147. Chapter 147

Chapter 147

The first book signing was in San Diego the morning after they arrived there. As Castle thought he might be seeing the end of the still substantial line, he looked down to pick up a pen to replace the one he had just thrown away. Before he looked up again, he asked, "And to whom should I sign this?"

"Elsie," the woman answered, handing him the second and third books in the Heat series.

He looked up to see their travelling companion from the plane the day before. "Elsie!" he said delightedly. "I guess you must have finished the first one."

"I did, and I can't wait to start the next one. I looked online to find where you were signing today." As he wrote, she took an envelope from her purse.

He wiggled his finger to have her move closer. "If I had known you'd be here, I would have had these books waiting for you gratis," he whispered. "Leave your address with Paula, in the red dress over there, and I'll see that you get the rest of the series."

"I brought you something." She slid the envelope across the table. "You said you'd be in LA for two days, one of them mostly free time. Since I work for Disney, I'm in a position to be able to deliver some complimentary tickets; and I thought you and Kate might like to take your adorable little boy to Disneyland while you're this close. If you don't have time, I'm sure someone will be willing to take them off your hands."

Castle stood and gave Elsie a hug. "That was such a thoughtful thing for you to do. Thank you so much." Turning to his publicist, he called, "Paula, I need you to talk to Elsie before she leaves." He smiled and gave Elsie a little wink; and then he greeted the next guest in line, taking time to have a brief conversation and giving her his full attention before signing her book. Elsie's thoughtful gesture bolstered his mood and energy for the rest of the afternoon.

When it was time for the signing to end, a driver sent Paula a text to let her know he was parked close by; and twenty minutes later, Castle signed the last book. They stopped to thank the bookstore manager for her hospitality, and then they took the car back to the hotel.

Castle invited Paula to have dinner with them later and then went to see his family. Kate had just taken Jamie out of the bathtub and dried him off when the door opened and Castle called out, "I'm back."

"Daddy!" Jamie escaped from Kate and ran out of the bathroom, and Castle laughed, kneeling down to catch him in a hug and asking, "Why are you running around naked?" Jamie just giggled and hugged him back.

Kate stood leaning against the bathroom door casing, Jamie's clean underwear dangling from one finger. "You want to help with that, Daddy?" she asked Castle and threw the underwear in his direction. "He just had his bath."

"We played in the pool," the bare boy told his father.

"Well, that must have been fun," he answered. "It's good that you're clean, but you need to be dressed before we go and meet Paula for dinner. So let's start with not being completely naked." Jamie giggled again and let his father help.

"Your clothes are on your bed. Do you want help, or do you want to dress yourself?" Kate asked.

"Myself," Jamie answered.

"Then go and put your clothes on. Where do the tags go?"

"In the back," he answered and sort of galloped off to his room.

Kate came to Rick with less gusto than her son but with no less enthusiasm in her greeting. After breaking the kiss, she stroked her hand over his cheek, leaving her other hand at his neck, and said, "Hi. Nice to have you back."

"I love that you're here."

"Me, too," she assured him. "Did anything interesting happen at the signing?"

"Elsie came and bought the next two books and stood in line this time to have them signed. She also brought us a gift." He took the envelope from the pocket inside his jacket and handed it to her.

"Tickets to Disneyland? That's a lot of money for her to offer to people she just met. Do we even have time to do that?"

"It turns out she works for the Disney organization. They're complimentary tickets. The only thing I have scheduled for tomorrow is an early morning talk show. I have to be there much too early, but my spot is scheduled for eight: so I can probably be out of there by eight-thirty. Anaheim isn't that far away, and it would be a shame to be that close and not take advantage. I talked to Paula before we left New York, and she growled a little, but we worked it out…if you're up for it, of course."

"Jamie would be thrilled. If you're sure there's time, and if we get back in time for all of us to get a good night's sleep. We have to be on the tiny little shuttle flight pretty early in the morning the day after tomorrow. "

"We'll make it work."

"Wait a minute…before we left New York? I thought you just got these this afternoon."

"The thing is, I had already bought tickets so I could surprise you two; so now we have twice as many tickets as we need. Why don't we start our fun there by finding another family of three who look like they'd enjoy their day more if they didn't have to spend the money on those exorbitantly priced tickets. They could spend it on other things…like those exorbitantly priced meals. We can give them the tickets I bought."

"Because if there's a glitch with the complimentary tickets, we can afford to buy more?"

"Yeah."

"That would be great. You're a good man, Richard Castle."

"Does that earn me another kiss like the first one?" Kate's actions spoke louder than her words.

Jamie came back dressed, but Kate asked, "Where is the tag on your shirt?"

He pulled his collar out to look at the inside and said, "Oops."

Kate held the sleeves and told Jamie, "Take your arms out." Then she turned the shirt around. "Now put them back. There. All fixed. Everything else is good…and your shoes are on the right feet, too. Good job, Munchkin. Why don't you play with some of your toys until it's time for dinner."

The adults sat down at a table near the window and talked for a while, and their son brought some of his toys and played with them on the coffee table.

"Are you tired?" Castle asked his wife.

"It's a good tired," she answered. "How about you?"

"It's a good tired. It's the first day. Paula hasn't worn me down yet."

"I'll keep an eye on her," Kate answered with a grin. "I could take her down with one hand tied behind my back, so she definitely can't stand up to both of us. Right now I'm your backup."

"It's hot when you're all protective of me."

They met Paula for dinner without a showdown, then went back to their room and used some of their best methods to get Jamie settled down enough to sleep before they went to bed, too.

Paula had no interest in Disneyland, but she was up at the crack of dawn to be at the television station with Castle. She said she'd spend the rest of the day sleeping, or shopping, or working on her tan.

Kate was up to see Castle off. She called room service and ordered breakfast, timing it so she could have Jamie fed and dressed by the time Castle was scheduled on the morning show.

"Jamie, look at the TV."

"That looks like Daddy," he said sounding surprised.

"That is Daddy," she told him. That's why he isn't here. He's at the studio where they make the TV show."

"Why?"

"He's talking about his books."

"The ones he wrote Lexis?"

"No. He writes books for grownups. He's talking about those."

"He said my name," Jamie said, looking pleased.

"He's telling them he's proud of you."

After that they just listened. Jamie didn't come close to understanding the idea of pushing book sales, but he seemed to enjoy the novelty of seeing Daddy on TV. Then Kate got out her iPad and found pictures of Disneyland. She showed the pictures to Jamie and said, "Daddy is finished at the TV station now, so he's coming back to meet us and take us here. It's called Disneyland, and it's a great place for kids. There are rides and games and fun things to see, and there's a train we can ride that takes us past all kinds of things. We'll eat lunch and dinner there, and then we'll come back here and sleep and go on another plane tomorrow."

"Can we see the castle?" he asked, pointing it out on the screen.

"We'll see the castle and lots of other things," she promised. "And we're all dressed, so we'll be ready as soon as Daddy gets here."

"Show me what else."

Kate showed him the carousel and the jungle ride and a couple of other things before saying it was time to go downstairs.

"Is Daddy there?" he asked.

"If he isn't, it won't be long."

Castle wasn't back yet, and Jamie sat impatiently in the chair facing the drop off circle in front of the hotel, bouncing his legs because Kate made him sit on his bottom. Bouncing on his knees had been getting a mite too active. One of the young staff members going back to the front desk had been watching him and stopped and smiled at him, asking if he was excited about something.

"We're going to Di…" He stopped and looked at his mother questioningly.

"Disneyland," she reminded him.

"We're going to Disneyland, and ride a train and a boat, and see Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse, and a castle, and…"

Playing into Jamie's excitement, the young man said. "I've been there before. You're gonna have so much fun."

Jamie smiled, and the young man smiled back before getting to the front desk again. That was when Paula and Castle came in, Castle close on her heels asking, "Are you ready?"

Jamie ran to him and held up his arms asking, "Can we go now?"

"Right now," Castle answered, scooping him up to take him to the car.

"Wait for me," Kate said playfully and followed behind her two excited men.

The drive took over an hour, but the driver, Sam, had children of his own and had arranged to have a Disney movie ready to play for entertainment while they traveled. Castle told Sam to pick them up at six-thirty; and as they had agreed the night before, the Castles started their day by looking for someone they could treat to free tickets. Not far in front of them there was an older couple with a little girl who appeared to be a year or so older than Jamie, and just as excited to be there. They could hear her asking the woman when she could get her Mickey Mouse ears.

The man had fallen a little bit behind them to tie his shoe and was just standing up when Castle said, "Your little girl is adorable. She looks just as excited as this one." The one in question chose that moment to ask his mother animatedly, "Can I get Mickey Mouse ears, too?"

The other man grinned at Jamie and told Castle, "That's another cute one." Nodding toward his own wife and the little girl, he said "She's my granddaughter. Her father is deployed to Afghanistan, and her mother came home to stay with us until he's back. She has a three month old, too."

"That's a lot of responsibility to have alone."

"She's been trying to give Cheryl there as much attention as she can and still take care of the baby; but even with our help, she's exhausted. He's a good baby…and sleeps a lot; so we left her home to catch up on some sleep in peace. Today is non-stop attention for our granddaughter."

"Her mom is your daughter?"

"Yep. Last time we were here, her mom was about eight. I can't believe the difference in what it costs now."

"It is pretty bad," Castle agreed as his family walked with the man.

He laughed, "It's not like we won't be able to eat for the next week or two after this, but it sure won't be a steady diet of steak."

Castle looked at Kate and she nodded. "I bought tickets a couple of weeks ago; then yesterday somebody gave me complimentary tickets. Would you want to take the extra ones off my hands?"

"I can't do that. You could turn them in for a refund, or use them later."

"We're from New York and leaving tonight, so we can't use them later. You can think of it as giving you the free ones…and saving us from standing in line while we wrestle with the boy to return them. We'd just like to pass along the good fortune." He handed him the envelope.

"Look at the length of that line," Kate encouraged. "You know you don't want to be caught in that. We didn't spend a penny on the extra ones, and we'd love for you to just enjoy them."

"Thank you," he answered, looking back and forth between them before opening the envelope. "This is very generous of you."

"Enjoy them…and plan a steak night next week," Castle joked.

"George, what's holding you up?" his wife asked. "Cheryl is having a conniption wanting to get in the ticket line."

As the Castles walked away, they spoke to George's wife and kept going, hearing George saying behind them, "Honey, you're not going to believe this."

"That was easy," Kate said, "and it felt good."

"Yeah, it did," he agreed, smiling at her.

They picked up a map at the entrance and walked in, both holding Jamie's hand tightly.

"Do you want to start with the train?" Castle asked Jamie. After a bombastic affirmative, they boarded the train that would take them around the park and consulted the map while they waited for the ride to start. They saw various parts of the park along the way, and at one point passed a prehistoric exhibit. Jamie's voice blended with several other young voices shouting "Dinosaurs!" and pointing.

"Are they real?" he asked, holding on to Kate's neck.

"No," Kate assured him, "But they look like it, don't they?"

There was a lot of pointing and talking before they got off at one of the train's stops to look for rides. By six-thirty when the car came to pick them up, they had heard "It's a Small World" often enough in that ride to have it stuck in their heads for days, taken the boat through the Jungle tour, flown with Dumbo, twirled in tea cups, and let Jamie ride almost every ride in the section for small children. They ran into George and his family once, and they talked while Cheryl rode a couple of the little kid rides with Jamie. They visited the castle (and Rick made Kate groan and Jamie giggle with a comment about there being Castles in the castle). They played in Minnie's house, took pictures with some of the Disney characters, rode the white steeds on King Arthur's Carousel, stopped at some of the souvenir shops, and left with a few souvenirs; and all of them were wearing Mickey Mouse ears to meet the car. Castle called to let the driver know they were on their way to the gate; and at six-thirty they were heading back to LA, hoping Jamie would sleep.

"It's amazing how many more things you can do on a daytime trip to an amusement park when you're not tall enough for the big roller coasters. The lines aren't nearly as long," Kate observed.

"I hadn't thought about it that way, but you're right," Castle answered. "We covered a lot of ground today. Our boy is wound tight. Do you think he'll sleep?"

"He'll either crash when he hits the pillow or be awake all night. I'm kind of holding my breath waiting to see which," she answered with a chuckle.

While they were in the park, their driver had replaced the first Disney movie with Toy Story, and their wired little boy stayed awake to enjoy it all the way back to the hotel, where he did crash, and slept as soon as he hit the pillow...much to his parents' relief.

The next morning they were up early and on a shuttle flight to San Francisco. Castle's book signing that day wasn't until four, so they had time to move things into their room at the hotel before he had to leave. Kate and Jamie spent their time at the pool until Castle called to tell them he was on the way back, and hungry. The early flight notwithstanding, that day had been much calmer than the day before. There were two signings scheduled in San Francisco, and the second one was the next morning.

That morning, Kate left an hour after Castle did and went to the large bookstore, taking Jamie to the children's section to find a few new books. They stopped to look at some of the boxed games and toys and then in the coffee shop to have juice and read one of Jamie's new books while they waited for Castle to finish his duties. When she saw him sign a book for the last person in line, she sent him a text and he joined them to take them to lunch…far enough from the bookstore not to run into any hopeful fans.

The rest of the week was similar, plane rides and limousine rides planned to allow time for talk shows, radio spots, and readings and signings at bookstores. Jamie was managing pretty well, a few restless spells now and then, but nothing too bad. For the most part, he was content with time in the hotel's pool every day, finding an occasional park to work off some energy, and taking the little side trips they would make when the family was out for meals. But Castle was there every night to read him a bedtime story, sometimes sharing the different voices with Kate, and he and Kate would still tuck their son in together. All of them were wearing down a little bit, but so far they were okay.

There were four more days scheduled for the trip, and Paula met them for breakfast.

"The manager of a store you've been to before in Portland called to see if you have time for an extra signing there, and…"

"Paula, he's already exhausted. You had him scheduled for two signings for each of the last two days. That's a lot of time. He needs some rest," Kate protested.

"Well, he wouldn't be so tired if he weren't trying to keep you two entertained," she shot back.

"Paula," Castle warned. "You know how tired I am by this time into any of these trips, but I still don't hold back on keeping the fans happy. Do not start on Kate and Jamie. If anything, having them here is making it easier; but it's a firm no to a day with an unscheduled second signing. I need some down time."

"But, Rick…"

"He said no. Let it go, Paula," Kate warned, her Captain Beckett look moving into play.

Turning to Kate, she asked, "Why do you think…"

There were two simultaneous answers, each with a warning snap. "I'm his wife, and I'm taking care of him." and "Paula, don't go there."

Paula finished the last of her coffee and glared at them, "Fine," she answered. "I'll call and tell them no. The car will be here for the bookstore in twenty minutes." And then she left in a huff.

"Backup is awesome," Castle said after Paula was out of earshot.

"You're looking pretty pleased with that, St…um…Babe," she answered, glancing over at Jamie, who was happily and obliviously finishing his French toast. "I told you she couldn't stand up to both of us."

"You almost called me St…"

"Little ears," she warned with a smile. "Yeah, you're looking pretty pleased about that, too."

"It's usually a precursor to a nice night. Just saying." He wiggled his brows and smiled.

She just grinned flirtatiously and savored the rest of her one really good cup of coffee for that day.

"How are you and my other little Castle holding up?" he asked lovingly, as if reading her mind about the coffee.

"We're fine," she answered. "We've been taking an afternoon nap with Jamie when we can. We snuggle up with him and all of us relax."

He took her hand and lifted it to his lips for a kiss, love and concern warm in his eyes. "This isn't too much for you?"

"No. It would be nicer if we could stay in one place and just be on vacation." She paused and smiled at him. "But I'm with you. I'm good."

"My mother and daughter are the only ones in my life who ever made me feel this loved, and you've taken that up a notch. I can't imagine not having you."

"Well, lucky for you, you'll never have to." She ran her hand gently down his arm and squeezed his hand. "I could say the same." They finished their breakfast and went back to their room.

They were in Eugene Oregon, and the day ahead of them involved a reading and signing at noon and another one in Salem at six; so Castle had a couple of hours that morning to play with them in the pool. It was rejuvenating for him. That was almost a necessity because the drive to Salem didn't allow much leeway for getting to the second bookstore. When he and Paula left for the first store, he was ready to do his publicity work; and the after the parting kiss Kate gave him, he was ready to make the readings and signings go smoothly so he could get back to her.

They were close enough to Salem and after that to Portland that everything was loaded into a limo in Eugene, and they didn't even have accommodations in Salem. Kate insisted he at least get a sandwich and find a quiet place to eat it before he had to be on stage again, so to speak. She took Jamie and accidentally found a game arcade that had a few games intended for very young children, then they had dinner and went to the bookstore when Castle had about half an hour left in his schedule.

Not far inside the store, Jamie said, "It's Daddy." And pointed toward the table.

Kate shushed him and told him Daddy was at work and he needed to be quiet, but that conversation hadn't gone unnoticed by the people near them.

Then, after watching for a minute or two, Jamie, obediently trying to be quiet but using his voice more like a stage whisper with his hand up as if trying to hide his conversation, said, "Mommy, Daddy is doing something bad."

Kate couldn't see anything wrong with her husband's behavior, so she quietly asked what he was doing wrong.

"He's writing in the books. He doesn't let me write in my books." He looked concerned at his discovery, but there was a subdued flutter of amusement from those who were close enough to hear them.

Kate assured her son that it was okay this time. "See all the people in line? All of those people want Daddy to sign his name in their books. He has their permission to write in them."

The little boy looked at his father again and then back at his mother. "Why?"

"Because Daddy writes really good books, and people like to meet him and have him write his name in their books…sort of like a souvenir."

"Like my Mickey Mouse ears?"

"A little bit. And it makes Daddy feel good that people like his books that much."

"Are you Mrs. Castle?" one of the women in line asked quietly, and Kate nodded.

"I'm Jamie," he said in his pseudo quiet voice, and the woman smiled at him, looking totally charmed.

"Looks like his father's charm might be genetic." The woman next to her said with a smile just as wide.

"Sometimes I do worry," Kate answered with a chuckle.

After signing the current fan's book, Castle looked up to see what was going on at the back of the line and spotted Kate holding Jamie. "Are you two back there stealing my thunder…working the end of the line while I'm up here signing my fingers off?" he teased. The people in the line loved it.

"It's your son who's working the crowd. I can't help it if your DNA produced a little Castle clone who can upstage you."

Castle laughed and walked over to them. "Come up here and sit with me," he said, blowing a raspberry on Jamie's neck, which brought a big belly laugh and a lot of wiggling. Playing to the crowd, he added, "Looks like I need to keep an eye on the competition." Then he put an arm around Kate's shoulders and kissed her head out of habit, saying, "In case anyone missed it, this is my wife and son. I'd like you to meet Kate and Jamie Castle."

The family had completely won over the fans, and phones were being raised for pictures, but Castle stepped in front of his family. "Before you take pictures, I have a request; and it's important to me. Kate and I have no objection to our pictures being taken or shared on social media; however, for security reasons, I do request that my son be excluded from all that. I'd love to broadcast his pictures to the world, but it doesn't feel safe to do that. I did the same thing for his older sister. She's an adult now and able to recognize problems, but he's just turned three. I'd really appreciate your cooperation."

People seemed to understand and cooperatively took their pictures accordingly, and a few showed him their pictures and asked if they were okay. One man had taken a beautiful picture of the three of them, and Castle complimented his photography.

"If you want, I'll delete it right here in front of you," the man offered, "but I'd like to hold on to it long enough to show my wife. I'm here on business until day after tomorrow. She's a bigger fan than I am and would love it; but I won't show it to anyone else, and we're old fogies…don't do social media. I'm protective of my family, too," the man said, "and I certainly wouldn't want to do anything that could hurt Nikki Heat's little boy." The way he said it told them he was joking, not obsessed, and Castle looked to Kate for approval and then agreed.

Then he asked that the man send it to him in a personal message at his web site. "That may end up framed on my desk at home, Castle told him.

The rest of the signing felt lighter to Castle. People talked to his family as well as to him, and he loved it. It wouldn't happen again except as an occasional accident, but he felt at ease with his family around him. It made his long day much easier to take. A lot of them asked Kate to sign their books, and she did. One woman asked Jamie if he could write his name yet.

"We've only developed the 'J' so far," Castle said with a smile, but the woman pushed her book toward the little boy and asked if he would write a 'J' for her. He looked to his father, and Castle gave his permission by handing him his pen.

"Just a small one," Kate told him. "Don't cover the whole page."

With the tip of his tongue poking just slightly out at one corner of his mouth, he carefully wrote a 'J' and smiled at the woman when she thanked him.

Wiggling his fingers at Jamie to get the pen back, Castle mock grumbled, "Looks like I still need to protect my territory," bringing laughs from the few people left in line, all of whom seemed to be enjoying the family dynamic.

The last person in line thanked him for sharing his beautiful family with them and also asked Kate and Jamie to sign her book. Handing his pen to Jamie again, he said, "Here, Buddy. You can close the day for us." They talked to the woman for a few minutes before she left, thanked their hosts at the bookstore, and then Paula was hustling them out to the car for another drive of close to an hour to get to their hotel in Portland for the night.

They left the front desk with their room keys and a cart loaded with everybody's luggage, including Paula's; and as they walked toward the elevators, Paula made one more pitch. "The manager at the other bookstore here in Portland said if you changed your mind about the extra signing, he could have a couple of ads on the morning radio shows and emails out to all his customers in about an hour."

"Paula, I need to talk to you for a few minutes," Kate said. "Let's go to the bar and have a nightcap." Castle looked at Kate questioningly. "Take Jamie up to the room and relax for a little while," she said. Then she turned her back to Paula and mouthed silently, "Your backup is at work." After kissing his cheek and shooing him off, she took Paula's arm and turned her in the direction of the bar, offering her little choice in the matter.

They found a booth away from the most active part of the room, Kate asked what Paula wanted, then she went to the bar and ordered it along with something non-alcoholic for herself. When she came back with their drinks, she set the other woman's drink in front of her and allowed her the first sip before starting.

"I can't believe that after two days of double store appearances, the one late last night, and two in two different cities today, you would even consider pushing him for that extra one tomorrow."

"This is not his first rodeo, and he's a big boy. You don't have to go all protective of him."

"Well, somebody needs to."

"Listen, I put in the work beforehand and then spend as many hours at a lot of these things as he does," Paula answered angrily. "Do you hear me complaining?"

"And what are you doing while he signs the books?"

"Making sure the lines are moving and the fans are happy, that the store has ample help available, taking care of emergencies…"

"And going to the bathroom before you're about to explode, walking around talking to the people in the stores and stretching your muscles, getting a coffee, bringing Castle one if you think of it? You know why you're not as tired as he is? You have the freedom to get away from the fans for a little while at a time. My husband, on the other hand is trapped with them, spending one hundred per cent of his time interacting with one fan after another. Put yourself in his place for a minute. Imagine how many times he writes a note in a book and gives the fan his undivided attention. How many people were in that line today? Except for the short breaks you and Gina grudgingly give him, he goes non-stop from the time he starts to the time it's over. And he doesn't dislike doing this. He genuinely appreciates the people here and doesn't just phone in his interaction with the fans. He gives them what they expect and takes time to make them feel like he's noticed them personally, even when you gripe that he's too slow. He's basically on stage the whole time he's here, doing what you ask of him and doing it well; and he does not deserve to be growled at because you don't understand how much of his energy and effort goes into making you and the fans and the publishers happy. I don't want to hear another suggestion of adding anything more than what he already has on his plate. Is that clear?"

What was clear was that Paula had met her match. "Fine. Nothing extra," she said testily and finished her drink. "I think my luggage is probably on the cart in your room. I'll pick it up and leave you alone until morning."

The trip upstairs was made in angry silence. Paula picked up her bags and went to her own room without a word.

"So…I guess my backup won?" Castle asked.

"She did," his wife answered triumphantly, and added, "There will be no more suggestions of adding anything more to your schedule on this trip."

"Impressive. She doesn't give up easily."

"I put it in concise Captain Beckett format and laid it on her. After looking over to where Jamie was flipping through a book on the sofa, she turned back to her husband and whispered, "So…do I get a reward for my valiant service, Stud?"

Castle kissed her and told Jamie, "Time to get ready for bed, Son. Find a book for your bedtime story.

Once their son was tucked in and they left his room, he turned to his wife, bent his knees, and picked her up slung across his shoulder. "You told me you liked this every now and then."

"The last time worked out pretty well," she answered, playfully trying to pinch one butt cheek. "So, onward, my trusty steed."

"Stud," he corrected.

"Whatever," she giggled. Just take me to bed."

"Yes, Ma'am."