A/N: Written for Castle Fanfic Monday AND a delayed promise to my Tumblr followers for reaching a new milestone. Part of the Henry 'verse started in A Glimpse
At the sound of an infant's whimper, Kate Beckett's eyes popped open and she was instantly awake. Her heart beginning to race due to her rapid departure from a peaceful slumber, she lay still against her pillow and turned her gaze to the bassinet a few feet away. The whimper came again, followed by a snuffle and then silence. After holding her breath for thirty more seconds, Kate relaxed; he wasn't awake, just dreaming. The same, however, could not be said for her.
Glancing at the clock, Kate saw it was barely after seven in the morning. Ordinarily, sleeping past seven would be great for a child. However, Henry had only been sleeping since his three a.m. feeding ended. Still, four hours was a rather decent stretch for a baby so small. It was the longest he'd slept at one time overnight to date, so she was going to mark that as a check in the "Win" column.
Stretching out her legs, Kate tried to tuck herself back against her pillow, but it was too late. The adrenaline surge of her child potentially needing her was more than enough to make her alert; she would not be able to sleep again for several hours.
Lying there, she could not help but think how amusing motherly instinct could be. She had never considered herself a motherly person, but the moment Henry was placed on her chest she felt exactly what Castle had once described as lightning. Her love for him was immediate; her need to care for him instantaneous and from that point forward she instinctually did things she would have otherwise never thought of.
Hearing Henry whimper again, Kate couldn't help herself. She tossed back the covers and reached for her robe as she slid out of bed. She walked the four steps to the bassinet and peered inside. He lay on his back, zipped in his soft blue sleep sack, his eyelids fluttering now and then, though clearly still asleep. Despite the fact that she could feel exhaustion weighing on her shoulders, a smile spread across Kate's face as she gazed at her little boy. She loved him so much, and it had only been a week! Well, in two hours and ten minutes it would be a week.
After a smooth pregnancy, Kate had gone into labor while sitting at her desk in the precinct, much to the shock of both Ryan and Esposito. Her due date was ten days away and, knowing that most first babies end up being born after they're due, she intended to work until the day she gave birth. The moment her water broke she was understandably flustered, but Ryan, who had been through the process with Jenny nine months earlier, calmly called Castle and made arrangements for Kate to get to the hospital. It was only as she was waddling towards the cab that Kate heard Esposito speak his first coherent sentence: a complaint that he had lost the "When will Kate have her baby" pool and LT had won.
Kate could not have asked for a better labor partner than her husband, who seemed to intuitively know the exact times to encourage her and the ones when she needed him to step back and give her a few moments for herself. She had put in many double and even triple shifts during her years as a detective, so laboring all night did not concern her. The pain, however, was incredibly draining.
Much to the shock of her labor and birth class instructor, Kate had insisted that she would have no problem with a completely natural delivery. She had, after all, survived and recovered from a sniper's bullet to the heart and, really, how could the natural process of giving birth be worse than that? Having no basis for argument, Castle could not disagree with her, and supported her in her decision to write up her birth plan as such. Then, the contractions started. Kate wasn't sure if they were worse than the pains she felt with every breath she took those first few weeks after being shot, but they were damn close to the same level.
Had she not been so stubborn and determined Kate probably would have given in to the epidural after just a few hours, but she was Kate Beckett and Kate Beckett did not give in easily when she made up her mind about something. Though it was not an experience she was eager to repeat too many more times, when Henry arrived it had all been worth it and she (almost) completely forgot about all the discomfort.
The fact that all that had taken place a week earlier didn't seem right at all; it felt like much longer. After barely thirty-six hours in the hospital, the new family of three returned to the loft where they were showered in affection by the ones they loved most. As her hormones were as off kilter as they'd ever been, Kate found herself tearing up each time Henry met a new family member or friend. While Castle found her tears very amusing, Kate felt more embarrassed than anything else—despite Marth and Jenny assuring her that her reaction was one hundred percent normal.
Though they already had many firsts—his first bath, his first spit up, the first time he'd peed on his father's face because Castle was used to changing girls' diapers not boys'—Kate knew there would be many more to come in the coming weeks and months. Though she looked forward to all of them, she also wished he could stay her eight pound perfect little angel forever. She could already see changes in him owing to the fact that she'd spend hours memorizing every inch of him; she had no idea how she was going to handle big changes. Fortunately, she wouldn't be alone for any of them.
To say that Kate was in love with her husband would have been a grand understatement. She loved him more than she ever thought she could love anyone—and that was before they became parents together. For the duration of her pregnancy, he proved again and again what an amazing and supportive partner he was and the seven days since Henry was born had been no different.
More than just his love and support, Kate never appreciated the fact that he was not a first time father more than she had over the prior months. In fact, it was just about the only thing that kept her sane. Every time she would read conflicting information in a pregnancy book or on one of the many "Mommy blogs" she'd begun to read, she would tell Castle and he would either brief her on his experience with Alexis or, if it was something he had not had to deal with, they would talk about it. The bedroom bassinet was the perfect example.
Right from the beginning, Castle was insistent that Henry spend at least his first few months sleeping in a bassinet in their bedroom rather than in the room that would ultimately be his. Early on, Kate didn't question it, but when she finally did, Castle explained that Meredith had insisted the opposite and he found the experience inefficient and cumbersome. More so: that experience took place in an apartment with one level, not the loft in which Henry's bedroom would be on a different floor than the master suite.
Evidently, Meredith had only attempted to breast feed for a few days before she threw in the towel after, in Castle's view, not even really trying. After that, they switched to bottles so they could share feeding duties. Naturally, this quickly turned to Castle handling eighty percent of the feedings and he thought walking to the nursery and feeding Alexis there disrupted his sleep more than simply scooping her into bed with him would have. Seeing as Kate intended to breast feed for as long as she could, she agreed with her husband's reasoning, but wasn't certainly she would have thought of it without his encouragement.
Several minutes later, Kate was still so entranced by her sleeping child that she had not even heard her husband get out of bed. It wasn't until his arms slid around her waist that she realized he was up. She sighed quietly and leaned back against his chest while he dropped a kiss on her head and whispered, "I love seeing you this happy."
Kate's smile grew a little bit bigger. She was happy. Truly and honestly happy. Exhausted out of her mind, still sore in many places, and functioning on a basic eat-sleep-repeat level—yes, but also very happy. "I didn't know it could be like this. I just love him so much and I think about him constantly and worry about him...and it's barely been a week." She confessed with a half laugh.
He squeezed her a bit tighter. "Welcome to parenthood."
Kate tilted her chin up and turned her head so she could brush her lips against his cheek. He was entirely right; she had perfectly defined what being a mother was about and she couldn't wait to experience every second of it. Snuggling a bit tighter against him she said, "It's so funny, Castle. I never ever thought of myself as a person who needed a husband or a child to feel complete. It was always...well if that happens, great, but if not I'll find other ways to be satisfied, but now, looking at him, I feel this odd sense of completion. Like our family is finally whole."
His arms slid away as he stepped to the side so he could better look at her in bedroom lit only by the dim ambient light coming from the office. "But not complete, right? You still want more than one child don't you?"
She chuckled. Yes, when deciding it was the right time to start their family they had discussed the idea of multiple children; however, "Asking me that while the pains of labor are so fresh in my mind probably isn't the best idea, Castle."
He clicked his tongue. "Please—you're Kate Beckett; you eat labor pains for lunch."
She shook her head at him, though there was still a smile on her face. "Don't worry Castle; I still want a second one."
He grinned. "I can't wait. I mean, I can but I can't. does that make sense? Or is the sleep deprivation talking?"
Kate couldn't help but laugh at her husband. He had said on more than one occasion that being a father in his forties was quite different than in his twenties—not that he was complaining. The lack of sleep and exhaustion was at the top of his list of reasons why, but he always promised her he wouldn't change a thing. "Don't worry, Castle; I understand perfectly."
With that, he kissed her and said. "C'mon, let's try to catch a few more minutes of sleep before he wakes up hungry."
Thought she was doubtful she'd actually fall asleep, Kate willingly climbed into bed and folded herself in her husband's arms, never wanting to miss an opportunity to snuggle with him. She also knew that someday in the not too distant future it would be the three of them snuggling together; she couldn't wait.