DOMESTICITY
1.
She really really hates him.
After all of the vows and declarations, always being thrown around like it meant everything, she never expected this of him.
He knows she hates grocery shopping.
Knows it drives her absolutely insane, and yet less than half an hour ago, right before they were about to leave for a much needed restock of the fridge – she had been putting it off for days – he remembered a meeting he had at Black Pawn, one he'd already rescheduled four times. What was she supposed to say? No?
So here she is, standing in the middle of a grocery store, trying to corral three kids who absolutely refuse to listen to her.
Well, two kids.
James stands beside her, his back straight as always, quiet and listening to her every instruction.
It's moments like these where she finds it easy to make the supposedly impossibly choice of her favourite child.
She's one tantrum away from leaving the other two in the store, and it may not be one of the kids that throw it.
Lucy won't stay with the cart, flitting off ahead of them, returning every other minute with items they have absolutely no need for and then throwing a fit when she hears no.
Kate gave up on trying to keep the girl in her sights back in aisle one, because she knows that while disobedient, Lucy doesn't stray far and she's smart enough not to talk to strangers.
Noah is the one she has to keep an eagle eye on. He has a habit of making a run for it when given even the slightest opportunity, which means every time she glances at the shopping list or the shelves, she has to abandon the shopping cart to chase him down and pick him up.
He refuses to simply sit in the seat in the shopping cart, standing and leaning and falling if she's not careful, and after a few minutes of being held he whines and complains, so she puts him down with strict instructions to stay by mommy and James, but he always ends up breaking his promises, distracted by something or someone, and running off.
She likes blaming the Castle DNA in him for his inability to focus, but she knows she's at least partly at fault – she never was one for standing still very long.
"Don't we need pasta, mom?" James inquires, tugging her sleeve to point towards the array of pasta on display, and she could kiss him, checking pasta off the list.
"We do, thanks James, I almost forgot."
Sometimes she doesn't know where sweet, obedient James came from, but she's not complaining.
"Spirals?" He asks, eyes hopeful, and she sees that he's trying to use his helpfulness to get her to choose the kind he likes over the spaghetti that his siblings prefer, but she nods, letting him grab the box from the shelf.
Lucy and Noah wouldn't ask so politely, they'd simply throw the spaghetti into the cart or throw a fit, and she sees no problem with rewarding her eldest son's manners. But she sighs on second thought, knowing that they just won't cut it for Lucy and Noah.
"Why don't you grab some spaghetti as well?"
He does so dutifully, and she's busy marvelling over his maturity when she realises that she can no longer see Noah.
She curses under her breath, leaving the cart and instructing James to follow as she makes a mad dash to the end of the aisle and peeks down the next one, only to find it empty.
Dammit.
"Noah?" She calls sternly, trying not to let fear creep into her voice because logically, he couldn't have made it far. She looks down the next aisle to see her four year old barefoot (when did that happen?) and looking up at a stranger.
"Noah!" She yells, petrified, because she has warned him not to do this so many times.
"I take it he belongs to you?" The man asks, his tone friendly, but she's still on edge. Her youngest son is all Castle, making friends wherever he goes, unable to quite grasp the fact that he can't just approach people he doesn't know.
But then the man turns around, and the fear becomes something different entirely.
"Josh?"
She's in shock, because standing before her is a man from another life.
His hair is shorter, there are lines around his eyes that weren't present when she knew him, but he's easily recognisable.
"Kate," he smiles. "Wow."
"Mm," she manages to murmur, trying to find her words when she sees Noah looking up at her guiltily, and that snaps her back into action.
"You can't do that, Noah," she reprimands, still shaken, grabbing his arm and pulling him back to her side. "You have to stop running off on me."
She tries not to think about how he never hatches these escape plans when Castle's around. Oh, no. They're reserved just for her.
"Mommy!"
She turns around desperately, because Lucy only calls her that when she's afraid, and she sees the girl running from the other end of the aisle, flinging her little body at her legs.
"I couldn't find you!" She moans dramatically, and Kate murmurs reassuringly to her daughter, before turning to Josh.
God, what a picture.
He's enjoying it, too, there's a little smirk playing across his lips, and she wants to smack it right off his face, but she's reminded by the three sets of little eyes staring up at her that she doesn't know him that well, not anymore.
"Mom, who's he?" Lucy asks, absolutely no tact, and she sighs, introducing Josh by his name alone.
"You look happy, Kate," he says, and she almost laughs.
She doesn't feel happy – not right now. Right now she feels like one of those mothers she swore she'd never be, all harried and desperate and unable to control her kids.
"How is Castle?" He inquires, a knowing look on his face, and she narrows her eyes at his assumption before he gestures to Noah, and she laughs.
Yeah, there's really no denying his paternity.
He is a miniature version of his father, and she can't fault Josh for recognising it.
"He's great," she responds, put at ease by his easy-going nature.
"How are you?"
"I'm good," he says. "Actually just got back from Africa."
She nods, pleased for him, because she knows that they never would have made it work – not with the two of them wanting such different things so fiercely, so unwilling to compromise.
That, and the fact that she was undeniably in love with Castle, even then, and she thinks maybe Josh knew that all along.
"Africa with lions?" Noah inquires, and Josh laughs.
"Yeah, lots of lions, elephants too," he says, and that seems to captivate all her children, but given that they've already wasted over an hour in this hellish place and barely made a dint in the shopping list, she knows they don't have time to continue this conversation.
"Noah what did you do with your shoes?" She interrupts, staring him down, and he ducks his head.
"Noah," she warns, and he scurries off to the previous aisle, returning with his shoes and she rolls her eyes. "C'mon we have to go," she warns him, looking to Josh for the last time.
"It was nice to see you," she says, politely, and he nods.
"You too."
At that, she grabs Noah and Lucy's hands, trusting James to trail along beside them, and returns to the cart.
"Okay, guys, lets finish this up quickly," she says, her tone leaving no room for argument, something that Lucy and James recognise, but Noah still looks like he might make a break for it.
She pulls him into her arms, balancing her (heavy) baby boy on one hip and glancing at the grocery list, newly invigorated at the sight of each of her kids looking like they might actually listen to her – for now, at least.
She knows anything more would be too much to ask for, but God help her, she wouldn't trade this life for anything.
A/N:
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