"Darlings you're home, and you're early," Martha declared dramatically as Rick unlocked the door to the loft, stopping completely still as he stared at his apartment while Kate stood beside him, trying desperately not to laugh as she took in the horrified look that was covering his face. "Now Richard, I didn't think you'd be home for another couple of hours," she began as he shook his head, remaining silent as Kate bit into her lip to stop a yawn and ran her hand to rest on his shoulder gently, squeezing it a moment later as he continued to shake his head at the sight in front of him.

"Mother, how many people did you have over last night?" he questioned as she shrugged, not remembering the exact number as he took in the empty wine bottles that covered the counter. "Mother, there's going to be a baby in this house soon, you can't just invite people around whenever you want and leave it like this. What if we ask you to babysit one evening? How can I trust you when we go away for a couple of weeks and come home to find our apartment looking like a brewery?" he questioned as the redhead crossed her arms and glared at her son, opening her mouth to speak as Kate stepped forward, silencing them both.

"He didn't sleep very well last night Martha, it was hobbit's fault, he kept kicking me and I couldn't get comfortable and I kept waking Rick up," Kate declared as Rick nodded slowly, knowing that he'd probably been a bit harsh to his mother. "Can you just get this place cleared up?" Kate asked as the older woman nodded and smiled before pressing a kiss to Kate's cheek and moving towards the kitchen. "You and me bed now," Kate ordered, grabbing Rick's hand before she led him towards the master bedroom, tightening his grip of her hands as she fell silent and kicked her shoes off before sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry that I interrupted your sleep last night Rick," Kate apologised as Rick shrugged, removing his own shoes before approaching the bed and falling face first onto it, making the brunette beside him laugh as she continued to shake her head in disapproval at his actions.

"I've missed our bed Kate," he admitted as she rolled her eyes before moving towards the other end of the bed and pulling the blanket around them. "We've just got home and we're getting into bed, sounds really lazy doesn't it?" he asked as she nodded, leaning across to kiss him as his hand gently ran across her abdomen. "I'm sorry Hobbit wouldn't let you sleep last night Katie," he said quietly, kissing her again as she shrugged.

"Rick, this baby means the world to me, I don't care about not being able to sleep if at the end of this I'm holding the tiny human that we created together in my arms," she explained, relaxing slowly into his hold as she shut her eyes for a moment before the bedroom door squeaked open.

"Yes mother?" Rick asked quietly as he quickly looked across at the redhead who was standing in the doorway.

"Detective Ryan called earlier as well asking if you wanted to go to dinner tonight, it's Jenny's birthday and he heard that you were coming home today," Martha explained as Kate glanced up at her husband.

"How did Kevin even know we were coming home today? We only decided yesterday," the brunette questioned as Rick shrugged. "You were tweeting again weren't you?" she moaned as he remained still, not knowing how to answer the question in a way that would make her respond positively. "Castle, do you really have to tweet about everything? I mean when I go into labour are you going to tweet every stage? Is the whole world going to know when I'm pushing and you see the head?" she ranted as Martha laughed gently at her son and daughter in law, not surprised to see Kate argue about his constant use of social media sites. "Remember what I tell you in this moment Richard, if I see you even on your cell phone when I'm in labour, I will smash it into a million tiny pieces and you'll never be allowed one with internet access again. Do you understand?" she warned as he nodded quickly, knowing better to argue with an exhausted Kate Castle.

"So what do you want me to tell Kevin then?" Martha asked, bringing the conversation back to where it had started as Kate looked up at the writer who smiled.

"Tell Ryan that we'll be there, we just need to know the time," Kate explained before getting comfortable on the bed again, bringing Rick's hands to rest on her bump as Martha left the room in silence, shutting the door behind her as the writer buried his face into her hair. "That was what you wanted right?" she asked as he nodded slowly.

"I want whatever you want," he responded as she groaned. "Yes Kate, I want to go to Ryan's and celebrate Jenny's birthday. I think it would be nice to spend some time with other people," he declared, revisiting his original response as Kate smiled and relaxed back into her husband's hold. "Try and sleep for a couple of hours," he whispered.

"I would if you stopped distracting me Castle," she smirked as he laughed and shook his head, not knowing what to say to her as he fell silent, allowing them both to relax before Kate slowly succumb to sleep, the writer soon following.

XOOXOXOXOXOXXOXOO

"Kate stop worrying, you look beautiful," Rick moaned as he walked out of the en-suite to see her with her hands resting on her hips while she stared at herself in the mirror. "Kate we'll be late and you look beautiful, trust me," he whispered, moving his arms around her as she smiled to herself at the feel of him holding her again.

"Richard Castle, you say I look beautiful when I've just come back from a run and I'm sweating. I don't trust you when it comes to what I'm wearing anymore Rick," she admitted as his eyebrows rose in amazement.

"Do I really say that?" he asked as she laughed to herself before nodding, her body turning to face him as he stared at her in amazement, taking in the small smile that was decorating her face. "What else do I say about you when you come home from running detective?" he smirked as she moved her arms to wrap around his neck tightly. "I bet you look really sexy," he whispered as he leant forward and pressed a kiss into her cherry scented hair.

"Well you do say that you love the way my clothes stick to my body when I've run really far, you used to like how it highlighted my figure as well, apparently you said it was perfect," she stated, leaning in before their lips met and she sighed to herself. "You're the best at making me feel good about myself though, even though I always say that I don't believe you," she whispered as he brushed a stray hair away from her face and smiled. "Ready to go and celebrate?" she asked, the writer nodded as he grabbed her hand and led her out of the room, smiling at the height difference between them.

"When did you give up heels?" he asked.

"A couple of months back, they were starting to be more and more inconvenient and you were threatening to throw them away if I didn't start wearing flat shoes," she admitted as Rick nodded to himself, not surprised about what she was saying. It did sound like him! "And I think you like there being a height difference between us now," she commented.

"Well it is nicer to kiss you when you lean up that tiny bit and well, you're lovely to cuddle with at this height. You kind of just fit perfectly," he admitted as she rolled her eyes and stepped out of the apartment, resting her hands on the red material that was covering her body. Rick had bought it for her as a present a few days before the accident and she adored the colour and the style, even if she wasn't confident about the way it fitted at the moment. "Come on sexy, we'll be late," he declared as she glared up at him.

"No calling me that in front of people," she warned.

"Not even sweetheart?" he asked as she stared at him, her arms crossing as she waited for the elevator to arrive.

"Definitely not sweetheart Castle," she announced confidently, stepping into the metal box when the doors finally opened, her body turning to look at him. "Hurry up."

XOXOXOOXOXOXOXO

"Happy birthday Jenny," Kate smiled as she stepped into the apartment and wrapped her arms around the petit blonde for the moment, relaxing when the other woman thanked her before Rick kissed Jenny's cheek. "Thanks for inviting us Ryan, whatever you're cooking smells delicious," Kate declared as Jenny walked towards her husband before leaning up to kiss his cheek while Ryan smiled across at the brunette.

"Thank you Kate, it is Jenny's favourite so hopefully you enjoy it," Kevin declared as Kate moved towards the couch to find Lanie and Javier sat together in complete silence. "Do either of you want anything to drink?" Ryan asked as Kate smiled across at the detective and nodded in response, watching as he approached his fridge and opened it before lifting out a carton of fruit juice. "I know you like it," he admitted.

"Thank you," Kate smiled, taking the glass he'd filled with the liquid before moving to sit beside the ME who smiled across at her.

"How are you feeling Kate? No more issues with the baby," Lanie questioned as Kate shook her head and smiled down her bump.

"Hobbit is doing perfectly fine, he's becoming a very active baby though," she admitted. "He kept me up all of last night with his kicking, I couldn't get him to settle down and I couldn't sleep," Kate explained as Lanie nodded, smiling across at her friend before glancing across at Esposito who was staring down at his cell phone.

"Javier Esposito if you don't put that cell phone away right now, I will put it somewhere that you'll never forget about it," Lanie declared as Kate bit into her lip, trying to stop herself from laughing as Rick shook his head at the other couple.

"I'm on call Lanie, I was just checking," Javier stated as the ME crossed her arms and stared at him.

"And I know that you have the world's most annoying and loudest ringtone in the history of ringtones so put it away because you're not going to miss a call," she warned, the detective groaning before rolling his eyes at his girlfriend and placing the phone back into his pocket as Lanie relaxed and smiled at him.

"You are an evil woman Lanie Parish, an evil woman," Javier declared as Lanie shrugged.

"Dinner's ready if you're prepared to stop arguing," Kevin stated as Kate stood up, smiling as Rick rested his hand on the small of her back and led her towards the table, pulling her chair out for her before she sat down and looked across to see Lanie once again glaring at Esposito.

"Why can't you do that for me?" the ME questioned as he stared at her in confusion. "Why can't you be a gentleman? Both writer boy and Ryan have more manners than you do Javier," Lanie criticised as Javier groaned and pulled her seat out before sitting down in the seat beside her.

"Lanie stop being so harsh," Kate declared as Javier smiled at her, his mouth opening to speak as Kate's eyebrows rose, silencing him. "You two behave! We're here to celebrate Jenny's birthday, not to watch you two bicker about your relationship," the brunette stated as Rick bit into his lip, knowing better than to argue with his wife as she glance across at the couple. "You two clearly care about each other so stop commenting on the negatives and think about the positives," Kate stated as they remained silent. "There has to be some positives," she announced as Lanie shrugged, her mouth opening to speak as Kate shook her head. "I don't want to know what they are because I've heard you talk about previous boyfriends Lanie Parish and I don't think any of us want to know about your sex lives," she stated.

"No thank you," Ryan interjected, making everyone laugh before they began to serve the food up, Kate's hand holding onto her husbands underneath the table as they smiled across at each other, not surprised at how eventful the evening had been already.

"So how's your memory at the moment Castle?" Jenny asked as Rick shrugged, not knowing what to say.

"It's getting better slowly; he's remembering a lot more. He actually remembered the Tyson case," Kate explained as the other two detectives nodded slowly, remembering how horrid it had been to see the mix of emotions that had covered Kate's face as they'd arrested Castle for murder. It was something none of them ever wanted to see again.

"Do you remember the time he let Meredith stay?" Javier laughed, trying desperately to get everyone off the concept of Tyson, as everyone but Rick smiled and nodded at the memory, confusion covering the writer's face as he glanced across at the laughing brunette.

"I did what?" Rick asked, horror covering his face as Kate laughed.

"You were an idiot and you didn't know how to say no to Meredith so she was staying in the loft at the same time as I was because my apartment was being fumigated," Kate stated as he groaned, taking in the small details of the story in amazement while trying to deal with the whole idea of having his ex-wife and girlfriend at the time together in the same place.

"I am the world's biggest idiot," he commented, shaking his head as he tried to think about what on earth had led him to let both Kate and Meredith live underneath the same roof! "Why would I even do that? I'm not suicidal."

Short chapter and definitely not my favourite chapter but I hope you enjoy it. I wanted to get Kate and Rick back into New York and well the chapters will improve later, this was just a filler chapter to get them back in New York and to bring in some more details. I will go back to the whole Meredith/Kate situation in another chapter because I think it's so brilliant.

Your reviews have been amazing as well so please continue, I love hearing from you and I'm sorry it's taken so long but exams are stressing me out at the moment and taking up all my time!