35. Chapter 35

"O-kay, raise your hand if you. . .if your favorite color is red."

Castle pops his hand up just as Dashiell does. Kate sighs and shakes her head at them.

Dash grins and wriggles in his seat, crunching on an apple slice. "Raise your hand if your favorite color is black."

Castle raises his hand again.

Dashiell huffs, but Ellery giggles.

"Daddy, you can't have two favorite colors!"

"Sure I can. Black and red are both my favorite colors. Mommy looks goooood in both. How could I pick?"

Kate chokes on a laugh and leans her head against her hand; she is seriously not blushing. She is not.

"Oh. Well. Huh," Dashiell is stymied. Kate hopes this is the end of the 'Raise Your Hand' game. It's gotten old real fast.

"Castle - napkins?" She waves her hand towards the condiment and drink station, then indicates their messy daughter's hands and face. This wasn't what she had in mind when Castle said 'healthier' but at least McDonalds offers fruit instead of fries, and the kids don't know any better. Yet. That will surely change.

"Ah, yeah. One sec." He stuffs a huge bite of grilled chicken sandwich into his mouth and gets up, making fat-cheeks faces at Ellery as he goes, his drink in hand for a refill. The kids both have water. Thankfully, Dash is too taste sensitive to be able to stand anything that fizzes, so Ellery doesn't drink soda either. And maybe *that* won't ever change.

Kate shifts in the bench seat and brushes crumbs off Ella's face, getting a streak of mustard with her thumb and using the last of their napkins to clean it off. Ellery's eating nuggets and apple slices just like her brother, but she danced around and begged for a slice of cheese, so Castle sweet-talked some cheese out of the older lady at the McDonalds counter.

Dashiell chews another bite of his food, his mouth open, and Kate nudges his knee with her foot. "Close your mouth."

He chomps down and rocks back and forth in his swivel seat. He's sitting directly across from her with his father next to him to keep him in line. Dash swallows. "Raise your hand if-"

"Oh no, wait till Daddy gets back," Kate grins slyly. "He'll be so sad to miss it."

"Okay! Daddy, hurry!" Castle is already bringing back his tea and more napkins.

"I'm here. Let the games begin." Castle sits down and leans across the table to rub a clean napkin over his daughter's face, being extra silly as he does, covering her eyes, pretending to blow her nose.

Ellery giggles and leans on Kate's arm, her dried-mustard cheek against Kate's skin. She pushes a chicken nugget into her mouth and hums a song, twisting her hand in the air as if conducting.

"Baby, sit up and eat."

"Raise your hand if green is your favorite color."

Kate rolls her eyes and raises her hand; Castle's hand shoots up too, an eager look on his face just begging Dashiell to ask him why.

"Daddy!" Dash gives him a look.

Ellery comes out of her music-dreamland to giggle again, scoots forward in the seat to give her daddy a grin, her little bright face peeking up over the table, blue eyes adoring her father.

"I like Mommy in green too. And Mommy's eyes are sometimes green."

Dashiell gets to his knees in the seat and tries to lean across the table to look at his mother's eyes. He reaches out and grips her shoulder, his face peering intently.

"Mommy, are your eyes green?"

"Sometimes they look like they are. But they're brown like yours. Sit down before you fall."

Dashiell ignores her command to duck his head and study her eye color. "I think they're like maple syrup. For pancakes. With dark chocolate chips inside. Mmm. Can we have pancakes for breakfast tomorrow?"

Dash twists to ask his father, but he stumbles in his seat, drops his hands to the table to catch himself. Kate's fish sandwich gets squashed under one hand; her unsweet tea knocked over. She grabs the cup, jerking it upright again before it can spill.

"Dashiell Hammett, sit down-"

"Oops. I crushed your lunch, Mommy."

"It's fine, little man. I can still eat it. Sit down for me, okay? I don't want you to-"

And at just that moment, Dashiell leans the other direction, his hand against the table slips, and he crashes forward into the empty space between their table and the next one. Kate lunges for him, but she's caught by Ellery's little body against her arm, only gets one hand at Dash's chest as he pitches forward.

She can do nothing to stop his fall.

His head smacks the other table; she feels the shock jar his body as he goes down, crumpled in the floor.

"Castle-!"

His father is already scooping him up, cradling him, hands skimming their son's body; Kate's heart is pounding; Ellery is still and small beside her. Kate anxiously half-stands, sees blood.

"Rick-?"

Dashiell opens his mouth and wails.

"No. We don't need an ambulance," Castle insists again.

The older woman from the counter, her manager, and the shift manager are all clustered around them at the table. Kate wraps her arms around Dashiell, a hand pressing blood-soaked napkins against the boy's forehead.

"We should call-"

"We're going to take him to that urgent care clinic. Look, get an incident report; I'll sign whatever. But we need to go."

Kate's grateful for the way he handles it, how he didn't even ask her what to do, just took over. She presses her cheek to Dashiell's; her heart still hasn't dropped back to its normal rate. Ellery is hanging on her arm, her fingers fluttering over Dashiell's knee and leg, trying to comfort.

Dash is quiet, which bothers her, his head tilted back against her shoulder. The blood still leaks out of his head; it's smeared down his face and stained his shirt. His skin is pale.

She keeps telling herself - head wounds bleed a lot.

Kate gently lifts the wad of napkins, but blood wells up; she presses the makeshift bandage back down.

"You okay, wild man?"

He nods, dislodging her hand; Kate tracks the gash in his forehead until he stills again and then presses the napkins back. She looks up at her husband. "Castle. Now."

He glances over at her from his pow-wow with the McDonalds staff, nods once. He's got a sheaf of papers in his hand and is scribbling his signature and initials all over it; she watches for a moment then turns her head to Ellery.

"Hey, baby girl. Dash is okay. We're gonna go get him stitches."

"I don't want stitches," Dash whines, something breathy and tearful in his voice.

"Stitches are cool," Castle says, coming back over to them. "Mommy and Daddy both have had stitches."

Dashiell swivels his head, but Kate manages to keep the napkins in place. She meets her husband's eyes and he nods, reaching down to grab their stuff, digging the keys out of the kids' bag, pulling it on over his shoulder, gathering Ella in his arms. He kisses their daughter's cheeks, her forehead, murmuring words to her; Kate's rush of gratitude overwhelms her again. He's taking care of things.

She stands slowly, her son heavy in her arms, gets her balance. Dashiell twists his face into her neck, which actually helps; she presses her cheek to the bandage and gets a better grip on him, her arms hooked together under his bottom. His legs tighten around her waist; a long, pitiful sigh comes out of his mouth.

"You're okay, my little man." She quickly presses her hand against his cheek, then follows Castle out of the McDonalds. "You're okay. I got you."

Castle rubs his jaw. "Just get in between the two car seats, strap in."

Kate hesitates.

"He's nearly five; it's just a booster seat. When Alexis was five, she didn't even have one. Seriously, Kate, you have to keep pressure on it-"

"I know that," she says, but she's not snapping at him, which makes him sad a little. If she weren't worried about Dash, she'd be rolling her eyes at him for stating the obvious. He nudges her towards the door.

"Don't have time to argue about it, Katie. Get in." Castle carries Ellery around to the other side, trusting that Kate will get in. He did use his dad voice on her. Heh. That usually works.

He buckles Ella into the seat, yanks on the safety restraints to check they're in good, and closes her door.

Sliding behind the wheel, he checks Kate and Dash in the rearview mirror. She's got the seat belt slung around both of them, their son cuddled into her chest. Blood has dried on her neck; it pushes a sick feeling through his guts and he has to look away.

He starts the SUV and pulls up the GPS on his phone, heads for the Urgent Care Clinic the McDonalds staff told him about. Castle keeps checking his mirror to see Kate, meeting her eyes when she happens to look up. Her anxiety is written all across her face; the lines of her mouth are deep.

He goes a little faster than he should, but he knows he's not the driver that Kate is. Maybe she should have-

"Castle."

"Yeah."

"I see it up there on the right, on your two. Low brick-"

"Got it." He checks his mirrors, changes lanes, and scratches at his jaw. A car sweeps past him, but he puts on his signal and turns into the Urgent Care Clinic.

Castle parks quickly, releases the locks, and hurries around to Ellery's side. "Come on, baby girl. Kate, you take her, and I'll carry him?"

"I got him."

He nods, pulls Ellery into his arms, untangling her from the straps as quickly as possible. Kate is sliding out the other side; she's put the booster seat in the floor so she can get out.

Once inside, with Dash's head still listless against Kate's shoulder, Castle signs them in and takes back a sheaf of papers to the waiting room seats where Kate is. Ellery clings to his neck and watches silently as he scribbles in their information.

"Daddy," comes a pitiful voice.

Castle looks over at Dash. "Hey, buddy."

"My head feels hot. And big."

"Castle-" Kate says; he can hear the worry in her voice but he shakes his head once at her.

"You'll be okay, little man. We're gonna get you stitched up. It feels like that because your body wants to help make it better."

"I don't want stitches."

"You don't even know what they are." Castle pokes his arm with the pen, tries to get him to smile. "Stitches are cool. You'll get an awesome scar. I've got some cool scars too."

"You have stitches?"

"I did. Mommy too. They take them out or they fall out after awhile. Don't worry."

"Where?"

"Where what?" he says distractedly.

"Baby, let Daddy fill that out first."

Dashiell sighs at his mother's request, but doesn't push it. Castle glances over at him, but he really does look fine. Just being melodramatic. As usual. The fall scared him, the blood probably scared him too. And it's for sure scared Kate.

Ellery climbs down and gets up in the seat next to her mother and brother, pats Dashiell's back, leaning against Kate.

The moment Castle returns the paperwork, the nurse comes out of the clinic door and calls Dashiell's name. Kate stands, gestures to Ellery, and Castle nods.

"I got her. We'll wait."

Dashiell makes a pitiful noise and holds his arms out for Castle. "I want Daddy to come."

Kate stops, glances to the nurse. "Okay. Here Daddy, you take Dash. Ella and I will-"

"I want Mommy *and* Daddy. No one stay out here; everyone with me. All my people."

The nurse smiles at them. "It's fine. There's room, if you want."

Castle goes back to the chairs and scoops up Ellery again. He glances to Kate.

She bites her lip. "Should little one see-?"

Castle shrugs. Ella's not afraid of blood; she watches Dashiell's rather violent dinosaur movies. She might think it's super interesting, or she might bury her face in his neck.

"All right Dash. All your people are heading back with you," he says, following behind Kate and the nurse. "I promise. Stitches are super cool."

When the doctor suggests that someone hold Dashiell's head, Kate turns sharp eyes to Castle, pleading, and so he steps up. His fingers at his son's neck, palms at his ears, Castle holds Dash's head still.

"This way Mommy can hold your hand," Castle murmurs as Dash starts to protest. "Right, Mommy?"

Kate leans forward in the chair and wraps her fingers around Dash's left hand, pressing her lips against his skin. "I got you, baby."

"Kate-" He nods to Ellery, and Kate manages to catch the girl before she tilts out of the chair in an effort to see better.

"Baby girl, you need to sit down," Kate says. Steel in her voice. Ellery sinks back down to the chair with a huff.

The doctor holds up a blue drape. "Okay, big brother. Mom and Dad are right here, so is little sister. I've got this sheet I need to put over your face so we can be sure to keep everything clean. It means you won't be able to see much. Is that ok?"

"No," Dash whimpers as the sheet comes into his line of sight. The doctor pauses, glances to Castle.

Castle strokes the boy's jaw. "It's okay, buddy. It won't hurt."

"No. I want to see your stitches. And Mommy's. First. Do that first." Dashiell's little chest thrums with breathless anxiety. "Please, Daddy?"

Castle jerks his head to Kate. She pushes Ellery off of her and stands up, brushes her fingers along Dash's chest. "I'll show you one of my scars, okay baby? And then another after it's all done. How about that?"

"Daddy?"

"I'll show you where I got stitches, but you've seen it before buddy."

"That big knot on your leg?"

"Well, yeah, okay that one too. Forearm. And my wrist. Me and Mommy match there." He shivers and glances to Kate, but when her eyes finds his, he can see she's managed to find her center. Calm and still.

"Mommy."

"See?" Kate says, lifting her wrist up so that Dashiell can see her skin. "Right here." Castle lets Dash lift his head off the exam table so that he can see the silver-white rope of skin at the base of her palm, the loop of the scar around her wrist.

From being bound with wire. He remembers that. Wishes he didn't.

"Did you fall off your chair too, Mommy?"

"Ah. No baby, I didn't." Castle waits, but Kate doesn't offer anything else.

"Daddy, you match?"

Castle moves his hand away from Dash's ear and shows him the fain line that circles his wrist, then the one in his forearm. "See? We match. You'll get a cool scar on your forehead. And look-" Castle leans over and points to the scar over his left eyebrow, on his own forehead. "You and I can match too. I knocked my head into one of your Grams's pieces of scenery."

Dash doesn't look much happier about his stitches. "Mommy has more too?"

"Yeah, baby," Kate sighs, giving Castle another look - What have you gotten me into?

"When I'm done, you'll show me?"

Kate brushes her fingers down Dashiell's arm, takes his hand again. "When you're done."

Castle nods to the doctor, who has been waiting patiently (kind of shocking), and the man brings in the cloth once more.

"All right, brother. Here comes the sheet. Whoosh, just like that, good boy."

Castle strokes Dash's neck as the blue cloth goes over the boy's face. Just the patch of broken skin remains open to the air. The doctor returns with a needle and Castle raises his eyebrows and looks away, his eyes finding Kate's.

She watches long enough to give him a grim nod, then looks away herself, her eyes on Ellery. "Sit down, baby girl. I don't want you getting stitches too."

"All right, brother, you're going to feel a pinch and then it's going to start feeling kind of funny. Tingly. You got him, Dad?"

Castle can practically feel the kid trembling, but he doesn't even flinch under his father's hands. Castle opens one eye and glances back at the doctor in time to see him turn away again. Must be done with the local anesthetic then. He relaxes and takes a deep breath, feels Dash do the same.

"You're doing good, buddy. Really good."

"Feels funny."

"It's supposed to."

"My head is going to float away."

Castle laughs. "No, buddy, don't worry. It won't. I'm holding on to it."

A sigh of relief. "Thanks, Daddy."

Kate quirks her eyebrow at him, then quickly shuts her eyes again. Castle glances over his shoulder and sees the doctor coming back with sutures and a -

a needle. That is just. Just a needle. Holy crap.

They really do sew people up. With thread.

And a needle.

Shiiii-

"All right, brother, Mom, Dad. I'm going to suture his forehead with some really great thread. The stitches will need to stay dry for 48 hours, but after that, they can get wet. I know you're on vacation, probably for the beach, right?"

"All the waves," Dash murmurs.

"So you can get them wet, just make sure you pat them dry when you get out, try to keep sand out of them."

While he talks, the doctor has already started lacing the wound back together. Castle can't help but look, watch the skin tug up with the thread, the ragged edges of the wound meeting together again. It bleeds at first, but as the suture grows, such neat tiny stitches, the bleeding stops.

"Why is he tugging on my eyebrows?"

"He's stitching you up."

"Oh. I don't feel it!" Dashiell moves as if he's going to sit up, but Castle holds him down.

"You're not supposed to feel it. Stay still."

"Mommy, did you feel it when you got stitches?"

"No, little man."

"Daddy, did-"

"Nope. Now hush and lay still. He's almost done." Castle glances back to Kate but she's steadfastly refusing to look. Kate never has a weak stomach. He wonders why now.

The doctor snips the ends, leaving Dash's forehead with a line of neat stitches, looking like a puckered, sewn-up mouth. Yeah, Castle writes too many mystery novels, has seen too many dead bodies.

"All right, brother. You're nearly finished. Let me cover it for you." The doctor applies a white sterile pad and peels paper off the sticky ends, almost like a big band-aid right over the wound.

"Okay, Dad, you can let him up. Slowly." The doctor removes the blue sheet, peels his gloves off, throws everything into a biohazard bin.

Dashiell sits up, Castle trying to control his ascent, and the boy sways for a second before blinking his eyes. He raises his eyebrows and rolls his eyes back as if trying to see the stitches.

"I'll have the nurse give you a handout on wound care, though it sounds like you two are old pros at stitches."

Kate gives the doctor a tight smile. "Unfortunately."

Castle picks Dashiell up from the exam table, rubs his back. He can see bruises around the area where his head was cut, a bruise on his cheek. "How you feel, Dashiell?"

"Good. Doesn't hurt."

"It might later. And it'll itch, especially if you do get them wet," the doctor warns. "Go right on through there and stop off at the desk. 48 hours" He hands Castle the medical file. "Good luck, big brother. No more swan dives off furniture, okay?"

"What's a swan dive?"

"Jumping." Kate picks up Ella from the seat and heads out the door. "It's what you do all the time."

Castle follows with Dashiell, whose fear has melted into bravado. "These are cool. My forehead is funny. It pulls. Mommy where's your stitches?"

"I'll show you when we get home."

"Show me now."

"Baby, I can't." Kate turns at the desk and glares at Castle. Right, yes, his fault for promising that. Her scars are on her inside thigh. Uh...

"What about when we get to the condo instead?" Dashiell says, leaning his head against Castle's shoulder as he tries to fill out the last of their paperwork. He hands over the medical file to the nurse.

"That's what I meant, baby. When we get back. My jeans cover it up right now."

"Did it hurt?"

"What?" Kate frowns at their son while Castle pulls out his credit card to pay. "Getting stitches? I told you it didn't."

"No, what you did. You didn't fall?"

"No. I didn't fall."

"You match Daddy. Did you do both fall at the same time?"

"It was at the same time, but we didn't fall. That's enough questions, Dashiell. I'll tell you more at home."

Castle turns his head to Kate, startled, his fingers paused in the middle of signing his name to the receipt.

"You will?" he asks, bewildered by her.

"I will. It's fine." Kate levels her gaze on him as if to remind him that this is all his fault anyway.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Kate."

"It is what it is. Better now than later, maybe."

Castle sets his jaw, puts his credit card back in his wallet, shoves it into his back pocket. Kate takes the receipts and the care plan for the stitches, folds them up and shoves them into the kids' bag. Ellery is watching her brother with sharp, interested eyes.

Castle points to the door, narrowing his eyes at Kate. She gives him a look right back. "Let's go. We'll talk about this later."

Dashiell's arms come around Castle's neck with a squeeze. "I won't swan jump anymore, Daddy."

"Wild man, we can only hope."