Just a nice little scene of what can be!

Beckett pressed a finger to her eye as the murder board began to blur together. She was tired and sore from sleeping on the couch in the break room, something she hadn't done in at least a year. This case was getting to her at such a way that she needed to solve this or she wouldn't have peace of mind for a long time. It was times like this, when they couldn't find that missing puzzle piece that she missed that Castle wasn't around.

Sighing, Beckett swirled around in her chair and blinked at the sudden appearance of the coffee cup on her desk. Thinking she was losing her mind because it hadn't been there a moment again, she looked up and was beyond pleased to see the handsome writer standing in front of her desk with a grin. "Hey!" She was already pushing away from her desk to greet him, "What are you doing here."

As if on cue, Alexis followed by their four year old twins popped out from behind their father, "Happy birthday!"

Beckett bounded around her desk and seized the red head by the shoulder, "You're home!"

Laughing, Alexis found herself being twirled in dizzy circles, "Just got in and we wanted to surprise you."

"Look mommy." James led out a cake and grinned, his blue eyes dancing with happiness beneath his mop of over grown chestnut hair. "Dad, Liz and I baked it for you."

Beckett knelt down to inspected the frosted cake to examine the letters the Castle had obviously let the twins write as most of the letters were backwards or impossible to make out. "You two did such a fantastic job!"

"We made you a card as well." The younger of the twins, Elizabeth, held up a homemade card that was dripping glitter all over the station floor. "It's sparkling."

"I see that." After setting the cake on her desk, Beckett gathered the two into a rib crushing hug. "Thank you."

"Hey what about me?" Castle whined holding up a small wrapped box, "I brought you a present."

The detective stood to give the writer a smacking kiss that had him seeing stars, "Thank you."

After clearing his vision, Castle smiled, "You don't even know what it is yet."

"This." She gestured to the kids who were already working on cutting the cake into pieces. "Is the best present I could have ever wanted. I hate spending time away from you."

"This is why we wanted to surprise you." Alexis pointed out dragging a few chair towards Beckett's desk.

"Where are Uncle Javi and Uncle Kevin?" Liz asked tilted her head back to look up at her mom. "We made enough cake for them as well."

Beckett ran a hand over her braided hair, "I'm sorry sweetie there out chasing the bad guys." Thinking of the murder, she looked up and saw that Alexis had taken the notion to swing the murder board to the blank side to shield her siblings from the gruesome pictures. "But Captain Gates is in her office. Go see if she's up for cake."

The twins didn't need to be told twice as they took off towards the office. Aver the last four years Beckett had grown to not only like Iron Gates, but to respect her on the same level she had Montgomery. If it wasn't for the captain who pushed when needed, they would have never been able to break through the hold on her mother's case and finally close it.

Castle set aside his present to take his wife into his arms, "Tough case?"

"Yes. I can't find what we are missing."

"Why don't you let Castle take a look?" This came from Gates who was being led by the hands by James and Liz. "You know for old time sake."

The writer's face lit up like a Christmas tree, "Does this mean you miss having me around, Captain."

"Wouldn't got that far." Gates smirked looking down at the children, "I think I can find something to distract these two with for a bit."

"And I can go down and bug Lanie!" Alexis happily announced as the twenty two year old was now in her fourth year of pathology and loved picking the ME's brain whenever she came home to visit. She gave the detective one last powerful hug and dashed off towards the elevator.

"Come on you to." Now it was Gates leading the twins away from the murder board.

Castle grinned as he turned the board around and together they stood shoulder to shoulder. Since the birth of the twins Castle hadn't been seen much at the station because he loved being the stay at home dad. On occasion he would come in to lend a hand and Beckett always sought his council when she brought her work home. It wasn't the same, but it was enough. And as soon as James and Liz started school next year, Castle would be back to shadowing her and together writer and muse would fight crime.

I love fluff!