This Tiny Little Life
Richard Castle looked down at the tiny newborn baby girl sleeping peacefully in the cradle in the hospital nursery. She was seven pounds, nine ounces, 60 centimeters long, had her mother's eyes and his mother's fiery red hair. She was perfect and beautiful and she had the best mother she could possibly ever have.
He knew her mother would have a busy work schedule when she came off maternity leave. Though he knew that she loved her little bundle of red haired joy more than anything in this world, he also knew that this little baby's mommy was also dedicated to her job.
Dedicated to helping take murderers off the streets. She was tireless in seeking justice, so he knew he would be spending a lot of time with this little one in the loft. It had been a very long time since it had rung with the laughter of children playing within its walls. He hadn't realized until just this moment how much he actually missed it. He would relish this time, just like he had with Alexis.
There would be games and fun and laughter. There would be movies, and lightsaber duels and Laser Tag battles. He would tell stories he had made up on the spot just for her, stories he had made up for Alexis, maybe even ones he had made up for Kate.
He was completely unprepared for this experience. He had been a little upset to have been the last one to know, but he had been away at a book signing tour in England when the news came out and nobody wanted to tell him over the phone or on Skype. He was amazed though at how much this little tiny life in front of him simply swelled his heart with more love than he thought any one human could ever possess. He was totally smitten, wrapped hopelessly around this little girl's tiny pinky finger from the first moment he'd laid eyes on her.
Everything was going to change. Everything had already changed. His entire world was already spinning off into a completely different dimension and though it scared the hell out of him at times, secretly he was loving every minute of it. So was Kate, who had vowed to stand by him no matter what. His life was full and rich, even if he went broke tomorrow.
Of all of the changes that had taken place in his life to bring him to this time and this place and presented him with this beautiful baby girl, the one change that he had thought up until now that he would never be ready for was the one that now lay before him. The role he now knew he had been born to play.
The role of...Grandfather.