For Cathey, because I can't fly across the country to hug you in person.

"You ready, Kate?"

Kate looks up from her seat on the floor, where she's helping their four-month-old daughter sit up. Rick is leaning against the door jam, a hopeful look in his eyes. "As ready as we'll ever be."

Rick grins, raps his knuckles on the trim once before pushing himself off. "Okay, I'll be right back. She and Samson are gonna love each other."

"You hear that, Lily?" Kate mutters when Rick is out of sight. "We're going to introduce you to your new friend."

They'd gotten the dog when she was pregnant with Lily, the swell of her belly just starting to show beneath the fabric of her shirts and the emotions left behind from their shooting still running high. When she'd showed up at the house in the Hamptons with a ball of fluff cradled against her chest and explanations of how she needed practice and the dog needed a home falling from her lips, he welcomed the puppy with open arms. As if he could ever turn Kate holding an adorable puppy away.

They'd trained Samson well, but Kate had still been concerned enough when Lily was born that they'd kept him out of the nursery, kept their interactions at a minimum. She didn't want to scare Lily, didn't want Samson to accidentally hurt her. He's a good dog, but he gets easily excited. Now, with Lily beginning to sit up and just a few short months from crawling and more, they'd agreed that it was time.

She looks up when she hears footsteps, and grins at the looks on Castle's, and Samson's, faces. Castle has his hand through Samson's collar, but she can tell he isn't pulling him back. Their golden retriever peeks around Castle's legs, head cocked as if to say, "What's that in front of you, Mom?" Kate gives Castle a nod and he takes a few steps forward, nudging Samson into the room.

Husband and wife raise their eyebrows at each other, Rick flashing a smile before his gaze drops to the scene unfolding in front of him. Samson takes a few cautious steps, stopping a few feet in front of Lily. Kate loosens her grip on her daughter's waist as Lily leans forward, but before she can say anything, Lily starts to cry.

Oh, no.

She doesn't say anything to Rick, just pulls their crying child into her arms, presses Lily's head into her shoulder as Rick guides Samson out of the room. Rick is back in an instant, a palm on Lily's back.

"Shh, baby, it's okay," he murmurs, lips at the back of her head. He lifts his gaze to Kate. "Too soon?"

Kate sighs and reaches behind her for Lily's favorite toy, a stuffed elephant that Lily immediately wraps her short arms around and buries her face in. "Maybe we can have them interact more while one of us is holding her?" She nudges his knee when she notices the faraway look in his eyes. "Rick."

"Huh?"

"Where'd you go?"

He grins and leans over to kiss her, then stands. "I have an idea."

"What are you doing?"

"You'll see."

She leaves work at noon the next day, anxious to get home and see her family. She's been texting her husband all morning, getting updates. Lily had refused to let go of her stuffed elephant, but the dog had apparently sensed her discomfort and spent the morning curled up on his bed in Castle's office, watching through the bookshelves.

Rick must hear her come in, because before she can call out, he's in front of her. "I just got her down for her nap," he whispers, cupping her face and giving her a tender kiss. "I tried to keep her up, but she almost fell asleep while eating."

"That's okay." Kate shrugs off her coat and steps out of her boots, accepts Rick's hug with a smile. "Hi," she mutters into his shirt.

Rick's chuckle reverberates through her, and she squeezes his waist when he drops a kiss to the top of her head. "Hi. Wanna see what I got?" He takes her hand and pulls her into the kitchen, where an open box sits on the island. "Look."

Kate narrows her eyes when he takes out a pair of elephant ears and a trunk. "Babe, what is this?"

"Lily loves her elephant," Rick explains, taking them towards the office. "So I thought, maybe we can put these on Samson, see if it helps?"

Samson's head lifts at his name, and Kate stands at the door, watches her husband kneel in front of him. She's sure that Lily's fear is temporary, that before long she'll be climbing on the dog's back and rolling around with him in the park. Her eyes well with tears at the thought of her child and dog playing together, of Samson protecting her.

She's broken from her reverie when she hears Castle swear, and she presses her fingers to her mouth to hide her smirk at the sight.

Rick got the ears on Samson, but is having a hard time getting the trunk to stay on his long snout. Samson, to his credit, is just sitting there and taking it. After a few minutes she can't just watch anymore. "Castle."

"Huh?" He looks up, confusion all over his face.

Kate kneels next to him. "Let me try." She manages to secure the trunk to Samson's snout, but the dog immediately whines and paws it off. She stops Rick before he can try again. "I think just the ears will be fine."

"But-"

"Let's take them off him until Lily wakes up," Kate interrupts, her hands following her words, "and then maybe we can get in a quick nap of our own." She punctuates the suggestion with a nip at his earlobe.

"Oh." Rick helps remove the other ear and stands, pulls Kate up with him. "I can definitely go for a nap."

They wait until Lily's been awake for a while before Rick goes to retrieve Samson. And this time, when the dog approaches the child, she reaches out and touches his snout, then squeals with laughter.

Kate raises her misty-eyed gaze to her husband, who matches her smile with a teary one of his own.

Her baby girl keeps laughing, squealing happily as Samson's fur tickles her cheeks until she loses her balance and Kate reaches to catch her. She adjusts their daughter as Samson, playful now, emboldened by the baby's joy, reaches forward to leave a wet puppy-kiss across Lily's tiny cheek.

The tears she expects don't come, her daughter laughing instead until Castle joins in and the joy bubbles from Kate, too, and Samson nudges his way into the circle they've created around Lily on the floor.

Into their family. Their whole family.

A/N: This was inspired by the Amazon Prime commercial involving a baby, a dog, and a lion's mane. Thanks as always to Callie for allowing me to run with what was ultimately her thought and for providing words when they failed me. Special shout out to Lou for the title.