AN: I can't even make excuses for how long it has been. I will just humbly apologise.
"No. Mama. No." Liam moaned, shaking his head pitifully, and Kate's heart broke in her chest.
"Baby. You have to do what the doctor tells you, remember?"
"Be good. Take meds." Liam murmured. "No wanna, Mama. Yuck."
"Little man, I know it's yucky but it's the best way for us to get rid of that cough of yours." Kate said quietly.
Her 2-year-old dropped his bottom lip dramatically, tears pooling in his eyes, but he dutifully opened his mouth and allowed his mother to give him his necessary medication. He coughed pathetically afterwards and Kate plucked him up from the kitchen counter and cuddled him close.
"Thank you, my sweet boy. Would you like some orange juice?" She asked, and Liam nodded against her clavicle.
Kate grabbed the drink and carefully carried both the now-full sippy cup and her ill son to the couch to curl up. She went to put Liam down and tuck him under a warm woollen blanket, but he whimpered and pushed his arms out, clutching the bottom of her loose tee in his fingers.
"Mama. Stay." He whined, and Kate leant down, brushing a kiss to his forehead.
"I'm going to grab some water and Dino, okay?" She said softly. "I'll be right back, little man."
"Kay." He said, hunkering down quietly. Kate dashed off to grab her phone, a couple of bottles of water, and Liam's precious dinosaur toy – the aptly named Dino. She came back to find her rosy-cheeked little man curled up under the blanket, bottom lip jutting out as he stared down his sippy cup. Kate had to bite back a laugh at his little glare. It really was developing into a stunning Beckett glare – she was oddly proud.
"What's up, Liam?"
"Hurts."
"You got a sore throat too, my man?" She asked, frowning when he nodded. She should've guessed. Kate carefully opened his cup and added some water, sealing it back up. "If you can drink some more of this, I'll call Daddy and make sure he brings home some jell-o for the patient, okay?"
"Patient?" He repeated slowly, taking a cautious drink.
"Yeah, that's you. A patient is someone who needs to be seen by a doctor to get better. Someone who is sick and goes to the hospital is a patient."
"Oh. Kay, Mama." Liam said. He pushed himself into her side, burrowing into her ribs right beneath her surgery scar. "Toons?"
"Sure baby. What's on the cards today?"
"Pingu!" Liam asked, sparkling a little for the first time in a few days.
"Pingu it is." Kate said, heading for the DVD cabinet and finding the requested DVD. Making it to the couch with remote in hand, she leant back to get comfortable and pulled Liam into her side more solidly – simultaneously hating that her darling boy was sick, but loving that they had a chance to curl up together.
xxx
Two hours later, Rick carefully opened the door to their SoHo loft, to find a silent living room as mother and son slumbered lightly on the couch. He'd been in and out of meetings this morning in relation to the Storm graphic novels – he loved his work, truly he did, but when his wife had a rare day off and his son was sick, he just wanted to be home with his family.
He tiptoed in to find Liam and Kate curled together, dozing lightly in the glow of the television. Liam snuffled lightly but continued sleeping, while Kate, light sleeper that she is, woke up the second the lock clicked back into place. He watched her blink sleepily before greeting him with a soft smile that had his heart skipping a few beats.
"Welcome home." She mouthed silently, carefully manoeuvring away from her sleeping son and covering him with a soft blanket.
"I come baring jell-o." Castle said with a smile, taking his wife's hand and pulling her in to kiss her head softly before wandering towards the kitchen with her in tow. He opened the bag to unload the spoils from his quick groceries stop, showing the wide variety of flavours he'd picked up for their son. Kate hid her grin behind her hand – always had to go overboard, didn't he? – before helping him to unpack, stealing kisses in between.
They finished unpacking just as Liam started to rouse from his nap. Kate nodded for Rick to go and collect him, smiling as Rick knelt down to carefully check Liam's temperature.
"Hey, little man." Rick murmured softly, Liam blinking sleepily in recognition.
"Daddy. You home." Liam said, before coughing harshly.
"Yeah buddy. I'm home. I hear you guys have been having movie time."
"Watched Pingu." Liam murmured.
"Noot Noot" Rick mimicked Liam's beloved penguin, making the boy giggle. Kate couldn't help her laughter either, not able to resist the childlike innocence of her husband.
"Momma?" Liam said upon hearing her for the first time since waking. "Jell-o?"
"Yeah, baby. Your daddy bought some of every flavour." She said, smiling when Liam's eyes widened.
"Really?" Liam asked. Castle nodded. "Thanks, Daddy." Liam said with a smile.
"Sorry to be a party pooper but I'm going to need you to have some more medicine before jell-o. Okay?"
"Okay Mommy." Liam said, the pout minimised this time. He dutifully swallowed, before looking to his Dad with a pout. "Jell-O?"
"What flavour shall we begin with, sir?" Castle said, as Liam tilted his head in confusion.
"Red?" He said, and Kate laughed.
"Of course, kiddo. And now that Daddy's home, maybe we can have another snuggle on the couch and you can try something a little more dinner friendly before bed."
"Dinner?" Liam asked.
"Meds are working, then." Rick said with a smile. "We'll get something in a while. But first, a movie."
"Movie!" Liam said, still tired but clearly far more enthused than he had been earlier that day.
"Alright, my main man. We're off to the couch." Castle bundled his son into his arms and headed back to the makeshift blanket fort on the couch, and Kate smiled, watching them go.
Seeing her son sick was hard – but she was slowly learning that it's just a part of parenting. Watching her childlike husband dote on their son, look after him? It meant the world to her to see their relationship bloom and grow. Kate grabbed some water for herself and Castle before heading to the couch to join her family.
AN: Turns out working full-time doesn't allow for much writing time. To anyone still following this story - first, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Second, I can't promise when the next update will be but I'd like to hope it'll be before 2015.