12. Chapter 12

The black rental is parked in the lot just outside the high-rise condominiums, the parking tag hanging from the rearview mirror. Castle keeps hold of the boy with a tight grip around his upper arm, since Dash has a tendency to run off at a moment's notice.

Behind them, Kate holds Ellery's hand as they walk across the parking lot, the girl at her own pace, slow and a little dreamy. They are falling further and further behind the fast-moving Dashiell, but Kate seems content to let the girl go as slow as she likes.

They are on vacation, after all. Castle opens the back door of their rented SUV and starts wrestling Dash into his booster seat, an arm across the boy's shoulders as he fights it.

"On your sitter," Castle grunts, narrowly avoiding an elbow in the eye.

Kate chuckles as she and Ella get to the car, and she bends down to pick up their daughter. "Your brother is excited, isn't he?"

Dash is growling at him. "But Daddy, I'm a T-rex. And T-rex don't go in the car. He don't sit-"

"But four year-old T-rex's do sit. Daddy T-rex will ask him to sit because he wants his son to be safe."

"No car. No seat." Dash jerks forward, arching his back. "T-rex is very very mad at his daddy."

Castle lifts his arm from his son's shoulders and tries a different tack. "Buddy, we gotta get T-rex some dino food. And we can't do that until T-rex sits down and gets strapped in."

Kate settles Ellery into her car seat, carefully threading her arms through the straps and clicking them into place. "Hey, sweet girl, you in?"

Castle watches Ella nod and pat her chest over the straps, as if to confirm her safety.

Dash, on the other hand, wraps his arms around the headrest of the driver's seat, clinging to it. "Daddy, I don't like the strap across me. It rubs. It hurts me, Daddy."

Dramatic little thing. "Yeah, kiddo, I know. But remember what Ms Julie said? This is on the list of things we can't change. Seat belts have to go on. After awhile, Ms. Julie says they'll not feel so bad."

Dashiell sighs and presses his face into the headrest, standing on the booster seat instead of sitting down. "It needs to be awhile now."

Kate glances up at them. "Dashiell."

Her son glances over at her with a mutinous look on his face. "No, Mommy!"

"Dashiell."

Castle leans in close and murmurs into his ear. "Dashiell. Respect. Sit down or you don't get your reward."

Dash sighs and sinks back down into his seat. His father straps him in and shakes his head at Kate, giving her a little smile. Their behavioral therapist, Julie, has given them a lot of great ideas for overcoming Dash's sensory issues, but it doesn't mean he always likes bribing his kid. Dash will get to pick out something at the grocery store for wearing his seatbelt.

Kate gives him a raised eyebrow across the kids. "Not a bribe, Castle. Contingency."

He laughs on a sigh, because she knows him too well (they've had this discussion before), and they both climb into the front seats. Kate connects her iphone to the stereo while Castle starts the car and glances behind them to pull out. When the kids' cd starts blaring, she switches the input with a jab of her finger.

"What's up with you?" he says, watching for cars in the lot.

"I'm not listening to another second of 'Yellow Bus.' This is my vacation too."

Castle laughs as they exit the parking lot, heading for the main drag. "All right. So what are we listening to instead?"

"You'll see," she says, smirking at him.

After a second, the low-fi sound ripples from the speakers with that strong beat that they both love. Castle grins at her.

"The Black Keys. Excellent. This is good for a drive back into town. Remember the first time we played this album?"

She smirks. "That's why I picked it."

He grunts and rubs a hand at the back of his neck as they merge into traffic on the Causeway. "You're really trying to drive me nuts, aren't you?"

"A little bit."

Whew. The first time they played this album, they'd left Dash with his mother and spent all evening in bed together. Mostly because he'd been so. . .afraid for her life.

On that day nearly four years ago, Esposito called him asking if Kate was with him. She hadn't been; she was supposed to be working a gang-related shooting death. The detective told Castle it might be true that Beckett, after arresting a gang member's little brother, now had a price on her head, and Esposito hadn't been able to reach her. When Castle called her phone, it had rung and rung, but she hadn't picked up.

He spent an hour trying her phone, and then he'd decided he couldn't sit at home like a silly house husband, waiting for the worst. Not when he could be of some help to the boys in tracking her down. So he met his mother at her apartment, dropped Dash with her, and went straight to the precinct.

He had just started retracing Kate's steps with Espo's help when Kate had called him back.

"Is Dash okay?" she asked. "You called 12 times."

"Are *you* okay?"

"Castle-"

"Dash is fine. Fine. Kate, where the hell have you been?"

And then she explained that she'd been at Riker's Island interviewing another gang member; her phone had been with her stuff at the guards' station. She apologized for not letting Esposito know; it'd been a last minute thing-

When Kate arrived at the 12th twenty minutes later, he almost hadn't been able to stand up under his relief. He grabbed her tight and crushed her against him, ignoring the boys, ignoring the Captain, ignoring her soft umph as he practically knocked the breath out of her. And then he'd kissed her, hard, deep, and hadn't care about their audience.

He took her home, leaving Dash with his mother, cranked his stereo as loud as he dared, needing the raw sound of The Black Keys to relieve the crackling tension in his nerves. Kate undressed in the dim light of the living room, the music threading around them, her movements slow, and her eyes on his, until he felt that he could touch her without breaking apart.

He's pretty certain that's the night they made Ellery.

Kate lets the words of the song wash over her, smirking to herself at the look on Castle's face. If they're keeping score today, she wants to keep him. . .in the mood.

If? Oh, yeah, they definitely are. Even with the kids, she's looking to set a record. Perfect day for it. The sun is gorgeous, the kids slept in, *slept* in, and even with Dash's little fit over the seatbelt, she feels close to good. If they really do get Totoro back, then the day will be perfect.

She glances over her shoulder at the two little faces. Dashiell has pulled out a couple of action figures from his travel bag; he makes fighting noises as he bashes them together. Ellery is grinning at Dash, watching him play, but Kate thinks the little girl is humming.

Humming along to the song.

Kate leans forward and turns it down, holding a finger up to Castle's protest, straining her ears for Ellery's little voice.

She is. She's humming to the music. She might even be. . .singing? Her own made up words?

"You hear that?" Kate asks him softly, jerking her head to the back.

Castle narrows his eyes, then nods. "She's singing."

Kate chews on her lower lip, her heart squeezing at the faint little voice. She glances once more over her shoulder, but Ella doesn't seem to notice that her parents are watching her, that they're listening intently. She's not really on key, of course, but she sounds beautiful.

"Has she done this before?" Kate asks him.

"No. Not. . .no." He shakes his head and glances at her quickly, then back to the road. "Of course, I'm not usually playing The Black Keys for her."

Kate grins. "Forget 'Yellow Bus' then. The baby needs some good music."

"Baby needs The Black Keys?" Castle laughs at her.

"Yeah, listen to that." She smiles and closes her eyes to concentrate on the soft voice murmuring made up words behind her. "And some TV on the Radio. Don't you think?"

Castle leans back in his seat, casts a quick look behind him at Ellery. "Sure. Who else? Oh, Kings of Leon. And probably The White Stripes."

Kate grins at him, her heart practically racing, a combination of relief at hearing her daughter so. . .engaged, and arousal. Because it is The Black Keys after all. It's just too perfect, too appropriate that the album that was probably the soundtrack to their daughter's creation is also the album to garner her interest. "White Stripes is good. Arcade Fire?"

Castle chuckles. "No doubt. This girl has discerning taste. And Arcade Fire have a couple songs in French, don't they?"

Kate leans forward and turns the music back up a little, certain Ellery will stop singing if she knows they can hear her. "Mm, in French, yeah. That would be good. We can make Cricket a playlist."

Castle reaches over and grabs her hand, squeezing, then laces their fingers together. She glances back once more, risking it, and Ella is reaching across the distance to grab the Batman that Dash is holding out to her. She pats the Batman a few times, then hands it back, apparently part of some play ritual with her brother. It looks kind of like Ellery was doctoring Batman.

Then Ella is flopping back in her car seat and her eyes meet Kate's, her dark hair hanging in her blue eyes. She grins at her mother and blows a kiss.

Kate's chest tightens and she blows Ellery a kiss back, grinning like a fool, unable to help it. She can't wait to get Totoro back for that beautiful girl.

Castle parks in the lot of the rental place and turns off the ignition. Kate pushes her sunglasses up on her head and glances over her shoulder at the kids.

"Ellery, wanna go in with Daddy?"

Dash reaches for his seat belt.

"No, Dash. You stay with me."

Castle gives her a surprised look, but he rolls with it, unbuckling his seat belt. For some reason, Kate's giving him this moment. Maybe because she still feels guilty about not keeping track of the stuffed animal in the first place.

Which is ridiculous, but it's impossible to convince Kate she's wrong.

He pops open his door, gets out, and unlocks Ella's too. The girl is in her car seat, her arms up to him, her hair mussed by the way she keeps pushing it off her face. Castle releases the catch, unhooks the complicated restraint system, and maneuvers her arms out of the straps.

Ellery draws her knees up, and he reaches for her, lifting her out of the seat. Dashiell is telling Kate a long and complicated story about his dinosaur, something to do with jello - Castle has no idea why - and Kate is murmuring absently back.

"Okay, baby, let's go see what we can find." Castle shuts her door and carries the girl into the rental office with him.

Inside, he takes off his sunglasses and shoves them into the pocket on the leg of his cargo shorts. Ella leans in his arms to look around the free-standing display in the center of the lobby; she's probably looking for the employees. Ella always likes to know where the people are, watch them at whatever they're doing.

Since she's got a radar about this thing, Castle follows her line of sight to the back of the space. A woman is sitting at a desk far behind a counter, her head bent over, nearly invisible. He probably would have missed her without Ellery's help.

He walks up to the counter and adjusts Ella in his grip. "I'm Rick Castle. I got a phone call saying that the rental office in Brownsville found something of my daughter's-?"

"Oh yes. They sent it down with one of the cars. Let me go get it." The woman behind the counter gives him a full smile and stands up, heading towards the back, disappearing through a door.

Castle sits Ellery on the counter and combs his fingers through her dark hair. She watches him a moment, then closes her eyes like she's relishing the touch. Her eyes startle open again, brilliant and pale blue, almost grey, and she grins at him, wriggling a little side to side.

"Hey there, baby."

"Here you go, sir-" The woman returns with a plastic bag, from which she withdraws the ragged Totoro.

Ella has turned at the woman's voice, and now his daughter's mouth drops open and she lunges for the stuffed animal, grabbing him up into a fierce hug. The woman laughs and relinquishes the toy easily, even as Castle has to grab his daughter around the waist to keep her from falling off the counter.

"Thank you so much," Castle says, gathering Ellery into his arms again. She curls her body around the stuffed animal like she won't ever let go of it again.

He ducks his head to look at her. The wide blue eyes brim with joy, her little arms strangle the poor thing's body. Ellery lifts up and throws an arm around his neck too, including her father in her overwhelmed gratitude.

"Hey, Ella, I told you we'd get him back." He clears his throat and has to ease her arm around his neck. "Can you tell the lady thank you?"

He doesn't expect a sound, but Ella turns immediately to the woman.

"Thank you." Her voice is intense, strong, vibrant. Nothing like her voice at all. Nothing like anything he's ever heard out of her mouth before.

His heart clenches but the woman just smiles like it's normal for a two year old to talk. "You're very welcome."

It *is* normal for a two year old - almost three - to talk. Just not *his* little girl.

"Very good job saying thank you, sweet girl," he murmurs, remembering just in time to praise her for speaking. Reward the good behavior, Julie's voice in his head instructs.

Castle palms his daughter's skull as he turns around, keeping her close against him. He heads back out for the car and Kate, so sorry she missed this, so stunned he's heard it at all.

"I know you're so happy to have him back, aren't you?" he says, turning his head to kiss Ella's cheek.

She squeezes him tighter, her Totoro safe between them, still with an arm clutched around him. "Daddy," she breathes into his ear, her voice alive with wonder.

"I know," he chokes. "I know, baby girl. We must have left him at the place we picked up our car. And they drove him down to meet us. Wasn't that nice of them?"

"Daddy," she says again, and he can actually hear the joy in her voice, like it's got a sound all its own, a presence that gives her voice volume and strength.

"Yeah," he manages to answer. Two Daddys from her in the last thirty seconds.

Ella curls up again, cradling Totoro in the curve of her body, leaving one arm hooked around his neck as he opens the back door for her.

Kate is turned around in her seat and she smiles at them as Castle lifts her up. "Hey, baby girl."

As Castle starts working Ella's arms through the straps of her car seat, the little girl holds up her stuffed animal. "Mommy. Look."

Castle stills, glances over to Kate's face. He can see her heart twisting in her eyes.

She clears her throat. "I see him, baby. They found Totoro. Aren't you so glad?"

Ellery squeezes Totoro against her chest, closing her brilliant blue eyes. Her hair brushes the stuffed animal's face as she bows over him.

And then Castle hears his daughter's voice again - again - and it's like a miracle.

"I so glad, Mommy."