11. Private Practice

Beckett sat nervously dressed in a hospital gown on the exam table. Castle was by her side and the two waited for their doctor.

"Castle," said Beckett, "Would you relax? You're more nervous than I am and I'm the one wearing this stupid thing."

"Sorry," said Castle, "It's just my first time doing this."

"What do you mean your first time?" Beckett asked, "I thought you went through all this before."

Castle sighed and took a step closer to Beckett, taking hold of her hands. He had always planned on telling her the truth about his pregnancy experience with Meredith but the timing never felt good enough.

Now that he was here in the exam room with the love of his life that was having his baby, the timing couldn't have been better to share his secret.

"Things with Meredith weren't exactly conventional. I wanted kids. She didn't. She was more concerned about her career and her looks than she was about being a mother. Even after Alexis was born she wasn't interested and even had her tubes tied so she would never go through it again. A month later I caught her screwing her director. It took me a long while to convince her despite us being married. Ultimately though I was more like the sperm donor and she was a surrogate. Meredith never really let me be a part of the whole pregnancy experience. Never let me go to her doctor's appointments or even her Lamaze classes. There was a lot I missed out on. The only thing she did let me experience was watching Alexis be born and even then she had me up by her head."

Beckett looked at Castle. She realized that as much as she knew about him there was still so much she didn't know and it made her love him even more.

Beckett smiled and squeezed his hands. "It won't be like it was the last time, Castle. I want you to be a part of this every step of the way. I want to experience all of it with you. If that's what you want."

Castle smiled, "It's exactly what I want."

There was a knock on the door and then it opened.

"KBecks, as I live and breathe," Dr. Addison Montgomery said with a smile. "I saw your name but I thought for sure it had to be a different Katherine Beckett."

Beckett smiled back, "Addie Montgomery," said Beckett, "Last I heard you were up in Seattle. What happened?"

"Oh you know, the usual- went to fight for my husband and said husband was screwing the intern instead."

"Ouch."

Addison shrugged, "He flew across the country and fell in love with someone else. I wasn't gonna waste my breath or time trying to fix what we had when I was the one who screwed things up in the first place so we got a divorce, I moved back here and started my own private practice."

"And by the looks of things you're doing quite well."

"And look at you," said Addison, "Who could have guessed the biggest scoff-lad in our class would become a cop. I mean we kept in touch during college but still, I can't exactly believe it."

Beckett laughed, "You and me both."

"So how do you two know each other," asked Castle.

"Gosh how long has it been," Addison asked.

"Too long," replied Beckett, "going all the way back to our middle school days." Beckett looked at Addison and motioned her to Castle, "by the way, Addison Montgomery, my boyfriend…"

"Richard Castle," Addison said as she shook his hand. "How is it that Becks ended up with the man of her dreams? I cannot tell you how many times she's read your books and how often she dreamed of meeting you."

"Really," Castle said with a huge grin that made him seem both amused and like his ego was about to burst, "So clearly it's not just my dreams that come true, it's yours too."

Beckett turned to Addison, "Can we focus please? We're not here to talk about my love life."

"Well technically we are," said Castle, "Since you are after all having my baby," he said with pride.

Beckett looked at her friend and new OBGYN. "See what you've done?"

Addison laughed. "Okay we'd better get this started then before his ego flares any higher. Is that even possible?"

"Oh it's possible," Beckett replied.

"Then we'd definitely bring this back to you," Addison said with a smile.

This being Beckett's first prenatal check up, Addison pulled out all the stops. She confirmed her due date which they could expect somewhere between February 1st and 5th, the age of the pregnancy from the size of her uterus and cervix, a general body examination, blood and urine testing.

Addison also asked for a history of both Beckett and Castle, which included personal medical histories, Beckett's menstruation cycle history, their social histories in terms of exercise, eating and drinking habits and family medical histories.

The family medical history was slightly difficult for Castle to answer given that he had no idea who his father was. The only thing he knew for certain was that he was the product of a one night stand.

The final test Addison performed was an ultrasound.

"Would you like to see your baby," Addison asked.

Castle's eyes widened. "You can see it this early?"

Addison shot Castle a confused look, "I thought you had a kid."

"It's complicated," Beckett and Castle said simultaneously.

"Okay then," Addison said deciding not to get into it and instead focusing on her work. "Right now your uterus is the size of a grapefruit." Addison arranged the screen so the couple could see, "but this little one right here, the little raspberry shaped object, that's your baby. He or she is just about the right size, and so far I see no early complications."

Beckett's eyes widened, "Castle, do you see? That's him, that's our baby."

"Yeah Beckett, I see," Castle said, his voice filled with emotion.

Tears started to swell in Beckett's eyes, "He's real," she said.

Knowing she was pregnant, experiencing the symptoms, were nothing compared to actually having the transducer over her abdomen and transmitting it to the computer and seeing for herself the evidence of their night in LA.

"Oh it's real alright," said Addison, "I'll print out a few pictures so you can take home."

Addison ran a towel over Beckett's abdomen to wipe off the gel and then made easy print outs from the computer which she handed to the new parents.

"There you go, all set," said Addison, "I'll let you get dressed and then come back with a few last minute details."

"Thanks Addie," said Beckett.

Addison smiled, "Sure. Congratulations you two."

It didn't take long for Beckett to get dressed and for Addison to return.

She went over the healthy eating habits that Beckett needed to be following, how much rest and exercise she needed and how she should avoid alcohol and caffeine.

"Okay so I want to see you back in four weeks. You'd better start getting used to these once a month appointments for a while." Addison reached for a card from her pocket. "Call me if you need anything prenatal or otherwise. I mean it Becks, even if it's just to get together and talk sometime. I've really missed you."

"I've missed you too, Addie."

Beckett's head was relaxed on Castle's shoulder as they walked into the loft. They had gotten a late lunch at Remi's. Despite Addison's note about healthy eating, Beckett had been craving their burgers and shakes.

Being there had brought back memories of when she and Castle had gone there together as an almost couple. Lanie had set Beckett up with a firefighter and Castle had gone out with a woman on some top list. Neither of their dates had ended well since the case they were working on got in the way but it turned out to be the best thing for them. Since they hadn't gotten a chance to really finish their entrees, Castle had suggested Remi's to which Beckett had agreed to.

"Remember the last time we were here," Castle asked as they sat over two burgers, some vanilla shakes, and a basket of shared fries.

"How could I forget," Beckett said with a smile, "that was the night both of our dates went badly."

"I'm glad they did," said Castle, "It gave me more time to spend with you."

Beckett blushed and then raised her glass. "Well on that note, here's to our first date here as an actual couple."

Castle clinked his glass to hers, "Considering the day we've had, it's definitely one worth remembering."

"Well that doctor's appointment wasn't so bad," Castle said as he closed the door.

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one being poked and prodded."

"True. I do feel bad about that by the way."

Beckett shrugged, "The curse of my gender, what are you going to do?"

"Well I'd trade places with you if I could," Castle said as he went in and placed a light kiss on her lips.

"That's all I needed to hear," Beckett replied.

"So what are you in the mood for," Castle asked, "We could watch a movie, we could read."

"You know what I really want to do, take a nap. After today I feel like I haven't slept in days."

"Want me to give you a back rub to help you sleep?"

Beckett smiled, "A back rub sounds perfect."

Castle smiled back and took her hand as he led Beckett into their bedroom for a relaxing evening.

Author's Note: So though I'm using Addison Montgomery from Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice,

I've decided to change her story up a bit just so it fits in better with Beckett's story.

Again, I've always liked the fictionalized crossover concept of them being friends.