Young at Heart
This one is for Pau, Jenn, and Em - the best partners in crime I could ask for.
"Dinner," she sniffles into his neck. "We need to get dinner."
"Kate, just…" He pulls her back against him. Can't seem to stop touching her, running his fingers up and down her spine. Keeping her here with him. "Just stay for another minute. Please."
So she stays, letting him bury his nose into her hair. She loops an arm around his to wipe at tears.
"Mom? Rick?" Al's voice is sleepy as she talks, pushing up on the couch so she's sitting against the back. "Why're you crying?"
And that just brings on another wave of emotions that has Kate clutching at Castle's shoulderblades. "We're okay, kid."
"Crying isn't okay," she says, sliding off the couch and crawling over to the continuous hug huddle on the ground. Al pushes herself in between the two, her head smushed against Castle's chest. "Here." And, awkwardly, Al tries to wrap her arms around both of them while stuck between their bodies. "Don't cry."
Castle finds his voice first, untwisting his arm so he can smooth a hand over Al's head. "Good tears, Al. Good tears this time."
"Mom?"
Kate nods, shifting to press a kiss to Al's temple. "We're so much more than fine, kid. Let's see if Chef Mickey's has any open reservations. Go out to eat." When Castle doesn't move, she gives his shoulder a little push. "Give 'em a call and see if they can fit us in. It's late to make reservations but they might have had someone drop out."
She waits until he gets up, moving toward the kitchen to find the number for the restaurant on his phone. Kate stretches her legs out, resting her back against the armchair until Al's in her lap.
"You okay?" Al asks, touching Kate's still-wet cheek with the hand not holding onto the fabric rose.
"Yeah." Kate tugs on one of Al's curls. "Listen, Allie-bug. What do you think of a little brother or sister?"
"To, like, babysit?"
Kate laughs, the question breaking whatever tension was strung out in the air. "Not quite," she says. "Like, as a sibling. You'd be the big sister."
"So I'd be in charge?"
Not wanting to dash all of the girl's dreams because honestly, she'd probably take charge anyway, Kate shrugs. "Sure. Let's go with that. But would you be okay with it? It'd be a big responsibility."
Al slides off Kate's lap onto the ground, pushing up with the help of the chair. "I'd like a sister please. Named Minnie." And with that, Al runs off toward her room leaving Kate blinking after her daughter.
Castle is still on the phone, negotiating with the person at Chef Mickey's for an open reservation. Kate would not be surprised if he was trying to name drop as subtly as possible to pull them a table. He smiles at her as she closes up the box of Cheez-Its, putting it on the kitchen island.
"She good?" he mouths, catching her hand as she scoots past him.
Kate nods, spinning to press her lips to his cheek. "Bedroom," she says softly.
"Change for dinner," he calls, a hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. "I'm charming Paula here."
"Oh good."
She ducks into Al's room. The girl is standing on the bed, the lightsaber in her hands. Penguin is on a pile of pillows, watching.
"Showdown?" questions Kate, leaning on the doorframe. The girl seems to be taking the news rather well. Still, Kate's waiting for the breakdown on both of their parts.
Al whirls around, nearly unbalances on the mattress but catches herself, and points the lightsaber at her mother. "Do not enter on pain of death," she says in a deep tone. Only her grin gives away her amusement.
So Kate plays along, holding her hands up defensively. "Don't hurt me, Jedi. I come in peace."
"Prove it," Al says, stepping closer to the edge of the bed.
"Uh," Kate stalls.
"Nothing, mortal?" She jumps off the bed and walks toward Kate. "Then you must die."
Just before she can swing the lightsaber at her mother, Castle appears behind Kate, scooping her up off her feet. "Sorry, kid, but I'm rescuing this particular maiden."
"It's not over!" declares Al, running back to the bed and sitting on the side.
"Hey, get dressed for dinner. Gonna go see a few special friends," Castle says, his fingers tickling along Kate's sides even as he hugs her back closer to his chest. "But we," he murmurs into her neck as he starts down the hall, "are gonna get you undressed."
In between gasping laughter that she just can't hold back, Kate tries to grab at his fingers. "Stop!" She attempts to hook a foot around his calf to topple him. "Rick!" she squeaks as he tosses her onto the bed. He's pressing his lips up her bare legs, the contact sizzling electricity through her body as he makes his way up and over the curve of her knee. And she knows that they need to be getting changed, that Al is right down the hall and is very wide awake, and that the *maybe* five minutes they have right now is no amount of time to do anything remotely close to celebrating.
Before all words can fail her – and they will because he's reaching the hem of her shorts, Kate grips his hair and pulls his head up off her thigh. "Rick. After dinner. I'm hungry." The stern tone she was hoping for is gone, replaced by a breathy sigh as his fingers work on the button of the shorts. So she hits him on the head, scooting back on the bed until she's across from him. "Seriously. You don't stop, I'm going to withhold any type of celebratory sex until way after this baby is born."
And then it hits her.
She's pregnant. She's pregnant with Richard Castle's baby. And he's her husband. And they're pregnant and…
Now she's the one who can't keep her hands off him. She lunges back across the bed, hooking her legs around his waist as he falls onto his butt with a "oof."
"Kate," he manages even as her lips trail across his jaw to his neck. "Dinner."
"We're on the ground," she says, smiling into his cheek. "I love you."
"Two obvious statements." His kiss is soft this time, his fingers threading through her ponytail. "And I love you too, but the only spot I could get at the restaurant is in half an hour so we really need to get changed."
They help each other up off the floor. Since he already unbuttoned her shorts, Kate sheds them and the t-shirt, tossing both onto the little bench in the room. As she shimmies into a thin-strapped sundress, pale blue, fitted until her waist where it flares out into a full skirt to her knees, Castle changes into a pair of dark jeans, rolling the sleeves of a navy dress shirt up to his elbows over the grey tee. She's fussing with her hair in the floor-length mirror in the bedroom when he comes up behind her and stills her hands.
"You look fine."
Kate bats away his hands, scowling at his reflection. "I look like I nearly got jumped by my husband before I almost returned the favor." Giving up and leaving the brown waves against her bare shoulders, she turns to find her shoes. "Let's go eat," she says, tiptoeing in her ballet flats. "You can jump me later."
"We'll jump each other," he corrects, touching her side as they walk out to get Al. "You get the girl, I'll get the keys."
Al still has the lightsaber, but she changed into leggings and her blue tutu that had somehow been snuck into the suitcase. The coral shirt she had worn out to the park was still on, clashing with the neon blue tulle but she doesn't seem to care. "Ready to go, Mom!" she says, tossing the lightsaber onto the bed with Penguin. "I won't fight you for now."
"Glad to hear we can have a dinner truce," Kate says.
Castle drives them to the Contemporary Resort. The guard waves them through once they let him know that they're here for dinner and finds a place to park. "Perfect timing," he says, glancing at the clock on the dashboard which shows they have another five minutes to get up to the restaurant.
The lobby of the hotel is polished marble and clean, modern lines. Nothing like the warm, cozy feel of Old Key West and Kate is once again thankful her parents went for homey rather than updated. Still, it's impressive. They pass the check-in desk, the little sitting area where a family guards their suitcases, and step onto the escalators up to the right level.
The top is open, creating a cavern inside the triangle structure. There's a gift store, entrance shaped like the head of the iconic mouse. Kate steers them around the shop toward one end of the building. Chef Mickey's takes up half of the place, situated just under the monorail tracks that zip the cars through the building and off toward the Magic Kingdom.
"Can we take that?" Al shouts, pointing at the monorail waiting at the station as people board. "I wanna ride the train!"
"Definitely later," says Kate, grabbing the girl's arm as she runs toward the stairs to get to the platform. "Aren't you hungry?"
Her stomach growls and Al suddenly changes paths for the entrance of the restaurant. "Food first. Train later."
The hostess, her name tag saying it is the same Paula that Castle had been negotiating with earlier, is juggling two phones, reservation buzzers, and a dry-erase marker for the table arrangements. But she still smiles brightly as Al leads the way over to the podium. "Welcome to Chef Mickey's." Paula turns her eyes up from Al to Kate and Castle. "You have a reservation?"
Castle gives their name and is handed one of the buzzers.
"We'll give you a buzz when we've got an open table," she says with a smile.
They find a spot on a round bench, Al squished between them. Kate is distracting herself, twisting the tulle of the girl's tutu around her fingers, watching the glitter sparkle against her skin. Castle is stroking her shoulder, rubbing little circles over the nape of her neck and back. He hasn't stopped touching her since they got in the car. The entire ride was him holding onto her hand or brushing her thigh through the fabric of her sundress or skimming along the small of her back on the walk through the lobby.
"You gonna be like this for the next nine months?" she asks quietly.
"Maybe. Probably." He turns his head to see hers behind Al. "Yes. Yes, I am." When Kate rolls her eyes, he pinches her skin lightly. "It's my first kid. Of course I'm going to hover. Consider this fair warning, Kate Beckett."
"Hey! I'm your kid," Al protests, climbing into Castle's lap and looping her arms around his neck, hanging onto him. "Right, Rick? I'm your kid."
He drops a kiss onto Al's cheek, tugging the girl so she's sitting in his lap rather than hanging off his neck. "You're right. You are most certainly mine. But this baby will be mine and Mom's while you are just Mom's."
"Oh. So Minnie will be, like, half mine?" Al asks, patting Kate's stomach.
Castle's eyes turn to Kate, brows raised. "Minnie?"
Kate grins, turning the buzzer over in her hands. "I'll explain later. And yes, kid," she says to her daughter. "Minnie would be half yours."
Al's face bursts out in a smile. "I like that. Can I hold the thingy?"
Kate hands over the buzzer, scooting closer to Castle so the people next to them have more room. His arm wraps around her back, coasting up her bicep. She lets her head tip onto his shoulder, turning to press a kiss to the joint through his shirt. Her right leg hooks around his ankle, linking them together.
"It's buzzing!" Al holds the buzzer out, narrowly avoiding Kate's nose as she waves it. "Our turn!"
Castle shifts Al up onto his hip, blowing a raspberry on her neck. "You bet. Give the buzzer to the hostess."
Paula grins as Al holds out the buzzer. "Thanks, princess. You're going to follow Jenn; she'll be your waitress tonight."
Jenn waves from a little ways behind the hostess station. Once the trio gets to her side, she nods back toward the seating area. "Welcome to Chef Mickey's. First time here?" she asks as they walk back around a table of desserts and up a short flight of stairs.
"Yeah," answers Castle.
"Not mine," counters Kate with a little smile. "I've been before."
They're seated at a table and Jenn takes drink orders. "It's buffet style, so you can get started whenever you're ready. The characters will be making the rounds so make sure you have your cameras ready. Let me know if you need anything else."
Kate splits off from Castle and Al, piling lettuce into a bowl for a salad. She eyes the rest of the food, mapping out a path for the rest of the meal as she pours some dressing over the mix of greens and carrots and a sprinkling of cheese in her bowl. When she sits back down at the table, Jenn had delivered their drinks.
And Al and Castle are carrying plates loaded with desserts.
"What's that?" she asks, pausing with her fork halfway to stabbing lettuce.
"Life is short, Mom," Castle says, cutting into a brownie with bright sprinkles, "so you should eat dessert first. Al and I are just partaking in that particular adage."
Al has a cupcake, a pile of gummy worms drowning in what looks to be chocolate pudding and crushed Oreos. "Dessert first!" she declares, digging a spoon into the gummy-worm-and-dirt mess.
Kate kicks Castle under the table, relishing the little grunt he exhales on and how he drops the bit of brownie to his plate in surprise. "You are a bad influence, Rick."
"Mm, but you love me," he shoots back, reclaiming the brownie and eating it.
"I retract any earlier statements regarding that emotion toward you." She's ignoring his gaze but can feel his smile aimed straight at her. "In fact, I think we need a divorce."
He sputters and Kate barely holds back laughter as she presses her lips together. "Don't play dirty," he pleads, dropping the fork onto the table. "Not funny."
"Kinda funny," she says, eating a bite of her salad. "Listen," Kate starts, leaning closer to him, elbow on the table for balance, "I'm not letting you go. You're mine."
"I see we've uncovered possessive Kate." His fingers are under the table, glancing over her knee and watching her shiver. "Glad to know you're not gonna run off with my girl."
"Here, Mom," interrupts Al, holding out a gummy worm over Kate's salad bowl.
Kate catches the worm before it hits her food. "Kid, it doesn't belong in my salad," she says, dropping the red and yellow striped thing back into the mud pit on Al's plate.
Al frowns, pushing the worm back around in the chocolate pudding. "But worms like green stuff. And you have green stuff."
"Yes, but are those real worms?"
"Uh, no," says Al, looking over at Castle. He's hiding a smirk behind his hand, trying to watch without being obvious.
"So they wouldn't like this real lettuce and carrots, would they?"
"Do you always have to be right?" the girl asks, biting the head off the worm.
Kate taps Al's nose with the tip of her fork. "It's my job to be right all the time."
Al eats the rest of the worm, narrowing her eyes at her mother. "Minnie and I will just have to stick together against you."
"Okay, what is with Minnie?" Castle asks, finishing off his brownie.
"Minnie is Mom's baby," Al says simply. "Can we go get dinner now?"
"Nope. Gotta say hi to Pluto first."
The dog is wearing an apron and chef's hat, bounding over from one of the neighboring tables to theirs. His tongue, lolling from his mouth, nearly swipes Al's cheek as he comes to a stop behind the girl.
"Hey, Pluto!" greets Castle, grabbing for his phone to take pictures.
For the rest of dinner, the two of them trade off the phone, snapping photos of every character that comes around to their table. Mickey and Minnie stop by and Al insists on take a picture of both Kate and Castle with the famous couple. The shot is blurry and a little of Castle's head is cut off but Al looks so pleased with herself that he doesn't say anything. Instead, Castle grabs one of the cast members that are passing by and has them take a picture of the three of them with Mickey and Minnie.
When they step back out into the parking lot, Kate shivers. It's gotten cold during the hour they spent inside and the sleeveless dress is definitely not holding up against the chilly breeze of the Florida evening.
"Here."
Before she can stop him, Castle is shrugging out of the navy shirt and draping it over her shoulders. It holds some of his heat still. "Now you're gonna be cold," she protests even as she slips her arms into the sleeves.
"Got you to warm me up later," he whispers into her ear as he unlocks the car, helping Al into the backseat.
The drive back is narrated by a sleepy Al in the back, babbling about food and making Kate promise yet again that they'll take the monorail somewhere. She makes it up the stairs to the room before she ends up tripping over her sandals.
"Careful there, kid," Castle says, scooping Al up along with her shoes. "Let's get you into bed."
Kate watches as he helps Al change into her pajamas after brushing her teeth, tucking her into the freshly-made bed, and flicking the lights off in the room. She toys with the buttons on the dress shirt as he closes the door a crack.
"You're so good with us," she sighs as he wraps his arms around her.
"You're tired," he returns, bending his knees to pick her up against his chest, her toes touching the top of his shoes. "I can tell because you're starting to get way more sentimental."
Instead of protesting the statement, Kate buries her head into his neck, dropping kisses along the exposed skin. "You're gonna be such a good dad, Rick. You're so good with Al."
He sits her on the edge of the bed, slowly undressing her. With a little push so she flops onto her back, he touches his lips to the area right below her belly button. It's a more intimate gesture than any of the numerous kisses or breathless nights they've had.
Kate reaches down and threads her fingers through his hair, thumb brushing over his forehead, giving him a gentle tug so he travels up to her face, his body pushing her body into the mattress with his. Her lips feather up against his, eyes fluttering closed. "I'm so glad it's you this time."