Just Another Magic Sunday
A one-shot of a Castle family Sunday morning - set sometime around 6x18/6x19. Pancakes and coffee.
Faint beams of early morning sunshine crept through the bedroom windows crisscrossing lines of light across the bed, creeping over the pillows and into Castle's eyes, waking him from a deep slumber.
"Too early." Castle murmured, turning to face Kate, only to find that she had pushed herself deep under the comforter shielding her eyes from the light.
"You need better curtains Castle," she whispered sleepily, pushing herself towards him - aligning her feet with his, and resting her forehead on his bare chest as a make shift pillow, completely covered by the blankets.
"Hmmm I quite like this to be honest," responded Castle. "Wouldn't want you to replace my chest with an actual pillow; and anyway don't you mean 'we' need better curtains," tickling her arm as he spoke.
She jabbed him in the side, causing him to squirm, and shift his body so he too was under the covers, bending his body so he could kiss her lightly on the nose. She smiled sleepily; there really was no need for better curtains.
They doze quietly, entangled in each other's arms just like they had done every morning since she first started sleeping in his bed, which was now her bed too.
It was only much later, that they crawled up to their pillows, ready to start the day.
"Do I smell coffee?" asked Castle curiously.
"Well we do have our coffee elf back home," Beckett said cheerfully as she shifted, kissing Castle softly. "Good morning" she whispered barely moving her lips from his, as he reached out to pull the covers up around them, blocking out the morning chill.
There was a light knock on the bedroom door, and Castle scooted off the bed, shrugging a t-shirt over his head as he moved towards the door. He opened it and greeted his daughter with a wide smile, and a hug, almost knocking the two mugs of steaming coffee out of her hands in his glee.
"Oh, I do love having you home."
"Yeah, I bet you do." she smirked, smiling round her Dad at Kate who was watching them with the same contented smile she had had a month earlier when Alexis had, finally, returned home.
"Well I have not eaten this many pancake's since the time you wanted to go to Cardiff to visit the set of Doctor Who," he grinned back, glancing over at the tray of steaming pancakes and syrup which were perched precariously on the corner of his desk. "You seemed to have forgotten that Wales was just a bit far for a weekend trip."
Alexis giggled at her father's quip, remembering the time nearly nine years ago, when he had introduced her to the new series of a show he had loved as a child; and her disappointment at being unable to meet The Doctor and Rose.
It had been four weeks since Alexis had moved home and the three of them had slipped into an easy rhythm since Alexis had moved home. Punctuated with her guilt over how she had handled her most recent relationship, resulting in a nearly daily ritual of pancakes and coffee in bed for her father and his fiancée. Even on the days when she had an early class, or a case had meant her father and Beckett were out of the door early she always tried to leave a set a steaming mugs on the countertop for them to grab as they left. Her way of apologising for the stress she had caused over recent months.
"Alexis, honey, you really don't need to keep making us food," Kate's voice chimed from the other side of the room, encouraging Castle to let go of the tight embrace that he had his daughter in.
Kate said it every day, and Alexis knew she meant it, but couldn't seem to bring herself to stop, not yet anyway.
Alexis steered herself past her father, and delivered one of the mugs to Kate, handing the other to her father as he sat back on the bed, placing the tray of food in the middle of the himself and Detective Beckett.
"Oh I don't mind," Alexis replied, settling herself on the end of the bed. She leaned over the tray lifting her father's fork, quickly stealing a piece of pancake and banana before he could react. "I just really like pancakes, and it's so hard to make just a few."
Kate smiled knowingly back at her stepdaughter-to-be, there was little reason to argue with the strong willed college student, and if she was being honest, Kate really enjoyed the time that Alexis was choosing to spend with them.
"So, who fancies a trip to the zoo this afternoon?" chirped Castle cheerily, lifting his head from the newspaper he had picked up off the tray. "I hear there's a baby tiger to be found."
Both Kate and Alexis declared their approval, grinning at each other in response to Castle's childish delight over a visit to the zoo.
"Any Sunday with my family, sounds like a magical Sunday to me," said Kate, reaching over to clasp Alexis' hand, who smiled warmly back at the woman who would soon become her step-mother.