So I don't have an explanation for this beyond the fact that I just really wanted to write something.
Thank you, Lizzy, for your wonderful feedback!
It's been two weeks since their daughter was born when Rick finds Kate in the nursery. She is rocking in the chair Jim had given them at the baby shower - the very same chair Kate herself had been rocked in as a baby - cradling Nadia in her arms. At first, Rick thinks his wife is just babbling at their daughter, the lack of sleep finally taking its toll.
Lyuli, lyuli, lyulen'ki,
Gde vy, gde vy, gulen'ki?
Priletayte na krovat',
Nachinayte vorkovat'.
Lyuli, lyuli, lyulen'ki,
Prileteli gulen'ki.
Seli v izgolov'itse -
Spi-ka na zdorov'itse
It takes him longer than he would like to admit - he chalks it up to sleep deprivation - that it is actually a lullaby, though not one he has ever heard. Though the actual lyrics escape him, he loves listening to Kate sing, but she sometimes gets shy about her singing.
Rick leans his head on the door jamb, intent on watching two of his favorite girls. He becomes so enthralled with his daughter and wife that he doesn't notice that Kate is no longer singing.
"Rick?"
He startles, lifting his eyes to meet his wife's gaze, which is only a few feet from his own. Her lips curl at the corners, and she gives him twitching smile. While he had been in his own haze, Kate had settled Nadia in her crib and discovered her husband. Rick smiles sleepily at his wife because he does not have the energy to do much more. "Sorry, but you know how much I love to hear you sing," he says, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her into his body. "And apparently our lovely daughter inherited that particular trial." It would be hard not to love Kate's voice.
Kate hums, nodding into his shoulder. "Yeah, she did." Kate pulls back from his so she can meet Rick's eyes and gives another small smile. "It was Russian, by the way. Something I picked up in Kiev."
"It's a beautiful song, Kate," he says instead, dropping a kiss to her temple.
Nadia is 6 months old the first time Rick leaves for a book tour. Kate knows he didn't want to go, but she reminded him that his book tours are the reason Nadia will never want for anything. He seemed a little more willing to leave then.
"Come on, malyshka. We're going to have so much fun, just us two girls, right?" she asks her daughter. Nadia gives her mother a gummy smile from her high chair before letting out a delighted shriek. Kate smiles back at her daughter as she finishes cleaning the mess from breakfast. It was honestly astounding how much mess such a tiny human could make.
When she's done cleaning, she unbuckles Nadia from her chair and carries her over to the couch. Once she's seated comfortably, Kate places Nadia on her knee, making sure to support her daughter. "What would you like to do today, Nadia, hm? Maybe we could go to the park?" Kate peers down at the infant, but she seems too invested in the number of fingers that can fit in her mouth to pay much attention to her mother.
"No park then," Kate says, her mouth quirking up at the corners. Kate gently bounces Nadia on her knees as she throws out some more options. "What about a movie?" Kate knows the idea is ridiculous, but she just wants to enjoy being with her daughter while she does not have work.
Nadia takes her hand out of her mouth and waves it around, narrowly missing Kate's face. She makes a grunting noise before inelegantly shoving her fingers back in her mouth, and Nadia's eyes wander around the room. In response, Kate laughs, the noise ringing out in the silence of the loft. Nadia pauses, transfixed by her mother.
Kate meets her daughter's eyes and smiles gently. "Maybe we could just have some girl time, then. Does that sound good, moya milaya?"
Nadia is about to turn two when Kate doesn't come home on time. She had texted Rick earlier to say she would be home in time to tuck Nadia in, but that had been three hours ago. Nadia had asked about her mother - "Mama gonna read my book?" - but Rick hadn't known what to say.
Now it is past ten, and he hasn't heard a word from Kate. He'd broken down and called the boys a few hours ago, but all they had been able to offer was that she was following up a lead. Castle paced back in forth in his office, wearing a path in the carpet.
He hasn't felt completely comfortable with her being out in the field now that he can't back her up. Rick knows he was never the one with the gun, but he could still watch her back. Ultimately, though, the arrangement they have now is what they decided together; but it still just makes him worry sometimes (correction: all the time). Rick is pivoting on his foot for another lap of his office when he hears Nadia's voice
Rick mounts the steps to his daughter's room, half of his thoughts still on his missing, probably-kidnapped-or-dead-because-she-has-no-back-up wife. She's been late before, but she always made sure to let him know about it. When he reaches Nadia's room, the child is supporting herself by the bars of her toddler bed with tears rolling down her face. She sees her father walk into the room and her eyes scrunch up, and she lets out another wail.
"I wan' Mama," she cries pitifully, shaking the bars of her bed with her hands.
"I know you miss your mommy," Rick says as he lifts his daughter out of her bed. He lowers his voice so his daughter cannot over hear and adds, "I miss Mommy, too." Nadia's honey curls are plastered to her face from sweat and tears, making Nadia appear even more distressed. He holds her against his chest, and he head lies down on his shoulder. "I miss Mommy, too, but she'll be home soon" -I really hope I'm not lying, Rick thought to himself- "but in the meantime maybe you can get a little more sleep?" he asks Nadia. His voice drops, and he sways on his feet. "Now, I know Daddy's singing isn't as pretty as Mommy's, but how about a bedtime, story, huh?"
Kate comes home an hour after the most thrilling bedtime story of Nadia's young life, and Rick cannot hide his relief. When Kate tells him about the too young body that they had been called in on, the partners just hold each other.
Nadia, barely past her fourth birthday, dashes after the butterflies in the park. Kate watches as one particularly vivid blue butterfly flits around Nadia's head, and Nadia tries to catch it between her palms. She stretches on her toes as the butterfly winds around her head and reaches her hands up as far as they can go. When she misses, she only laughs before running after the insects again.
"Stay where I can see you, milaya devushka," Kate calls out. Nadia doesn't respond but starts to turn back towards Kate and the picnic she has spread out.
"That is so hot," Castle murmur in his wife's ear, settling in next to Kate on the blanket.
Kate startles from the sudden appearance of her husband, but she recovers quickly. "What? My parenting skills?" she asks laughingly, raising an eyebrow.
"Mm, that, too, but I was talking about your way with words," he says, ducking down to properly greet his wife. Kate smiles into their kiss, glad to have her husband here.
"So I guess the meeting finished quicker than expected?" she asks him after a few beats of silence. She adjusts her position on the blanket so she and her husband are sitting next to each other, her attention divided between Nadia and Rick as she waits for her husband to answer.
"Much. The final details for the movie have been hammered out, and Gina thinks that studios will be clamouring for the opportunity to make the first Derrick Storm movie," Rick tells his wife.
Kate nudges his shoulder with her own and gives him a sparking King smile when he looks at her. "Proud of you, babe. It took a lot of guts to pick up Storm again, and look how far you've taken him."
"Because of you, Kate. Everything is because of you." Rick is leaning down to kiss his wife again when Nadia stumbles into both of them with her hands clasped excitedly in front of her.
"Mama, Daddy! Look look look! I found a dragon," Nadia says with wide eyes and a quietly-aSowed voiced. Her eyes had turned a brown a few months after she was born, and now they gleam brightly in the sun. Her once-honey hair has darkened to a stunning brown, which looks more like a mud brown at the moment. She may be quiet, but she loves to get dirty and play.
"What is it, sweetheart?" Rick asks, giving his daughter his full attention. Nadia opens her hands and holds them out to her parents, silently telling them to look at her discovery. Kate and Rick peer into her cupped hands, and have to resist the urge to laugh because their daughter is holding a small gecko.
"Oh, malyutka," Kate says, mirth curling into her words. "That is a mighty dragon indeed."
(She fierce and quiet and fearless, and Kate knows that whatever happens, Nadia will slay her own dragons.)