Precinct Thirteen
The light trickle of rain on the window keeps distracting him from the paperwork he's supposed to be completing. Of all the nights Madame Zathena is supposed to be visiting, he is piled with the paperwork of two double homicides and three cold cases. What is it with the full moon and murder; it's like these people have no respect for the humans that have to clean up their crazy messes. A knock at the door pulls him from his mental monologue.
"Come in," Captain Chambers says.
"Sir, you said that you wanted to see me before I left?" Detective Salazar says as he pokes his head through the cracked door.
"Ah yes, come in Detective Salazar. Have a seat," Chambers says gesturing towards an empty seat in front of his large desk.
"What's up Cap?"
"Well I know that this may come as a surprise to you, but I'm retiring soon and I would like to ask for your help with some things before I leave."
"Sure. Whatever you need, Sir I will be your man," Salazar says un-surprised at this announcement. He's known for a while that the captain was planning on retiring.
"Thank you Detective. If everything works out, there might even be a promotion in your future. Now for the time being, I need you to start compiling a list of things that will need to be discussed with the new captain about all of the particular situations that may occur in our special jurisdiction."
"You're not promoting from within?" Salazar asks surprised knowing the difficulty it is to keep even rookies in their precinct considering some of the things they see on a daily basis.
"No, not this time, I have a candidate in mind that has been vetted by Madame Zathena herself. Though she may not know this yet, her life is about to be changed drastically, and Zathena believes that she is necessary for the success of this precinct."
"Yes sir, who is this woman that Madame Zathena believes to be a wonderful candidate?" Salazar asks confused as to who this special woman could be that she gets to just come in and take over.
"Sergeant Beckett of the 12th precinct."
Kate padded up the stairs as she heard her husband's deep voice flowing from her son's bedroom. As she reached the door, she pauses to look upon the view before her.
"'Good night, Charlotte.' 'Good night, Wilbur.' 'Good night!' 'Good night!'" Castle reads as his son looks on with his blue eyes drooping with sleep.
"Good night, Tommy. Sweet dreams, bud" Castle says as he places a kiss on his son's forehead.
"Daddy, do you believe in witches?"
"Sure, bud. Why do you ask?"
"I dunno. Does mama believe in them?" At this question Kate makes her way to sit on the edge of her son's bed.
"I don't know, bud. Mama, do you believe in witches?"
"There are some things that can be explained and some things that can't, but that doesn't mean that they don't exist."
"But do you think they're real?"
"Maybe."
"What I think your mother is trying to say is that people can believe in whatever they want as long as it doesn't hurt others," Castle says looking at his wife and after receiving a nod they look back at their son.
"Oh. Well you'll see that they're real. It's okay if you don't think so now, we'll make you be a believer real soon."
"Alright then, I think it's time for you to get to sleep, so good night, Baby." Kate says as she tucks the covers around him snugly.
"I'm not a baby, mama. I'm a big boy." Tommy says looking up with his father's eyes that melt his mother's heart every day.
"You'll always be my baby"
"Not when you have my baby sister, then she'll be the baby, but it's okay I know that you both will still love me." Tommy says seriously as his parents look on in complete shock.
"Do you want a baby sister, bud?" Castle asks being the first one to actually find his voice.
"Well, yeah. I'm gonna be her protector and we're gonna help mama do great things." He says as if it's the only logical explanation. It's like his parents know nothing tonight.
"What kind of things are you going to help me with, baby?" Kate asks finally as the shock has somewhat lessened from her son's previous statement.
"We're gonna help you get the bad guys."
"How are you gonna do that?"
"I can't tell you yet, not till my sister gets here."
"Well I think that you need to sleep now, bud and we'll talk about this in the morning." Castle says as he stands to leave.
"Night, Baby." Kate says as she reaches to turn off the light. Kate turns and follows her husband out into the hallway. "What do you think he meant about having a baby sister?" Kate says after they make it down the stairs and as Castle leads them to the kitchen for a glass of wine.
"I don't think he meant anything, babe. He's five. He sees and hears about other kids in his class getting siblings so that's where his mind takes him."
"I know, it's just that the way he said it was like he knew, like he knew that in his future he was going to have a baby sister no matter what anybody told him otherwise."
"Kate, come on relax, drink some wine, and cuddle while we catch up on the non-animated shows that are saved onto our DVR." Castle says as he pulls Kate towards the couch in front of the TV, two wine glasses in the other hand and a bottle of her favorite red under his arm.
"Castle"
"Ooh, we missed that one show with the-"
"Rick stop."
"What? I thought you liked that show."
"I do babe, but what if I don't want to do all of those things."
"I'm confused."
"Maybe I don't want to drink a glass of wine and cuddle on the couch. Maybe, I want to go into our bedroom and celebrate." Kate says with a classic Castle eyebrow wiggle as she leads Rick through his office and into their bedroom.
"Not that celebrating doesn't sound amazing right now, but, uhmm, what exactly are we celebrating?"
"This," Kate says as she reaches into the bedside table and pulls out a small photo that she hid there while Castle was reading to Tommy.
"Is this what I think it is? Are you – are we- "
"Yes, Castle. I'm pregnant. I went to the doctor today and she confirmed it. I'm 10 weeks."
"But how did I not know? I knew before you did with Tommy." Castle says a little hurt that he was just now finding out about their baby.
"Hey, be happy. We've both been swamped with cases and your edits for weeks now. I just happened to get a break in my work to realize that I was 2 months late."
"I'm definitely happy. Is this why you're so worked up over Tommy's little sister comment?"
"Yea. Kinda. How could he know I was pregnant?"
"He doesn't know that Kate. He was tired and I'm pretty sure that there's a kid in his class whose mom is pregnant too. So stop worrying so much about our baby up stairs, and start helping me celebrate our new baby down here."
As the celebrating commenced between the happy couple, a soft chuckle was expelled outside on the sidewalk below. Madame Zathena knew what the couple was in for, but she would only reveal the secrets necessary to aid in the proper raising of her great grandchildren.