A/N- So this is it. This is the last chapter. Our journey has come to an end and i wated to take a minute to say a huge, giant Thank you to everyone to read, reviewed, followed, favorited and helped me with this thing. This was the first story i have ever written this long that people have shown intrest in.
Warning: this is a long one and is crammed with a lot of stuff, so i'm sorry for that. i felt this was the best way to end it.
Disclamor: Don't own anyone except for Grace Ryan, and Danielle, Liam, Miyana, Austin and Finn Castle.
Enjoy!
Spring 2017
Kate woke with a start, sitting up and turning to check the clock on her phone.
No. That's not possible. Is it really that late?
It was a few minutes before seven forty-five, Kate would have been up soon anyway, but something was different.
She turns, kneeling on the bed, and shakes Castle's arm, trying to wake him up.
"Castle!" she hisses his name, first soft and then increasing her volume until finally he rolls over and makes some sort of sign that he's alive.
"Did you get up with Danielle last night?" She most certainly didn't. She was dead to the world once her head hit the pillow.
"Mmmm no," he grumbles, getting further from sleep and closer to awake than he'd like to be.
Kate smiles. "That's the third night in a row." She can already tell Castle has slipped back into the warm cocoon of sleep. She stands and leaves the room, flipping the night light off at the base of the stairs then heading up to check on her baby girl. The hallway is quiet and the nursery door is halfway open letting in the early morning light. Kate steps inside and walks over to the white crib that is flat against the wall.
The little girl is still asleep. Smacking her lips and holding her hands closer to her eyes. Her face scrunches
And she yawns before opening her eyes, blinking away the pale morning light. Kate smiles down at the baby and reaches down to pick her up.
"Hey baby girl. You slept well didn't you? Yea, all night. Should have gotten that white noise machine sooner, huh?" Kate says, her daughter cradled in her arms, curling her hand in Kate's sleep shirt. Speaking of the white noise machine, Kate reaches onto the floor by the dresser and turns off the machine and instantly the room gets too quiet.
Danielle starts to move around and quietly announce her needs.
"Oh, right. Let's get you all changed and then go have some breakfast and maybe go for a walk before daddy wakes up. How does that sound?"
Dani yawns again and Kate giggles. "I'll take that as a yes," she says laying Danielle down on the changing pad.
Once Kate has the baby fed, changed, and dressed in a simple pink dress and grey leggings, she puts her into the play pen and quickly puts on clothes: a bright pink razorback tank top and dark grey cropped pants.
She ties the laces on her sneakers; grabs the baby, the diaper bag and her keys and they set off to the lobby where the doorman lets the families with kids keep their stroller in a spare storage room instead of trying to store them in their apartments.
The elevator door opens in the lobby and Kate watches Danielle as she looks from one thing to another, trying to explore her new environment.
Kate makes quick work of unfolding the stroller, a great feat considering she only had one hand, sets Danielle in the seat, buckles her in and they set off on their walk.
New York is already awake and going: people all over the streets and sidewalks, all sorts of sights, sounds and smells. Kate walks down four full blocks before stopping and waiting in the very long line at Starbucks to get some coffees for her and Castle.
The walk back home isn't as peaceful: Danielle gets startled by a barking dog walking by and because of that same stupid dog Kate spills her coffee all down the front of her shirt.
They get home and Kate drops her daughter on top of her still sleeping husband before heading into the bathroom and turning on the shower to get cleaned up for the day, and to wash away the smell of coffee off her body.
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"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?" Kate asks for the twelfth time in the last half hour. She had been slowly getting ready to leave for the hospital to check on the other four babies who were still there.
"No, you go. I'll stay here with Dani and get a little bit of work done," Castle says, from his cross-legged spot in the bed, Danielle is laying in front of him, a ladybug rattle next to her.
Kate sighs, rolls her eyes, but complies. "Alright, I'm leaving," she comes up and kisses Castle's lips. "I'll be back in a few hours." She leans down and kisses her daughter's slightly chubby cheeks. "Have fun with daddy baby girl." She turns and leaves the room, her hair fluttering around her. She turns and gives a final wave before she disappears behind the front door and is gone.
Castle reaches down to the floor, grabbing his laptop, sets is to his side out of reach of little baby fingers, and continues on his research he started late last night.
"Alright Dani girl, let's work on that surprise for mommy, shall we?"
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It had been a day shy of a week since they had brought Danielle home, and Kate was eager to get all five babies home as fast as possible.
Of course she knew that they wouldn't all come home together, especially Austin and Finn who were still playing catch up with their other siblings.
Kate could tell Miyana was ready to be home. She didn't know how, but something inside told her that her daughter was done with being stuck inside, and wanted to get home with her mom, dad and sisters. Liam was the same way, although not as loudly as his sister.
Liam is very quiet, content to just sit and study his world. He is definitely a follower: waits for someone to do it first before he gives it a try. He rarely cries, and if he does it is done with such dramatics, like the world is ending.
The nurses had put the two siblings in the same crib, because keeping infant sibling close together is supposed to help with their development. Kate didn't understand what that meant, but she wasn't about to defy the wisdom of the nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit; the nurses knew all.
"Are you ready for more to be home?" Kate jumps at the sudden voice. She didn't realize Dr. Spence and come up behind her until she spoke.
"We're ready whenever you say it's alright," Kate says with the utmost confidence. She and Castle both knew that having three babies home instead of one was going to be more work, but with Danielle sleeping through the night like she has been, it made things a lot more manageable.
"How does Saturday work?"
"Really! That's Castle's birthday, he'll be so happy to find that out," Kate says, standing up.
Castle would be over the moon to find out Miyana and Liam would get to come home on his birthday.
"You know what we should do? We should surprise him. Don't let him know anything and then bring him in on Saturday and reveal the surprise," sometimes it scared how so much like Castle the doctor could be, and how quickly this plan came out of her.
Kate laughs and Dr. Spence gives her a confused look. Kate goes on to tell the doctor about the stunt she, Ryan, Esposito, Martha, Alexis and the kids from Martha's acting school pulled off a few years back.
Dr. Spence lets out a laugh when Kate finishes. "That is fantastic. I can't believe he didn't catch on."
"Well it took a lot of skill to not let him catch on," Kate says.
"We need to do this."
"Alright let's do it," Kate was always up for opportunities to trick or surprise Castle, it gave her immense joy.
"I have to make sure I'm working that day," Dr. Spence says pulling her phone out of the pocket of her lab coat. Luckily enough she was on the schedule that day and locked her phone before slipping it back into her pocket.
Then she and Kate set off to fill everyone else in on their grand plan.
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"I'm back. Did you guys have a good day?" Kate asks stepping into the loft and sliding out of her shoes, feeling her treadles socks slide on the hardwood floor.
"We had a great day," Castle says from the kitchen with he's filling a bottle with formula and twisting the cap back on once he measures the right amount. He comes around the counter and catches his wife's lips in a kiss.
Kate hums, resting her hand on his cheek for a moment before breaking away and stealing the bottle from him.
"Hey! I was going to do that." He sounds like a six year-old who didn't get a turn with a toy.
"You get to do the next one, I want some time with my kid," Kate says, picking Danielle up from the swing she had been in while her dad made her food and settling down in the recliner, leaning back to the footrest pops out.
He doesn't protest any further, just goes into his study and comes back with his computer. A word document and a paused YouTube video are the only things up.
He watches over the screen of his computer as his wife feeds Danielle. She's so sweet and soft: talking quietly to the baby, telling stores she remembers from being a kid, and making up some of her own. He loves how she goes into this trance, it's the same with all five of the babies, where nothing seems to bother them. That they are in their own little bubble that nothing and no one and break. It's a strange thing of beauty.
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Saturday dawns and Kate has already been up for a while; too excited to sleep in, her stomach filled with excited butterflies which make her heart race. She hears Danielle wake up through the baby monitor and gets up to avoid waking Castle and risk running her surprise.
"Daddy, it's time to get up," Kate sing-songs, Danielle in her arms is making her little baby sounds that will help wake her dad up.
Finally Castle rolls over from his stomach where he had ended up in the middle of the night and opens his eyes, squinting them in the bright morning sun coming in through the half open curtains.
"Hey," he says when he sees who is sitting in front of him on the bed. He sits up and reaches out for Danielle, who Kate passes over. He cuddles the girl close for a few minutes, using her warm, tiny baby weight to wake him up fully.
"Get up, I have a few surprises for you birthday," Kate says, taking Danielle back and leaving the room, and Castle with a sleepy, bewildered look on his face.
The first stop on Kate's master plan for Castle's surprise birthday is to Remy's for their favorite breakfast. They ate and talked with friends and enjoyed watching the people they knew there coo over Danielle and say they were glad she and the others were doing alright.
After breakfast, and cleaning off the syrup that somehow got onto Danielle even though Kate had made sure to eat very neatly and not get anything on her daughter who was sitting in her carrier beside her in the booth, Kate handed Castle the keys and told him to drive.
"Seriously Kate, just tell me where we're going," Castle whined at a stoplight.
"No way Castle, I'm not telling you a thing," she had punched a location into the car's GPS and had told Castle to follow the directions, but that was all she was telling him.
He made the final turn, and Kate sucked in a breath. Either this would work or it would blow up in her face.
"Why are we going to the hospital?" he was scared and confused, but continued driving down the ramp and into the underground parking garage.
"You'll see." Kate was being very cryptic and holding the poker face she had put on when they had left Remy's.
Castle followed Kate, still holding Dani in her car seat, into the elevator and they rode up to the familiar floor. They walked down the familiar hallway, and still Kate didn't say a word. They washed hands and were buzzed in and finally Kate started explaining.
"Surprise! This is the big thing I had planned for your birthday," she looked so happy, just like she did after the big reveal of his murder mystery surprise a few years ago.
"What's going on?" he was still confused, but followed Kate back to where Liam, Miyana, Austin and Finn were still living.
"Miyana and Liam are coming home with us today," Kate says stopping by the afore mentioned babies crib where they two lay fully dressed and ready to go.
"What? Really? Wow, Kate that's fantastic," He pulls her in tight and kisses her hard.
"Better than a fake murder?" she asks once they pull apart.
"No, but it does top the list," he says, taking Danielle from her so she can get the other two into their car seats.
Liam and Miyana were ready to come home. They had passed all of the NICU required tests, their hearing and eyes checked out as close to perfect as an infant could get. They were ready.
"So did it work, were you fooled?" Dr. Spence asks walking up to the parents, scribbling down something in another patient's chart.
"You certainly had be lost for words and confused. But this has got to be up there in one of the top birthday surprises of my life," Castle says with a chuckle.
The doctor walks away after saying goodbye to the two little ones and wishing the parents good luck. They pose for another picture for the nurse's wall of fame, and then pack up all of the kids and head out of the NICU.
"Three down, two to go," Castle says in the elevator, hooking pinkies with Kate as her hands are full with a baby and another hospital goody bag.
Kate smiles. "I know." And she does know: they are another step closer to being a complete family.
In the parking lot, they clip all three babies into their places: Danielle on the left behind the driver, Miyana in the middle and Liam behind the passenger. It occurs to Kate on the drive home that they are going to have to buy a new care soon. There is no way they are going to fit five babies, car seats and all the stuff that comes with five babies into the Audi and they own now.
She'll have to think of a good time to talk to Castle about that.
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Miyana and Liam had only been home for two days when, when in the late morning, Castle announces he has a meeting to go too and he is leaving Kate alone.
"Castle you can't leave me alone. I've never done it by myself before," Kate said sounding a little scared and not like the hard ass Kate Beckett her knew her to be.
"Kate, you'll be fine," he says pulling her into a hug, and resting his head on top of hers. He loves that she fits so perfectly under his chin with she's not wearing heels. "They will be fine. Besides Liam will probably sleep the whole time and the girls are easy to take care of."
She nods, her arms still wrapped around his waist.
"Ok. I'll be back in a few hours." He untangles Kate's arms from around his body, gives her one last kiss, grabs his wallet and walks out the door, closing it behind him.
Kate is left standing in the entryway, alone and with three babies to take care of.
Dear God, please let this be an easy day.
Castle has been gone for nearly three hours before he finally calls Kate. She's sitting in his office on one of the couches, listening to music and feeding Miyana.
"Hey castle, where are you?" she asks, sticking the phone between her ear and shoulder so she can finish this feeding.
"Come to the window," he says.
"What?"
"Come to the window."
Kate sighs, but follows directions, abandoning the bottle and setting Miyana on her shoulder.
She's standing at the window now. Good, good.
"Look down," he directs, and from street level he can see her look down from the skyline to the street, looking and finally settling on him and her surprise.
"What did you do?" she asks, not mad just surprised and confused at what Castle had done.
"I bought us a new car. Isn't it cool?" he's all giddy like the little kid he is.
He's standing in front of a grey minivan, a huge smile covering his face. It is most definitely not something Kate Beckett would ever see her husband buying. It just never seemed like something he would do.
"Why would you do that? The car we have now is perfectly fine," she asks him, settling the baby down in her bouncer as she starting to get heavy.
"Yes I know the car we have now is fine, but it will never fit a family of seven, or eight if Alexis need the seat. This will," He waves his hand back and smacks it against the side of the car. He curses the pain under his breath and shakes his hand to get rid of the momentary numbness the hit caused. "Come check it out," He waves her down, that smile back on his face.
"Castle I can't. I have three babies here. Two of which are already asleep"
"Oh yea, there's that," his face falls momentarily, but then perks up again. "Call my mother, get her to come up and watch the babies for a few minutes so you can come see."
"Castle I can't do that. I'm not asking your mother to come upstairs for five minutes just so I can see your new toy."
"Ok, fine," he's defeated, but understands Kate's reasoning. "But do you like your surprise?"
"Of course I do, Castle. It is a great surprise. In fact I was thinking the exact same thing a few days ago."
They both laugh at how strangely in synch both of their minds are.
"Alright. I'll be up in a few minutes." He ends the call and Kate watches him get in the car and drive into the garage.
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Austin is the next to come home; he has nearly doubled his birth weight and came home weighing in at a hefty five pounds and four ounces. He is just starting to get the chubby roundness to his cheeks that babies the same age have had since they were born.
He is also the first to be brought home in the new car his dad bought.
Got to handle it to Rick Castle: in addition to making really good PB&J's, pasta Carbonara and being a best-selling author, this man also knows his cars. Castle picked out a van that is tricked out with all the toys he likes, is one of the safest cars out there and has enough room for the whole family plus all the crap the family comes with.
After bringing Austin out of the hospital for the last time and to the parking lot, Castle and Beckett get to work loading everyone into the car once again.
They put the two boys into the back row, Liam, mad at life in general, is screaming his head off the whole time. The girls go in the middle row: Danielle behind the passenger seat, Miyana in the middle and Finn, once she comes home, will be behind the driver's seat.
"Come on Liam, it is not the end of the world," Kate says sticking a pacifier into her son's mouth, trying to quiet his cries.
"Let's go. Let him cry it out. You know it's nothing," Castle argues after Kate has sat in the back for a good ten minutes trying to get Liam to calm down.
"Yea, you're right," she says stepping out of the trunk, closing the hatchback and getting into her own seat.
Kate is glad that almost all of her kids are home for good, but she's still worried for Finn. The girl had been slow to improve and Kate feels like something is wrong, in the pit of her stomach she knows something with Finn isn't right, but she can't put a finger on it.
She lets out a sigh, trying to release her worried energy in her body, and Castle takes her hand. He smiles at her and she feels a little bit better.
There is no welcoming party for Austin when the family gets home, no banner, no cake. Just his parents, brother and sisters, and left over hamburgers from the previous night's dinner.
His first night home was the same as the other three: long. The kid didn't know how to sleep. It seemed that Austin had the same insomnia and sleep issues his dad has, so Kate, being the good mother she is, made her husband stay up all night with their non-sleeping son.
She was punished for it the next day.
And not in the fun sexual way either.
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Finally, three months after being born, after a long fight to the finish line, Finn Elizabeth Castle was cleared to come home. Her eyes and ears were checked and came out perfect and her last brain scan came out good as well. The abnormality the doctors had found earlier had disappeared, which, according to the doctors, meant that the last time her brain wasn't fully developed and needed time to catch up just like the rest of her body.
Kate hated covering up the tin dusting of light brown hair that covered Finn's head, but given that a rain storm was coming in, it was best to keep her covered up.
"Does it feel weird that once you walk out of here, we'll probably never see you again?" Nurse Kit asked Kate as she helped the mom get her daughter ready to leave.
"Of course we'll see each other. It's not like once we leave, we drop off the face of the earth," Kate says, bucking Finn into her car seat.
"But to us in here that's exactly how it is. Patients leave and promise to keep in touch, but the never do." the nurse looked sad. In all of the patients she's worked with since she started as a NICU nurse, these quintuplets have been her favorite and she will miss them way more than the others.
"I promise I won't forget about you. How could I after all the help you've been to us? I have you cell phone number right? I promise to send you updates as much as I can, alright?" Kate asks. She feels like she's saying goodbye to her best friend. They two have grown really close after all these months and it will be weird not seeing Kit every day in the hospital.
Kit wipes under her eyes, already crying and the Castle's haven't even left yet.
Kate hugs her new friend, picks up Finn's carrier and walked away from the NICU for the last time: forever ridden of the tubes, machines, monitors and everything that came with them.
Strangely, though, she will miss the people most. The doctors and nurses, friends and pseudo family, who helped her and her kids make it through their journey and able to come home as a family. she will always have extreme respect and gratitude to the people who work in the intensive care unit., what they do is so beautiful and inspiring and she will never forget it.
"Ready to go?" Castle asks once Kate has buckled Finn into the car next to her sisters and has gotten in herself. He's sat himself in the passenger's seat out of habit, and because Kate was the one who drove them there earlier that day, but switches seats when Kate hands him the keys after she's opened her door.
Kate stops him and the two are standing in the space between their car and another. She kisses him sweetly and breaks with a genuine, toothy, bright eyed smile.
"Take us home daddy," she says, sliding into the seat behind him. He smiles, and rounds the car, getting into the drives seat and pulling the seatbelt over his shoulder. He turns the key, backs out of the spot and takes his family home, for good.
