My Grandmother was a Witch
Chapter 18
"Richard Castle! What do I owe the pleasure of your call?" He was a bit surprised to hear from him. He didn't know of a reason why he would need his expertise.
"Pen and paper. I have a location for you." Rick waited.
"Go." He listened and wrote it down. Then he was on his computer. "Interesting. A stone's throw from the Canadian border. Hell, I bet I know someone that could spit into Canada from there. So what do you need?"
"There's a precious little house made of stone with a thatched roof and a horse barn out back. It's on the grid, I think, but that's it. Maybe a landline but not much else. I don't know where the water comes from. The heat is by two fireplaces. One in the main room and one in the kitchen and nothing upstairs in the two bedrooms.
"I saw an old electric water heater in the barn but no heat and only concrete floors. There's space for four horses but I learned only two were ever there at one time. They're gone now.
"It really is precious looking but the windows are old. I doubt the ceiling has insulation and it needs better heat somehow. And that barn needs help. The kitchen has an old wood burning stove in it that stays. The freezer is in the floor.
"I need plans and costs. Lose the fireplace in the kitchen and expand the kitchen somehow. Heat and maybe A/C for the main rooms and bedrooms. Solar panels hopefully. The trees are really tall and close so do what you can.
"Lose the concrete in the barn and make it easy for the horses. A much better water heater for the barn. Better hay storage. Use two of the stalls if you have to. Anything else you can think of," Rick told him.
"I love a challenge. It's fall so taking time for design, engineering plans, and permitting can't start till spring." He changed screens on his computer. "I can have a team do a survey of everything including a site survey in three days. Anything else?"
"Just one thing. The place is haunted so just ignore the ghost that's there," Rick told him.
"GHOST? Knowing you, you might be joking but it doesn't sound like you are. I'll warn them. I'll get you what I can as fast as I can. Who owns the place? I'm not stepping on someone's toes, am I?" He knew Rick and this might be a bad surprise.
"I know her personally," Rick assured him. "This is a surprise but she loves the place so don't destroy the look of it unless you have to. It really is cute, just stuck in the distant past. This is the 21st century."
"Got it. Give me a few weeks and I can have a plan for you that we can take to the engineers to see what they can do. You in the city?"
"The Hamptons."
"Love a road trip. I'll call you when I have something."
"Thanks, Andre. I expect to see something amazing." Rick hung up and looked at his blinking cursor. Now that he'd taken care of that his mind was finally clear and he could start typing. Besides he had incentive. He just knew Kate was going to check to see how much he had completed. Or she just might hurt him. She was a witch after all.
_/\_
Kate didn't like being on desk duty. It just wasn't her. Except she was pregnant and while she was dying here it beat risking her baby and yes, she was pregnant. Even her doctor was surprised that she knew that she was pregnant.
"You're right, you're right about three weeks pregnant. Your baby isn't even the size of a peanut yet so there's nothing to see. The basics hold. No more than one cup of coffee every morning. No more than four cups of decaf coffee during the rest of the day. Do exercises but don't over do it. If you usually run four miles restrict yourself to just one.
"I'm sending you home with prenatal vitamins. Eat as many balanced meals as you can and pizza or burgers are not a balanced meal." She wagged her finger at Kate since she knew Kate well.
"Chinese?" Kate asked her.
"Chinese will do especially the ones that have vegetables. So orange chicken with rice won't cut it. Real vegetables," she told Kate and listened to her groan.
"I'm also sending you home with a brochure on what to eat to help with morning sickness. Over 90% of women have it so you can expect it as well. If it gets too bad and you can't keep anything down I want you back in here pronto. Are you listening to me?" She also knew Kate would just suffer and do nothing about it.
"Yes." Kate was annoyed by now.
"You better be. You aren't just playing with your baby's life here but your own," she warned her. "I want you back in here in four weeks. By then we can listen to his or her heartbeat."
"Thanks, Angela. I appreciate this," Kate told her, thinking they were done.
"You're perfectly healthy so there's no reason your baby shouldn't be just as healthy. Just do what I told you," Angela told her. "And Kate? Congratulations. Make it past the morning sickness and being pregnant can be really nice. Late in your pregnancy that may change. Just don't be afraid of the cravings. That's your baby telling you something."
_/\_
Kate was back at her desk and heard the ping of the elevator and turned to look. She was really hoping it was Castle. She missed him fiercely. He was her partner but he was in the Hamptons writing his book about Nikki Heat.
Instead she saw Lanie come storming out of the elevator. "Oh, hell! Here it comes."
"Girlfriend!" Lanie hadn't even reached her yet and Kate could already tell she was in big trouble. "You're on desk duty so start talking." Lanie was there for answers and wasn't leaving till she got them.
Kate looked around. She could use an interrogation room but someone might listen. The breakroom was too public. "Follow me." Kate got up and took her to the conference room. It was a simple enough room and with the door closed, private enough.
"All right, Lanie, this doesn't leave this room for now. Though Montgomery knows."
"Fine, fine. What's going on, Kate?" Lanie couldn't take this.
"I placed myself on desk duty." She broke it to her. "I'm pregnant."
"Seriously? …Demming?" Lanie so wanted her to say no.
"I broke up with him weeks ago. You remember the party we had for Castle and his ex-wife showed up thinking she was going to the Hamptons with him?" Kate asked her.
"Castle said he wasn't going to the Hamptons except no one has seen him for three weeks." No one seemed to know where the heck he had gone. She hadn't tried to contact him.
"I went with him. I stayed with him for an entire week," Kate admitted. "I even only just got back from going out there for two days a couple of days ago."
"You went. So if you went and you're pregnant..." Lanie wanted to hear it from her and not have to guess.
"Castle is the father of my baby." Kate listened to her squeal and then saw her cover her mouth with both hands. Suddenly Kate was being crushed to death.
"Please tell me you love that man. Everyone on this floor knows you two are in love. Why you two can't see it escapes me. All of us actually." Lanie let go of her a little but kept hold of her.
"I like him a lot, Lanie, and if I'm not in love with him I'm getting there."
"Thank GOD!" Lanie crushed her in a hug again. "That man would do anything for you, honey. I've never seen two people so in tune with each other as you two. That little mind reading thing you two do? I've never seen anything like it."
"He scared me, Lanie. Hell, I'm still scared. If Castle leaves me it'll break me completely." Kate still had her fears.
"Castle? Leave you? Only if someone kills him. So there's only one way for you to be pregnant and Castle be the father." Lanie smiled a wide smile and Kate glared at her in return.
"You can tell me everything later. I'm so happy for you, sweetie." Lanie crushed her in yet another hug. "Just don't do something that forces him away. He really is good for you. Ignore his two ex-wives. They didn't know what they had."
Kate couldn't tell her that Gina was already gone. That just left Meredith but from what Alexis said she knew Meredith was already pretty much out of the picture. Even Alexis really didn't want to see her again.
"They never entered my mind," Kate told her.
"Good. So who else knows?" Lanie could keep a secret if she had to.
"Just Montgomery, now you, and Castle, of course. Oh, and my doctor who confirmed I'm pregnant. About three weeks."
"Three weeks." Lanie thought about that. "You went to the Hamptons three weeks ago more or less." Lanie opened her eyes wide. "You don't waste time do you?"
"I hadn't planned to get pregnant, Lanie. I didn't go out there with the intent of leaving pregnant. I'm not trapping Castle."
"Of course not. I know you better than that. Honestly." Lanie was ready to hit her for even thinking that. "So when's the wedding?"
"There isn't one. Castle hasn't proposed and I'm not ready for him to propose. I'm not marrying him just because I'm pregnant. He already did that with Meredith and Alexis. I'm not doing that." Kate shot that down.
"Understandable. I'm still happy for you, girlfriend. I can wait. Say tonight? I'll bring Chinese to your place. No wine, no alcohol, and no coffee." Lanie would wait just as long as tonight.
"I can have coffee. My doctor said I could. I just have to severely limit it." Kate was going to die. She just knew it. "And Chinese is okay so long as it has vegetables in it."
"I can handle that. I'll get some juice for you on the way home. I want to hear everything. …Wait! If Castle knows what does he think?"
"He's happy." Kate blushed. "He told me that later in my pregnancy I'm expected to move in with him so he can take care of me."
"That sounds like Castle. I still don't know why you moved out in the first place. You literally sneaked out and stayed with me for 2 weeks," Lanie reminded her.
"I know. I was scared, Lanie. Actually he still scares me a little but I'm working on it."
"Good! Don't be late and make me come looking for you. And fall in love with that man. He's the best thing to ever happen to you." Lanie was happy and left her standing in the conference room.
Kate's grin was really wide. So far Castle had caught her and she was happy. Happier than she'd been for maybe a long time. She impulsively pulled out her phone.
"I love you." Kate sent and a moment later got something back.
Kate read his text which had her giggling a little. She couldn't get more pregnant with more sex. There was a plus side to this. No more periods and no more cramps. "I love you too, Kate. Come back when you have time. You're already pregnant."
Kate read the next text and broke out in laughter. "Yes, I'm writing."
"You had better be. I have a lot of hormones running though me. Don't make me hurt you." Kate typed, teasing him.
She read his text. "I'll cook a celebration meal. May I tell Alexis and Mother?"
That had her thinking. She knew they were going to find out eventually. Besides she wasn't going to be able to hide it in a few months.
"I want to tell them personally. Face to face, so no. Please?" Kate sent back.
Kate read the text and smiled wide. She didn't know being in love could feel this good. It was like she was a different person. "I knew there was a reason why I love you. We have a deal. Now go back to work."
"I'm telling my dad, though." She knew she had to do that.
Kate read this text and smiled a little wider. She was being told she was loved. "I have no objection. Tell him hi for me. Love you."
She put her phone away and went back to her desk. She had a murder to help solve. From her desk with no field work.
_/\_
Her case was solved and they got another one even before they had solved this one. Kate groaned since it meant going to see Castle was delayed till this case was solved.
Kate was sitting there waiting for the boys to come back. Roy stopped at her desk. "How are you doing, Beckett?"
"Fine, sir," Kate told him and saw that he was still looking at her. "It's hard sitting here but I have to. No morning sickness yet. Not looking forward to that. And I'm looking forward to a couple of days off, sir."
"Evelyn had morning sickness bad with our first child. I took her to the hospital because of it. And you can have your two days after this case. We'll survive. Just eat something, Beckett. Soon enough you won't want to." Roy left her and went to his office.
"Yes, sir." Kate decided that since the boys were gone she could go out and find something to eat. Something that didn't make her doctor mad at her. Something good for her baby.
_/\_
A Greek Gyro sounded good enough to her.
Eventually she found herself in the back seat of a town car being driven to the Hamptons. "You're making a habit of this, ma'am." Not that he wasn't happy to see her. It meant more work and more profit for him.
"That's the plan. So how many cars do you have again?" Kate wasn't sure.
"Five, ma'am. One of them's presently in the shop. It's not the time, it's the mileage. It's not broken or anything and I want to keep it that way."
"It sounds like you have everything under control. I gave your company name to my dad so his business may have use for you. But I don't really know," Kate told him.
"That was kind of you, ma'am. I look forward to it." He and Kate remained silent for the rest of the trip.
_/\_
Kate found Castle outside waiting for her and he even ran to the door to open it for her. Since she was only staying two days she had a small bag with her in the car.
Kate dropped her bag, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. She had done without him for almost two weeks. Meaning she was five weeks pregnant.
"Call me when you're ready to go home, ma'am." He got back behind the wheel and went back to the city.
"Hi, Castle." Kate smiled at him.
"Hi, Kate. Come on inside and we can throw your bag in the bedroom." Rick picked it up, took her hand, and walked her inside. They went up to the bedroom where he dropped her bag and watched as she took off her clothes.
"Strip, Castle. Until I decide otherwise we're going naked out here. I want to see you." He finally took off his clothes and Kate couldn't help but keep her eyes on her prize.
"Show me what you've written or we're going to have to go find that sex store in town and buy a whip so I can whip your white ass," Kate teased him.
Kate found herself sitting outside after letting Castle rub sunscreen over most of her. She had his laptop in her lap and tried to keep the sun from shining on the screen so she could see it.
"Four chapters, Castle. Not bad and it's good. But I made some suggestions. I added some Post-it Notes to it." She closed it and handed it back to him.
"You know how to do that?" Rick was impressed.
Kate rolled her eyes. "DUH!"
"No morning sickness?" Rick asked because he was concerned.
"Not yet but I'm sure it's coming. I'm not looking forward to it," she admitted.
"So what did your dad say?" Rick asked hesitantly. "He wants to kill me, doesn't he?"
"NO! Why would he want to kill you? He likes you. I think. I'm not really sure." Kate had trouble with that. "He sounded happy that I was pregnant. His first grandchild. He wanted to know if it was a boy or a girl. Then he asked a hard question." Kate wasn't sure they were ready for this.
"Please say he didn't use the word abortion." Rick didn't believe in that. He had gone through that with Meredith just to have Alexis.
"No, he didn't use that word. No, Castle. No abortion." Kate reached out and told him in case that was what he was thinking.
His eyes closed in relief. "Thank you. I don't believe in abortion. I went through that with Meredith. She was so set on having an abortion. That had me fighting against it so hard."
"She wanted to kill Alexis!?" Kate couldn't conceive of such a thing. Alexis was perfect. To think that she might have been killed before she was even born was terrible.
"I promise you I'm not doing that. I'm having my baby."
He got up and bent down to kiss her.
That had her getting up and taking his hand. She left behind his laptop and led him inside so she could fuck his brains out and to hell with condoms. She got to feel him and not a piece of latex.