(Henry 6, Luke and Jack 4, Emma 1)
The airport was packed, of course. They'd checked their bags outside, and were currently waiting in line at security.
Castle was entertaining the boys with a story while Kate listened with Emma in the baby carrier on her chest.
"And then the three princes and their fearless leader, the king, rescued the tiny princess and the queen from their perilous trap in the dungeon." Rick finished, with a smile.
"Hey Daddy, what's periwous?" Luke still had a little trouble with his l's, not too different from his brother who struggled with r's, on occasion.
"Perilous means dangerous, Lukey," Kate answered.
Rick leaned over to kiss her. "Exactly. Mommy is so smart sometimes, huh boys?"
"She's the smartest!" Henry exclaimed.
"What?" Rick scoffed. "What about me?"
"You're the silliest, Daddy!" Jack said and launched himself at his father who scooped him up and put him on one shoulder.
"Mama, I have to go potty," Luke said.
"Buddy, can you wait a little bit longer? We're almost through security."
"Noooo, I gotta go right away," He said, frowning and beginning to do his about to pee my pants dance.
"Okay, babe, we'll go. Castle, we'll be right back."
"Hurry, Kate, the line's starting to move faster," Rick said, with a little bit of urgency.
Kate took Luke's hand and led him to the nearest bathroom. She lifted him and held him on the seat so he wouldn't fall in.
"Mommy, I potty standing up now!"
"I know, sweetheart, but this toilet is too tall for a little guy like you."
"I'm not little! Emmy's little, I'm big like Henry."
"I'm sorry, bud. I forgot you're practically a grown up now!" She winked at him. "Now go to the bathroom so Daddy and your brothers don't go through security without us."
They waited for a minute in complete silence, until she finally heard the trickle that meant he was finally going. When he was finished, she stood him back up and pulled up his pants for him. "Good job, babe. Let's go wash up and then we'll head back."
"Okay, Mommy!" He made faces at his little sister in the mirror while he washed his hands, and then Kate swung him onto her shoulders. He was a painstakingly slow walker sometimes, and even though she already had one kid strapped to her, it seemed more time-effective to carry Luke as well.
"I see them, Mom! They're at the front." Castle was looking around for them, and waved when he made eye contact with Kate.
"Just in time. How'd it go?" He asked.
"Great. Okay, Luke, time to get down," She placed him back on the ground and began to unstrap the Baby Bjorn. "Boys, you need to take off your sweatshirts and put them in your backpacks, please. Remember the big machine that we walked through before we flew to California?"
"Yes!" Henry smiled. "The spaceship!" Kate had forgotten the little story Castle had told the boys before they walked through security. They had to go through the spaceship so they could make sure they were all ready for flying. She smiled at her crazy husband, who always knew the best stories to tell their kids.
"Exactly. We have to go through that again, and sweatshirts aren't allowed. Neither are backpacks, so Mommy and Daddy will help you put those through the baby spaceship."
"Mommy, does Emmy go through the baby spaceship?" Jack asked with a glint of mischief in his eyes.
"Very funny, Jack Jack. But babies come with mommies, not with backpacks." She ruffled his hair and handed Emma to Rick so she could slip off her boots and jacket as well.
"Hi, pretty girl," he cooed at the baby. "You are getting so big, sweetheart!" Emma flapped her arms excitedly. "How big is Emmeline? How big is Emma?" She opened her arms as wide as she could and started laughing. "This big!"
"Castle, can you pull out the boarding passes and the IDs from my backpack?" Kate requested. "They're in the front pocket."
He grabbed them and handed them over to the airport employee.
"Okay, who's Henry James?" The man asked.
"Me, me, me!" Henry screamed.
"Hen, honey, inside voice, please," Kate reminded.
"Sorry, Mommy," He stage whispered. "Me!"
"Thank you Henry, and who's Lucas Richard?"
"I am!" Luke jumped in the air.
"Luke, both feet on the ground. I'm sorry, they're very excited," Kate apologized.
"It's quite alright, ma'am. Are you Emmeline?"
"No, that's this little one here. I'm Katherine."
"Mommy, your name is Kate!" Jack exclaimed.
"Good job, buddy," she answered. "But you know how your name is Jackson and we call you Jack?"
"Yeah! And Luke's name is really Lucas! And Emmy's name is Emmeline!"
"Very good, baby. Well, Mommy's name is really Katherine, just like Daddy's name is Richard."
"I get it now!" The small boy smiled. "But why doesn't Henry have a short name?"
"Hold on a second, sweet boy. Let, uh, Tom wave us through first," she winked at the employee, who blushed in return.
"You're good to go, ma'am. Enjoy your flight," he said, before literally waving them through with a flourish.
"I think someone had a little crush on you..." Castle whispered in her ear.
"Castle! Shh, he'll hear you," she scolded.
"Just in case he gets any ideas, I'd better mark my territory," Castle pulled her in for a scathing kiss, until he felt a hand pushing on his crotch. He laughed, because it wasn't the first time it had happened. It wasn't the boy's fault it was the highest he could reach.
"Yes, Jack Jack?" He asked.
"Daddy, no kissy face with Mommy. She never answered my question!" Jack said, frowning.
"Sorry, honey. Well, Henry doesn't have a short name that we use more often than his real name, like with you and your twin brother and sister, but he still has lots of nicknames. We call him Hen, and Henny and Henner, and Daddy likes to use silly names like Hennington and Leonard and HJ Cruiser. Everybody has lots of nicknames!" She finished, just in time to go through the security line.
"Alright Castle, I'll take the baby and J-man here if you can take the other two. The kids can leave their shoes on so they just need a hand to hold and help getting their backpacks on the conveyor belt."
"Got it. Henry and Luke, you're with me. Let me have your bags, please!"
They made their way through the rest of the line quickly, but not until the boys each got a sticker from the staff.
"Are you guys hungry?" Castle asked. "We have just enough time to stop and get bagels before the flight."
"Yes please, I'm starving," Henry said dramatically.
"You boys go ahead, Emma is hungry so I'm going to go feed her by the gate. Bring me back one, though?" Kate asked.
"Of course, love. See you soon," Rick quickly kissed her before taking a hand of each of the twins and walking across the terminal.
She took a minute to watch four of the five parts of her heart, marveling at how quickly her kids were growing up. It seemed like just yesterday Henry was being placed in her arms, and now she had four beautiful children.
Speaking of which, Emma started crying in her arms, bringing her back to reality.
"I'm sorry, baby girl. You're getting hungry, huh? Let's go sit down and Mama will feed you." Kate never thought of herself as much of a talker, but since marrying Castle and getting used to his endless chatter, she found herself always talking to her kids. Granted, the older ones never stopped talking, so she didn't have a choice but to answer, but even with the baby who only babbled and talked a little, she talked more than she ever had in most of her adult life.
It seemed silly at first, but she'd read that babies needed to hear at least 30,000 words a day to develop a good vocabulary, and after a little practice, it was hard not to talk, and talk, and talk. She told them about her day, and stories about how she and Castle met. She explained what they were looking at, and sang songs. The kids were not going to grow up with a poor vocabulary at the rate she and Castle were working at, that was for sure.
She settled into a cozy armchair by their gate, and pulled out one of the baby blankets. She was still nursing Emma- she'd breastfed each baby until they were around 18 months old, and she loved the special time it meant she got to spend with each of them. Of course, they took bottles of breast milk while she was at work or out with Castle, but otherwise, she fed them straight from the source.
Emma stopped fussing when she figured out what was coming, and tried to paw at her mother's breast.
"Whoa there, baby, I'm hurrying." She held her in the cradle hold and covered her with the pink blanket before unbuttoning her shirt. Emma latched on quickly and began sucking with quite the intensity.
"Wow, you were hungry. Sorry to keep you waiting for so long!" Kate rubbed her daughter's back, and closed her eyes, soaking in the moment before the rest of her family returned.