The bath helped, which didn't surprise Beckett at all. Her MO after emotional turmoil had always been to retreat into her watery think-tank, as her mother had always called it for her. Now, she was redressed with her hair in pig-tail braids and curled onto her side with an audio-book copy of Dead Heat, the third book of the Nikki Heat saga when Nikki and Rook had been drawn into the world of underground high-stakes gambling while Raley and Ochoa had investigated a series of 'dedication' homicides leading them to a beautiful author, Marguerite Chapman, who had turned Ochoa's head after things with Lauren fizzled. She remembered the hell Castle had caught when he'd written Meredeth as what she thought was a consolation prize for Ochoa until Castle pointed out that in the mythology of Nikki Heat, Ochoa and Lauren had never made it past the flirting stage, much in the way Lanie had tried her damnedest to get Esposito on her hook and that trout wouldn't bite.

It was so weird the way people's hormones made them go a little crazy, she thought, rubbing her hand in soothing circles over her belly. Of course, she had the perfect excuse for hers to go berserk right now, but she still had to be a cop, and that meant dealing with inopportune work hours. And Castle acting like she was some kind of incompetent fool hadn't helped; she wasn't even going to dwell on the reputation-ruining crying explosion she'd had in front of Ry-Sposito, even if they were her favourite two-headed monster.

Sighing pitifully, she changed the track on her iPod to a video of Glee, a very personal guilty pleasure but she could legitimately rationalize it - Naya Rivera, everyone's favourite bad girl, had been cast as the pop-star Soleil Grey in the follow-up film to Heat Wave and she wanted to hear the girl in action. Listening to her cover of Amy Winehouse's rendition of The Zutons' Valerie was at the very least making the baby happy even if Beckett herself still felt shitty.

With her eyes close and ears full of music, she didn't hear the heavy footfalls outside her bedroom door, and assumed when she felt the body near the bed it was her ever-loving hubby come to check on her. Then her earbud was rudely yanked out and she heard her friend's voice full of irritation and loving concern.

'Girl, I am on a countdown to popping this baby out so you better have a good excuse as to why Castle would make me walk upstairs.'

'Good morning to you too, Lanie.'

'Save it.' Tired herself and out of patience for bullshit, Lanie eased her pregnant bulk onto the bed beside Beckett. 'Talk to me.'

'About what, the fact that my husband is making a show of bossing me around and kicking me off work cases-'

'Kate, you're pregnant. You need to get it in your head that you can't keep the same hours anymore. You have to go to Montgomery and work something out or you're going to be putting your baby at serious risk for problems.'

'So what if I'm pregnant? My mother was a second-year professor when she was pregnant with me, didn't even have tenure yet, and was teaching and grading and that wasn't including when she would be working on court cases and had to work eighteen hour days. She did it, why can't I?'

Lanie furrowed her brow. 'Is that what this is about?'

'If I'm not a good cop, then...I've let her down.'

'And what would your mother say if she were here now, watching you grow a baby inside you?'

For Beckett, this was the breaking point. She heaved a weighty sigh and tried to chose her words so she wouldn't start blubbering again. 'She'd say I raised a strong, independent girl who always does the right thing, no matter how hard it might be or unpopular it might make you.'

'Exactly, and part of being strong is knowing when you need to take a step back.' Lanie covered Beckett's hand. 'I went from processing a scene to my lunch break into a maternity suite. I realized last time with Carey I cut it way too close, what if he'd been early like Dell, so this time I'm starting my maternity leave so I have time get my house in order before this baby arrives. It's not even close to what I want but I can't be selfish like that. I've got another little person coming into the world who needs me to think of him or her first.'

'You're saying I'm selfish.'

'No. I'm saying you need to relax and not be so stubborn.' Lanie shifted again in the vain hopes it would move the baby off her bladder. 'After my parents split up and my mother and sister left the country, I was in family counseling and the thing I remember my counselor telling me the most was that asking for help when help is legitimately needed doesn't make us weak, it makes us smart. You are a smart girl, Kate, and you'll make a hell of a mother. So you need to remind yourself that it's not just you that you're doing this for.'

Beckett hadn't thought of it quite like that and it made her feel even more ashamed than when she'd suddenly fountained like a geyser in front of the guys. 'Thank you, Lanie.'

'For what?'

'For kicking my ass when I want you to hold my hand.'

'We're sisters, it's what we do. Now, I can't stay, I've been having some Braxton-Hicks of my own during my shift, so I'm going home to my boys. My dad's in town and taking care of my son while I'm on night shift and I know both of them want to see me. The files I promised are downstairs with the two-headed monster and Castle.'

'Thanks again Lanie.'

The not-so-tiny ME shoved herself off the bed and waddled out, nearly running over Castle in the process. 'Hey, how you feeling?'

'Richard, I'm so sorry I've made you worry and stress about me and the baby at work. I...I've been selfish and inconsiderate and I promise the first thing on Monday morning I'm doing is going into Montgomery's office and rearranging my schedule so I'm in the office more.'

'Okay. Whatever you need, Kate, I'm here.'

Castle leaned in for a kiss and started to slide his hands under his wife's top when he heard the discreet 'cough-cough' from Esposito by the doorway.

'You know, some people would actually cough instead of just saying it, Detective.'

'I'm unique and special.'

Beckett looked over Castle's shoulder to see the hunky Puerto-Rican and the handsome Irishman standing in her bedroom doorway with thick dossiers and files in their hands. 'What's all this?'

'Mohammad and mountains, Detective. Just because you need to lie down doesn't mean your brain's stopped working.'

Esposito picked a corner of the king-sized bed, arranged the files there while Ryan sat beside him, pulling stacks of photographs out of his manila envelopes. 'So, do you want to start with Lanie's reports or recap what we learned last night?'

'I also got a call from the judge, the minute the banks and phone companies open today, our warrants will be pushed through so we'll have financial and phone-data by noon at the latest. I'm going to get hard copies from the office and bring 'em back here.' Ryan tapped a note into his phone, then tossed it on the bed. 'ME findings or details from last night's scene?'

'Lanie's findings first.' Beckett gave them each a small smile. She knew exactly what they were up to and couldn't have been more grateful. 'What have we gotten from there?'

'We still don't have an ID on the fourth arm and the CSUs are still running prints through Missing Persons. Lanie ran a tox screen and all four came up with quite the combat cocktail in their bloodstreams. Benzodiazepine, ketamine and naproxen, and they were pure. Pharmacy grade, not the street-level chemi-heads who deal chill-pills.'

'Meredeth takes naproxen for her back, it's why she had a spinal block when Tessi was born instead of an epidural,' Esposito explained. 'It's a non-steroidal anti-inflamatory. You combine that with an anesthetic like ketamine and anti-anxiety meds like benzos, you couldn't swat away a ball of string.'

Still lying down, Beckett picked up Lanie's file and read the medical examiner's short-hand. 'So whoever did this to these girls wanted them sedated so they wouldn't put up a fight. Did Lanie have any way of determining a time of death?'

Ryan shook his head. 'Seeing as they were limbs without vital organs, all she could pull was that they were severed post-mortem.'

'Okay. We've got a lot of threads to pull here, where you wanna start?' Esposito asked.

'The financial records and the phone records, and find out what those numbers are from CSU. I'd love to go with you but I'm needed here.' Beckett rubbed her hand over her belly. 'I have other priorities today.'

'For sure, we'll call you the minute we get something.'

'Yeah, take care of Ricky Junior in there.' Ryan patted her knee with a friendly smile. 'We want a safe and healthy baby from you too.'

By the time Ryan made it home that night, he was thoroughly beat but he was still surprisingly alert. Maybe it was the fact that he was looking out for his boss even more now that she was starting to fully appreciate the fact that being a pregnant cop would put limitations on her body or maybe it was the adrenaline-kick of being a disappointment to his friend that had him so peppy after a hard day.

He unlocked the door and grinned widely, his anxiety staying in the hallway when he saw the sight before him: Dell and Honey-Milk were sitting at the kitchen table drawing and colouring. Their blonde heads were bent close together as they chatted with each other and the fact there would be another one to join them in about four months time was both scary and exhilarating.

'What are you two up to?' he asked with a laugh in his voice and love for them swelled in his chest when they lifted their heads, delight shining in their eyes.

'Daddy! You are home!' Dell popped out of his chair to race over and hug his father. 'You get any bad guys today?'

'No, today we were working on the puzzle pieces to find the bad guys.'

'That is good, you gotta 'member all the suh-teps so they don' get away.'

'Exactly.' Ryan kissed his son's cheek. 'How are you and Mama doing?'

'Very good, we are havin' art cuh-lass and I made something for the baby.'

Dell raced back over to the kitchen table, picked up the piece of paper he'd been working on to show it off for his father's inspection. 'You like it?'

Ryan grinned - his son had drawn a picture of a group of stick figures with colourful clothes and different shades of hair inside a group of dinosaurs. 'It's beautiful, Dell, who is everyone?'

'That is me and Tessi and Mommy and the baby and we are being puh-ro-tect-ed by our dinosaurs. They are the moon sy-suh-tem.'

'Moon system?' Ryan repeated.

'Meredeth said we all have one so we don't get sick.'

'It's called an immune system, baby,' Honey-Milk laughed, standing up to give her husband a kiss. 'How did everything go at Beckett and Castle's this morning?'

'A little tougher than we thought. She's having a hard time right now, trying to be a super-cop and super-mom all at the same time. But Lanie gave her a talkin-to when she stopped to drop off a file on her way home and I think she's coming around. But Javi and I are trying to think of something really sweet that we can do that's work-related for her to make her feel less...flaky, I guess you'd say.'

'Flaky?'

'Yeah. Something to make her feel like taking care of herself because she's pregnant doesn't make her any less of a cop.'

'Oh.' Honey-Milk paused, pursed her lips. 'You know, I think I might have just the thing for that.'

'Really?'

'Uh-huh. We'll get Dell to tidy up his art supplies here and I'll tell you while we make dinner.'

R&R&Enjoy!