A/N: Hi, I'm new to FanFiction, and this is my first ever Castle FanFiction story. A couple of my friends read it and told me I should post it, so here it is. I hope you enjoy. This is set after the 8x19 episode "Dead Again".
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Castle. Castle belongs to the wonderful Andrew W. Marlowe and ABC.
"A New Chapter, A New Beginning"
Famous mystery novelist, Richard Castle, stood at the foot of the bed watching his wife sleep. His wife NYPD Captain Kate Beckett Castle. Castle watched Kate peacefully sleep in their bed with all the love and adoration in his eyes. He smiles when he sees Kate stir before waking up. Kate opens her eyes and sees Castle standing there. She smiles, "What are you doing Castle?"
"Watching my beautiful, extraordinary wife sleep."
"Again? You did the same thing last week."
"True, but I love watching you sleep. You look so peaceful when you sleep. Even with the things going on that should be causing you stress, you seem relaxed."
As Kate sits up in bed, Castle sits down at the foot, so they can look at each other in the eye as the talk.
"Well, when I have a wonderful, goofy, loving husband like you, it's easy to be relaxed when I sleep. You make me feel safe. You're my home.
They both lean in for a gentle and loving kiss.
Castle asks, "Have you thought about what you want your next chapter to be?"
"Sort of. I mean, I've only been Captain of the 12th for less than a year. I'm not sure if I'm ready to move on to the next thing."
"But, last week you thought going to Paris was a good idea. You said that Paris was nice this time of year."
"Yes, I did say that, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to go now."
Castle's body deflates a little as Kate says this.
"Oh, I see", Castle says sadly.
"Babe, I love you. I would love to go to Paris with you some day, but it will just have to wait a little while. We have the rest of lives."
Hesitantly, Castle replies. "How long will that be, Kate? With this Locksat thing, how long is the rest of our lives?"
"About that, Castle, I'm thinking Locksat will have to wait as well as Paris. Maybe we even stop investigating Locksat altogether."
With a shocked and confused look on his face Castle asks, "What? Kate, you've been going after Locksat for almost a year. You walked out the front door and left me behind because of it. Are you really going to give it up?"
Placing her hand on top of his, "Well, I'm thinking that we kind of need a new chapter. We've been married for a year and half and it may be time for a new chapter in our life."
"Wait, are you saying that you want to start trying for a baby?"
"No."
Castle is just as confused as ever. Before Castle can say anything, Kate leans over to reach the drawer in her end table and pulls out a small rectangular box. Castle just stares, mouth agape at the small box in Kate's hand.
"What's that?" Castle asks.
Handing the box over to Castle, "Open it and find out."
Still staring at the box that is now in his hand, he hesitates to open the box. Castle is scared in what could be in the box. He is still confused, because his birthday just passed and it's not Father's Day. When Castle finally opens the box to reveal what's inside, his jaw drops to the floor. With his mouth still open he looks up to look at Kate. Kate has a smile on her face.
"Is this for real? Are you serious?" Castle asks surprised. All Kate could do was smile and nod her head. After smiling at each other for a while, they lean in and give each other a big and loving kiss.
After they pull away, Kate replies, "Yes, I'm serious. Locksat and Paris will have to wait. We don't have to start trying for a baby, because I'm already pregnant."
With the biggest smile on his face he asks, "When did you find out? How far along are you?"
"I took the test a couple of days ago. I have an appointment with my doctor in a couple of days to confirm and to find out how far along I am. I have an idea of how far along I am, but I'm not 100% sure."
"How far along do you think you are?" the excitement all over Castle's face.
"I think I'm about 6-8 weeks."
"So, that means it was…?"
"It means it was somewhere between you coming home from LA and me coming home for good."
"Wow! Amazing." Castle leans in to give his wife a kiss.
"Yeah, well, we did have quite a bit of celebrating to do around that time, which is why I think it was within that time."
Castle kisses his wife very lovingly. "I love you so much."
With a smile on her face, "I love you too, babe."
"This is one of the best things to happen to me, besides the day Alexis was born and the day we got married."
All Kate could do was smile and give her famous Kate Beckett eye roll. Her husband was so sappy sometimes, but she loves it. Castle leans over to kiss Kate's, still flat, belly. Castle then whispers to his unborn child, "I love you." He sits up straighter to give Kate a kiss and whispers, "I love you too."
"Oh, Castle, you're so sappy. But, I love you too. Would you like to come with me to my appointment?"
Castle pauses for a moment before answering. "I would love to. Thank you." Castle's smile turns to a frown as he remembers the past. Kate notices this and is a little concerned.
"What's wrong, babe?" Castle doesn't answer, he just stares down onto the bed. Kate takes hold of Castle's hands, "Babe?"
"It's nothing. I'm fine."
"Castle, you're not fine. Something is bothering you. What is it?"
Castle takes a deep breath to get his composure together before answering. "It's just…"
"Just what, babe?" Kate's heart is breaking a little to see Castle feeling down.
"It's just that Meredith never really let me be a part of her pregnancy with Alexis. This is all new to me, even though I will be a father for a second time." Kate's grip on Castle's hands tighten to give him encouragement and to let him know that she is there for him. Castle looks up to Kate to finish his story. "Meredith never asked me to go to any of her appointments. She never wanted me to kiss her let alone touch her while she was pregnant. I never got to hear Alexis' heartbeat before she was born. I didn't even know she was a girl until the day she was born. The only thing Meredith wanted me to do for her during her pregnancy was make sure her cravings were taken care of." Castle takes another deep breath before continuing, keeping his emotions at bay. "I wasn't even there the moment Alexis came into this world. Meredith didn't want me in the room with her."
Kate's heart was breaking even more for Castle. She had no idea how much of Meredith's pregnancy experience he had missed out on. It was as if he was going through the whole thing for the first time. Which in a way he was. "Babe, I will never do that to you. I want you there through all of this. You've done the parenting thing before, I haven't. If you can't make it to one of the appointments, I'll be ok with that. But, if you miss the birth of our child, I will have to hurt you. I will need you more than ever when I have to give birth to our baby. I don't think I could do it without you."
Castle gives her a small smile and squeezes her hand before giving her a kiss.
Two Days Later
Kate woke up before her alarm when a wave a nausea hit her. She gets up from bed and runs to the bathroom. She makes it to the toilet just in time to empty out her stomach. Castle wakes up to the sound of his wife throwing up in the bathroom. He gets up from bed to meet his wife in their bathroom. He sees his wife hunched over the toilet. He walks up behind her to help hold her hair back and to rub soothing circles on her back. Their doctor's appointment is today at 10am. The time, now, is 5:30am.
Once Kate's stomach had been emptied, she looks up at Castle and gives him a small smile as a thanks. Castle helps her up off the bathroom floor and she walks over to the sink to brush her teeth and rinse out her mouth. While she's doing that Castle goes to the kitchen in search of some breakfast. Once Castle has figured out what to do for breakfast, he goes in search of his wife, only to find her back in their bed fast asleep. He thinks that all the throwing up she did took a lot of energy out of her. He goes back out to the kitchen to make a pot of decaf coffee, just to be on the safe side, while he lets her sleep a little while longer. When the coffee is done and breakfast has been made, he sets it all on a tray and brings Kate breakfast in bed.
Castle places the tray on Kate's end table and wakes her up. It's 6:30am now and they need to be at the precinct at 8am, to get some work done before going to the doctor. Kate gives Castle a kiss on the lips, "Thanks for breakfast, babe."
"Always."
"You made me coffee?"
"Yes, but it's decaf, just as a precaution. But, I'm pretty sure you're pregnant, after the throwing up you did earlier."
"Yeah, I'm pretty certain now too. But, we still need to go get checked, make sure myself and the baby are ok."
"Come on, eat up. You and the baby need some energy. We've got a little work to do before we go to our appointment."
Once breakfast has been eaten and the coffee has been consumed, the Castles are off to the precinct. Captain Beckett and her husband arrive at the precinct just before 8am. She sits down at her desk to check any emails and to do some paperwork, while her life partner sits on the couch in her office playing games on his phone. Around 9:30 the crime fighting duo head off to their appointment. So far, Kate has been able to keep her breakfast down.
When Rick and Kate get to the doctor's office they check in and fill out some papers. While waiting for the nurse to call them back, Kate is twiddling her thumbs and Rick is bouncing his knee up and down. At the same time Kate reaches over to stop the knee bouncing, Castle reaches over to try and stop the thumb twiddling.
"Everything is going to be ok, babe."
"I'm not nervous. I'm just anxious and excited. How are you feeling, honey?"
"I'm doing ok. Not as nauseous as I was this morning. But, I'm scared for some reason."
"Honey, it's going to be ok."
"I know, but what if I'm not pregnant?"
"Kate, you took a pregnancy test that came out positive. You threw up this morning. You seem more tired than usual."
"Yeah, but what if it's something else? What if I have something else that give me similar symptoms to pregnancy?"
Before Castle could reply a nurse comes out, "Katherine Castle?"
Kate stands up, while Castle remains seated in shock. He thinks, Katherine Castle? When did she change her name? When Kate realizes her husband wasn't following her, she lends him a hand to bring him with her. "Come on, babe."
Castle is seated in a chair in the corner of the exam room, remaining quiet, while Kate gets checked out. The nurse was running some tests to confirm Kate's pregnancy. After the nurse was done she left Kate and Rick in the room to await the results. It was far too quiet for Kate, so she asks, "Castle? You ok, babe?"
"Huh?"
"You ok, babe? You seem extra quiet. Everything ok?"
"Uh, yeah. I was just lost in thought I guess."
"What were you thinking about?"
"Did you really fill out the papers as Katherine Castle?"
"Yeah. Why do you ask?"
"It's just… I didn't know… I expected…"
"Wow, babe, for a best-selling author, you're having a hard time with words right now." Kate teased him.
"Well, I guess I just didn't know you changed your name. I assumed you kept your name, because of your job. I mean, none of my other wives took my last name. They kept their maiden name." After a slight pause Castle continued, "Did you really take my name?"
"Really? Neither Meredith or Gina took your last name?"
"No. Meredith kept her last name, because that's how she wanted to be remembered when she made it famous. Gina had already made a name for herself as a publisher before she married me, so she kept her name."
"Ah, I see."
"And since I know you made a name for yourself as a cop using your maiden name, I just assumed or expected you to keep your name."
"Yeah, well I had considered it. But, then I thought I would keep Beckett for professional reasons. Like, I will remain Captain Kate Beckett when I'm on the job. When I'm not working, like now, I'm Kate Castle. For personal reasons I am Katherine Castle. This baby and any other children we may have will be a Castle."
Castle smiles at this. "When did you decide to take my name?"
"Well, I didn't change it right away when we got married. It was after the Tyson and Neiman case we had that I decided I wanted to take your name. So, I officially changed it after that case. I officially became a Castle around the time we had that Mars case."
"Wow. I'm so honored. Nobody has ever wanted to take my name before."
There was a knock on the door and the doctor came in.
"Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Castle", the doctor said.
Rick and Kate answered in unison, "Good morning."
"My name is Dr. Long. I have the results here from your test."
Castle got up from the chair he was sitting in to go stand next to his wife. Kate reached for Castle's hand for support to hear the results.
"So?" Castle asked first.
"What are the results?" Kate finished.
Dr. Long answers with a smile on her face. "Congratulations! You two are going to have a baby."
Rick and Kate look at each other, smile and then give each other a loving kiss.
"Thank you, Dr. Long" Kate says.
Castle asks the question he and Kate want to know, "How far along are we?"
"Well, let's see if we can get an ultrasound and see. I would say you're about 7 weeks. I'll be right back while I get the ultrasound."
Dr. Long leaves the room to get the ultrasound. Rick and Kate look at each other with all the love in their eyes.
"Kate, we're having a baby!"
"I know. It's exciting and scary at the same time."
Holding on to her hand, "I'm right here, Kate. I will help you through this. Always."
Dr. Long comes back in with the ultrasound. "Ok, Mrs. Castle, will you roll up your top and unbutton your pants?" Kate did as she was told. "I'm going to put the gel on your belly. Brace yourself it's going to be cold." The doctor put the gel on Kate's belly and Kate let out a tiny gasp. The gel really was cold. Dr. Long moved the ultrasound wand around and stopped once she found the baby. She points at the screen, "There's your baby right there."
Kate and Castle look at the screen in awe of seeing their baby for the first time.
Kate with a tear in her eye, "Wow, that's incredible. It's so tiny." She looks over at her husband who also has a tear in his eye as he looks at the screen.
"By, looking at the ultrasound and estimating by the size of the baby, you're about 7 weeks."
Rick and Kate look at each other, and nod their heads with a smile on their faces. The baby was conceived between the time of Castle coming back from LA and Kate coming home for good, after their fake separation. The Castles look at Dr. Long and at the same time say, "Thank you doctor."
With a smile on her face, Dr. Long says, "You're welcome. I'll leave you two alone." With that, Dr. Long leaves Mr. and Mrs. Castle alone with the image of their baby on the screen.
"So, Kate, what do you think?"
"I love you. I also think it's time to stop investigating Locksat. There is NO WAY I will be putting our baby at risk like that."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Castle. I'm sure. I can't lose you or this baby. From this day forward, no more Locksat. You and this baby are the most important things to me. Paris will have to wait until after the baby is born." Rick and Kate kiss each other. When they pull back they smile and rest their foreheads together. "Rick, this right here", as she rubs her flat stomach, "is a new chapter. It's a new beginning."