See the Joy - Chapter 2
Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. - Mary Ellen Chase
Rick Castle feels the delicate embrace of sleep slip away, leaving him blinking in the darkness as he tries to force his tired eyes to adjust to being awake.
What time is it?
Looking at his own alarm clock is out of the question, given that his arm is wedged firmly underneath his wife's neck, and while he's tired, he's also not stupid. There's no way he's going to wake the woman who got up with the baby the last time just to see how late – or early – it is. No, he'll figure out the time another way.
Shifting just enough to see the clock on Kate's nightstand, he squints and ignores the fact that he used to be able to see the numbers clearly from this angle. As far as he can tell now, single digits greet him.
Great.
He exhales, sinking back to his pillow. His arm flexes around Kate, but thankfully she doesn't stir.
Castle listens for some sign of what woke him, some indication that something is amiss with his older children or the loft itself. There's nothing, though, merely the hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen, the quiet hiss of the heater, and the soft breaths of his wife and youngest daughter, both asleep within his arm's reach.
It's a relief, of course, but almost more confusing. It's not due to caffeine – yes, he'd had coffee before bed, but it had been decaf in deference to Kate nursing at night. He's ahead on his writing, though he's still not sure he likes the direction the book has been going in, he's also not been too bothered by it yet. Certainly not enough for it to keep him awake.
So why is he awake at this ungodly hour if nothing is wrong, he's not overcaffeinated, he's happy enough with his book, and there's only silence?
Maybe that's it? Maybe it's that there's never silence anymore. Not in this house, with Jake and Reece climbing the walls and pushing every boundary, and Lily finding her voice as loudly as she can. The only times it is quiet is when they're out of the house, and even then, now Eva's here for them to entertain (and maybe he's losing it, but children's toys have really gotten noisy in the last decade).
Rick shuts his eyes again, willing his body to sink back into the mattress and sleep to find him once more. Instead, he remains just as awake as before, if not more so.
"Sto' squirmin'," Kate mumbles, reaching blindly behind her and swatting at him. "M'sleepin'."
"Sorry," he murmurs, dusting a kiss to her cheek.
Not wanting to wake her further, he slides his arm out from beneath her and takes his time slipping from bed. After a quick stop in the bathroom and a few minutes of watching Eva sleep, he pads into the living room by way of the office.
Sure enough, everything is in the same chaotic level of order they left it in when Lily, Jake, and Reece fell asleep watching Star Wars and he carried them up to bed. Nothing out of place (well, more out of place than before), nothing bothered.
It's the lack of something that catches his eye, though. Aside from a single handmade snowflake hanging from the window, there are no decorations. It is December, two days into the month and everything, and they haven't even started talking about this year's Christmas theme.
"Rick."
He jumps at the croak of his name, turning to find Kate leaning against the doorjamb, her hair wild around her face. Her pajama shirt falls off her shoulder, but she doesn't shrug it up to cover her skin.
"Why'd you go?" she asks.
"Didn't want to wake you," he whispers, holding out an arm to her.
Kate shuffles over, all-but falling into his chest and trusting him to keep her from sinking to the floor. He loops both arms around her, keeping her upright.
"Why're you up?" he asks once she's tucked against him.
"You got up."
His lips lift. "Sorry. I just woke up, couldn't figure out why. I didn't wanna keep you up while I figured it out."
She hums into his chest. "Got ideas?"
He chuckles, nodding into her hair. "Not used to the lack of noise anymore, I guess. I thought something was wrong at first."
Kate snorts. "I wake up about eight times a night because it's too damn quiet. I don't even know how to sleep anymore."
His thumb brushes her back in a gesture of comfort, though she doesn't seem bothered, just matter of fact. She's never been a deep sleeper, trained from years on the job to wake at the trill of a cell phone or the click of the officer's bunk room door, but in the years since their kids were born, they've both grown accustomed to waking at the softest of sounds.
Castle exhales. "Come on, let's go back to bed."
She nods in agreement, palming his chest and lifting to kiss him. There's nothing passionate about it, just a sleepy press of her lips, but he just smiles into the touch and returns the affection.
"We have to pull all the stuff out of storage tomorrow," he whispers as their lips part and together they slip back toward their bedroom. "Get the tree up and figure out what we want to display this year."
Kate stops mid-stride, turning and blinking at him. "Were you going to start decorating for Christmas at three in the morning, Castle?"
"What? No. No…" he pauses, wondering if maybe he would've done just that if she hadn't come and found him. "Well, maybe not? I mean if I could've done it quietly… No. No, I would've waited."
His wife rolls her eyes, huffing a laugh at him. "Just come to bed, Rick. Let your elves help you in the morning. Isn't that why we have kids?"
She gives his arm a tug and he's happy to follow.
Thank you for all the love for the first chapter. I'm glad I was able to get a second one up today. Thanks for reading.
Prompt: Silence