promise


Beckett's phone clatters against her desk, startling her so her pen breaks free from the careful restraint of her handwriting and scrawls out across the page.

Damn it. Now she'll have to start again. Gates is picky about their paperwork being neat. She flicks her gaze to the caller ID and huffs, swiping her thumb across the screen to unlock it as she stands.

"Beckett."

"Hi, Mrs Castle." Her husband says back, his voice rich and delicious where his words have curved around his arcing smile.

Kate rolls her eyes and nudges the break room door open with her hip, sinking down to the couch and drawing her knees up. Silly man.

But she misses him. Nonsensical theories and incessant touching of things he should not be touching included. "What's up?"

"Jack's pitching a fit because we're out of milk and he wanted cereal. I'd go get some but that would mean rounding them both up and finding hats and coats and then keeping track of them on the street. They're both sort of. . .feral, today."

She hears the stretch in his voice; the places where caring for their children leaves him thin and washed out. He loves them both so deeply, more than himself. But sometimes they can be a little too much.

All their mother's stubbornness, he likes to tease her. And she fires right back with snide remarks about how childish their father is, how they don't really stand a chance.

"I'm leaving in about an hour. I'll bring some. You need me to get anything else?"

Castle breathes out a sigh that curls around her, a thick and suffocating fog twining through the footholds of her ribcage. "Just you. Beanie has told me about a hundred times today that she much prefers her mommy to me. Apparently I suck."

Oh, no. Oh Rick.

It's just winter break, that's all. Both of the kids are excited for Christmas, impatient for the day itself to get here and getting swept away in all the festivity. It makes them giddy and difficult and poor Castle has to bear the brunt of it.

"You know she adores you, right?"

He laughs, so much warmth in it that a part of her yearns to walk out of the precinct right now and go home to him. "I know. It's just today's thing. But the milk would help, oh beautiful saviour of mine."

"Okay, can do. I'm gonna go, finish up the paperwork. And get home quicker." Kate murmurs, grinning into the splay of her fingers at her mouth.

"Right, yes. Bringing home the bacon. Love you."

There's a crash in the background, the high-pitched beginning of a cataclysmic meltdown, and Castle hangs up before she can reply. Before she gets to say that she loves him to.


She forgets the milk.

The boys cornered her right after she finished up on the phone and sucked her in to their case and she's already twenty minutes late. It doesn't even hit her until she's already through the front door. Far, far too late.

Upstairs, Kate can hear the hard grit to Castle's voice from outside the bathroom door. The whole of his careful control coming undone. She pushes it open to see her husband kneeling with his back to her, their children in the bath.

No bubbles, so they must have already pushed him pretty hard. As soon as they see her they're both climbing out and scrambling over the tile to reach her.

"Don't get Mom wet." Castle grunts, raising a hand to press his wrist to his forehead.

Jack's arms wrap around her waist, her button down turning translucent at the contact. "Mom, you're home. Now I can have cereal."

Crap.

"Finish up your bath, guys. Come on." Kate peels them both off of her and ushers them back towards the bathtub, settling a hand at her husband's shoulder and squeezing gently. "I got it from here."

"Thanks." He huffs, standing up and pressing a kiss to her mouth that isn't even really present at all. The exhaustion rolls off of him in waves and Kate takes a moment to cradles his cheek, kissing him harder.

"Sorry I'm late."

He manages a smile even as the lines at his forehead grow deeper, stepping back from her to lift Bea back in to the tub. "It's fine. Just tell me you got the milk."

"Yeah, about that." Kate bites at her lip, one side of her mouth curving up. She meets his eyes, and the storm there rips right through her.

"Damn it, Kate. Could you not have just done one thing for me?" He grits out, already turning his back on her.

She reaches out, setting two fingers at his wrist in placation. "I'm sorry. I got caught up at work and then I was in a hurry to come home and help."

"Well, you bringing the milk so our son can have the cereal I promised him hours ago would have been more helpful, don't you think?" He's getting close to shouting at her now, the kids wide-eyed and suddenly mute in the bathtub. Kate opens her mouth, finds she has no excuse to give and snaps it closed again.

"I'll go get some." He sighs, and she watches the catch of tension in him as he battles not to slam the door.


He comes home to find both the kids somehow, miraculously in bed and his wife nestled on the couch, staring blankly at the television.

Rick puts the groceries away and comes back for him, slipping his arms around her shoulders to bring her in against his chest. "I'm so sorry, Kate. It's just been a tough day."

"I know." She murmurs, pushing back to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry I can't be here to help."

She looks so desolate that he can't help but kiss her, soft and apologetic. "You're here now. You got them to bed."

"Even so. Let me make it up to you."


A/N: With gratitude to tastesofpurple on tumblr for the idea.