Wow, guys! You really liked that last chapter, huh? ;) I guess it means my writing was better than I thought if it made you all cry...
Review thanks go to: fangurll, Thatgirljess, Prim-Rue94, conservativegirl, claudia2608, laurav88, Bookish0278, uofmcowgirl, Anon Reader, ponychic0405, guest, StarryNight251, Mouserocks-nerd. I think I replied to those of you I could, but if I didn't, holler!
Anyway, a slightly more fluffy, less angsty one - you all deserve it! 94 reviews, readers! Let's see if we can hit the 100 mark this time round :D
I don't own anything you recognise.
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaad!" Rick jolted awake, head colliding with the coffee table as he sat up suddenly. Coffee table? Oh yes; he remembered. They had been building a fort in the Sick-Day-Camp that was their living room. For the good ship Chicken Pox to have a crows' nest, they had needed to pile the flag on the coffee table on the Monopoly box on Mom's shoe boxes on the couch.
The couch which he and Nate had then fallen asleep on, exhausted after a good few hours of playing pirates. "Dad!" Rick groaned quietly as he rolled off the couch and stretched, idly noticing that his son was nowhere to be seen.
"Nathan?" An audible thud drew his attention to his and Kate's bedroom. With a sigh, he traipsed through, flicking the light on. "Nate?"
"Dad! Get them off me!" Them? Immediately, Castle's mind was filled with images of aliens arriving through their window to latch on to his five-year-old boy, followed closely by a vampire and a ghost who would proceed to suck his blood and haunt him til he died. With a howl of rage, Richard Castle burst through the bedroom door, hands raised to karate chop whatever being was in there, only to see Nathan Alexander leant against their chest of drawers with his mother's handcuffs round his tiny wrists. Locked, around his tiny wrists.
"Dad," he whined. "I can't get them off!" Rick stared at the boy, disbelief etched on his features.
"Nate, where'd you get those?" he asked, crouching down to ruffle his son's hair.
"From Mom's box," Nathan explained. "But her gun was locked properly. And her badge." Rick closed his eyes momentarily. Kate was having a girls' day out with Lanie. No way could he interrupt it by asking her to come and get their son out of her cuffs. He'd be dead, for sure.
"Kate, it's me," he said an hour later, having tried everything from pliers to butter to get the cuffs off. "How's your day going? Listen," he ploughed on before she could answer. "We have a slight problem - no, no emergency," yet, he added silently. "We - well, we're in a bit of a sticky situation. No dear, it's not the jam again. Yes, I promise. No, it does not involve duct tape - look, would you mind coming home to help us out? No, it's not messy. Yes, I'm sure! Thanks, honey. I'll see you soon." Rick turned to see Nathan watching him.
"Is Mom angry?" the boy asked.
"Not yet, buddy," his dad sighed. "But she could be soon."
"Alright, Castle. Where's this problem - Nathan? What are you doing with my handcuffs?" Kate eyeballed her two boys, one of whom was watching her carefully, the other quivering in the corner of the couch. "Rick, get off the couch and act like a responsible adult. Surely you can pretend for a bit?" she said scathingly. "Honestly. I leave you two for not even a whole day, and you still manage to get into a pickle."
Hooking her hands under her son's arms, she hoisted him onto her hip and carried him through to their room, depositing the squirming child on the bed and opening her bedside drawer. With a flourish, she produced her keys, and released her little monkey from the metal bands.
"Mom?"
"Yes, honey?"
"Are you mad?" Kate sighed. She couldn't blame him from wanting to explore if his dad was out for the count - it was never fun being an only child whose parents weren't around to play. She just wished she could rely more on her husband to act - well, more like a husband, and take a little bit of interest in things like the safety of their son and keeping her work things away from prying eyes.
"No, Nathan." She pressed a kiss to his head. "I'm not mad. Just next time, maybe use the cuffs on your dad - I'm sure he'd appreciate the wake-up call." There. Served him right for falling asleep.
"Ok." The little boy yawned and rolled off the bed, bouncing happily (and a bit sleepily) through to Rick, handcuff torment instantly forgotten.
That night, when Nathan was in bed and fast asleep, Kate couldn't resist crawling delicately up the bed to straddle Castle, dangling her cuffs from a finger and deliberately biting her lip just the way he liked it. She watched his eyes follow the tip of her tongue as she traced the place her teeth had just been, and smirked.
"You've been a naughty boy, Richard," she purred, cuffs still taunting him as they swung back and forth on her curled, painted digit. He gulped. "I think I'm going to have to demonstrate the proper use for my cuffs..." He swallowed. This should be interesting.
Et voila!
A story's only as good as its readers, you know - let me know what you think! Even if it's just a :) or a :(
This really is the last one for at least a week
~wolfergirl
