Castle and The Originals

Chapter 31

"Keep your eyes closed."

Rick continued to walk backwards holding tightly to Kate's hand even though they had already successfully traversed the suitcase to the upper floor of the loft. He led her to the closed door of what was formerly her room

"Okay, before you open them I have something to say."

"Figures." Kate tilted her head in an exaggerated fashion; the famous eye roll evident even through closed lenses.

"Hush, this is important." He squeezed her hands and continued. "First of all, thank you for allowing me do this; for you, for the girls, and for me."

"Rick..."

"Uh-uh, secondly I need to confess in advance that I may have gone way over-the-top."

"Of that I have no doubt."

"Are you going to let me say this or not?"

"Sorry."

Rick cleared his throat. "Where was I? Ah yes, over-the-top. Anyway, thank goodness I had help from some professionals. They were able to reign in my ideas and the end result is more spectacular than even I, a world famous writer of friction, could have imagined."

He watched Kate bite back the comment that she surely wanted to make.

"That being said, you asked me for a fairytale but what's behind this door is more our tale; there's a little of Mommy's story and a little of Daddy's being told to our daughters through the pictures and words of the books they've already heard." Rick released her hands and placed his on her abdomen. "You ready?"

Kate took a deep breath; answering on a soft exhale. "Yes."

She felt her husband move to her back. He rested his chin on her shoulder and with his hands at her hips steered her in the direction of what was now the nursery. She expected him to lead her through the door but was surprised when he told her she could look before they had even moved from the hallway. Kate did as he asked. The door remained closed; what he wanted her to see first wasn't actually in the room, but written in a romantic style calligraphy above the wooden frame. Rick read it aloud.

So come with me, where dreams are born,

and time is never planned.

Just think of happy things,

and your heart will fly on wings,

forever, in Never, Never Land.

"That was an easy one, I know." Rick kissed her cheek. "They'll get harder, I promise."

He reached past her to turn the knob. It swung open on silent hinges. Kate felt her heart begin to beat faster; her breathing became shallow with anticipation. She shuffled ahead trying to take it all in; refusing to let go of Rick's hands at her sides. What unfolded before her eyes was more than she, the muse of a world famous writer of fiction, could have ever dreamed of.

"It's extraordinary!"

There was so much to see; too much to take in all at once. Kate decided that much like herself, the space needed to be peeled back one layer at a time. What hits her first was the overall tranquility and airlines of the space. It was a big room; the largest of the three upper level rooms yet every inch of it felt soft and light; weightless.

The wood floor had been stripped of its cherry stain and whitewashed; no that was the wrong word, whitewashed denoted a pigmentless paint. She stared at the natural grain; blonde beneath her feet until it came to her. Pickled, that was it; pickled and smooth and shining.

Next was the furniture; so much furniture. Two sleigh-bed style cribs stood parallel to one another jutting out from the corner ahead and to her left. Rick hadn't chosen any of the sets they had been mulling over for the last few weeks. Instead he had chosen better. Two dressers, each with six large drawers below the three smaller ones above, and their matching armoires ran along the walls flanking the whimsical sleighs. They were all painted a muted expresso color, each adorned with scrolled legs and exquisite relief carvings. On closer inspection the surfaces all boasted a hand-rubbed finish which only served to enhance every minute delicate detail.