56. Chapter 56

She wakes suddenly, jerks upright in bed, startling Castle awake as well.

"Huh?"

Kate blinks in the darkness, searching for the reason why she's awake, then realizes that Ellery is disappearing out their bedroom door. "Ella?" she murmurs.

"Ella what?"

"She left." Kate gets her legs under her, leans on the mattress as her balance shifts, then stubs her toe on the dresser trying to get to the little girl.

She sees the white and blue striped pajamas, the trail of her baby blanket, and Ellery's dark hair as her daugher slips back into her own room.

Castle steps up behind her, hot and sleepy, nudges her with a hand at her back, his chest in her shoulder. "Where's she going?"

"Back to bed. . ."

Kate follows; she can't help it. Her toes curl in the carpet, then she hisses as her bare feet hit the tile of the hallway. Sand crunches, and Kate stops to swipe the bottom of her feet, feels Castle stumble into her, both of them knocking against the wall.

She laughs, one his arms around her to keep them both from going down, and reaches back to pat his cheek. "Okay, babe. I'll check on Ella. You go back to bed before one of us winds up in the ER."

Castle straightens up, still holding on to her, huffs a little laugh against her neck. "Good plan."

Kate watches him walk back to their bedroom, realizing she just called him babe again, then she shakes that off and follows the hallway down to Ellery's open door. Once inside, the light from the breezeway casts a faint glow on the floor, but the lower bunk bed is shrouded in darkness.

Ellery turns toward the doorway; Kate can see the white of her pale face, the shine of her eyes. Kate gets to her knees beside the bed, reaches out a hand for her baby's cheek.

"You okay, Ella?"

The girl nods, but turns over to curl around Kate's arm, holding on with two hands, her knees coming up.

"Did you have bad dreams, sweetheart?" Kate strokes her cheek, lays her hand on Ella's chest.

She nods again.

"I'm sorry, baby girl. You can stay with me and Daddy-"

She shakes her head.

"Okay," Kate laughs, leans in to kiss her fearless daughter. "You don't have to."

"Momma, stay."

Her heart flips at the quiet voice in the darkness; she slides over Ellery and into the space left against the wall, spoons with her little girl. Kate brushes the dark hair away from the small face, hooks it over the tiny ear. Dash used to call her momma, when he was very little, but she's never heard Ellery use it.

"I'll stay until you fall asleep."

"Daddy?"

Kate lifts her head from the pillow, glances down at the girl. "You want me to get Daddy in here too?"

Ellery nods, uncurls her fingers from Kate's wrist as if letting her go.

"Okay, baby. Let me go get your daddy." She crawls back out from the bunk bed and brushes her hand over Ella's cheek, then heads for the door.

Kate finds Castle already asleep in their bed, touches his neck with her cool fingers to wake him. He startles, rolling towards her, looks at her as if he doesn't know who she is. Kate waits a moment until awareness comes back, then nudges his shoulder.

"Sorry, Rick. She wants us both to sleep in there with her."

"What?"

"I think she was trying to be a big girl, and sleep in her own bed, but she's still a little scared. And she wants both of us-"

"Ah, okay." Castle swings his legs out and stands, swaying a moment; Kate reaches for him, brushing the back of her fingers against his waist. He steadies and nods at her, so they starts back down the hallway.

His large palms are on her shoulders; he's probably making sure he does't run into her again. She doesn't usually like this kind of touch; it feels possessive and controlling. But that's not how Castle touches - not to control or possess - so Kate fights that feeling off and leans her cheek to his fingers, kisses his knuckles, lets the warmth of his hands sink down into her muscles.

He grunts, stepping in closer to her back, brushes his chin over her temple in something that - with more wakefulness on his part - might have been a kiss, then drops his hands as they get to Ellery's room.

When Kate slips inside and kneels by the bed, Ella is already asleep.

She sighs and casts a flickering smile back at her sleep-bleary husband, then leans over and kisses her baby. "Night, my brave girl."

Ella doesn't stir; her mouth is slack and rosebud against the cream of her pale cheeks. Kate brushes a hand over her hair, curls her fingers at the back of her skull, watches for a moment to be sure.

Then she stands back up and turns to Castle, who is hovering right behind her, and gently pushes him back out the door.

"She fell asleep."

"Huh." But Castle ambles back down the hallway without another word, heading for bed, and Kate follows.

The kids want pizza for breakfast.

They had pancakes and eggs last night before the haunted maze, and so Castle thinks it stands to reason that they should be allowed last night's planned dinner for breakfast now. Right?

Kate might not think so. But she's out running. So. "Pizza it is."

"Yay!" Dashiell yells, then turns and high-fives his little sister. Ellery misses it and slaps Dash on the shoulder, but the boy is already jumping around.

She mimics him, jumping as well, grinning up at her father.

"Okay, little rascals, play nicely for thirty minutes while I heat it up." He rips the cardboard box open, slits the plastic and tears it off, then puts the deep dish pizza on the rack, closes the oven door. He sets the timer, twists on the temperature, and figures it should just be done by the time Kate gets back. So if she doesn't like it, she can intervene.

"Is Allie really coming today?" Dashiell yells across the living room.

Castle cracks his jaw on a yawn and nods, heading towards them. "Yeah, wild man. And her friend, remember?"

"Rafe. He's nice. He skyped with us."

"Oh, he did?"

Ellery is coloring a picture with markers on the floor, Castle notices - uh-oh - so he snags the marker out of her hand and holds it up over his head. "Who gave you markers?"

She gets that stubborn look on her face and sits back on her heels.

"Dash."

"No!" Dashiell stands up in a huff of indignation. "She took 'em."

"Ellery. No markers on the floor. Only on the table, and only when you ask Daddy or Mommy first. We have to put out something to keep it from staining."

Her nostrils flare at him, but she pushes the hair out of her eyes with both hands and gets up, then marches over to the dining room table squashed in between the back of the couch and the bar. Castle watches her worm her way up into the chair and then turn to look at him, triumphant.

"Sure. Let me get newspaper or something." He gathers up her bag of markers and the blank paper she strewed all over the floor, then drops them on the table with her. "One second, cricket."

Ellery reaches for the markers, but Castle lightly slaps her hand. She crosses her arms, opens her mouth. "Now."

"Oh-ho, really? Now?"

She must see the stubborn glint in his own eye because she uncrosses her arms and lifts her sweetest face to him, letting her lip tremble a little bit too. "Please?" All long lashes and round cheeks and narrow chin - like Kate.

Castle takes a deep breath and glances over his shoulder at Dashiell. "Hey kiddo, you want to make a picture for Allie too?"

Dashiell's head pops up from the floor where he was arranging his knights in a ring around a toy dragon. "For Allie?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," he says and hops up with the dragon in one hand and the black knight in the other. He scrambles into a chair and sets up his two toys beside him. Castle sees Ellery's look the moment the dragon gets set, just right, and he reaches out and grabs her hand just as she's about to knock it over.

"Ellery Kate. Be nice."

Her fingers curl in his, her shoulders hunch, and she drops her head. Momentary obedience.

Castle moves then and heads for kitchen, looking for something to cover the table with. He ends up settling on the garbage bags - there aren't any newspapers - and a roll of tape he found in the laundry room. He tapes down a placemat for each kid, then divvies up the markers and paper.

"Make Allie a Halloween card."

"Oh! I can make Allie a card for my birthday!" Dashiell gives a wide grin and grabs for the black marker. Black is his favorite color, has been for as long as Castle can remember.

"Sure, buddy. Make her a birthday card for your birthday," he says, trying not to grin.

Ellery turns to him with a soft look, no longer impertinent, and her hand comes out to catch his arm, her little fingers brushing his skin. "Daddy."

His heart melts, like a big idiot, and he puts his elbows on the table, bending over next to her, kissing her forehead. "Yes, cricket?"

She gives him a little grin, a dimple appearing just below the corner of her mouth, near her chin. He had one like that when he was little - his mother has shown Kate pictures - and he wonders if she'll keep it.

"Help me, Daddy."

"What do you want me to help you with?"

"Card."

"You want a birthday card too?"

"No, silly." She pushes her bangs out of her eyes, then leans in and lays a smacking kiss on his cheek, giggling. "Not my birthday."

He grins back at her, completely smitten, and somehow, he knows that Kate was exactly like this as a little girl. Exactly. Ellery has known from day one how to wrap him around her finger, and Kate must have done the same to her father. "Okay, baby girl, tell me what you want to make."

"Pumpkin."

"A pumpkin?"

She nods and pushes the paper over to him. "I color."

"Oh, you want me to draw you a pumpkin so you can color it in?"

She nods again. "Allie a pumpkin."

Castle stares at her a second, then laughs. "Yeah, you're right. I call Allie a pumpkin, don't I? And you're a cricket."

"What am I, Daddy?" Dash calls, pausing in his intricate black. . .lines?. . .to look up at his father.

"You're my wild man."

"Is that like the tasmanian devil?"

"You been watching cartoons in the morning?"

"Yup. But Taz is slobbery. Am I slobbery?"

"Nope. You used to be, when you were a baby." Castle sits down next to Ella and begins drawing her a pumpkin with a pencil left in the bag of markers. "Really drooly."

"I drooled all over?"

"All over Momma."

"I drooled on Mommy?" Dashiell hoots with laughter, sticks his chest out as if he's proud of that. He gets up on his knees in the chair to reach a yellow marker, then hunches down over his card. "I'm a Taz?"

"No. Just a wild man. You always run. You didn't learn to walk, Dash, you learned to run."

"I run everywhere?"

"You ran everywhere," Castle corrects, finishing the pumpkin with lines down the gourd and a curly stem. He hands it back to Ellery, sees the interest in her eyes even as she begins coloring in the picture. "But you, princess, you let everyone bring it right to you. You walked late, but that's because you made your brother get you everything you needed."

Ellery's cheeks squeeze into a grin; she casts a look over at her brother and Dashiell glances up, looking back. Castle watches the two of them, the way they somehow know without speaking, and then they both go back to their pictures.

"What are you drawing there, kiddo?"

"A maze. It's haunted. See this? Here's the chainsaws." He points to a yellow blur with black lines around it like spikes. Pretty good for a five year old.

"I see. Nice."

Dashiell abandons the yellow and grabs a brown, draws a noose. Great. Kate's not gonna love that. "Ellery's a princess?"

"Well, I called her that, didn't I? Same as I call her cricket, but she's not really a cricket, is she? And you're not truly a wild man."

"Is a wild man like a monkey?" Dashiell asks, chewing on the top to his marker.

"Out of your mouth."

He pops it out and looks at it, as if surprised, then puts it on the table. He has a tendency to still chew on things; they're working on it. "Like a monkey, Dad."

Castle glances to his face, sees the concentration there as he draws with the grey marker now, feels kind of proud of his son for calling him Dad. His birthday is Saturday and he's already trying on the grown-up words. "Sure, kind of like a monkey. But still human. Mommy started that one. She said you never were still. When you were in her tummy, you moved all around."

Dashiell's head pops up, his eyes wide. "Really? I moved in Mommy's tummy?"

"Of course. We could feel you. You moved the most at night, right when we were trying to go to bed and sleep. Mommy would say, 'There's my little wild man.' You'd kick and roll and poke out your elbows."

Dashiell looks positively horrified by this idea. Castle laughs.

At that moment, the front door clicks and swings open, voices echoing down the hallway. Both kids sit up in their chairs, heads swiveled towards the commotion.

Kate comes in first, grinning, sweaty from her run, hair pulled back in a messy pony tail. "Hey guys, look who I brought up with me."

She steps forward and Alexis and her boyfriend are crowding in behind her.

"Allie!" Dash yells, jumping down from his chair and darting around the table, knocking into a bar stool, careening off the corner of the bar, and into Alexis's outstretched arms. Ellery is standing up in her chair, so Castle lifts her out, setting her down on the floor. She dashes for Alexis as well, joining the group hug still in progress.

"Hey, my baby girl," Alexis coos, squatting down now to gather them both in. "Dashiell, you are so big and strong. I can feel those muscles. And look at the stitches! Oh man, you really knocked your head."

Dashiell reaches up and puts his hand over the stitches, grinning. Castle watches Alexis touch her forehead to Ella, the two of them smiling at each other, Dashiell jumping around now and clearly interested in Rafe, who stands a little ways back with a bag in each hand.

Kate reaches over the kids and grabs for the duffle, drops it behind her. "Come on in, Rafe, drop your stuff wherever right now. We're glad you made it."

Castle steps up to the group as well, holding out his hand. They shake, firmly, as Alexis picks up Ellery and stands beside her boyfriend.

"Ella-bean, this is my friend, Rafe. Can you say hi?"

Ellery looks Rafe up and down for a long second, then pushes her hair back off her face and looks over at Castle.

As if she knows.

"Say hi, cricket." He reaches out and puts a heavy hand on Dashiell's head, holding the boy down. He stops jumping, and Ellery turns back to Rafe.

"Hi. Rafe."

Rafe's face breaks into a smile, a genuine thing that seems to mean he's aware of how special it is to hear Ellery speak. He ducks down, brushes his thumb over her cheek in a gesture that makes Castle instantly like the kid. Man. Damn it, he's a man, not a boy. A man who just might wants kids of his own. Damn, damn, damn.

"Hi, Ellery. Allie has told me so much about you. But you're much more impressive than I expected."

Ellery grins, apparently liking impressive, turns back to look at her father, then holds both arms out, lunging for him. Castle laughs, takes her from Alexis, settles his littlest against his chest. He plants a kiss on Ella's ear.

"Good talking, cricket. He was happy to hear your voice."

Ellery wraps her arms around his neck and squeezes.

Dashiell pops up next to Rafe and takes his hand. "Let me show you my room. It's cool. You get to sleep with me."

Kate laughs and bites her lip; Castle watches her raise an eyebrow at Alexis, his heart in his throat, and then Alexis shakes her head, subtly.

And he can breathe again.

Kate calls after their son. "Dash, baby, let Rafe and Allie settle in first, then you can show him everything."

"I don't mind. Dash, show me where to put all my stuff. And then we can put away Allie's after that. It'll be girls against boys tonight, right?"

Dashiell beams back at his mother, then up at Rafe. "Right! Boys rules and girls drool!"

Castle groans, patting Ellery's back as she stiffens in disapproval. "Friend for life, Alexis. You can't get rid of that one."

Alexis blushes as she turns her face back to him; she was watching Rafe with Dash, apparently. "I don't plan on getting rid of him, Dad."

Castle blinks, stunned by that as well, then feels Kate drawing her arm through his, curling a hand at Ellery's back. He glances down to Kate and now she's giving him that same eyebrow, and he knows what it means.

Go easy.