."

A startled laugh bursts out of her throat. "Ahh, my pleasure. Literally. Actually. Let me heal first. Then we'll talk."

She feels his thumbs press a second band-aid into place, skimming her skin with his knuckles. Honestly, she could go again just from the warmth of him at her back-

"Oh, crap. Castle. My pill. It's in my makeup bag. Get it." She reaches her hand out towards the counter, curling her fingers. "And my water bottle."

He moves past her, grabs the cosmetics bag and hands her the whole thing. "Suddenly you can't walk?"

"Get my water bottle," she says, digging through it for her birth control. "I forgot to take it this morning before we left."

"Does that. . .do anything?"

"No." She hesitates, glances up at him as he comes back from the bedroom with her water. "Well. Shouldn't."

"Shouldn't?"

"Well, Dash-"

"Ah, yes. Dash is the exception to every rule." He waits until she's popped the pill in her mouth, hands her the water. She swallows it down, puts the cosmetics bag back on the counter herself.

"Kind of a once in a million thing, right?" she asks.

"Taking your pill a few hours later. . .surely that doesn't really; I mean it can't. . ." He lifts an eyebrow at her.

"No."

He waits.

"No," she insists. "Scientifically, no."

"But magically?" he asks, rolling his eyes. Castle leans down and picks up her towel, hands it to her. "We just talked about this."

"It can't. I won't. I really won't. Besides, when I got pregnant with Dashiell, I didn't miss a day or even a couple of hours. Believe me. I was paying attention. It was. . .a miracle. Magic. Whatever." She wraps the towel low around her back, easing her skin away from the cloth.

He sighs at her but he's smiling at her word choice; he reaches for her elbow, turns her around to inspect her back. "One more band-aid at the top. Then you're done."

She brushes her fingers over his forearm, leans back to kiss his cheek. "Thanks. Be quick. I don't want Allie and Rafe to feel like they're always baby-sitting."

"They may be, the way we go at it."

"Castle!"

"I meant - no, I meant." He stops, sighs. "Right. Let's be quick."

Castle goes in to check on Ellery when everyone's ready for the beach. She's still asleep, mouth open, hair skewed all over the sheets. Somehow she's managed to turn around, so that her head is at the foot of the bed. Weak sunlight from the open breezeway spills in her window, across the floor.

"Ella," he whispers, strokes a finger down her arm.

She stirs but doesn't wake.

"Ellery," he calls. He brushes a strand of hair from her face, sees her eyes flicker. "Hey there."

She whines and buries her face into the bedcovers, turns away from him. Castle grins and leans in, pressing her down into the mattress with a loud kiss.

"Wake up, baby girl."

She reaches back and slaps at his cheek.

"Oh, no, no. No hitting. Even if you're sleepy." He drags her from the bed by an arm and a leg, catches her as she falls.

Her eyes startle open; she clutches at him, then whines again. "No. Tired."

"Time to get up. It's nine o'clock and we all wanna go to the beach."

"Sleep, Daddy, please?" She gives him those limpid blue eyes, all soft and sleepy and pleading, her fingers curling in his shirt.

"You'll thank me in a few minutes. Time to get up."

She whines and buries her face into his chest, snuggling closer. Castle stands up and carries her like a baby out of the room, meets Kate in the hall.

"Here's the undisputed champ," he says, shifting Ella up onto his shoulder, rubbing her back with a hand.

Kate leans around him, a flash of long, sun-brown arm as she lifts her fingers to brush the hair away from her daughter's face. "Ella, want to go to the beach with us?"

Ellery whimpers and hides her eyes in his shirt. He shrugs at Kate. "You guys go on. I'll do swimsuit, sunscreen, and then take her with me to the rental office to see about the pet fee. Then we'll come find you guys. I don't think Dashiell is willing to wait."

She glances over her shoulder to where Dash is jumping over his boogey board, one hand on his dog for balance. "At least Rex seems okay with being. . .manhandled."

"He picked a good one," Castle admits. "Now you guys go."

"No dogs on the beach," she says.

"I got it, Kate. I'll make sure he's got water and can't get out on the balcony. No problem."

He hoists Ellery up in his arms while the rest of his family troops out, Dashiell shooting his dog longing looks as they leave.

Castle closes the door on them, pulls his head back to see his daughter. Ella has fallen back asleep on his shoulder, drooling on him, a hand curled in the collar of his shirt. He glances down at the dog; Rex is wagging his tail gently from side to side, eyes on Castle.

"Well. Just us." He bounces Ella in his arms until her eyes open, then smiles at her. "Come on, Ellery. You say good morning to Rex?"

Her head picks up; she peers down at the dog. "Dashy's dog."

"Yeah. Wanna pet him?"

"I pet him."

Castle lets her down, straightening her twisted pajama top as she reaches out for the dog's head. Rex licks her fingers and noses into her neck. She giggles and looks back up at her father, blue eyes still a little sleepy, both hands gripping the dog's neck to keep from toppling over.

"Wet nose."

"Yeah, it is. You ready to put on your swimsuit? You and me have to stop by the office before we go down to the beach."

"Office?" He can read on her face that she's thinking about his study; he takes her by the shoulder, turns her around towards her room, flipping the light on as he goes.

"The office for the condo. I'll show you. Let's get dressed."

"New one, Daddy."

"Sure, cricket. You can wear your new one." Castle grabs her new swimsuit from where Kate hung it over the bathroom door (navy with light blue polka dots), drops it in the floor next to her. "Start stripping."

Ellery wriggles around, trying to stomp her pajama pants off, gets knocked down by the dog who has followed them into the girls' room. Castle moves Rex to one side, tugs her pants off, shoos her into the bathroom.

"Go potty."

"Need help."

"I'll help. Just go." He follows her in, sinks down to the tub, watches his daughter concentrate. He remembers doing this for Alexis too, getting just the right amount of toilet paper for her, cajoling her into flushing it for herself. Ellery has no qualms about it; she seems to like the noise it makes. Both girls were easy to potty-train, compared to Dash. Ellery almost did it all by herself. Jim told him that Kate was the same. Kate actually blushed when her father told them that.

While he's daydreaming, Ellery starts climbing the cabinets to get to the sink to wash her hands. Castle grabs her, hoists her up. "No more climbing the bathroom. You got in trouble with Mommy for pulling down the towel bar. See those big holes you left in the wall?"

"Big holes," she says gleefully, splashing her hands in the water as he tries to help her suds them up. "I a monkey."

"No, you're not. You're my little girl."

She giggles and rinses her hands off, then turns and pats them on his shirt. "All dry, Daddy."

He huffs at her, lets her down. "Cute. Now go get your swimsuit on."

"Need help."

"Of course you do. Go, go, little monkey."

He follows her back into room, trips over the dog standing right there, and thinks this might be one of those days.

Oh yeah. He'll have to also explain to the office about the holes in the bathroom, pay for that as well.