159. Chapter 159

Chapter 159

"Back to the real world," Castle said as he and Kate lined their bags up near the door. "Somebody should be here with the luggage trolley any time now."

"Our real world isn't so bad, but I'll miss the alone time we've had for the last few days."

"Me, too."

As soon as their lips touched, there was a knock on the door. "It's probably Ryan," Castle said with a grin, and Kate laughed and reached to open the door.

"Why don't you just roll it in here and we can load it," she said.

The young man did as he was told, and Castle helped, then he turned to Kate trying to keep a straight face, and mouthed "Check the name tag."

Kate had to turn around to hide her near laughter. Castle composed himself enough to hand the young man a tip and say, "If you'll take that down to the lobby, we'll be there to check out in a few minutes. Thank you."

They closed the door behind him and burst out laughing. "It was Ryan. What are the odds that we flew all the way across the Atlantic and still have a Ryan interrupt us?" Kate asked. "If I hadn't seen the name tag, I wouldn't have believed you."

"I guess we're being conditioned for re-entry into the real world," Castle chuckled. "Shall we give it one more try before we leave?"

They allowed themselves one more blessedly uninterrupted and rather memorable kiss before taking a last look around for anything they might have left behind. Then they went downstairs to check out of the hotel and take a taxi to the airport. Once they arrived at the gate, they found Gina and talked until they were called to board.

"It's nice to sit together and not have to wrangle a toddler across the Atlantic." Kate observed, lacing her fingers through her husband's and planting a little kiss on his shoulder.

"Yeah, it is. Alexis said they told Jamie we'd pick him up after breakfast tomorrow morning. She said they wanted to give us a day to acclimate to the time change."

"We have a very thoughtful child. Our boy must not have given them too much trouble if they're volunteering for an extra night."

"It's going to be easier to get our luggage unpacked and things put away, and a trip to the grocer's out of the way without a three year old, but I miss the little rascal," Castle said.

"Me, too." she answered. "If it's past dinner time when we get home, let's pick him up early tomorrow and get a good night's sleep."

"Or not," he answered with a bit of a leer, and she smiled.

"I don't know how that one track mind of yours can write so many different stories.

He nuzzled her hair, kissed her head, and whispered, "I don't usually hear complaints."

"Because you're so good at "or not," she whispered back, a seductive smile making her eyes sparkle.

"Oooo… Compliments. I must have done something right."

"You've been softening me up for the last three days," she answered mischievously. "I finally caved."

He just chuckled, wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her head again, and they both gradually fell asleep leaning against one another and woke up about an hour before their arrival time. Since they had slept while she was serving everyone else, the flight attendant came and offered them a meal; but they asked for enough of a snack to get them to the airport and looked forward to a meal closer to home.

"I'm excited about being back in the loft again," Kate told him.

"I think I'm even excited about seeing Mother and finding out how much of our wine is gone." She swatted his arm, and he laughed. "Yeah, I know. Stop picking on my mother."

Customs took a while, then there was the hike through the airport to baggage claim. Judging from how long it took to show up, they decided that one of their bags must have been the last one to be put on the conveyor to the baggage carousel. They left in the rush hour traffic, and by the time they reached the loft, it was a little after six-thirty. Even New York cab drivers can only move so fast in near gridlock.

"Darlings, you're home. I was beginning to worry." Martha greeted them at the door with open arms, first hugging her son and then her daughter.

"We're going to empty our luggage so we don't have that hanging over us, and then we plan on not cooking dinner. Would you like to go to the little Italian place around the corner with us?" her son asked.

"Just tell me when," his mother answered.

"This shouldn't take long," Kate told her. "Alexis said they told Jamie we'd be there tomorrow morning, but we thought we might pick him up tonight."

"Oh, for goodness sake," Martha scolded. "Everybody knows what good parents you are. Give yourselves a good night's sleep and pick him up in the morning. You can spend the whole day playing with him if you want; but give yourselves a good night's sleep and go into it fresh, instead of after a long flight and the frustration of the airport routine and the traffic. You must be exhausted. And don't feel guilty about it either. Alexis volunteered. She and JD love him as much as you do."

"Let's have dinner and then we'll decide," Castle told her.

The three of them went to dinner, and Rick and Kate told Martha where they had gone during their childless few days; and Martha let them know she was happy that they had the time to indulge themselves that way.

When Rick made a trip to the restroom, Martha asked quietly, "Has he talked to you about meeting with Alex? I know it was on his mind when he was a boy, and it's bound to have still been on his mind as an adult.

"He talked to me. At first he wanted to talk about it later. You know how he is. Sometimes he needs to think it through, but I finally asked him yesterday. I think there's more that he needs to say, but he'll talk to me when he's ready. He did say he felt better to have so much off his chest. He'll be okay. He's tough…like his mother."

Martha reached out and took Kate's hand. "I'm so glad he has you, Katherine. The other two wives didn't spend much time thinking about the man; they mostly thought about what the man could do for them. If I get hit by a bus tomorrow, I can go peacefully, knowing there's someone with him who loves him as much as I do and will take care of him. That's important for a mother to know."

"Well, watch out for buses, Martha," Kate answered, patting her hand. "We still need you around."

By the time they left the restaurant, it was almost eight, and they knew that Jamie would be in bed by the time they could get to Alexis and JD's apartment.

"I guess we wait until morning to get our boy back," Castle said.

"I guess so, but we can pick him up as soon as it's a decent hour to knock on the door."

"I stopped by this afternoon, and he looked happy. He's fine," Martha told them. "Meanwhile, I'm sure you could use a good night's sleep in your own bed. That should feel good after being gone over a month."

"Yes, it will," they said in unison.

Martha laughed at them as they walked the short distance back home, and they told her about buying the small apartment next to the loft and their plans for the gym. Not too much more was said about it, but the possibilities were there for all of them to contemplate.

xxxxx

There was a knock on the door of Alexis's apartment at eight-thirty the next morning, followed by an excited little voice from inside, and Alexis opened the door with Jamie standing beside her.

"Mommy, Daddy!" he shouted as he held his hands up for someone to pick him up. Kate won and got the first hug, then he squirmed his way into his father's arms.

"Lexis and JD made me a ca…" He looked to his sister for help.

"A calendar," she prompted.

"A calendar," he said. "It had the days 'til you got home and I drew X's. There was a circle on today 'cause that's when you came home. And you're here." He threw his hands out with his little trademark twist of the fingers.

Castle smiled his eye crinkling smile and hugged his little boy tight. "One day when you're bigger and Peanut is waiting for something to happen, you can make her a calendar and help her draw X's."

Kate rubbed her hand on his back, and Jamie leaned to get back into her arms for more hugs.

"I washed his clothes, so all you have to do is put them in the drawers," Alexis told them.

"You are such a wonderful daughter," Kate answered, giving her a hug with her free arm. "Thank you."

"Where's JD?" Castle asked.

"Taking a shower. I made a breakfast casserole big enough for all of us. Have you eaten yet?"

"We had coffee and came to hug our children," Castle answered, pulling his daughter into a hug.

JD came out of the bedroom then, all dressed but barefoot and drying his hair with a towel. "I thought I heard extra voices."

When he stopped drying and was holding the towel in his hand, Jamie started giggling. "Your hair looks funny. It's sticking all out."

"You're laughing at my hair, Kid? I think that calls for me to transform into the dreaded tickle monster." His voice dropped as he became his alter ego, advancing on his little brother ominously, and Jamie was both laughing and clinging to Kate at the same time, preparing for the attack. After tickling Jamie as he giggled and wiggled and tried to get away, JD backed off and said, "I guess I'll stop and give your mommy a break before you wiggle her to pieces. "Sorry, Mom" he said with a grin and ran his fingers through his hair to straighten it a little bit.

Alexis had been busy through the silliness and had breakfast on the table for all of them, and they all sat down to eat. She and JD talked about what they had done while they had Jamie, and Rick and Kate talked about the places they had gone after the rest of the family left Europe. Before long the older couple took their little boy to go home; but when they reached the door, they heard a falsetto voice saying, "Wait, wait. Don't forget me." When they all turned, JD was hiding behind the wall and wiggling Bear where he could be seen.

"I forgot Bear!" Jamie said, trying to get down to get him, but JD brought the stuffed animal to him.

He kissed Jamie's head and said, "I knew you wouldn't want to forget Bear."

"What do you say to JD?" Kate asked. "You would have missed Bear."

"Thank you, JD."

"Gotta take care of my little brother."

"And what do you say to your sister for taking such good care of you while we were gone?" Castle prompted.

"Thank you, Lexis."

Alexis kissed his head and said, "I love you."

Jamie smiled and clutched Bear, waving with just his fingers as his parents offered their appreciation for everything the younger couple had done for them over the past few days and took him home.

Martha was on her way out when they got there and stopped to hug her grandson and tell her children when she would be home. Then things began to settle back to normal. Castle took Jamie's luggage to his room, and Kate followed with Jamie, who was happy to be in his room again. While Kate put his clean clothes away, he went to his toy box looking for his favorites.

"Do you want to come downstairs with us, or do you want to enjoy being in your room again for a while?"

"My room," he said, not even looking up.

The parents left him there and started toward the stairs. "Outclassed by the toys," Castle observed.

"Probably won't be the last time," Kate answered.

Since we're going to start work on the other apartment soon, we need to decide where the door to the gym will be. It needs to open up here, probably on the other side of Mother's room."

They walked to that end of the hallway to look with a more critical eye. "That's really the only place to put it without remodeling part of this apartment, too," Castle said, and Kate agreed. "I'd like to have all of it done before Peanut is born so we don't have all the hammering and construction noise while the baby is trying to sleep."

"I agree. Who's going to do the work?"

"Well, Eduardo's nephew did a good job of building us some hidden storage space when we were working on the Bracken research, and I've been happy with the little bit of remodeling he'd done for me before. He's started his own company since then, doing bigger things. I thought I'd start with him."

"You need to call him soon. These are big plans, and Peanut will be making her grand entrance in about three months."

"Yeah, she's beginning to show herself enough that those loose shirts won't be hiding her at all too much longer." He said it in a teasing tone and ran his hand lovingly over Kate's protruding middle.

"They're not hiding her too well most days now anyway. I wonder what she does in there to not be too noticeable sometimes and then look so much bigger the next day. I guess it won't be long before Jamie tells me I look funny again."

"I hope he's as excited about Peanut when she's here as he is at the idea of her right now."

"You and me both."

"I've been thinking," Castle said. "We have two guest rooms. One of them is going to have to be Peanut's room, and when Alexis was little, I used one for a playroom. With two sets of toys, we might want a playroom. You'll be back at work way sooner than I'm going to want you to be, though; and with two little ones, if you want one of them to be your space instead, a place for some down time when you get home, we could do that."

"And where is your space for some down time going to be?" she asked. "You'll have both of them all day. If anybody needs down time, it should be you. I'm okay with having a desk in your office and sharing space and children with you."

He pulled her close and kissed her head. "We'll think about it. It wouldn't require anything more than paint and new furniture. That would be easy. We should start the big stuff first, anyway. I'll call Julian today and see if I need to talk to an architect first to get something drawn up. I want a well-equipped gym, and I want the ceiling well supported."

"You're thinking about something else, too, aren't you?"

"I was thinking about Mother, wondering if she would want to go ahead and move into that apartment when we finish it. She's been talking about remodeling part of the upper level of her school as an apartment, but she isn't getting any younger. I want her closer to us than that. Part of her reasoning is that it would be convenient to her work, but I know part of it is to give all three of us some space. If she had her own apartment, she would have some privacy for herself, and her…activities," he said with a little shudder. "And we would have a little more for ourselves after the kids are in bed. She would have an entire apartment to do with as she pleased."

"And she would be close enough for us to know she's okay?"

"Yeah. You got me."

"You really are a good man, Richard Castle. We're all lucky to have you."

He kissed her again, and while they walked downstairs, he said, "I'll go and call Julian while I'm thinking about it."

"And I'll sort those clothes we left in the laundry room yesterday."

"Don't forget the dry cleaning will be picked up today."

"I'll have it ready,"

"We're so domestic lately."

She stopped them at the bottom of the stairs and kissed him thoroughly. "It's been nice. I'll admit it."

"After that kiss and that statement, I'm supposed to call Julian and talk business?" She just chuckled and walked away with a little extra sway to her hips.

"Evil woman," he muttered on his way to his office, and he heard a playful sounding "Love you" drift out of the laundry room.

A few minutes later, he came back and said, "Julian will be here day after tomorrow; and if we need it, his company is working with an architect he said he trusts."

"Good," Kate responded, bringing the dry cleaning out and draping it over the back of one of the chairs.

"You're going to miss the Fourth of July at the beach again this year."

"After bouncing across Europe, hiking through gardens, playing in kid museums, seeing magic fountains, and finding our way through a hedge maze, etc., etc., etc. I think I'll be perfectly content to sit on our sofa in our living room and watch the fireworks on TV," she answered.

"I think I will, too. Shall we see how long this project will take before we think about when we spend time at the beach house?"

"That makes sense." She opened the refrigerator door and asked, "Do you want some juice?"

"Sure. Whatever you're having," he said as he sat down at the breakfast bar.

She brought two glasses and the bottle of juice and sat down with her husband. "If the first work is the gym, and I'd love to have that for both of us; we could stay here until that's under control. And if the first floor apartment is for your mother, she could keep track of the work on it while we're at the beach. She did a fine job of keeping things in line when the construction at her school was being done. If she decides to live there, she should have no trouble ordering construction workers around to have her own apartment finished to her satisfaction."

"Excellent thinking. She can't leave town except for weekends until her school has its break right before the fall session, anyway. If the work on the gym doesn't take too long, we might still get four or five weeks at the beach before the baby is here."

"Speaking of the baby, I have an appointment the day after we see Julian. Are we taking Jamie, or do we need a babysitter? I think I'd like to take him."

"Yeah. We should take him…keep him excited and involved. Maybe we can get him one of those little albums with the single picture sized pages and put Peanut's sonogram pictures in order so he can watch how she's growing. We could do the same with his in another album so he can compare her pictures to his. He seemed to like the calendar Alexis had for him. When we leave the beach and come back home, we can start him a countdown calendar."

"I like that."

xxxxx

The next day was July Fourth. They took Jamie to the neighborhood park and let him enjoy the beautiful sunny day, then they stopped for ice cream on the way back, and stayed home and did family things the rest of the day. After Jamie was in bed, his parents watched the Boston Pops special and the fireworks afterward with their feet propped up on the coffee table."

"Being home feels good," Kate said contentedly as they were getting into bed later.

"Yeah, especially when you're snuggled up where you belong," he answered. "Come here."

xxxxx

Kate went down to get the mail the next morning and Eduardo mentioned that he talked to Julian at a family cookout the day before. He said you're planning some work at the loft. He and I both appreciate how much help Mr. Castle gave him when Julian was getting his construction business started."

"Castle helped him with that?"

"He gave him a no interest loan to buy equipment and pay workers at the beginning. You didn't know? Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it."

"It's not a problem. It's just so much a part of who he is, he doesn't feel the need to mention it." She shook her head and smiled. "I love that man more every day."

Eduardo seemed relieved that what he said not only wouldn't cause trouble but actually seemed to be in Mr. Castle's favor.

"It's going to be good to see Julian again," Kate said as she took their mail from the mailbox, and waved as she went back to the elevator.

When Julian came that afternoon, they talked him through what they intended to do with the small apartment next door, and Julian laughed. "You do realize this small apartment is only small relative to the loft. There's still more than triple the space of a lot of the Manhattan apartments I've worked in…just on the first floor. You should have plenty of room for a well-equipped gym upstairs and a very comfortable apartment downstairs."

For the gym, what we need from you is a well-supported, sound proofed, second floor room that can safely handle the weight of some heavy gym equipment and keep most of the sound of equipment and activity out of the apartment downstairs," Castle told the younger man. "Right now all the bedrooms are on the second floor, so we need to find a way to put a comfortable master suite downstairs, preferably on the far side from our apartment, probably using that little sun room and a small part of the living room, It would be nice to have a smallish guest room if it can be done, but I think it would be optional. I think the kitchen can remain where it is without much work."

"I'm pretty confident about shoring up the ceiling over the apartment to accommodate the gym," Julian answered, "but I'd feel better if the architect I mentioned looked at it, too. A lot of his most profitable work has been opening up older, larger apartments with defined rooms and turning them into more open spaces similar to yours. Sometimes that involves adjusting weight bearing parts of the structure, and he can be very creative about it. He has a good eye for the visual effect that will result from what he's planning, too."

"Will you have him call me, or should I get his number and call him? We have an appointment tomorrow morning, but the rest of the week is pretty flexible."

"Why don't you sketch out a possible floor plan and we can go from there."

"Before you leave, will you give me accurate measurements I can use to work out a floor plan?"

"Sure. And if you'll give it to Uncle Eddy, I'll pick it up from him tomorrow morning and take it to Merritt so he can see what we're working with. I already have the measurements for the second story, and I'll sketch out the upstairs for him. I'd like him to have an idea what's here before he comes by."

Kate asked a few questions then went to get a notepad and pen for the measurements. Julian measured each room and called out the results, and Kate wrote them down while Castle made a rough sketch of the present first floor rooms to help them work it out later.

Is the apartment for Ms. Rodgers?" Julian asked.

"That's what we were thinking. We plan to talk to her tonight to see how she feels about it. And it probably wouldn't hurt to have a floor plan in mind when we talk to her, come to think of it. If she's interested, she may have her own ideas."

"I did some work for her at the school after she had the bigger construction out of the way. She knows what she wants and asks enough questions to know whether it's possible." He gave a little chortle and added, "She kept us in line, too, but all the guys loved her."

"So do you and…Merritt was it, work together a lot?" Kate asked, and Castle had asked, "How did you and Merritt meet each other?" at almost the same time.

Julian smiled at the simultaneous questions. "Yeah. Merritt Larchmont. I was working on a smaller job across the hall from where he was launching one of his first big projects under his own business name. We literally ran into each other in the hall as we left the two apartments. He asked what I was working on, came in to see, and liked the quality of my work. He told me what was going to be done across the hall and asked if my crew could handle it. That's how it started. And our businesses are in about the same places right now. We both started with a few satisfied customers, and word of mouth has brought us enough additional work to stay afloat without starving. Things are going pretty well. But I'll find room for you any time you need me, Mr. Castle. That loan saved me a lot of money, and setting up terms I could handle right then made the difference in starting then or waiting another year. My wife and I are expecting a baby, too… in January, and having the business this well established makes us feel a lot better about providing for it.

"We're happy for you," Kate told him. "On both counts, the baby and the business."

"Thanks, Mrs. Castle." Turning back to Castle, he said. "You mentioned when you called me that you'd like this done before your baby is born. The work we're doing right now should be complete by the end of next week. If Merritt can get to this pretty quickly, we could start a week from Monday if that works for you."

"That sounds great," Castle told him. "I'll get a sketch to your uncle first thing in the morning."

While Jamie got reacquainted with his larger toys, some that were usually kept in a toy box in Castle's study, Rick and Kate worked on a floor plan, with a few interruptions from their son; and they were enjoying the challenge. Castle had found graph paper, and true to their detail oriented natures, a simple sketch was too ambiguous. They were trying to be accurate.

"You know, Julian was right. This is actually a pretty decent sized apartment," Castle said when they finished. We even managed a guest room."

"Do you think Martha will want to do this?"

"I don't know, but it looks like it could be an attractive option."

"Daddy, can I watch Cars?" Jamie asked, holding his big red truck.

"I'll get it started for you; but Mommy and I need to start dinner, so you'll have to watch it by yourself."

"I can play and watch."

"Meanwhile, why don't you come here and give Mommy some snuggles while Daddy starts your movie?" Her little boy smiled and she helped him climb into her lap and hugged him tight, kissing all over his head as he giggled and tried to settle into her lap.

"Your lap doesn't feel right," he complained, wriggling to get comfortable.

"What's wrong with my lap?" she asked playfully.

"It's not big enough."

Castle was back by then and grinned. "I told you she was getting too big to hide." Then he told Jamie, "That's because Peanut is growing and taking up part of Mommy's lap. As she gets bigger, you might have to sit beside Mommy to snuggle."

"Peanut is going to take away Mommy's lap?" Jamie sounded distressed.

"Not forever. After she's born, you can sit in Mommy's whole lap again," Kate explained. "Right now, it looks like you'll have to snuggle with Peanut and me at the same time. I've been feeling Peanut moving now and then. Sometimes while we snuggle, you might feel Peanut moving around, sort of like she's saying 'Hi, Big Brother.''

Jamie gave up on wiggling and draped himself over Kate.

Talking to her tummy like Castle often did, he said, "Hi, Peanut. I'm gonna watch a movie. When you get born, you can watch with me." Looking thoughtful, the little boy looked up at his mother and asked, "Did I move around inside you a lot?"

"Oh, yeah. Sometimes I thought you were trying to dance in there."

Castle went to his study and came back with the two little stuffed cats from the Valentine's dinner they had right before Jamie was born. "See these little cats?"

"The hugging kitties," Jamie said with a giggle. I like them."

"I took Mommy to dinner on Valentine's Day just before you were born, and her tummy was really big then. The people at the restaurant gave us these little hugging kitties."

"Daddy was being silly and sat them on my tummy and said it was a present for you."

"And you kicked so hard that it threw those kitties all the way across the table. I had to catch them to keep them from falling on the floor."

Jamie laughed. "Did I take up Mommy's whole lap?"

"You definitely did. Mommy didn't have any lap at all left then," Kate answered.

"Your movie is ready," Castle told his son, and he scrambled out of Kate's lap to get to the living room.

"Well, so much for snuggling in my limited lap," she said, smiling.

"I still love…"

She put her hand over his mouth, "If he repeats what you were about to say, it would not be a good thing," she warned.

"But I didn't even…"

"I know you well, remember?"

"Yeah, you do," he smirked and stole a kiss. "Let's get dinner started.

When Martha came in about half an hour later, she looked like it was the end of a very long day. After hugging the enthusiastic little boy who left his movie to greet her and return to his movie, she stood on the landing above the first two steps of the stairs and looked up. Looking back at her children, she laughed and asked, "Do these stairs look taller to anybody else lately?" Then she went up to her room as they chuckled with her.

"Well, that sounded like a good segue into our conversation about the apartment. We should use it after dinner," Castle suggested.

"Things are changing again, aren't they?"

"Looks like it," her husband answered, his hands covering her baby bump. "But it's good change."