By the afternoon of December fourth, Honey-Milk felt a little bit back into herself. Mallory was catching on to the breastfeeding thing very quickly and Dell was so patient, it made her wonder if her child was actually human. He fetched her tissues, held things out of the way, folded blankets, whatever needed to be done. And never once did he get cranky that the new baby was getting so much attention or that sometimes he had to wait to have his questions answered.
But nothing compared to her husband. Honey-Milk didn't think he left the hospital once since they'd gone in the afternoon of the second; he just had his friends bring him fresh clothes and Daniel would sneak him into the staff locker room to get him a shower. He brought her flowers and her favourite box of tea, even the ridiculously expensive imported Reed's ginger beer for when she was able. He also didn't make a single jaunty comment about when she thought she need to pass gas and her bowels loosened in her disposable hospital underwear. Ryan had simply given her a supportive kiss and helped her to the bathroom to clean up and get changed.
If that wasn't love, what was?'
Now came a fun part - visiting her fellow Twelfth Precinct lady in the hospital as she prepared to go home. Again, Honey-Milk felt a little twinge of jealousy for her friend, but then, Beckett had given birth eighteen hours before her and hadn't needed a surgical procedure to do so. With Mallory in her arms and Dell walking beside her wheelchair, the whole Ryan family made their way to Beckett and RJ's room to find Beckett sitting in her street clothes with RJ in a car seat on the foot of the bed. He was in his little newbie snowsuit and proudly wearing his NYPD crest toque. She was cooing at her son as she adjusted the straps and wrinkling her nose in a funny face as only a new mother could.
'Just wait until you get home, little man, you are going to love your room. The bed is so comfy, you're going to want to spend all your naps there, unless of course, Daddy wants you to cuddle with him.'
'Nothing beats a nap on Daddy's bare chest,' Honey-Milk agreed.
The sound of her friend's voice had Beckett glancing up and smiling. 'Hey mama.'
'Right back at you.'
'You get to go home?'
Beckett nodded. 'Harvey said there's no medical reason for me to stay any longer and RJ's fit as a little seven pound, eleven ounce fiddle so he can go home as well.'
'Where's the rest of your crew?' Ryan asked.
'Alexis is at home making sure everything is tidied up for the new arrival and Richard is downstairs taking our luggage and our swag to the car. Our discharge papers have been signed and he's going to text me when he's at the front doors. Any word on when you and Mallory are getting sprung from this joint?'
'Not yet.'
'Mama needs to suh-tay here until her 'cision is better,' Dell explained, wandering over to the bed and looking at RJ. 'He kinda looks like you and Misser Castle, Detective.'
'Thank you, Dell.'
'You think he's gonna like Tessi?'
'Of course,' Ryan chuckled. 'The entire universe revolves around the littlest Esposito, doesn't it?'
'She is my suh-wee-hot, Daddy.'
Beckett put a hand to her heart at the boy's romantic nature. 'Are you giving her a Christmas present?'
'Uh-huh. She really likes to read books so I am giving her a whole bunch of books that we can read together, even a dinosaur one. And she invited me to get her Chuh-ristmas tuh-ree with her next week. I save my money from the baby suh-wimmin' pool and I am gonna buy her a hot-dog with keshup.'
'I'm sure she'll love that.'
Beckett's cellphone chirp-chirped I Fought the Law and she smiled. 'And now it's time for RJ and I to go home. We'll see you soon, though, right?'
'Yes. We need to have a baby party for RJ and Mallory. Can I say bye-bye?'
'Of course.'
Dell walked over and rather than giving the new baby a kiss, he pursed his finger together and bumped the tips against RJ's little mittened hand. 'Gotta feed those birds, RJ.'
'What a guy.' Beckett stood up, picked up RJ in his baby carrier - a gift from Martha when they'd finished the nursery - then gave Ryan and Honey-Milk each a hug. 'Thank you, for everything, really, I couldn't have asked for better friends going through this.'
'And to you, too. Being a cop and having a family isn't always easy, but...when you've got the right person, the tough times aren't so dark,' he replied. 'I've been through it twice now, Javi's hoping he and Meredeth will have another one soon, and now you're in the club too. We're a family.'
'Okay, you've already seen me go into labour and cry a bunch of times while I was pregnant, the last thing I need is for you to make me cry once more.' Beckett gave him one last hug. 'Thanks again.'
'We'll see you soon.'
Ready to face being a mom at home, outside the bubble of the hospital, Beckett shouldered her purse and picked up RJ in his car-seat, and headed for the elevators.
Downstairs, she shook her head when she saw her husband by the sliding doors of the hospital's main entrance, a bouquet of white hibiscus in his hands and a smile on his lips. They seemed to be smiling all the time lately.
'Who's that over there, RJ? Is that Daddy?' she whispered to her son as they walked over to meet him.
'There's my gorgeous girl and my handsome little prince.' Castle greeted his wife with a warm kiss, holding onto the flowers for her. 'We all set?'
'Yeah. The Ryans came by to say their good-byes. I hope our little guy finds a role model in you, but I really hope he and Dell Ryan become best buddies.'
'Oh yeah, him, Carey, RJ and Lili and Cam's little guy when he gets here, they could be their own Fab Four.'
'I can just see it now, RJ hosting them all for Go Fish night in our loft when they're like eight. And then when they're like eighteen, Dell and Tessi hooking up and playing poker one-on-one.'
'That's just...RJ, do me a favour, I hope you get my sense of humour and not Daddy's,' Beckett said to RJ, who merely yawned and smacked his lips together. 'Deal.'
The trip back to SoHo was shorter than she anticipated - though it was almost lunchtime, the overnight snowfall meant most were staying off the roads. Thankfully because Castle's Lincoln had four-wheel drive it was not nearly as dicey as it appeared to be.
Once home, they found Alexis not alone - Martha and Jim were both there, waiting with cameras and champagne, with the non-alcoholic variety for the nursing new mom. The loft smell of fresh linens and of the new baby, soap and talc and potential.
'Welcome home, my babies.' Martha held out her arms to them. 'Let's have a look at the man of the hour.'
Beckett's face was shining like the sun as she walked over to the couch, put RJ's car seat down. A few quick clicks and zips and he was out of his newborn winter coat, wearing his very warm flannel footies; they were a soft candy-apple red and read 'Little Heat' over the heart.
'Quite the pjs, he's sporting,' Jim observed.
'A gift from my agent,' Castle informed him. 'Paula thinks we could market a whole line of 'Baby Heat' t-shirts and onsies to go with the other Nikki Heat merchandise, but we agreed no baby merchandise, not this time.'
'A very good idea. Now, to the most important business.' Martha sat beside her daughter-in-law and motioned with her hands. 'Let's have a hold of this young fellow.'
Beckett took the baby out of his seat and passed her to his grams, careful to give his neck support. To her utter surprise, Martha began to weep a little.
'Oh, this brings back memories,' she warbled, looking up at Castle. 'You were about this size, Richard, but you had a lot more hair than RJ here.'
'Really.'
'Quite. As I was in the throes of labour, my doctor said it looked as though I was giving birth to a coconut with those long fine hairs of...whatever is on the outside of a coconut.'
'Even then I was hard-headed,' Castle laughed, then glanced over when he heard the footsteps on the stairs and saw Alexis there, her own expression almost matching the excitement on Beckett's. 'Hey, honey, the place looks great, thank you so much. I don't know what we'd do with out you.'
'Did I miss anything?'
'Nope, but I do believe it's Poppy Jim's turn to hold the baby,' Castle said with a stern look at his mother, who was visibly pouting over giving up her grandson to his grandfather.
Jim set down the camera he'd been using to film his baby's baby's first moments at home and rounded the couch to sit with Beckett. 'Let's have a look, there,' he murmured, taking the baby in his arms. He was a beautiful child, no question, and his eyes were the most gorgeous deep colour he'd ever seen. 'I think you're going to have Daddy's eyes, RJ.'
'You think so, Dad?' Beckett tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
'I do. What do you think RJ?'
RJ blinked at Jim, then screwed his face up into a massive sneeze that shook his whole body. He had about three seconds to look around before he scrunched up his face into a desperate wail. 'Oh, RJ, it's okay, there's nothing to be scared of, little buddy.' Jim tried to soothe the infant but it was a no-go. 'I think this is one of those times when only Mom will do.'
Beckett held out her arms and cradled RJ against her so that his ear was near her throat and he could hear the vibrations of her voice as she spoke. 'There, there, my little prince,' she crooned. 'It's okay, it's just a sneeze, nothing's going to get you.'
It worked, for his wails subsided into disturbed little whimpers as Beckett gently moved her body back and forth. 'Yeah, I know, it's so weird out here, isn't it?' She glanced up at her dad. 'How am I doing so far?'
'Oh, Katie-Lou, your mother would be so proud of you.'
'I know I am,' Martha added, then popped up off the couch. 'We need to bring lunch in here, I think.'
'I hope you guys didn't go to too much trouble,' Castle asked, knowing just how much of a disaster his mother was in the kitchen; Javier Esposito might have taken that gold medal but Martha Rogers was a damn close second.
'Please, I was lucky to put together an outfit I was so distracted by my babies coming home. No, your good friends at Pookaloo's cooked for us,' Martha informed them. 'We have their signature root-beer pulled pork sandwiches, garden salad, salt-and-pepper garlic bread, and for dessert, the fruit platter with lemon gelato and strawberries to go in our champagne.'
While Alexis and the grandparents went into the kitchen to finish assembling the necessary items for their meal, Castle sat down beside Beckett and pressed his hand against RJ's back. 'Is he asleep?'
'I think so.' Beckett craned her neck, looked down to see RJ's chest rising and falling. 'Yeah, he's out and he's not due for a snack until about one thirty.'
'Here.' Castle gently plucked their boy from her arms and put him in the car seat, where he gave a little lip-puckering smile in his sleep, cooed softly. He pressed a kiss to his son's forehead. 'Daddy loves you so much, RJ.'
He heard a sniffle beside him; head whipping around, he saw Beckett looking at him with a proud smile on her face through the tears beginning to fall.
'Oh, Kate, it's okay.'
Beckett burrowed against his chest as his strong arms came around her and she let it all out.
R&R&Enjoy!
