Author's Note-Another one for my 'song fics that aren't really song fics' series. This comes in between Mission Impossible and Hey There, Lilah. It is another one about a song rather than based on the lyrics and this one is also inpired by a gif on Tumblr because I saw it and couldn't help myself. (icuisafourletterword dot tumblr dot com slash post slash 71242317910 slash how-to-fix-the-nursing-shortage) I hope you enjoy this. :D NYLF xx
Rick turned his key in the lock and pushed open his front door, sighing deeply once he was inside. He didn't enjoy book tours, even three day ones. He loved meeting his fans, seeing the support he had, but they took him away from his family and that wasn't okay.
His wife had her hands full enough with keeping the city safe without juggling childcare for their thirteen month old.
He pushed off his shoes with his toes, nudging them both into the hall closet, before hanging up his jacket and dropping his bag just to the side of the door. He'd deal with it later. Right now, he needed to see his family.
As he made his way through the loft, making a beeline for Lilah's room, he started to hear music coming from their spare room. They'd converted, it shortly after Kate had moved in, to be a small home gym for her. Sure, she had the precinct, and their building had gym facilities, but Kate felt most comfortable- especially since having their daughter- working out in the privacy of their home.
As he approached the door, he could hear his beautiful wife's laughter, along with his daughter's adorable giggling above the music, a familiar tune, yet one he couldn't place.
He peered around the open door and could barely stop himself from laughing out loud along with his girls.
Rick had a CPR dummy that he had collected at some point and it had been in his possession long enough that he had forgotten the story behind the purchase. But Kate kept it in her mini-gym- as they both called it- mainly to give it a place to live, but also so she could practise her technique in between her tri-yearly training courses to requalify.
The dummy, Rick had always affectionately referred to as Julie, for no apparent reason, was laying on the floor in front of Kate, who was knelt with her back to the door. Lilah, was dressed an adorable lilac one piece suite that was at least a size too big for her. Her short hair was adorned with a white and lilac headband, and there was the biggest grin on her face he'd seen in a while.
Rick watched as his barely-a-toddler daughter stood, bent in the middle, over the dummy with both her hands planted firmly on its chest. His baby girl bounced in time to the beat, pushing up on her fingers rather than down on her palms, a few times before standing and shuffling over to the head, leaning down to kiss the dummy. Okay so she hadn't got it quiet right, but it was adorable all the same.
"Never too early to start, I suppose." Rick commented, revelling in the fact he could still make his wife jump.
Kate turned her head to see him, smiling beautifully for him, before wrapping her hand around his ankle and drawing him forward. She leaned against him and he could feel the damp heat of her through his trouser leg. She was barely dressed, just her three-quarter length black yoga pants and her purple sports bra, showing off her slightly less toned but still flat stomach, with her feet as bare as their daughter's, which meant she'd been doing a vigorous workout before all of this started.
"Lilah was helping me work out and then got bored, and I needed to, at least, cool down before we could go do something else, and I thought she might have fun. She stared at it for a full twenty seconds before turning to me and shrugging. It was adorable, Castle." Kate smiled brightly at their daughter, who was now patting the dummy's chest, watching her parents with a cute smile.
"So you decided, ever the perfectionist, to show her how to do CPR properly, when she's barely a year old?" Rick asked, bemused and besotted, as he crouched down to be on their level.
Kate shrugged, kissing his cheek quickly because she had missed him and because she could. "I figured it wouldn't hurt. I demonstrated once Castle and she's been doing it ever since. She's in time and everything." Kate laughed incredulously.
Rick smiled, gently turning her towards him with a finger to the side of her chin. "I love how much you love our daughter, Mrs Castle."
Kate blushed faintly, her smile softening all the way into tender. "It's hard not to, Mr Castle. She is yours after all."
Castle smiled brightly, leaning in to kiss her teasingly. He didn't pull back until he felt Kate's hand fist in his shirt, a desperate whimper pulled from her throat as he disengaged. He went back in for another chaste kiss, who could blame him, and pulled away to watch their daughter again.
"The music?" He asked, noting the slight huskiness to his voice, giving up on trying to place it.
"Staying Alive. It's the best to keep in a heartbeat pattern. I thought it may help her and y'know, it was on my IPod anyway." She shrugged, making her husband laugh.
"Hey, pretty girlie." Rick cooed, turning his attention to his daughter.
Lilah looked up, her eyebrows raised in apparent surprise.
"Yes, you. You gonna come say hi to dada?" He asked, his smile never fading.
Lilah threw her arms up in the air. "Dada!" She cried happily, apparently just realising he was really there.
"Hey baby girl." He cooed, holding out his arms, letting his independent tiny girl make her own way over; all Kate, she would never let anyone do something for her that she could do herself.
Rick gathered her close, blowing a raspberry into her neck just to hear her squeal, before drawing her mother into his side, and holding them both close.
"It's so good to be home." He sighed as the music stopped. "Even if you are both crazy."
Kate shoved at him before burying her face in his neck and breathing him in deeply. "It's so good to have you home."