81. Chapter 81

Alexis and Rafe stay on the beach while he and Kate take the kids up to the pool. Dashiell sits out on a lounge chair next to his mother, sunglasses on, playing games on her ipad. Castle's not sure why, exactly, except that their son has always been attuned to her, and maybe he feels he ought to stick close.

Rick and Ellery swim in the deep end together; Ella mostly riding on his back and telling him where to go. He's so glad to hear her talking this much that he lets himself be ordered around, helps her on and off the ladder, treads water so she can jump off the side and have him catch her.

She likes going all the way under and then wriggling clumsily to the top. Rick only has to help drag her up a few times; he's proud of how strong she is, how fearless, but it does make him wish she were more cautious.

"You remember the rules, Ella Kate?" he murmurs to her when he brings her up out of the water and sets her on the ladder again.

"Rules, Daddy."

"What's the rule about jumping off the side?"

"Have to look."

"Daddy has to be looking. And I have to say you can go. You can't jump before I say go."

"Go, Daddy."

"That's right. You ready?"

"Ready, ready, ready!" She does a little hop in excitement and Castle snags her arm, giving her a serious glare.

"No. Never. No running, no jumping. That's always a rule."

She sets her jaw, her eyes darken, but he knows she was just excited and is trying to cover up how hurt she feels to be reprimanded for it. But he won't back down on this one.

"No running, no jumping on the side."

Ellery glances over at her mother, finds no help - they're too far away to hear anyway - and then she squats down on the concrete and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Fine, pitch a fit. But you won't be getting back in."

Ella's limpid eyes turn to him, shining blue and sweet, but he won't be snowed by it. He's not stupid; she has to agree to the rules. Ellery may have him wrapped around her finger, but Kate has him trained. He's learned from the best when it comes to this kind of thing; Kate's made him promise not to make her the bad cop in their parenting. He really does try.

So Castle makes a move like he's going to hoist himself out of the pool, and Ellery drops her pout, stands back up.

"No running. No jumping on the side, Daddy. I not jump."

He sinks back down into the water, watching her closely, but she looks repentant. "All right. Good girl. Wanna jump back in the pool? That's the only jumping you can do."

"Yes, please," she says demurely, her jaw still in a stubborn set, but her shoulders hunched, her voice subdued.

"Okay, cricket. Get ready."

She flashes him a little smile and lines up her toes on the edge of the pool, her arms out, the joy steadily building in her face again. "Ready, Daddy?"

"Ready. Go."

She flings herself off the side and Castle has to quickly back up so he won't get landed on; she drops like a pebble, eyes closed, blowing bubbles out of her nose like he taught her this summer. He waits a moment, but she's disoriented, pushing sideways, so reaches down and lifts her to the surface.

She breaks the water and laughs out loud, eyes opening brightly, lashes wet, hair dripping, practically shivering in her excitement.

"Again, again."

"Okay, we'll go again." Castle swims with her back over to the ladder, only occasionally needing to prop her up as her strokes falter. Ellery clutches the metal and turns back to him, lunges at him at the last second, wrapping her arms around his neck. He catches her, surprised, feels his body sinking under her weight and kicks up again.

"Love you, Daddy."

He grins and kisses her cheek. "I love you too, Ellery." He won't mention that jumping off the ladder at him to give him a hug was breaking the rules, not now. He doesn't want to ruin it.

"Again," she says with relish and releases him, pushes off his chest to get back to the ladder.

"Again, cricket." Castle watches until she's managed to climb up, then swims back out to his spot, waiting on her.

Ellery lines her feet up at the edge, gives him another proud and dazzling smile, then calls out. "Ready?"

"Ready. Go."

And she launches herself out into the water again.

Kate looks again over at her son, watches his lethargic play with her ipad. He quit Cut the Rope (which is at least teaching him about physics and cause and effect) to start up Fruit Ninja, which is about as mindless a game for him as can be. She was sorry when Castle bought it for him - no redeeming value - but it does let him zone out for awhile. Which might be good.

She lowers the head of the lounge chair and flips over onto her stomach, laying her book on top of her beach bag, feeling the sweat start to cool on her back. She turns her face so that she can watch Dashiell next to her.

She can still hear Castle and Ellery down at their end of the pool, Ella flinging herself off the side and into the water. The way Castle lets her drown for awhile makes Kate twitchy, so she chooses not to watch. He gets offended by her word choice on that one anyway.

Dash uses a hand to flip the towel off his legs, laying the ipad in his lap again. Kate reaches out across the short distance between them to feel his swim trunks - they do seem dry now. She'll let it go.

Kate pushes a strand of hair out of mouth, tucks it behind the earpiece of her sunglasses, cradling her head in her arms again. Dashiell flicks his finger over the screen, slicing up fruit as they're tossed in the air, but then he quits even that, exits out of the game without even finishing.

She hopes this isn't her fault. Dashiell has this peculiar ability to shift with the changing winds of her mood. She hates that he's so susceptible to her, but it has made her more determined to cloak herself with some of Castle's perpetual good cheer. Annoying as it may be. And Kate tries extra hard especially now that it looks like Ellery has more of Kate's personality. Letting the little girl spend time with her daddy, one on one, does for her what it does for her mother.

Kate hopes that she can do the same for Dashiell. She's been working on it for a long time; she thinks they have a good thing going. The same as she can inadvertently bring him down; she can also bring him up again.

"Dash?"

He wordlessly hands her back the ipad and she puts it in her bag, sits up again, leaning on her knees. The things that work with Castle, work with Dash too, so she brushes her hand through his hair, thumb at his temple.

"Hey, baby, come here." Dash curls forward into her arms immediately; she draws him into her lap and hugs him, kissing his neck, their sunglasses catching.

He laughs at that, puts a hand up to his shades to keep them in place.

"What kind of weather are we having, my man?"

He slides an arm around her neck and twirls with the hair that's fallen out of her bun; she can't see his eyes past the sunglasses.

"It's - it's - I don't know how to say it." He sighs and his fingers tangle, but she doesn't care.

"Well, hmm. It doesn't look very sunny right now."

"It doesn't feel very sunny," he says. "But it is sunny. It's there. I'm warm."

Oh, well this is new. "It's there? Maybe it's partly cloudy?"

"I don't know, Mommy. I don't feel clouds."

"Okay, baby, then where is the sun?"

Dashiell opens his mouth to answer, maybe instinctively more than with any kind of thought behind it, because he shoots her a startled look and laughs. "Oh. Oh, it's in the condo."

She laughs back, surprised at this answer. His weather is supposed to indicate how he feels, help him identify his emotions so that he can regulate them. One of Julie's amazing techniques. He and Kate have been doing it a long time now, labeling emotions as they come. Stormy days, overcast, snowing, windy. All kinds of weather. "Your sun is-?"

"It's in the condo, Mommy. It's my dog!"

Oh. Oh that - that can't be good, can it? His sunshine depends on a dog now? "The dog is upstairs, yes."

"I want to play with my dog, Mommy. I don't want sit by the pool."

"Okay, baby. I think that sounds just fine." And much better than his happiness being tied to a dog. Although it might, a little bit now. "Let's get our stuff together and tell Daddy and Ellery where we're going."

"Yay! See? I'm sunny all over." He puffs his chest out and his mouth stretches into that wide and happy grin.

Kate laughs and kisses his cheek with a smack, then heaves him off her lap and stands him on his feet. "Good job, my little man. Can you walk over to Daddy and tell him where we're going?"

"Yes!" He shouts and starts to take off for the side of the pool, but Kate snatches his arm and tugs him back.

"Walk, Dashiell Alexander." Hard and fast rule.

He stiffens, throws her a glance over his shoulder. "Yes, ma'am."

Yes ma'am? She lets go of him, and he does walk, sedately, slowly even, towards his father and sister. Ma'am must be something they have to say in preschool. She's amused that her tone got a ma'am in response.

Kate leans over and gathers their stuff, then fishes out Castle's key card and sunglasses, finds his water bottle at the bottom, and leaves it all under his towel. Oh shoot, and his wallet is in here too. She doesn't want to leave it on the lounge chair alone; she'll just have to take it up with her.

All of the sudden, she hears a loud shriek and a splash, and her head jerks around, her hands drop the bag.

But Castle has him, everyone's grinning. Ellery is standing at the side of the pool, evidently having watched her brother jump in.

Kate realizes she's got her hand over heart and can feel it pounding; she sighs and snatches up the bag, grabs Dashiell's towel and her own. She pulls Ella's towel out of her bag and lays it next to Castle's on the lounge chair, then heads over to where her daughter is.

She strokes a hand through Ellery's wet, tangled hair and kisses her forehead. "Hey, cricket. Did Dash tell you where we're going?"

Castle and Dash are dunking each other under, but Ellery is being patient. Castle must've had to read her the riot act on the rules again.

"See doggy," Ellery says. "Dash play with his doggy."

"That's right, but you're still talking like a baby, aren't you?" Kate squats down next to her, brushes the hair out of Ellery's eyes. "Hm, why are you doing that, sweetheart?"

Ellery gives her a disdainful look and turns her gaze back to the pool. Kate laughs and sits down on the side, sticks her feet in the water. "Sit with me while we wait on Dash to stop messing around with Daddy."

She doesn't look at her daughter and after a long pause, she feels the little hand on her shoulder as Ella uses her for balance, sitting at her side. Kate turns her head away and grins widely.

The warm, wet little body next to her wriggles for a moment and then settles in. Kate reaches back and takes her rubber band out, then turns and scrapes the hair off Ella's face, her neck, twists the rubber band over a pony tail. "Ooh, there you go. Pretty. And it will keep the hair out of her your eyes. We should've gotten it cut before we left."

"Bet, Mommy?"

Bet. Bet. It sounds familiar. Where did she-?

"Barrette. Right. We have some in the condo. After we get a bath tonight, I'll put them in your hair."

Ellery grins at her and lifts a hand back to feel her pony tail. It's wet and kind of lumpy, but it makes a cute little curl on the end. Flyaway pieces have already started to curl around her ears.

"You like it?"

"Pretty," Ella repeats, then turns back to her mother. "Allie play beauty shop with me? Mommy too?"

Uh-huh. Baby talk drops fast when baby girl wants something. "Mm, yes, I did promise, didn't I? We'll try to get in early tonight so we can play beauty shop, just the girls."

Ella wiggles, all self-satisfied and pleased, and then Castle and Dash swim over, the boy on his father's back. Rick reaches out and wraps his fingers around Kate's calves, holding on to her to keep him up. She smirks and nudges his chest with her foot, feels his muscles tense. She tucks her feet under his armpits and works her thighs, extends her legs to lift him up. He laughs, startled and - and aroused, it looks like.

She hums to herself, feeling as pleased at Ellery. "Hey there. We're heading up. Dash tell you?"

"Yeah. And then I convinced him to get in one last jump before he left."

"I figured it was your doing." But she's not at all mad; she's grateful. Because he giggled Dashiell's funky mood right out of him. "Good job, Daddy."

His fingers squeeze; message received.

"Okay, wild man, let's get out and get going."

"So I can play with my dog."

"That's right. Climb off Daddy, let your sister have him."

Dashiell actually does climb, which Kate didn't entirely intend for him to do. But he swings from Castle's back, over his father's arm, all the way up to his mother's legs, and then hangs on to her knees, grinning up at her.

Kate huffs a laugh and reaches down, drags him up out of the water. Castle is whistling at her, almost mocking, because she knows he thinks it's sexy - her strength. She rolls her eyes at him and plops Dash down beside her.

"Go get your towel off the lounge chair. Walk."

Dash alters his gait and keeps going. Kate turns to Ellery. "You gonna jump?"

"I climb too?" Ella says instead, leaning into Kate, both hands on her mother's thigh.

Kate glances to Castle; he shrugs and grins at her.

"Sure, cricket. You can climb too." She pats her lap and Ellery climbs over, then leans up suddenly and kisses Kate's cheek. "Oh, thank you, baby girl."

"Not a baby."

"Oh no, right. You're not at all. Now climb down to Daddy."

Castle flexes his fingers around her legs and she lifts them slightly, giving Ellery an easier grade as she wriggles her way down Kate's shins and into the water. She clutches at Castle's forearm, then swims for his chest, clinging to his shoulders.

"Daddy," she says, rather breathless with her own adventure.

Kate smirks at him, lifts her feet out of the water, shaking him off to pull her knees up to her chest. She's still sitting on the side of the pool; she doesn't want to leave just yet. She likes watching them together. "You two have fun. See you in an hour or so?"

Castle shrugs. "Don't know. May go to the market." Ellery is bobbing in the water, the top of her head glances off Castle's chin.

"Sure." Kate drops her knee back in, reaches out with her toes to catch the side of Castle's neck. He laughs and kisses her ankle.

"I could pull you in," he says.

She snatches her leg back. "Don't you dare."

"Dash is ready."

Kate glances to the side and sees Dashiell wrapped in his towel, sunglasses still on, shivering in the shade of an umbrellaed table as he waits for her. She gets to her feet, grabs her beach bag and towel.

"Oh, actually, I've got your wallet, Rick."

"I can charge it to the room. No worries."

"Oh. Awesome. Did you tell Allie and Rafe they could do that?"

"Nope, forgot actually. I will. Or you can, if you see them first. Go, Kate. He's turning blue."

She laughs and glances back to their son, teeth chattering, hunched in his towel. "Your son is standing in the shade, Castle. He can suffer for his poor choices."

He laughs at her, raises his eyebrows, but Ellery is leaning for the ladder on the other side, patting his cheek and telling him to hurry up, Daddy.

Kate waves at him, reluctant but knowing it's time. She makes her way to Dashiell, puts her hand to the back of his neck to turn him towards the pool's gate.

"Okay, my man. Let's go see your dog."