The next night, when Martha and Alexis got home, they greeted us both with open arms. Because his mother was the detective of personal affairs, Rick insisted I take off the ring before she got home, so I did. When they came in, they told us stories of the Hamptons and entertained us for a bit before asking why we were having a special dinner with my dad. Castle quickly stated, "Well, I finished the baby's room this weekend and we picked out a name and that all seemed like a good reason to have our son's grandparents in the same room at the same time to see the room and hear the name."

"You finished the room?' Alexis questioned with excitement. Rick nodded. "Well, can I go see it? I'm not a grandparent."

Rick looked at her with a sly eye and responded, "How many times have you complained about raising me? You count."

"Well then, if you would excuse me for a moment," I answered before heading to the restroom. When I got back about a minute later, Rick was greeting my father at the door. Something was off about him. I couldn't quite tell what until he got closer to me. Standing not four feet away from me, I could see every side effect about him. He'd hobbled in here, not quite in a completely straight line, but only crooked enough to where I could tell. Also, his eyes had lost their meaning; his false smile had no purpose. The man standing such a short distance before me was entirely hallowed out, and once again reflected the image of a man who was haunted by troubles he was unable to face. This man, the man who reached a trembling hand around me as he crept closer to hug me, was only my father's cavernous replica. His soul had been left, piece by piece, at the bottom of every bottle he had succumbed to for however long he'd consumed them.

When he untangled himself from me with a minor struggle to reclaim his own weight, I looked at him for only a moment before looking up at Rick. Just simply by the pitiful expression on his face, I could tell he knew exactly what I knew. In a fraction of a second, I debated whether to address this matter for his safety and my peace of mind or whether to leave this be for my physical health. In the end, my answer was obvious. A prick of anger mixed with a sea of disappointment swirled in my voice as my heart shattered on the floor and I forced out, "You're drinking again."

His fractured smile came about in his response. "Can you blame me, Katie? I've already lost your mother, and I'm about to lose you too."

"So you think drinking's the answer?" I said, crushed but keeping any anger from boiling to a point where it might consume me.

"Katie," he tried.

I broke free of the hold he'd kept on my hands, "No! No, this- this isn't right! You can't just- give up. You can't relapse. I- I don't want this for you. You- you have to be there for my son, you have to keep going, no matter what happens to me. You have to keep going for your grandson."

"For the bastard kid who killed my daughter?" he said without thinking. That instantly silenced me as a pain burst out into my chest and a fire began to burn inside me. I think he could see the shattered bits of soul reflecting in my eyes because his visage instantly reversed and he tried to apologize. "No, that's- that's not what I meant. I- I'm sorry."

Before I was able to respond with the fury I wanted desperately to unleash, Rick gently whispered, "Kate." When I looked over at him, he was walking toward me, taking me in his arms and placing his hands around mine at the bottom of my stomach. I received the message and tried to calm myself, letting him handle this. He looked my father, holding me in a way to make me feel safe but in no way of suffocated, and said, "I think it's best that you go." I could see that my father was thinking about arguing, but did no such thing. Instead, he agreed with Rick and told me he'd call me tomorrow to hear the news. I nodded, choking down an argument and allowing him to turn around and walk away.

When he left, I involuntarily let out a sigh, turning into Rick's chest. I couldn't have ever imagined my father would have said something like that. After he got clean the first time, I never thought he'd go back to drinking. I- I never thought he could hurt me in any way worse than when he'd been drunk and given up on life. But now that I'd seen him this way, now that I'd seen that monster within, I wanted desperately to know for certain that my son would never be subjected to being in his presence. There are no words you can ever take back in this world, and twice now he'd shown his disdain for my child. Never would I allow it to happen again.

Eventually I found myself sobbing into Rick's chest. I couldn't pin point the moment this happened, but we were still standing there, right where we were. I'd soaked his shirt and probably stained it with mascara and eye liner. When I finally realized I was being a bit over dramatic, I inhaled to stop myself from continuing, and chopped out breaths, which calmed my nerves. Eventually I stopped crying, and when I did, Rick promised, "I'll go over there tomorrow, Kate. I'll try to help and- at very least I'll make sure he's not- living in squallier." My eyes then left his and I wove myself more deeply into his hold. His hand then stroked the back of my head as he claimed, "It will be alright, Kate. I'll make sure that he's alright."

Sucking in one final heavy breath, I pulled away from him and wrapped my arms over each other. "Just- be careful, alright? He can-... get violent."

"I think I can take him," Castle told me with a tender smile. I nodded and knew he was right, but from memories I'd tried to forget, it was hard for me to not think of him that way.

After that, Rick brought us all back to the kitchen. He set the table and served the meal, insisting none of us get up. Dinner itself was short and simple, but I didn't get in on much of the talk. I mostly sat there quietly, answering only the few questions that were directed at me with short, simple words. After a while I told them all I was rather tired and retreated off to bed.

Lying there, completely exhausted and pining for the escape of sleep, I did nothing but stare at the ceiling. My mind was too unsettled for sleep, which was a fate I accepted without much of a fight. Instead, I just studied the white paint and thought endlessly of how much my mother would be loathed to see my father this way. I knew when he stared the drinking last time that it was something she'd condemn immediately. Still, that did little to stop him from slipping away from reality about a month after her funeral. Last time, it took him almost a year to get help, and I just hoped this time Rick would be able to at least check in on my father a few times. But- should Castle have come back the next day with some tale of physical or emotional abuse, I would have let the old man rot as far away from my family as possible. When he was like this, this shell of a man, he wasn't family. He was only blood.

The next morning, Rick left early, leaving me to sit about the house with Martha and Alexis. As it was about two days from Halloween, we talked about Alexis' plans for the night and who they were with. Martha then took a turn telling the stories of Alexis' past costumes, bringing out the photo album to illustrate the timeline. From a young Princess Leia to a recent comic-book style superhero that I didn't recognize, I got the sense that Alexis had either adopted her father's Sci-Fi interest at a young age, or simply adapted to it over the years. One way or the other, however, she definitely enjoyed the subject matter as she gave me nearly a half an hour's lecture on who Starfire was.

After this, I perused the different albums with Rick's old photos collected together. There weren't many photos, and most seemed to be taken without his mother's acknowledgement as they seemed to be backstage or in the theatre if they weren't school photos, but most of them were worth seeing. It looked as though he had a rather... circus-like childhood at times. I must have found five different occasions where the actor snapping a photo with him looked like some bizarre interpretation of an animal. And the school pictures seemed to always include a brightly colored shirt and a geeky smile that screamed "I'm the class clown and everyone loves me!" It was an interesting experience.

By the time Rick got home, I'd stored the book away safely so as not to seem as though I was intruding in his private life. Unfortunately, that ended up being the least of my concern. When he walked in, he was holding his side with one hand and an ice-pack in the other. "Oh my God, Castle! What happened?!" I said, quickly rising to end up unable to do anything.

He groaned, "Your dad."

"My dad did this to you? Why didn't you call the police? Why not call Ryan or Esposito?"

As he plopped down on the couch heavily, he shook his head. "No, I mean your dad had a bottle at the top of the stairs. I didn't see it."

"You fell down the stairs?" I check.

He whimpered as he nodded, holding up his phone and saying, "She didn't make it."

"Yeah, I see that, babe, but hang on. Go back. Why didn't you call the paramedics? You could have hit your head."

"I did hit my head," Rick stated.

"All the more reason to call an ambulance and seek medical treatment!"

Then, mildly dazed, he looked up and said, "I did get medical help. See?" He lifted his shirt to reveal a bandage which had small bits of blood slightly peeking through. "I think I cut my side open and if I remember correctly, it's only a bump on my head."

"Where?" I asked, grabbing the ice-pack from him. He pointed with his good arm and I placed the bag on it lightly. "They let you drive home like this?"

He shook his head slightly. "I had Espo drop me off. I didn't want you worrying about it."

I rolled my eyes and collapsed my rib cage. "Rick, hun, all I've done all day is worry about you. This was not going to make things any worse."

"I'm sorry," he stated. "Do I at least get a kiss?" To this, I rolled my eyes and let go of the ice-pack, grabbing an ACE bandage to wrap the thing in place. Martha and Alexis came down when I went up and asked where the first-aid kit was. By the time I came down, Martha was half-babying him and Alexis was half-laughing at his pathetic story. Once the bandage was in place, I sat back and joined Alexis in the short lived mockery.

Once it was over, he told me my dad hadn't been home, so he was able to rid the house of empty beer cans and bottles and other alcohol containers. There was even a box that had once contained wine, which was both surprising and disgusting to me. He told us honestly, "I think you could get contact drunk from breathing in the air." He wasn't trying to be funny. He said this flatly along with, "Your dad needs help."

"I know, Rick. I know how bad it gets. Just look at last night. He had to be some kind of not completely wasted because he wasn't slurring his words together, and even then he couldn't control his mouth. I know him. I know how bad this can get, and if there was anything I could do for him without endangering myself or Gabe, I would."

"Gabe?" Alexis questioned. "Who's Gabe?"

I then looked straight into Rick's eyes. "You didn't tell them last night?"

"I thought you'd want to do that together," he defended.

"Well, ideally, yes. But I didn't expect you to wait."

"Am I to take it that's the baby's name?" Alexis then interjected.

I watched as she looked between us, then sticking to her father's smile. "Gabriel Jonah-Roy."

"Really?" Alexis questioned.

Martha embraced, "That's absolutely gorgeous, Richard! I adore it!"

"Gabe for short though, right?" Alexis questioned. "'Cause if you call him Gabriel on the first day of middle school, he'll get his ass kicked."

I laughed at her reasoning and nodded, "Yeah, yes, Gabe for short."

"So, have you two picked godparents yet?"

Rick looked at me with a troubled brow and answered with surprise, "No, actually. Why?"

"I don't know, I just think that's rather important, don't you? Plus, let's be honest here, you should do this before the third trimester starts messing with your mind."

I then looked at her curiously. "Messing with my mind?"

"Just you wait," Martha said, "It's bad." As little as I took that to heart, I didn't realize how bad things would actually get.

A.N: So, I'm debating whether to skip ahead to closer to Kate's due date or just at pace (A couple weeks b/w chapters generally)... Anyone have any specific request? 'Cause otherwise I'm flipping a coin, which satisfies me just as much. Anyway, yeah, majority rules if I have a split, just FYI. Thanks for reading/reviewing/favoriting/following! You guys rock!