Prompt from Tumblr:

S7 fic: Castle is found and dealing with some PTSD. Kate finds out she is pregnant, but Castle is having a hard time connecting to her and the pregnancy.

Chapter 1: Alone

"Castle" Kate says to get his attention. She's stood opposite him in the lounge of the loft, after another morning of awkwardness has resulted in her finally telling him what she's wanted to for the past week. "I'm trying so hard to help you. I go with you to every therapy session, I hold you through each nightmare and every time I think that we're getting somewhere there's something else. But I need you to help me too, in less than two months I'll be giving birth to our son. Our child, Rick. I'm hurting too but I can't do this on my own.

"Each time I wake up to find you not there I'm scared that you've left us. Every time you shout at me or we have a fight I fear that you'll tell me to leave or just walk out.

"I'm in the last trimester and this pregnancy is getting hard. I can't tie my shoes or pick something up from the floor. Every time I get up it takes effort and each day it gets harder. You've not been to an appointment, you don't even touch me and going out on a limb here but right now I don't see you holding my hand when I'm giving birth. So what is it? Do you even want me anymore? Is this child going to be an inconvenience to you?"

She's met only with a stunned look with no words.

"I think I got my answer." Kate grabs her bag and makes her way to the door.

As she walks past him, he stops her by holding her arm. "Kate, wait."

"Figure out what you want, Castle. I need to know where I'm going to be in two months' time, who or if anyone I can rely on to support me. I cannot raise a new born in this environment."

He releases her arm, as she continues towards the door each step breaks her heart a little more with the tears falling more and more.

Even after she's gone he is still shocked at her words.

"Richard, dear, she's right." Martha says as she's descending the stairs. "I don't think you realise how much she's doing for you, for all of us. You don't see her cry; she's exhausted the poor girl. When she found out that she was pregnant, you weren't here to see her cry, to cry for you. She's terrified, any first time parent is but you have no idea what she's been through. Her doctor tells her to keep her stress down, how can she do that when she's in such a precarious situation?"

Rick is unable to form any words before his mother continues.

"Somewhere deep down inside of you there is the Richard Castle that is her fiancé but if you keep pushing her away she'll believe that he's gone. I'll tell you one thing for definite, there's no way I'm going to let that girl go through this on her own. She hasn't got her own mother and right now she hasn't got her partner either."

Her speech has still not got a response from Rick so Martha carries on.

"Kiddo, you had better buck your ideas up, decide if you want to be a part of your child's life or not. If you do, then get your act together and tell Katherine but don't leave her hanging. For her sake and for the sake of your son."

Martha finishes as she leaves her son, once again, shocked at what has just been said.

After a testing morning at work, Kate still manages to make it to Rick's appointment on time. "Hi, Becky." Kate said to the receptionist at the psychiatrist's office. "Is Rick here yet?"

"I'm sorry, Kate, didn't he tell you?" Kate shook her head in response. "He cancelled his appointment, said that something had come up."

"Great, just flaming great." Kate rubbed her forehead, still in disbelief of this. Becky saw a tear fall from Kate's eye.

"Are you okay, Kate?"

"No." Kate replied as her voice was breaking. "I really hoped that we were getting somewhere. We had a fight earlier but I said that I'd be here for him." She shook her head again before gasping. Her hand flew to her back.

"Kate? Is it the baby?"

Kate waits for the pain to pass, as each second goes by Becky gets increasingly worried. "Yes, it's just Braxton hicks though."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, thank you for your concern though. I only wished that Rick cared as much."

"Kate-" Becky said, her voice laden with concern and sorrow for the pregnant woman.

"No, sorry, it's not your fault. I had better get going, leave you to your job. I better go try save mine." Kate said as she turned to go.

"Kate, at least sit down and let me call you a cab."

"Thanks." Kate was grateful that she wouldn't have the responsibility of hailing a cab. Apparently New York cabbies don't pay attention to pregnant women.

"Sounds like you could use an appointment." Becky said as she placed the phone back on the receiver.

"I just want my fiancée back." Kate pleaded softly.

"I know that if you needed it Doctor Burke would see you, even though you're not technically a patient anymore."

"I'll think about it." It wasn't so much a therapist she needed more just someone to talk to and help her but isn't that what Burke did before?

"He could see you at home, if you'd prefer."

"I know he would, it's just...let me get today over with and I'll see where I'm at."

"Okay, you can call me too if you want. I know I'm not a psychiatrist or anything but I'd be happy to listen." Becky replied as she wrote down her number on a business card then giving it to Kate.

"Thank you, I'll do that."

"It's okay." Becky had always had sympathy for Kate. She'd seen Kate quite often the past few years now she wasn't a patient but still came with Rick.

Later that afternoon Kate arrived outside the building of her OBGYN to see Martha standing by the door. "Hi Martha, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here for you." Martha answered as if it wasn't obvious. To be fair there wasn't another reason.

"You don't have to." While Martha had been before Kate didn't want her to feel as if she had to. Martha had her own job it wasn't usual that the mother in law attends the appointments, mother of the soon to be mother maybe.

"I'm not letting you do this on your own. I told Richard he better come but I didn't know if he would so I came in case."

"Thank you." Kate said as she took Martha's hand.

"I'm not letting you do this on your own, besides it is my grandson."

"Yeah, it is." Kate said in reflection, Rick should be here not Martha. It was his child after all.

"Katherine, I did this on my own and I was terrified, I wasn't going to let you do this on your own when you didn't have to. I don't know what is wrong with Richard-"

"He didn't come to the appointment today, he cancelled it."

"He did what?" Martha was truly shocked, after what she had told her son in the morning he had only gone and done the opposite.

"Yep, I turned up only for the receptionist to tell me that he'd cancelled."

"Oh, Katherine." Martha hugged Kate, from the side as Kate's bump got in the way.

"I'm trying so hard but I'm beginning to think that he doesn't want to help."

"I heard you two this morning." Martha told Kate.

"I need stability, Martha. I've got eight weeks, if that, left. What brought it to a front was my appointment and the Braxton Hicks. Did you hear the fight yesterday?"

"No, I didn't."

"He told me to be quiet, that I had no idea what he was going through and all those lines. Gosh, Martha, I felt small and scared. What if he takes it out on the baby and hurts him? I can't have that. I'd rather do it on my own." More tears were collecting in Kate's eye as she spoke, it was getting harder to speak.

"Katherine-"

"Let's go, I'll be late." Kate said in a tone that left no room for question, both women walked slowly into the building hoping that good news would come of this appointment.

"Kate, I'm putting you on bed rest. Your blood pressure is through the roof, you're stressed and at risk of pre-eclampsia." The doctor said as she removed her gloves.

"No. I-" Kate started before being cut off.

"Kate, you do this or you're putting yourself and your baby at serious risk."

"I'll lose my job." She pleaded.

"No, you won't. It's illegal." The doctor countered.

"Rick needs me to-"

"Kate, each time this comes up. He can't be your priority at the moment." The doctor warned her knowing of the stress that was already a problem.

"The doctor is right, Katherine." Martha told her.

"Fine, I'll do it." Kate accepted that the doctor was right. The baby was the priority so Kate needed to take care of herself.

"Good." The doctor was relieved that Kate had put up less of a fight; apparently Martha's presence had a positive effect each time.

For Kate the day had gone from devastating to shattering, there weren't many more things that could make this day any worse. She had almost certainly lost the person who was supposed to be her fiancé and had been told that because of what had been going on she was putting her health and that of her child's at risk. Her world was crumbling in front of her.

Martha hailed a cab for them while Kate sat inside the lobby. The building was only a few minutes to Kate's place but being pregnant, even without being on bed rest, meant the walk was too much. Once in the cab Kate rattled her old address off to the driver, not the address of the loft.

"Katherine, what are you doing?" Martha asked in a panicked voice. She couldn't understand why Kate had told the driver her address.

"I'm going to my place." Kate replied while she searched for her keys in her handbag; anything to avoid looking at the red haired woman.

"I thought it was being rented out."

"It was, the last tenants moved out two weeks ago. I told the estate agents to remove the listing."

"Why though?"

"Why do you think?" Kate asked as she turned to look at Martha. "I saw this coming. I can't be on bed rest at the loft; it won't do anything for my blood pressure." Kate explained, she needed peace and quiet. At least at her place she would get quiet and a bit of peace.

"But you'll be on your own." Martha stressed as if it wasn't apparent. She wanted Kate to be at the loft surrounded by people, people that cared about her.

"I'll ring if I need help." Although if she did need any help it probably would be wise to call the emergency medical services or Lanie rather than Martha, no offense but it would be more likely a medical issue.

"Katherine-"

"I'm not going to leave my baby without a mother as well as a father." It may have been wrong, Rick may have taken care of their son if anything happened to her but she wanted to be there for her son. No child should have to grow up without a parent.

"Katherine, please." Martha beseeched, she really didn't want Kate to be on her own at her place.

"Martha, I don't think I can do this anymore." Kate said as the cabbed pulled up, her voice breaking and tears beginning to fall. "Please don't follow me." Kate got out of the cab, bags in hand and closed the door forcefully ensuring Martha stayed in the cab.

Martha was stunned, she knew Katherine had be down and losing hope but she didn't realise what a poor state mentally she was in. The last hour had been an eye opener. At least the doorman had come out to escort Kate into the building, taking her bags also. He was a good man, so was her son but what had been going on had to stop. Now.

"Richard Castle, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Martha shouted as she walked into the loft, heading straight for her son's office.

"What do you mean, mother?" Rick replied not even looking up from his computer.

"Katherine. Cancelling appointments then not telling her, not attending another one of the scans not even asking how it went or how she is." Martha continued in a raised voice, still furious at her son.

"She's fine. I'll ask her when she gets home. For the appointment, I didn't feel like going. I didn't think she'd be there so didn't tell her." Rick finally looked up at his mother but his tone made him sound as if he didn't care or had more important things to concern him.

"Home? She's not coming home. And as for how she is, she's been put on bed rest and is at risk of pre-eclampsia."

"What?" Finally, a reaction.

"Richard, I don't know what is wrong with you anymore. I see every day a bit more of hope die inside of Katherine. She's gone back to her old place because she didn't want to be on bed rest here. She said it would only make things worse."

"But this is her home."

"After the way you treat her? I know you've been through a lot but, darling, you can't say things to her the way you do. The truth is that she's been where you are." Rick looks on in shock. "Yep, she was kidnapped too. I promised not to tell you but frankly this is breaking point. If you want to save your relationship with her then I suggest you go over there right now, apologise and actually try because if you don't then she won't live here for a while, if ever, again."

"Is it really that bad?"

"Yes it is." She answered thankful that he had at least listened to her. Rick stood quickly to collect his coat and left the loft promptly.

I've written nearly all of the story but wanted to get the first chapter up before the premiere aired.

If you've got something nice to say then I would like to hear it :)

Thanks for reading.