A/N: Happy Earth Day, nerds! Today is a day to celebrate out beautiful planet and everything it had given us. But it is also a reminder that it is our job to protect it. So, take the advice of my Castle babies and do what you can to help our Earth.
Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. Enjoy!
"Dad!" He hears his daughter shout. Castle drops another load of groceries on the counter and goes back out to the car and the shouting pre-teen.
"What?" He asks, going to her, slightly worried something bad had happened.
"What is that?" The offense in Miyana's voice almost makes him laugh. That is until he sees the disapproving look on her face.
"We're in charge of snack for Liam's game on Tuesday, so I thought it would be easier to bring those instead of a bunch of cups that could get left out," he explains.
"Dad! Do you know how much waste plastic bottles produce? They're not even recyclable!"
"I know," He nods; they're trying to be better, especially since the girls have been on a whole 'saving the planet' kick.
"You are single-handedly killing the environment!" Miyana takes another grocery load and stomps off into the house.
"Mia! Come on, baby! Let's talk about this!" He calls after her but knows she's not listening.
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Ever since his kids had seen a documentary in science class about global warming and trash in the ocean, the girls especially, have been trying to be as waste free as possible. Which meant tricky times in their house over the past weeks. Sure, they recycled and had a compost bin in their backyard, but when his daughters spent an entire Saturday afternoon throwing away anything in their pantry that was packaged in plastic, Castle knew it was going to be a huge thing.
Later that night as he was making dinner, Finn comes into the kitchen. Normally, she would be in there right alongside him helping in whatever way she can. But today was not one of those days; he hadn't seen or heard her all afternoon, and judging by the way she doesn't address him as she pops open a can of soda and cuts up an apple, Castle knows the reason.
"Don't snack too much, we're eating dinner soon." All he gets is a shrug. "Are you ready for your band competition next week? Excited?"
"I guess," Finn simply says.
Castle sighs, "Miyana told you what I did, huh?"
"Dad!" her disapproving scoff is all he needs to know she's just as mad at him as her sister.
"Do I get to explain?"
"Nope," Finn simply says before disappearing back upstairs to her bedroom.
Dinner was quiet: the boys too busy stuffing their faces to talk, and the three girls had all banded together to be mad at him. Kate could feel the tension and chose to wait to ask about it until she and her husband were alone in their room later that night.
"-and then she pinned me as single-handedly killing the planet. No one else; just me!" Castle's offense made her laugh, and Kate has to cover it with a cough to keep Castle from catching her.
"Come on, babe; they're just hyperfocused. All they can think about is being eco-warriors. Remember their 'only eating red foods' phase? It will pass. All we can do is ride through it with them and be as supportive as possible. So you bought some lemonade bottles; they'll get over it."
"I don't know, Kate. I mean all I can see is how hurt and offended Mia was at me. It was like I told her we had to give her cat away."
"Well, because to her, what you did was just as bad as that. She thinks she's doing important work; in some small way she's changing the world."
"What am I gonna do!" he hated when any of the people he loved stopped talking to him for any reason.
"Babe, you're just gonna have to give her some time and then apologize and try to be better. I think that's what's going to work best.
He pouted a bit; that advice was exactly what he thought Kate was going to say. Like mother, like daughters
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The silent treatment from his daughters followed Rick Castle for the next two days, and as he loaded up the car for Liam's soccer game Tuesday afternoon, he'd had enough.
"Alright, that's it. You two have been pouting for two days! Okay, yes: I messed up and you can be mad at that. I'm going to try and be better, but this grudge you're holding against me isn't doing much but ticking me off," Castle says to his daughters as they drive to drop them off at acting class before he heads to the game. "So change the attitude before I pick you up tonight." Liam, sitting in the front seat, was smart enough to say nothing; though he does offer his sisters a smile when they get out at their acting school.
The ride to the game is silent, and Liam is thankful to arrive at the field to join his team for warm-ups. The game begins and Liam waits on the sidelines for his shift. Up and down the field, both teams chase the ball, until nearly the end of the first half, the other team finally scores. Their cheering section goes wild over it; they weren't a very good team (last place in the age bracket), so this one goal was a big deal.
Halftime comes and goes and the second half begins with Liam quickly tying the score. Off the energy of that goal, his teammate Lucas scores. The game ends thirty minutes later with Liam's team victorious and the other team going home sad they weren't going to the playoffs that season.
Castle readies his snack table as the boys head over to him, all sweaty and red-faced. "Great job, guys!" he cheers for them as they take bags of Chex Mix and the bottles of lemonade. Once every player has gotten their snack, Castle hands the extras to siblings and parents. Soon, everyone clears out and Rick and Liam are left to clean up.
As they head back to the car, Castle notices multiple empty, discarded bottles of lemonade left on the ground. He picks them up and tosses them, along with Liam's bag of gear, into the trunk and slams the door shut. "Maybe your sisters were right," He says to Liam as they leave the game to collect the girls.
"Whoa!" Liam exclaims, shocked at that admission from their father. "Don't let them hear you say that."
"I think I might have to tell them," Castle says. "They need to hear it."
"Why? So they can get cocky?"
"No. So they'll stop being mad at me."
Finn and Miyana are waiting at the door when their dad pulls up, and they get in quickly, buckling as Castle pulls back into traffic.
"Dad," Mia starts, "we just wanted to apologize. We were being kind of extra and hard on you. We know you do a lot and try to be good as much as you can. We all do. And sometimes we forget that."
"Yeah, Dad," Finn agrees, "we're sorry and we'll try to be better."
"Thank you girls," Castle says, accepting their apology. "But I actually wanted to say you were right: I shouldn't have gotten the individual bottle of lemonade."
"We were right!" Mia exclaims.
"You were. And for that: I apologize. I should have listened to you."
"It's okay, Dad. You know better for next time."
"I do," Castle smiles.