Epilogue
Bleary eyed and a little unsteady, Richard Castle made his way through his office and towards the main living area of the apartment, his shoulder bumping into a doorway and his knee nudging the corner of a chair as he went. As he was trying to be quiet, he kept his noises of displeasure to himself, and simply set his sights on his ultimate goal: the coffee maker.
He fumbled with the grounds and water for a few moments before he finally pressed the start button. Then, he turned around so that his back rested against the counter, folded his arms over his chest, and shut his eyes in an attempt to get in a quick power nap while he waited for his caffeine to percolate.
All things considered; Jake had been doing well during his first few weeks at home. Of course, they were all exhausted from the stress surrounding Kate's kidnapping and the subsequent search for her, but holding Jake in their arms did feel like a way of "powering up" like in a video game. Castle rarely felt tired while he was holding his son. Well, he was tired, but the joy he felt outpaced it by far.
Since it was so many years earlier and mostly clouded by a blur of sleepless nights, Castle could not remember in great detail Alexis's first few weeks at home. She had cried a lot, which frustrated Meredith to no end—that part he remembered, but he couldn't specifically recall how many times a night they needed to get up and feed her.
With Jake, he seemed to be waking every two to three hours to feed, which left Kate getting very little rest. After a few days they spoke with the pediatrician, who suggested that they try to do some feedings from a bottle, which would be a better way of measuring just how much milk he was taking in. This also took some adjusting, including a full melt down that had Kate sobbing while sitting on the floor and trying to use her breast pump, but they'd made it through that—just as they would make it through all the other challenges they would face: together.
Castle snorted himself awake when the coffee maker beeped and signaled the brewing was complete. He groped into an upper cabinet to grab a mug and filled it with the dark liquid. Bring it to his face, he inhaled deeply for several moments before taking a tentative sip. After so many years of drinking hot coffee he'd more or less conditioned his tongue to accept the heat, but at that point he didn't care. He needed to be alert as quickly as possible, for he knew Jake would begin to cry within the next ten to twenty minutes.
After his first few sips of coffee Castle pulled open the refrigerator to assess what might be available for breakfast. After sifting through the mountains of takeout containers and the leftover food that had been brought to them by their friends, he determined that he most definitely needed to place an order for groceries that morning—and pay the extra for rushed delivery.
Turning around, he intended to return to his office, but froze barely one step away from the fridge. As the alertness provided by the caffeine began to flood his body, the sleepy haze clouding his vision had lifted away and what he saw was an absolute and utter mess. Castle certainly had never been the neatest person in the world, but this was beginning to get a bit ridiculous. How had they let it go this long? Oh. Right. They were caring for a newborn who needed them constantly.
Knowing it would behoove him—and everyone else—to do a quick tidy up, Castle took one more gulp of coffee and reluctantly put down his mug. After retrieving a garbage bag from the pantry, he began walking around the kitchen and living area picking up discarded napkins, takeout containers, empty water bottles, and even a dirty diaper, which had him cringing. With all the trash picked up, he returned to the pantry and found some sanitizing wipes, which he used to quickly tidy the counters and the spot on the end table where the diaper had been sitting. After ten minutes the area wasn't perfect, but significantly better, so he retrieved his coffee mug once more and walked to his laptop to begin their grocery order.
Castle had only been sitting about five minutes when Kate appeared in the bedroom doorway, her hair mussed and some dried baby spit up on her shoulder, but in his mind she looked as beautiful as ever. "You should be sleeping," he told her softly.
"Smelled the coffee," she responded, her voice a bit hoarse.
He hummed. "Want me to get you some?"
"Not yet. What are you doing?"
"Ordering groceries. We have, like, no food," he added with a light chuckle.
She shielded a yawn with her left hand before asking, "What day is it? Tuesday?"
"Uhhh." The writer hesitated as he also did not know. He hovered his mouse over the date and time in the corner of his computer screen and said, "No, Thursday."
"Ah…I should have probably known that."
"Nah…who cares what day it is?" he said positively.
She gave him a look before walking over and sitting down in one of the chairs across from his desk. "I think Jake slept a little better last night."
"Me too."
"We might actually be getting the hang of this," she said with a light chuckle as she brushed some hair back from her forehead.
Grinning he said, "We are definitely getting the hang of this."
She hummed through another yawn then said, "Coffee…need coffee."
"Hey," he stopped her before she could walk too far away. When she turned back to face him, he simply said, "Love you, Kate."
She smiled "Love you too, Castle."
A.N - thank you all so much for reading & reviewing. i'm so glad this story was met with such positive reception, because it was an outline that sat in my writing folder for several years and something i wasn't sure how to make work for quite some time, so i really appreciate everyone's support.
