A/N #1: This is the fourth and final part of my story, 'Forgetting.' This chapter will be the beginning of introducing the twins. This part will be between five and ten chapters long, depending on how much material I can find to write about. Then there will be an epilogue to wrap everything up.

A/N #2: There is a significant time jump for this part.

A/N #3: I also hope that I don't confuse too many people when I explain how a doctor can tell identical twins from fraternal twins. I was confused by this, too. I read that the boys who played Jake and Reece Castle at the end of 8x22 are identical twins.

FORGETTING

PART FOUR

Chapter 37: A Huge and Unexpected Surprise

Three and a half years later

Kate was sound asleep when she felt the movement beside her on the mattress. Slowly opening her eyes, she smiled when she found a pair of extremely serious brown eyes staring back at her. "Good morning, Sunshine," she reached up to tuck a lock of Lily's long hair over her shoulders. "Why aren't you dressed? I thought that daddy was taking you to his work this morning. Aren't you going to help Alexis and Hayley solve cases?" She teased.

"Daddy's cooking me breakfast," Lily sat back on her knees, folding her small arms across her chest. "But, we have to have a serious discussion first."

Kate bit back a chuckle. She wasn't sure how many three-year-old's even knew what a discussion was. But, she and Castle had learned very early that their daughter wasn't going to be your average toddler. Her vocabulary had been quite advanced from an early age. "Okay, Lily," Kate struggled to sit up, swallowing back the huge wave of nausea that threatened to spill out all over the bed. "Can you make it a quick discussion, though? Mommy's not feeling very good."

"Don't throw up, yet," Lily threw her hands out. "I promise I'll be brief. Can I have my baby brother for my birthday?"

"Lily, your birthday is a week away. But, you will have a baby brother or baby sister by summer. Is that okay?"

"I don't want a baby sister. I already have a sister. I don't want another one. I want a baby brother."

"Well, we'll keep our fingers crossed that you get what you want."

"Lily," Kate heard Castle's voice in the doorway. "I laid out your clothes. Go get dressed so that you can eat breakfast. Mommy and I have to be at the doctor's office soon. Go on now."

"You heard daddy. Go," Kate watched Lily scamper from the bed and run to her room. The second that she was gone, Kate threw back the covers and made a mad dash for the ensuite.

Castle walked over and stood outside the bathroom doorway, cringing when he heard the sounds of Kate being ill. This time, pregnancy was not being kind to his wife. She was suffering from horrendous morning sickness for a good part of every day. Today, they were hoping to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time.

"Castle, your kid hates me," she came out of the bathroom, smelling faintly of mouthwash. She sighed when she felt him pull her against his chest. "I'm fat and I want to sleep all the time. I even fell asleep during a meeting at 1PP yesterday."

"Maybe you should take time off until you get past the first trimester."

"I can't take time off."

"I know that you think that, but will you at least consider it? Just for another few weeks. Please?"

"I'll think about it."

"I'll make you some toast while you're in the shower."

After breakfast, Castle and Kate loaded Lily into the car and drove to the P.I. office. Over the past three years, the practice had gotten quite successful, thanks in no small part to the word of mouth that had spread around town once LokSat was resolved. Castle was still considered a valuable asset to the Twelfth Precinct, who used his services when they were needed.

He opened the door and guided Lily inside, who was excited to see her older sister. "Hi, dad. Hi, Kate. Hello, Lily," Alexis gathered her sister up in her arms.

"Where's Hayley?" Lily asked.

"Well, she heard that you were coming to assist us today, so she went to get hot chocolate to celebrate. I left you some things in daddy's office," Alexis put Lily back on the floor.

Lily wasted no time in going over to the book shelf and pulling on the edition of Edgar Allen Poe, which opened the private office.

"Thank you watching her, Alexis," Kate said. "School's out for the Christmas break."

"I know. She'll be fine. How are you feeling?"

"Awful. But, I know he or she is safe in here," Kate placed her hands on her slightly rounded abdomen. "Lily wanted to know if I was having a baby brother for her birthday."

"She doesn't want another sister," Castle added.

"Well, a boy would be nice. That way, you won't feel so outnumbered," Alexis teased her father.

"We'd better go. We have an appointment with Dr. O'Malley in an hour."

An hour later, Kate was laying on the table in Dr. O'Malley's office, feeling him carefully palpate her uterus. For the moment, Kate had told Castle to wait in the waiting room. "Why am I so much fatter this time? I wasn't this big at this stage with Lily?"

"Well, you were also recovering from a serious injury. Every pregnancy is different, Kate. On a scale of one to 10, how severe is the morning sickness?"

"For the first two or three hours after I get up in the morning, it's about a nine. But, I think the fatigue is worse than the morning sickness. I'm constantly wanting to sleep. I was also exhausted during the first trimester with Lily, but I was able to sleep when I wanted back then."

"Carrying saltines will help with the nausea. Let's see if we can hear a heartbeat, shall we?"

Kate smiled in agreement. Dr. O'Malley picked up the Doppler device and moved it over her abdomen, instantly picking up the 'whoosh, whoosh' of a rapidly beating heart. Kate was watching the doctor's face as he moved the wand, and saw something come across it that she couldn't read. "Dr. George?" She called out his name. "Dr. O'Malley? Is something wrong?"

"Is Rick out front?"

"Yes," she said slowly. "Is everything okay?"

"Emma," he turned to his nurse, "Go and bring Mr. Castle back here. Kate, everything's fine. I just thought he'd want to hear the baby's heartbeat."

A minute later, Emma escorted Castle into the room. "There's something wrong," Kate's voice was tremulous as she reached for Castle's hand.

"Kate, nothing's wrong. I swear it. I just wanted Rick to hear this. I want you both to see this. Emma, roll the ultrasound over."

Emma rolled the machine over and retrieved the gel from the warmer. After squirting the gel over her abdomen, Dr. O'Malley turned on the machine and moved the transducer over her gel covered stomach. "Kate, Rick, this is Baby A," they watched in fascination at the heart blipping on the screen, "and this is Baby B." He moved an inch or so over, allowing them to see a second blip on the screen.

"Can you repeat that?" Kate asked, still staring at the screen.

"Of course. Baby Uno and Baby Dos. Congratulations, you're having twins."

"Oh my god," Kate stared at Castle, who was just staring at the ultrasound screen. "Is that why the morning sickness has been worse and why none of my clothes fit me, even though I'm only about 10 weeks along?"

"That's probably exactly why. When you come in for your next appointment, I can tell you if you're having identical or fraternal twins. Right now, it's still a little early to tell."

"But, you will know with absolute certainty?" Castle asked.

"Yes. Kate, having twins over forty makes this a high-risk pregnancy. You're going to have to make some serious lifestyle changes regarding your job."

"Am I okay, otherwise?"

"Everything looks great. I want to see you again in four weeks and we'll do another scan to determine what kind of twins you're having."

Neither of them said anything until they got in the car to leave the medical building. "Wow," Castle breathed out before looking at Kate. "Are you okay? I know we used to joke about twins when you were having Lily. I know you weren't keen on it—"

"Castle, we've been trying to get pregnant for more than a year. Right now, I don't care if it's quadruplets. I'm just happy there's a baby in here," she took his hand. "But, as much as I know you want to tell everybody, I want to wait. They know we're having a baby. We'll tell them that everything is fine and then hit them with this bombshell after the next scan."

"What're you going to do about work?"

"Castle, I can still do my job and just stay out of the field. When I'm not there, Espo has everything covered, anyway. Can we go home and take a nap before going to get Lily?"

"A sexy nap?"

"No, Castle. A nap nap. I'm too tired for sex."

***CCC***

After Kate fell asleep, Castle got up and went into his office to Google identical versus fraternal twins. While the idea of twins was very exciting, he also found himself concerned for Kate's well-being. Her pregnancy with Lily had been uneventful, despite the fact that she was recovering from serious injuries. But, now she was almost four years older. He couldn't deny that his wife was in top physical condition, but she also had a high-stress job. While she'd promised to pull herself from the field, Castle knew how headstrong she was. How much she wanted to be in the middle of the action. She hadn't been working during her pregnancy with Lily. He wasn't sure how being pregnant, especially with two babies, would impact her on the job.

He looked at his watch and realized that it was time for him to go get Lily. Passing through Lily's bedroom on his way to their bedroom, he smiled at his little girl's things. She was so excited to be a big sister. He knew that she was going to be equally thrilled to becoming a big sister to two babies.

Kate was still curled up, her hands under her chin, when she felt Castle snuggle up next to her. "Hey."

"Hey. I'm going to go and get Lily. Do you want me to pick up something on the way home?"

"Tacos."

"Okay. That will make Lily happy."

"It'll make Lily's mommy happy, too."

"I'll be back soon. You might want to start waking up. Lily worries when you don't get up."

"Be careful."

Kate stayed in bed for a few minutes after she heard Castle leave before getting up. After relieving herself, she stepped in front of the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door and lifted her shirt up. There was no doubt that she was bigger this time than she was with Lily. The books she'd read had explained that while every pregnancy was indeed different, showing earlier was usually due to the muscles having already been stretched by a first pregnancy. "So, there are two of you in there. Two of you are soon going to be fighting for position over my kidneys, spleen and bladder. Not that I mind. I'm just so happy that you're going to be joining our family. I can't wait to see if there are two girls, two boys, or one of each in there. Of course, if you're identical, it's either going to be two of one or two of the other. I love you guys," she stroked her hand over her stomach.

***CCC***

"I hope you're not teaching my daughter to hack into NSA," Castle walked into the office, grinning when he saw Lily sitting on Hayley's lap at his old desk.

"I'm going to wait on that until she can read. How's Kate?"

"She's fine. I left her at home. Lily, get your coat. Mommy wants us to pick up tacos on the way home. Where's Alexis?"

"In your private office working on paperwork."

Castle pulled down on Poe, walking into his office where he found Alexis hard at work. "There she is, Private Investigator Alexis Castle hard at work."

"Well, somebody has to keep you in the lap of luxury. What did the doctor say?"

"Everything is great. Kate and the babies are right on track."

"Babies? Dad—"

"No, no. I said, 'Baby.' As in, Kate and the baby—"

"No, dad. You definitely said 'babies.' As in more than one. Dad, are you and Kate having twins?"

"Kate is going to kill me! Alexis, you can't tell anybody! Not Grams, not Daniel, not Hayley. Nobody. Kate didn't want to say anything until the next scan. That's when the doctor will know if the twins are identical or not. Right now, it's too early to tell. Promise me that you won't tell anybody. Not even Daniel during pillow talk."

"Dad, Daniel is in North Carolina right now. He won't even be back until after the first of the year."

"Is everything all right between you two?" He couldn't help but notice the bitter ring to his oldest daughter's words.

"It'll work out. Don't worry about it."

"Alexis—"

"Dad, I'm fine. It's just . . . I think Daniel and I are on different pages right now. It'll either work out or it won't. Which is one reason I'm glad I haven't married him, yet," she looked down at the third finger on her left hand.

"All I ever want is for you to be happy."

"I know."

"Daddy?" He turned to find Lily standing in the doorway, buttoned into her coat. "I thought that we were going to get tacos. You don't want to make mommy angry."

"No, we definitely don't want to make mommy angry. I'll talk to you tomorrow, pumpkin," he kissed Alexis on the cheek before walking over and scooping Lily into his arms.

"Bye, Alexis," Lily called out. "Bye, Hayley!"

"Bye, Sunshine!" Alexis answered back.

Kate was setting the table when Castle walked in with Lily 45 minutes later, a bag of tacos in one hand and Lily tightly holding his other one. "Hi, Sunshine," Kate greeted her daughter with a hug and a kiss. "I missed you so much today. What did you do with Alexis and Hayley?"

"Hayley and I did the map," Castle helped Lily with her coat before helping her into her booster chair at the dining table. "Did you know that there are 50 states? That's a lot of places to go."

"What state do you live in?"

"New York. It's the best state," Lily stated with a sage nod as both her parents bit back grins.

"Yes, it is," Castle placed a taco on Lily's plate, along with some rice.

"I want to go everywhere when I get big. Maybe I can go places with my brothers."

Kate shot Castle a look that read, 'What in the hell is she talking about?' "Uh, Lily. Let's work on one baby brother before we talk about another one. Okay?"

"Daddy told Alexis that you and the babies are fine. Babies means more than one. How many are you having? Trinity's dog had nine babies."

"Lily, eat your dinner," Castle directed his daughter with a stern look.

Kate tried to concentrate on her plate, but she found herself getting emotional instead. She got up from the table and quickly left the room. "Is mommy sick again?" Lily asked.

"I don't know. Eat your dinner while I go check on mommy."

"If mommy's sick, can I have her taco?"

Castle found Kate sitting on the edge of their bed. "Castle, I asked you not to say anything about the twins! You had one job to do and you blew it!"

"It was an accident," he sat down beside her. "Alexis asked how you were feeling and I accidentally said that you and the babies were doing fine. I didn't even know Lily was in the room."

"Great! Alexis is going to tell Daniel, who can't keep his mouth shut for shit!"

"No," he stopped her. "Daniel isn't in town. He won't be back until after the first."

"And, that makes everything okay?"

"No, it doesn't. Kate, it was an accident. Alexis isn't going to tell anybody else. I promise that nobody else is going to know. Now, you need to pull yourself together and come back to the dinner table. Because, Lily is threatening to eat your tacos if you don't."

"That's the other thing. How are we going to keep Lily from spilling the beans? She's three, Castle. A very mature three, but still three."

"We'll sit her down and have a talk with her. She understands surprises."

"Let's go eat dinner and then we can have a talk with Lily."

After dinner, Kate gave Lily a bath before taking her to her room and tucking her into bed, placing her stuffed elephant within easy reach. "Is daddy coming in to read me a story?"

"He'll be here in just one minute. Lily, I don't want you to tell anybody that I'm having two babies."

"Why?"

"Because, there are two kinds of twins. That's what it is when mommies have two babies. There are twins that look exactly alike and twins that look different."

"Like Alexis and I look different?"

"Exactly. The doctor wants to know if the twins are going to look the same or not. When we find out, then daddy and I will tell everybody about the two babies. Until then, you have to keep it a secret."

"Like when we had the birthday party for Auntie Lanie?"

"Exactly like that. Can you try to keep it a secret?"

"I can try."

"Good girl," she kissed her on the forehead, smiling when Castle walked into her bedroom from his office.

"Don't read," Lily pulled at the book in Castle's hand. "Tell me the story about me. That's my favorite story of all."

"Mommy had a bad accident. While she was in the hospital, a lady doctor—"

"Her name was Lily, like me," Lily grinned happily.

"Yes, her name was Lily, just like you. That's why we named you Lily. She came into the room and she brought a special machine with her. That machine was able to see inside of mommy and there you were, looking like a little pea pod."

"Were you and mommy happy?"

"We were very happy," Kate confirmed, remembering that moment all too well.

"And, then you went to Paris and that other doctor told you that I was a girl. How could he tell?"

"I'll explain that another time. For right now, you need to go to sleep," Castle helped her under the covers and tucked them around her.

After getting her settled and turning on a lamp that made the moon and stars rotate around her ceiling, Castle and Kate retired to the living room. Castle booted up his laptop to get some writing done while Kate relaxed against him. "Do you want two boys or two girls?" Her voice was drowsy.

"Well, two girls would really make me feel like I have my own harem," he mused, laughing when Kate rolled her eyes.

"You never feel outnumbered among all these women?"

"Nah. When it gets too bad, I have Ryan and 'Sito for backup."

"I hope they're both boys."

"Really?" He was surprised.

"Yeah. Two little boys with your eyes and your hair," she brushed the one stubborn lock that always fell over his eyes. "Your personality. Your love of life. I want to watch you help them grow into good men. Because, you are such a good man."

"I love you," he kissed her. "I think that's almost the sweetest thing you've ever said to me."

"Besides, these are going to be our last babies. We might as well have at least one of each. And, Lily's dead-set on having a brother and you know how she can get when she doesn't get her way."

"It's going to be just as great this time as it was when we were expecting Lily," his hands traveled to her stomach, softly caressing the gently rounded baby mound.

"It already is."

A/N #4: There's going to be another time jump, as well as a new case starting in the next chapter.

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