A/N: In my world, Rick Castle was born on April 1, 1969. I really wanted to write a story for his birthday, and this is what happened.
Rick Castle was used to celebrating his birthday in big ways; heck in some circles, people still talked about his twentieth birthday party. And of course, there was his epic birthday of a few years back, when his girlfriend Kate Beckett had arranged for him to solve a murder! The amount of alcohol he had consumed during various birthday parties over the years would probably fill several bathtubs. He had always believed that you should party on the anniversary of your birth.
So why was this birthday, his 47th, the best birthday he'd ever celebrated? He didn't throw himself a huge party; nor did his wife Kate (and boy did he love the idea that Kate was his wife! His wife!). He hadn't had a drop of alcohol. They didn't go out to dinner; or to the movies. No one cooked him a fancy dinner either. He didn't spend his evening watching zombie movies with Alexis. In fact, he had barely seen Alexis. He hadn't spent his birthday in the precinct, helping Kate and the guys solve a nasty murder. His mother had wished him a "happy birthday" but it was over the phone and it was a last minute addition to the phone call. And none of those facts bothered him at all.
No, the reason this was his best birthday yet, the reason he hadn't really celebrated his birthday was staring up at him right now. He was seven pounds, eight ounces of handsome; he was James Richard Castle, and he was amazing.
When Kate had looked at him yesterday, and announced, "My water just broke," he hadn't thought about the fact that yesterday was March 31st. He jumped up, called the doctor, grabbed her bag, and got them to the hospital, where they were met by the midwife. Many hours of labor later and an almost broken hand later (holy moly, he had known Kate was strong, but he didn't realize how strong until she grabbed his hand in the middle of labor. And he will never talk about the many horrible things she called him), Jamie made his appearance, red faced, winkled, and letting them know he wasn't happy with them. The doctor had announced that he was an April Fool's baby, and that was when he realized it was after midnight. The midwife placed him on Kate's chest, and she reached out a tired hand to touch his cheek, his hair, him as she cried tears of happiness. Truthfully, his vision was blurry with tears too. They had a son! The nurse took James away to clean him up, and perform all the necessary tests. He passed everything will flying colors, and the nurse returned him to his mother. Rick looked at his family; his wife never looked more beautiful to him than at that moment. She turned to him and said, "Daddy, I think you should hold him," and made a move to beckon Rick closer. Rick took their son from her arms, and was hit by that bolt of lightning; by that overwhelming wave of love that you only feel for your child.
Hours later, all of that went through his mind as Kate slept and he held Jamie. He had gone out of the room, told his mother, his father-in-law and his daughter who were waiting there that James was here and he was perfect. He called Ryan, and Lanie, and Espo, and Captain Gates to spread the news. People had come and gone, they had met James, told them how wonderful he was. Alexis teased him that he would now have to share his birthday with someone even cuter than he was.
And that fact didn't bother him one bit. He would happily share the birthday with someone more adorable, someone more handsome, and someone funnier. He would happily share future birthdays with James Richard Castle, his son. Nothing wrong with that at all.