snowfall
Castle presses the button to start recording and crouches down in the snow, the forest at his back watching as his son comes towards him.
Jackson isn't exactly. . .steady on his feet. But he's giggling, even as he staggers toward his father. And behind their boy, framing the top of the shot, there's a shard of Kate's smile.
"Hey, my man. Look at you go." Castle says, earning a delighted giggle from his son.
Kate follows behind as Jack picks his way down the path, stumbling a little. The soft blanket of white muffles the whole world, so Rick feels that it could just be them. His wife, and his son, and himself.
There must be a rock concealed under the snow, because Jack falls to his knees, catching himself on his hands and staring up at his father. There's something like shock plastered on his face, but before Castle can even brace for tears their son is laughing, loud and clear and perfect.
Kate gets both hands under Jack's arms, lifting him and setting him back on upright. She kisses the end of his nose, grinning when he shrieks and squirms in her arms.
"Hey baby. You okay?"
Jack cradles his mother's face in both hands, and Castle winces as a smear of jam he must have missed cleaning off of him winds up plastered to Kate's cheek like war paint. "Momma. I fell."
"Yeah. But you're my brave man, huh?" Kate nuzzles him, pressing her nose into the warmth trapped at their son's neck and blowing a raspberry there.
Castle ends the recording and slips his phone into his pocket, suddenly full up with the need to be a part of it. His beautiful family.
"Jack, buddy, you want to build a snowman?" He says, enveloping them both in his arms. Kate slips a gloved hand into his pants pocket, squeezing just enough that he grunts and bites at her ear in retaliation, their son caught between their bodies.
Jack kicks out to get down and Castle huffs, taking him from Kate and setting him down. "Hey, no kicking. Remember what we said about being gentle with Momma."
"Rick, he's fine. It's fine." She's rolling her eyes at him, but she's got a hand pressed to her stomach in protection.
Even bundled in four layers of clothes, the soft curve of her, the thickening at her waist has his heart pounding hard. Some stupid, primitive pride, like he's staked a claim.
Just because she's carrying his child. For the second time.
"Better to be careful, Kate." He says, standing up from their son to kiss his wife. The cold seems trapped beneath both their skins and he can't help but sigh into the heat of her mouth.
"You gonna build a snowman with our son, Castle?"
Rick glances down at Jack, flushed with so much pride. Their gorgeous, inquisitive little boy. He smiles up at his father, the edge of his hat slipping down over his eyes so he huffs and shoves at it. "Snowman, Daddy?"
"Sure buddy. Let's build a snowman." Castle scoops Jack up and drapes him over his shoulder, keeping a tight hold of his son's ankles and letting his body bounce against Rick's own. The pure, magical joy of Jack's laughter has both of them grinning too, sharing a glance rich with so much pride.
They have a really, really wonderful kid.
"Daddy, down." Jack manages, breathless and flushed when Castle sets him back on his feet. He reaches up to take Kate's hand, offering his mother a shy grin. "Momma, you can help me?"
"Yeah baby, I'll help."
Kate watches from the window of the cabin, waiting for the milk to heat up so she can make them hot chocolate. Jack helped her root out a scarf and hat for their snowman, and now Castle's got their son bundled up in the knitwear, half his upper body swathed in the scarf.
She can hear him giggling from inside and she finds herself having to wipe at her eyes, quell the flood before it can really break free. It just gets to her.
The whole time she was pregnant with Jackson, she'd been terrified that she'd be bad for him. Her job is full of so much darkness and she'd worried that she'd end up bringing it home, tainting their baby's childhood with death. But Jack's fine. More than. He's such a happy little boy, so much life bubbling up out of him.
Even so, the crying feels ridiculous.
That's probably mostly on Baby Girl, though. Kate presses a hand to the swell of her stomach and smiles, feels the fluttering against her palm. Proof of life.
The door clatters open and her boys come into the kitchen, Jack barrelling straight into her arms with his coat still on. She laughs and unzips him, passing the miniature duffel to Castle to hang in the hall closet.
Kate scatters kisses over her son's cheeks to warm him up, finds that powdered smell of brand-new little person still sticking to him. "You have fun with Daddy, Jack?"
"We builded a snow cop, Momma. He can catch bad guys."
"You did?" Kate laughs, surprise fluttering behind her ribcage. Feather light and intoxicating, the way Castle's always done this for her.
"We did." Rick confirms, leaning in to dust his mouth over hers and then turning back to fix their hot chocolate.
Kate moves over to the sliding doors with Jack on her hip, forehead pressed to the glass to get a better look at the figure cast in snow.
There are some vague, blurred shapes at the rounded hip of their snow-cop and Kate grins, glancing over her shoulder at her husband. "Those handcuffs?"
"Yep. And a gun."
She raises an eyebrow and he shrugs, a reflection of the snow-capped forest in his eyes. "We had a talk about gun safety, didn't we Jack?"
"He only uses his gun to catch dragons, Momma. Just like you."