Ian 2

Chapter 11

Castle jerked awake as Kate's elbow poked his ribs. "Rick! You need to start timing my contractions."

"What do you mean timing? How long have you been having contractions?"

"A while. At first, I wasn't sure they were anything. I mean I had some before, but these are different. And they're coming faster now."

Castle's feet hit the floor. "Screw the timing, Kate. We're going to the hospital. Now. I've had your go bag in the car for a month. I'm just going to give Ian a yell so he can open doors. Then I'm going to wrap you in a blanket and carry you to the car, and I'm going to carry you inside the hospital to the nearest wheelchair up to the maternity ward. You are going to have this baby surrounded by doctors and nurses and any medical equipment you or Amelia could possibly need."

Kate knew better than to argue. She didn't really want to anyway.

Ian bounded down the stairs, fastening his jeans and pushing back his hair as he went. "I'm going with you, Dad. If you're going to be carrying Kate, you'll need someone to carry her suitcase and stuff when you get there."

"Okay," Castle allowed. "Let's just get out of here!"

"You're only four centimeters dilated, Kate," Nurse Connie Selles announced, as Kate impatiently lay in her hospital room. "It's going to be a while. But the doctor said everything looks fine, and your readouts are normal. You should try to relax as much as you can. I'll be back to check on you soon, and if you need anything just press the call button." Connie bustled out the door.

Kate looked up at Castle pacing the room. "Babe, when she said relax, she meant both of us."

"I know," Castle admitted, "but I haven't been there for the birth of a baby since Ian. I just don't want anything to go wrong."

"Wearing a path in the floor won't help, and the way things go at hospitals these days, they'll probably charge us for it. When my Dad had his gallbladder removed, they charged eight bucks for a box of Kleenex®. Even though his insurance was picking up most of the bill, he called the hospital counsel and told them he was going to bring a class action suit against them for overcharging their patients. He did, too, but it will probably be in the courts for at least another ten years."

"Good for Jim," Castle said. "But I don't care what the hospital charges as long as you and Amelia are all right. Can I get you anything? Ice chips? Magazines? Porn videos? I hear they speed up labor."

"How about just trying to find a decent movie on the TV? We can both use the distraction."

"Okay, Castle agreed. "I don't suppose the hospital subscribes to the Naughty Nights channel."

Kate rolled her eyes. "I don't suppose they do. Where did Ian go?"

"There's a twenty-four-hour pizza joint across the street, with video games. I told him I'd call his cell if anything happens. He said he'd be back in a little while anyway. He wants to sketch everything here he can for when he draws hospital scenes."

"He always wants to get everything perfect," Kate observed.

"Yes, he does," Castle agreed. "He gets that from his mother. Not the drawing thing. Kyra could barely draw a straight line with a ruler, but she loved to arrange flowers, and they always looked like something out of a magazine - the ones with real art - not the Martha Stewart stuff. Damn! Right now, everything should be all about you and Amelia. I don't know why I'm thinking about her."

Kate held out her hand to him and wrapped her fingers around his. "I do. It's because you're worried. I can't even imagine how you got through it, having her die when Ian was so young. But Rick, I'm not sick. There were some complications in my pregnancy, but I'm going to be fine, and so is the baby. Amelia, you, me, and Ian are going to be a family for a long time. Now, go find the Hallmark Channel or something. We need to watch a story with a happy ending while we're waiting for one of our own."

"Alright," Castle agreed. "A Christmas card flick it will be."

Ian put his last quarter in the old-fashioned pinball machine that was in the back corner of Original Octavio's Pizza. Smashing the buttons for the flippers was a much more satisfying way to blow off steam than working the controls of the video games. He didn't know why there weren't more pinball machines around. His Dad had thought about getting one for the loft for a while but decided that if he did, he'd never get any writing done. Ian could understand why. The machine was addictive. But playing it helped him calm down. After the rush to get Kate to the hospital, he finally felt like he could breathe again. Ian imagined that it wouldn't hurt his father to play a few games either, but there was no way that Dad would leave Kate's side until Amelia came, however long that would take. Ian heard the click that indicated a match. He'd play his free game and then go back to the hospital. He hadn't thought to grab his sketch pad, but he'd noticed some stationary in the hospital gift shop. He could draw on that. The nubby texture might even create some interesting effects. He mentally crossed his fingers that there wouldn't be any tortured expressions from his family to capture. He didn't know if he could handle it if anything bad happened to Kate or Amelia. And he was pretty sure his father couldn't. From what his Grandmother Rodgers had told him about when his mother died, the only thing that had kept his father from jumping in the grave with her was him. That had been a scary thing to hear. Two of his balls slipped right through his flippers. It was time to go back across the street.

"You're at six," Nurse Selles reported. "My shift is over in five minutes, "but Mindy will be here for you. Your epidural is obviously doing its job, and the baby is showing no signs of distress. You're doing great."

"I don't feel like I'm doing great," Kate complained to Castle. "We've been through two movies, and I still have four centimeters to go."

Castle flicked back a strand of hair that had found it's way to the corner of her mouth. "Now you're the one who's getting impatient. You're sure about the porn? The hospital doesn't have any, but I can get some on my phone."

"Castle! What if Ian comes back in?"

"He's a teenage boy. He can get his own porn. But he told me that he drew as much equipment as he could see in maternity and they won't let him into ICU. So, he went down to the lobby to sketch the people who come to the coffee cart. He said he might try painting them. He hasn't done much with paint, but he thinks that worry, boredom, fear, all the things he expects to see in the faces of the visitors and the staff could make a great series. If it comes out halfway decent, he might be able to get it into a junior student showing at SVA."

"I wish I could make that good a use of my time," Kate said. "I wonder if the boys have a new case?"

"You couldn't be making better use of your time. You're having our daughter. But if you really want me to, I can call them and find out. If they are on a murder, we could build theory together." Castle's mouth quirked crookedly. "That's always been like porn for you and me, anyway."

Kate shook her head. "Give me your phone, Castle. I'll call."