Young at Heart
Kate is the first one up this morning. An oddity since she relishes sleeping in past the alarm. But this morning she has coffee going for her husband, juice poured out for their daughter and herself, and cinnamon rolls from one of those handy tubes that make it impossible for her to screw up baking in the oven. She's humming, running her finger over the rim of her glass as she slips out onto the balcony.
She leans on the rail. It's humid already and she can practically feel her hair frizzling in the loose, messy braid she twisted it into after getting up. The weatherman on the TV said it was going to get hot today and she can already feel the temperature rising with the sun.
And it's quiet. More than anything, it's quiet.
She tips her head so it rests on the vertical pole, the cool metal just as soothing as the chill of the orange juice. No morning sickness today which is the smallest of blessings; with Al, it lasted nearly the entire way through the first trimester. Her bare toes curl against the tile on the floor as she takes her phone from her pocket and speed dials.
"Did I wake you?" she asks, pushing at a leaf with her foot.
Her dad sounds sleepy but he still says "Of course not, Katie. Didn't think I'd be hearing from you for the week."
"Yeah, well, something's come up."
"You killed that husband of yours and need help hiding the body?" he teases.
Kate smiles, watching a golfer hit a ball down the green. It's a good shot, the ball bouncing onto the fairway and narrowly avoiding the water on the left. "Not quite, but I'm glad you're around to help if such an occasion arises. Hey, Dad?" She waits for his hum in response. "What would you say to another grandkid?"
"I'd say I'm far too young to have two of them," her dad returns. "But from your tone, I'd say it's a little too late to be protesting."
"Kinda, yeah."
"At Disney, kid?" He's laughing. She can hear it through the receiver as she sits in one of the plastic chairs and rests her feet on another. "Really?"
"Well, not *at* Disney. Just finding out here."
"You tell Rick and Allie yet?"
"She wants to name the baby Minnie, Dad."
The door creaks behind her as the wind blows at it, the blinds clicking against the glass. Her father is still laughing but she can hear the sound of the coffee machine in the background, the pop of the toaster oven as it delivers breakfast.
"Not such a bad name."
"Not for my kid," she says, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "Maybe a cat but not a child."
A hand touches her shoulder and she turns her head. His thumb brushes her jaw as he circles around to stand against the railing. He has a mug of coffee and God, it smells so good. To stave off the urge to grab his cup and steal a sip – just a sip – she drinks some of her orange juice.
"Well you have about eight months to figure out the right one. Gotta go, kid. Toast is getting cold." She can hear him scraping a knife over the burnt section of the toast – she told him to get a new oven years ago. "Give my love to Rick and Allie."
"Will do. Love ya," Kate says before hanging up.
"You're up early," he comments, pushing off the railing to brace his free arm on her chair, kissing her softly. "Morning, you."
She groans, shoving him on the shoulder so she can get up. "No more kisses after coffee, Rick."
"We'll get you some decaf," Castle suggests, following her into the kitchen just in time for the buzzer to go off on the oven.
"So not the same," she complains as she takes the tray from the oven and sets it on the stovetop. "It's the real stuff or nothing." With a smile, she drops a kiss on his cheek. "Plate these. I'll go get Al."
The girl is sleeping still, the sheets tangled around her legs. Her hair is still in the ponytail from last night, the elastic slipping down so that it's barely holding the strands together. Some have escaped, curling wilding around her face. Kate reaches out, sweeping some of the curls off Al's face.
"Hey, kid," she says, kneeling next to the bed to give Al's shoulder a squeeze. "Time to get up."
"Don't wanna," sighs Al, rolling over and pulling at the pillows. "Wanna sleep."
Kate scoots into bed with Al, tugging the girl up against her chest. She attacks Al's sides with her fingers, holding onto Al even as she squirms away from the tickling. "Wake up, Al. Gonna go to EPCOT today."
"Mom!" she shouts, pushing at Kate's hands, twisting so that they face one another. "Stop!"
"You going to get up?" asks Kate, pausing the torture for a moment to meet Al's eyes.
Al studies Kate's face, blue eyes searching as Kate raises a brow. Then she rolls away and off the bed, running toward the door. "Beat you!"
"Got you out of bed, didn't I?" she murmurs, righting the sheets and finding the pillow that fell off during the tickle fight.
When she heads back out to the living room, Castle is sitting at the table with Al who is recounting her victory over Kate. Kate refills her glass of juice and sits across from them, cutting into one of the cinnamon rolls.
"See you've arisen from the dead," Castle says, pushing his toes against her calf. "Al said she had taken you down."
"Yes, well, I'll live to fight another day." Kate hooks her foot around Castle's, grinning when he jumps. "EPCOT all day, you two. Eat up."
"The one with the golf ball?"
"That one," Kate tells Al around a bite of cinnamon roll. "But we'll go some place other than visiting Nemo and Dory."
"Mine! Mine! Mine!" crows Al.
"Already went there, kid. Let's try some place new," suggests Castle, stealing a sip of Kate's orange juice and earning himself a glare. "Are we going to try to hit up World Showcase?"
"That's the plan," she says, gathering up her plate and fork to put in the sink. "We've got ten minutes before we're on the road."
"Mom?" Kate turns and sees Al waving a piece of cinnamon roll at her from the end of her fork. "Can you braid my hair like a princess?"
"Plain princess or Princess Leia?"
"Leia!"
Kate nods. "Get dressed and we'll see what we can do, Princess Al."
She finds those jean shorts that are just a tad too short for decency in one of the drawers and tosses them onto the bed. She's searching for a shirt, one that will keep her cool during the day but not let her get too cold after the sun sets, when his hands sneak around her waist. They tug up her tanktop, settling warm lines over her skin as he pulls her back against him.
"Who was on the phone this morning?" he asks, lips traveling along the curve of her neck.
"My dad. Told him the news." Kate lets her head fall against his chest, her own fingers wrapping around the fabric of his t-shirt.
"And?"
She smiles as Castle touches his mouth to the spot below her ear. "He's happy, of course. Said he was too young to have two grandkids."
Castle snorts out a laugh, spinning her around to press her into the chest of drawers. "I'm too young to have two kids." When she raises a brow, he only smiles. "Al is as much mine as this one will be," he says, a thumb brushing over her stomach. "Maybe not biologically, but she's mine."
For that, she boosts up and smudges her lips over his. "You're a good man, Richard Castle."
"You gonna reward me with those shorts?" he asks cheekily, hooking the pair on his finger and waving them. "Because that would be lovely."
She slaps him across the shoulder as she returns to the drawers to find a shirt. "Go get dressed."
Kate trades off the pajama shorts for the jean ones and pulls on a worn emerald green v-neck, flipping her hair out of the neckline. They pass in the bathroom and he steals another kiss, one that tastes like mint and the hint of cinnamon from breakfast. There's a whispered comment about the shorts – Kate is regretting the choice of clothing – as he scoots past her with a pinch on her butt.
"Do that again, Rick, and I'll take you down," she warns as she brushes her teeth.
"All talk, no action," he calls back.
She ducks her head around the corner in time to see him take his shirt off. "Wanna bet?" she asks around the toothbrush, eyes heating a little as he makes a show of pulling on a clean shirt.
Knowing she'd go through with the threat, he shakes his head.
"Smart man."
Kate's done first. She brushes out her hair from the tangle of the braid, scraping it back into a ponytail before finding her pair of deep purple Converse, and lacing them up before heading to Al's room to do her daughter's hair. Al is dressed, khaki capris and that NYPD shirt that Castle bought her a while back, but her hair is loose around her shoulders. Castle would say the two Beckett women look alike and right now, she would be inclined to agree.
"Time for hair and makeup," she says, twirling her finger to get Al to spin around.
It takes some maneuvering since Al still wants to watch the episode of Say Yes to the Dress playing on the television, but Kate sits behind her, one leg up on the bed, and starts finger-combing Al's hair. "Still Princess Leia?"
"Yes," Al says, eyes focused on the new bride's plight of finding the right dress.
Braiding her hair is a challenge with the layers and curls but Kate manages two braids on either side of Al's head. She finds the hair elastics on the bedside table, snaps them onto her wrist before attempting to twist the braids into tight buns on the girl's head, right behind her ears.
"Done," Kate says, patting Al on the head. "Now get your shoes on so we can get to the bus."
This time at the bus stop, Kate is careful to keep an eye on her family members and to keep her back against the wall. Castle is sitting on a bench, Al sprawled out at his side, and his fingers keep touching her bare thigh just to watch her body move toward his without her permission. Each time, Kate swats at his hand and two seconds later, it's back.
A bus for Animal Kingdom and one of the water parks stops first, followed by one for Magic Kingdom before EPCOT shows up. And it's packed. Castle takes hold of one of the rails with one hand, the other holding onto Al's hand as she finds a railing of her own to grab. Kate's down near the back of the bus, leaning against one of the seatbacks, smiling at him through the bodies as she checks her phone.
Of course there's a rush to get off the bus once it pulls up to the stop and Castle scoops Al up to wait for Kate to make her way from the back to them. As soon as she reaches their side, though, he puts the girl back on her feet so she can walk between them. The line up to the entrance is long, but Castle takes the time to find the park passes in his wallet and hand them out. Al's still jealous that his has Minnie Mouse on it while she's stuck with Goofy.
"It's because they know your real personality and that's what they put on the front," Castle explains with a wink toward Kate.
Al frowns. "I'm not Goofy. You are."
Kate laughs. She tries to hide it behind her hand but she knows he can still see the turn of her lips around her fingers. "Point for Al," she says, sliding her pass into the machine and pressing her fingers to the scanner.
"So I guess you aren't the family pet?" he asks, helping Al get her ticket back as he takes Kate's Pluto pass and tucks it into one of the pockets of his wallet.
She narrows her eyes at him, pinching his side. "That's you again. Sleeping in the doghouse tonight, Writer Boy."
The fountain behind Spaceship Earth is just beginning a show, music piping in through the speakers set around the area. Kate makes them stop along the fence to watch as the spouts of water, colored from lights in the pool around the jets, spray into the air. The wind carries droplets to land on audience members and families walking past without giving the fountain a second glance.
But this is cool and Kate can see that Al and Castle are entranced by the way the water jets line up with the music, creating a unique show. No people involved. Just water and lights and music.
She finds Castle's hand and links their fingers, giving him a squeeze before leaning against his arm, head settling on the joint of his shoulder.
The show's over in a couple of minutes, the water resuming a straight-up shot rather than the music-coordinated dance from before.
"Come on," she says, lifting her head and rolling it to work out the kink in the back. "There's a Coca-Cola place over here that you'll love."
Except when she goes to touch Al's shoulder, she swipes through air. Thinking maybe the girl shifted away during the show to get a better view, Kate glances around, ducking her head to see past Castle.
"Where's Al?" she asks, hearing the frantic tone starting to slip into her voice.
"Huh?"
She waves his hand off, untangling their fingers as she starts to run along the edge of the fence, eyes scanning the crowd. "Rick, where's Al?" Kate swivels halfway around the fountain, her hands curling around his arms. "Rick. Where is she?" she manages on the tail end of a sob.
Because the girl in the NYPD shirt and Princess Leia buns is nowhere to be seen.