"You'll have to come back in the spring," Alexis told Lanie as the came into the house from their tour of the stables.

Lanie and Javi had arrived a few hours prior for their long weekend celebration. Lanie had eagerly taken Alexis up on her offer to tour of the stables. Being a city girl most of her life, she'd never had a chance to be up close and personal with a horse.

"With any luck, I'll have given birth by then, so maybe we could go for a ride together."

"With any luck," Kate snorted, "Alexis, you're due in six weeks."

"It feels more like six years," Alexis groaned. "I can't wait until this one comes out."

"And you're not finding out the sex of the baby?"

"Nope, we both want to be surprised," Alexis pulled at the scarf around her neck and hung it up before shedding her coat.

"Hopefully this time my boy will actually be able to witness the birth," Javi came in with a bag full of food from down the hill, "Kevin has the worst luck."

"I already put in for vacation time for the last two weeks before Alexis's due date. I am not leaving her side."

"That's really going to get on my nerves," Alexis scowled at her husband.

Just then they heard a racket coming from the living room.

"What did Colin get into now?" Alexis moaned as she kicked off her boots and waddled towards the living room. Their son was in the phase were he was getting into everything each time they turned their backs on him. His father's crystal clear blue eyes were making it nearly impossible for Alexis to scold. Thankfully her husband wasn't as hypnotized by them.

"LEGOS again, Buddy," Kevin picked the boy up, "I told you we would play with the LEGOS later."

"LEGOS now," the little boy laughed and pointed to the toddler sized LEGOS he'd pulled out and dumped onto the floor.

"LEGO's later," Alexis held out her arms to take her son from her husband, "Nap now. Cat, too. Lanie, do you mind?"

"Not at all," Lanie picked up the little girl, "Are you tired, Princess?"

"No," she shook her head, frowning.

"If you take a nap now, you'll have more fun at the party later," Lanie told the little tot. The suggestion appeared to do the trick as Cat's eyes closed almost as soon as Lanie laid her down.

"Are you tired too, Colin?" Alexis heaved her son into his crib, having a bit of difficulty due to her belly, but she was eventually successful.

"Bit," he admitted.

"After all that running around, I'm not surprised," Alexis smiled. "See you soon, Buddy."

Colin laid himself down and promptly fell asleep.

"These two are just the cutest," Lanie whispered as she watched the pair sleep for a few moments.

"You should think about having a few," Alexis responded as they turned out the lights and left the room.

"A few?"

"Six," Alexis amended with a laugh.

"Javi would need to get his head out of his backside first and pop the question," Lanie sighed, "At the rate we're moving, Colin and Cat with finish high school before he finally decides to put a ring on it."

"You could always ask him," Alexis suggested.

"Then we'd see a big Javi sized hole in the door," Lanie snorted.

"You might be surprised," Alexis said before she sniffed the air, "Is something burning?"

"Who's cooking who shouldn't be," Lanie asked as she and Alexis rushed into the kitchen to see what was happening.

"Gram, what are you doing?"

"Cooking, what does it look like?" Martha waved her hands in a dramatic fashion.

"Cooking? You're burning the soup," Alexis glanced into the pot to see the results of her grandmother's efforts.

"You can't burn soup," Martha responded defensively.

"Gram, those noodles are chard," Alexis motioned into the pot.

"So we're going for a bit of a Cajun theme," Martha waved off the concern, "It's not going to kill anyone."

"Gram, Cajun means spicy, not chard," Alexis snickered.

"And I think if we feed this to people it might kill someone," Lanie peered into the pot.

"Not you too, Doc," Martha frowned.

"Let's just eat what Javi retrieved for us from town," Alexis suggested.

"Oh fine," Martha gave a wave of her hand.

Alexis quickly reached out to turn off the shove and then steered her grandmother towards the table before she had another thought to try cooking a second time. "What's for dinner, Espo?"

"All of our favorites from the Italian place in town," Javi smiled. "I also got a lot of desserts from that bakery."

"Perfect for my sweet tooth," Alexis smiled, "Thanks, Javi."

"No problem, Kiddo," Javi smiled. "Anything else I can do?"

"Set the table?"

"Done," he nodded.

"Look at that, Lanie, he is trainable," Kate teased as she held her daughter, Johanna Lanie, to her chest.

"Look at that little cutie," Lanie cooed. The little tot had been down for her nap when she and Javi first arrived so she hadn't seen her. "How's the newest addition doing today?"

"She's perfect," Kate smiled.

"She's looking more and more like you all the time, Kate," Alexis said.

"Dad said the same thing the other day," Kate commented. "I don't know. I look at her, and I swear I see Martha's little smirk shining through."

"There are a few touches of Alexis in there," Lanie agreed, "Lucky little thing."

"If she has red hair, Dad's going to need a better shrink," Alexis tickled her little sister under the chin.

The little girl began to squirm a bit in Kate's arms, her breath heavy to indicate Alexis's actions were tickling her.

"Get ready, Alexis, this will be you in a few months," Kate reminded her.

"I'm ready now," Alexis rubbed her belly.

"Me, too," Kevin joined the ladies. "Where's Sarah Grace?"

Alexis pointed behind her, "Dad took her to the low beach to make a wish in case she doesn't make it to midnight."

"It's so quiet with the twins down for their naps," Kate noted, "Those two are getting quite rambunctious."

"Welcome to the terrible twos, my love," Alexis looped her arms around Kevin's neck. "It's all downhill from here."

"Don't I know it," Kevin snorted.

"They aren't so bad," Alexis replied, "It certainly could be worse. They could be flushing things down toilets."

"Don't even utter those words," Kevin shook his head. "Remember when Sarah Grace flooded the bathroom at the precinct?"

"That was Javi's fault," Alexis said. "He's the one who gave her his keys to play with."

"He's lucky custodial managed to get them out, or he'd still be walking home every night," Lanie laughed.

"Hello," Castle called from the side door as he and Sarah Grace entered. "We're back."

"Hey, Peanut, did you get your wish in?" Alexis smiled when Sarah Grace ran over and hugged as much of her as the girl's arms could manage.

"Yep," Sarah Grace bobbed her head, "It's a good one too."

"Good," Alexis smiled. "Uncle Javi got dinner. Are you hungry?"

"Yes," Sarah Grace's head continued to bob.

"Me too," Alexis took her hand, "Let's eat."

"Sounds good to me," Rick agreed. "Kate, I'll take Jo while you eat and then we'll trade?"

"Are you sure?" Kate hesitated. She loved her cuddle time with her daughter. She hadn't been all that great with kids until she had her own. Now she rarely wanted to put her daughter down.

"Hand her over," Rick held out his arms. "The last time you ate was breakfast and that was coffee and toast."

"I'll be quick," she vowed as she snatched up a container of food and dug in, taking little time to actually chew until Lanie slowed her down.

"Don't make me do the Heimlich on you," Lanie watched Kate shovel in her food.

"Really, Kate," Alexis frowned. "This food deserves savoring. Slow down and taste it."

Kate reluctantly took their warnings to heart and slowed down a bit.

"That's better," Lanie smiled, "A little adult time isn't going to hurt you."

"Besides, Dad's at his best when the other person can't talk back," Alexis giggled.

"I heard that," Rick glared at his daughter.

"And you love me anyway," Alexis smiled.

"Because I'm required by law to do so," he replied.

"Oh, hush, Richard," Martha scolded her son.

"Thank you, Gram," Alexis nodded. "Speaking of being required by law to love someone, Mom called last night."

"At three a.m.," Kevin rolled his eyes.

"She plans on being here the week this one's due," Alexis motioned to her stomach.

"All the more reason to go into labor early, Sweetheart," Martha replied.

"Don't tell me. Tell...it," Alexis said.

"It?" Martha chuckled, "You make it sound like some Stephen King novel."

"We don't know the sex yet," Alexis reminded them.

"We can change that pretty quick," Martha glanced towards Lanie, "Did you take a peek not all that long ago?"

"Nope, not me," Lanie shook her head. "That would be unethical."

"Not if the patient agrees," Martha noted, "How about it, Alexis?"

"I know I said I wanted to be surprised, but as we get closer, I forget the reasons for that thought," Alexis caressed her stomach. "What about you, Babe?"

"Let me think about it," Kevin said.

"Okay," Alexis nodded. "Dinner was great, Javi. Thanks for playing pack mule tonight."

"No problem, Chica," he sent her a wink.

Rick had given Johanna back to her mother and was digging into the shrimp parmigiana, "This is amazing."

"Of course it is," Alexis smiled, "Why do you think I insisted we order from there? I've been craving it for weeks."

"Mommy, is there dessert?" Sarah Grace asked hopefully.

"Of course there is," Alexis smiled, "We can't have dinner with out dessert. I think you'd better ask Uncle Javi to help you."

Sarah Grace went over to Javi and gave him her best smile, "Hi, Uncle Javi."

"Uh oh," Kevin chuckled at his best friend, "I know that smile. She wants something from you."

"Is that true, Niña?" Javi asked. "Do you want something from me?"

"Can we have dessert, please?"

"Dessert?" Javi asked, "What makes you think I brought dessert?"

"Cuz you can't have dinner without dessert. Mommy said so," Sarah Grace replied.

"Mommy's thoughts are a little off these days because of the baby," Javi said.

"Watch it, Espo," Alexis said. "I have a s-h-o-t-g-u-n on the premises."

"She's not kidding, Espo," Kevin told him when it appeared his partner wasn't taking Alexis threat seriously.

"I also know how to l-o-a-d and f-i-r-e it."

"Is that so," Javi chuckled.

"Dessert please," Sarah Grace swayed back and forth sweetly.

"Alright, you win short stuff," Javi smiled. "Castle, you done eating?"

"Give me a couple of minutes to chew, Esposito," Rick requested.

"While we wait let's clean up," Lanie suggested.

After they cleaned up and enjoyed the various desserts Javi had brought up from town, they all relaxed in the living room with the kids. Sarah Grace loved being a big sister; it showed in the way she played with Cat and Colin.

As promised Colin got to play with his LEGOS. Both Kevin and Javi got on the floor and played with him, building the tallest tower possible with the LEGOS the boy owned. It easily towered over the tot, and of course he took great pride in knocking it down.

"Who do you think you are, Little Man," Javi pulled Colin into his lap, "King Kong?"

"What that?" Colin frowned at his uncle.

"He's a big monkey."

"No monkey, Tio," Colin shook his head.

That garnered laughter and Kevin noticed Alexis standing over by the door looking out at the backyard. He got up and went to stand behind her, his hands on her hips, "Where's your head?"

"The future," Alexis admitted. "It's going to be fun watching them grow up here and in Brooklyn."

"Yeah," Kevin agreed.

"Any decision on the baby's sex?" Alexis turned and wrapped her arms around him as much as she could.

"You wanna know?" he asked.

"Yeah, I do."

"Why?"

"Because if it is twins again, I'd rather you faint here instead of the delivery room," she teased.

"I think the doctors would have told us if we were expecting twins again," he chuckled.

"Even so, I'd like to know," Alexis replied.

"Alright. Should we do this in private or in front of everyone?"

"In private first," Alexis said.

"I'll grab Lanie and meet you in the study," Kevin smiled.

"Deal," Alexis agreed and slipped into the next room.

"Hey, Lanie, can we talk in the study for a moment," Kevin grabbed her as she was coloring with Sarah Grace and Catriona.

"O-okay," Lanie followed along and nodded when she spotted Alexis, "I figured this was coming. You two want to know about the baby, right?"

"Tell us first that it's not twins or anything more than one baby," Alexis demanded.

"You're safe. It's just one this time," Lanie laughed.

"Thank god," Alexis breathed a sigh of relief.

"Would twins be so bad?" Kevin asked.

"Just for that, you're having the next one," Alexis frowned.

"Would if I could, Angel," he chuckled.

"Yeah, okay," Alexis giggled. "Okay, Lanie, lay it on us."

"Last chance to back out."

"Lanie," Kevin gave her a look.

"Things are going to be balancing out in your house," Lanie smiled, "It's a boy."

"I knew it!" Alexis exclaimed as she threw her arms around Kevin.

"Another boy," Kevin hugged her close.

"You still good with Aiden after your dad?" Alexis asked.

"Aiden Javier Ryan," Kevin confirmed.

Alexis gave him a kiss and then turned to hug Lanie, "Thanks for keeping this to yourself."

"It's the job," Lanie smiled, "Are you going to tell everyone tonight?"

"Yes," Alexis looked at the door and held a finger to her lips as she approached it. She stood to the side so she was clear of it and yanked it open, causing Javi to fall flat on his face.

"You couldn't help yourself could you, Partner," Kevin chuckled as he helped Javi to his feet.

"That was uncalled for, Alexis," Javi gave her a look.

"So was eavesdropping," Alexis gave him a look right back.

"How much did you hear?" Kevin asked.

"I, uh, well," Javi stammered.

"You couldn't let it be a surprise?" Kevin frowned at him.

"Well, you were planning to tell everyone tonight, so I'm technically just a bit early to the party," Javi replied.

"Shall we go tell everyone?" Alexis looked at Kevin.

"After you," Kevin gestured before turning to Javi, "You say one word and I'll mean to shoot you in the behind next time."

"Ouch," Javi winced as he rubbed his butt.

When Kevin, Lanie, and Javi joined Alexis, she was facing away from the couch. Kevin peered around her and grimaced, "Jeez, guys. There are children in the room."

"Seriously, guys, there is a time and a place," Alexis scolded her father and stepmother, "Certainly not in a room full of children, thankfully oblivious to you two."

"This is more than I needed to see tonight," Lanie shook her head as she looked elsewhere. "Where's Martha?"

"Mother's making a phone call," Rick said.

"So, once you were alone you couldn't help yourselves?" Alexis frowned.

"Give us a break. It's been a while," Kate said.

"And it's gonna be even longer because it's not happening now," Alexis shook her head in disbelief.

"You can turn around now," Rick said.

Alexis looked cautiously over her shoulder and sighed in relief.

"Good, now that you're dressed, we have an announcement," Alexis took Kevin's hand.

"Oh?" Rick looked at his daughter curiously, "Last time those words left your mouth, you were pregnant. Can't exactly make that announcement again, so what could you possibly be announcing now?"

"Be good, Dad, or I won't tell you what I'm having."

"Hopefully it's a baby," Rick replied, "Otherwise you have a lot to explain to Kevin."

"Kate," Alexis looked to her stepmother who nodded and smacked Rick lightly upside the head.

"Here we figured you'd want to know you're having another grandson," Kevin shrugged, "I guess our announcement will have to wait."

"It's a boy?" Kate got up and hugged her step-daughter and friend at the same time. "That's wonderful."

"Thanks, Kate," Alexis returned the hug.

"I get another grandson," Rick smiled. "Sounds good to me."

"Yay, I get a baby brother," Sarah Grace ran over and hugged her father and then stepmother.

"And you're going to still be the best big sister," Alexis smiled

"Thank you, Mommy," Sarah Grace beamed up at her. "I have to tell Gram!"

She darted off.

"Do you have a name picked out?" Kate asked.

"Yeah. It's going to be Aiden Javier for Kevin's dad and the man who brought me home," Alexis smiled.

"Purely selfish motives," Javi winked at her.

"Good name," Rick smiled. "A toast?"

"It's a bit early for toasts, Castle," Kate glanced at the clock.

"A pre-New Year's toast," Rick said.

Everyone quickly located their beverages and raised them in anticipation of Castle's toast.

"To my daughter and son-in-law," Rick toasted, "I'm so glad you got to this point. I wish you both all the happiness."

"Aw, thanks, Daddy," Alexis smiled, "It's been an unforgettable journey, one I hope continues for decades to come."

"I second that," Kevin clinked their glasses and gave her a kiss.

"Awww," the assembled adults said.

The End…

-d-d-d-d-d-

Thank you everyone for taking the time to read this epic journey. It took a few twists and turns along the way, but we appreciate you coming along for the ride.

We're hard at work on a new adventure, but it will have to wait awhile as we have vacations slowing us down.

Never fear, we'll be back.

Until next time….