"Castle, this is nauseating," Kate groans. "I know the social worker told us to wait, but..."
"It feels wrong lying to her," Castle concurs.
"It is wrong," Kate agrees. "They want us to treat her like a little kid who doesn't understand what's going on. Like she has no agency. It's not fair at all."
"None of this is fair," Rick sighs, pulling Kate in for a hug to calm her down. "But she'll know soon enough."
"Yeah, maybe it'll be for the best," Kate tries to convince herself. "She deserves to be with family, and she's been so excited to meet them."
"When exactly did the social worker say we needed to wait until?" Castle asks.
"She said to wait until it was official next week, but I think she needs to know what's going on. We should tell her after the lunch with Michelle tomorrow," Kate says.
"I'm okay with that," Rick confirms. "I mean, I'd tell her right now..."
"Yeah, me too," Kate chuckles. "But I don't think it's a good 2AM conversation."
"Oh, geez, sometimes I don't even realize," Rick says after glancing at the clock on the night stand. "You make the time fly by so fast, Mrs. Castle." He plants a soft kiss on his wife's forehead before rolling over to switch off the light. They get situated under the comforter and hope that sleep finds them quickly as they brace for the impact of tomorrow.
Perhaps a menacing omen of the day that lie ahead, the Castle loft woke the next morning to five inches of fallen snow. What looked tranquil and beautiful on the surface, was actually just more dirty ice that had been accumulating on the New York streets since early December. Rick and Kate knew that meant the drive out to the suburbs was likely to be anything but pleasant, but to Ruby, the new batch fresh flakes meant something entirely different.
"Could we please go make snow angels in the park after breakfast?" asks the girl as she stuffs a big forkful of syrupy pancake into her mouth.
"Kate, what do you think?" Rick cops out with a devilish grin as he sips his coffee.
"I think you always want me to be the bad guy," Kate chuckles. "What's the temperature looking like?"
Rick and Ruby simultaneously pull out their phones and navigate to the weather app. "It says it'll be 28F in the next hour," Ruby tells her.
"How about with the windchill? That's what gets you this time of year," Kate says, cringing slightly after realizing how much she just sounded like her father.
"It says real feel is 25F, so just a little windy."
Kate contemplated as Ruby patiently awaited the verdict.
"Hmm, okay, yes, let's go to the park after breakfast," Kate says with a smile.
After a quick loop in the park, a half dozen snow angels, an impromptu snowball fight, and three mugs of hot chocolate, Rick, Kate, and Ruby made their way down to the garage to begin the drive out to Jersey.
"So, this place is like Chuck E Cheese?" Ruby asks with a bit of skepticism.
"It's like Chuck E Cheese, but more geared toward teenagers and adults," Kate explains.
"So it hopefully won't smell like burnt pizza and poopy diapers," Rick adds.
"Michelle said that your cousins love it, so hopefully you will too."
"Do you think they'll like me?" Ruby asks with a bit more anxiety than skepticism this time.
"Of course! What's not to like?" Rick exclaims.
"I don't know, I haven't been the best at making friends," Ruby sighs. "I was always the cancer girl and now I'm the orphan cancer girl, so, just, more complicated I guess."
"I think you sell yourself short," Kate says.
"Yeah, you're not just orphan cancer girl, you also read at a college level and know the state animal of every state, so, really, you're the total package," Rick jokes, earning a playful slap on the arm from Kate and a sarcastic protest from Ruby.
"I'm just saying, it's a cool party trick!" Rick exclaims.
"Yeah, I don't know if teenage boys will find that interesting," Ruby laughs.
"Wisconsin?" Rick asks.
"Badger, duh," Ruby says with an eye roll.
"See? It's cool!"
"Look, Ruby, the thing about family is that even when we have different interests or personalities, we still like to hang out together because that's what family does. Even if you don't have much in common with your cousins, they'll still want to hang out with you because that's what cousins do," Kate says, infusing calming reason into Ruby's anxious energy as they arrived at the off-brand Dave & Buster's.
Despite the snow storm, lots of families had decided that there was no better place to spend their Saturday in early February than at a mega arcade and buffet. Even so, it didn't take long for the trio to find Ruby's family. Michelle definitely resembled Ruby's dad, and her three children did as well. The introductions were a bit awkward at first, but once everyone had filled up their plates from the buffet, they started to open up a lot. The two boys were both older and much bigger than Ruby. Dan was 15 and Drew was 14, but they could have passed for twins. They had Michelle's dark hair, green eyes, and pale complexion, but had similar facial features as their father Greg. The girl, Clare, was 10, but had clearly been hardened by growing up with older brothers. She was loud, outgoing, and dished out sibling banter as much as she took it. The three siblings didn't actively engage Ruby in their conversations at first, but Kate was relieved that Michelle was very intentional in trying to include her as much as possible. When the kids had finished eating, all four of them left in a group to play the arcade games. At that point, Rick and Kate would agree that, by all accounts, things were going well.
As the kids entertained themselves with the arcade games, the parents had decided to join in the fun, going for a round of mini golf. Rick and Kate were clearly much more competitive than Michelle and Greg, so they worked hard to contain the urge to engage in their typical trash talk and shenanigans. For the most part, they were successful, but they did quietly keep score so that the winner between the two would have incredulous bragging rights over the other. Aside from the friendly competition, it granted them the opportunity to sus out Ruby's aunt and uncle. They were kind and had a good sense of humor, but were otherwise boring, vanilla, suburbanites. After nearly two hours, Ruby returned to the table with an exhausted smile.
"Everything okay, kiddo?" Castle asks.
"Yeah," she sighs, "I'm just tired." That wasn't unusual for Ruby, who was still taking a heavy dose of medications and was regaining her strength and endurance since her chemo treatments.
"Okay, would you like to go home?" asks Kate, sensing that it could be more than exhaustion.
"Uh, yeah, I think so, if that's okay?" Ruby glances nervously at her aunt and uncle, who both seem very understanding.
"It was so wonderful to meet you, Ruby," Michelle says, offering a goodbye hug that the girl accepts.
"Do you want to say goodbye to your cousins?" Rick asks.
"They already knew that I was probably leaving, so that's okay," Ruby shrugs.
"Alrighty, then," says Castle. "Let's hit the road."
They layer up in their winter coats, scarves, hats, and mittens for the short trek back to the car.
"Ruby, one question, real quick," Castle says before he opens the back door. The girl silently perks up in curiosity. "New Jersey?"
"Horses," says the girl. "But c'mon, that one's so easy."
Rick laughs as he starts the car and then throws out a few more states in attempt to stump her, but Ruby doesn't waiver.
"Okay, babe, that's enough," Kate finally says after he lists nearly every state west of the Mississippi.
Ruby yawns and leans her head back against her window, staring out at the snow piles along the interstate.
"Hon, you sure you're doing okay?" Kate asks again, noticing Ruby's complexion seems a bit paler than usual.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," she assures her, just before dozing off.
"Ruby, we're home," Kate says softly. The girl is still pretty soundly asleep as they pull into a parking spot close to the garage elevator.
"Should I carry her?" Rick asks in a whisper.
"Carry her?" Kate repeats. "She's a teenager I don't know that she'd want to be carried. Ruby...Ruby..."
The girl begins to stir, realizing the voices she was hearing wasn't part of a dream.
"Hey, kiddo, we're home," Rick says.
Ruby sits up and unplugs her seat belt, awake enough to get out of the car and start walking toward the elevator, yawning as the door opens for them.
"Ruby, do you feel feverish at all? You're looking a little pale," Kate asks when they enter the loft, Ruby still walking a bit groggily.
"I'm fine, I'm always pale," sighs Ruby with a twinge of annoyance.
"Okay, well, just let us know if you need anything," Kate says with concern.
"What did you think of your cousins?" Rick asks, cutting the tension.
"They're fine," Ruby shrugs. "Loud."
"Yeah, well, your aunt and uncle seem like really nice people," Rick says. "Not great mini-golfers, but, nice."
"Uh huh," Ruby groans with an eye roll that could be felt in New Jersey.
"Hey, what is the matter?" Kate finally asks.
Ruby huffs, the rage of a twelve year old girl about to be unleashed."What's the matter!?" She exclaims. "Here I was thinking that you guys were my family when really, this whole time you've been trying to get rid of me!"
a/n: and here is where sh*t hits the fan :( hope all is well. as always, i appreciate your comments and feedback. have a great rest of your week!