Yay! New chapter! Been quite busy recently. I'll be heading to college in a week, but still expect updates as regularly as I can (this will definitely be a break from all that college-goodness).

Nothing tasted right today. A month and a half into her second trimester and Kate was having unidentifiable cravings. This put her in a bit of a grumpy mood, and she had been sulking around the loft since this morning. Feeling quite indecisive and not at all happy, Kate was particularly annoyed that Castle was so smiley today. It was not fair that he could feel fine and normal while she was being ravaged by what he helped create. Men are so lucky, she thought darkly.

Though when she turned her hard-set eyes to Castle, her mood softened at seeing him smile at her with a thousand-watt grin. He was so excited about today and she was in the process of ruining it.

Today, after weeks of begging, Kate had finally caved and said they could find out the baby's sex. Ever since then, Castle had been absolutely radiant. Esposito even joked that it was hard to tell who had more of a pregnancy glow at this point.

Kate looked at the clock above the sink. Twenty minutes until they had to leave and she still had not eaten. She had politely told Castle she wanted to be left alone until they left and he obliged (except for the smiles every time they caught each other's gaze), therefore he made his lunch and merely left some behind in case Kate wanted the same thing.

She did not really want to go to the appointment today. She did not feel like much of anything except for curling up on the couch and watching Dreamer (which had become her favorite film) from underneath a fuzzy blanket. Movies, mmm popcorn. Buttered popcorn! That's it, Kate realized, snapping her fingers as she figured out what she had been craving this whole time. Buttered popcorn with salt, yum.

She set to work with the air-popper and the butter, soon having a delicious bowl of popcorn to eat to her heart's content. In the first bite, she felt her grumpy demeanor lift.

"Hey, Castle, do you want any?" she asked, strolling over to the couch where he was sitting and writing.

"Don't mind if I do," he replied, closing his laptop, "I just finished another chapter and I haven't the mind to do any more today."

"Good, because I missed you," Kate told him, snuggling closer as they shared the popcorn.

"Okay," said the tech, Faye, "Now did you want to know the sex today?"

Currently, Kate was lying on a very cold, silver table with very cold gel on her stomach. Castle was holding her hand and watching the monitor like she was. Their baby was on it, its heartbeat echoing through the room. Even though it looked a little "blobby," the baby was theirs and was perfect.

"Yeh-" Kate cleared her throat, for some reason feeling particularly emotional today, "Yes, please." Castle nodded as well, his eyes darting between his wife and his baby.

"Well then," Faye said, "Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Castle, in six months you'll have a lovely little girl."

Simultaneously, Kate gasped and raised her free hand to her mouth while Castle grinned so wide it looked as if his face would get stuck that way.

Thinking it was a good time to take her leave, Faye turned off the equipment and backed out of the room with an "I'll leave you to get cleaned up."

The couple cleaned up Kate's gel-covered belly in silence, only sharing fleeting glances that said a lot more than words. After Kate had rolled down her shirt and swung her legs off the side of the table, the silence was broken.

"Castle, we're going to have a little girl," Kate told him breathlessly. It was the most surreal feeling. Secretly, she had wanted a girl. She wanted to teach her how to braid hair and paint her nails. She wanted to play dolls and dress up and pretend that they were princesses together. When she found out she was pregnant, Kate had made a promise to be the best mom she could be, better than even Johanna Beckett who had been Kate's idol and still was.

Castle had not said anything, instead he reached his hand up and cupped Kate's face, thumb stroking her cheek with a smile on his face much like when he told her than none of the women he brought to the Hamptons were her. Then he leaned down and kissed her, arms coming to wrap around her waist as hers wove around his neck.

"I love you," he whispered against her lips.

"I love you too," Kate said, smiling radiantly.

The perfect end to what became a perfect day was sitting in front of Leggy and Zenyatta's stall, looking over baby names for a girl. Each armed with a highlighter, Kate and Castle had been trying to pick out names that sounded nice together and were meaningful. They had four books to go through but so far had not come up with much.

Kate was adamant that their little girl's name would not be a memorial to her mother or anyone. She did not want to be reminded of those old wounds every day. The one thing she did want was to incorporate her friends at the Twelfth into the baby's name and life. She and Castle had decided that they would name Esposito as the baby's guardian so that if anything happened, she and Leggy would stay together.

"What about Elaine for a middle name?" Kate suddenly asked aloud.

"Elaine?" Castle asked back.

"Yeah in means 'light' or something, but that's not the point. I really want our baby to have a strong personality, like Lanie does; you know, so that she can be her own person. And maybe adding a bit of Lanie into her name would help that, something she could live up to," she explained to her, feeling the emotion roll in.

Castle smiled with her statement. "I think that's a great idea, Kate. Now all we need is a first name."

"I like the name Ridley," Kate said quietly.

"Ridley? I didn't see that one," Castle replied.

"It's usually a boy's name, it means 'red meadow,'" Kate told him, "But I like it for a girl."

"Ridley Elaine," Castle repeated, letting it roll off his tongue, "Rid-lee Eee-layne. Ridley Elaine Castle. I think it's perfect. What do you think, Leggy, Zen?"

Leggy whinnied at it and Zenyatta snorted. It was almost like having a conversation.

Kate chuckled. "I think that's a yes!"

She was sitting in a chair while Castle was on the ground, he moved to face her on his knees, his hands brushed over her beginning-to-swell abdomen. She still did not look obviously pregnant, but the people that knew her well (or in Castle's case, intimately) could see the changes.

"It's nice to meet you, Ridley Elaine," Castle spoke to the bump. Then he grabbed a lead rope from the stall door, hooked it to Leggy's halter, and brought him out to Kate's chair.

"Say hi to your sister, Leggy," he told the young colt. On command, the chestnut gently pressed his muzzle to where the baby was and breathed deeply. And that was when Kate lost it and let the floodgates open, happiness creating more and more tears.

Putting Leggy back, Castle came to wrap his arms around his wife. "Hey, it's okay. What are you crying about?"

Kate sniffed. "Oh, it's-it's not what you think. I'm not sad. It's just, I thought I felt whole once you entered my life, but now I really feel complete and just naming our baby made everything feel real. I love it."

"Kate," he said to her, "I know I haven't really said this, but I am so glad we're having a baby. I can't wait to be a father again."

His wife smiled, the joy of seeing him so excited spread from her heart all the way to her extremities. "I really hope this is only one of a bunch," Kate told him, "I really want a big family. We were both only children, and it was lonely!"

Castle laughed. "Sounds good to me. You know how much I love making babies."

Leggy pricked his ears at that and Zenyatta looked like she was glaring at Castle.

"Oh, shut up," Kate told him, lightly slapping his shoulder.

There you have it: Ridley Elaine Castle. For another story about her, visit The Strawberry Story. Though, this story and the planned sequels will not be related to it except by the character of Ridley. I changed plans on some of it.

Reviews pretty please!