Happy Castle Sunday! To make up for last weeks short fic here's the longest one and maybe my favorite of the bunch! I hope you guys enjoy!
Kate stood behind the family couch in the living room. There was a familiar sight in front of her: her three children huddled up in their fleece blankets and pajama's, sloppily downing their sugary cereal in front of the TV that showed bright and loud cartoon characters getting in all sorts of trouble. Well, not only her three children but her man-child of a husband was also as enthralled with the cartoons as her real children were. It made her smirk, normally she joined them on their Saturday morning cartoon 'tradition', clad in her comfiest pajama as well, but sadly she was called into work.
At first, she had objected but being a senator, she hadn't always had the luxury of saying no or delegating some of her obligations as she had done as a captain. With a sigh she ran her hand through her husband's unruly, just-out-of-bed hair- a mop that matched their twin sons. Castle tore his eyes away from the TV and turned his head around to the sight of his perfectly dressed wife, her suit was well tailored to her lanky body and she had put her hair up in a high ponytail showing off her sharp facial features.
"Hey," she softly said, "I'm heading to the office."
Castle gave her a nod as he swallowed his mouth full of soggy cereal. "I wish you could join us," he stated, never accusing.
"Me too, but I'll be home before lunch. There is just some paperwork I have to finish and then I'll be home for a few days" Kate leaned forward to kiss her husband.
A groan came from the other end of the couch as two identical pair of blue eyes looked at them in disgust. Kate shook her head and pecked her husband's lips before moving over to her boys "Oh shush," she half-heartedly scolded them before leaning over to kiss the tops of both their heads as the cartoons enthralled them again.
"Mommy," her daughter's voice came from the other side of the couch, "can I come with you, please?" as a pair of hopeful hazel eyes, just like hers, silently begged the same question.
"Oh honey, let mommy go to her job, we can watch some cartoons, maybe go to the park…" Castle intervened. Lily looked down disappointed, dropping her spoon into her cereal bowl.
"You know what Lily, if you can promise me you can get ready and dressed in ten minutes you can come to the office with me, but!" as Lily had jumped up "this is not going to be regular thing!"
Lily nodded profusely, "Yes!" and sprinted upstairs, nearly tripping over her own two feet
"Careful!" Kate yelled with a laugh as Lily had already disappeared.
"Are you sure Kate, you don't have to take her, we're going to be fine."
Kate smiled and shrugged "it's fine, I only have to sign some papers and talk to a few people there. It'll be fun to take her again."
Kate sat down on the edge of the couch, taking her time with her coffee now as she waited on her eight-year-old daughter.
"I'm done!" Lily shouted from above the stairs a few minutes later and Kate couldn't help but smirk. Lily had put on her own blazer that Alexis gifted her a while back and paired them with black skinny jeans, black converse and her favorite t-shirt with a smiling dog face. She had also put her dark brown hair in a ponytail and her look was complete.
Castle mock gasped, "Look at my little senator!" He proudly stated. Making a twirl motion with his fingers, which Lily happily obliged to, giving her parents a spin to show off her outfit.
"You like it mommy?"
Kate smiled "I love it, Lily. Shall we?" Lily nodded and kissed her father goodbye before joining her mother at the door where she helped herself into her pea coat.
Lily thoroughly enjoyed being the focus of her mother's attention as they walked hand in hand through the busy New York streets. It was a nice fall day, still chilly but with a good amount of sun. Kate made a mental note to have more one-on-one time with her daughter noticing she was so happy that she practically skipped beside her. After a metro ride and a brisk walk they arrived at her office. Lily was in awe of the procedure and security of it all. The friendly security guard gave her a guest pass as he greeted Kate with a nod after being led through the metal detector.
It wasn't Lily's first time being at her mother's office but it had been a while and the desk chair was still as enthralling as ever. Kate laughed as her daughter hopped onto the chair and started spinning circles "Go slow Lily, you're going to be sick if you keep going!"
Lily slowly stopped with her legs bungling from the chair that was way too high for her.
"Take off your coat first, please." Kate instructed as she was unbuttoning her own coat. Dizzily Lily jumped off the chair and walked in a not so straight line to the clothing hanger. Kate chuckled, "Silly girl" and took Lily's coat from her and hung it. Kate then surprised her daughter by swiftly picking her up and sitting her down on her desk, Lily let out a squeal of happiness and Kate laughed too.
"Okay Lily, I'll go and find your coloring book and toys and you can walk around in my office and play but no touching of stuff: that includes files, photos and spinning in the chair, okay?" Lily nodded dutifully
"I am just going to go through these files to the office next to me. I'll be right back. You can't leave this office, promise me?"
Lily sighed, "I promise."
"Good," as she picked Lily up again and back on her feet. "Do you have to pee now or can you wait until I am back?"
"I can wait."
Kate ran her hand over top of her head and smiled "When I am done we'll go for hot chocolate okay, just the two of us." That seemed to perk her daughter up again and Kate pulled out her stack of books and toys, giving her a wink before leaving her office, softly closing the door behind her.
It didn't take long before Lily got bored of inspecting her mother's office and looked through the piles of old toys her mother left her. They weren't as great anymore and Lily had outgrown them a bit but she still enjoyed drawing and zipped open her pencil case and chose a nice colored piece of paper to let her fantasy go wild. After drawing her second unicorn she was dismayed with how the horn was crooked and rummaged through her pencil case once again but had no luck in finding an eraser. Lily eyed one of the drawers of her mother's desk and bit her lip. She knew she wasn't supposed to open it but she really needed that eraser. The other ones were locked anyway so she felt this one would be okay. Lily looked at the door. No sign of her mother returning and slowly moved to open the drawer. There were really pretty looking pens and also a pencil sharpener but no eraser. Lily huffed, and opened the drawer a bit more where her curiosity was spiked by a weird looking object. It was like a puppet but made with twigs and twine, it looked old to her.
"Lily, what are you doing?" her mother suddenly stated, not angry just curious. Lily jumped and dropped the stick figure back into the drawer "nothing! I was just looking for an eraser, I swear!" Kate smiled and shook her head, "It's okay, it's okay, I am not mad, it's just sometimes you're exactly like your father." Kate sat down on the vacant desk chair and pulled Lily onto her lap.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No, of course not." She answered with a smile as she rummaged through the drawer to pick up the stick figure.
"What is it?" Lily asked curiously.
Kate, in that moment, decided Lily was old enough to know more of her mother and pulled Lily closer to her body.
"So, I have told you about how my mom, your grandmother, isn't with us anymore, right?"
Lily nodded, "Yes grandma Johanna, like my middle name."
Kate wishes she could pull her child in an even closer hug, "yes exactly!" Lily seemed proud of knowing that fact. "You have been asking a bit more about her lately and now that you're a little older I'd like to tell you more about her and the day she died? Is that okay with you?"
Lily shifted a little, still a bit unsure. "If you're not it's okay, we don't have to." Kate reassured her daughter.
Lily shook her head; she suddenly seemed very determined "no I'd really like to know, mommy."
"Okay," Kate took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts on how she was going to approach this touchy subject, "so your grandmother Johanna, she was a lawyer, a really good lawyer just like your grandpa. She was really passionate at putting bad guys behind bars. That's what she loved to do, fighting for justice."
Lily's eyes grew big, "really?"
Kate smiled proudly, "yes, she was amazing. But that also made a lot of people mad."
Lily looked puzzled, "why?"
"Because it meant that a lot of people who did bad things went to jail and they didn't want that. So they made a plan and tricked your grandmother and they…"
Kate dreaded it, saying those words; it felt like she would be taking a bit of Lily's innocence away, but it was important she knew the truth. They've been skating around it for too long.
"Mommy, did they kill her?"
Kate looked down into her daughter's hazel eyes and slowly nodded, "yeah Lily, they did."
Lily went silent, and looked down at her hands, Kate kept silent. Giving her ten year old a minute to process. "What happened to the bad guys?" she eventually asked.
"Well Lily, at first nobody knew who did it and the case was closed. This made me very sad. I wanted to solve it and that's why I actually became a cop."
Lily looked up at her mom, "really?" Kate nodded, "Did it work?"
That made Kate smile, "Yes, your daddy and I actually solved it together and we put the man responsible behind bars."
Lily gave her mother a soft smile, "good, I hate that man."
Kate kissed her daughter on top of her head and put a lock of brunette hair that so closely matched her own, behind her small ear. "I did too, but it's okay now Lily." Lily frowned "Aren't you sad, mommy?"
Kate took a deep breath, "I was sad for a long time, and sometimes I still am. But you, and your brothers, your father, Alexis and your grandpa and grandma, you make me so happy."
Kate suddenly noticed the stickman on her desk and reached for it, "and this little guy reminds me of all of that. Your grandpa and I made it when we went to Coney Island just after your grandmother Johanna's funeral."
"You went to Coney Island after a funeral? That's weird." Lily asked, and took the puppet from her mother's hands.
"It is, a little, but we wanted to get out of there and we walked along the shore, enjoying ourselves, and together we crafted this little guy… and you know what?"
Lily looked up, "what?"
"It is a reminder that even on the worst days there is a possibility for joy."
Lily really seemed captured by those words, following every ridge and bump of the little stickman figure as she took it all in. "I like that."
Kate hugged her daughter closer and gave her a kiss against her temple, taking a deep and long breath before letting her go. Lily slowly slid from her mother's lap, the stickman still cradled in her hands. "Do you have more questions, Lily?" Kate asked, Lily shook her head "no." and handed over the puppet to her mother "if you do, don't hesitate asking me or your father, okay? Just be careful around your brothers, they're still a little young for all this. Deal?" Lily softly smiled, "deal." Lily didn't seem really upset by the stories, but more overwhelmed as she tried to process it all. "Now, let's put this little guy back," as she softly placed the stick figure into the drawer and slowly closed it, "and let's get out of here, what do you say? Ice cream?"
That made Lily smile, "Yes! Or maybe…"
"Maybe, what?" Kate asked as she handed her daughter her coat.
"Maybe we can go to Coney Island?"
Kate smiled, looking at her watch and back at her daughter, she shrugged "You know what, let's go."
Thank you for reading and until next Sunday!