A/N: Here is a short one shot! I am still writing Undercover Mother and Here Again, I only have a few weeks left of school so life will slow down! A new chapter of Undercover Mother should be up soon, but Here Again still has a wait, I hope to start it again after school is out! I hope you enjoy!
Read the Story by: StaticStanatic
Summary: They had been warned that her heart could be affected by the pregnancy, but after nine months of an easy pregnancy with no issues, the warnings were pushed back in their minds, until the birth.
The Hearts Reappearance
It has been months of doctors appointments, and worried expressions. They have been through endless tests, but they all proved to be normal. Kate's OB and cardiologist, kept a short leash at the beginning, with endless worry that her heart would not make it through the pregnancy, but after months of no signs, they pushed it in the back of their heads, so did Kate and Castle. The pregnancy had been easy after the morning sickness was officially gone. They were able to finish the nursery early with the walls covered in a light green paint with white furniture going around the walls. Above the crib in delicate cursive displayed the name Lorelai, the name that Kate and Castle decided to give their little miracle. Only they didn't realize how accurate they were…Lorelai would be a miracle.
"Kate don't go to work, you only have two weeks before your due date, stay home!" Castle groaned from the bed as he watched Kate get dressed.
"Exactly Castle, Lorelai won't be here for two weeks, I am going to work." She responded with a smile as she continued to get ready.
"Fine then I'm going with you" he groaned getting out of bed and toward the bathroom.
"Well hurry up Castle I don't want to be late!" Kate yelled attaching her badge to her hip. They finally left the loft fifteen minutes later; they went straight to the station while Beckett went her desk as Castle went to make her some tea.
"Hey Beckett, how is little Castle?" Ryan asked walking up to his boss.
"She is good, currently kicking my spleen" Kate responded with a smile. Castle returned with her tea and they started discussing the case that covered the board. It was currently covered by a murder of a twenty three year old man, named Blake Hernandez. He was found in central park still dressed in running cloths, they had narrowed the cause of death to him being poisoned, and they just had to wait for Lanie to identify the drug. All of a sudden they heard the elevator ding and a voice that made everyone jump.
"KATHERINE HOUGHTON BECKETT- CASTLE!"
"Hi Lanie, what can I do for you?" Kate asked nicely.
"Don't hi Lanie me! What are you doing here?" Lanie asked sternly.
"Lanie, I am fine, I still have two weeks." She responded as Lanie gave her a glare. "What are you doing up here?"
"Well I have results, then I found out you were here so I came up here to yell at you. Your victim had high levels of carbon monoxide in his blood stream"Lanie said looking at everyone still agitated with Kate
"Where would he have gotten monoxide poisoning?" Everyone was thinking looking at the board when Kate started to feel light headed.
"Castle…" She rasped out when her world turned black. When Kate said his name he was able to walk behind her as she fainted in his arms.
"Oh my god Kate!" Castle said still holding his wife in his arms. Lanie got down on her knees checking Kate's pulse, it was weak but present.
"Espo call 911, we need to get her to a hospital, Ryan call Martha, Alexis, and Jim, tell them what happened." Lanie yelled off. The paramedics were quick to show up with a stretcher in hand as Lanie helped in every way she could.
"Katherine Beckett- Castle…36 years old…38 weeks pregnant, showed no symptoms prior to passing out, but has prior heart surgery from a bullet to the chest four years ago." She said in a quick fluid motion. Everyone watched as they got her on the stretcher, one paramedic was giving her oxygen, while the other placed an IV on her arm. The then rushed away with everyone following. Lanie ended up riding with the paramedics to help, and the boys drove Castle.
The car ride was quite as castle rubbed his hands down his face. When Espo pulled up to the Emergency doors castle imminently ran to the front desk.
"My wife…she was brought in" Castle said breathless.
"I'm sorry sir, you're going to have to wait" She said not looking up.
"No you don't understand!" Castle said with tears starting to fall down his cheeks.
"Dad…" Castle heard in a whisper making him turn around to see Alexis standing there with Jim and Martha. He opened his arms as Alexis ran in to them, as his tears continued to fall down his face. They all stood for a minute when the saw Lanie walk out.
"Let's sit down" Lanie said motioning towards the chairs a few feet away. They all sat including the boys who had came in after parking the car. "While in the Ambulance we hooked Kate up to a heart monitor and to a fetal monitor. Now it seems like her heart is having a hard time keeping up, but we don't know."
"And the baby"? Asked Jim looking at Lanie
"The baby's heart rate looks good, but she is now in active labor, and her water broke when we got here. When we did arrive her OB and cardiologist were already waiting, the last thing I know is she was stable but still unconscious." Lanie said with sadness in her voice.
"Thank you" Castle said in a whisper looking at the wall. It has been an hour and they had still not heard anything. Alexis currently sat between her grandparents as her head lay on Jim's shoulder, while holding Martha's hand. Castle sat in the chair closet to the doors, while the boys and Lanie sat in the corner. They all looked up when the saw Castle jumped out of his chair.
"Hi Rick"
"Addison thank god" Rick said hugging Kate's doctor that has become a family friend. Addison grabbed his hands pulling him down to the chairs, where the rest of the family could also hear her.
"Now when Kate came in, her heart was racing. Now we were able to stabilize it but not for long. Rick we need to do a C-section, we feared her heart would not be able to handle the pregnancy, and it seems that it has became a reality." Addison said looking at Castle.
"Will I be able to be there, like we discussed?"
"I am sorry Rick, but right now she is too critical, unfortunately she will also miss the birth short of speak. She will be under anesthesia the whole time to hopefully reduce the stress on her heart." She answered softly.
"Do it, just safe them both" Castle said as a new batch of tears fell down his face.
"I wouldn't have it any other way, I will personally come get you when you can see either of them" Addison getting up a rushing behind the double doors.
"Lanie how long?" Castle said not looking up from the floors.
"A routine C-section takes forty five minutes" Lanie said quietly. It has been ninety since they saw Addison…Each minute everyone watched at Castle got more and more anxious, when finally the person they wanted to see, walked through the doors, as everyone jumped out of their seat.
"Congratulations Rick, you have a seven pound eight ounce healthy baby girl!" Addison said with a smile on her face as everyone mirrored her smile.
"How is Kate?" Castle asked with worry in his voice.
"Kate is stable…but during delivery she did go into cardiac arrest, we were able to bring her back within a minute. For now we decided her body needed to recover. Kate is currently in medically induced coma for now to help her heal properly." She responded to the family.
"How long?" Martha asked Addison.
"Right now we don't know…when we see improvement; we will talk about weaning her off the meds." Addison said looking around to see everyone looking at the ground. "For now Rick, will you like to meet your daughter?" She was met with a nod. "Now we do have rules on the number of people, but right now I think we can over look it." Addison said as everyone followed behind the doors.
They reached the nursery when Addison bent down to pick up the little baby wrapped in a white blanket with a pink hat on her head. She placed the little bundle in Castles waiting arms, as his face showing pure joy.
"Hi peanut, I can't believe you are finally here, your mommy and I couldn't wait to meet you, I know she wishes she could be here, but she will be soon." He finally turned around forgetting that the entire family was behind him. "Everyone I would like you to meet Lorelai Adi Castle"
"Awe Richard that is beautiful" Martha said with tears looking at her newest granddaughter. They sat around until the baby started to cry clearly hungry.
"While the nurses feed her I can show you all to Kate's room" Addison said watching as the nurse made a bottle for baby Castle. They all nodded as they walked down the hall. "Remember, it looks worse than it is" she said holding open Kate's door. When Castle saw her, it made him go weak in the knees, she had IVs in her hand, connected to machines all beeping in sync and the worse part in Castle opinion was the tube down her throat and taped to her face. Castle came around the bed landing in the chair grabbing her ice cold hand. He looked up to see tears in the rest of the family's eyes.
Castle was exhausted; it has been three days since Kate was admitted. He tired to split his time between Kate and Lore, leaving him little time to sleep. The boys and Lanie would come to visit, but never stayed long, while Alexis, Jim, and Martha never left. Castle sat in the chair holding her hand, while the family sat in the corner reading, when there was a knock at the door.
"Good Morning" said Addison walking in the room, giving a smile to the family "I talked to her cardiologist, and we think it is time to start taking her off the medicine. Her heart is looking good and her incision has been healing well." She was met with smiles as she walked over to Kate's IV pole, downing her meds.
"When will the tube be removed?" Asked Castle with concern.
"Unfortunally, it won't be taken out, until she is fully awake, and we know everything will be okay. That's where you guys come in. You have to keep her calm, when she wakes up. I know it will be tough but we have to, or she can hurt herself. Rick want you to stay there, Alexis sit beside him, Jim sit on the other side of the bed and grab her hand, and Martha sit beside him. I know keeping Kate calm will be difficult but we don't want her to pull out the tube or rip her stitches. Rick and Jim, I need you to hold her hands and don't let go, don't let her pull out the tube. She should be waking up in about twenty minutes, and when she does, call a nurse so we can ask her questions and hopefully take out the tube." The all nodded as Addison walked out.
They didn't need to wait long, when Kate's eyes started to flutter. "It's okay Kate, I am right here" Castle said softly next to her ear. When she heard Castles voice her eyes shot open with fear.
"Kate, babe it's okay, we are all right here, just calm down" Castle said running his free hand through her curls after pressing the button. Only a few minutes later Addison came running in.
"Kate, I know you're scared, but look at me, I need you to follow my instructions, so we can remove the tube." Addison said looking at Kate's eye that showed her fear. "Wiggle your toes for me Kate… Squeeze my fingers…follow my finger" She commanded as Kate passed each one with flying colors.
"Okay Rick, she looks good, I think it would be a benefit to remove the tube, her blood pressure is a little high, but I believe it's because she's agitated." She said professionally. "Now Kate I am going to asked your dad to step away from the bed so your hands will be free, you have to promise to behave and not try to remove anything, or we will have to wait. Blink once if you promise." Addison said waiting to see Kate blink in response. "Alright, let's take this thing out, everyone except Rick pleased step away from the bed." They all complied as Addison put the gloves on and removed the tape from around Kate's mouth. "Now Kate as I remove the tube I need you to cough as hard as you can" She said as she gently removed the tube from Kate's mouth as she coughed violently. When they finally removed the tube, Addison placed an oxygen mask on Kate's face. It took a few minutes when finally Kate's vitals returned to normal; Addison removed the oxygen mask and placed oxygen underneath her nose, sitting down in the chair next to the bed.
It took Kate a few minutes to open her eyes again looking around the room to see the faces of her family, when the tears started to fall.
"Castle what happened" asked Kate in a raspy voice.
"You fainted at the station and was rushed here" Castle responded gently.
"Is Lorelai okay!?" Kate asked with fear, that's when Addison decided to jump in.
"Kate, what we feared your whole pregnancy, happened. Your heart couldn't handle it. You have been in medically induced coma, for three days. Now the baby is a healthy bubbly little girl. All the nurses love her in the nursery." Addison said with a smile
"Can I see her?" Kate asked hopeful.
"Sure, I will go get her." Addison responded leaving the room. Kate looked around with her eyes landed on Castle.
"I am so sorry Castle" She rasped out with tears falling down her face.
"It's okay Kate, it's not your fault" He said gently gripping her hand.
"Yes it is, you asked me not to go to work and I did"
"Kate it doesn't matter now, all that matters is that you and Lorelai are okay." Rick said kissing her forehead. The both looked at the door when they heard Addison walking in pushing in their little princess. She walked over to Kate's bed slowing pushing the bed up so Kate was in a sitting position as she winced in pain. She then placed the baby in her mother's arms, where she belonged the whole time.
Kate looked down at her baby girl, she was perfect. This was her little Lorelai, her little miracle!
One Year Later
"Happy Birthday dear Lorelai, happy birthday to you," They all sang as the little girl in the pink dress smashed the cake in her face. Lorelai was a bubbly little girl, which rarely cried and was always smiling, showing everyone her Castle charm to everyone. Castle walked over to his wife laying his hand over her scar from that day.
"Our little girl is one today, we did good." Castle said kissing Kate's temple.
A/N: I hope you all like my little one shot!