Moments of Always

"Moments of Always" is a series of short stories describing single "moments" in the lives of the Castle Season 9 characters, in the first year after Lily's birth.

These stories have been written by various authors and curated/edited by members of the Castle Season 9 team.
Each story stands alone as its own "universe" - they are not intended to present a continuous narrative. They are not being posted in chronological order.
Think of them as little snapshots of "what might have been."

We hope you enjoy them!

Moments of Always: The First Of Many
Written by acertainzest

When the doorbell rang, Castle was standing in his loft with two handfuls of photos, smiling a dopey grin. "How about this one?" he was saying. "Ooh, or this one! It's my favorite. No, wait, this one's my favorite."

"Darling, you're hopeless," his mother laughed, taking the pictures from him. "All the pictures of our sweet girl are your favorite. Here, I'll use these two, and this one."

"Rick, the doorbell," his father-in-law called from the floor of the living room.

"Yes! Yes, I heard it, thanks," Castle said. "Mother, just take these and-"

"Leave it to me, Richard."

One entire wall of the loft had been given over to baby pictures; Castle had painted it with magnetic paint, and magnets of all shapes and sizes were in use, holding up a variety of photos. Martha was rearranging them, pursing her lips critically as she studied the layout to determine where the newest selections should go.

"How's this, dad?" Alexis called as Rick hustled across the room. His firstborn was up on a ladder, affixing streamers and balloons to the ceiling.

"Looks great, pumpkin." He flashed her a thumbs-up and then opened the door, his face breaking into a delighted smile at the sight of the newcomer.

"Lanie!"

"Hey, Castle, long time no see," Lanie exclaimed, hugging him tightly. "Thanks for sending a car to get me," she added as they pulled apart. "And for letting me stay here for the night."

"No problem at all," Rick answered. He reached to take the small overnight bag from Lanie's hand. "We would have come to the airport and picked you up ourselves, but someone really needed her nap."

He turned as he spoke, nodding toward the middle of the living room, where Jim Beckett sat on the floor surrounded by toys and his granddaughter. Lanie gasped when she saw little Lily standing, holding onto the edge of the sofa for balance.

"Oh my goodness, she's getting so big! And standing on her own!"

"I know," Castle grinned, closing the door behind Lanie. "She'll be walking any day now."

"Hi, Lanie," Alexis said, waving from her perch on the ladder. Lanie smiled and waved up at her.

"Hello, dear," Martha called from the corner. "Lovely to see you again."

"Yes, nice to see you, Lanie," Jim greeted with a smile. He levered himself up onto his feet with a grunt of effort. "How was your flight?"

"Fine, thanks," Lanie answered, but she only had eyes for Lily as she crossed the room and bent over in front of the little girl. "Hey, baby! Remember me? Aunt Lanie?"

Lily stared up at her, big blue eyes narrowing as if in thought. After a long moment, she broke into a sunny smile and lifted one hand from the couch to reach up and grab Lanie's nose.

All of the adults laughed, and Lanie swept the baby into her arms, peppering her little face with kisses. "Oh, you're so precious. I can't believe it's your birthday already!"

"It really has flown by, hasn't it?" Jim said. He smiled fondly at the little girl. "And every moment is a joy with her."

"I'm sure it is." Lanie glanced up at last, looking around the room. "What about Kate? She's still at the precinct?"

"She should be home any minute," Castle answered. "Oh, and I need to set up the appetizer plates, and get the glasses out, and-"

"Let me take that," Jim said, reaching for Lanie's bag. "I'll set it in the guest room for you. What else can I do, Rick?"

"Nothing, nothing. It's all under control," Castle said, looking around the room with a frown. "Mother, the party favors-"

"All under control, just as you said, Richard," Martha told him firmly. "Don't you want to get the wine open, let it breathe?"

"Subtle," he chuckled. "Okay, wine, and seltzer, juice for the little ones, and glasses, sippy cups, and..." Muttering to himself, he retreated into the kitchen.

"How are things with Kyle?" Lanie asked Alexis, who had descended from the ladder to come and give her a hug. The younger woman blushed and smiled.

"Good," she said. "Really good. His brother's graduating from high school tonight, so he couldn't be here, but we're planning a vacation together next month." She gently removed a lock of her hair from her baby sister's fist. "How about you? How's everything in Louisiana? How's your mom?"

"She's doing okay," Lanie replied with a shrug. "As well as could be expected. The job is fine - everyone there is really nice. Now if I could just get my dad to stop setting me up with his friends' sons..."

"Oh no," Alexis chuckled, but before she could enquire further into Lanie's love life, the doorbell rang again.

"I'll get it," Alexis called toward the kitchen, where Castle was busily arranging snacks and hors d'oeuvres on platters.

Lanie, still holding a babbling Lily, followed Alexis to the door, which opened to reveal a fresh crowd of extended family: Kevin and Jenny Ryan with Sarah Grace and Nicholas, and Esposito with Marisa Aragon and Richie.

While all of the adults were chattering and hugging and greeting each other, the Ryan children made a beeline for Lily's toys, scattered on the living room floor. Meanwhile, Richie kept an eye on the adults to make sure no one was watching as he snuck into the kitchen and helped himself to a few pieces of cheese and crackers from the appetizer tray. He wasn't as inconspicuous as he thought; his mother noticed and was about to call out to him, but Castle caught Marisa's eye and shook his head, smiling. Marisa smiled back and shrugged. If Castle wanted to concede his entire cheese platter to the growing boy, that was his problem.

The adults were talking a mile a minute, so much to catch up on between old friends who hadn't seen each other in a while. As they finally began to move away from the foyer and into the loft proper, the door opened again and Beckett entered.

Lanie struggled to hold onto little Lily, whose entire body began to wriggle with delight when she caught sight of her mother. The answering smile on Kate's face was just as wide as the baby's. She dropped her shoulder bag on the floor beside the door and hurried to take her daughter from Lanie's arms.

"Hi, sweetheart!" Kate crooned, hugging the baby with one arm and reaching out the other arm to her old friend. "And Lanie! It's great to see you."

"Likewise, girl," Lanie answered, beaming as she returned the hug. She released her friend after a long moment, and they smiled into each other's eyes.

"You look great," they said in unison, and both burst out laughing. Lily, content on her mother's hip, laughed along with them, clapping her little hands.

"Hey, you," Rick said, making his way over to kiss his wife. She squeezed his arm and smiled up at him.

"Hey, babe. The place looks amazing."

"It does, doesn't it?" he agreed, looking proudly around at the festively decorated loft. "Alexis did most of it," he had to admit, drawing a giggle from Kate.

"I'm sure you had some hand in it." She smacked a kiss to her daughter's cheek and made her way into the loft to greet her dad and the other guests.

After an hour of chatting, snacking, laughing, playing, and (amazingly) just one toddler meltdown, the whole party gathered around Lily's high chair while Castle lit the single candle on her cake. Little Lily stared at everyone in bemusement as they sang "Happy Birthday" to her with great gusto. When the song was finished, she clapped her little hands and shrieked with excitement. Her doting parents "helped" her to blow out the candle, and then Lily was given her own slice of cake, which she immediately turned into a gooey, crumbly mess smeared all over her high chair and her body.

The other children devoured their cake, and soon Richie was chasing Sarah Grace and Nicholas around the loft, the whole space ringing with their screams and giggles. The adults mingled, eating the cake more leisurely, conversing in little groups.

Rick and Kate stood with their arms around each other, watching their daughter rub buttercream frosting into her hair. Their faces were all smiles.

"Can you even believe it's been a whole year?" Rick murmured, turning his head to press a kiss to Kate's forehead.

"It's amazing," Kate agreed. "She's changed so much, come so far."

"We all have," Rick observed. His wife nodded slowly.

"Did you make a wish when you were blowing out the candle?" she asked.

"Maaaaaybe," he hedged. "But if I tell you, it won't come true."

"Right, of course," Beckett agreed, rolling her eyes tolerantly. "But I bet yours was the same as mine."

Castle gave a theatrical gasp. "You wished for Lily to buy you a pony too?"

Kate burst out laughing. "Don't hold your breath on that one, babe." Then her expression softened and her arm tightened around her husband's waist as she returned her gaze to their daughter.

"There isn't much I need to wish for anyway," she murmured. Castle nodded, squeezing her in return.

"I know what you mean. It's been an amazing year."

Just then, Lily looked up from her mess-making and found both parents watching her. She let out another happy shriek, lifting both arms to show them her double handful of mashed cake. They both laughed, looking at her and then at each other.

"I'll get the sponge and washcloth," Rick said.

"I'll get the broom and mop," Kate said.

They shared a smile, then moved toward their daughter, each of them taking one of her little hands and kissing her sticky fingertips. Yet again they spoke in unison.

"Happy birthday, Lily."

Thank you all for reading! The Moments of Always project is now finished.

Thank you to Meg Moore for instigating this project, and to The-KLF, ipreferwestside, ColieMacKenzie, and acertainzest for bringing it to fruition.

If you're still hungry for more Castle fanfic, our profile page has links to our authors' individual pages - please check them out and read their other works! Many of them are still writing new stories, and would love to have new readers for their older stories as well.

Once again, thank you for all of your support and enthusiasm for Castle Season 9 and Moments of Always.