Wednesday morning, after their weekend at the zoo, Kate walked into the precinct bright and early to find an envelope addressed to her sitting on her desk. Recognizing the handwriting as Rick's, Kate slit open the envelope to find a picture and a letter inside.

Kate,

This picture is my favourite from our day at the zoo and I thought you might like a copy too.

Before reading any more of the letter, Kate pulled out the picture and saw that Rick had captured the moment in the monkey house with her and Chloe staring at the monkeys with identical expression on their faces. Seeing that, Kate couldn't help but smile at the memory and leaned the picture up against her computer monitor and then continued to read the letter.

I know it seems like we have been inviting you over a lot, but Chloe wanted me to make sure to extend an invitation to you for dinner and movie night on Friday. If you have other plans, it is not a big deal but we would all love it if you could make it. If you can, festivities start at 6pm sharp. Hope you like spaghetti.

Rick

-o-O-o-

Pulling several noodles from the boiling water, Rick handed one to each of his daughters while keeping one for himself.

"On the count of three. One. Two. Three!"

And with that, each of them threw their noodles at various cabinets around the room.

"Mine almost stuck!" Chloe exclaimed with an excited squeal as her noodle slowly fell from the lower cabinet door onto the floor. "Again! Again!"

Fishing more pasta from the water, this process continued, at one point even developing into a mini food fight, until the various surfaces, horizontal and vertical, of the kitchen, as well as each of the Castles participating, were decorated with noodles and the pot sat empty except for the still boiling water. Without a second thought, Rick quickly added more dry noodles to the water to cook. Before he could even contemplate picking up the thrown noodles, a knock sounded from the front door.

With that, Chloe took off like a shot, opened the door and threw herself at Kate for an enthusiastic hug.

"Kate! Guess what we are having for dinner! You are going to love it!"

"Well…" Kate began while reaching a hand out towards Chloe's ear, "based on this noodle draped oh so artfully over your ear and these other ones stuck in your hair and the red stain on your apron, I am going to guess…spaghetti. Am I right?" Kate questioned while tickling the little girl.

Through the laughter Kate heard, "You're right". Knowing that she had gotten her answer and that the little girl would be incapacitated with laughter for at least another 10 seconds, Kate stopped tickling her and quickly removed her coat and shoes. Before she could do more than hang her coat off a nearby chair, Kate found herself being dragged by the hand into the kitchen by the enthusiastic girl.

"Hey Kate! Dinner's going to be a little late since we needed to make more noodles" Alexis said looking up from the pot of sauce she was stirring. "The first batch mysteriously disappeared from the pot" Alexis added with a completely straight face.

Looking around the kitchen, Kate couldn't help but let a large smile engulf her face as she took in the sight of the noodles scattered around the kitchen, covering every imaginable surface, including a couple hanging from the lights. What really got Kate though where the noodles stuck to Alexis' back and wiggling from her arm as she stirred the sauce. Not able to hold it in any longer, Kate let out a gut wrenching burst of laugher and fell into one of the stools at the bar.

Unable to keep up the pretense any longer, Alexis couldn't help but join in the laughter, almost falling to the ground from the exertion.

"I can see that" Kate finally replied as the laughter subsided.

Finally managing to sit in one of the bar stools, Kate pulled Chloe close to her and started pulling noodles from her hair as Alexis and Rick continued to finish cooking the pasta. "So, Chloe, the other night your dad mentioned you learned your more…dramatic flair from your grandmother. Where is she?"

"Oh, Grams is on tour. She says the play she is in is a reimagining of the classic works of the Bard." As she spoke the title, Chloe flung her arms wide. Lowering her voice she turned around to face Kate. "I don't really know what that means but dad always laughs when I say it."

"I can't imagine why." With a serious expression, Kate turned Chloe back around and continued to remove noodles. "Tell me about your Grams."

"Well, she had bright red hair like Alexis and wears crazy outfits. She likes to fling her arms about when she talks—she says she is being dramatic —and she is the greatest Grams in the whole wide world. You would love her."

"I am sure I would. When is she coming home from tour?"

"October seventeenth. That's seven days before my birthday!"

"Seven days before your birthday. And how old are you going to be?"

"Seven! It is going to be the greatest birthday ever! Even mom says she may be able to come this year!"

"Dinner's ready," Rick suddenly called out as he carried the bowl of noodles to the table as Alexis carried over the bowl of sauce.

Dinner was a light affair with conversation and laughter flowing easily as they talked about how school had gone and some of the funnier aspects of Kate's job. Just as the plates of cheesecake, piled high with cherries and whipped cream, were placed before them on the table by Alexis, Rick suddenly snapped his fingers, stood up from the table and headed for his office. Returning a couple minutes later, he handed a stack of photos to Kate.

"These are the pictures from the zoo. I thought you might want to look at them too."

As she looked at the pictures, she couldn't help smiling as she remembered the day. When she reached the picture of Chloe with the butterfly on her nose, Kate couldn't help but laugh once more.

Wanting to know what Kate was laughing about Chloe got up from her chair and ran around behind Kate.

"That's a picture of me!" Chloe yelled out and started laughing when she saw her expression at seeing the butterfly so close—a mixture of being startled and loving seeing the butterfly so close. "Daddy, can I have that picture?"

"Can I have a copy as well" Kate couldn't help but ask still staring at the picture. "Could I also have the picture of us entering the zoo in a line and the picture of me and the girls at the tiger poster?"

"Of course. Kate you can have whatever pictures you want out of that stack and Chloe, I will get you another copy."

Almost done looking through the pile, Kate ran across a candid picture of her and Rick. It must have been taken by Alexis while she and Chloe were playing in the Children's Zoo as it had Rick and Kate sitting, each turned slightly towards the other, clearly watching each other while also watching the girls, each with a serene smile on their face. Seeing that picture, Kate quickly added it to the pile of pictures she was going to take with her. By time Kate was done looking through the pile she had a stack of about ten photos to take home with her. Before she forgot them, Kate gently tucked them into her purse and headed back to the table to help clean up.

"Nope! No helping clean up this. You already helped clean up the noodles which we shouldn't have let you do since you are the guest, so, go sit on the couch while we set up the movie." Rick told Kate as he gently grabbed her shoulders and turned her towards the couch and gave her a gentle shove.

"What are we watching?" Kate asked.

"Well, we had another ice cream night and this time Chloe won the right to choose the movie and I won the right to choose snacks" Alexis announced and added with a conspiratorial whisper "we never let dad win the right to choose snacks. I am sure you can imagine why based on his ice cream creation while you were with us."

"Very wise of you." Kate intoned before she turned to see the little girl putting a DVD in the player, "So, Chloe, what are we watching?"

"Tangled! It is the story of Rapunzel and it is so pretty and so funny you are going to love it!" Chloe answered, once again saying everything in one breath while jumping up and down a little as she ran over to jump in to Kate's lap.

Carrying over bowls and cups, Alexis and Rick came over and joined Kate and Chloe, one on either side of them.

"So, what are we snacking on today?" Kate asked as a bowl and cup were handed to her

"Well, since we just had cheesecake I decided to keep it simple, popcorn, some candy, chocolate and non-chocolate, and soda. I hope you don't mind having soda. If you do, I can go and get you water or some other beverage."

"No, soda is fine. Are we ready to get started then?"

Once everyone was comfortable, Rick started the movie and they all sat back to enjoy it.

Kate quickly realized just how many times they must have seen the movie when from the very beginning they were quoting lines, starting with Alexis' dramatically saying "This is the story of how I died." When they reached the first musical number, Kate couldn't help but laugh as Rick changed the lyrics of "Mother Knows Best" to "Father Knows Best" and looked pointedly at Alexis as he sang while Alexis just rolled her eyes at him.

When they reached the scene with Flynn Rider and Maximus fighting with each other over the satchel, Kate was in stitches with tears rolling down her face as she curled her body around Chloe and tried to keep the laughter in, although, none of the Castles were trying to hide their laughter at both the scene and at Kate.

Once the laughter had subsided, Kate was able to really enjoy the movie as she slowly ate her popcorn and candy.

"Kate, can you braid my hair like Rapunzel's" Kate suddenly heard a little voice ask her as they watched Rapunzel get her hair braided by the little girls in the town center.

Kate just sat stock still with a stunned look on her face unable to determine the best way to respond to that request.

"Honey, I don't think Kate knows how to braid hair. Why don't you let me or Alexis braid it for you?" Rick asked his daughter in an attempt to give Kate a way out of the situation.

"No. I know how to braid hair. I will do it." Kat blurted out suddenly.

"But, how about instead of braiding it like Rapunzel, Kate and I each braid a side of your hair?" Alexis added.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Let's do that!" Chloe eagerly agreed.

"Normal braids or French braids" Kate asked Alexis.

"I am thinking French. You good with that?"

"Yes. Sounds good."

So, as the movie continued, Rick, instead of watching the movie found himself drawn to the sight of his girls sitting beside him giggling and talking about the movie like they had been doing that for years.