Young at Heart
They eat the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out on the balcony. It overlooks the river cutting through the golf course and Al is completely taken with waving to the players as they drive by in the carts. Her face is up against the metal barrier, nose stuck in one of the Mickey Mouse cut-outs as she watches golfers chip their way toward the green.
"Eat, Al, so we can get to EPCOT for a while," Kate prods softly, nudging the girl with her toes.
She turns, grabbing the triangle of her sandwich and biting into the center of the wedge. "Then fireworks?"
"Then fireworks." Castle leans forward, wiping the bit of ranch dip off the corner of Kate's mouth. "But you need to eat first."
Kate is working through a bag of baby carrots, dragging them through the container of dip. Her stomach had settled down after the shower but she's not going to push it, not even with comfort food. They snap as she bites into them, little pieces getting stuck between her teeth that she works out with her tongue. Her bare toes press into Castle's hip as she rests her feet on the bench. "We should get reservations at a few places for the rest of the week," she says. "They fill up fast and there's a bunch of restaurants that would be fun for Al."
"Make a list and we'll narrow it down," Castle suggests, taking a piece of crust that he had cut from Al's sandwich and eating it.
"Done!" Al exclaims, holding her hands out as if to prove that the sandwich was gone. "Can we go now?"
Kate zips the bag of carrots up and snaps the top onto the dip. "Definitely. Go grab your shoes and we'll meet you out there."
The girl runs off, a swirl of shower-darkened brown hair toward the bedroom. Kate gathers up Al's plate and heads into the kitchen, depositing the plate into the sink and returning the carrots and dip to the fridge.
"Listen," Castle says, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist and tugging her back against him, "if you're too tired to go to the park today, we can hold off. Spend the afternoon here with some DVDs from the Community Hall."
She tips her head back against his shoulder, turning to face him. "No, I'm good. Just a stomach bug, I think. Let's go wander around the world with our girl."
Castle crowds her against the kitchen island, his hands gripping her hips to keep her in place as he ducks down to feather his lips over hers. "Can't we just stay here?" he manages between kisses over her face.
"No. We're leaving." Al is standing in the hallway, shoes on, hair pulled back into a mess of a ponytail, hands on her hips. "Come on."
Kate quirks a brow at Castle, boosting up on her toe tips to kiss him one last time. "You heard the girl. Let's go." She slips into her flipflops, scraping her own hair back into a bun so that it's off her neck.
"Can we make out later?" he whispers into her ear as he uses her shoulder to balance himself, tugging his sneakers on.
"You gonna scream like a girl again?" she asks, tucking his wallet into his pocket after checking for the key cards.
He shrugs, hooking his finger in the belt loop of her shorts. "Might happen."
"Then you have your answer," Kate responds cheekily. She checks her phone for the time, pulling her lower lip between her teeth for a moment, doing the math in her head. "We should be able to get to a few things before we need to get on a bus to the Magic Kingdom for Wishes tonight. Except we'll need to get dinner at some point…" she muses, letting him guide her out of the room behind Al.
"Why don't we watch where we're walking and worry about dinner later?" he suggests, using his hand to nudge her chin up from her phone's screen. "Last thing we need is you tripping down the stairs and taking Al with you."
"We gonna take the bus?" Al asks, hopping off a step early, her flipflops slapping against the pink stone loudly. "I like the bus."
Castle takes her hand to steer her around the little gecko sunbathing in a ray of light. "We are."
They have to wait for another bus to EPCOT, missing the latest one as they walked across the parking lot outside of the building. Castle finds the ice machine in the corner of the bus stop and gets a handful of chips. Al takes one, sucking on it as she swings her legs under the bench. Kate's distracted, typing out a list of possible restaurants to make reservations at on her phone.
Until Castle slips one of the ice chips down her back. He catches the phone as she screams, squirming away from him. "Rick!"
Al laughs, getting off the bench and out of range of her mother's reach. "Cold, Mom?"
"I'm gonna…"
The bus pulls up, the side marquee telling them that it is headed to the correct park, and Castle scoops Al up and runs to the door. "She's going to kill us both in our sleep, kid."
"You're dead, Richard Ca-"
He turns, placing a finger over her lips. "Ah-ah, Kate. Careful. Don't need to be swamped with fangirls like yourself."
Castle makes the decision to sit in the back of the bus with Al, safely away from Kate's glares and pinching fingers. She sees her husband duck his head down, whispering into Al's ear. A second later, the two are waving at her. Kate waves back, narrowing her eyes as she points toward the pair.
Her list is relatively short for restaurants. Chef Mickey's is at the top, but she also has 1900 Park Fare and Tony's on the list as well. Maybe they have time for all three, she thinks, tapping her finger against the side of the phone. Al would love all of them. That is, if she still wants to bring her family out to eat. She shivers again, the water from the ice chip chillier with the air conditioning on the bus.
"Kate, you'll need to talk to us again soon," Castle calls from the back of the bus.
She turns, her thighs sticking to the seat. "And why is that?"
He's holding up the park tickets, flapping them in the air. "I've got your way into the park."
Al, the traitor, is sitting next to the man, grinning and sticking her tongue out.
"True," she muses. "I could just go back to the room and eat all of the desserts and leave none for you."
Their faces fall together, mouths dropping open. Kate holds back the bubble of laughter, raising her brows instead as they start to babble apologies.
"Please, Kate," whines Castle, sitting as far forward on the seat as possible without falling off. "You know I didn't mean it. It was a joke!"
"Sticking ice down my back was a joke?" she asks.
As the bus stops at a red light, he gets up from the backseats, using the handrails to make his way to her side. Kate shifts down the row of seats until she reaches the end, crossing her arms. She can feel him at her back, his fingers touching her waist lightly.
"Not forgiving you," Kate mutters, elbowing him in the chest.
"Please?" His lips press against her neck, skimming up to her ear. "For the children."
"What?" She spins in the seat, blinking at him.
He's clueless, hand drifting to her knee. "For the good of children across the world, Kate. Don't be negative in the happiest place on Earth. And for Al," he says, pointing over her shoulder at the girl, still at the back of the bus, smiling.
She swallows past the lump in her throat because he can't know. She doesn't know yet so it's impossible for him to even think. "You're bribing yourself back into my good graces by using the youth of the world?"
"Uh… yes?"
"Low blow."
"Come on, Mom! Be nice to Rick!" yells Al.
Kate sighs and tips forward, holding onto the handrail between her and Castle. She kisses his cheek. "You owe me."
They stay in their seats, eyes on Al to make sure she behaves in the back as she chatters with an elderly couple sitting a few rows in front of her. Kate leans back against his chest, letting him wrap his arms around her waist. The line of ice water warms from the press of his body, erasing her annoyance.
Al gathers them when the bus stops outside of the park entrance. "Come on. Wanna see stuff."
Kate steers them around the iconic sphere, holding one of Al's hands with Castle on her other side. "We'll come back later in the week and see Future World."
"Good," says Castle, eyes wide as he takes in the building of Innovations. "Cause this is way too cool to pass up."
"Yes, but I want to go to The Seas first." Kate gives Al's hand a squeeze. "You remember Nemo and Marlin and Dory, right?"
"P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way!" Al skips a few steps.
"Want to go visit them?"
Al stares at Kate, walking backwards. "Yes! Cause fish are friends…"
"Not food," finishes Castle with a grin.
Outside of the pavilion, there're seagulls resting on a rock, repeating a chorus of "Mine! Mine! Mine!" that has Al giggling and joining in. She tugs her hand from Kate's, boosting up onto the rock wall, flipflops dangling off her feet.
"Who's that?" Castle asks, pointing at the backsplash behind the entrance of the building.
Al turns, pushing away from the rock and crashing into his leg. "Mr. Ray, silly. He's the teacher of Nemo's school."
It's Al who leads the way into the building, one of the adult's hands in either of hers. The Seas pavilion looks like a high-tech ocean engineering area, awash in blue and green and purple light.
"Can we go see Crush?" Al asks, pulling them toward the line for the little theatre.
Castle glances at Kate before following the girl. "Sure, dude."
The line is long, winding around a pillar, but time passes quickly as the three toss lines from the movie back and forth. Kate checks her phone, nibbling her lower lip.
"What's wrong?" Castle questions, looking over her shoulder at the time.
"Might have to scoot out after Turtle Talk. The ride to Magic Kingdom will take maybe half an hour and we want to eat before Wishes."
"Whatever. We've got time to explore tomorrow."
They make in with the next group and Kate slides her phone back into the pocket of her jean shorts after silencing it. Her stomach rolls a little as they sit on one of the benches, Al squished between them, a bundle of excitement as she watches schools of fish swim by on the screen in the front of the theatre. She presses her hand to her midsection, trying to calm the flips. Not the same as it was this morning where she felt nauseous. This time, it's just annoying and weird feeling.
"You okay, Mom?" Al asks, resting her hand over Kate's, tracing between her fingers.
Kate kisses the top of Al's head. "I'm fine. Look," she says, pointing to the screen. "It's Squirt." She meets Castle's eyes in the darkness, sees the concern coloring the blue. "I'm good, Rick," she whispers. "Really."