27. Chapter 27

Castle is on his hands and knees, scraping out a moat with his cupped fingers, packing the wet sand against the sides and trying to stay ahead of the tide. Dashiell runs in circles around their sand castle, giving directions to his family, mostly to Ellery who is the only one who will listen to him, occasionally stopping to splash in the encroaching waves.

Kate looks up at Rick from her position opposite him, slowly sliding the bucket off the mound of sand she's shaped into a tower, her hair in a loose bun, sand sprinkled down the side of her neck. Probably from Dash running around and kicking it up.

At his side, little Ella makes careful castle walls between the towers, her hands steady and so small against the fragile sand.

"Here, baby girl, use the wet sand. It will stick together," he says, scraping more sand out and showing her how to shape the walls with it. Ellery's little tongue pokes out between her red lips as she works, her hair falling in her face. She stops every so often to push it back, so now little grains of sand are sprinkled all through the dark strands. Everyone is going to need a really good bath tonight.

Dashiell is deep into his story, too excited to sit still and keep building. He was the one who started them all on this project, but now he roams to the waves and gathers bits of shells or sticks and brings them back to add on. He dances through a wave, skips a little, comes back to the sand castle with a hand clutching a shovel that he waves around like a sword.

"And then the king of the castle can call for all his soldiers, Daddy. The soldiers get to be up on all the walls to protect the king-"

"And the king's family," Rick adds.

"Yeah, and then the soldiers will shoot their arrows - phew, phew - like that - phew phew phew-"

"Phew is the noise the arrow makes?" Kate says, her lips quirking. Castle shoots her a look and hides his own smile in the side of his arm.

"Yeah, Mommy. And then the arrows go whoosh whoosh into all them's chests, all the bad guys gonna fall over like this-" And Dashiell flops into the sand with a groan, thrashing, kicking his heels. He makes a final noise, sticks his tongue out.

Castle can see Kate grinning.

"What happens after that?" he says.

"They die. All them bad dudes die and there's blood *everywhere* but the ocean is gonna wash it all away away away-" He jumps up and shoots his hand into the air, then slaps it down on an incoming wave, creating a wall of water that splashes Ellery. The girl shakes her head and uses her shoulder to wipe water off her face.

Kate is giving their son a stunned look.

Castle should've warned Kate about the violence inherent in Dashiell's every story, because Kate's face looks absolutely horrified and she shoots him a long, panicked look. Castle shakes his head.

"So there's blood everywhere and all the bad guys die. What happens to their bodies?" he asks.

Kate glares at him, but he gestures for her to let it go and scrapes out more sand. He's learned that Dash has to be walked through every aspect of his fantastic stories to give him a sense of completion, of being at the end, which he recognizes as something the kid has inherited from both of them - the need for justice and the need for the stories to be right, to be true. A little of him and a little of Kate.

"All them bad guys bodies get swept out to the sea and they sink way down down down, all the way to the bottom. And Daddy there's a Daby Jones down there and he takes care of it. Like you said."

Kate shoots him another look, daggers.

Castle ignores her. "Davy Jones you mean?"

"Yeah. Davy Jones. What else, Daddy?"

"Well, Davy Jones has a locker down at the deepest part, which is the bottom of the ocean."

"Does Davy have any friends?"

"Well, he takes care of dead people who-"

"Rick," Kate warns softly, nodding to Ellery.

He glances down and sees the girl watching him intently, but in fascination. Still. "Uh, they've both heard this one already," he admits to Kate, giving her a little laugh.

She sighs and shakes her head, but really what can she say? He's the one with them during the day. And stories are good for the soul; stories explain how the world works and how to live well in it. Even the ones about Davy Jones's locker.

"So, Davy takes care of the dead people in their deep sea graves-"

"He plants the seaweed flowers!" Dashiell interrupts. "And, and, oh, and rakes the sand, and makes the tombstones."

"Right."

Kate laughs and pulls back from the sand castle to keep from knocking anything down, giving Rick a long look. He shrugs at her.

"So if Davy has friends, they're mostly-"

"All the dead people!" Dashiell roars, and starts running around again, jumping over piles of shells he's left for them and stumbling into the pitted places where they've dug out sand for their castle.

Ellery giggles and leans over the moat to make more walls, crumbling one side of the castle down into the already lapping waves. The sand gets washed away, part of Kate's tower slips into the moat and gets reformed into a lump by the water.

"Hey! No! Ellery K, watch it!" Dashiell darts over but Castle snags him before he can make it to his sister.

"Dashiell."

"But she's *ruining* it-"

"Dashiell, it was an accident and it can be fixed. Take a breath and walk away."

Dashiell clenches his teeth together and gets that warning pout on his face, but he spins off and stomps a few feet away, growling under his breath.

Kate is already repairing the damage, brushing a finger along Ellery's arm in reassurance.

"No big deal, Ella," Rick adds. "I like your walls; you're doing a good job. And you know what? I can make the moat bigger so that you can sit in it and not have to lean over. Wanna do that?"

She nods quickly, shooting a glance over at her still angry brother, then back to her father.

"Hey, baby girl, you didn't do anything wrong. It's mommy's tower, remember? She made it. And Mommy doesn't mind doing it again, do you, Mommy?"

"Not at all. I think it was a little crooked anyway. This way I can make it better." Kate winks at Ella and the girl settles down into the wider ditch that Castle is already scraping out. Her black swimsuit is coated with sand now, but she doesn't seem to mind.

He turns over his shoulder and catches sight of Dashiell jumping through the waves licking the shoreline, already out of his funk. Rick looks back to Kate and gestures behind him. "You got an eye on him?"

"I got him."

He begins making the ditch wider, concentrating on Ella's work so he can help when she needs it, and the castle slowly gets wider, taller, more intricate. Dashiell wanders back with a bucketful of wet sand, lugging it across the stretch of beach with both hands, panting.

"Here, Ella," he says, plopping the bucket down next to her and nudging it with his knee. "You're doing real good."

"Really good," Rick corrects.

"Yeah. That." Dash gets down on his knees and watches her for a second; Ella turns her head to him and they gaze at each other until Dash breaks out into a smile.

All right. So. . .that was his apology and his sister's forgiveness, all in one? Castle watches them with interest. The two kids abandon the walls and start making little lumps in the sand surrounding the moat.

"What're you two making now?"

"Ella's helping me make the bad guys and then we're gonna jump on 'em."

"Ah. All right. You're leaving the rest of this to me and Mommy?"

"Hey, now, I'm not making a castle if you're not helping," Kate says, sitting back on her heels. "I'm covered in sand and it's getting itchy."

"No, Mommy, please! Please? You gotta have a good castle for us to shoot arrows at the bad guys-"

"What about the king and his family? Are you going to make them?" She brushes her wet hands off on her legs, an eyebrow raised at Dash.

"Well, but Daddy is the king."

"You have to make him because Daddy is too big to sit in your castle."

"Oh." Dashiell gives his father a recriminating look and sighs. "Yeah, okay. Me and Ella are gonna make sand daddy and sand mommy and sand me and sand her. . .next. Right Ella?"

Ellery nods solemnly, her whole body covered in wet sand, sand in her ears even. Castle shrugs at Kate.

"We'll finish what we've got and then if you and Ellery want to get in here and make the king's family, you can do that."

"Yeah! Come on, Ella, we gotta make hundreds of bad guys. Hurry, cause they all want to get the king and kill him dead, but the moat is so HUGE and there's no way they can get in. There's - oh, I just thought of it! - there's alligators and monsters in the moat! Daddy can you make-"

Castle groans. "No. You make them."

Dashiell hops into the ditch surrounding their castle and immediately a piece of wall falls in, taking with it another portion of a tower. Dash's face crumples as well, turning to his father with tears springing into his eyes.

"Hey, man. Not-unh. None of that. You saw how we fixed it before. Me and Mommy can fix this too."

Castle pokes him in the chest, leaving a sandy fingerprint. Kate is already sculpting the tower back and nudging Dash's shoulder with hers.

"Sunshine, baby," she murmurs.

Dashiell stops up his tears before they fall, reaching up to rub at his face. Kate grabs his hand before he can get sand in his eyes, shaking her head. Dashiell lets out a shaky sigh.

Ellery pats his back gently, ducks her head to see into her brother's face.

"You can fix it, Daddy?" Dashiell glances morosely to the ocean, as if the up and down of the waves might calm him. It just might.

"I'm fixing it right now. Look, see?" Castle pats the newly repaired wall smooth again. "Easy. Now make your monsters."

Dashiell sighs and begins scraping together sand for his alligators. "You saved my life," he says tiredly.

Kate laughs, sitting back on her heels, bringing her forearm over her mouth.

"I did, huh?" Castle comments, raising his eyebrows at his son.

"Yeah, Daddy." Dashiell looks completely serious as he works at his alligator. "Cause this is the best sand castle ever and - hey! - castle and Castle! Whoa!"

Dashiell glances up at him with wide, impressed eyes, which only makes Kate laugh harder. Ellery is grinning too, as if she only halfway gets the joke, but she's watching her mother, her smile growing ever wider.

Castle gives a chuff of laughter and shakes his head at his son. "Yeah, buddy. Why do you think we built a castle? Why do you think we tell you stories about kings and castles?"

"I just thought you liked soldiers better than ninjas, Daddy."

Castle gives in and laughs as well. "All right. Well, they're knights, not soldiers. But close enough."

"Daddy likes space cowboys," Kate interrupts, leaning in to kiss Dashiell's temple. "And you, my little man, are a riot."

"I'm a riot?"

"You are."

"Is that a good thing?"

"It is to me," Kate says, kissing him again. Ellery is trying to crawl into her lap, all sandy and apparently needy, reaching up sand-covered hands for her mother's neck. Kate hugs her back and kisses a dry spot on her forehead. Rick watches them for a moment, struck with the brilliance of the day and the color in his girls' faces, struck by the way he loves them, the intensity of it.

Dashiell taps his knee and he glances down at his son. The complicated kid that he loves so wholeheartedly. All that's missing is Alexis.

"For Halloween, can I be a space cowboy like you, Daddy?"

"Uh, I thought you wanted to be a T-rex?" That's the costume he packed and brought with him at least.

"Yeah. Can I be both?"

Uhhh. . .

Kate leans in, her arms still wrapped around Ellery, and nudges Dash's shoulder. "Yeah, Dash. You can. We can just switch costumes somewhere in the middle."

Wow, vacation agrees with Kate, all flexible and willing to let things go. Rick has to remember this for later. Dashiell's face splits into a wide grin, and his head swivels back to his father, beaming. "Daddy. You and me can be twins!"

And how can he say no to that? He doesn't have a single bit of that costume with him down here, but they can make it up, no problem.

"Yeah, buddy, we can."

"And space cowboys have guns! Like Mommy!" Dash leaps up, then startles as he remembers the castle, tries to tiptoe out of the moat without crushing anything. He bounces up the other side and leans in over Ellery.

"What about you, Ella? You wanna be something else too? Mommy says two things!"

Ellery wraps her arms around Kate's neck and pushes her face against Kate's cheek in a sloppy kiss. "Mommy."

"Yeah, baby girl?"

Dash giggles like a crazy man, flopping back in the sand. "No, no," he gasps. "She wants to be Mommy. For Halloween. She wants to be you!" And then he laughs some more, like that's the nuttiest thing he's ever heard.

Castle's mouth drops and he looks at Kate. She's clearly stunned. "You do? You want to be me for Halloween?"

Ellery nods and holds up two fingers.

Castle grins. "You want to be both Mommy *and* Queen Amidala?"

Ella grins back, her whole face lighting up. She nods and presses her two fingers into Kate's cheek as if giving her a kiss.

Kate bites her lower lip. "Okay. Well, looks like tomorrow will be a shopping day."

Castle takes both kids out to the water to jump waves while Kate gets a chance to read in the afternoon sunlight. She reapplies sunblock to her arms and chest, her book on her knee, and glances out past the shore, catching sight of the three of them bobbing in the ocean.

She pulls out her phone and takes a few pictures, their lone figures lit golden in the western light, the vast expanse of water and sky laying down at the horizon. At that moment, Rick takes Dash's hand, Ella in his arms, and turns them back to the shore, bringing them in, and Kate takes four or five more pictures, her throat suddenly dry, closing up.

Absolutely gorgeous. As soon as Alexis gets here, they're taking a family picture. All five of them on the beach in this amazing light. Castle is going to whine about it, and probably Dashiell too, but Kate is going to make them. She needs a photo of all of them, something to keep, to help her remember.

Castle drops Ellery in the sand and the girl jumps over the littler waves coming in, Dashiell earnestly talking to his father about something Kate can't hear. Castle nods and squats down, starts scraping sand together, and she hears 'alligators' come over to her on the breeze.

Dashiell waits patiently until his father stands back, and then takes a running leap onto the sand alligator, planting both feet firmly and sticking his landing. He shrieks his triumph and Ellery runs over to them, now tugging on Castle's hand for more.

Kate grins and watches them awhile, Castle getting pulled back and forth between the two kids, making them little creatures that they can destroy. Ellery seems right on the verge of talking a time or two, but Castle is too attentive for the little girl to need to speak up.

Kate can tell when the kids are getting too tired, worn out; they keep fighting over who gets to stomp on the next sand monster that Castle has made. Dashiell uses words to vent his irritation and impatience while Ellery just shoves. Hard. Especially for a little thing, she has a pretty vicious glare and a downright powerful push. She sends Dashiell sprawling.

Castle once again jerks them apart before real damage can be done, and Kate interrupts with snacks, standing up on and heading down towards them.

"All right, come sit down and chill out, you two." She drags Dashiell back to the beach towels with a hand wrapped around the back of his neck, nods to Ellery while giving Castle a look. He catches the hint and carries her over.

"What did you bring?" Dashiell whines, too tired to keep it out of his voice.

"I need to hear some respect," Castle says, thumping Dash's ear.

Kate sighs and divvies up the animal crackers, reaches back into the bag for their waters. "I know you guys are tired-"

"Not tired!" Ellery bursts out, standing up on the beach towel, here eyes wide and insistent.

Castle cracks up, falling over onto the towel at Kate's hip, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. Kate grins at Ella and lays a gentle hand on her shoulder, pressing her back down.

"Okay, baby girl. I believe you." She believes the girls thinks she's not tired. But she is.

"I wanted cheez-its," Dash complains.

"Eat what you got." Castle props himself up on one elbow, his hand brushing Kate's bare thigh. She quirks a smile at him, strokes the hair out of her husband's forehead.

"Hey there, Daddy," she murmurs and leans over to drop a kiss to his temple.

He growls back, low in his throat, almost inaudible if not for the way it vibrates in her chest. She smiles against his skin, kisses him again, and pulls away. She grabs a cereal bar out of the bag and hands it to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah, thanks. I'm starving. I know dinner's not for like, two more hours, but maybe-?"

"Who says it has to be in two more hours?" Kate asks, unwrapping her own cereal bar. "Let's eat now. I'm starving."

"Kids, want to go get dinner?" Castle says, making an excited face in their direction, trying to get them onboard.

"But alligators," Ellery says, her eyebrows knitting together, mouth working on an animal cracker.

Wow. Two sentences in a row. What in the world is this? Kate leans over and brushes sand off of Ella's hands, her heart pounding. "We can make alligators tomorrow."

"I'll make you a ton of alligators. But Daddy's too tired to make any more tonight," Castle says, nudging Ella with his toes. She giggles and draws away from him, wrinkling her nose.

Dashiell sighs. "No more gators. Oh! I know! Daddy, you could make mini t-rexes instead!"

"Daddy's too tired to make any more animals at all, Dash," Kate says. "How about we rest a little while, sit in the sun to dry off, and then go up and make dinner?"

"Not Mercantile, right?" Dashiell says with a grimace.

"Nope. Pizza in the condo."

"Yes, pizza!" Ellery yells, jumping up with both hands raised. Her sunglasses slip off her nose and she giggles, pushing them back up.

Kate's heart pounds so hard she can't breathe. She feels Castle's hand on her thigh, squeezing a reminder, and Kate tamps down on her overwhelming relief, (three in the space of five minutes) and instead only grins at her daughter. She wants to grab her up and hug her hard, make a huge deal out of it, but that would probably only ensure she doesn't hear her voice again for awhile.

"Yup, pizza, little munchkin."

Ellery wears a wide and beaming smile, still standing, and reaches out both hands to her mother's shoulders, leaning forward to get very close, sunglasses almost too big for her small face.

"I'm not a munchkin, Mommy, I'm a' Ella."