It was pretty late one night. Almost after midnight. Or so Castle could assume, it'd been a few hours since he had looked at the clock. The couple was almost done wrapping presents. Santa had arrived about an hour ago and left a bunch of gifts for the two children. Sidney was well aware of who Santa was and had been talking about him since the family had had Thanksgiving dinner. Victoria, not so much. She was definitely excited during this time of year but was still too young to understand everything that was going on.
Working on wrapping the last few things, Kate had been instructed to peel the sticker off the bow and stick it on the wrapped present in front of her. Not that Castle minded her wrapping, it was just easier for them to stick to this system. Castle would wrap the presents without ribbon and Kate would put the bow on and the to and from sticker that Castle had peeled off from the sheet and handed her to put on. It was hard for Kate, not being able to help much in the wrapping process, but Castle was ok with that. She was helping and that's all that mattered to him.
The big present this year was a new bike for Sidney. He'd told everyone he could that he wanted a Ninja Turtle bike for Christmas and would be very disappointed if he did not get one. Wanting to get it for him but have it from Santa, Martha and Jim had delivered the bike just two days ago. Now the issue was trying to find a place to hide it from him. It would fit in the hall closet, but, with it being winter the family was always getting in and out of the closet to get their winter coats anytime they went outside. A few more ideas got tossed around until the only thing that was left to hide it in Kate and Castles bathtub. The couple had an en-suite bathroom and with Kate's eye's as bad as they are, the couple rarely used the bathtub. It was mostly showers for the two and most of the time those were shared showers. Having established awhile ago that Sidney was not allowed in their parents bathroom unless told so, made it easy to stash the bike. When looking from the bedroom, the bathtub is not visible and its only like once a day that Sidney ends up in the couple's room so they felt confident they could keep it there. Having it all assembled made it easy for the couple as all they had to do was just put a bow on it and put it under the tree.
Finishing up the last bits of the wrapping, Castle handed Kate a cookie and instructed her to eat it while he cleaned up. Castle would help her to some milk when he was done cleaning up, and the two would turn the fireplace off and go to bed.
"Martha helped me with the cookies, did we do a good job?" Kate asks smiling as she finished hers and heard Castle start on his.
"Oh these are amazing, you guys did a good job." He smiles softly shifting over on the floor to pull himself towards Kate so he can cuddle with her.
"I'm really happy you two got to have some time." He yawns snuggling up to his wife as he tries's not to fall asleep. Hearing a yawn out of Kate as well, he decides the two should go to bed.
"Come on, let's get some sleep before the kids wake us up." Another yawn escapes as he stifles it quickly trying to get up. Letting out a grunt, his old body creeks as he gets himself up and tries to pull his wife up off the floor. Helping her finish off the milk, Castle takes her hand and pulls her to the kitchen to wash the glass before heading to bed.
"I have to put this in the dishwasher, please don't move or you will hit the counter," Castle warns as he opens the dishwasher and puts the cup from the milk on the top rack. She stays quiet as she listens to the dishwasher open up and the sound of the top rack rattling as it's pulled out. It gets closed, and moments later Kate feels her husband's soft hand reaching for hers.
"Come on, I've got you, let's go to bed."
Tugging slightly Castle checks around one more time to make sure the house is clean before helping Kate to the bedroom and into the bed. Pulling the covers down, Castle makes sure Kate will not sit on anything before he lets her sit on the bed.
"Ok, back a step and then you can sit, I don't want you to fall," He says as he carefully helps her back onto the bed. The two are exhausted from spending the night wrapping presents. Castle feels like this is the latest he's stayed up in ages. With two kids, life can sure be crazy and unpredictable, but the couple does like to keep a steady bedtime.
Walking around to his side of the bed, Castle gets in and pulls his wife close to him. He can only hope the two can get some sleep before the two kids wake them up to open presents. Closing his eyes, Castle lets out one more yawn before trying to snuggle as close as he can to his wife. The magic has just begun for the kids, and he is ready for them to experience it but only after he's had at least a few hours of sleep. That's all he wants. A whole night would be great, but he will do with a few hours.
Hearing noises a few hours later, Castle groans and glances at the clock to see what time it was. 7 AM, not bad for two children completely excited to see what Santa had brought them. Listening to the noises Kate study's them as she feels Castle move in the bed.
"Are my babies coming?" She asks, reaching over to pull on Castle hoping he will help her sit up.
"I think so." He smiles and reaches an arm around his wife and helping her up into a seated position. Within seconds, two blurry blobs had entered the room, and one jumped on the bed.
"Up mommy up!" Victoria cries as she stands on Kate's side of the bed. She can see the girl standing next to her bed, but she can't seem to judge how far away she is.
"Put your arms up, make a bear pose for mommy, I will get you," Kate tells the little girl as she reaches out to lift her up. Having some struggle Victoria is moving all around and making it hard for Kate to get a good view and pull the toddler into her lap.
"Chill, Victoria." Kate sighs as she finally gets a grip on her daughter and lifts her up onto the bed. Giving her a kiss, Kate smiles as she smells her daughters hair. Since Victoria was a baby the little girl has had pretty fine hair and Kate has always used baby shampoo on her hair to keep it soft and smelling good. Ever since Kate had started losing her sight, her sense of smell had heightened, and she was open to a whole new world of smells she'd never smelt before.
"Let's go daddy! I want to open presents!" The seven-year-old says as he pulls on his dad urging him to get up.
"Hold on buddy, give mommy and daddy a second, mommy has to take her meds." Castle sighs as he lets go of his son and slides off the bed. The boy crosses his arms and protests as he sits on the edge of the bed.
"I'm mad at you!" Sidney grumbles as Castle comes back out with Kate's pill case, her eye drops, and a plastic cup of water in case Kate ended up dropping it, it would not break.
"Hey, mommy comes first right now."
"I can ask Santa to come back and take away the presents," Castle warns as he hands Kate her the pills and helps her with the cup of water.
"No daddy no!" He whines as Castle helps with Kate's eye drops. It's still a slight struggle today but with Victoria on Kate's lap it has seemed to help her calm down.
"I thought so." Castle chuckles as his antsy son shakes the bed.
"I know you are excited buddy but daddy is not done yet and I need to finish this for mommy," He says, just as he hears the door unlock.
"Richard? Katherine?" Martha starts.
"Katie?" Jim adds.
"Why don't you go greet Gram and Papa, Mommy, Daddy, and Toria, will be down in a second once mommy gets her other eye drops," Castle tells his son as he hears the two downstairs moving around more.
"Up here mother!" Castle yells glancing down at Sidney, who had ran towards the stairs. He finds Martha and Jim halfway down the stairs as he was going to greet them and drags them up the stairs towards his mother, father, and sister. Walking into the bedroom, the two go to say hi but are stopped by the cries of Kate. It's hard to watch when someone you love is suffering.
Castle had been sure, just two weeks ago that his wife could take the eye drops. She'd been doing so good, and it would take Castle less than a minute to squirt the drops in her eyes. According to Kate, though, the formula had changed, and it was just thick enough she could tell the difference.
"Baby, please, I know you don't like it, but I have to do this." Castle sighs sadly as he sits on the bed an arm around his wife as he holds her head back. She's flinching as she lets the tears fall from her eyes.
"Come on Sidney, let's go make breakfast with Papa, Mommy and Daddy need a few minutes." Martha sighs as she walks over and helps Sidney off the bed. Jim follows and takes Victoria from a crying Kate.
Heading down the stairs, Martha is holding Sidney's hand, careful not to let him fall.
"Gram?" He asks her as they walk into the kitchen.
"What buddy?" Martha answers pulling the cans of cinnamon rolls out of the fridge so she can bake them and they can eat.
"What's wrong with Mommy, why is she sad?"
"Mommy has to take medicine in her eyes to help them stay healthy; sometimes it makes mommy not feel so good." Martha says, trying to explain it to her grandson the best she could.
While the four of them prepared breakfast, Martha could hear Kate's cries and the struggles from the two. It killed Martha to hear them struggle but knew it had to be done and hoped that after the holiday was over they could try and get a new formula for her.
"Go sit down Sidney, breakfast is ready, and I think mommy and daddy are coming. If you eat, I'm sure daddy will let you go open presents." Jim tells Sidney as he cuts up small pieces of the cinnamon roll for Victoria to eat. He knows she'll make a mess so before she digs into much Jim hunts around the kitchen for a bib. He finds one moments later and slaps it on her and lets her go to town. Helping Sidney onto one of the barstools Martha kisses his head softly and smiles making sure he is secure and will not fall off.
Moments later footsteps are heard coming down the stairs as Castle carefully helps Kate down the stairs.
"Two more steps, then you are at the bottom, and don't worry, I've got ya." Castle smiles as he holds a firm grip on Kate's arm.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Sidney beams, as he hears his father's voice.
"Hey, buddy!" Castle smiles as he helps Kate onto a barstool.
"Did you help Gram make breakfast?" He asks as he shifts, letting go of Kate and making sure she's on the barstool and will not fall off.
"Uh-Huh!" The boy beams smashing another piece of his cinnamon roll into his face.
"Are they good Sid?" Kate asks as she waits for hers to be put in front of her. She can smell them, and they are amazing.
"Yeah, really good! I like these!" He giggles softly turning to smile at his mother. It makes him feel sad because he knows his mother won't ever see his smile again. He's not completely sure why but Kate and Castle are trying to tell him bit by bit of what they know he will understand.
"Eat up, Katherine." Martha smiles putting a plate in front of Kate. It takes Kate a second to study the surroundings in front of her but she finds the roll and starts to chow down. All Kate can see is barely the edges of the plate and the cinnamon roll so blurry it takes up the whole plate.
The family finishes eating about ten minutes later, and Sidney is finally able to go open presents. He's let loose, and the first thing he sees is the bike. He's so excited he can't help but beam from ear to ear as he tries to sit on it.
"Mommy! Look what Santa brought me!" He smiles ringing the bell that was on the bike. This is when it broke her heart. Hearing him say 'Look Mommy.' Back a few year ago, she might have been able to decipher the boy from the bike, but today, they are one. She's trying to be happy for him, but it's hard.
Letting Sidney work on a few more presents, Martha sits with Victoria and helps her unwrap some of her presents from Santa. Her favorite though had been the building blocks as She had always liked to come and knock down Sidney's towers and make him mad. Now she could build her own and knock them down.
There had been talk lately of having another kid. Both Sidney and Victoria had been rather easy to conceive, and they knew that wouldn't be their issue. The two had talked one night for a long time trying to decide if this was something Kate could handle emotionally. She struggles sometimes with not being able to see her children clearly and it has gotten to her in the past. Kate's become worse now than when she had had Victoria, and Castle was unsure she could handle it. The two had planned on three kids since the day they got married, and Kate had told Castle she would need some time to really think about it. Having had time to think about it and made sure that the last time they had sex, Castle forgot the condom, Kate could finally let out the secret. The only people who knew where Martha and her father and told her, they would cover for her as long as possible. Kate had thought about telling no one once she found out but for safety reasons she felt the need to tell Martha and her father. It was easy for her to test because, the last time they got pregnant, Castle had bought Kate the digital ones, and with Kate's phone she had an app that could read things out loud to her. It used the phone's camera and would detect text it found on the screen and read it. She knew he had no clue because thankfully Kate had not had any morning sickness and that's a for sure telltale sign that someone is pregnant.
Having Martha hand Kate a small long box she handed it to Castle. He had thought it was a pen when it shook it trying to figure out what it was. He had already opened the nice shirts and ties, loving each and every one of them. She had told him this was his big present even though it was in a small box. Sitting in his father's lap, Sidney had wanted to be there to see what his father was getting. Ripping open the paper Castle fiddles with the box trying to get it open so he can see what's inside. Once open, Castle takes a good hard look at the test and has to take a few double takes.
"Is this for real?" Castle nervously chuckles as he stares at the test.
"Yes, I've even had a doctor confirm it." Kate beams as Castle picks up Sidney and goes over to squeeze his wife.
"We are having a baby; I can't believe it!"
A/N: I hope you enjoyed! I figure'd I'd stop here and do a part two. I have plenty more ideas that would work a lot better if I did a part two. This is a record chapter length for me I think. Unless you count chapter one of my published book. Anyways Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate and be thankful I am here so the I can give Kate and Castle all the kids, the writers won't give. Also thanks for all the reviews makes me feel good!