TWO

As he busied himself cleaning up the kitchen after making dinner, Castle caught a glimpse of the clock on the microwave and smiled to himself; only ten minutes until his girlfriend said she'd be at his place and he couldn't wait.

She'd been working late on a case while prepping for a trial, which was why she had not joined him for the meal. She initially told him she wasn't sure if she'd be coming over at all due to her business, but she had texted him half an hour earlier about her impending arrival and he could not have been happier for it. He hadn't seen her all day and wouldn't turn down any interaction with her, even if she only stayed a few hours.

All things considered, the prior five weeks had gone wonderfully for the both of them, even if they had not been traveling the smoothest path. Barely a day after the events in her apartment Castle was contacted by a mysterious man who received a file from Montgomery that was meant to keep Kate safe, though it had not arrived in time. Stunned and even more confused, Castle had gone directly to Kate with the information and they agreed that in light of their budding relationship, they would put everything to do with her mother's murder case behind her. Castle knew how hard the decision was for her; it was etched all over her face. He wanted more than anything to take away her pain—to solve the case with her—but they couldn't without putting both their lives at stake. Kate express to him that she still hoped to get back to her mother's case one day, but agreed to put it behind them for the time being—at least until the heat died down.

Once they were over that hurdle, things just kept getting better. He enjoyed each and every one of their almost-dates and though they weren't making love or kissing intimately, she did hug him freely and bid him goodbye with a kiss on the cheek, unless they were at the precinct where they needed to maintain a strictly professional environment since Kate's new captain was still unsure of having a writer-turned-investigator in her fold.

Other than being able to speak freely with his partner about his feelings in a way he never had before, the thing Castle enjoyed most about their relationship was the change he saw in Kate. She truly was more relaxed and happier on a day to day basis. Her walls were already beginning to come down and he would do whatever it took to knock them over for good. Yet, at the same time, he accepted it was a process. She was seeing a therapist and he had even joined her for one of the sessions and hoped to so again in the future. They were, after all, in it together—forever, as far as he saw it.

Shortly before eight Castle heard a knock on his apartment door and knew it to be his partner. He rushed over and greeted her in his typical cheerful way only to be dumbstruck by her nearly disheveled appearance. She wore an oversized hooded sweatshirt, her hair was in a ponytail, though half of it had fallen out, and her eyes were puffy and rimmed in red. "My god Kate what happened? Are you okay?"

"No." She managed as she stepped inside.

He hadn't spoken to her on the phone earlier, only received a text, so he wasn't sure when she became so upset or what had happened to cause it. "What's going on?"

"I need to talk to you but I don't even know where…I don't…"

"Hey, it's okay." He assured her, skimming a hand down her back. "Whatever it is, it's going to be fine. Let's just sit down and you can tell me all about it." With his hand on the small of her back, he led her to the main seating area of the apartment where they sat on adjoining couch cushions. Kate had both her hands in the pouch of her sweatshirt but once he was seated, she removed one of them and handed him a slender white object. At first he was confused, though once it was in his hand, he didn't even need to look at the display screen to know what it was.

"Pregnancy test?" Castle's face flushed hot as he flipped the object over to see—oh, dear—the digital display showing one single word: pregnant. "Oh…Kate."

A million different emotions soared through his body over the course of just a few seconds. He was elated and scared, excited and upset, confused and overjoyed. Kate was pregnant. Kate was pregnant with his child. He and Kate were going to have a baby.

Lifting up his gaze, he saw her bottom lip trembling violently as a tear poured out of each eye. "I'm so sorry," she cried out, sounding as though she were a small child who broke a lamp after being specifically told not to throw a ball inside.

"Wha—oh no. Don't be sorry. Oh my god, here." He groped for a tissue box at the edge of the coffee table and placed it in her lap before looping an arm around her back and rocking her gently side to side.

"I never thought…I didn't mean…"

"Kate." He hushed her stammering and kissed her head before giving her a tighter squeeze. "It's okay. I mean, this is where we were going anyway, isn't it?"

"In like five years, Castle."

He grinned wide since she couldn't see his face and his joy was not at risk of irking her. He couldn't help himself, though; he was thrilled to hear such an answer from her. Continuing to keep his tone light despite his thrumming heart he said, "So we upped the timeline a bit—so what? You, unfortunately, cannot plan your life like you plot a book—I know that better than anyone."

Shaking her head, she pushed herself away from his embrace and stood a few feet away as she threw her hands out to the side and cried, "God this is so messed up…this isn't how I wanted this!"

"I know." If he was being one hundred percent honest, this was not how he wanted it either. His first child had been unplanned and he'd always thought his subsequent children would be. He was a little sad to miss out on the excitement of purposely trying to get pregnant, but he was not upset about her pregnancy—not even a little bit. Having a child with Kate Beckett had always been a part of the plan in his heart, even if he never allowed himself to truly think about the probability given how much they'd already been through.

She grabbed another fistful of tissues and held them beneath her nose, an irritated expression crossing her face. "I just feel like this is totally my fault. My period has been so irregular since my shooting. The doctor said it was expected after my trauma and all the meds I was on, but she still suggested I wait to go back on The Pill until I got a little more regular. I was supposed to start next month…I'm so stupid; I never even though-"

"Hey; stop." He cut off her guilty statements before they could go any further. He stood up and stood in front of her promising, "This is not your fault. We were both caught up in the moment. And, for the record, I'm not upset about this. I'm surprised, obviously, but I'm also kind of thrilled."

Despite the fact that he smiled at her, she remained skeptical. "How can you say that?"

He skimmed his hand under her jaw and brushed his thumb over her damp cheek. "Because I love you," he said with unwavering confidence.

"Castle." She flopped back down on the couch and returned the tissue box to the coffee table with surprising harshness.

Castle sat beside her and slid his arm around her waist. "I know we agreed to take things slow but… it's true; it's how I feel. I understand—you need time to figure things out and I respect that. Having a baby doesn't have to automatically mean we get married tomorrow. We can still figure things out together. I mean, we have nine months until he or she gets here, right?"

She gazed at him as though he'd been shouting incantations instead of being atypically calm and rational. "Why are you being so wonderful?"

"I'm not."

"Yes you are. I'm scared, Castle."

He squeezed her hip. "I know. Me too, a little bit. Having a child is scary, but it's also wonderful and-"

"No, not about the baby; I can hardly think about that right now. I'm scared about this—us. I've never done anything like this; I've never been all in before. I'm terrified I'm going to mess it up."

He leaned in and kissed her temple, proud of her for saying things he knew months earlier she would never have been able to. "You won't. Yeah it'll be a little scary and it'll be hard, but you'll get there. You know how I know that?

"No."

"Because you're here right now." She had come directly to him instead of hiding or pushing him away by being cold or rude. She'd been open about her emotions and concerns and to him that meant they'd already turned a corner. "We're going to be ok, Kate—the three of us."

She sighed and slid away from him a few inches. Pulling out her ponytail holder, she dropped it in her lap while combing back her hair into a proper tail with her fingertips. "Castle, look, I appreciate all this unwavering support but...can you tone it down a bit? I mean, be a little more Castle-y. I could use a distraction."

He laughed while enjoying the domesticity of her fixing her hair while wearing an oversized sweatshirt and a pregnancy test sitting just a few inches away from them. "Okay…how about we talk about the fact that I'm over 40 and I got you pregnant our first time having sex—how awesome is that?"

Just as he'd hoped, she rolled her eyes at him. "They should build a shrine to your manhood."

"They should!" he happily proclaimed while she fought to keep a grin from overtaking her face. Ultimately, she lost and he chortled happily. "Ah there's that beautiful smile."

She ran her teeth over her bottom lip and reached out to place her hand on his forearm. "I'm sorry for being a bit of a disaster…it's been an emotional few hours…"

"Since you took the test?" he guessed.

She nodded. "It started at the Twelfth. The boys skipped lunch so they went to get Chinese for an early dinner. The second I smelled it I ran to the bathroom and threw up. I was trying to figure out how I got food poisoning since all I had was a granola bar out of the vending machine when I saw one of the other cops walk in with a tampon in her hand. I realized I didn't remember when my last period was so I made an excuse to the guys and got the test on my way home. I spent the next two hours were spent working up the courage to come over here."

He danced his fingertips over the back of her hand. "Was it really that scary?"

She gave a noncommittal shrug. "Kind of…but less scary since you're kind of being amazing."

"Well I try."

Kate leaned in, gave him a kiss, and then rested her forehead against his. "Thank you. For being here for me. For being…everything."

He pulled her close and pressed his lips to her temple. "Always."

A/n: thank you all so much for your reviews. final chapter will be up on Saturday