Castle was in the shower, rinsing soap from his hair when he heard the door burst open and the creak of the toilet seat being lifted, followed by the hideous sounds of his wife wretching her guts out. He peeked around the corner of the shower curtain to see her in her pyjamas still, holding her stomach as she gagged and spat.

'Still feeling crumby, huh?'

'Yep, but it feels different than the morning sickness I had with RJ. Maybe it's not morning sickness, maybe it's just a virus.'

'Well, give it a moment or two. We just decided two weeks ago to start trying, right?' Castle ducked back under the water, finished his morning routine.

'Yeah, and we're meeting with Harvey after I'm done in court to make sure everything's on the up-and-up.'

'You think you'll make it?'

'Oh yeah, it's only a preliminary and we scored Fuqua, so you know there won't be any circus hoopla with her in charge.' Exhausted, Beckett rocked back on her heels to her bottom, stared down her new enemy the toilet. 'I really hope this clears up or can at least be managed while I'm in court. Last thing I need is to lean over the witness stand and boot on the stenographer.'

Castle laughed, manoeuvred his way around her. 'Here.' He dug into her side of the vanity stand and produced an elastic, pulled her hair back in a queue for her. 'That better?'

Beckett responded by leaning forward and gagging into the porcelain bowl again, but she was down to dry heaves now as there was nothing in her stomach left to vomit out. As she flushed the toilet, got to her feet, she felt her stomach gurgle, but not in the agony of nausea; this was a craving gurgle. Beckett knew it had to be because the notion of scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, ham and green peppers danced through her head and made her mouth water. Rinsing her mouth at the faucet, she went back into her bedroom where Castle was dressing for the day and opened her calendar app on her phone, skimmed back to the little frowny-faced note she'd made the last time she'd gotten her period. Doing the math, she looked up at her husband who caught her gaze in the reflection of the mirror.

'Rick?'

'Yes?' He replied with a grin, loving the excited look on her face.

'I think when I'm done in court today, between court and my appointment we should stop at a pharmacy so I can get a Clear-Blue test.'

Castle whipped around, shirt half-buttoned. 'You think so? You don't think that it's too soon?'

'I don't know, I just...my instincts are telling me that's the right move to make.'

'Okay then.' He crossed over to where she sat on her side of the bed and gave her a supportive kiss. 'We're having a quick lunch at Pinkos, so can take it between main course and coffee.'


As Beckett had predicted, Fuqua tolerated no shenanigans in her court so the preliminary hearing for Dalton Gribble went off like clockwork. Gribble, who had murdered three bankers who would give him a deal on a line of credit, was bound over for trial that would begin in the end of August, which meant she and the Ry-Sposito monster were in a mood to celebrate.

'Nothing too big, we still need to nail him in August,' Esposito decided as he looked over her shoulder and grinned. 'Hey, look it's Mister Mom!'

'Once you get Mere pregnant again, we'll see who's the mommy, mister,' Castle fired back with a grin equal to his friend's before wrapping his arm around Beckett's waist. 'And how was your morning, dear?'

'Bastard's going to trial.'

'Congratulations.'

'And now we're going to celebrate by way of the stomach,' Ryan added joyfully.

'Why don't you guys come to Pinkos with us?'

The mention of lunch had Beckett's gut clenching - there was no way she could justify taking a home pregnancy test during lunch with her boys when she knew that Esposito and Meredeth were still having no luck on their fourth baby's conception.

They filtered out of the now-busy lobby of the courthouse, and Ryan and Esposito hopped in their ride while Beckett did the nearly unthinkable: since she still felt a little woozy from the nausea, she actually let Castle drive.

'You must be really out of it if you're trusting me behind the wheel,' he joked, then softened when he saw her face. 'It's okay, Kate. Our happiness isn't a reflection of you being a bad friend to Esposito.'

'I know how much he wants one more with Meredeth, and how much she wants it too. If I get a home test and take it now, I'm...I can't, Rick. I can't do it and sleep well at night.'

'Okay, then we'll wait until we get to Harvey's office this afternoon.'


They weren't waiting long when they got to Harvey's actual office across the street from Saint Vincent's. It was less than twenty minutes from the time Beckett checked in with reception to the time that she was in the examination room, dressed in a thin medical gown with her bright purple panties peeking out the back.

'I still can't believe you wore those frilly things underneath your suit to court today,' Castle commented, admiring the view of her backside.

'I like them when I'm not feeling well so even if I look and sound and even smell like crap, I know I've got one part of me looking fancy.'

'Alrighty then.' It was the only rejoinder Castle could think of that wouldn't insult her ego. Rather than dwelling on it, he leaned forward in his chair and took her hand. 'Kate, I know there's a possibility that you might already be pregnant, but if you're not, please don't get too down.'

'I won't,' she replied. 'Like you said, it's probably a false alarm. Harvey is going to do an ultrasound on my innards, though, just to make sure there's nothing growing like cysts or polyps that would affect my - our - chances of conception.'

'See, this must be true love because hearing you use all that medical jargon just makes me wanna lie you back and play doctor.'

Before Beckett could give him hell over being so pervy, the door to the room opened and Harvey walked in. It was always weird to see Harvey in office clothes, she thought bemusedly, as they often looked like a costume on him. He was a man much more suited to the multi-coloured scrubs and sneakers he usually wore when he was on duty at the hospital. In a total moment of clear memory, she remembered his scrub cap had tiki-totem heads on it and thought he looked undressed without it sitting atop his full head of hair.

'Well, welcome back Castle family. Where is the little prince?' he asked with a sunny smile.

'He has a play-date today with Andrea Brick's little girl,' Castle replied. 'The two of them, Mallory Ryan and Violet Parrish-Robbins are all spending the afternoon together with Agnes so Andrea could go shopping for Carey's birthday party next weekend in peace.'

'My, my, just like his daddy going after all the girls.'

'And just like his daddy, he's got one already picked out he's wearing down,' Beckett teased back. 'Pretty soon, she'll be madly in love with him right back.'

'Well, in the meantime, why don't we have a look at your heart and weight and blood-pressure, Kate?'

'Actually, Harvey...' She looked at Castle and felt a flutter in her chest. 'There's a chance I might already be pregnant, so maybe could we confirm that part first?'

'Oh, of course. You know the drill, Kate.'

Beckett assumed the scanning position and gave an involuntary shiver as she felt the cold blue gel hit her stomach today. 'Andrea's not here with you?' she asked absently as Harvey set up the equipment.

'No, she's off today, and she and her husband are getting ready for their first family vacation. Apparently they're taking Nessa back to where they spent last December?'

'Antigua. Shane and Alexis went with them.'

'Alright, Kate, moment of truth.' Harvey flipped on the ultrasound machine, moved the wand over Beckett's exposed belly. When he repositioned the instrument, he grinned and gave them both a look. 'You called it right, Detective.'

'I was right? I'm already pregnant?'

'Yes, from the looks of it, I'd say you were about...eleven weeks into it, too.'

'What!' Now Beckett popped up on her elbows, blinked at the screen. 'What? No, no, that's not right, I got my period twice.'

'And was it lighter than normal both times?' When she didn't answer, Harvey nodded. 'It could have just been breakthrough bleeding, the body making sure the embryo was going to stick. But there you are, you've got yourselves a healthy little one on the way once more. Here, let's have a listen to that nice strong heart.'

''So...' Beckett trailed off, picked up Castle's hand to play with his wedding ring as they studied the image on-screen, heard the wub-wub-wub of the heartbeat with awe. Their baby, the next member of the Castle clan, was already well under construction. 'Who gets to tell RJ how babies are made?'