Kapitel 4: 4. Chapter 4
It's a blur. She's glad she and Castle had that moment in the walk-in closet when she was changing clothes or else she's not sure she'd be up for this.
They're late. Of course they are. And security is ridiculously excruciating with two kids under five, and backpacks of strange toys, and laptops, and handheld video games, and the ipad, and then Ella's shoes have to be taken off and scanned, and then Dash darts off for the "conveyor belt, Daddy!" only to be run down by a security guard - to Kate's eternal shame - after which Castle sets off the metal detector twice until he's wanded by a pear-shaped woman with crooked teeth who takes her job seriously.
And it's kind of funny.
Kate carries Ella, now barefoot and refusing to put her sparkly pink shoes back on (go figure, because this girl loves shoes). She also keeps her hand fisted in Dash's zippered hoodie (imagining that he will, at any moment, figure out that all he has to do to escape is simply unzip the thing), standing guard over their three backpacks and a laptop case. Even so, she still thinks it's a little bit amusing.
Mostly because Castle is making faces. As if the security guard, pear-shape and all, is actually touching him indecently. A look of shock flickers over his features and Kate's grin widens a little more. She's half-afraid he'll get caught and really be in trouble (for what? pretending to be molested by airport security?), but she's finding this all too amusing to really want him to stop. Dash and Ellery have no idea why it's taking their father so long, but Kate keeps her eyes on Castle, feeling that strange, all-consuming connection between them. As if no one else could be quite as important as him.
Dashiell wriggles, leaning against his hoodie with both arms out, Superman style. He pinwheels his arms. He bounces on his toes. He bends his knees and catapults himself up on the arcing swing of her fist in his hood. He makes choking noises. He's a first-rate actor.
"Gram would be proud," she says over her shoulder, her eyes still on Castle. Dash sighs.
This time the pear-shaped security lady is waving him through; Castle quick-steps his way to his family and gives her that naughty shiver, his eyebrows raised. "I think we really made a connection."
"I think she owes you dinner." Kate smirks and kisses his cheek, a little reward for keeping her entertained the whole time. "Tackle your son, please."
Rick leans in and kisses Ella with a smack. "Can't I have the quiet one?"
"Nope. I get the baby. You, mister, have cost us fifteen minutes we don't have."
Castle grimaces and leans down to scoop Dashiell up, bear-hugging him into submission.
"Grab your stuff, everybody," Kate calls out, bending over to pick up Ella's backpack, checking to make sure everything is in someone's hand.
She has her backpack on, but she checks the side pocket to make sure the boarding passes are still there. Castle has already gone ahead with Dash, who wants to run from one gate to the next despite carrying about ten pounds worth of toys he can't live without on his back.
Kate readjusts Ella's bag over her shoulder and starts after them. She keeps Castle's broad shoulders in sight, just barely, and makes her way to their gate. She spies on other families, watching the way they interact, the two sisters fighting quietly just behind their father's back, the little boy leaning out into the aisle to watch the planes take off, the mother with her hands full and a husband doing nothing, the silent man reading a paper next to his slumped teenaged daughter.
Halfway down the concourse, Kate realizes that neither she nor Ellery have said a word. She glances down and notes that Ella seems to be people watching as well, absorbing everything.
Some part of Kate thinks she ought to try chatting with the girl, dig for a response, but she's just too content right now to stir things up. So her daughter chooses silence? Somehow, Kate can't fault her for that. Too many cheap words in the air already.
Kate cups her hand around Ella's cheek and leans down to kiss her forehead, hugging her a little tighter. After that first, surprised cry when Ellery was born, the girl has been such a happy baby, smiling and content, able to go with the flow. People said she was just like Castle, so joyful, but the truth is, Kate thinks Ella is just like her.
Quiet, contained, self-controlled even at two. But the small tragedies of her young life are limited to Alexis's leaving after the summer and her brother's wild fits, so Ellery's natural reserve hasn't twisted into caution and fear and self-defense.
Like Kate's has.
Suddenly, Ella squeezes Kate's neck with her little hands, touches her lips to her mother's collarbone. Kate glances down at her. The little girl lets her eyes grow wide, round, then lifts her eyebrows and smiles that closed-mouth smile, a dimple in her right cheek. Saying all she needs to say without saying anything at all.
"Yeah, moja ljubav, I know. I love you too, Ellery."
The gate is crowded, no seats left. Castle glances at her and shrugs, then heads for the far wall with Dash in tow, one finger hooked in the strap of the kid's backpack. Kate follows with Ella, shifting the little girl against her body; one little hand comes up to play with Kate's hair, baby fingers twirling around and around, just like her brother did as a baby.
Kate squeezes her back, drops a kiss on top of her head.
Castle sits down against the wall, long legs folded, and helps Dash get out of his backpack. He shoots upward like a suddenly untied helium balloon, but Castle yanks him down, wrestling the boy into his lap.
It's late, and Dash is in his pajamas, but of course, Kate should've known better than to think Dash would be sleepy. Or at all willing to rest.
Kate leans against the wall with her backpack, slides slowly down so she doesn't disturb Ella. "I didn't think it would still be this crowded."
Castle shrugs. "I think half of them are for gate 23 next door."
She glances past the white pillar to the next gate. Also full. "Maybe so."
"Not many travel to Brownsville, Texas, Kate."
"Good point."
"Daddy, does T-Rex have laser vision?"
"Yes." Kate watches Castle hook a leg over Dashiell's keeping him tied down.
"Can he shoot people with his lasers?"
"No. No people when dinosaurs were around."
"What about other dinosaurs?"
"With his dinky laser vision?" Castle huffs. "No way, dude. Think about it. T-Rex wasn't eating BBQ. T-Rex ate it raw."
"Oh." Dash snorts. "Dino BBQ."
Kate elbows her story-telling husband and shoots him a look. Castle gestures to the now-silent, absorbed Dash as if to say, Voila.
True. It *does* seem like a magic trick.
"Daddy, can T-Rex kill *anything* with his laser vision?"
"Rabbits."
"Like Totoro?"
Ella's head picks up from Kate's chest. Kate glances down and sees the girl giving Dash a lethal glare.
"Oh, ho, Dash. Watch out buddy," Castle laughs, nodding his head to Ellery. "Plus, Totoro's not a rabbit."
"He's a wood spirit?" Dash turns his head to look at his sister. Ellery gives a short nod.
Kate rolls her eyes, uses a hand to smooth down Ellery's pajama top, brushing a kiss to the top of her head. "Nothing's gonna happen to Toto. T-Rex didn't even get to come. Ignore him."
Dash jerks upright in his father's lap, his face flush. "You wouldn't let me bring him!"
"Dash."
"Mom!"
Mom? Kate bites her lips. Wow. When did she become Mom?
Castle thumps Dash's ear. "Don't be a brat. T-Rex doesn't fit on the plane. And look in your backpack, you've got a whole toy store in there."
Dash settles back down, glancing from his mother to Ella, then back to his father, as if he thinks they're just so mean. Then he crosses his arms. "Mommy, when do we get there?"
Kate groans and leans her head back against the wall. "Ask your Pop."
"Pop!" Dash giggles.
"I'm not that old," Castle grumbles, elbowing her. Kate lifts her head to smirk at him.
"Hop on Pop!" Dash adds, bouncing up in his father's arms.
Castle shifts him to one knee. "When I read, I am smart. I always cut whole words apart."
Dash thinks for a half second, then his eyes light up. "My father can read big words, too. Like. . .like Con. . .Con-stan-tople and. . .and Timbuktu!"
Kate shares a grin with Castle, then reaches over to ruffle Dash's hair, ensuring it's messiness flops over his eyes. She misses the curls, but they grew out, and now his hair spikes in the back and falls over his forehead. Mini-Castle style. "You remembered it. Smart kid." Of course, Constantinople is difficult, but the idea was there.
"I 'member lots of stuff," Dash beams, then turns to his father and starts climbing him like a monkey.
"I remember being in a box with a fox," Castle says deliberately, and gives Kate a long, slow smile that makes her stomach flip.
He's talking about her. In a box with a fox? Oh. Oh. She smiles back at him, leans in and kisses him slowly, sharing breath, only to get a four year old's hand in her face.
"Enough kissy-face. Tell me a story, Daddy."
"A Dr. Seuss story?"
"A Castle story."
Kate shares a regretful look with him, then reaches up to wipe the chapstick off his mouth, her thumb brushing his lips with a promise.
He kisses her thumb, winks at her, then turns back to Dash. "A Castle story. Okay. Does it need T-Rex?"
"Yes."
"Who else?"
"Mommy."
"Who else?"
"Um. . .Mommy's gun."
"That's a what. *Who* else?"
"Tio!"
"Who else?"
"YOU!" Dashiell shouts, giggling like crazy at a joke no one else gets but which never gets old for the boy.
Castle grins back. "All right. Here's a Castle story, close your eyes."
Promptly, both Dashiell and Ellery close their eyes. Kate watches the little girl relax against her, dark lashes against her cheeks.
Castle leans over to Kate, a quick kiss brushing her mouth. "You too, Mommy, close your eyes."
Kate doesn't want to; she wants to watch Castle tell his story. But she does it anyway, laying her head against his shoulder, letting Ella crawl over Dash so she can be in Daddy's lap too. When everyone is comfortable, Castle starts.
"It was a dark and stormy night. . ."
"With T-Rex," Dash murmurs.
"With T-Rex. . ."
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein