#3 Because he's a nine-year-old on a sugar rush.
Kate smiled as she sat on the park bench and closed her eyes. Snowflakes continued to fall and the feel of them landing softly on her skin brought her a sense of peace she'd only felt a handful of other times. She could hear children laughing and playing in the snow, a sound she'd once thought she'd never hear.
Kate continued thinking over the events in her life that had brought her to this moment, until a cold sensation on her abdomen made her eyes pop open. She looked around in search of an explanation until her eyes landed on her husband.
"Castle! What the hell?" Kate exclaimed as she flinched away from his hand, forcing it out from under her shirt and coat.
"My hand was cold." Rick whined, a glint in his eyes.
Kate rolled her eyes. "You should have put gloves on."
"But it was snowing!" Rick exclaimed, defending himself.
"You know, Castle, sometimes you act like a nine-year-old."
"I take offense to that!"
Kate laughed and scanned the people around them. She finally found who she was looking for and pointed them out to Rick.
"Your 10 year old and 6 year old act more mature than you sometimes. Like now."
Rick laughed and wrapped an arm around Kate as the relaxed into the bench and watched their girls build a snowman. Kate pulled her phone out and began taking pictures of the snowman while AJ and Clara went off to make snow angels.
"I'll be back." Kate murmured to Rick as she kissed his lips softly and went to watch their daughters.
Clara waved excitedly at Kate when she saw her approaching, and smiled as Kate took more pictures. When their snow angels were done, Kate helped each girl up so they didn't get handprints in the way and snapped a couple more shots of the snow angels. Kate was in the process of returning Clara's hug when something wet and cold hit the back of her head.
Before she even turned around, she knew what had happened. She turned slowly and fixed a glare on her husband, who was looking entirely too innocent for her liking.
"Richard Castle!" She cried. "What was that for?"
"Kate?" He asked, continuing to play innocent.
Without breaking eye contact, Kate crouched down and formed a snowball in a matter of seconds, and she lobbed it right at his chest, hitting dead center.
"Oh, it's on. AJ, with me." Rick called as he looked down at his body and then up toward AJ.
AJ looked between her parents for a second before shrugging and running off after her father.
Kate turned to Clara and smiled. "Want to help me beat them in a snowball fight?"
Clara nodded excitedly and followed Kate behind a large grouping of rocks.
"Alright, first things first, make as many as you can." Kate told Clara while Rick gave the same advice to AJ.
"This will be home base." Rick said as he packed snowballs with his daughter. "Take a few with you, and come back here for more."
Clara nodded as she concentrated on making snowballs. "What if they try to get ours?"
Rick smirked. "Don't let them."
"How do we know the winner?" AJ asked, ever the practical one.
Kate smiled. "When Daddy starts crying because we're beating him, we've won."
The parents smiled at their children and everybody grabbed a couple snowballs and branched out.
Kate peeked over the edge of a rock and spotted AJ running toward a tree. Before her daughter made it to safety, Kate hit her in the side. Just as she ducked down, a snowball hit the rock right in front of where her face had been. Kate looked over and smiled when she saw Clara pop up and throw a snowball, followed by Rick's muffled curse when he go hit.
"Nice, Monkey." Kate said quietly, smiling at her little girl.
The snowball fight continued as countless chunks of snow were thrown, landing with varying degrees of accuracy. Kate had noticed a few people pause and watch the family, smiling at what was clearly a very close relationship, before carrying on with their lives.
Kate looked over and saw AJ hurrying back to where their snowballs were stashed, and smiled as Clara hit her in the back. Clara was just turning back to look at Kate when a snowball seemed to come from nowhere, and hit her right above her left eye. Clara dropped to the ground and brought her hand up to where she'd been hit, and a moment later, Kate could see her shoulders shaking as she tried not to cry.
Kate dropped the snowballs she'd been about to throw and hurried to where her daughter was. She got hit a couple times but she didn't pay any attention as she crouched in front of Clara and tried to pull her hand away from her face.
"Let me see, Monkey." Kate murmured when Clara resisted. Finally, Clara removed her hand, just as another snowball hit Kate's back.
"Oh, baby." Kate murmured. "Castle, stop!" She yelled over her shoulder.
"Giving up already, Kate? You and the monk can't handle it?" Rick taunted.
"Rick, stop it." Kate called again as she removed her scarf and pressed it against the cut on Clara's face.
Rick stepped out of his hiding place at the same time AJ did, and together they carefully approached Kate and Clara, unsure whether or not it was a trap. When Rick saw that Kate had her scarf pressed to Clara's face, he began running toward them.
"What happened?" He asked as he crouched down beside his family with AJ on his heels.
Kate shook her head and looked around. She stopped when she saw a smallish gray stone lying in what used to be a snowball. She reached over and picked it up, her suspicions confirmed when she saw a hint of blood on it.
"This was in the snowball that hit her face."
"Oh, God." AJ spoke up. "I'm so sorry! I saw it earlier, but I didn't think it got put into one! I'm sorry, Clara!"
"It's not your fault, AJ." Kate said calmly. "You didn't do it on purpose."
Kate pulled the scarf away to get a look at the cut and sighed. "Rick, take her to the hospital. Lennox Hill isn't far from here. AJ and I will meet you there."
"No doctors!" Clara cried as she tried to scoot away from her mother. Rick grabbed her and lifted her into the air. He took the scarf Kate held out and pressed it back to Clara's face.
"Sorry, Monkey. But Momma's the boss, and we have to do what she says. But I'll stay with you, and you'll be ok."
With that, Rick turned and started walking out of the park and toward the hospital while Kate stood and helped AJ to her feet.
"I'm sorry, Momma. I swear, I didn't mean to get the rock in a snowball. And I wasn't aiming at her head, either! I just, I sneezed and threw with my eyes closed. I didn't mean to, I pro-"
"AJ, calm down." Kate soothed. "It was an accident and accidents happen."
"But she's scared! She hates doctors, and now she has to go to the hospital because of me!"
Kate smiled and kissed her daughter's head. "She'll be ok. But before we go see her, we'll stop in the hospital gift shop and get her something, ok?"
AJ nodded and grabbed her mother's hand as they made their way toward the hospital. As they walked in silence, AJ kept her eyes open for a toy store of some kind, since she wasn't keen on getting her sister something from the hospital. Finally they passed a small toy store and after a moment to convince her mother that this was the best idea, AJ led Kate inside and to the section of stuffed animals. They looked for a moment, but AJ didn't see anything she thought Clara would love. They were just about to leave when AJ saw a black leg sticking out from under a pile of elephants. When she tugged on it, a panda popped out, and AJ smiled up at her mother.
"This one." She declared, and Kate smiled in response.
When they got to the counter, Kate started to take her wallet out, but AJ shook her head as she pulled out her own wallet, which she'd gotten just a few days before, and paid for the panda, telling Kate that it was her fault and she would pay.
Kate smiled at her daughter again as she resituated her purse on her shoulder. As the lady behind the counter began putting the panda in a bag, AJ stopped her.
"Can I carry it? It's for my little sister, and we're going to see her now."
The lady smiled and handed the panda over. "There you go. I'm sure she'll love it."
AJ smiled in thanks and held the panda close to her chest as she followed Kate from the store.
As they continued walking, Kate tried telling AJ that she didn't need to pay for the toy, but AJ wouldn't listen to her. AJ was still holding the panda tightly when they walked into the hospital, and after a brief conversation with a nurse, they were directed to the room Clara was in.
AJ stepped inside cautiously and smiled when she saw her sister lying in the bed.
"Hi." AJ murmured as she walked to Clara's side while Rick went to join his wife at the door.
"She ok?" Kate whispered as Rick hugged her.
"Perfect. She need 7 stitches, and she handled them like a pro. Even got a lollipop for her trouble. She'll be released as soon as the doctor comes back."
Kate nodded and smiled as she watched AJ carefully sit on the bed beside her sister's hip.
"She bought the panda." Kate said quietly as they watched AJ give her sister the stuffed animal. "Kept saying it was her fault, so she had to pay."
Rick smiled. "Sounds like her."
"Momma, guess what?" Clara called from the bed as she hugged the panda tightly.
"What, Monkey?" Kate asked as she walked over to stand on Clara's other side.
"We're gonna match."
"Who?"
"You and me."
"How's that, Monkey?" Kate asked, slightly confused.
"Imma have a scar too." Clara said as she brought her hand up to the gauze patch on her forehead. "Just like you gots one." Clara reached out and gently touched Kate's coat exactly above where her scar was.
Kate smiled and took Clara's hand, pressing a kiss to the palm. "Yes we will, baby."
"I like matching you, Momma. Cause you're pretty."
Kate smiled. "You're pretty too, Clara."
Clara smiled up at her mother and turned back to her panda. "What do I name him?"
"How do you know it's a him?" Kate asked.
"It's a bear. All bears are hims." Clara said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
They all laughed and Clara shrugged, not entirely sure what was so funny. "Pete." She finally said. "I'll call him Pete."
AJ smiled. "It's a great name."
Clara was released a few minutes later, and after both girls were asleep that night, Kate and Rick were lying in their bed with their arms around each other.
"I think tonight was a success." Rick said. "Girls had fun. Before the whole hospital thing, anyway."
Kate smiled and kissed his shoulder. "Yeah. You're still a nine-year-old on a sugar rush though."
Rick laughed and kissed her head. "Yeah, but you love me."
I know that was kind of long, and it didn't really stick to the prompt completely, but I think it still works. The scene where they're spilt into their teams and discussing strategy might be confusing, but I pictured it as one of those scenes where they're having the same conversations, so the camera cuts back and forth. It makes sense in my mind.
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