By the time all three were back in the sitting room, it was time to think about getting dinner or ordering in. They decided on Chinese and Rick phoned the order through to their favourite restaurant whilst Kate and Alexis moved the box next to the coffee table and began sorting through the contents. The comics and magazines went into one pile to be given to charity or binned if not. Alexis was ready to bin the large pile of far from remarkable drawings from her infancy, but Kate set them aside saying she wanted to look through them.
Alexis looked at her in surprise "I think you're taking too many showers Kate!" then grinned at the Detective's embarrassed look, "Water on the brain, I meant!" she added innocently.
Kate huffed a laugh and nudged her shoulder against the girl's "You just wait Miss Castle, what goes around, comes around!"
"I think we need a duster for these before we end up sneezing all over them …" and with that Alexis jumped up and went in search of one.
Rick, watching the two of them as he placed the order, back against the kitchen counter, couldn't help the smile of pride and satisfaction which spread across his face. Not only was his Pumpkin a totally smart and generous girl, but his Detective seemed to know just what to say and do. He had never felt so at peace with the women who shared his life and home.
With the order placed, he headed to the coffee table carrying three glasses and a container of orange juice. As he put them down on the table, Kate looked first at the juice, then at him "Orange juice?"
"If we are going to read kid's books, we are going to drink kid's stuff!"
"By extension, we shouldn't be ordering Chinese … it should be …"
"Chinese kids eat Chinese food" he interrupted with a mock frown
"So, now we're Chinese?"
"Who's Chinese?" asked Alexis arriving at the end of the conversation
"We were … oh, it doesn't matter!" laughed Rick, as Kate poked her tongue out at him. "So what have you found so far?"
"That Kate has a fixation with kid's drawings …" interrupted by Kate spluttering into her orange juice "…which opens up all sorts of interesting scenarios" she continued as if nothing had happened.
Both Kate and Rick glanced at each other, their startled looks unmissed by Alexis who simply grinned to herself and pretended not to notice. She handed out the dusters she had found and placed the spray can on the table. Lifting out a few of the binders from the box she silently handed them to her father before handing a few more to Kate. Removing the final few from the box, she pushed it aside and set the binders on the table.
She sprayed some of the dust remover onto her duster, handed the can to Kate and started wiping down the first of the binders from her pile. The others followed suit, the comfortable silence allowing Kate to think about the comment made by Alexis, her mind going off on its own track, the colour rising up her neck as she realised where it was taking her, her upper teeth taking their usual hold on her lip. She glanced at Rick and found him watching her, the amused look on his face telling her that she was not doing a very good job of hiding her thoughts.
Glancing at Alexis she found the large, corn blue eyes looking at her in amusement …. Kate threw up her hands in surrender "What!?" She asked looking from one to the other.
"Nothing… " said Alexis, "... just thought that a little brother or sister would enjoy these stories"
"We … we are not going there! … not yet, anyway!" answered a totally flustered Kate, then seeing her two companions rocking with laughter she threw the duster at Rick, a mock-angry pout on her face.
"You two had better watch out! I'm so going to get my own back!"
"Oh Kate!" said a still laughing Castle as he threw the duster back at her, ".. you are so easy"
"But I still think it would be great" said a now serious Alexis, not looking at anyone in particular.
"You never know" said a shrugging Kate, but she couldn't hide the smile.
They finished dusting down all the binders and spread them on the table. Alexis picked up two of them "Ok, Monkey-Bunkey at the Zoo and Monkey-Bunkey at the Park were the first two" she said handing them to Kate "then it was Monkey-Bunkey and the Naughty Banana, followed by …" she looked over the stories on the table.
Rick picked one up and handed it to her "Monkey-Bunkey Goes to School, next I think"
"Right!" she said, taking it and placing it under the one she was holding. "We can sort the others out later. Where shall I put them Dad?"
"Put them on the dining table, we'll find a clean box for them later". She was half-way to the dining area when the doorbell went. Rick stood up, grabbed his wallet from the kitchen top and opened the door.
"Thanks Jié, how's your dad?"
"He's great, thanks Mr Castle, told me to tell you he's added some dim sung to the order"
Rick grinned, thanked the lad and closed the door before carrying the bags of food to the kitchen. The two women joined him and helped serve the contents of the boxes then all three headed back to the coffee table. The binders were placed on the shelf underneath the table to avoid oyster sauce and any other condiments landing on them, then all three dove into their meal, humming in enjoyment and discussing what to do with the items to be disposed of from the storage room.