Because Christmas in July, why not?
I don't own Castle.
Way too early on a Christmas morning, Kate Beckett-Castle was woken by her way too energetic son and equally energetic husband.
Determined to get the sleep her body desperately needed, she managed to snuggle down into the covers and drown out their whining until her daughter seemed to catch her brother and father's excitement.
Unfortunately, her daughter was still inside of her and was just a little bit harder to ignore when her excitement resulted in rapid fire kicks to her ribs.
Hearing his wife's resigned sigh, Castle went around to her side of the bed and helped her sit up right and on the edge of the bed. Of course, she could have done it herself but her due date was in a week and there wasn't many things a person can do easily when nine months pregnant with what had to be a baby elephant, judging by the size of her stomach. She realized during her first pregnancy that it was just easier on both of them if she started accepting his help without complaint when she couldn't see her toes anymore.
Once on her feet, and after a quick trip to the bathroom because the baby elephant was resting firmly on her bladder, Kate waddled after her son and husband as the toddler and grown man both raced to the Christmas tree.
She hadn't even made it to the couch before Castle was sorting through the presents and having their son give them to the person they were intended for.
Alexis sleepily mumbled a greeting to Kate as she gently sat down on the couch, shifting around to get as comfortable as possible as she felt another Braxton-Hicks contraction hit. Oh how she hated those fake contractions, they had been going on and off for the last month and she was really, really getting tired of them.
Soon all the presents had been sorted and she forgot all about the pain of the contractions as she watched her little son tear into his presents. He was a little over two years old now and this was the first Christmas he understood what was going on, for the most part. This year, he understood that there were toys hidden under the brightly colored wrapping paper and that they weren't just pretty boxes for him to climb on like he thought last year.
Everything was going wonderfully, Alexis enjoyed the presents she got from them and the joy the youngest Castle got from opening all of his many, many presents- she might have gone a little overboard this year- was infectious until Castle finished unwrapping all of his presents and although he was happy, he looked just a little confused.
And then Kate realized something.
She realized that somehow she had managed to forget to actually get her husband a Christmas gift, even though he had gotten her multiple ones.
How could she forget that? She knew he wouldn't be mad and that she could easily make it up to him later- you know, when she could see her feet again and the baby elephant wasn't making certain things complicatedto do- but she still felt bad.
"Uh, Kate? Are you okay? You look a little pale." Alexis said, causing Castle to turn a concerned look on Kate, which she quickly passed off as being because of the fake contractions. She didn't really want to admit to Alexis that she had forgotten to get him a gift.
Kate opened her mouth to announce that it was time to clear all the wrapping paper up so that she could actually see the living room floor again when a powerful contraction hit her, causing her to double over as much as she could.
It took a minute, but the pain finally faded and she was able to raise back up and give Alexis a reassuring smile because the girl was about to completely freak out but then she reached over and ripped a bow off some of the torn wrapping paper and stuck it on her stomach.
"Merry Christmas, Castle. Hope you are ready for your present." She said, because that was most definitely not a fake contraction.
Six hours later found a very exhausted Kate arguing with her husband on what to name their newborn daughter. Since she had named their son, they had decided that he would name their daughter but during the whole pregnancy he only came up with ridiculous names or names that she hated for one reason or another.
Sleepily, she looked down at the baby in her arms and even though she didn't turn out to be a baby elephant, at nine pounds and seven ounces she was definitely a little bigger than the average baby.
"If Daddy doesn't hurry up and pick a decent name for you, I'm going to end up calling you 'Elephant'." She started drifting off to sleep and Castle was right there next to her, gently taking the baby out of her arms when she started muttering, "Elephant. My little Ellie."
Finally, a name they both could agree on.