DISCLAIMERS: No, I don't own 'Castle.'

SUMMARY: Two birthdays and two very different birthday surprises.

A/N #1: I'm writing two chapters ahead of what I'm posting, so I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the kind words regarding my new character in Chapter 22. Mary Kathryn will be making another appearance in this chapter.

A/N #2: There will be two time jumps in this chapter.

A/N #3: This is in response to the guest reviewer for 'The End of the Story.' You know who you are. The one who called me an idiot. That story was my way of saying goodbye to Beckett. Yes, I had to write it. However, I didn't twist your arm to make you read it. And I really don't appreciate being called names. I put my email address at the end of every chapter of every story that I write. If you have a problem, email me and we can discuss it. Don't call me names on a public forum.

A HOLE IN THE HEART

CHAPTER 25: Birthday Wishes and Birthday Surprises

The night before Hope's angiogram

"Happy birthday to Mary Kathryn, happy birthday to you," the small group gathered around the birthday girl finished singing as Mary Kathryn, along with the help of her sisters, blew out the candles on her chocolate cake.

"What did you wish for, Mary Kate?" Eleven-year-old Alexandra asked.

"If I tell, it won't come true. Everybody knows that."

"Can we eat cake now, mommy?" Jack asked his mother.

"Jack, this is Mary Kathryn's day," Kate laughingly reminded her small son. "Jack loves chocolate cake," she told Mary Kathryn.

"So do I, but I can't have it very often. Mom, let's have the cake first and then I'll open presents," Mary Kathryn's huge blue eyes implored her mother.

"Okay."

After Mary Kathryn had opened her gifts from her family and the few other guests in attendance, Castle left the room, returning moments later with a huge box. "Your mom and dad told me that you waited in line to get a book signed, but that the line was very long and you got very tired. I want you to know how privileged you are, because I've only privately signed books for one other person."

"Are you kidding? I get my very own book signing? Mr. Castle, this is great!"

"Calm down, Mary Kathryn," Matt Bailey cautioned his over-excited daughter.

"Dad, I'm fine," Mary Kathryn rolled her eyes.

While the others were in the other room after all of the gifts were opened, Castle signed every one of his books for Mary Kathryn. "Hope's going to be okay, you know?"

"And how do you know that? Are you psychic or something?" Castle teased.

"It's what I wished for. The first angiogram is the scariest. I don't remember my first one, but my mom said she and my dad were really scared. Hope won't feel anything. They don't hurt. They just feel kind of weird."

"Can I ask you a question?" Castle asked watching her nod. "Your mom and dad did say that you had one bad experience with the angiogram. Kate had a bad experience, too. What happened during yours? Or is it a touchy subject?"

"I'll tell you on one condition. Will you name a character in your next book after me? Only without all of the health problems."

"Sure. Do you want to be a hero or a villain?"

"A really bad-ass villain would be good."

"One bad-ass villain, it is."

"When I was five, I had to have an angiogram before I had major surgery. I couldn't feel anything, but I knew that something was wrong. When I tried to tell the radiologist that something was wrong, he told me that I was just a little kid and that I didn't know anything. Well, it turned out that he was threading the catheter in wrong. He didn't realize it until he couldn't see anything on the monitor. I couldn't walk for three days because it left a huge hematoma on the inside of my leg. I told my dad that if that guy was working the next time I had to have an angiogram, I was walking out. I remember the tech's name, too. It was Mr. Wong. I always called him Mr. Wrong after that." She saw Castle smile a little.

"Wow, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," she stated, very matter-of-factly.

"I did think that you'd wish for something for yourself rather than wishing for Hope to get well."

"Well, I could wish to go back to school, but that's not going to happen. Not as long as I have this thing," she pointed at a spot between her neck and shoulder blade that was covered with a square of gauze.

"Your mom and dad said at the last meeting that you could probably have that removed if you'd start eating more."

"Eating makes me sick and not eating makes me sick," the young girl shrugged. "The doctor said that I was the youngest patient that he'd ever had who was suffering from pancreatitis. When he told my mom and dad what it was, he suggested that they have me tested for AIDS, because it's often a symptom of it in children. It really upset my dad a lot. He told my mom that if was AIDS, he'd put me out of my misery."

"Can I ask you something else?" Castle asked as Mary Kathryn once again nodded. "Why are you so obsessed with death and dying?"

"Mr. Castle—"

"Rick," he corrected her.

"Rick, I'm sorry that I scared Ariel and Jack. I really didn't mean to. I've lived with this for 14 years. I was okay for a little while after they fixed everything. But when I was 11, I got really sick. At first they thought that it was my appendix, then they thought that it was my liver. It took them almost three months and literally hundreds of tests before they found out that it was pancreatitis. I did a lot of research when I found out what it was. Did you know that it's mainly drug addicts and alcoholics who get pancreatitis? That, and kids with AIDS, which I don't have. I'm not scared to die. At least if I die, I'll be free from all of this pain. I won't have to listen to my mom and dad crying when they think that I don't hear them. Most kids are scared of me because they think that I'm a freak. Nobody wants to hang around with the girl who walks like Groucho Marx and can't go to school, anymore. Plus, I scare them because I'm smarter than most of them."

"Why did your parents let you start reading my books so young?"

"My parents have always encouraged me and my sisters to read. Their motto is that as long as we can understand it, we can read it. I read 'Gone with the Wind' when I was seven years old. It's still my favorite book of all time. I know what your favorite book is," she smiled at him. "'Casino Royale.'"

"Wow, you are almost a stalker," he told her as she started laughing.

"Stalking would involve following you around very intrusively. I can't even leave the house except to go to the doctor."

In the living room, Kate helped Jack with rest of his cake before sitting down near Emma. "How has she been feeling?" Kate asked.

"She has her good days and she has her bad days. But the bad days are now outnumbering the good days and they're really bad."

"I'm so sorry, Emma."

"Castle's gift made her very happy. Right now, that's all Matt and I care about anymore is seeing her happy. Hope's going to be fine, Kate. She'll be cranky because she won't like being strapped down, but I promise she won't be in any pain during the procedure."

"That's good to know."

"Call me after you get home."

"I will."

***CCC***

"The kids had a good time tonight," Castle said to Kate, who was nestled on his chest, her fingers slowly stroking his chest and abdomen.

"She's dying, Castle. Emma said tonight that Mary Kathryn's bad days are outnumbering her good days. I don't see how they are even functioning. I think if it was one of our kids, I'd be cowered in a corner of our bed."

"They have to function. They have three other children who need them. She's truly an amazing kid, Kate."

"I know. Ari and Jack are crazy about her."

"That's good, because she told me today that most kids avoid her because they think of her as a freak. She read 'Gone with the Wind' when she was seven years old. I can't even wrap my mind around that."

"She's crazy smart, that's for damn sure."

"We need to get some sleep. We have an early day tomorrow."

The next morning, Martha arrived at the house so that Kate and Castle could take Hope to the hospital for her angiogram. Per instructions, Hope hadn't been fed since the night before, which made for an extremely cranky baby by the time they arrived at the hospital. Kate's nerves were already on edge by the time they were taken up to the floor for the procedure. She was rocking Hope and trying to calm her when a nurse came into the room pushing a cart in front of her. "I'm going to start an IV to put Hope under general anesthesia for the angiogram. This will be the only time she'll feel anything," the nurse gave Kate a reassuring smile.

Kate held Hope while the nurse swabbed the back of the baby's hand and expertly started an IV in her tiny vein before tying it to a board to make it immobile. Kate felt like crying herself when she heard Hope's pain-filled scream. "Shh. It's okay, sweetie."

"The orderly will be in shortly to take her to radiology. You can wait in here for her to come back. The procedure will only take 45 minutes to an hour."

"Wait!" Castle turned toward the nurse. "I thought that we'd be allowed to go with her."

"I'm afraid that's not possible. Hospital policy."

"Castle—"

"Where's Dr. Sayid? Find him and tell him that we want to talk to him now."

"I'll have him paged," the nurse turned and left the room.

"Castle, they told us that we could go with her," Kate was almost in hysterics. "I can't let her go by herself."

Several minutes later, Dr. Sayid came in followed by an orderly. "I understand that you have questions, Mr. Castle."

"Yes, I do. I thought that we were going to be allowed to be with Hope when she had the angiogram. Now we're being told that it's against hospital policy."

"Mr. Castle, Hope is going to be fine. However, it's really for the best if you and Mrs. Castle wait here for Hope. The room isn't very big and it's a sterile environment. Hope will be back here before you know it and I can then let you know the results of the angiogram."

"I thought that you weren't going to put her under," Kate said, glancing down at the now sleeping baby.

"The general anesthetic will keep her from fighting the radiologist when he does the procedure. You can take her home as soon as she's awake. You can walk her down there if you'd like," he offered as Kate nodded.

Castle slipped his arm around Kate as the two of them walked behind Dr. Sayid, the orderly and the nurse down to radiology. He felt Kate stiffen up when the doctor took Hope from her. The second that the door closed behind them, Kate turned into Castle's arms, clutching his shirt as she broke down in sobs. "Shh," he whispered into her hair. "Kate, she's going to be okay. Come on, let's go back to her room and wait."

"Castle, I need to be with her."

"I know. I know, sweetie. And you will be soon. Come on."

Castle finally managed to get Kate to follow him back to the room and to the narrow hospital bed where he continued to hold her against his chest as she cried. After several minutes, she looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes. "Tell me Hope's story, Castle. Tell me about the night that she was born."

"You woke me up sometime in the middle of the night. When I went into the bathroom, I thought that you had fallen. Then I saw the floor and knew that your water had broken. I was going to call 9-1-1 for an ambulance, but you told me that there wasn't time. You told me that I needed to call emergency services and then pray that they got there before the baby did. I called 9-1-1 and told the operator that we needed an ambulance. Then you screamed that the baby was coming right now. I was so scared, Kate," he smiled at her, "but then you told me that you needed me. Hope was fast, Kate. I dread what's to come when she starts walking."

"So do I."

"I remember when she came out, she looked at me and . . . my heart was gone. She was so beautiful and you were such a trooper. It was among the top 10 greatest events of my life."

"She has to be okay, Castle. I can't face a future like the one that Matt and Emma Bailey face. I can't face losing one of our kids."

"We won't," he kissed the top of her head.

Kate leaned into Castle's shoulder and allowed her thoughts to drift while she waited for Hope to be brought back to them. It was a little more than an hour later when the door opened and the nurse walked in, holding Hope. "How is she?" Kate asked, reaching for her infant daughter.

"She's fine. Dr. Sayid will be in shortly to talk to you. Hope did very well," the nurse smiled before leaving the room.

Kate and Castle looked down at the soundly sleeping baby, who except for a small Band-Aid on the back of her hand where the IV had been, looked none the worse for wear. Upon closer examination, Kate also found another small Band-Aid on the inside of her left thigh where the catheter had been inserted.

Dr. Sayid walked into the room 10 minutes later, carrying a clipboard and smiling. "Hope will be waking up soon. The procedure went extremely well. And I have very good news. The hole has gotten smaller."

"It's closing?" Kate asked.

"It would appear so. It still won't completely close for several more months, but it does appear to be closing."

"You won't have to do another angiogram, will you?" Castle wanted to know.

"No. I did the one today to make sure there were no other defects. Other than the ASV, Hope is fine."

"Thank God," Kate collapsed against Castle's shoulder.

"As soon as she's fully awake so that I can assess her, you can take her home. She might have some discomfort later. If that's the case, give her either Tylenol or Motrin."

"Can I feed her when she wakes up?" Kate asked anxiously. "She hasn't had a bottle since last night."

"The second that I'm done assessing her, you can give her a bottle. I know that she's going to be very hungry. I'll come and check on her soon. Wait about half an hour and then try to start waking her up."

When Hope did begin to wake up, as predicted, she was cranky. Dr. Sayid examined her quickly while her ear splitting screams of hunger rang in the room. "I don't think that she likes you much," Castle raised his voice to be heard over the screams.

"I know, and I'm not even the person who did the procedure," he smiled before turning toward Kate. "She's fine, Mrs. Castle. Give her a bottle and I'll get her discharge papers."

"Thank you," Kate lifted the baby into her arms before taking a bottle from the diaper bag. The instant that the nipple was placed in her mouth, Hope began to drink hungrily, her hazel eyes fixed on her mother. "I'm so sorry, princess." She looked over at Castle before reaching out for him. "She's going to be all right, Rick."

He sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around both Kate and the baby. Both of them wept tears of joy as they held each other.

***CCC***

Three weeks later

Kate and Castle were throwing a party celebrating Hope's ongoing recovery as well as Castle's upcoming birthday. The older kids were busily running back and forth while Hope babbled happily while being passed from one person to another. "Girl, this has got to be the most cheerful baby ever," Lanie commented while bouncing Hope on her lap, laughing at the baby laughter emanating from Hope.

"You should hear her around Jack. I don't know what he does, but he makes her laugh like crazy," Castle said.

"Not to bring up a maudlin topic, but how's it going with the other thing?" Espo took a drink of his beer.

"Well, it's going to happen. I just hope that we can keep him behind bars," Kate said.

"Alexis, have you decided if you're going to the hearing or not?" Jenny asked.

"Brian and I have done a lot of talking about the pros and the cons. I agree with Kate. We have to keep him behind bars. Speaking of which," she looked at her father, "I want to give dad his gift now. Is that okay, dad?"

"Yeah, of course, pumpkin. But why the rush? We're going to open all of the gifts soon."

"This gift is kind of for everybody," Alexis stood up and handed her father a large cream colored envelope.

"Did you buy a cruise for all of us?" Espo teased. "A cruise would be kind of cool."

"Before you open it, could you bring the kids down here?" Alexis asked just as Castle started to tear open the envelope.

"I'll go and get them," Kate got up and left the room.

While she was gone from the room, Castle shook the envelope. "Hmmm, no rattle. It must be a check."

"Dad, why would I need to give you money?"

"Okay, Castle. The gang is all here. Go ahead and open Alexis' gift."

"Actually, it's from me and Brian," Alexis corrected Kate.

Castle opened the envelope and removed the card and began reading it. 'To the World's Greatest Dad on his Birthday.' "This is true. I have the novelty mug to prove it," he smiled at Alexis, who just rolled her eyes. But the joking stopped when he opened the card. "Oh my god, Alexis."

"I've wanted to tell you, but I also wanted to wait until it was safer."

Castle pulled out the sonogram picture and handed it to Kate, who passed it around to the rest of their family. He then got up and rushed over to his daughter, pulling her into a crushing embrace. "I love you so much!"

"Why is daddy crying? Is something wrong?" Ariel asked.

"Oh no, sweetie," Kate walked over and knelt down in front of the kids. "Daddy's crying because he's happy. Alexis is going to have a baby."

"Is she having a boy baby or a girl baby?" Jack asked.

"I don't know yet, Jack," Alexis told her brother. "Hopefully we'll know pretty soon."

"I can't believe it! I'm going to be a grandpa! How do you feel?" By now, he'd been joined by Martha, who was just as excited at the prospect of being a great-grandmother.

"Actually, I feel great. This is why I've decided that I have to go to that hearing. I have to protect my child from the threats of Josh Davidson and people like him."

As they all congratulated Alexis and Brian, Kate smiled. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate something once again after so many months of uncertainty and gloom.

A/N #3: I think there will be maybe two or three more chapters in this story.

A/N #4: The story that Mary Kathryn told Castle about Mr. Wong is a true story. She was five years old and even at that young age, knew more about her condition than most of the medical professionals treating her. She kept telling this radiologist that something was wrong. He told her (he had a heavy accent, she told me): 'Oh, you just little girl. You don't know what you talking about.' Well, it turned out that she was right and he was wrong.

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