"You're mommy is the most captivating woman Hobbit," Rick said quietly as he gently rolled her t-shirt up and pressed a kiss to her bump as she rolled her eyes and moved her fingers through the writer's hair, smiling down at him as she bit into her lip. "When I first met your mommy she had this short hair and she was the strictest detective I'd ever met and she was angry at me because I was so childish and nothing like anyone she'd met before," the writer stated as Kate laughed to herself as Rick continued to press kisses to her bump. "But she slowly started to get used to my childish behaviour and then that acceptance turned into mad and crazy love baby," he whispered, Kate's head shaking as he glanced up at her for a moment. "She's fantastic," he declared before kissing her quickly. "And I love her more than anything in the world and I love Alexis and you so much hobbit and we can't wait to meet you," he stated as she smiled, her fingers moving through his hair as she continued to smile.
"Castle, stop kissing my stomach," she warned as he shook his head and laughed before kissing her again, the brunette relaxing back against the headboard as Rick continued to rest against her bump, enjoying the feeling of being close to their baby again. Hearing a knock at the front door, Rick groaned as Kate sat up properly and shook her head before climbing out of the bed, leaving him lying across the bed in silence. Pulling her t-shirt down over the bump, Kate sighed as she walked out of the room and approached the front door, her fingers running through her dark hair before she opened it to see a smartly dressed and beaming Paula standing in the doorway.
"Hello Kate, don't you look…" she began, staring down at the sweat pants and baggy t-shirt the brunette was wearing before she shrugged and entered the apartment, Kate biting into her lip to stop herself from saying something she'd later regret. "So where is Richard? Has his memory come back yet because I have all sorts of events that he's supposed to be doing for this book of his," she declared as Kate turned to face her, shutting the door quickly as Kate forced a smile onto her face.
"Richard, you have a visitor," Kate called out before entering the kitchen and pouring herself a glass of water, taking a sip of it as the writer walked out also dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt.
"Don't you two look sweet, you match," Paula smirked as Rick glanced across at his wife who was holding the glass to her face, trying to keep herself occupied so she didn't say something stupid. "Rick we need to talk about book signings and events, people want to see you Richard Castle and this book isn't going to continue selling well if you don't start giving them what they want," she stated as Rick groaned, trying desperately to remember what the last Nikki Heat book had been about. He hadn't read it yet, he'd been too busy with Kate and trying to get used to having a baby on the way and being married to her and reading the book had been the least of his priorities. "Richard…" she began.
"I don't even know what the book is about Paula. How can I talk to people when I don't even know what the plot of it is?" he muttered as Paula shrugged and sat down on the edge of the dining room table.
"Do you have any coffee Rick?" Paula quickly asked. "You know I can't do business without a coffee Richard," she smiled as Rick slowly shook his head, knowing no one in their family was having caffeine while Kate was pregnant.
"We don't have coffee in the house Paula, we're not having it around while Kate's pregnant and we probably won't have it around if Kate plans on breastfeeding," he declared proudly as the book agent woman rolled her eyes for a moment before looking across at Rick who was staring at Kate in silence who was smiling at him.
"You haven't been in the papers since the accident Castle and the books family man who is never in the papers! They want you to be interesting, they want to see you out and about, promoting your book," she listed as Kate shook her head and walked out of the kitchen, moving away from the other two adults before she sat down on the couch and are starting to slow down, you need to start being in the public again! People don't want you to be Richard Castle, husband and relaxed into the corner, trying to ignore the presence of her husband's agent . "You haven't had a baby shower yet have you?" Paula asked.
"I don't know," he said quietly, glancing across in the direction of the couch where Kate was hiding. Approaching the couch in silence, Rick sighed as he leant across it to look at his silent wife who had her eyes shut. "Have we had a baby shower?"
"No," Kate said simply. "We hadn't got round to planning one."
"Then perfect, you can have a baby shower, we can get some professional pictures and send them to some of the papers! People love babies and they love celebrities' babies even more," Paula stated as Kate stood up and glared across at her, waiting desperately for Rick to respond. "I saw a couple recently who didn't tell anyone the gender of their baby until the baby shower; you could do something like that, build up the suspense. It would be a mystery for our crime solving couple," she smirked as Kate looked across at Rick.
"Paula, you know my family is private! I don't want our baby in their papers and I don't want Kate in them either unless she's comfortable with the story," he declared quickly as Kate reached across for his hand.
"Richard Castle, you're relationship with Kate is what sells your books more than anything. They loved the whole will they, won't they at the start of your partnership and now they like hearing all the gossip about the writer who married his muse. You might not like it but she is what's keeping you popular Castle, she is and that baby is as well," Paula stated angrily before grabbing her purse and walking towards the door.
"Paula, Rick isn't popular because he's the writer who married his muse. He's popular because he's extremely talented and because people adore the justice they get from his books. So many people get peace from the endings his books provide. You might not be able to understand that but he doesn't need to be in the newspapers to be loved by his fans, not his true fans," Kate declared as Paula laughed sarcastically and glanced across at the writer.
"Call me when you realise that you need to do something serious and soon Richard," she stated, walking out of the apartment before slamming the front door loudly behind her as Kate sighed and moved slowly to wrap her arms around her husband's neck, noticing the tears that were appearing in his eyes before she kissed him gently for a brief moment.
"You ignore that woman, you ignore everything she says," Kate whispered as he remained still. "You are loved by so many people, every Nikki Heat has been a best seller and you're getting better with every book," she declared passionately before kissing him again, his forehead moving to rest against hers as he remained silent while she smiled weakly. "We don't need to be in the papers for people to love you Richard Castle; they love you because your books are fantastic and you're an amazing writer, you care about your fans Rick and that's all that matters. She doesn't understand you and she doesn't understand them."
"What if I can't write anymore? What if my memory never comes back and I can't write Nikki Heat anymore. You told me I ended it on a cliff hanger Kate, how am I supposed to remember how I planned on continuing it?" Rick questioned, clearly emotional as he moved away. "I'm going to go and change," he said quietly, disappearing into the bedroom as Kate sighed and wrapped her arms around her body, hating Paula more now than she'd ever done before. Sitting down on the couch in silence, Kate waited patiently before the office door opened and Rick stepped out in a pair of jeans and a shirt. "I think I'm going to go for a walk," he said quietly.
"If you gave me a minute Rick, I could come with you," she smiled as he shook his head, her smile disappearing as she stared at him and watched as he grabbed a jacket and pulled it on over the shirt. "Have fun," Kate said quietly as he smiled weakly and leant down to kiss her for a brief second before pulling away and walking towards the door, grabbing his keys before he stepped out and shut the door behind him. Grabbing her cell phone, Kate quickly brushed her hair away from her face before she found the number she needed and dialled it.
"Kate?" Lanie immediately answered as Kate held the phone to her ear.
"Lanie, could you come over now? I need someone to talk too," she said quietly, knowing that the ME would come over immediately from the change in her voice.
XOOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"So what's going on Kate? Have you and writer boy had a fight?" Lanie asked as she stepped into the apartment, Kate shutting the door before they silently approached the couch and sat down beside each other.
"Paula came over this morning," Kate stated, smiling when Lanie groaned and glanced across at her.
"What did she want?" Lanie immediately questioned, Kate sighing as she moved her hand to rest on her bump before glancing across at the front door, hoping desperately that Rick would reappear soon and be happier than he'd been when he'd left.
"She came over trying to get Rick to do something that would get him back into the papers because she believes the books aren't selling that well because we've not been in the paper recently," she began as Lanie began to shake her head, clearly annoyed at Paula already. "She suggested that we had a baby shower and sent the pictures to the baby as well as telling everyone the gender of the baby to answer the big mystery," she began, her hand continuing to slowly run across the bump as Rick smiled weakly. "Rick refused and well, she started ranting about his books are selling more because of us and the whole writer, muse relationship rather than his talent and I think he's upset that he won't write again and everything," she admitted as Lanie nodded slowly. "Lanie he looked so upset."
"I don't blame him for being upset, the evil bitch has no idea when to shut up," Lanie announced as Kate nodded and sighed.
"He was so happy this morning, he was talking to hobbit and just being Rick and then she came and ruined it and now he's going to be worrying about whether he's letting his fans down and whether they'll be another Nikki Heat and he's panicking and I hate it. I was trying to keep work away from him because I knew he'd worry about it and now she's just thrown everything at him at once," Kate said quietly as she sighed, not knowing how to make it better for her husband. "I've not seen him this low since the Tyson case Lanie, he was almost crying. He feels like he's letting everyone down."
"Then you need to remind him that he's not Kate," Lanie announced as Kate glanced across at her in confusion. "You need to remind him that he's everything to you and this baby," she stated as Kate nodded slowly. "You need to do something special for him."
"Thanks Lanie," Kate smiled as Lanie nodded briefly, knowing that Kate just needed a push. "I kind of have an idea of what to do now."
XOXOXOXOXOOXOXO
Sitting in the small café that he used to visit with Alexis when she was a child, Rick smiled weakly at his empty mug while trying to think about everything. Was he letting his fans down? And if he was letting his fans down did that mean he was letting Kate down as well? Kate was his biggest fan, the woman who'd read all of his work and he couldn't imagine what it would be like if he let down the woman he'd married, the woman he was having a child with. Sighing gently, Rick bit into his lip before he took his cell phone out and rested it on the table, noticing the message from Kate asking where he was and telling him that she was waiting for him at home when he was ready to come back. Smiling to himself as he thought of something he could do that would everything up to Kate, he quickly dialled a familiar number before holding it to his ear and waiting for a response.
"Jim?" Rick asked quietly when he heard him pick up the phone a few moments later. "I want to surprise Kate and I need your help," he admitted, smiling to himself. He wasn't going to let Kate down again! He was going to make her see how much he loved her, how much he wanted to be with her and how he wasn't a failure at their marriage just because his memory was gone. He wasn't going to fail a third marriage, not one that involved Kate Beckett!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Kate, I'm home," Rick said quietly as he unlocked the door to find the apartment completely dark. "Kate?" he questioned, reaching across and turning the light on before smiling at the sight. There were blankets resting across the couches that had been moved, creating a canopy over the floor as he heard movement before looking towards the office to see Kate in her batman pyjamas, a small smile covering her face as she walked towards him, kissing him gently before smiling and keeping him close. "I'm sorry for storming out."
"Don't be, you needed some time to think! I've walked away enough times from you too Rick," she smiled, her hands resting on his cheeks as he looked down at her. "You scared me, disappearing like that," she admitted, cuddling into his arms as he held her, not wanting to let her go as he buried his face into her hair, enjoying the familiarity of the cherry smell. That never changed, that was always the same! It had been the same since the first day they met and it hadn't changed, even now when they were expecting their first child together and were married.
"What's with the blankets?" he asked quietly as she smiled.
"I wanted to do something you like Rick, so Lanie and your mother helped me prepare a fort like you kind of used to do with Rick that was suitable to watch films in but also decent enough for me to sleep in because the floor isn't good for my back or for the baby," Kate declared as Rick smiled and slowly walked towards the fort, kneeling down to see a mattress resting on the floor with blankets resting on top of it. "Go and get into your pyjamas and then we can cuddle and watch some movies, I have food and everything," she explained as he stood up and kissed her quickly, his arms wrapping around her as they remained still again. "Can we talk later though?"
"I think we need too," he stated before slowly moving away and disappearing into the office for the second time that day. Changing clothes quickly, Rick smiled as he walked out again to see Kate in the kitchen, humming as she poured drinks for them and carried them and the dishes of food towards the fort before climbing in and relaxing back on the mattress, breathing out as she rested her hand on her stomach. Hearing the floorboards creak, Kate smiled as he appeared, crawling in beside her before leaning in to kiss her. "I'm not letting them down am I?" he asked.
"You could never let them down," she promised, relaxing into his side as she pressed play on the nearby remote, starting the DVD that she'd already placed in the player before the writer had returned home. It was one they'd been seen hundreds of times and she knew that would provide them with the opportunity to talk if he wanted too. "Maybe we should do something, be somewhere, but I'm not using our baby to keep people interested in you Castle," Kate explained as Rick stared at her for a moment. "We were supposed to go to Patterson's launch of the new book in a couple of days but I was planning on cancelling," she admitted as Rick stared at her. "They'll ask you about the book and you won't remember reading it," she declared quickly.
"Then I'll read it before we go. I want to be at this party, I want people to see that we're getting on with our lives even after the accident," he declared as she nodded slowly, concern covering her face as Rick stared at her for a moment. "We could go along Kate; I'll talk to some of the papers about the book and make some mention about us and how excited we are about the baby and starting another chapter of our lives," he declared as Kate smiled and nodded, knowing Rick would do something to make people talk about him again. He was Richard Castle, he had an almost magical way with words and a way with people, she knew that better than anyone in the world. "But I promise you Kate, I'm not going to sell pictures of our baby shower or anything like that to the papers."
"I know you won't Rick, I know how protective you are of family," Kate whispered, kissing him again before sighing. "Great," she moaned suddenly.
"What?" he asked.
"I've got to go and find another dress now," she announced, resting back against the mattress as he laughed at her for a moment. "You're coming dress shopping with me tomorrow Richard; you're not getting out of it now."
"Sounds perfect," he said simply, cuddling her close as they relaxed, enjoying The Forbidden Planet as it played on the screen.
Thank you for your amazing reviews and hopefully you like this chapter. I really wanted to have a chapter that allowed me to have Rick and Kate separated for a while as well as allowing for some hints at future events. Anyway, hopefully you enjoy it and review again because I love all your amazing comments!
