Whoa! It's an update! Sadly, this got a little neglected while I've been working on something else, but I've found a some inspiration for it once more. Thank you to everyone who has taken an interest in these one-shots of Joey and Gage. I still feel like I have more to add and a certain way I'd like to end it and I'm not there yet, but I won't be updating very fast.

This is a sequel of sorts to Chapter 20: Rock-A-Bye with reference to 6x10: The Good, the Bad, and the Baby.

He woke without knowing the cause, the bedroom still dark, the loft deathly quiet, and the unmistakable feel of Joey's foot curled under his side confirming his two-year-old wasn't awake, either.

Ouch. Castle inhaled stiffly and gently shoved Joey's foot elsewhere. Anywhere but up against him, though it was only a matter of time before they found him little toes were always stabbing him.

The fog of sleep was slowly starting to lift as he drank in the dark room and found no sign of Kate's silhouette on the bed, only their son's, topsy-turvey on the mattress, his head where Kate's hip should be and his legs startling to roll around in the boy's sleepy state.

Castle listened close to the static over the baby moniter, but nothing jumped out at him. Baby was still sleeping and he should be, too. With a slow, weary sigh, he sunk back into his pillow, tried to grasp onto sleep once more.

Until.

Like heat-seeking missiles, those tiny, toddler feet were suddenly jammed under his thigh the same way Kate's icy toes would sometimes fit themselves under Castle's warm legs, but Joey did it with less grace than his mother and Castle had to stifle a curse rising in his throat. He reached for Joey's torso and slid him closer, angling the boy's body so that his feet aimed the other way.

There.

That was better.

He sighed again, heavy and content and so, so tired, ready to settle next to Joey for a handful of hours more until Joey would wake him at the crack of dawn for breakfast. But then the baby grunted and fussed over the monitor, drawing a groan from Castle.

So long, sleep. It was nice while it lasted.

He stumbled up the steps in a daze and rounded the corner into the nursery. His gaze lifted and he froze at the sight of Kate in the rocking chair and the baby tucked up on her shoulder while she drew soothing circles on his back.

Kate.

How had he forgotten about Kate? Of course if he was with Joey, then she was with Gage, probably taking care of a late-night feeding.

He was so tired, stuck in a cycle of checking on boy #1 and boy #2 and again on repeat, this dizzying dance of having two kids at a time still so new, he couldn't remember the last time he sought to his own needs or Kate's.

He leaned against the door frame and the weariness crept back in, settled deep in his bones. The gentle lilt of Kate's voice rising just above a whisper did nothing to help.

"I gotcha." She was telling their son, her cheek barely resting on the baby's fuzzy head, an unmistakable fondness in her voice for the little one she held. Two weeks old and they were absolutely infatuated with him. "Time to sleep, baby boy." She pressed the softest of kisses to Gage's head, her foot pressing on the floor to keep the rocking chair at a slight sway.

It was hard to believe the woman in front of him was ever a self-proclaimed baby unenthusiast. Then again, maybe she still was, but she had kept her word to him. She was crazy in love with their boys and tonight, like every night since they brought Joey home from the hospital, she wouldn't leave Castle alone in raising them. She was there in the trenches with him, even when she was at the 12th, battling through these sleepless years with him.

Castle's eyelids started to droop, the magic quality of Kate's voice working a little too well on him.

He startled when cold fingers skated along the back of his neck, his eyes fluttering open just as Kate pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Baby's asleep." She whispered. "Now it's our turn."

Oh, god, yes. Sleep.

He bumbled after her and fell into bed next to Joey, letting out a weary sigh. All that work getting Joey to sleep in his own bed and a baby brother had undone all their efforts.

"Kate," Castle said on an afterthought. The pull to sleep was strong, but he didn't say this enough and she needed to know.

"Hmm?" She moaned from across the sea of pillows and toddler.

"Thank you." He muttered. For everything she did for their boys, for him.

"Mhm." She hummed.

And he welcomed sleep like an old friend.

She was too tired to be the strong-willed one to night. In a show of submission she wasn't proud of, she let her eight-month-old win. She let him sleep on the bed tonight and she could just picture Castle's shocked face if he were here, witnessing this.

But he wasn't here right now.

In fact, the damn book tour was the reason for all of this, really.

She wouldn't be in this boat, pulling a twelve-hour shift and then tacking bedtime with both boys alone if he didn't have the tour.

Joey was surprisingly easy tonight, but Gage…

Gage wouldn't let go. And at eight months of age, Kate started to see her son's personality breaking through in little moments like this. So often, Gage reminded her of her father. Gage was laid back, easy going, a quiet observer to his brother's ridiculous antics. But lately, she'd seen Gage could be single-mindedly determined to the point of exhaustion. And tonight, he wore her down, made her break. He won.

She settled him on the bed with pillows lining the edge of the mattress, having flashbacks of nights with baby Joey in their bed and promises she and Castle made not to repeat that pattern with their second child.

When she curled onto her side, the day's exhaustion caught up with her and she grasped the small hand waving wildly in the air, let Gage curl his hand around two fingers and pull them into his mouth to gnaw on.

He was so calm, it was hard to believe he'd howled like a banshee several minutes ago from his crib. Stubborn little one.

"Sleep, baby." She murmured, feeling herself give into it.

"Mama?"

Her eyes snapped open, flew to the doorway. How had she missed Joey's trek down the stairs? It always sounded like a stampede.

"What's wrong, Goof? Why are you still up?" She questioned, catching the flash of jealousy in his young eyes when he spotted Gage. She could already feel the argument forming in his mind.

He scampered up the bed and wedged himself in between them, his mother's 'be careful, Joey' rolling off her tongue swiftly like it did most days, but he still almost clobbered Gage with a foot as he slipped under the covers and curled into Kate.

"Just like that, huh?" She droned. Apparently, permission no longer applied where sleeping in Mom and Dad's bed was concerned.

"When's Daddy coming home?" Joey asked, sounding too wired for Kate's liking. This would be a long night, but Castle wasn't here to tagteam with and she was outnumbered so both boys might as well stay.

"Three more days." She whispered, hoping he'd catch on to be quiet, to calm down.

He didn't. "We have to go to Papa's again?" He asked in his usual voice.

"Uh uh." She yawned. "Daycare tomorrow. Papa has to work."

Joey sighed his disapproval. "Mama?"

"Yes, Baby?" She surprised herself with how patient she sounded.

"I want Daddy back." He told her plainly.

"I know." She sighed, her fingers coursing through Joey's short, bristly hair.

She knew. She wanted him back, too.

Her eyes were closed so she startled when Joey's little hands grabbed her face. Three-year-old logic told him if she wasn't looking at him, she wasn't listening. "Can you make Daddy come home?"

She dragged one of his little palms to her lips and kissed it heartily. "No, Goof. Daddy's doing something very important for his work and he'll be home in three days, but you can let him know you missed him. That'll make him feel better 'cause I know he misses you, too."

Joey huffed and rolled onto his back, away from Kate and pushing the boundaries on Gage's sleeping area.

This wouldn't work. She'd have to be in the middle.

It only took thirty minutes, some maneuvering, and one small fit from Gage, but she got them to sleep. Finally.

She laid on her side, Joey at her back and her eyes filled up with Gage. Eight months old already and softly snoring with a little fist jammed up against one of those kissable chubby cheeks. Growing way too fast. It didn't seem that long ago that Joey was the baby next to her and now he was three and talking like a champ. If she blinked again, it would be Gage who was talking and Joey in school and it didn't ever seem to slow down except on these long nights when sleep was a hard-fought battle with them.

Kate reached out, trailed her fingers over Gage's sweet face. So in love with that munchkin and the one at her back, twirling his fingers in her hair even as he slept. She sighed, soaked in one last, long look at Gage, and closed her eyes, putting all that kept her mind running rampant to rest for now. Only so many hours in a day and she wanted every ugly, exhausting minute with these gorgeous boys.

Thoughts?

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