Capítulo 3: 3. Chapter 3
Lanie grabs Kate's arm as she heads back towards her room, searching for Ella's missing stuffed Totoro. Kate gestures for Lanie to follow and they step through the doorway.
"What's up, Doc?" she asks distractedly, glancing through the messy bedcovers for the rabbit-troll-thing.
"Oh jeez, woman, you gotta stop picking up your man's terrible habits," Lanie groans.
Kate smirks and lifts the pillows, still looking. "When Castle comes up with that one, don't tell him I beat him to it. He's gonna be so disappointed."
"No he ain't. He's gonna be thrilled that he's rubbed off on you."
Kate runs her hands under the sheets to the end of the bed. "So what's on your mind, Lanie? I can spare you like five minutes."
"Yeah, see, that fits in really well with what I want to talk to you about. Time. Wanted to see if you planned on scaling it back any." Lanie stands in the doorway of the bedroom, watching Kate search.
She glances over her shoulder to her friend, her instincts on alert. "Scale what back? Time?"
"Work."
Kate runs her hands under the bed and finds the stuffed beast, pulling it out.
"Oh, jeez, what is that? A demented rabbit?" Lanie heads over and plucks it out of Kate's hands.
"It's a. . .wood troll?"
"A what?" Lanie turns it around in her hands, studying it. The Totoro plush is a dirty grey from Ella's love, but the wide grin, the fat and round body, and the rabbit ears give it a strange look.
Kate recognizes Lanie's absorption as a stall tactic, and also as a way to give Kate a chance to come up with an answer. Only, she's still not sure what this is about.
"Totoro is a wood troll. It's a Japanese cartoon that Ella loves. You know Castle." Kate grabs it back, feeling strangely defensive of her daughter's choice in lovies. Maybe it's just a carry-over from Lanie's earlier comment. "And work. Why do you care how much I work?"
"I care," Lanie exaggerates, lifting an eyebrow. "Because you happen to work with my man. You do realize that on the nights you get to come home early, he and Ryan don't?"
"Lanie, we take turns. There are plenty of nights I don't come home early."
"See, here's the thing," Lanie starts, grabbing the Totoro doll back. "You set the tone for these guys. They follow your lead. If you stay at the precinct until 9 o'clock regularly, then they feel they have to-"
"They do not. I've told them-"
"Listen for a second. Listen to what I'm saying. It's a mood. It's a feeling in the air. They know that when they work for you, they work hard, and they get their man. And they like that. But guess which ones - of the three of you - are begging off early to get home to their kids?"
Kate stands before her friend feeling hollowed out. "Me and Ryan."
"You have a great team, Kate. You guys tag team the late nights, so that you get to go home early every once in awhile. It's you and Javi when Ryan has to get home, or it's Ryan and Javi when you need to be home. And that's great, that should work, except Esposito is always there. My man doesn't ever get home early."
Her throat closes up. "Lanie-"
"Kate, I'm only saying this for one reason."
Kate can't think, can't process. She was in the middle of packing for a vacation and now this?
"That man wants children so badly, Kate. But I won't stand for it unless I know one of us is gonna be there. One of us has to be there, Kate. You've got Castle to be there. And Ryan has Jenny. But me and Javier? Who we got? Who is gonna stay home with the kid when the body drops at 3 a.m.?"
Kate wraps her arms around Lanie, shaken to her core, and hugs her hard. "I didn't think. I didn't even think about it. I knew you wanted kids and I couldn't understand why you kept telling Espo no. I am so sorry-"
Lanie is hugging her back, just as tightly, and Kate feels her shake a little. "No. Don't apologize. Just make it work."
"I will, Lanie. I'll figure it out." But even as she makes that promise, she doesn't know how she'll do it. She hasn't managed to find that perfect balance with her own family either.
She still spends too many nights in front of a murderboard, still gets up at three in the morning to catch a body on a day Rick has to meet with his publisher. She hugs Lanie harder and prays she can do something about this.
"We're squashing the little troll," Lanie laughs with a choked sigh.
Kate pulls back and takes the Totoro animal from the crook of Lanie's arm, watching her friend's face carefully. "You know I'm gonna do everything I can to work this out. You really want kids with Esposito, then we'll figure this out, Lanie."
Her friend nods, uses the edge of her finger to carefully dab at a tear, leaving her makeup intact. "We will. I don't wanna ruin your vacation, girl. So get. Pack the troll."
Kate hugs the doll against her chest and bites her lower lip. "We'll do better, Lanie."
"Go," Lanie urges, rolling her eyes and tugging Kate towards the door.
Castle takes both kids upstairs to quickly change them into pajamas; their hope is that, with the lateness of their travel, the kids will fall asleep on the direct flight to Brownsville, Texas. So when they rent the car and take the causeway to South Padre Island, the kids will be groggy enough to sleep the rest of the night through.
Dressing takes only a few minutes, despite Dashiell talking a mile a minute about his dinosaur as Castle pushes him towards his room. He leaves the boy to it, heads into his daughter's room to help her. Ella is a breeze; she patiently stands as still as a life-sized doll while Castle tugs on her striped pajama pants and the long-sleeved pajama tshirt. When her head comes through the top, she gives him an eye-crinkling smile and wriggles her arms through the sleeves.
"How's that, Ella? It's your favorite pjs."
Ella puts both hands on her chest and glances down at the caricature of a Milk Carton holding hands with a Chocolate Chip cookie. She looks back up at her father and wraps her arms around his neck.
"You're welcome." He laughs and picks her up, then covers her ear with his hand and yells for Dash.
The boy comes out of his room wearing his plaid pajama pants and his stego-soars tshirt. Appropriate because the design depicts a dinosaur with strap-on airplane wings and little dinosaurs riding on top, ready for flight.
Rick chuckles and swoops down to pick Dash up too, heading for the staircase. "Great choice, my man."
Downstairs, Rick drops the kids into their bar stools, jerking Dash back down on his butt as he tries to stand.
"On your sitter, Dash." Lanie is making them sandwiches already, so Rick pours milk into a sippy cup and a big kid glass, puts them in front of the two kids.
"I got this, if you wanna help Kate finish packing."
Rick gives her a grimace. "Yeah...good idea."
He waits until Lanie's got Ellery and Dash both eating their really late dinner, before he hunts his wife down in the bedroom. Esposito has gone to move the SUV out of the loading zone in front of Castle's building and then strap in the carseats.
They've got eight minutes before they need to hit the road. And Castle has an idea.
He finds her in the back hall, shoving Tortoro into Ella's bag. He takes the bag from her and zips it up, drops it at his feet.
"What?" she says, brushing a hand through her hair to get it off her face. She looks just like Ellery when she does that.
"You gonna change?" He nudges at her shoes with his boot, checks her out not so subtly.
A look flashes over her face, part sudden arousal, part irritation; she sighs. "Yes. Damn."
Castle lifts his fingers to the back of her neck, watching her, and then he leans in to kiss her softly. "Want some help getting you out o those clothes?"
She laughs, but she moves her mouth back to his. "Castle, we're leaving in-"
"We've got eight minutes. Kids are eating."
He feels her hand at his back, and he starts moving them down the hallway towards their bedroom; she's nibbling at his jaw, her arms wrapped around him. She's not laughing now.
She breaks off to help him unbutton her shirt. "Eight minutes enough time?"
"Enough for me. Enough for you?" he murmurs, lightly sucking on her pulse, letting her get her own shirt.
"Ever since your text this morning, I've been halfway there all on my own-"
He growls against her neck and pushes her back, managing only to make them both stumble into the doorframe. She kicks her foot out to help propel them back, and they fall across the threshold into their bedroom.
Castle turns, bringing her with him and up against the door as she makes fists in his shirt, pulling it out of his waistband. Suddenly she stiffens, pushing at him, and he rocks back, surprised.
"Castle. Did you get Dash's birthday presents?" she hisses, her fingers tight on his hipbones.
"Yeah. They're packed."
"Oh, thank you." She lunges forward and glances a kiss off his cheek (not at all what he was going for). "I forgot. Entirely forgot. You found the cake stuff?"
"Yup, got that too. I also grabbed the kids' Halloween costumes. I figure there's got to be some kind of trunk or treat thing, right?"
"Good idea." Kate brushes her hand across his neck, their bodies still close, hearts pounding together. Then she hums a sly smile at him, darting her eyes to his, knowing and teasing at the same time. "You packed your costume too, didn't you?"
"Which one?"
"All of them?" Kate nearly giggles on her guess. Sooo close to a giggle. He loves it when she giggles.
"And one for you."
"Not gonna happen," she whispers, her mouth grazing his ear.
"You never know. Vacation spirit might take you."
Her lips hover over his. "You have the plane tickets?"
"On the credit card. We get to do the automated check-in."
"What about the condo's confirmation letter?"
"In my laptop bag." Castle leans against her, his weight pushing her back to the door, ready to go. "Why? Are you worried?"
She raises an eyebrow. "I'm not worried. It's just crazy around here. A little rushed."
"And now we're down to six minutes." Castle reaches for the buttons on her pants, his chest flush with hers. "Wanna be *pressed* for time?"
Her eyes grow dark. "Hurry," she whispers, and starts helping him again.
Ah, partners.
There's something about bringing a man to his knees that gives her ego a huge boost, puts a stupid grin on her face.
Kate, now in jeans and a white v-neck shirt, her jacket under her arm, heads into the kitchen to help gather up the kids. Castle is taking the last of the bags downstairs to Esposito's SUV with the intent to double-check that he installed the carseats correctly.
"Okay kiddos, are we ready to fly?"
Dashiell stands up in his chair and raises both hands with a whoop; Ellery grins around her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Kate grabs the back of Dash's shirt, unwilling to start a fight with her stubborn and wild son, hanging on to him as he celebrates. She grins at Ellery. "Da me too."
Ella darts her eyes towards the hallway and Kate nods.
"I found Toto in my room. Don't worry; he's packed."
Ellery raises her eyebrows, gives Kate that slow, clever smile. The I love you Mommy smile. Almost as wonderful as hearing it.
"All right. Clean up. Say thank you to Tia for making your dinner."
Dashiell bounces on his toes in his chair; Kate clutches tighter. "Thank you, thank you, Tia! Are you coming with us to the island?"
"No darling, not this time."
"But I want you to come too." Dashiell puts a knee up on the counter, straining against Kate, and Lanie holds her hands out to him. Kate lets go, lets him knee-walk over to his aunt.
Lanie picks him up, squeezes him tight, and puts his feet to the floor. "When you guys go to the Hamptons for Christmas, we're coming up, remember? Just like last year?"
"When I was three?"
"No baby, last Christmas you were four. Cause your birthday-"
"Mommy, when's my birthday?" Dashiell turns her face to Kate and holds up four fingers, then three, then four again.
"Halloween," Kate says, leaning over to pick Ellery up out of the chair. "October 31st. While we're on the island."
"I'm gonna be how many?"
"How come you don't know this?" Lanie says, poking him in the back to get him moving towards the door.
Kate rolls her eyes as she carries Ellery towards the hall, wiping at the girl's mouth with the tail of her pajama shirt. "Dash knows. He's just looking for attention. Right, Dash?"
"Mommy says I'm just like Daddy," Dash says proudly, his chest puffing. "I hog the sunlight."
"Spotlight."
"That too. I want all the light."
Kate puts Ella on her feet at the door, pats her jeans for keys, shrugs on her jacket and gathers her wallet from the entry table. Castle took her bag down with him, but her phone is missing.
"Ella, what'd you do with Mommy's phone?"
Ella darts away.
Lanie moves to chase her down, but Kate holds out her hand. "No. She'll be back in a second."
Dashiell is bouncing on his toes by the door. "Ellery can't wait to fly, Mommy. She's so excited that she has to hide things."
"Yeah, I know."
"She took Daddy's keys."
Oh. Crap. "Ella!" Kate runs after her, heading for the study where Ella usually likes to squirrel things away.
The little girl is on her belly in front of the bookcase and slowly working Kate's phone out from under the bottom shelf. Kate waits in the doorway, giving her time. Ella gets upset if anyone but her takes things out of her hiding places.
Kate holds her hand out; Ella gets to her feet and runs over to drop the cell phone in her mother's palm. No smile. Serious face.
"No more phones. No more keys, baby girl. Remember what I said about Mommy and Daddy needing to carry these all the time?"
Ella nods, but Kate can tell by the stubborn look in her eyes that it doesn't matter. No smile. Serious face. Always means she's going to dig in her heels.
Her phone rings. Castle. "Yeah, I know," she answers.
"How?"
"Dash told me she took them."
"Damn. How long is this gonna take, you think?"
"Ella, baby, where are Daddy's keys?"
Ella stands her ground.
"Can you live without them this week?" she says into the phone, huffing.
"You got yours?"
"I do."
"It'll be fine. So long as they're still in the apartment."
"Can she remember where she put them after a week away?" Kate studies Ella's solemn face.
"Oh yeah. Her mind's a steel trap. She's got that same thing you've got, that memory trick-"
"Okay. Well, then I'm calling off the dogs."
"Hurry up then. We have, uh, exactly. . .no more minutes."
"Love you too, Castle." She rolls her eyes and hangs up, sliding her phone into her jacket pocket and zipping it up.
"All right. Off the hook." Kate bends down and scoops up her magpie daughter. "Are you ready for the beach, svraka?"
Ellery leans her head against her mother's shoulder. A quiet word escapes her lips:
"Da."
Kate stares down at her daughter in disbelief.
Da is Croatian for 'yes.'
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