'Mama?'
'Yes Dell.'
'Why we givin' Violet cuh-lothes? I give my Tessi her Cuh-rush tur-tell and she love it. Why we not give Violet something fun?'
'Two reasons, honey,' Honey-Milk explained patiently as they rode up the elevator of Lanie and Dave's apartment building. 'One, she isn't even a month old so right now eating, sleeping and filling up her diaper takes up most of her day.'
'What about reason two?'
'Auntie Lanie doesn't have a lot of clothes just for a little girl. You can't put her in the boy clothes Carey wore when he was a baby.'
'But she is lit-tle, the fashion po-lice not gonna suh-top her.'
Honey-Milk laughed richly. Her little man had quite the sense of humour. 'It's the principle of the thing, sweetie. If this one in here-' she patted her big belly '-turns out to be a girl, would you want her wearing your old clothes?'
'No, that would be silly. Oh.' Dell put one and one together and nodded sagely. 'I under-suh-tand, Mama. We don' want Vi-o-let to look silly.'
'Exactly.'
The elevator doors opened and they walked down the hallways to five-twelve, where Honey-Milk knocked on the door; it was answered a few short moments later by Lili, with Rosie holding her hand.
'Hi guys, come on in!' Her pretty face was glowing with pregnancy herself as she stepped back in welcome.
'Hi Dell,' Rosie added shyly with a little giggle.
'Hi Rosie. Thank you again for my birthday puh-resent.'
'What manners,' Lili sighed.
'I just bet the next one will be an unholy terror,' Honey-Milk laughed as they walked into the apartment.
It definitely looked like Lanie and Dave's home now, she thought, and not just the new place. The kitchen and living room were both larger and they had a great view of the street from the large windows. There was the smell of good food in the air, undercut with the candy-sweetness of perfume and the innocent smells of a new baby - talc, milk and fresh clean soap.
In the living room, Meredeth and Robina seated on the floor watching Tessi, Carey and Kelley play blocks together while Beckett had a place of honour in a wide armchair and in the corner of the couch was Lanie, discreetly nursing Violet under a pale-purple receiving blanket.
'Hey Jenny, hi Dell. She's just finishing her snack up here and then she's going to burp.'
'Bup wud?' Tessi asked her mother. 'Ma-my, bup wud?'
'No, cari, a baby burping isn't rude,' Meredeth giggled. 'They aren't big enough to get the air out of their tummies on their own.
'I big.'
'You're getting very big.'
Tessi smiled, then imitated her mother's giggle almost perfectly when she saw Dell. 'Hi Dell,' she said with obvious delight in her voice. 'Book?'
'We can read a book, Tessi.' Dell let go his mother's hand, took his bag of Tessi-toys from her. He sat down beside his girl, plunking his oversized dinosaur encyclopedia on the floor. He loved the book for three reasons - one, it had been a gift from Tessi, two, he could share it with everyone so none of his friends were left out and three he could show off how good a reader he was, a skill he took great pride in.
Since the children were well occupied, the grown-up girls were able to have their own chat time while they snacked on cheese and crackers, fresh fruit and veggies, and some very delicious bite-sized soft pretzels.
'Look at you, Jenny and Kate,' Lanie commented, as Violet finished her snack and she was put on her mother's knee, supported at the jaw while Lanie gently tapped her back. 'Who do you think is going to pop first?'
'That might be a bit of a gimme question,' Honey-Milk explained, shifting to the edge of the couch to load up on a healthy snacks plate. 'Ryan and Harvey and I talked and it looks like this baby's going to be a planned C-section for sure.'
'For sure, for sure, or option-b for sure?' Meredeth clarified and Honey-Milk shook her head.
'The baby is going to be too large for me to pass through the birth canal without putting it and myself into the red zone. Specifically, I would probably have to have my tailbone broken on purpose by the doctor in order to allow more movement of the pelvic bone.'
Beckett shifted in her chair. 'Owie.'
'Yeah and even with an epidural that would still take a lot of healing time on its own wheras a surgical scar is far easier to deal with.'
'How do you think Ryan is going to handle that?' Lanie asked.
Now Honey-Milk got a little misty. 'He's already started reading the parts of the books on what a birth coach does for a C-section delivery.'
'He's a good man.'
'He's my Kevin.'
'Okay, enough mush, time for presents! I'll go and put this little one in her crib and then let 'er rip.'
Lanie popped up from her spot with the gorgeous baby in her arms and without even looking up from Dell's fascinating book on the big monsters, Carey piped up, 'No fo-get pop-pull, Mama.'
'Of course not, baby.'
When Lanie returned, baby monitor in hand, she explained her son's reminder. 'When Dave went to get Carey in the morning from Lili and Cam's and told him he had a little sister named Violet, Carey decided she had to have a purple blanket every night to sleep with.'
'Pop-pull has bub-bas.'
'Yes, Carey, it has bubbles all over it.'
'Vi-let eyes mitch.'
'And her eyes match.'
Beckett watched in fascination as Carey chattered away and Lanie understood him so perfectly.' Would she be able to do that with her baby? How did Lanie, or any of them decipher it? Rather than dwell too much on something that wouldn't happen for at least another year, she nudged her present towards her friend.
'Open mine first.'
'Hey, how was the baby shower?'
'Amazing. Lanie is so excited to have a little girl, and Carey's such an amazing big brother already. I think Dell's going to have some competition for that award come November.'
Castle looked over from the couch where he and Alexis were eating pizza and watching some rather gory looking movie with subtitles to see his bride come in the door, waddling over as she supported her belly. 'We ordered from Petrelli's. I see why Meredeth goes nuts for the prosciutto stuffed crust.'
'Care to share a bite?'
'You've got your own, warming in the oven,' Alexis told her, popping up to get her a slice. 'You want some milk or iced tea or a Reed's?'
'Reed's, please, sweetie. Oh that feels good.' Beckett propped her aching feet on the coffee table and wiggled down deep into the comfortable suede. 'I could feel the fluid building up in my feet but I couldn't put them up at Lanie's because there was food on the coffee table.'
'Want a rub for them?'
'In a little while. After pizza.'
Alexis brought over the plate and immediately Beckett wrinkled her nose. 'There are plants on my pizza.'
'Dad got you the vegetarian one. Easier on the arteries and has slightly more nutritional value than the others.'
'Bla bla bla. Broccoli doesn't belong on a pizza.'
'Be a big girl, Katie-Lou, and eat your veggies.' Castle gave her a kiss on the temple. 'Then you'll get your cookies and milk before bedtime.'
'Keep it up, I dare you.' Beckett picked up the first slice of three and dipped it into the ranch dressing. 'Good thing I have this, if I'm eating salad and cheese on bread. Oh, mmm, Lanie says big thank you to you Alexis for the gift. She tucked the Harrod's puppy in with Violet when she was still asleep.'
'Everyone needs a cuddly toy to tuck in with at night.'
'You mean like Monkey-Bunky?' Castle teased her.
'Or Fish-Face,' Beckett added around a mouthful of pizza. 'What did you have when you were a kid?'
'I don't want to say. It's embarrassing.'
Beckett gave him a withering stare, cheeks plumped up as she ate and talked at the same time. 'You wanna talk embarrassing? I burst into tears at the drop of a hat these days, doesn't matter where including the precinct. Dish.'
'Fine. When I was first born, I didn't look like a boy so my mother's friends kept giving her all kinds of pink things, and she'd discreetly donate them to children's charities, until this one co-star she had was in Miami on vacation and sent a stuffed pink flamingo. I called him Steve.'
'You had a pink flamingo?'
'Yeah.' Castle laughed a little at the memory. 'I'd go to toy shops and get doll's clothes and dress him in ridiculous outfits. I even dressed him up in a little white suit when Saturday Night Fever came out and called him Steve the Saturday Night Flamingo.'
'Oh my god. That may be the cutest thing you've ever told me.'
'Even cuter than when I said your...no, no, can't tell you that, not with certain company present.' He jerked his head towards Alexis, who made a disgusted face.
'That's gross, Dad, I don't need to know things like that.'
'And yet you know we do things like that because I'm pregnant. Tough conundrum, isn't it Lex?' Beckett pointed out, which had the young woman nodding her agreement. 'So what are you planning tonight?'
'Since Alexis is taking you to the movies and Meredeth is going over to Jenny's to help her with some baby prep-cooking, I invited Esposito and Ryan over for a guys' movie night. We're watching Carlito's Way and Sin City.'
'I liked Sin City. Of course, after we worked the Mistress Venom case, I could never think of it in the same way as before.'
'That good or bad?'
Finished with her dinner, Beckett set her plate aside and cuddled up with her husband. 'Good thing. It gave it a little more depth, some how.'
'I can understand that. Oh, did Honey-Milk mention they got the new place in Clinton Hill?'
'She did, but only briefly, they haven't told Dell yet and she didn't want him to overhear it and freak out. You remember how Ryan said he reacted when they told him about the new baby.'
'That was so sad and yet understandable. The kid's very smart. He's going to be like a math prodigy or get a doctorate before he can drink or something. I can feel it.'
Castle stroked his hand over the bump where their baby was slumbering for the moment. 'And what do you see for this one?'
'President. Cop. Writer. An astronaut. That's the beautiful ting about babies. There's so much potential there. You could be holding the next John Lennon or Hilary Clinton or Meryl Streep in your arms and watching them make funny faces when they try to pass gas.'
'Alexis used to fart right before she sneezed. Like all the time, that girl had it coming from both ends,' he laughed, making Beckett chuckle too.
There was a buzz at the door and Castle hollered over, 'It's open!'
'You leave the door unlocked?'
'Technically you did, since you got home last,' he reminded her as Ryan and Esposito came in, Ryan with a pair of six-packs and Esposito with a grocery bag of snacks. 'What is all that?'
'Good things. Meredeth made her enchilada con queso dip.'
'The one with the refried beans?'
'I remember the last time you ate that. I had to wear a gas mask into the bathroom for two weeks straight, so on that cheerful note, I'm going to find my child and leave the burping and belching to the men this time.' Beckett gave her husband a kiss. 'Love you, we'll call when we're on our way.'
R&R&Enjoy!
