Two Years Later

"Mama!" Jamie yells from the living room floor where he's playing with his blocks (where playing mostly means tossing them around).

"Jamie!" Beckett responds from the kitchen where she's making lunch for the family. It's a beautiful June day, Alexis is on summer vacation and Jamie's third birthday is rapidly approaching. She loves days filled with family and relaxation. Kate pauses from putting together the sandwiches and soup to look at her baby boy. "Wachya doin', baby?"

Jamie pointed to his tower of blocks and grins proudly at his work. "Makin' castle, Mama!"

Laughing, Beckett completely abandons lunch for the time being and makes her way over to Jamie. "It's beautiful, baby."

"Tanks, Mama!" he says. "This for me," he points to a tower of about four blocks, then points to a tower of two, saying: "this for Baby!"

Kate stops breathing, the love that her son has for the baby in mommy's belly overwhelming her once again. Even as she thinks this, Jamie kisses her protruding stomach, whispers, "Love you, Bella," and places his tiny hands on her belly.

Trying desperately to quell the tears threatening, Beckett swoops Jamie up onto her knee and kisses his head. "She loves it, baby, thank you." At that exact moment Baby Bella decides to thank her brother with a gentle kick to his palm.

Shock washes over Jamie's face as his mother beams down at her babies. She can't believe how much they already love one another. "Mama!"

"Did you feel that, Jamie? I think Bella wants to say thank you for her tower. She loves it," Beckett coos.

"I love her!" he squeals, jumping down from his mom's lap and running around the living room in circles. Beckett laughs and tells him she's going to finish making lunch before Daddy and Lex come back from the store. He's too busy babbling and running to notice her going back to the kitchen.

When Castle and Alexis return home, Jamie brags about his tower and Alexis 'pouts' that she didn't get one. They immediately begin building an actual castle while the adults continue making lunch and putting dessert away. While Castle talks to her about Alexis's latest college adventures, the sounds of her kids playing together, and the feel of her baby girl rolling around inside her, Kate realizes that she doesn't even want to travel back in time.

All those years of going back, trying to find her mother's killer, trying to find herself seem so distant, so unimportant compared to what she has now.

Castle is mid-sentence when Beckett grabs his face and kisses him sweetly. "Thank you," she says quietly.

He looks at her quizzically. "For what?" he asks.

She smiles at him and rubs a hand over her belly. "For giving me a reason to stay in the now. There's nowhere else I want to be."

AN: Thank you so much for reading! I know it took me forever to finish, but this was different than what I normally write. I hope you liked it!