Thank you, first of all, to the lovely Tadpole24 for reading over this, despite being so tired that she spent the day crying and to my crazy FB girls, who do important things like discuss Kate's cup size with me at length (never say I'm not one for authenticity)
This chapter does discuss the plot of the film The Cabin In The Woods so if you haven't seen it, be prepared (and if you haven't seen it, get it on DVD because it is Joss Whedon awesomeness). Some discussion of genetic testing of parents and babies in this chapter (I don't know if that needs a warning, but it can't hurt). Tiny bit of my beloved Pride and Prejudice as well.
Kate was propped up comfortably in bed, one hand tracing circles over her bare belly, the other clutching a slightly ragged copy of Pride and Prejudice. She was completely drawn into the world of Lizzie and Darcy, reading aloud in the quiet of the room.
"Why didn't anyone tell me it was story time?" Castle asked, leaning against the doorframe.
"Mommy and baby time Castle. Gotta get the kid started on the good stuff early in life," Kate sassed.
"Austen?" he asked doubtfully, lying down next to her, propping himself up on a cushion.
"Yeah," Kate replied softly. "It was my Mom's favourite book. Everything online says that the munchkin can hear us now, so I figured I should start giving this one a little piece of her." She gave Castle a tender smile. "I hate that she's not here for this, but there is no way this little minion is growing up not knowing about Granny in heaven."
"She would have been really excited, right?" Castle asked.
Kate looked over to the pile of baby gifts they'd already received. Her father had taken her to breakfast a week after they'd made the big announcement, handing her a giftbag with a Yankees onesie in it as he tried not to cry. Kate couldn't wait to dress the baby up in it. "Absolutely," Kate agreed. "Mom was a champion knitter. She'd already have a few pairs of booties ready. And she would have given me the best advice," Kate reminisced.
She put the book down and took Castle's hands. "Castle, this is important," she warned him. "If anything at all, ever comes up about my Mom's case," she squeezed his hands, "And I mean anything at all, you need to make sure I stay away from it. I don't care how. But do not let me touch a thing. I cannot be a mother and have that looming over my head," Kate bit her lip, willing her voice to remain steady. "I won't put my child through what I went through."
Castle nodded seriously, brushing a ghost of a kiss against her knuckles. "Always."
Sitting up, Castle cleared his throat. "Kate, we gotta talk about something," he started. "I have no idea who my father is. No idea if he's got a predisposition to heart attacks, or if his sisters all had breast cancer. I have no idea. And that terrifies me."
Kate knew where he was going. "Listen to me, Castle. We're both in great shape. I'm not 35 yet, so the risk of Down's Syndrome is still small. And I don't care," she placed her hands on her bare belly. "I love this baby. I will love it no matter what. More importantly, I love the Minion way too much to put it at risk of a miscarriage," she brushed a hand against his stubbly cheek. "One in two hundred women miscarry after an amnio, Castle. That is one baby in every two hundred that dies. I'm not going to take that risk."
"But Kate, what if…" Castle argued.
Kate cut him off. "Don't borrow trouble. What if the baby is totally fine and we jabbed needles into my uterus for no reason? Will we love the baby any less if something goes wrong?" she leaned forward and kissed him. "Just relax. The baby and I are fine. If you're really worried, we can talk to Dr. Swinton about drawing blood for a quad screening."
"But you hate needles," Castle pointed out.
Kate ran her hand through his hair. "I know," she agreed. "But if it makes you feel better, I'll do it. I'll book an appointment for as soon as I can," she told him tenderly.
"Are we going to find out the gender?" Castle asked.
Kate pondered the question, her nails gently scraping against his forearm as she tugged him back to lying next to her. "I've been thinking about it and I don't think I have an opinion. I'm only nineteen weeks. We have time to change our minds."
Castle nodded his agreement. He leaned over Kate, picking up the careworn novel. "Lie down," he told her.
Kate acquiesced, propping a pillow between her legs as she curled onto her left side, pointing out where she was up to.
Castle shifted so he was lying on his stomach, facing Kate's abdomen, cleared his throat and began to read. "Elizabeth saw what he was doing, and at the first convenient pause, turned to him with an arch smile, and said, "You mean to frighten me, Mr. Darcy, by coming in all this state to hear me? But I will not be alarmed though your sister does play so well."
As Castle's rich cadence filled the room, Kate's hand flew to her stomach.
""There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me." You know, you remind me of Elizabeth," Castle commented.
"Castle, don't stop reading!" Kate ordered. "I think the baby is moving." She grabbed his hand, pressing it against her skin. As he continued to read the witty banter of Lizzie and Darcy, Kate felt it again. Tiny flutterings like the wings of a butterfly, flickering around her tummy and spreading warmth through her veins.
"It's still too early for me to be able to feel," Castle pointed out gently, rubbing his stubbly cheek against the swell of her tummy. Kate could read between the lines of the possessive way Castle was touching her.
"Meredith didn't let you touch her, did she?" Kate asked.
Castle shrugged, "Rarely," he admitted. "She was heavily pregnant through the summer and was uncomfortable. She didn't let anybody near her, especially me, because I was the one who did this to her with "my stupid man penis."" Castle added quotation marks for effect.
"I really dislike that woman," Kate muttered. "Don't you ever think you can't touch me," Kate growled fiercely. She forced herself into a sitting position, before slinging a leg over his lap. "In fact, if you don't start touching me very soon, there's going to be a problem," she purred against his lips.
There was no other option. She'd pinned, added belts, layered with camisoles and in a moment of true desperation, used a paperclip to keep her pants up. Kate needed to go shopping.
"This is really unfair, bringing me along. You get to have all the fun and there is nothing to distract me," Lanie whined.
Kate raised an eyebrow. "You are not going to be favourite aunt if you keep complaining. The Monster can hear you."
Lanie raised an eyebrow, "Monster?"
Kate scowled. "I was up for most of last night with aggressive heartburn and I get to push the kid out of a very tiny hole in my body. I'm allowed to say Monster."
"You don't make pregnancy sound very fun," Lanie commented as they walked into the maternity boutique that had been recommended to them by Jenny.
"Well, you get a pretty cute human at the end of it, so that's fun," Kate commented as she made a beeline towards button down shirts. "And the horny hormones are nothing to complain about," Kate caught sight of herself in a mirror. "I never understood why men are so distracted by breasts," she stripped off her scarf, "But now I've got some and I totally get it because they're awesome."
Lanie looked over at Kate. "Your boobs have gotten huge," she agreed. "We're going lingerie shopping after we finish here."
"Please," Kate nodded vigorously, flipping through a rack, picking up several shirts.
Lanie was having a great time flipping through the racks at her favourite lingerie store (decidedly not telling Kate who would be seeing said lingerie) as Kate was being measured up for a new bra.
"What do you mean I've jumped to a double D?" Kate asked the shop assistant incredulously.
"Honey, relax," the shop assistant drawled.
"That is three cup sizes!"
"Sweetheart, I was a double A before I had kids. Now look at me," The shop assistant gestured to her rather impressive rack. "Trust me, this is normal and I am sure the man that put that rock on your finger is not complaining. Now, do you need a nursing bra?" She asked matter-of-factly.
Kate paused. She'd read a tiny bit about breastfeeding, but hadn't come to a definitive conclusion. "Umm, I suppose it couldn't hurt."
Kate got home to see both doors to Castle's study shut, a sure sign that he was writing and didn't want to be distracted. She made quick work of putting away her new clothes before changing into a stretchy pair of yoga pants and an old hoodie of Castle's. She twisted her hair into a ponytail as she headed for the kitchen, determined to get dinner underway before Castle emerged from his man cave in a writing haze.
Kate deseeded and chopped the pumpkin into chunks, the repetitive action giving her plenty of thinking time. She'd been thinking on and off about the topic and she figured she should make a decision about it sooner rather than later.
Popping the pumpkin into the oven, Kate wandered into the living room where the pile of parenting and pregnancy books lay. She gathered a stack of the books, dumping them unceremoniously on the dining room table. Sitting down with a notebook and her favourite purple pen, Kate flipped open the index and began to read.
Kate was flittering around the kitchen, tending to bread rolls warming in the oven and meticulously blending pumpkin soup when Castle finally made his way out of his man cave, his hair in disarray. "Smells good," he complimented her, grabbing her hips to stop her so he could graze a kiss across her jaw, his hand caressing the swell of her belly. "I'll set the table," he told her.
Carefully balancing soup spoons, bread plates and a pat of butter, Castle made his way out to the dining room table. Placing them down, he stepped over to the books that Kate had left open and spread out across every available space. She was researching as meticulously as she would when running financials for a case, highlighting passages of text and making notes in her tidy hand.
"I was going to have everything ready before you came out," Kate told him, standing in the doorframe, holding two bowls of soup. She put them down on the table, moving to tidy up the stacks of books. "I was going to talk to you about this," she insisted.
Castle put his hands on Kate's shoulders, sensing her anxiety. "Relax, Kate," he soothed her, brushing his lips against her forehead. "I'll grab drinks."
Kate could barely concentrate. She had no idea how Castle would react. "I want to breastfeed," she blurted out.
"Is this what has you so worked up?" Castle asked.
"Castle!" Kate growled.
He chuckled. "Sorry, Sweetheart. I'm just not used to you acting like a girl."
Kate shot him a filthy look. Castle cleared his throat and continued. "Kate, I assumed that you would breastfeed," he said, totally blasé as he buttered his bread.
"But all of those photos of you feeding Alexis…" Kate trailed off.
"Come on, Kate. I had a baby with a woman who didn't even fight for custody when we split up. Do you really think Meredith was interested in feeding a baby at 3am? Especially when it might ruin her girlish figure? After her c-section slash nip and tuck she could barely move. By the time she was ready to be up and about, Alexis and I were in a routine and she didn't really fit into it. Those photos you've seen were taken by my Mother." He reached over to grab her hand. "Kate, I trust you to do whatever is right for you and the baby. I hoped that you would want to breastfeed, because it's so good for the both of you, but I'm with you either way."
"So you don't mind sharing my boobs?"
"I'll get over it."
Kate was more anxious than she cared to admit. She clung to Castle's hand as they walked through the door to the Doctor's surgery. They'd finally been able to get an appointment for Kate's quad test and to ease Castle's mind, she'd agreed to the pair of them getting a full genetic work up just to make sure they didn't have any recessive genes that wouldn't play nicely together.
"Remember Castle, I don't care. We made this baby together. All we are doing is informing ourselves. It changes nothing," Kate reminded him seriously. She planted a kiss on his cheek.
Pure resolve stopped Kate from hyperventilating when her blood was drawn and she stoically stared at the wall as the blood pressure bandage was looped around Castle's arm. She tangled her fingers with his free hand, refusing to look at him until he promised her that she had the all clear.
"Now we wait," Castle muttered.
The waiting room was torture. In his typical dramatic fashion, Castle had spared no expense to ensure that they would have their test results as soon as possible. Kate steadfastly refused to acknowledge Castle's rapidly tapping foot, instead pulling out one of the many pregnancy books Jenny had loaned her (Jenny insisted that she only had a few weeks to go and that the books should go to somebody who would use them).
Castle immediately tensed when their names were called. Kate grabbed his wrist before he could bolt into the room. "Remember why we did this," she murmured to him, planting a soft kiss on his lips. Linking their fingers together, she guided them towards Dr. Swinton's room.
"How are you both?" Dr. Swinton asked.
"Incredibly concerned at how cavalier you're being," Castle growled softly as he sat down.
"We're fine. I'm enjoying trimester two," Kate replied. "But I wouldn't complain if you put us out of our misery."
"According to the tests we ran," Dr. Swinton began. Castle noticeably tensed, Kate's fingers softly stroking the top of his hand to calm him, "There is nothing at all to worry about. No genes that are going to play havoc together, no Down's Syndrome, no Spina Bifida and no other genetic abnormalities. Congratulations, your baby is healthy."
Kate smiled when she heard Castle's sigh of relief.
Kate settled into Castle's side, ready for movie night. He'd cooked for her, an apology for his paranoia that she'd insisted wasn't necessary, so she'd conceded her turn choosing a movie. She'd rolled her eyes when she'd seen his choice of The Cabin in The Woods,not in the mood for torture porn.
"But it's not a dumb horror movie, Kate. It's so much more than that," Castle had insisted, his puppy dog eyes used to full effect. Kate sighed and conceded.
She was surprised at how intelligent the film was. Yes, it satirised some of the more traditional elements of a horror movie and you could see the moments coming a million miles away, but the ending had been truly surprising (it didn't hurt that one of her lady crushes, Sigourney Weaver had shown up to deliver the crushing blow).
Kate's overwhelming desire to pee had overtaken her desire to lay in Castle's arms after they'd made love and she'd made a beeline for the bathroom. Castle lay in bed, satiated and sleepy when Kate bolted into the room.
"Castle, I'm bleeding."
So ummm.. *cough* I'm just going to go... hide from those big pitchforks. Keep in mind any flames will feed my pet Balrog.