"Mom, when thoughts of you are in our hearts, we are never far from home." — Unknown

It was just after 6am on a Sunday morning, and the house was silent with the exception of small pattering feet on the kitchen tile and hushed voices.

"Sit down, Sam. I'll bring the paints." The seven-year-old girl commanded in a whisper, swiftly running to the cupboard by the front door before her little brother could even reply.

Sierra opened the heavy oak door with two hands and huffed when she saw that the arts and crafts box was perched high on top of other containers. With ease, she scrambled up the vertical box that once held a brand new vacuum cleaner and lifted the top of the clear, plastic case which held all the materials they needed.

Aware that she wouldn't be able to bring the whole kit down without waking her parents, she grasped as many items as she could in her arms, leaning them against her white and pink night shirt, then jumped down with barely any noise.

She waddled over to the couch – careful not to drop anything – and returned to her brother, who was beside the dog basket on the floor trying to wake his friend.

"No, let Duke sleep!" Sierra chastised, the boy frowning at her stern tone before seeing the coloured materials that his sister had dropped onto the floor.

With care, Sierra set out all the necessary items: paper, paint, glitter, sharpies, gel pens, stickers and glue.

"Okay," She declared, "Now we make cards for Mama."

"Mama!" Sam cried out with a giggle.

"Shhh!" His sibling replied, index finger pressed against her lips.

"Mama." He repeated in a whisper, causing the two to giggle.

Without another word, the two grasped a piece of paper each, and began to work.

As he awoke, Rick rolled his neck around on his pillow and stretched out his legs. Opening his eyes and reaching out for the phone on his bedside table, he saw that it was about quarter to seven. He heard his wife exhale small snuffles behind him, meaning that she was still sleeping soundly. He turned around as slowly and gently as he could to try and see the monitor that was in their son's room.

At the same time he realised the boy's bed was empty, he heard quiet laughter from the outside of their bedroom. In slow motion, he lifted himself from the bed - hoping Kate wouldn't wake up - grabbed a navy blue dressing gown from the hook behind the door and walked out into the living room.

He grinned as he saw his two youngest children with their hands intertwined, then as he stepped closer, realised that their hands were covered in paint.

"What are you doing, munchkins?" He spoke, his voice still husky from sleep.

"Dada!" Sam exclaimed, whipping his heard around so quickly that his dark blonde hair flew.

"Hey, Sam!" Rick greeted, his eyes wandering over the floor.

"We making presents for Mama." Sierra explained, her hand still clasped with her brother's as they giggled at the squelching sound the paint made.

"Good idea, sweetie." Rick complimented, lowering himself down to the ground with a small groan so he could sit with the children. He felt the corner of his lips upturning again as he saw their creations.

"This one's mine!" Sierra said, finally releasing Sam's hold so she could hand her Father the card she had created.

Castle held the folded over paper with care, being sure to avoid the still wet paint. The middle of the card had four small handprints on it – two purple, one red and one blue – and green lines drawn vertically underneath.

"They're flowers!" Sierra commented proudly with a grin, one of her front teeth missing, "I learned how to do them at school."

"They look lovely, Sia. I really like the glitter." Rick replied, focusing on the silver and gold glitter that covered any blank space left on the surface.

"Did I spell Mother right?" Sierra asked, pointing at the 'Happy Mother's Day' text written in pink sharpie at the bottom of the card.

"Yes you did, you smart girl." Her Dad said, placing the card back down on the ground, "Mama's going to love this."

"Mine!" Sam exclaimed, placing his paint-covered hand on the sleeve of his Dad's dressing gown.

"Watch where you're putting those dirty hands, monkey!" Rick joked as he leant forward to tickle the small boy, who erupted into a fit of laughter. Once the excitement died down, Castle picked up Sam's creation.

The paper was wrinkled due to the wet paint, the sky blue paper completely covered in glitter and handprints of all different colours, which mostly mixed together to make browns. However, Rick could clearly see the last colour that the boy had used.

"Purple hands, Mama's favourite colour." He said, making Sam beam from ear to ear.

"Par-ple! Par-ple!" He shrieked, flailing his arms around. Luckily the paint on his hands was mostly dry, so it didn't spray anywhere.

"It looks amazing, really well done, Sam." Rick praised, putting down the paper and placing a kiss on the boy's forehead.

"I'm gonna make another one." Sierra declared, grasping a light pink piece of paper from the pile she had brought out. Seeing this, Sam leant forward too, grabbing a white sheet.

"Okay then, I'll make some breakfast for you both, my little artists." As Rick stood up, he heard both children shout out a word that was probably the most used in both their vocabularies.

"Pancakes!"

When Kate heard voice from behind the closed bedroom door, she quickly hid her phone under her pillow (a text from her Dad at around seven had woken her up) and shut her eyes once more. It took a lot of concentration not to smile as three family members filed into the room somewhat clumsily; the glasses on the breakfast tray clinking together and the sound of little ones giggling waving through the morning air.

"You two want to wake her up?" Rick asked in a small voice, though something about his tone made her think that he already knew her secret.

She then felt two warm – and slightly sticky – hands on her bare arm, tapping incessantly.

"Mama?" Sierra asked, the word then being echoed by the youngest. Kate made a show of scrunching her eyes closed and nestling into the bed covers. "Mama, we have presents for you."

Beckett opened one eye with a smile, "Presents?" Her two children grinned goofily as her vision focused on them. "Well, I guess I could let you up then."

Before she even sat up, the two clambered up onto the bed, Rick placing the wooden tray filled with food onto the end of the bed for a moment to help Sam up. He then pressed a small kiss to his wife's cheek and whispered into her ear.

"Nice acting, you've learnt from my Mother." He said with a smug smirk, causing her to gently smack his chest.

Once all four of them were comfortably on the mattress, the present-giving began. Kate looked at Sam's cards first (he seemed like he was going to explode from excitement soon if she didn't) then reached for Sierra's. She grinned from ear to ear at the pieces of artwork as the two little ones provided commentary on their colour choices.

"Thank you very much, both of you." She said, opening her arms up so both children could hug her at once, "These are the best Mother's Day cards ever."

Sierra pulled away slightly from her Mother's grasp to give her a look, "You say that every year!"

Beckett laughed, "Well that's because your card-making skills keep getting better and better every year!"

"Speaking of card-making," Rick began, "I'm sure you monkeys must be starving from all your hard work, so how about some delicious breakfast?"

With cheers from all three of them, Castle passed each of their plates to them: Sam had pancakes with chocolate syrup and banana, Sierra had pancakes with strawberry syrup and raspberries, and Kate had pancakes with honey, blackberries and blueberries. As they tucked into their meals and chatted, they all paused as they heard rhythmic tapping outside the door.

"Come on in, Duke!" Rick said, and milliseconds later the German Shepard launched onto the bed, making himself comfortable as Castle fed him a small piece of sausage from his plate.

After all the food had been consumed and a small nap was taken by all five members in the bed, Rick spoke up.

"So, as the Mother of the Castle household, what do you decree should happen on this fine Mother's Day?" He asked in a posh voice, making the two kids giggle.

Kate hummed and pursed her lips, smiling internally at her children's curious faces as they stared up at her.

"Well, I think going to school sounds fun." Kate answered, trying hard to keep a straight face as she saw the crestfallen expressions that Sierra and Sam were giving her, "Is that okay?"

Sierra looked up at her Mother then said, "Mama, if you want it, we can go to school, it's your day."

Beckett smiled at her daughter's selfless act, but then Rick spoke, "But it's Sunday, won't school be closed?"

Kate gasped in fake surprise, "Oh, yeah! Hmm, then I guess we could go to the park instead?" She questioned, resulting in cheers from the two youngest in the middle of the bed.

"Park!" Sam squealed, making the dog at the bottom of the bed startle from his slumber.

"Okay, park it is then!" Kate confirmed, watching the children spring into action.

"Can I take my bike?" Sierra asked, then cut herself off, "Can you braid my hair, Mama?"

The Mother chuckled, "Yes to both of those, go pick what clothes you want to wear and I'll be right up."

Sierra and Sam scurried out of the room together, leaving the two parents alone. Kate shuffled closer to her husband and nestled into his side, chuckling at the paint stains all over his dressing gown.

"Thank you for this." Kate whispered, pressing a kiss to his neck.

"I didn't plan it." Rick replied, causing his lover to look up at him questioningly, "When I woke up, they were already at it."

Beckett's brow furrowed, "How did Sia get to the arts and crafts box? We put it on top of two other boxes!"

Castle shrugged and placed a kiss on his wife's head, "She must have inherited your intelligence."

"Or your mischief."

"You weren't complaining about my mischief the night we made her." Rick replied instantly, raising his eyebrows.

Kate hummed in agreement then tilted her head upwards to place her lips on top of her husbands, one hand grasping his bicep and she did so. Rick ran his fingers along her shoulders, chuckling against her mouth as she shivered when he reached the sensitive spot on her neck.

"Mama!"

The two startled apart as they heard the shriek from their daughter upstairs.

"Sam's throwing all my clothes around!" Sierra shouted down.

Kate shook her head, "Looks like our son's got your mischief too."

Thanks for reading! I'm not too sure about this fic, it's currently 2am but I wanted to make sure I uploaded this on Mother's Day!

Speaking of which, happy Mother's Day to Mums all around the World, because even if it's only Mother's Day in America and Canada today, every day should celebrate your amazing work. Hugs to you all!

Lou xo