Kate was happily spooning rice cereal into her "baby bird's" mouths the day after Mother Nature dumped a foot of snow on New York City. As usual, she had been in the precinct right before the snow and until the snow had stopped falling – it was her job as captain of her own precinct to be there. (Castle kept calling her "essential personnel" until she was ready to hurt him). But the snow had stopped falling, the city was digging out, and she was home with her family.
As she fed six month old Jake and Reece, she totally understood why Rick called them baby birds now. Every time she got the spoon of cereal close to them, their mouths instantly opened and they did a great imitation of a bird. They had learned it was easier for one parent to feed both boys at the same time, spoon in one hand, wet washcloth in the other. It also worked because the other parent could keep an eye on three year old Lily.
Right now, Lily was sitting as close to her mother as she could. She had missed Kate fiercely when she wasn't home and had been very vocal about it. Rick had had his hands full trying to keep her occupied the last few days. Normally, his mother or Jim or even Alexis would have spent the snowy days with them at the loft, but his mother was on a cruise, Jim had been stuck at his cabin, and Alexis was away at law school. Lily had been okay with a Disney movie marathon for a while, but even that wasn't enough. Rick knew she wanted to go out and play in the snow, but there was no way he was taking the boys out. She wasn't happy about that. He had promised her that they would go out and play when Mommy was home. First thing this morning, she had reminded him of that, and he had told her she needed to eat a good breakfast, and her brothers had to eat theirs too.
As Kate fed the boys and Lily waited for her father to make her breakfast, Lily was full of questions. What were her brothers eating? Why did Mommy only use one spoon for both boys? Why did the boys push the cereal out of their mouths like that? Why did Mommy feed them the cereal that was on their faces when she made Lily wash her face? And on and on and on. Kate smiled to herself; she couldn't help thinking that if she'd been here the last few days, all these questions would have driven her nuts. But because she had missed her little girl, she had the patience to answer them all.
At that moment, Rick came over to the table with a plate full of cut-up pancakes for Lily. He placed it front of her with a flourish, and walked back to the stove. Lily looked down at the plate and frowned. "Daddy," she asked, "What are these?"
"Pancakes, Lily-pad. Just like you wanted!" he answered.
"No Daddy, I want waffles!" She pouted at him, knowing that usually got her what she wanted.
"Baby, you asked for pancakes. And you know the rules about shouting at the table."
Her face got red as she yelled out, "Waffles! I want waffles!" and as she said it, she slammed her hand into the offensive breakfast.
Rick was at the table so fast, Kate, the boys and Lily were all shocked. "Lily Johanna, that is not how you speak to me. " He took the washcloth from Kate's hand, wiped Lily's hands and continued, "You know the deal. Go to your timeout spot and think about what you did!" Lily looked at him, saw how serious he was, and climbed down from her chair. She slowly walked over to the bottom step and sat there.
Kate knew how much Rick hated this; she could see how upset he was. But she also knew that the one thing he did not want their children to be was unkind and rude. He was a great father, always ready to have fun with his kids, but he also knew that kids needed rules and a little bit of discipline. But that didn't make it easy for him to make any of his kids unhappy. She turned to him and squeezed his hand, and was relieved when he squeezed back. Jake and Reece were over their shock and were making their "hey Mom, feed me" noises, so she went back to feeding the baby birds.
Meanwhile, Rick had gone over to Lily and had released her from her timeout. She sat back down next to Kate, quiet now. Kate knew that as much as Rick disliked making her unhappy, Lily disliked having her father be unhappy with her. In a little voice she said, "I'm sorry Daddy." Rick kissed the top of her head and cleared her plate away. He walked over to the stove and asked her what she wanted for breakfast. Kate grinned when the answer was pancakes, and smiled again when Lily ate them with gusto.
And a few hours later, when the Castle family was having fun in the snow, Kate knew that morning's temper tantrum was all about missing her mom, and being stuck inside. And she knew that even their perfect little girl sometimes wasn't perfect. After all, she was half Beckett, and even Kate had to admit that meant sometimes she was a little bit stubborn. But all in all, she wouldn't trade her in for anything, even if that meant that some days were stormy.
A/N: Inspired by today's snow and the idea of Lily not always being sweet and perfect. After all, what three year old never throws a tantrum? And she is half Beckett, right?