Kate looked over at her husband and her kids and grinned. It was hard to tell who was more excited by the upcoming Easter egg hunt - Rick or the kids. Her entire family was almost vibrating with excitement, and they all looked so nice in their Easter clothing – Lily in a pretty dress and the three guys dressed alike in khakis and button downs of different shades of blue. Each of the kids had an Easter basket and the boys were holding on to their father's hands. They were waiting for the signal to start hunting for plastic eggs filled with goodies.
Police Commissioner Victoria Gates was here and had asked Kate to join as one of her official duties as Deputy PC. Kate had been thrilled when Vicky asked her to join her at 1 PP when she was appointed. Now that she was a mother of three, having more regular hours (and a boss that understood that Kate could be a mother and a cop) was wonderful. She and Rick had decided he would give the PI business to Alexis and Haley when she was pregnant with Lily, so he was a stay at home dad/writer again.
She pulled her mind back to the task at hand. She was standing close to Gates and the current mayor and her husband. Kate watched as the mayor lifted her arm and signaled for the hunt to begin. She laughed out loud as Rick and the kids took off running. Kate knew that Rick would help the boys since they were only three years old, but almost six year Lily had insisted on hunting for goodies herself. Kate had been a little worried about Lily, but their little girl was no shrinking violet, and Rick had no problem with that. "After all," he told Kate, "she does have a bad ass for a mom!"
Kate turned her attention to the Castle men as they seemed to uncover multiple hiding places at once. At that moment, Rick was helping Jake put two or three of the plastic eggs into his basket, while Reece scouted out possible hiding places. Rick must have sensed that he was being watched because he turned and waved at her. Kate laughed and waved back. Jake was too focused on the task at hand to turn around. Last night at dinner, he had declared that he wanted to get eggs for "Everybody!" and it looked like he was going to fulfill that promise. He barely stopped in his task when his father pointed out that his mother and Aunt Vicky were waving to him, but he finally took a minute out of his hunting to wave. But it was a minute only – he was a boy on a mission. Kate saw Lily helping Reece as the two of them added eggs to their Easter baskets too.
A few minutes later, the hunt was declared officially over, and Rick and the kids walked over to Kate. Commissioner Gates came over to check out all the eggs the Castle egg hunters had found. She adored the Castle children, and they loved her right back. Jake had been too focused on the hunt to say hello to his Aunt Vicky before, but now he hugged her and said, "Did you see me finding lots of eggs, Aunt Vicky? I was a ninja egg hunter!" Gates laughed as his enthusiasm made her remember his dad's. She reassured Jake she did watch him, and yes, he was a ninja. The three adults shared a smile. Kate was glad that Rick no longer seemed to put his foot in his mouth around Gates and they were now friends. Vicky had admitted to Kate that while she hadn't thought much of Rick in the beginning, but after she had discovered how much he really cared about the victims – he wasn't just fooling around when he was at the precinct – she really admired him and then she actually liked him. (He had also mended fences by replacing the Gemini dolls he broke.)
Jake was still trying to count how many eggs he had found. He wanted to make sure he had enough so that Mommy, Daddy, Gram and Grandpa could get one, and he wanted one for Lexie and Mike, and even for baby Katie. Reece was doing his imitation of a bunny, hopping around his sister. Lily was doing an admirable job of ignoring him – she was in her best "big sister" mode – but she couldn't stop the little grin at his antics. Kate slid her hand into Rick's as they watched their kids and they shared a smile. As so often happened at moments like this, Kate couldn't help but think of how her life would have been different. She remembered the case they had years and years ago when the professor had predicated events based on a linchpin. She and Rick had often talked about the linchpins in their lives. Once she had even wondered out loud about how they probably wouldn't have met except for her mother's murder, but Rick felt differently. "The universe wanted us to meet, Kate! We would have met some other way, I'm sure of it. Because the world needs our three kids in it!" She had laughed at him, but a part of her felt the same way. Because that's what Rick Castle did for her – he made her believe in magic.
A/N: Another story that I never finished. (I must have written this one before the other Easter story, based on the title.) I just love the idea of the Castle family doing this sort of stuff together. This is also based on an Easter egg hunt my sister and I took our twin nephews to many years ago. Again, I hope everyone who celebrates has a wonderful Easter!