Tab A, Slot B

"Oh my God, yes, almost there, Castle. Just a little bit more..."

Kate let out a grunt. So close, it was so close.

"No, no, just a little more to the left..."

Sighing she forced her eyes not to roll. "No, no, my left."

"Oh, oh sorry. Better?"

... Almost..."

Kate let out another grunt, her knees bending, heel digging into the plush carpet for leverage. So close... Her eyes squinted shut as she let out a huff, sweat pooling in the shallow hollows of her collarbones. They had done this a million times, why was this time so difficult?

Her legs flopped to the floor, her body going limp. It wasn't working. "What's the guy in the picture doing?"

Castle paused; his neck and cheeks flushed red from the exertion. One hand staying in place to hold his position as he barely turned his body to grab the flimsy booklet off the ground.

"Oh, that's what's wrong, he's rotating this way. Here," he said, tossing the book to the ground so he could pat her thigh with his hand. "Move your leg so I can get a better angle."

"Okay, but we gotta hurry, they'll be home soon."

Kate's ear half listened for the door as she shifted on the ground, the carpet of their daughter's bedroom scratching the small of her sweat slicked back where her shirt had ridden up. Oh, yeah, there was definitely going to be carpet burn.

"Right." Castle let out a half laugh. "I swear, we must be getting old, this never used to be this difficult. We could do three... four... five in a row before with no problem."

"Yeah, well at this rate one will have to do. So let's at least make sure we do it right."

"Right, right, now it said for me to position my staff like this..."

"Staff? Really?"

Castle stilled his movements. "What? What's wrong with staff? What would you call it?"

Kate stifled a groan. They were on a serious timetable here, she wanted to finish, and he was pausing to debate semantics. But this one kind of was her fault, wasn't it?

"I don't know... a rod?"

"Okay, fine, I just need to shift my rod like this and it should slip into your slot like that and...right there..."

"Yes!"

Kate let out a scream as the final piece of the bed frame to their daughter's first "big girl bed" slipped into place.

"Okay, perfect," Kate grunted, patting at her husband's leg, indicating for him to stand from where he was kneeling on the outside of the bed so she could shimmy past him out from under the cherry wood frame. They had been trying to finish the bed as Cora's fifth birthday present before she and Alexis returned from the zoo. "Now you get the slats and mattress in place while I retrieve Cora's new Star Wars sheets from the dryer."

Castle nodded as he obediently turned looking for the tiny hex wrench lost somewhere in the jumble of cardboard, plastic and carpet. With an 'ah ha!' he picked up the small tool and started to fit the long pieces of wood into place, but Kate's hand paused on the doorknob as Alexis' voice rang out from the other side. Dammit they must have missed the front door opening.

"Dad? Kate? Everything... decent in there?"

"Crap..." Kate muttered under her breath as she opened the door to see the sight of Alexis on the other side, the young woman's hands pressed firmly over Cora's little ears, as Kate attempted to slip out without allowing the girl to see her surprise in the room. "Yeah, fine we were just..."

"Oh my gosh, a bed!" Cora squealed as she pushed herself out of Alexis's grip and past her mother.

"... Putting together Cora's new bed."

"Oh... Okay."

"Why?" Kate asked, brow drawn.

"Nothing. It just sounded like you were doing something... else."

"Daddy, did you get a new bed too?" Cora questioned as she climbed onto Castle's back, tiny arms wrapping around his neck as he proceeded to screw the last slat into place with the tiny hexagonal metal tool.

"No, Monkey, just you. It is your birthday after all."

"Oh, okay... But then what were you and Mommy making in your room last night?"

Alexis let out a snort, as Castle and Beckett froze. "My guess would be a little brother."

Cora's brow furrowed in an uncanny imitation of her mother as she turned to look at her sister. "You get those from IKEA too?"

"Yep," Alexis replied, nodding matter of fact as she held her hand back out to her little sister, coaxing her off of their father's back, their parents still frozen, eyes wide. "Just insert tab A into slot B and..."

"Alexis!"

Alexis smirked as they both found their voices to admonish her in unison. "Come on, let's go get ice cream and let Mom and Dad finish."

"Oh, God..." Kate groaned as she flopped back against the wall as the girls disappeared down the hall, only to feel the red heat of her cheeks and chest flare when Cora's giggle flowed back down the hall to them.

"That's what Mommy said last night, too."

A/N: For Lou, Alana and Jamie for allowing me to run away with this idea. Thank you as always to KC for the edit and beta laughs. :)