Rick Castle stirred the pasta one last time before testing to see if it was done. After a complicated set of moves that included burning the tip of a finger a bit, he was able to determine that the pasta was indeed done to perfection. He drained it, added the final ingredients and then turned to bring the completed pasta dish to the table. The other part of their dinner was already on a platter, and he grabbed it.
He smiled as he looked at the people sitting at the table. Eight month old Alex was banging on the tray of his high chair; three year old Hannah was sitting quietly, waiting for her dinner; and six year old James was talking a mile a minute to his mother. Kate was smiling at him and then she turned to give Alex another spoonful of baby peas. Or some sort of baby something that was green; he knew that because Alex had a lot of green stuff on his face and hands.
"So who is ready for the special Castle Family Friday night special of macaroni and cheese and dinosaur chicken nuggets?" he called out. Hannah nearly jumped out of her seat in her excitement. She loved mac and cheese – especially the stuff from the blue box - and chicken nuggets.
"Me, Daddy, me!" she cried out. "I am ready for it!" Rick put a small amount of the orange pasta on her plate and gave her two dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets. "Thank you, Daddy," she said as she picked up her fork and started to eat.
Jamie paused the story he was telling his mother about his friend Charlie's pet hamster, and held up his plate. "I would like a lot of mac and cheese, Dad. And about 5 chicken nuggets. Thanks, Dad!" He and Kate shared a smile. Jamie was an eating machine, and they knew they'd been having fun when he hit the teenage years.
He put some mac and cheese on Kate's plate along with a few chicken nuggets, and then the same on his plate. Then he and Jamie started discussing which world they'd rather live in – the world of Star Wars or Star Trek. Jamie wanted to live in the Star Wars world because he loved the idea of being a Rebel and bringing down a horrible government. Rick wanted to be able to beam down to new worlds and explore them, so he wanted to be a member of Star Fleet. Jamie asked Kate where she wanted to be, and she threw in a third option – the world of Nebula Nine. Rick laughed, but Jamie saw the possibilities there. Rick asked Hannah where she wanted to be, and no surprise, she wanted to be with her mom and be a part of Nebula Nine. Kate gave her a high five for that one. "We Castle women need to stick together, right, Hannah?" she grinned at her daughter. Hannah nodded.
Family dinner continued as the Castles talked about all sorts of things. This was a part of the day that was so important to Rick and Kate. Yeah, eating boxed macaroni and cheese and dinosaur chicken nuggets might be a bit different from the dinners they ate when they were first married, but this was something neither of them could ever have imagined all those years ago when they first met. They were a family now, and it warmed Rick's heart to see this and to be a part of it. It might not be steak and lobster at the Ritz, but he was with some of the people he loved most in the world, and that was perfect.