The E&J Chronicles.

I promised Ris that if she stayed almost spoiler free for Watershed I would turn Emma and Jake into her own universe. And she did, so here it goes. A whole baby universe, just for her. I love you so much, and I hope everything goes well tomorrow.

This is also, in part, for Becca. Becca, I love you so much it's ridiculous and I wish I could make you see how amazing you are. You are one of my favourite people ever, and I hope things start to look up soon.

Disclaimer: Marlowe probably prioritises his writing duties better than I do.

"Daddy?"

Castle looks up from his laptop, momentarily withdrawn from the fact that he's got a gun pressed to Nikki Heat's temple by the two pairs of identical eyes peering at him from the other side of his desk. Double trouble. "Yes, my little munchkins?"

Emma turns her head slightly to Jake, trying to convince him into talking. But he's not co-operating. Quiet as usual, he's happy to let his sister ask the question. "Is Mommy a superhero?"

Hm. Tough question. "What makes you ask that?"

"She gets the bad guys." Emma says, as if it so obvious an answer. "Superheroes catch bad guys."

"Well… yes, but superheroes have super powers. Like, Thor and his hammer. Captain America and his shield, Spiderman and his… spidey-ness."

"Mommy has super powers." Jake mumbles, looking up at him with those big blue eyes, almost offended that he even thought about denying the fact that his mother is a super hero. Mommy's boy. Complete Momma's boy.

"Yeah!" Emma readily agrees. "Like she can get you to do anything. That's a super power!"

"No, no that's not a super power. Besides, it isn't just me tending to her every whim. You guys do it too."

"Do not!" Emma retorts, frowning at him.

Though, he does have to admit, Emma has a point. The six year old is as independent as six years olds come, as stubborn as her mother and her father combined and trying to make her do anything she doesn't want to do is like trying to teach a blue whale how to polka. "Well, Jake does."

"That's cos Jake is a wimp."

Jake lets out a whine of protest at that, and Emma shrugs one shoulder. Couldn't care less attitude. Oh, she's going to be a nightmare. "Don't call your brother names."

"Why not?"

"Why not? What if I started calling you grumpy head? Or poo head, or silly face or pig faced nincompoop? Would you like that?"

"No…"

"Exactly, so sh." Emma sighs in a very grown up, I can't believe you are being this ridiculous manner, and keeps looking at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Is Mommy a superhero?"

"I – well… it depends on how you look at it."

"But she catches bad guys! Super heroes catch bad guys! "

"She's a different type of super hero to a super hero. Does that help?"

Emma gives him a look of disgust, whether she gets it or not is completely irrelevant. According to her, he is being one hundred percent ridiculous. Stupid. Out of his mind. Jake, on the other hand, looks thoughtful. Like it makes sense. Well, at least he's got through to one of them. Maybe.

"But why are there two different types of super heroes?" Jake asks, taking the lead for once.

"Well, like there's the ones with the super powers, who save the world from aliens and big lizards and monsters and big giant robots, the ones who everybody recognises and looks up to. They have respect and money, and some of them are idiots, and some of them take it for granted, but, they save the world. They rescue humanity from the brink of destruction."

"Transformers aren't super heroes." Emma states, raising an eyebrow at him.

"They don't need to be people though, do they, Daddy? Thor isn't a people."

"Thor isn't a person, Jake. Or, you could argue that he is. He's just not a human person. But no, super heroes don't need to be human. The auto bots saved the world too, only they saved the world from their own kind. Sort of. The Decepticons are Transformers too."

"Yeah, but-"

Jake interrupts, talking over his sister for maybe the second or third time since he started talking. "But Mommy's a super hero like Sam. That's what you mean."

"That's exactly what I mean. You see someone like Samuel Witwicky or your mother, just walking down the street, you don't assume much. They're just an ordinary human people. Human person with an ordinary job and an ordinary life. But really, they're not. They save the world with a group of alien robots, or they chase down bad guys and they solve really complex mysteries that only the best of people can solve. They do the dangerous stuff, so you don't have to. So we sleep safely at night. Your mother, she works hard. She works hard to make the world right for people like us. She works late nights and occasionally she misses dinners, but she's out there and she's doing her best."

"She comes home for the important stuff." Emma pipes up, her eyes suddenly bright and shining. "Like birthdays. She's never late for birthdays. And she always comes in when she comes home to say goodnight."

"Mm, she does. And she always puts us first. And even if she's running late, even she's going to be told off, she'll always have time for a cuddle. To tell you she loves you, and she'll see you later."

Jake is grinning now, seemingly taller as he stands up on his tip-toes. "And she does the funny voices when she's reading. Like Harry Potter. Flitwick is all high and squeaky, and Hagird is all deep and rumbly."

"And blanket forts! She builds the best blanket forts, and she pretends to be the tickle monster and chases after us. And she doesn't get too upset when we ambush her with pillows."

"See, she doesn't need to have super powers to be super, does she?"

It's a couple of months later and it's bring your parents to school day. Emma immediately said she wanted Daddy, mainly because she wants to tell everyone that her parents are famous. Sort of. Even though she's told anyone who will listen five times over anyway. Jake is okay with that. He wants to show his Momma off. So when he gets up there, standing in front of the class, with George looking at him like he's going to trip him up in the playground again, with Mrs. Ashman smiling at him from the back of the room. And there's Emma, almost glaring at him to get it right, but sat right next to her is Daddy, that big goofy grin encouraging him on. And, of course. Stood right next to him, looking down at him with that small smile, so proud and loving, is his Mommy. He takes a deep breath, opens his mouth.

"My mommy is a super hero."

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