Frozen Love (A Castle Fanfiction)

Friends and Family

When I was instantly brought to consciousness by the sudden sounds of a screaming infant, my eyes popped open and my body jutted upward so quickly my head spun. After a moment, my eyes focussed enought that I could see straight and the pounding in my head subsided. I got up and stood beside the basinette, brining my hands down to lift my son to my shoulder. Bouncing softly, I let him cry, thinking he only wanted to be held until I looked at the clock. It was long past the time when I should have been feeding him. Seeing Rick stir, knowing he needed to sleep, I wisked Brayden into the kitchen and grabbed a burp rage before shifting him into my arms to cradle him and unbuttoning my blouse. Once he was repositioned and suckling fondly, tears completely subsided, I continued to bounce him gently.

Rick eventually sat up, dreariness in his eyes and posture, stretching a bit before looking over at me and calling me to him without words. I came and sat back down beside him, one of his arms wrapped around my shoulder as I drew nearer to him and let my head fall into the crook of his neck. Looking down to watch Brayden eat, he rested his cheek against my head and whispered softly, "You're great with him, you know."

To this I smiled and moved closer to him in his grasp. "I'm so glad you're home, Rick. I have no idea how I could have done this without you."

"You could have," he said, trying to reassure me. His confidence in me was far greater than the confidence I had in myself.

I sighed with regret and simply told him, "I'm just thrilled I don't have to." He hummed an approving answer as we took each other in. My eyes closed a moment as I took in the feeling of him wrapped around me and the feeling of our son in my arms. I could have stayed here for a lifetime, just simply wrapped in his loving arms, but the moment eventually came to an end when Brayden unlatched and needed to be burped. I did what I had to and slipped a bit out of his grip, putting the burp rag over my shoulder and tapping Brayden until he did burb up and spit up a bit.

Castle, being a forever man-child, laughed a bit when our son let the smallest burp and forced me to roll my eyes. He looked at me playfully and I looked back, telling him simply, "We have people coming over in two hours. You need to go shower and I need to clean up around here."

"Didn't they say, 'Don't clean,'?" Richard asked.

"Babe, I'm not leaving the dirty diapers and spit up rags laying around. I'm just going to take out the trash and throw some things in a hamper. I might also toss the empty alcohol bottles because those just need to leave in general. And I might burn some candles because between the diapers and boos, it smells like death in here." He laughed at my comment as though it were the most adorably pathetic thing I'd ever said and simply nodded.

Before I replied to his gesture, he asked, "Can I at least hold my son and wait a minute while you bring me my wheel chair?"

It took me a minute to register the wheel chair part of this until I remembered the brace on his leg. I then waited for him to position his arms and I handed off our son, being sure Rick's hard brace was positioned on Brayden's legs, not his back or head. When I flew off toward the chair and brought it back, I looked down at him laying back and smiling at Brayden, who was still half awake and sharing his beautiful smile for a moment, and fell in love with the sight. Castle didn't look up at me until I was right beside him, but when he did, I said, "You know what, Castle? You're going to need help bathing, and I need someone to watch Brayden while I clean, so why don't you just hold him while I do what must be done." There was no hesitation. He immediately agreed.

Once we were both clean and changed into clothes that were slightly less ripe, I changed Brayden into the white long sleeved onesie Ryan and Jenny had bought for Brayden that had a print of a bow-tie and vest on the front. His bright teal hat matched the color perfectly and his white socks were honestly adorable. Then again, the moment I wrapped him in a tight swaddle, the outfit was no longer visible. He'd fallen asleep shortly after we changed his diaper and Castle just simply held him on the couch while I went through the many pieces of mail that had accumulated while I was in a half-coma for a week.