Beckett's just slapping the cuffs on their suspect when Ryan's phone rings, the sickeningly-sweet love song assigned as his wife's ring tone.
"We got him, bro," Espo assures him. "Go."
He smiles gratefully to his partner, steps away to take the call.
Beckett and Esposito exchange a look, before turning their attention back to the suspect.
"What'd I do?" he asks, and Beckett rolls her eyes.
"I don't know, Alec," Espo says. "Why don't you tell us why you bolted and we'll tell you what's not so legal about it."
"I didn't do nothin', I swear," he rambles. "Ask my parole officer, I'm clean!"
"We can't ask him," Beckett says, lifting him off his knees. "He's dead."
"Aww, man."
"Yeah, dude, just shut up," Esposito says as Beckett pushes him into the backseat of the waiting cruiser. A late autumn breeze rolls past, and Beckett shivers involuntarily.
Just as she shuts the door, Ryan comes running back. "You guys," he says, slightly out of breath, "Jenny's in labor. I'm about to become a dad."
At the hospital, Beckett, Castle, Lanie, and Esposito all sit in the waiting area.
"I can't believe they're gonna be parents," Beckett says quietly, leaning against Castle's chest.
"I know," he whispers, pressing a kiss into Beckett's hair.
Lanie and Esposito sit across from them, leaning in close and whispering to each other as well, though considerably less close than Beckett and Castle.
But Beckett watches as they converse privately, animatedly, and sees that look in their eyes and knows it's more than just baby excitement. She decides she'll ask Lanie about it later.
Castle's arm is warm around her shoulders and she curls into him.
"Do you want some coffee?" he murmurs to her softly.
She sighs. "Maybe in a little bit," she whispers, feeling as fatigue pulls on her eyelids.
Later, when Castle had finally gone to get coffee and Esposito went to call the station to check in, Kate pokes Lanie's knee.
"Yes?" she asks, smiling.
Kate smiles back, arching an eyebrow and flicking her gaze over to Esposito.
Lanie gets it immediately. "Oh, girl, don't even start with me right now," she half-laughs.
Kate chuckles softly. "I'm not," she insists. "But I think it's good you two are on…amicable terms again."
"Sugar, amicable may not be the right word for it."
Kate throws her hands up in surrender just in time for Esposito to walk back over and ask, "What?"
"Nothing, Javi. Girl talk," Lanie says.
He nods solemnly and takes his seat beside her.
Kate sits back and smiles just as Castle returns with a drink carrier full of coffee.
"Hospital joe, no guarantees," he says, handing Beckett hers first, then Lanie and Espo, and claiming his last.
"Better than no joe," Esposito says. He takes a sip and grimaces. "Never mind, spoke too soon."
Lanie giggles and Castle looks over at her and the other detective, before turning to Beckett.
He mouths, "Are they…"
She mouths back, "Later," before taking a sip of her own coffee and grimacing. "He's right," she says aloud. "This is some pretty bad coffee, Castle."
"All they had," he shrugs, taking his own sip. He makes a face and swallows hard. "Eew."
Kate laughs and he takes her coffee from her hands and places both hers and his on the table next to them.
"I owe you new coffee," he declares. "Just not right this second."
"That's okay," she whispers.
Kate's listening to Castle relate his hospital experience during Alexis' birth when she spots someone down the hall and walking towards them.
Captain Gates.
And even though it's been over a year they've been together—together-together—they've managed to make it this long without tipping off the Captain. Though not without some close calls.
Kate's smile falls slightly, but Castle's so into his story that he doesn't notice. She tries to be gentle about it, but ends up yanking her hand out of Castle's grip before Gates can see.
"Kate, what's—" he asks, but turns to see what she sees and his confusion turns into alarm, same as her. "What is she doing here?!"
"I don't know, but just calm down."
Lanie and Esposito are currently absent, neither of them bothering to explain where they were headed.
"Detective Beckett," the Captain calls when she spots them.
Beckett stands. "Sir," she nods.
Castle stands, but doesn't say anything. Gates ignores him.
"Where's Detective Esposito?" she asks.
"Uh," she says, so surprised by the appearance that she struggles to come up with a valid excuse.
"Bathroom," Castle blurts.
She turns to him, as if noticing for the first time that he's here. "Oh. And how is Detective Ryan?"
"No word yet," Beckett responds, calmer, and noticing Gates' armful of flowers.
Out of the corner of her eye, Beckett spots Lanie and Esposito heading toward them from the hallway to her left.
He spots the Captain and stops mid-sentence, looking just as confused as she had been only minutes before.
"Sir?" he asks as he approaches. "What are you doing here?"
She arches an eyebrow, as if the answer is obvious. "I came to give my congratulations to Detective Ryan and his wife, but I've just been told there's no word yet."
"Oh," he says, and Lanie casually slides her arm out from his while Gates turns back to Beckett.
The Captain's about to say something when Ryan comes running up in his blue scrubs. "It's a boy," he announces, smile wide.
After all the congratulations and hugs (and handshakes for the guys and the Captain), Ryan says, "Javi, we want you to be the godfather."
It takes a second for it to sink in, but Espo grins and says, "Hell, yeah, bro! I'ma spoil that kid rotten."
Ryan pats him on the shoulder and turns to Beckett. "You'd have to share with Jenny's sister in Chicago, but we want you to be a godmother, Kate."
Kate's taken aback, but smiles. "Of course, Kev. Absolutely."
Not long after Ryan heads back, the Captain leaves. "Back to the station. I expect to see you two bright and early to interrogate that suspect you brought in this afternoon."
"Yes, Sir," Beckett and Esposito answered in unison.
The rest of them hang back to see Jenny and baby David after they get the all-clear to go home.
Then after that, Castle and Beckett head back to his loft.
"Wow. A boy," Castle says.
"You'd be clueless," Beckett says with a smile.
"What makes you so sure?" he asks defensively.
"Your only experience is with Alexis," she says.
"And what's your experience, huh?" he asks playfully. "Admit it: if we had a little boy, you would be just as clueless as I would be."
"Not necessarily, Castle. I put up with you, don't I?" she smirks.
"Cheap shot," he murmurs, placing a hand on her leg while she drives. "Besides, if we had a kid, it'd be a little girl, with your hair and my eyes."
"Put some thought into this, have you?"
"Maybe, a little. But I'm a writer, and things like that come up with themselves."
"Ah," she says. "What else have you thought about?"
"Well," he starts, "when Alexis gets her own place and we kick my mother out—"
She interrupts him with a loud "Ha!" that he chooses to ignore.
"—we would renovate the loft and maybe turn Alexis' room into a nursery."
"Interesting…" she says.
"And then we'd send the kids to the same school that Alexis went to because I can afford it and the school is both fairly close and very good."
"Kids?" Kate asks.
"And someday you'd make Captain and be excellent at it and I wouldn't have to go through the mayor to go to work with you…"
"Captain?"
"…and I'd write a few more Nikki Heat books and then eventually we'd retire and go live out in the Hamptons and just be happy."
He looks at her with a smile that quickly falls when he sees her. "Unless you have something else in mind."
"No, it's just…" she pauses, "you've covered a lot of bases."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out or anything."
"You didn't," she insists. "There's just one thing I'd like to clarify."
"Okay."
"I'm never gonna be Captain."
Castle smiles, looks out the windshield as they pull into his building's parking garage. "Don't be so sure," he says.
"Whatever," she says, turning off the engine.
Upstairs in his loft, they find it pleasantly empty.
"So, how any kids did you have in mind?" she asks, draping her jacket over the back of the couch.
"I don't know. Two, maybe three."
"Wow. Are you sure you can handle that? I mean, you're getting a little old," she teases.
"I'm not old!"
"Not yet," she says. "But by the time Alexis and your mother move out, are you still gonna be able to handle it?"
"You doubt me?" he asks, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her against him.
"Not at all," she says, kissing the corner of his mouth. "Well, maybe just a little."
"Oh, I'm prepared to reassure you," he says, diving into a kiss.
"Practice makes perfect," she whispers, leading them back towards his bedroom.
A/N: TOO MANY FEELS IN ONE STORY. Let's recount, shall we? Cutesy Caskett, reunion Esplanie, a Ryan baby, Caskett babies (however imaginary—for now) and some good ol' Gates/everyone awkwardness. If this wasn't my story, I'd fangirl all over this. What am I talking about? I already am! Review, review, review, review, and review some more, please. And for those of you who read New Kid on the Block (my only current Castle-fic), I'm working on it! My muse is really picky and avoiding me right now, but I'm at least a third of the way through chapter three. Spoiler Alert: the chapter name is 'One Big, Happy Family'.