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Prompt #48: Serenity - She woke up content. Something that hadn't happened in many years.

Words: 846

When she woke up, Kate drew in a deep, contented breath and let her eyes wander to her husband's face. He was still dead to the world, exhausted from last night's launch party, and she didn't have the heart to wake him up just yet. He needed his rest, especially today.

Besides, she still had him all to herself. No way was she giving that up just yet.

Shifting as quietly as she could, Kate propped her chin on his chest and turned her eyes to gaze out the window. Snow was falling from the iron-gray sky, turning New York City into a just-shaken snowglobe. Kate smiled softly and sighed again, still unable to believe she was here, with Rick Castle, enjoying such a feeling of peace that she hadn't thought possible before.

But then again, she'd had this exact feeling of disbelief several times over the last few years. This wonder of Is this really my life now? Is this a dream? Am I'm going to wake up tomorrow, alone in my apartment, my mother's murder board left open?

That's when she'd remember. The apartment she no longer owned. The murder board she no longer consulted. The crime she no longer needed to solve.

Kate suddenly felt a light touch stroking up and down her bare back, making her skin break out in goosebumps and her insides shiver in delight. "What're you thinking about?" mumbled the still half-asleep man under her.

"Life," she answered simply. "It's funny sometimes."

"I've been saying that for years." Rick shifted beneath her chin, giving her a half-lidded gaze and a smile that held enough innocence to make a child seem world-weary. "So, you ready to face the day?"

"What d'you mean?"

"You forget what today is?"

"Isn't it - " Her eyes widened as the familiar pitter-patter of bare feet on hardwood floors thundered down the hallway. "Oh. Right."

That grin of his grew apologetic. "Brace yourself, we're about to be invaded by the Alliance."

The bedroom door flew open with a bang, and three pajama-clad children launched themselves onto the bed with excited yells. Ten-year-old Johanna landed on her father with a triumphant yell, while six-year-old Sarah squealed in delight as she gripped her mother like a koala. Rick and Kate sat up laughing as they wrestled with their overexcited daughters.

"Da! Ma!" came the shouts of their third child as chubby fists flailed at the foot of the bed. "Up! Up!"

Hearing the demanding cries, Kate poked her firstborn. "Jo, go get your brother."

The eldest Castle immediately crawled off and hoisted her brother onto the queen-sized bed. Hunter Roy Castle had his father's smile even at age three, but the color of his askew curls and his eyes were all Kate. He crawled into Kate's arms and gave his mother a sloppy kiss on her cheek. "Ma!"

"Morning Hunter." Kate smiled at her three children. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas!" they yelled back.

"Well now that they've occupied the area," Rick said dryly, "how about we head out and see what Santa left under the tree?"

Three pairs of eyes, two blue and one brown, widened at the words "Santa" and "tree". Kate laughed as her children quickly scrambled off the bed (Hunter again being lifted by his eldest sister) and took off like quail from the brush down the hallway.

"Well that cleared them out quick enough." Slipping out from under the covers, Rick extended a hand to his wife. "Shall we join the rest of the crew?"

"You'd better go ahead before Hunter decides to open everything under the tree." A devilish smile made the corners of her lips lift as Kate added, "I don't think the kiddies should see what I got you for later."

The suggestion set off his imagination, and his eyes lit up with shock and expectation as Rick pounded after their children. Laughing at how easily she could still manipulate the man, Kate cast another look out at the wintery cityscape and smiled contently.

Once, life after her mother's case had been just a shadowy dream that she'd never bothered to consider. Now, the case was long closed and the killer caught, her life was her own again. It had been hard to readjust to that, but Rick had been there every step of the way. He'd smiled, joked, and tickled her back into a semblance of normal. And once that normal took hold, he'd promised to never let her go at life alone.

Twelve years later, and he hadn't broken that promise.

Her husband's shout for help was almost drowned out by the laughter of children. "Kate! I need backup out here!"

Kate laughed as well and grabbed her robe. "Hold your position Castle, I'm coming!" she called out, knotting the cord around her waist and padding barefoot towards the living room.

Future fic and Castle rugrats!

Review please!

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