Disclaimer: The only part of Castle that I own is the TV on which I watch the show.
"Oh, Castle, you're going to love this," Beckett says as walks into the kitchen with just the hint of a waddle. "I'm a shapeshifter."
"I already do love it," he says from the stool where he's sitting, "because you virtually never make a reference to The Lord of the Rings, probably just to irritate me."
"Well, then I'm going to be a bubbleburster in addition to a shapeshifter," she says, plucking the bagel from his hand, taking a large bite and then returning it. "Tolkien did not invent shapeshifters. They've been part of mythology forever." She takes a seat next to Castle and casually removes a piece of bacon from his plate. It's gone in two bites. "Aren't you going to ask me about my newly acquired shapeshifterness?"
"I am, particularly since you look exactly the same as you did when you went to sleep last night."
"Not true." A second piece of bacon makes its way from his plate to her mouth. "I am a very different shape. I can no longer see my navel."
Castle gives her a long, steady look. "I've known you for years, and not once have I taken you for a navel-gazer. Please, do go on. Why can't you see your navel?"
"It disappeared." Along with the last piece of Castle's bacon.
"Really? Disappeared? So you have no navel at all? I thought the only people who had no belly buttons were Adam and Eve."
"It didn't vanish, Castle, like the lost city of Atlantis. But yesterday I could see it and today I can't—because the baby dropped! So my navel is now on the lower curve of my belly, rather than the top. It's amazing. I had no idea that when the baby dropped it would make me a totally different shape."
"I don't know why you sound so happy about it, Mom. I'm upside down in here now. It feels weird."
Castle watches as she appropriates the second half of his bagel and begins to chew it. "Beckett?"
She swallows. "Yes?"
"My bagel?"
"What?"
He points to the last incriminating morsel. "My bagel."
"Oh, sorry." She grimaces slightly. "Were you eating it?"
"I'm glad you took it Mom, it's good. I like that cream cheese stuff."
He raises both eyebrows. "Are you hungry, by any chance?"
"Now that you mention it, yeah, starving." She's running her mind over breakfast possibilities when she suddenly says, "Oh! I know!"
"Know what you want?"
"No, I know why I'm so hungry. I remember reading that one thing that happens when the baby drops is that you can eat more, feel like you have more room. Oh, and another thing." She pushes off the stool and starts walking away.
"Beckett? Where are you going?"
"The bathroom. That's the other thing. Once the baby drops you have to pee. Constantly."
"We're going back for breakfast though, right, Mom? Don't forget."
"I'll make us something," Castle says to her rapidly retreating back.
"Thanks, Dad. I bet it'll be something great. Hurry up, before we get back and Mom asks for a smoothie."
Beckett hasn't even reached the living room before Castle opens a cabinet, takes out the waffle iron and plugs it in. By the time she returns, the batter is ready and he's waiting for the iron to heat up.
"Ooh, waffles! Thank you. Haven't had those in a while."
"You're not kidding. And I'm a kid, get it? I haven't told a joke in a while, either, Mom. Maybe I needed waffles. Dad says that you are his muse. I think waffles are mine."
"Need to get a good breakfast in you today, Beckett. Last day in the precinct before your maternity leave kicks in."
"What's that? Aren't I the one who kicks?"
"Gonna be a boring day. Nothing but paper work." She spears a chunk of waffle and chews it blissfully. "God, I hate desk duty. Feels like I've been doing it forever."
Castle runs a piece of waffle through the lake of syrup on his plate. "Not forever. Besides, you'll be back out there before you know it, bringing down scum in vermin-infested dark alleys."
"That sounds awful. Do I have to go?"
"Yeah, well, I hope my skills haven't gotten rusty."
"Oh, please," he says, with a first-rate impression of the Beckett Eye Roll. "Time to go."
Just as she had predicted, it had been a day of unrelieved paperwork. The only thing that made it bearable was the parade of cops who stopped by her desk all day to wish her well. She hadn't wanted Castle to be there today; she was working hard not to show her emotions. When he texted her to say that he was downstairs, ready to go to dinner, she got up, said goodnight to her friends, and walked to the elevator, idly wondering who was going to win the baby pool, and how much money was in it.
He had chosen a new, well-reviewed restaurant just a few blocks away. The heat had abated, and it was pleasant enough that the restaurant had opened two pairs of French doors that gave onto the quiet side street.
"Look at that woman," Beckett says, waving her salad fork in the direction of one of the tables by the doors. "Is she crazy? She has her shoulder bag draped over the back of her chair. She's asking for someone to steal it. I'm going to go say something to her."
"Wait, Beckett, I'll do it."
She's already on her feet. "Nope. I've got it." She's about ten feet away when she sees a figure dart into the doorway and yank the woman's purse from the back of the chair. "Hey!" He's on the run and so is she.
The little bastard is good, she'll give him that, as she tears down the sidewalk, glad that she's wearing flats. But not good enough. She knows every potential escape route in the neighborhood and she also knows exactly where he's headed. If she turns left here, and then makes two quick rights, she should be able to nail him.
Bingo. "Drop the bag!" He's about to barrel into her, but she puts one arm out to steady herself against the wall in the areaway, and brings her foot up sharply, right into the crotch of his vintage 501s. He goes down in a screaming heap, and she hears hurried footsteps behind her.
"Beckett!" It's Castle, gasping and clutching his chest. "What the hell are you doing?"
She lets go of the wall and plants one foot hard on the arm of the moaning perp. "Well, since I'm now on leave from the NYPD, I'm making a citizen's arrest. Call 911, please. And hurry up, I have to pee."
"And we didn't get to finish dinner."
A/N Thank you for all the RF&Fs. They make me feel like it's the Fourth of July, even when it isn't. Although, today it is.