Young at Heart
She wakes up slowly, stretching her legs out so they hit the sheets she and Castle shoved to the bottom of the bed last night. Or this morning, technically. Her skin's clammy from the humidity and from the heat radiating from the man close at her back. It's way past her normal wake-up call, the sun shining through the slats of the wooden blinds on the windows. But for the first time that Kate can remember, there's no real reason to get out of bed.
And one good reason to stay right where she is. Kate rolls over, hooking a leg over Castle's thigh, and pulling herself so she's sprawled over his chest. "Morning, handsome," she murmurs a moment before she presses her mouth to his.
It's beautiful, watching him wake up under her. His eyes open, squinting against the sunlight, until the corners of those blue, blue eyes crinkle with delight. "Hey, beautiful." He reaches up, brushing a hand over her hair, tangling his fingers in it so he can pull her down for another kiss. "Still tired?"
"God, is that the only thing on your mind?" she groans, letting him tip her head back so he can trail open-mouthed kisses down her jaw and throat. He nips at her pulse point, using his tongue to sooth the quick burst of pain.
His voice vibrates up the column of her neck when he hums, "Maybe." In a movement so smooth Kate could have sworn he had rehearsed it, Castle flips them over. "Think we have time before Al wakes up?"
"She gets up early," Kate responds, pulling his earlobe into her mouth then blowing warm air over the area. "Might need to be fast."
"I can do fast," he says, tugging her bra strap off her shoulder. He moves his mouth to the joint, feeling her leg tighten around his waist. Kate could feel his growl against her chest as he makes his way along the curve of her breast, carding her hand through his hair to hold him there.
"Guys, we're in Disney!"
They barely contain their groans when Al runs into the room, tripping over her own feet before hitting the side of the bed. Kate pushes Castle off her, fumbling for the sheets before turning to smile at her all-too-awake daughter. "Yes, we are. What're you doing up so early, kid?"
"Not tired no more," Al states, scuffing her feet against the carpeting.
"You know what?" Castle says, reaching over Kate's waist to tug on Al's tangled hair. "Why don't you go find clothes for today and we'll go get breakfast at the restaurant?"
Al throws her hands up in the air. "Yes! Love you!" she calls as she runs from their bedroom back down the hall.
Kate slumps back against the pillows. "This could be difficult."
"I can still do fast," he whispers hotly against her ear, his fingertips already dancing up her abdomen to the valley between her breasts.
"Not worth it," she sighs, turning her head to face him. "Up. Time to feed the child."
Even getting out of bed, knowing what they could be doing, makes Kate wince. It's not like they aren't active in bed, but part of her, part buried way deep in her heart, thinks that if it weren't for Al, they'd be on a normal honeymoon to Hawaii or the Bahamas having hot sex all over their condo. Kate wipes away the thought quickly; if it weren't for Al, she and Castle never would have met. No sex is better than sex without Al in their lives.
Kate feels his eyes wandering her body as she searches for her discarded clothing in order to go out and get the suitcases from the living room. "Stop thinking about it," she warns, shooting him a look over her shoulder as she settles on his t-shirt.
"Can't stop."
She leaves him with her laughter as she walks down the hallway and into the living room. Their suitcase is against the coffee table next to Al's. Kate pulls the handles out and wheels the purple one into Al's room. The girl is sprawled out on the bed.
"Get dressed, Al," Kate says, swinging the suitcase up onto the empty bed. "Ten minutes and we're on the road."
Castle is in the bathroom when Kate gets to their room. Tugging his t-shirt off, Kate unzips the suitcase and starts unloading their clothes. She clicks the TV on, flipping through the channels until she lands on the local news, waiting for the weather to flash on. Hot. Go figure. She finds a sun dress covered with large red flowers and slips it over her head, tugging the hem into place. Somewhere in the depths of the suitcase she knows there's a pair of gladiator-style sandals with black leather straps that would go perfectly with the dark outlines of the flowers.
As she's searching, Castle comes back out of the bathroom. "You look pretty," he comments, giving the skirt of the dress a tweak that sets it swinging.
She gives him a kiss as he leans in front of her for his clothes. "Thanks, but I only wear this when I don't care what I look like." Ah-ha! There are the sandals. She tosses them onto the ground and steps into them, buckling the straps around her ankles.
"Ooh. Quoting 'It's a Wonderful Life.' Clever," Castle says, finding a pair of cargo shorts, a white crewneck t-shirt, and a short sleeved blue shirt. "But you're much prettier than Violet."
Kate grabs the bathroom bags and goes to brush her teeth and untangle her hair. She braids it quickly, tucking the fly-away strands behind her ears. They pass one another next to the whirlpool Jacuzzi tub and he steals another kiss.
"Mmm… Toothpaste."
She gives him a shove on his chest, her hand slipping under the unbuttoned blue shirt to scrape lightly along his pectoral. "You're a goofball."
As he brushes his teeth, Kate puts their clothes into the drawers under the television. They have a little over a week and she'd rather not live out of the suitcase if they don't have to. He sneaks up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, and resting his head on her shoulder.
"Plans for today?" he asks, nose inches from the television screen.
"Magic Kingdom. Where the magic started." Kate unwraps his arms from her, turning around to press a kiss to his cheek. "She might crash by the afternoon. Maybe we can spend the rest of the day by the pool?"
"And get the chance to see you in that swimsuit? Yes please!"
Kate links her fingers with his as they head back to check in on Al. The girl is struggling to comb her hair in a pair of jean shorts and a teal tank top. "Mom? Help?"
She takes the comb from Al and starts working through the tangles in the curls. "What do you want to do with it?"
"I got it," Al says, pulling away from her mother. Kate watches as she easily gathers her hair up into a ponytail, securing it with a hair elastic. "Ready for breakfast!"
"Almost. Just need sunscreen."
Kate smoothes the lotion into Al's exposed shoulders and her face, paying attention to her nose and the tips of her ears. Castle waves off the tube of sunscreen insisting that he goes straight to tan. But when Kate asks him to do her back after she rubs the lotion onto her arms and face, he doesn't hesitate to massage her shoulders, his thumbs digging into the taunt muscles there. Kate barely holds back the little moan of pleasure as he hits a knot of tension. She ducks away from him with a sly grin.
"Come on. Breakfast," she says.
He pockets his wallet and the room key card while Kate snags her wristlet from the kitchen island. Their building is a walk from the little boardwalk where they checked in last night but Kate makes the executive decision to stroll there rather than take the resort bus. Al has hold of Castle's hand as she skips along the shell-encrusted pink sidewalks. They dodge a pair of teens on bicycles on the bridge over the river to get to the boardwalk, their bells ringing out a warning.
"Can we ride?" Al asks, keeping a grasp on Castle's fingers as she turns to look at Kate, trailing behind them.
"Maybe, kid. Got something else planned for today."
Olivia's isn't busy when they walk in and give their name to the hostess at the little podium. They're given a table by the windows, handed menus, and told that their waiter will be right over.
The walls around them are plastered with family pictures, strangers smiling outside the pool at the resort or at photostops around the parks. Most of the photos have last names and dates typed or handwritten along the bottom.
After a cheerful older man took their orders, Kate sees Castle scanning the photos. "Vacation Club members," she explains. "They don't take submissions anymore because… well, you see why." The pale yellow walls are barely visible between the multicolored frames collaged on the walls.
"Mom, you up there?" Al asks, spinning the napkin ring on the tabletop.
"Yes," Castle insists, touching her knee under the table. "Is little Kate Beckett up on the wall of fame?"
She grins but shakes her head. "Mom didn't want to send our picture in. So, no. No embarrassing photos of me grace the walls of Olivia's."
Breakfast is eaten to the sounds of Caribbean steel drums before the waiter tells them that they really need to come back and try their piña colada bread at dinner. When the three of them step back outside, the weather had turned from 'warm' to 'scalding.' The roof over the breezeway outside the restaurant provides shade as they walk past the check-in to the bus stop.
Al plops onto one of the benches, legs swinging in the empty space below. "Hot."
"Yeah, kid," Castle says, resting his hip on the back of the bench. "Very hot." When Kate comes to stand next to him, he leans over to whisper into her ear. "Just like Mom."
She shoves him but smiles. "Hush. Public place with little ears." Kate picks Al up and sits on the bench with the girl on her lap. "Ready for magic, Al?"
"Magic?"
"Mhm. Lots of it," Castle responds.
It takes two buses before the one for the Magic Kingdom pulls around. Al struggles to get off Kate's lap and is halfway to the bus before Castle can grab the girl up around the waist.
"Slow down there, speed racer," he says, dropping Al back onto her feet but holding onto her shoulder. "Let everyone else get off before we rush to get on."
There are only a few people getting off the bus before Castle lets Al go first in their group. Al holds the handrail carefully, shrugging off the offered help from both Castle and Kate. Seats are open along the left side of the bus and she uses one of the vertical rails to pull herself up onto the purple seat.
"Next to me, Mom!" she shouts, patting the empty seat next to her, wiggling in excitement. When Castle moves to take the offered seat, Al pushes him away. "Not you, Rick! Mom!"
"I see how it is," Castle mutters, sitting a seat down and letting Kate move around him to sit next to the girl. He turns to Kate, linking their fingers on the area between them. "You still love me or do you want to exile me to the back of the bus?"
Kate hums, obviously pondering the idea of kicking him to the back. "I suppose you can stay. Only if you behave," she adds as he inches their joined hands closer to her hip.
The automated voice on the bus welcomes them aboard and Kate watches as Al sits at the end of the seat, listening as it explains the basics of the Magic Kingdom with its different lands. "We'll be there soon!" says the man's voice before it cuts back to the same Caribbean music they had heard at the resort.
"How soon?" Al shouts, sliding back into the seat with a huff.
The bus driver hears and meets Kate's eyes in his rear view mirror. "'Bout ten minutes or so, princess."
That seems to appease Al's sigh of impatience because she suddenly grabs hold of Kate's free hand, turning it over in her lap to trace the lines across her mother's palm. Her daughter's fingers tickle but Kate tries to ignore the urge to giggle by hooking her foot around Castle's calf.
"Are there rules for this trip that I should know about?" he murmurs into her ear, breath ruffling the fly-away hairs that curl around her temple.
She turns his hand over, mirroring Al's motions on his wide palm. "No obscene spending. One family picture per park. None of those weird buttons for first visits or 'Just Married'." Kate glances up and sees him watching her fingers mapping the contours of his hand. "Anything else is pretty much fair game. Just, you know, ask before we do something crazy, okay?"
"Sounds fair," he responds, capturing her pointer finger as it trails up his. "No 'it's a small world.'"
"Why not?" Kate asks. She loves that ride even though the song will be stuck in her head for days after riding it.
"Because no one likes that ride. Why spend the hour standing in line just to ride on a little boat and hear children sing to you?"
"That sounds like fun!" comes from her other side as Al pokes her head around Kate's body. "I want to do that!"
Kate does the childish thing and sticks her tongue out at him. "Majority rules, Rick."
"How old are you two?" he asks in disbelief, taking his hand back from Kate.
"I'm six," Al says matter-of-factly, holding up the correct number of fingers.
Kate grins as he rolls his eyes.
"I think you both are. Fine. We can go on 'it's a small world' but I won't be happy about it."
She braces a hand on the seat between them, giving him the softest of pecks on his lips. "I'll buy you a Mickey Bar after."
"Ooh, bribery," he says, running his thumb over the skin on the inside of her wrist. "I approve."
"Quiet! We're here!" Al shouts, tugging on Kate's arm and pointing to the bus station that they're pulling into.
Again, Al's the first one off the bus, thanking the driver as she runs past him. Castle is on her heels, trying to stop her before she dashes straight down the aisle between the two sides of the stop. Kate walks behind them, slower, admiring the image that the two of them make. He's amazing with Al, stumbling at points but finding his footing quickly. Castle may not be her biological father but he's filling the role in the ways that truly matter. She sees him catch Al around the waist, lifting her up onto his shoulders before turning to face them.
"You coming, slowpoke?"
Kate narrows her eyes at her husband's demand. "In my own good time."
Al tips her head down over Castle's, their noses meeting. "She's so slow," Al sighs.
Castle reaches up to ruffle Al's ponytail. "Not all of the time. She's just being mean right now. Ruining our fun."
"Ruining your fun, am I?" she says, sneaking her fingers under Castle's t-shirt to pinch lightly at his side. "I'll remember that later." Before he can retaliate, Kate continues walking toward the entrance of the park with its bag checks.
"Mom's mean," Castle says again, starting after her with Al on his shoulders.
Kate glances back just as her daughter pats him on the head. "It's okay. We'll get ice cream."
"Thanks for cheering me up. At least one of the Beckett women care about me," he calls out just loud enough for Kate to hear him from her few feet ahead of him.
"You know what? I think I'll just go back to the room," Kate says, turning around to brush her shoulder past his. "No need to be dragging you two down."
Castle catches her elbow, looping his arm through hers to tug her along with them. "God, I love you," he tells her with the goofy smile on his face that radiates the emotion. "Besides, if you leave, who's gonna buy us ice cream?"
"Got your priorities in order, I see. Good to know." Her tone says 'annoyed,' but the look she shoots him conveys nothing but 'love.'