Nirvana

She has to fight with the things in the cupboard, trying to stay as quiet as possible. The other two are sleeping and if either of them wake up, head into the kitchen, she'll never hear the end of it. The frying pan clangs against one of the pots they use to make pasta and she pauses, letting the echo fade before she wiggles it free.

Flipping the stovetop on, Kate sets the frying pan in place. She gets eggs from the fridge, bowls from one of the cabinets. She cracks the eggs, dropping them into a porcelain bowl. The shells go into the trash as she walks to the baking cupboard.

Assorted sprinkles clutter in next to the confectioner's sugar. Tucked into the corner is the ziplock bag with the ingredients that only her husband and daughter ever touch. Her hand hesitates before she grabs the bag. Ridiculous. You're being ridiculous, Kate, she tells herself.

As the frying pan heats up, she sorts the miniature chocolate chips, marshmallows, and graham crackers into individual bowls. She pops one of the chips into her mouth as she replaces the bag of s'mores ingredients in the baking cabinet.

Eggs sizzle against the hot metal when she pours them into the pan. With a spatula, she flips the yellow circle over before she sprinkles the chocolate chips, marshmallows, graham crackers onto one half of the omelet. Folding it over on itself, pressing down on the top to get the heat up into the middle of the layers, melting the chocolate and marshmallow.

Just as the chocolate starts to drip onto the surface of the frying pan, she turns the stove off and slides the omelet onto a plate. Dropping the pan into the sink, she grabs a fork from one of the drawers and cuts into the eggs.

"Kate?"

His sleepy voice startles her and the fork nearly falls from her hand. When she looks over, Castle is in the living room in his underwear, looking adorably tousled.

"Uh…" she hedges. Pointless to try and hide the plate now. "Hi."

"What're you doin' up? Come to bed," he says, sound half back to sleep already.

She tries to chew without giving herself away. "Few more minutes."

"You okay?" He moves further into the kitchen, hands cupping her elbows. It's an awkward hug, her stomach pushing against his. "Minnie okay?"

"We're both fine, Rick. I was hungry." She tries to nudge the plate further behind her, praying that he won't-

"For what? Cause I could have made anythi…" His nose crinkles and she knows. He's caught her. "A s'morelette, Kate? You hate these."

She grabs for the plate as he sneaks it from behind her. "I do." It doesn't sound firm enough so she repeats it, reaching over her head as he holds her food above her. "Come on. Just…"

"Why're you eating this at nearly midnight?"

He's going to make her say it. She rolls her eyes. "The baby wants it so hand it over. Now."

"Minnie wanted a s'morelette?" he asks, handing her the plate.

"Yes, well, let's not forget when Miss Minnie came into existence," Kate reminds him, poking him with a tine of the fork before cutting off another piece of the s'morelette.

Castle looks confused and Kate gets to watch as realization dawns on his face. "Wait, seriously?"

"That night out in the Hamptons? Yeah." She shrugs as she chews on the food. It should taste horrible, just as horrible as it did back in May out at his house on the beach, but this time it's pretty good. Just the hormones, she reminds herself, leaning against the counter. "That's as close a conception date I can find. Figures this one," she says, gesturing to her stomach, "would demand the foul creation. Minnie is most certainly yours."

"Good to know. Now finish your midnight snack so we can go to bed."

She puts the empty plate in the dishwasher then turns back to him. "If I hear a word about this, I will kill you."

Linking his fingers with hers, he kisses her softly. "Understood."