Decaf

Castle and Beckett were planning on telling their friends about the latest addition to the Castle family when they went into work that day. They had debated all morning long on how they were going to reveal the news. This was where their differences came into play. Castle wanted to just tell them out right when they arrived. Beckett wanted to be subtle about it.

Martha had told them to play it by ear when they had arrived at the precinct. Castle and Beckett took Martha's advice. On the ride up to the bull pen; Castle and Beckett had the elevator to themselves thankfully.

"We're done after this." Beckett said.

"I figured that much."

"Boy or girl; that's it, this little one is it."

"I got it."

"Just making sure; babe."

With that the elevator sounded off and the door slid open.

When they stepped out they saw Lanie with Gates and the boys. Castle and Beckett were a bit surprised to see Lanie at the precinct. Beckett and Castle both remember two times that Lanie was at the precinct.

"Whoever he's working for scares him a lot more than prison."

"There has to be a way to get it out of him. We could force him to watch Paris Hilton videos."

"You want to be brought up on charges?"

"Beckett."

"Hey, Lanie, what are you doing here?"

"It's about the Coonan case. This is Dr. Clark Murray. He's a forensic pathologist. I asked him to consult."

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett; this is Richard Castle, the novelist."

"We've met."

"Note the rectangular brushing around these wounds. Here and here."

"Hmm mmm."

"Caused by the hilt of the knife striking with force enough to compress the skin."

"And as a result the injuries penetrated deeper than the actual length of the blade."

"He's also honed the blade so fine it's brittle enough for bits to break when it strikes bone. Which is why slivers of blade were found inside both of his victims. We now know that those slivers come from the same murder weapon."

"Wait, two victims? How many people has he killed?"

"Five that we know of."

"So we're looking at a serial?"

"Well, yes and no. We believe we're dealing with a professional. Someone with extensive military training."

"A contract killer?"

"I used homographic reconstruction of Coonan's wounds to generate a 3D model of the blade used. It's a special operations group knife, the kind favored by Special Forces in Gulf War One. He kills with a single blow, using these other wounds to camouflage the skill with which the initial stroke was delivered. The very same method and the very same weapon that the killer employed ten years ago."

"Lanie?"

"I'm so sorry."

"Detective Beckett, there is no doubt in my mind that Jack Coonan was killed by the same man who murdered your mother."

"I am the investigator of record on this case. You had no right to withhold evidence from me!"

"Well, what did you expect? The last time Castle tried to talk to you about your mother's murder you bit his head off."

"I noticed the wound similarity. I reached out to Dr. Murray. I held off from telling you until I knew the evidence was rock solid. Beckett, we came to you the moment we were sure."

"It was very emotional. Yeah there were a lot of tears. Um… Alexis was fine, by the way."

"I gotta say, Castle, we're gonna miss you around here."

"Yeah, I am gonna miss you, too."

"You're still leaving the coffee machine, though, right?"

"I can't have you suffer in my absence."

"That's good."

"Oh, we could really use one of those down in the morgue."

"With Castle gone, I just hope our clearance rate doesn't drop."

"Oh! Look who's off duty."

"Yeah, well, Castle, I'm not all work."

"Don't get into a drinking contest with her. She can take you."

"Thank you."

"Oh, I don't need to drink to take him."

Castle and Beckett got to Beckett's desk.

"You want some coffee?" Castle asked.

Gates and the others drew closer.

"Yeah; decaf, babe."

Lanie, Gates and Ryan all shared a look as Castle went to the break room to get the coffees. Espo caught on shortly after the others did.

"What?"

"Are you going to tell us Detective; or do we have to guess?" Gates asked.

"No you don't have to guess; sir."

With that Castle was back with the coffees in hand.

"We're pregnant again." Beckett announced.

The bullpen erupted in joy as the others congratulated Castle and Beckett.