7. Sunday Morning

Castle awoke to the annoying buzzing of Kate’s phone. Fortunately, the detective woke as well. She reached over and grabbed the offending device without opening her eyes. “Beckett.”

Whatever the person on the other end of the line had to say caused her to snap to full alertness. She nearly conked her head on Castle’s chin as she sat up suddenly, clutching the phone like it was trying to escape her grasp. “What do you mean, she had a stroke?”

Castle couldn’t help but feed off of the panic that was radiating from his partner. He had no idea who had had a stroke but clearly this was Bad News. Beckett slid out of bed and stalked towards the closest, one hand tangled in her hair while the other pressed the phone to her ear. “When did this happen? Can she speak at all?”

“What’s going on?” asked Castle. He pulled on his housecoat before following Beckett into the walk-in closet. She was pulling the pieces of a pant suit off a hanger.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can… why afternoon? No, I need to speak with her immediately.” Beckett tossed her slacks onto the bed angrily as she burst from the closet. “Fine, call me if her condition changes at all.” Beckett ended the call and chucked her phone at the bed. It bounced off the rumpled covers and onto the floor.

“Kate, what happened?” Castle grabbed her shoulders. He hated being worried and not knowing why. “Who was on the phone?”

“That was the warden from the minimum security joint where Nora Bellefonte is being held. She had a stroke in the middle of the night. They moved her to the ICU at Saint Samuel’s. Castle, she’s basically a vegetable now.”

“Oh no.” Castle now understood her reaction. “Shit.”

“What the hell am I supposed to do now?” demanded Kate. “She’s the only one who knows what was in that fucked up lemonade she gave Ryan and Esposito.” The detective sat down heavily on the edge of the bed with her elbows on her knees. She pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes.

“It’s okay…” He really wanted her to calm down. She was scaring him a little. She rarely let her control snap like this.

“It’s not fucking okay, Castle!”

Well, if anyone else in the loft had still been sleeping, they were awake now. “Kate, listen to me. This is horrible news, but it’s not the end of the world. There are still people out there who might be able to undo her spell and even if there aren’t, we know it will wear off eventually. We’ll just have to deal a little longer.”

“I don’t want to deal with this for another minute,” said Kate, tearfully. “I want the world to go back to normal. Now.”

“It’s never going to be how you remember it,” insisted Castle. “The knowledge of witches and magic will always be with us. But things will get better. You just have to hold on.”

“Richard, what is going on in here?” Martha peeked around the door, her red hair dancing around her face haphazardly.

“Bellefonte, the old lady who shrunk the boys, had a stroke. She can’t tell us how to undo the spell anymore.”

“Oh dear.”

“I’m sorry for alarming you, Martha,” said Kate.

“No worries. I’ll go check on the kids while you two pull yourselves together.”

“Thank you, mother.” Castle looked back at Kate. “Can you do that?”

“I think so. I just need a minute or ten. I want to scream. I feel like I’m about to burst.”

“This is one thing Demming was good for; letting you beat the crap out of him in the workout room to let off some steam.”

“Maybe I’ll just cry instead.” Kate brushed the hair away from her face and took a few deep breaths. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“You’re not going in to work right now, are you? It’s Sunday and it’d be nice if you could stay with us for at least part of the day. The boys are going to need your strength when they find out the news.”

“What strength?” Kate barked out an unpleasant laugh. “The nurse said that Bellefonte can’t have any visitors until this afternoon and even that is tentative. There’s really nothing I can do. The labs don’t work on Sunday unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“Good. I’m glad you’ll be here. You can take a shower; I’ll go see what everyone else is doing.” Castle knew that she was going to make good on her threat to cry, using the shower to mask her emotion. He was fine with that as long as she was releasing some of her pent up frustration. After yesterday’s episode during bath time, Castle feared she wouldn’t be the only one suffering a mental and emotional break that morning.

The detective shut herself in the bathroom. Castle took a deep breath and then ventured out into the main living area of his loft. Waiting expectantly for him were two redheads, a blond, and a brunet. Martha was wrapped in her brightly colored dressing gown, her hair still mostly unkempt. Likewise, the younger generation was still in their sleep clothes. Castle briefly mused about how much he still liked the matching t-shirt and sleep pants that Alexis wore, decorated with little inkpots and quills. He’d gotten those for her on her sixteenth birthday and was touched that she still wore them.

“What’s going on?” Javier’s question brought Castle back into the current conversation.

“What do you mean?” Castle sidestepped around the group and made a beeline for the kitchen and his coffee machine.

“Why is Beckett yelling at you at seven A.M.?” asked Kevin. The quartet followed after him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He was halfway through the living room when small hands grabbed his housecoat and pulled. Hard. Castle was surprised to be dragged to a stop. He looked down at Javier’s upturned glare.

“Did you do something to her?”

“Of course not - why would you think that?” Castle tried to untangle the detective’s fists from the somewhat expensive fabric of the robe but Javier refused to be detached.

“I warned you that if you ever upset her…”

“Mother, a little help here?” Castle looked beseechingly at the older woman. Martha threw up her hands defensively and shook her head.

“I’m not getting in the middle of this one.” She continued on the way to the kitchen, leaving Castle alone with a combined eighty pounds and seventy-five inches of annoyed NYPD homicide detectives.

“Alexis?”

“I want to know, too,” the college student replied. “You seem really agitated. What’s wrong?”

“Kate got some bad news. We should wait for her to discuss it.”

“You can tell us now,” suggested Javier. Actually, Castle didn’t really feel like Javier was suggesting anything… more like demanding in a very intimidating way that shouldn’t be possible for someone the size of a first grader.

“Castle.” Now Kevin had latched onto his other side and was experimenting with whether puppy-dog eyes would work better than direct threats.

“I need coffee.” A sudden inspiration struck him. Javier wouldn’t magically develop x-ray vision and put a laser beam through Castle’s head if his partner was between them, right? Castle scooped up the blond and made his break for the kitchen while the two detectives were still stunned by the unexpected move. Javier might have lost his grip on the luxury housecoat, but he stayed hot on the writer’s heels as they crossed the living room.

His canister of fresh coffee grounds was empty. With a muted expletive, Castle pulled open one of the lower cabinets where his grinder was stored. It was awkward with a kid in one arm and another in his face again, refusing to be dissuaded from his line of questioning (lit. demanding). “Javi, make yourself useful. See that black grinder right there? Pull it out for me.” He nudged the detective towards the cabinet. “I promise you can give me the fifth degree to your heart’s content after I’ve had some morning juice.” Javier didn’t look very mollified, but he pulled out the grinder and handed it to the writer.

There was no way Castle was going to successfully grind the beans with only one hand and he didn’t trust anyone else to do it correctly. It was an art, one in which he had carefully schooled himself. He had no choice but to set Kevin on the counter, which was probably bad parenting etiquette but the blond wasn’t really a little kid anyway.

Javier stayed right by his side, playing the part of underfoot nuisance to perfection. Castle nearly tripped over him trying to retrieve the canister of coffee beans on the opposite counter. “Alright, people who can barely see over the countertops, out of the kitchen!” He grabbed the back of Javier’s shirt and pushed him towards Alexis. “Please keep him occupied for like five minutes.”

“Castle!”

“Richard.”

“Dad.”

“Everyone stop!” Castle rarely raised his voice, so to his immense relief, the loft actually fell silent. In the quiet, the sound of muted footsteps approaching the kitchen was audible. Five sets of eyes snapped around to look at Kate as she walked towards them. Castle immediately noticed her slightly pale face and puffy eyes. He would have felt relief that his girlfriend had arrived to take some of the attention off of him but her defeated demeanor only made him feel more helpless and frustrated.

“You okay, Castle?” Kate asked. She stopped a few feet away, wrapping her arms around herself as if unsure what to do with them.

“It’s a conspiracy to drive me mad before breakfast.”

Javier rolled his eyes at Castle’s comment. He moved to his senior partner’s side, looking like a concerned friend instead of a vicious pest. It really wasn’t fair. There was a thud from behind him, causing Castle to spin around and his heart to stutter at the sight of a now toddler-free countertop. However, Kevin soon hurried around the side of peninsula to join Kate and Javier, so the fall must have not hurt too badly.

Finally left alone, Castle set about making his coffee while keeping track of his guests out of the corner of his eye. Alexis also joined Kate and the boys, though Martha stayed with him in the kitchen. She, of course, already knew vaguely what the problem was.

“Hey sweetie,” murmured Kate, cupping the side of Javier’s face and brushing her thumb across his cheek. She had knelt down so she was at his eye level. “Why are you trying to drive Castle crazy already?”

Javier reached up to take her hand in both of his. “We heard you yelling this morning and he refuses to tell us why.”

“Castle did say you received some bad news,” said Kevin. “He said you’d tell us. Have you been crying? Your eyes are red.”

“I was a little overwhelmed, but I feel better now.” Kate smiled at her Irish partner, though it looked forced. “Didn’t your sisters teach you not to comment on a female’s appearance if she’s not looking her best?”

“Sorry.”

“Does it have to do with the Valduerez case?” Everyone knew that Javier wasn’t really asking about the murdered girl/woman. It was a roundabout, safe way to ask if it had anything to do with them.

“Yes,” answered Kate, bluntly. She stood up and took a little hand in each of hers, leading the two be-spelled detectives towards Castle’s couch. She sat down at one end, waiting patiently while the two boys climbed up next to her. “Nora Bellefonte suffered a stroke last night.” Alexis gasped from where she had sat in one of the chairs, kitty-corner to the detectives.

“Did she die?” Javier coughed a bit to clear his throat after the question came out sounding strained.

“No, but she’s cataleptic right now.” Kate brushed her hand over Javier’s dark hair. “They won’t even let me in to see her until this afternoon.”

“Will she recover?” Kevin clutched Javier’s upper arm as he leaned against his partner’s side.

“It’s too early to tell. Even if she does, who knows if it will be before the month is out.” Kate closed her eyes for a long moment to bolster her nerves. “I’m so sorry I don’t know how to fix this.”

“It’s not your fault,” said Javier. He maneuvered to his knees so he could wrap his arms around her neck. Kate slipped her arms around his back and hugged him tightly, her cheek pressed against the side of his face. Alexis moved from her chair to discretely sit down next to Kevin and place her hand on his shoulder.

Castle walked over with two steaming mugs of coffee. Martha followed him with one of her own and a cup of hot chocolate for Alexis. The younger redhead took it with a trembling smile.

“So we just have to wait. I’m sure the month will go by quickly.” Kevin twisted the hem of his t-shirt nervously.

“It’s gonna be a bitch, bro,” said Javier. He pulled away from Kate, who took advantage of his precarious balance to pull him fully onto her lap. She held him close in a sideways embrace. Castle wanted to smack the Cuban when he heard the dreaded sniffle from the younger detective. Castle set Kate’s coffee on the end table next to her so he had one hand free to reach for Kevin. The blond shied away from his touch.

“I’m fine,” he said shakily.

“It’s perfectly reasonable to be upset about this,” said Castle.

“I’m not a baby!”

“Leave him alone.” Glare à la Javier was back. Well, Castle could look murderous, too. He set his fiery gaze on the younger man.

“Stop,” said Kate quietly. She squeezed Javier as a muted reprimand. Castle unwillingly took a seat in the chair Alexis had recently vacated.

“What about Ms. Bellefonte’s son?” asked Alexis. “The one who was in the station yesterday. I though you said he practiced magic like his mother.”

“I wouldn’t trust him for anything,” said Kate. “He was angry enough that his mother was jailed. He’s going to be downright nasty now that she’s ill. I fear he’d just as soon make the situation worse than help us.” She jumped slightly when her phone started vibrating in her pocket. She adjusted Javier’s weight so she could shift around and pull it out. The number wasn’t associated with a name in her contact list, but it looked familiar. “Detective Beckett,” she answered.

They all watched her face closely as she listened to the person on the other end of the line. Her posture straightened minutely and her expression smoothed as she became all business. “Thank you for returning my call, Mr. Bellefonte.”

“Speakerphone,” hissed Castle in a stage whisper. Kate shook her head and held up a finger as she continued to listen to the man speak.

“Your mother was brought in for questioning due to her relations with one of my murder victims. She was arrested for conspiracy to poison two NYPD police detectives.” Kate let go of Javier completely so she could tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear opposite the phone. “They’re alive yes, but not well. How much do you know about the magic that your mother claims to practice?”

Castle smiled weakly at Alexis when she turned to look at him hopefully. He wanted to encourage warm fuzzy feelings in his daughter, but at the same time, he didn’t want to give her false hope. Why couldn’t Kate put the phone on speaker so they could all hear?

“She, uh, turned them into little children.” Kate cringed after admitting out loud what she still didn’t want to believe was possible. “She allegedly did the same to Serafina Valduerez, who was murdered Friday morning.” Kate held the phone away from her ear for a second as the man let out a loud string of expletives that could be heard without speakerphone. Once he calmed, she pressed the phone close again. “We’ve been in contact with your older brother, too. He was arrested for assaulting an officer, but made bail yesterday afternoon. Your mother was being held in a minimum security prison just outside of the city.” Three deep breaths while Bellefonte the Younger responded. “Mr. Bellefonte, your mother suffered a stroke early this morning. She’s at Saint Samuel’s in the ICU.”

…

“Yes, it sounds like she’s in stable condition, but unable to speak.”

…

“I don’t know if she was involved in Ms. Valduerez’s murder, just that she claims to have turned Valduerez into a little girl to help her relive her childhood. She poisoned the detectives when they tried to question her about the case.”

…

“One-thirty. Yes, I can meet you at the hospital then.”

…

“There may be officers at her house when you arrive. I had a warrant pulled to search the property for information about the poison. I haven’t heard that anything was found.”

…

“Thank you for your help, Mr. Bellefonte. I will see you this afternoon.” Kate ended the call and stared at the blank screen of her phone for nearly a full minute. Castle, along with four other very curious gawkers, stared at the female detective. Kate finally came back to herself with a brief shake of her head. She absently picked at a loose thread on Javier’s new sweatpants as she spoke. “Randy Bellefonte just returned from his mini-vacation upstate and started checking his voicemails. He’s going to swing by his mother’s house to do a little research on her spell-work before meeting me at the hospital.”

“What if he tries to destroy evidence while he’s there?” asked Javier. Apparently he didn’t like Kate picking at his pants, so he curled his little fingers around her larger ones.

“I’ll call ahead and alert the unis to keep a close eye on him,” said Kate.

“He indicated that he could help fix this mess?” asked Castle.

“He said that he hasn’t touched magic for years but he knows some secret stashes in her house where she might have hidden information on this particular spell. From everyone we’ve talked to, it sounds like Randy and his family were equally disappointed in each other. I’m hoping he’ll be willing to work with us instead of against us.”

“How can Ryan and I help?” asked Javier. “Did you set up the remote access on Ryan’s work machine?”

Kate looked at him appraisingly. “You two can just hang on for a little bit longer,” she said eventually. “I really feel good about meeting the younger Bellefonte. I think we’ll have this reversed in no time.”

“You’re cutting us out? Haven’t we been through this very scenario enough times to know better by now?”

“Javi-”

“No.” Javier pushed himself away from her. He slid off her lap and the couch entirely. “Castle told us about the way you’re ‘coping’ with this by calling Ryan and I by our first names but I get the feeling you’ve forgotten that we’re not actually little kids.” He turned to look at Castle. “I don’t want to be referred to as Javier anymore.”

“Sweetie-”

“No pet names, either. Just Esposito.”

“Is ‘Espo’ okay?” asked Castle. Technically it was also a nickname, but as a derivative of his family name, he wondered if the Cuban would let that one slide. Truly, he was asking out of an honest want to know, but Javier interpreted it as trying to jerk him around.

“Are you serious?” He made a face that was very Grown Up Esposito and Castle didn’t enjoy the feeling of being chastised by someone only half as tall as he was. Well, maybe not only half as tall. Castle didn’t think he’d want to be topping out at eight feet, actually. He’d met a few professional basketball players and the issues they had to deal with due to their height made him glad to be only slightly taller than average…

“I’m not trying to cut you out,” said Kate, forgoing addressing him by any name at all. “Just let me see what Bellefonte says about the spell and we’ll go from there. Please?”

“Why are you against us helping you?”

Castle didn’t envy Kate for being in the crosshairs of Javier’s - well, Esposito’s - interrogation. Truthfully, he was kind of curious, too. Usually the female detective was pretty demanding of her team, writer included. Physical work aside, the two junior detectives seemed capable of doing their jobs.

“I…” Kate floundered for a second, but found her composure quickly. “I’m just worried that there are side effects to this spell that we don’t know about and I’ll admit I’m feeling a little overprotective. Will you indulge me a little? If Randy Bellefonte can’t offer me a fix to this spell today, then we’ll talk about other options.”

“Then you’ll swing by Ryan’s apartment and get his laptop on your way back here tonight, right?” Javier sidled up closer to Kate now that he was getting what he wanted. Kate looked to the side briefly and Castle instinctively echoed her sight line. The little blond was staring at his lap, passively following the conversation and letting his partner do the talking for both of them. He looked absolutely miserable. Castle recalled that Grown Up Ryan hated it when his teammates fought, so Little Kid Kevin was probably wishing he were anywhere else at the moment.

“Sure. Do you want anything else from your place, Ryan?” Kate reached over to her younger partner, but Kevin shrugged off her touch just as he had Castle’s. He responded with a minute lift of his shoulders and a barely audible sigh.

“Even I think this has been enough drama for one morning,” said Martha, breaking into the detectives’ conversation bubble.

“That is pretty bad, if Mother is feeling taxed.” Castle knew he felt drained. His coffee was not making things better like it should.

“Richard, it’s time to feed the masses.” Martha waved towards the kitchen. “It’s no good being emotional on an empty stomach.”

“Pancakes?”

“No,” came the four part chorus. Castle doubted that Kevin’s lack of response indicated support of his suggestion. Vastly outnumbered, he decided that eggs and bacon sounded equally appetizing. Alexis jumped up to help him. Kate followed a few seconds later, leaving her boys in the living room. Martha promised to return shortly after making herself more presentable.

Twenty minutes later, Castle was dishing out cook-to-order eggs and slices of thick, extra greasy bacon. He liked showing off his culinary prowess. Alexis was generous in her praise and Kate always appreciated a good meal. He hadn’t cooked much for the boys outside of the last day and a half, but from what he knew of their take-out bachelor diets, he could only imagine that they were equally impressed.

“Kate?”

“Hm?” She looked up at him with wide hazel eyes and he smiled at how cute she looked with her cheeks puffed out as she chewed her food.

“Is Kevin - sorry, Ryan - down by your feet again?” Javier had joined them when the food was ready, sitting between Alexis and Kate on the trio of barstools. She looked down briefly then shook her head negatively.

“He went to get something out of the guest room,” said Javier. “He said he wasn’t hungry, so don’t make him anything.”

“He didn’t eat dinner last night, either,” said Castle.

“You can’t force him to eat if he doesn’t want to.” Javier didn’t look thrilled about his partner’s new no-cal diet, but he was a big proponent of letting his partners make their own decisions.

“I’ll go talk to him,” said Kate. She set down her fork and started to slip off her barstool. Castle waved a hand at her.

“Let me. You just eat the food I worked so hard to prepare.” Castle didn’t start for the back of the loft right away. He pulled a carton of milk from the refrigerator and retrieved the jar of honey from the cabinet. Hating the associated nickname didn’t mean Detective Ryan had given up his love of the warm beverage. Two minutes later, Castle marched for the trenches, armed only with a warm mug of milk and honey.

xXx

The only two decent hiding places in the room were under the bed and in the closet. Neither sounded appealing, nor would giving in to his desire to disappear help his and Javi’s bid to be treated like the adults they really were. Thanks to his indecisiveness, he was still seated on the bed when Castle barged in uninvited.

“There you are.” The writer’s ability to observe the obvious was impressive. Kevin mentally rolled his eyes. “Esposito said you were just retrieving something, not hiding out.” Kevin had gotten strangely used to be addressed by his given name by the ‘adults’ in their group during the short time he’d been under the curse. The return to surnames was a little jarring, but Javi had made it perfectly clear his new stance on that. Kevin knew he was exempt - he’d been calling his partner Javier for almost a year now.

Castle walked to the side of the bed and sat down. Purposefully or not, the writer plopped down heavily, causing the mattress to bounce and Kevin to scramble to remain upright. His suspicion that Castle had intended to jar him was supported by the careful way the older man balanced his mug to prevent it from spilling.

Kevin wasn’t as confrontational as his partner, though he had his moments. Slamming that shady undercover cop from narcotics into the wall of the Interrogation Room had been one of his shining examples of losing his cool. He preferred to deal with unwanted attention by giving his tormentor the cold shoulder in hopes that they’d lose interest. Fortunately for him, people tended to lose interest in an unassuming junior detective pretty quickly.

Not Castle.

“I made you some honey milk.” Castle shoved the mug under his nose. It smelled wonderful. Kevin tried to recall every time the tag-along had called him Honey Milk in front of non-team members and it helped him resist the offering. Castle’s ability to wait patiently was blissfully short, so he only had to recycle his memories once. “Are you going to shut us all out every time something doesn’t go your way?”

Shut up, asshole.

“Kevin… By the way, until you tell me otherwise, I’m going to keep calling you that, regardless of what your bully of a partner says.”

“Javi’s not a bully,” Kevin snapped. Oops. He scowled at the victorious grin Castle was surely sporting. He wouldn’t give the writer the satisfaction of actually looking up at him. He didn’t want to be comforted, he just wanted to wallow. His rekindled inner child warred with his hard-won (though maybe still a little lacking in some areas) maturity. The kid whose body he was trapped in wanted to throw a tantrum but his adult mind knew that would be counterproductive and embarrassing in the end. He’d suffered enough humiliation the night before after the Bath Incident.

“Kevin, you don’t have to pretend to be impervious to what’s going on. You’re going to make yourself sick if you keep holding everything back. I know you think it’s embarrassing to show any kind of emotion and we all know that you and Javier are trying your bests to act like everything is okay when really you’re terrified.” Castle set the mug aside. He ran his hand down Kevin’s back, then up again. The thin material of his t-shirt went along for the ride.

Kevin inched away from Castle, breaking the contact. The writer was always so infuriatingly suave and unflappable, like life never gave him lemons. Who could blame him? He was good-looking, self-confident, successful, rich, and had a brilliant daughter and a beautiful girlfriend. It was easy for him to tell the vaguely dorky homicide detective to act like a little girl and cry about a stupid curse that wasn’t even permanent.

“Come on, talk to me, Kev,” said Castle. The man couldn’t take a hint. He reached for the detective again.

Kevin twisted around to avoid the contact. He wondered how much longer the writer’s twelve-year-old attention span would last. Surely this had to be boring. Castle might consider himself friends with Beckett’s two favorite partners, but Kevin had never kidded himself that the man’s regard went much further than ‘the boys who work with the love of my life’ except for when he wanted something from them or their case landed them somewhere stupid like Atlantic City.

“All right, no more Mr. Nice Guy.” Castle snatched Kevin under the arms, much like he’d done earlier than morning in order to stave off Javier’s fury. Kevin instinctively flailed, trying to regain his upset balance. A heartbeat later, Kevin found himself trapped against Castle’s wide chest, his head tucked under the man’s chin. The writer manipulated their positions until Castle was leaning against the headboard with his legs straight out. Kevin’s legs settled on either side of the man’s hips and his annoyingly short arms were pinned against the man’s sides. Castle pressed Kevin’s head against his shoulder with one hand while his other arm wrapped snugly around the detective’s lower back. An experimental push confirmed that he was trapped, immobile in the man’s embrace. Stupid, weak, undersized kid body.

Castle started to talk. Kevin valiantly tuned him out. His ramblings didn’t make sense, anyway. The writer really just liked the sound of his own voice. His chest rumbled beneath Kevin as he continued to monologue. The steady beat of his heart under Kevin’s ear was almost loud enough to drown out the shower of words.

Frustration at being trapped soon melted into a sense of unwanted security and comfort. Kevin didn’t want to feel safe in another man’s embrace. He was a big boy, an adult who’d seen and been through enough to know how to take care of himself and those around him. Unfortunately, the warm tracks of salty liquid leaking down his cheeks hadn’t gotten the message. At his shuddering breath, Castle tightened his hold briefly, if that was even possible. The leaky dam broke and the tears flooded over his still raw eye rims and cheeks. The only shred of dignity he managed to keep was that he cried silently apart from the intermittent rough exhale.

Castle’s cheek rested on the crown of Kevin’s head. They stayed that way until Kevin’s breathing smoothed out and the rush of tears slowed. His eyes felt gritty and his eyelids puffy and heavy. The inviting thought of sleep drew him in, despite his only having been awake for less than two hours. Castle must have noticed his impending escape into unconsciousness. He loosened his hold and nudged Kevin back until he was drowsily straddling Castle’s lap with his arms hanging uselessly at his sides.

“I want you to drink this, Kevin. And as soon as you wake up again, real food. No one is going to starve themselves under my watch, kapeesh?”

“I really don’t have an appetite right now,” mumbled Kevin. He slowly lifted the mug that Castle had pressed into his smaller hands to his mouth. He ignored Castle’s steadying grip on the bottom of the ceramic container.

The drink had gone room temperature but it hadn’t segregated out so it was still palatable. Kevin kept his eyes downcast as the sweet flavor filled his mouth, focusing on the pattern of the pillowcase behind Castle’s shoulder. He drank half of the concoction before his stomach started to protest the volume of liquid. Kevin finally met Castle’s concerned gaze as he pushed the drink away, hoping to convey through body language alone that he couldn’t drink any more. Kevin’s brow furrowed when he saw the reddish tinge around the writer’s eyes and the questionable moisture pooling along his lower eyelids. Despite that, Castle didn’t look away. Whatever Castle read in his expression resulted in the mug being abandoned on the night stand and Kevin cradled securely in his arms again.

As he drifted on the verge of deeper sleep, Kevin promised himself that this was the last time he let the stupid curse get the better of him and force him to show weakness in front of his teammates.

xXx

Beckett made herself comfortable on the bed next to Castle, slouching a little so her face was level with Ryan’s. Esposito’s partner didn’t react to the proximity, leaving Esposito to deduce he’d managed to fall asleep, splayed across Castle’s chest as if the writer were a giant teddy bear. He didn’t begrudge the Irishman the comfort he seemed to find. Ryan had always been the sort to find affirmation through touch, whereas Esposito put the most stock into thoughtful gestures. Knowing each other so well explained why Esposito didn’t complain when Ryan leeched onto him in the middle of the night and how the secretly acquired video of Esposito’s bath time monologue had mysteriously vanished from Castle’s recorder.

“How long ago did he go down?” Beckett ran the pad of her index finger down the bridge of Ryan’s nose.

“Just a few minutes.” Esposito pulled himself up onto the bed, moving to sit a few inches from Beckett. From there he could easily see that Ryan was out for the count. He could also see the haggard look that went along with the rough quality of Castle’s voice. His guilt at being a pain earlier pulsed again. Truthfully, Castle had really stepped up in a way no one expected him to. He wasn’t a fellow officer, or even more than an occasional hang-out buddy who owned a really sweet bar, but he’d brought Esposito and Ryan into his home without question and taken care of them while Beckett continued to work on the Valduerez homicide case.

Not that Esposito needed taking care of, even in a six-year-old body. He could take care of himself and his partner. He just didn’t mind the help all that much.

“Ugh.” Beckett shifted so she was lying on her side, still facing her boyfriend. She ran her hand down her face. “This is seriously going down as the worst. Case. Ever.”

“Seconded,” said Esposito. Beckett smiled wanly at him. She reached down to take his hand and pull him into the narrow space between the two full size adults. The repositioning caused him to inadvertently bump Ryan. The younger detective made a small sound of protest but remained asleep.

“There’s still a few hours before you have to head to the precinct. Let’s just relax. We could all use a breather, I think,” said Castle. He adjusted his position as well, making sure to maintain his steady hold on Ryan. Beckett slipped her arms around Esposito, effectively sandwiching him in place. He wanted to protest being snuggled like a baby, but a bigger part of him liked the affection. He would deal with the fallout and re-establish his manly independence later.

Speaking of permitting abnormally large amounts of affection… Beckett had been much more forthcoming with hugs and other physical displays to her partners since the change. Usually she reserved her rare PDAs for Castle. This all just confirmed to Esposito that Beckett was having as much trouble dealing with this as he and Ryan. While he liked to think he was above gullibility when it came to Castle’s extreme theories about their murder cases (unlike Ryan, who always gave Castle’s ridiculous ideas more thought time than they deserved), he did sometimes give the less crazy ones consideration. Beckett was resolute in believing that there was a logical explanation for everything and there were no supernatural beings or occurrences. Seeing her two partners turned into little kids had to have seriously rocked her view on the world.

Esposito shifted uncomfortably. He’d never spent this much time in such close proximity to his team leader, whom he considered like a sister, and they were stepping over all kinds of unspoken boundaries. He was worried that even when the curse wore off, things wouldn’t go back to normal. Would they awkwardly remember moments like these when they were once again maintaining professional relationships at work? Even worse, would Ryan (and okay, maybe Esposito too, but definitely not to the same degree) get too used to being coddled and regret being full size again?

“You’re thinking too loudly,” complained Beckett. She unwrapped one arm from around his small frame so she could enfold his shrunken hand in her slender fingers. “I’m going to talk to Bellefonte this afternoon and he’ll know how to fix this. By tomorrow, you and Ryan will be back in your desks at the precinct, driving me crazy because you still behave like preschoolers even as adults.”

“Okay, first of all,” said Esposito, shifting so he could look Beckett in the eye, “I’m always more mature and sophisticated than writer-boy over here and you at least rate him a nine-year-old. Second, Ryan is the preschooler. I would be in elementary if this was real. Third, you’d drive yourself manic without Ryan and me to lighten the atmosphere once in a while.”

“Mature, maybe, but I refuse to give you sophisticated,” argued Castle. “I can be devastatingly debonair when I put my mind to it.”

“He does have his moments,” said Beckett. She smiled at her boyfriend in a sugary sick way that made Esposito regret not trying harder to make things work with Lanie.

“I think I need to brush my teeth now.”

“Hush, you.” Beckett squeezed his hand. “For the record, I look forward to having my bestest detectives back at the precinct. I forgot how miserable grunt work can be and how much I like pawning it off on you two.” Esposito understood her real sentiment, so he decided to let her last comment slide. They slipped into a comfortable quiet. Eventually, the morning’s exertions caught up to him and Esposito joined his partner in sleep.

to be continued…