No Worries

A Castle Fanfiction One-shot

Richard Castle opened the door to his loft slowly only to be assaulted by the thumping tribal beat of The Lion King soundtrack blasting through the stereo speakers in his living room.

"Now, don't you worry," he heard next, his wife's trembling voice sounding as the dark menacing music quieted. "I know it's sad but it's going to be okay. Simba is going to survive this."

A sniffle followed the words and Castle softly crept further into the room, willing the paper bag in his hand not to crinkle and ruin the moment. Earlier, when he had received a text from Kate requesting he pick up ice cream for movie night on the way home from his meeting, he had never expected to come home to this.

"I know, baby. I know it seems bad now. It's hard to lose a parent. It was so hard to lose my mom, but Simba is going to make so many good friends to help him get through this. There's Rafiki, who's kind of like Aunt Lanie, but never tell her I said that, and Timon and Pumba… think of them like your Uncles Ryan and Esposito, and then he's going to grow up and find Nala, just like I found your dad and he's going to be okay."

Another sniffle broke the stream of words, and Castle watched as Kate lifted a crumpled tear-soaked tissue to her cheeks.

"Then he's going to rescue his mother, lift her up from that dark place she's fallen into and justice is going to prevail when he defeats that deceiving Scar. Then, little one, he's going to have a little Simba of his own, like I have you, and live happily ever after."

Castle tiptoed back toward the door, his bottom lip clamped between his teeth, as the African trio broke into a lively verse of Hakuna Matata, heads swinging as they pranced across the log, and Kate sniffled out another sob as Simba grew.

"He's growing up so fast. Don't grow fast like that. Okay, little one? Damn hormones," she whimpered out, and he stifled a laugh as he slammed the door a little bit harder than necessary.

"Hey!" He called as he bustled through the apartment. "I got your favorite, Cherry Garcia. So, Lion King, huh?"

"Yeah," she responded with a watery smile as she tipped her head over the back of the couch. She had freaked out the first time it had happened, completely embarrassed by the rivers of unwarranted tears cascading from her eyes as she stared at the run-of-the-mill murder on the board at work. Now, with only one more month to go it had become an accepted, if not slightly problematic side effect of pregnancy. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"I love The Lion King," he continued breaking into a bastardized version of the opening chant like he didn't notice the rivers of tears still streaming down her cheeks. Without breaking a beat, he then pulled out two spoons and brought the entire pint of ice cream with him, plopping down next to her. "You know, I used to dress up in that same outfit and hula with Alexis."

"Why am I not surprised?" Kate quipped back, biting her lip as one hand dove into the bowl of popcorn resting on her very round belly, the other rubbing a spot where a small elbow or heel was attempting to punch out. But then her lip quivered again even as she rolled her eyes with a huff at her own emotional turmoil. ""You'll do stuff like that with her too, right? I mean I know Alexis was your first and it was just the two of you and you were A LOT younger then. Laser tag is yours and Lex's thing so I respect that but this is your kid too and I know memories like those will be the ones that stay with her her whole life and..."

"Whoa, whoa," he interrupted the impending hormone-induced spiral. Reaching out he gripped Kate's chin, gently turning her gaze to meet his, his thumb brushing over her skin as he gave her one of his best smiles. "My dear Beckett, you wound me. Don't you know me at all? First of all, laser tag can always be expanded to teams: Castles versus Castles 2.0, if you will. Granted of course you would be willing to play also."

Pausing only for her small nod, Castle continued without hesitation. "And I have two words for you: Lego Movie. I already have her pint sized outfit planned out in my mind."

He tapped two fingertips into his temple in emphasis and Kate let out a small giggle, the tears finally ceasing. "That's better. Now, let's watch Simba get beaten up by a girl."

A/N: Based on the prompt from Morgan (Msorg): Castle catches Beckett watching The Lion King with the kids and she's just bawling (the gorge scene). (slightly modified).

Also flew beta free on this one, because I was literally flying on a (non-literal) tin can with no wifi whatsoever.

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