Beta: digitaldesigner
Pairings: Castle/Beckett
Rating: PG
Summary: Winning a bet is not all it's cracked up to be.
Disclaimer: If it looks or sounds like something from Castle, I don't own it.
Spoiler alert: None.
A/N: This is a sequel to Sleep Deprivation, please read that first :D
Kate Beckett-Castle looked around the destruction area that was their living room. She glanced over at Rick and saw the same stunned expression on his face that she was sure was on hers. The first thought that popped into her head was: where's my baby? The second thought was: Ryan and Esposito are dead!
How had they managed this?
Every toy Joanna owned was strewn about, and it looked like all of their blankets had been piled to make a resting area in the middle of the floor. And for some reason there was a sword between the cushions and the back of the couch.
Slowly, they began to navigate through the rubble but stopped short when the blankets began to move.
Ryan's head appeared from under the blankets he'd just pushed off of him, and looked like a sleepy toddler as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.
"Ryan," Kate whispered harshly, finally finding her voice. She stepped towards him and was only saved from tripping over a stuffed animal and falling on her ass in a most unthreatening manner by Rick's arm that sprung out to catch her. "Where's Jo? What happened here?"
"Relax, she's right..." he paused, looking at the empty space next to him in confusion. Rick's posture went rigid and she felt her heart-rate jack up. "That's weird."
"You don't know where she is?" Rick growled. One of them was going to end up slugging the detective. If he was lucky it wouldn't be her.
Ryan finally seemed to pick up on their irritation. "I'm sure Esposito is with her," he defended his lack of knowledge of their offspring.
"You better hope so," she left the unspoken threat hanging in the air as they went to search the rest of the house, Ryan scrambling after them.
Neither Joanna or Esposito were in any room of the apartment, and both parents had gone from worried to mild panic. Multiple phone-calls later they were no closer to finding any answers and Ryan was trying to blend in with the wall.
"Did you try St. Marcus Hospital?"
"Yes. Did you call the precinct? Maybe he had to go into work."
"Yes, he's not there." Kate sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "Okay, not that you'd really be able to tell from the mess out there," she threw a perfunctory glare at Ryan, "but we've got to assume that Esposito walked out of here on his own with Jo. Where would he go?"
"To get doughnuts?"
"You're really going to go for the cliché now? Really?"
"Our daughter is missing! You want me to be creative?"
She opened her mouth to respond when they heard the front door open.
"Dude, where are you?" Esposito's voice called from downstairs. "I just dodged a few calls from the Rooks, I think they're on their way back. We better straighten up a little bit or they'll," he glanced when he hear the thundering of footsteps coming down the stairs, "kill us."
Before he could say anything Kate had reached him and was carefully lifting Joanna out of the Snugli that it had taken him way too long to figure out how to put on.
"There's my baby girl!" She didn't even attempt to cover her relief as she brushed a kiss to her forehead. Rick stood next to them, alternating between stroking Jo's back and asking Esposito questions in a barely restrained voice.
"Where have you been?"
Esposito held up a pink box like it was exhibit a. "I just went to get breakfast."
Kate let her eyes slip shut against what she already knew was coming.
"Are those doughnuts?" Rick asked, not even bothering to hide his amusement.
"Yeah," Esposito said, unsure. "Do you want one?"
"Ha!" he exclaimed, pointing at her.
"Shut up."
She was never letting Ryan or Esposito near Joanna again.
