My Grandmother was a Witch
Chapter 22
Kate was late for work. Castle had indeed managed to wear her out to the point that she had overslept. However, the upside of this was that Castle drove her into work and then was going to park his car in a parking garage and join them for the day. It was going to be good to have him back in the precinct and next to her all day long.
"Hey, Beckett!" Ryan spotted her first and watched her walk right up to him and his partner.
"Beckett, you missed all the fun." Espo started to get up only to have Kate push him back down into his chair.
"You know, you could've called me and told me you two were okay. Not leave me sitting here wondering what happened to you. It was all over the news for hours." Kate was ready to remove a piece of each of them for making her worry.
"We did," Espo insisted.
"Yeah, three times no less," Ryan told her.
"Check your phone," Espo told her and that had Kate patting herself down.
"My phone?" Kate looked at her desk but didn't see it immediately. She was pretty sure she'd gone home with it. After that she couldn't remember.
"Castle!" Espo followed by Ryan were up to greet him as he came off the elevator.
"You finish your book already?" Espo, followed by Ryan, shook his hand.
"No, only about halfway. Someone called to tell me you two were doing your best to try and get yourselves shot. So I came to ID the bodies," Rick teased them.
"Funny, Castle, funny." Espo was not amused.
"Here's your phone." Rick handed to her. "It's dead so I brought your charger too." He handed over the charger from her nightstand next to her bed.
"Thanks." She didn't see how she could have forgotten her phone. Though all that sex with Castle last night might have had something to do with it. Forgetting to even plug it in she blamed on these two trying to get themselves killed.
"You have Beckett's phone?" Espo asked and eyed those two.
"You have her phone. Beckett's throwing up all over the place from morning sickness meaning she's pregnant and you're..." Ryan was putting 2 + 2 together and it was spelling Castle.
"KEVIN!" Kate hissed at him.
"Castle's the father?" Espo was a little slower but he was catching up.
Kate looked like a deer caught in the headlights as she stared at those two. "Keep your voice down," Kate hissed at Espo, too.
"It's about time, Beckett," Ryan said and now Kate's face changed to one of shock. Rick's face had this proud papa look on it.
"Yeah, we thought you two were never going to work it all out. We're happy for you, Beckett. Even if you are throwing up all over the place." Espo couldn't resist teasing her.
"Kate?" Rick looked at her.
"I do not throw up all over the place. I have my little blue trash can." Kate pointed at it. "I even clean it out after each use. And if you two blab this to everyone in the precinct I will make you pay," she warned them.
"You're way too late for that, Beckett," Espo informed her.
"Yeah, the pool was what?" Ryan questioned his partner. "Oh, yeah, 80% Castle, 15% Demming, and 5% unknown."
Espo only managed to open his mouth. "There was a pool on who the father was?" Kate gaped at these two.
"Please. We have lots of pools. Since it's Castle we didn't make much but at least we both won," Espo pointed out.
"What are the other pools?" Kate queried since she was obviously not paying enough attention.
"Not a chance, Beckett. Might ruin my chances. That and Lanie would kill both of us," Ryan blurted and got hit by Espo for opening his big mouth.
"Lanie's in charge of the pools? I'm going to kill her!" Kate fumed.
"I'm going to go get coffee," Rick muttered and began to move.
"You move, Castle, and you're just as dead. What do you know about these pools?" Kate glared at him.
"Not. Much." Rick wilted under her glare and gave in. "There are five. Well, were five. Four now. But that's all. Scout's honor." He held up his hand.
"You were never a scout, Castle." Kate kept glaring at him.
"Coming in on time for a change, I see, Beckett. That's good." Roy with his morning coffee compliments of Castle's machine in the breakroom walked past.
"Sir, I can explain." Just about then Kate smelled his coffee. She clapped her hand over her mouth, rushed over to her little blue trash can, and threw up.
She felt someone pull her hair aside as she continued to empty her stomach till it was finally all over. Rick saw first hand what everyone else on this floor had been witnessing for weeks.
Kate found a tissue being handed to her. "Are you okay, love?" Rick asked her.
"Yeah, I need to go wash all this out." Kate was up and took her trash can with her to the restroom while Rick looked at these two.
"It's only about twice a day. You get used to it. I saw a lot worse in the Gulf." Espo retreated to his desk as did Ryan.
_/\_
"Kate?" She was back with her trash can.
"I'm fine, Castle. It just suddenly hits me. The trick is keeping anything down." She didn't want to stand on a scale. She was afraid she was losing too much weight from throwing up multiple times a day.
"Can I get you anything?" Rick offered.
"Popsicle." She needed to put something back in her stomach. It might come back up later but at least there would be something.
"What flavor?" Rick asked and saw her glare at him. "Right, Popsicle." He retreated to the breakroom where he found large bag about half full in the freezer. He grabbed a red one and took it to Kate.
"Thanks." Kate removed the wrapper and began licking and sucking on it. She watched as Castle took his seat and between that and the Popsicle she felt a lot better.
"When are you going back?" Kate asked as she worked on her Popsicle. "You have to finish, Castle. That was the deal."
Rick explained his plan. "I'm going to take you home tonight, make sure you eat something, and then leave. Traffic should be light by then." Besides he'd shown up with his little bag and was even wearing the same clothes as yesterday save for his socks and underwear.
"Good! Not that I don't want you here, but you need to finish and if you stay I won't have a reason to go to the Hamptons." She was learning to love the house in the Hamptons.
"Good point." He loved having her with him in the Hamptons.
"So when is Alexis back?" She had a lot to tell that young lady.
"One week and..." Rick looked at his phone, "one day."
Kate checked her calendar. "Friday. Can I have a key to the loft?" she asked, not really sure if he'd give her one. "I have a lot to tell her." But she immediately saw him take the key off his key ring and hand it over. "Thanks." She loved him just a touch more for that.
"You can get Alexis to help you move clothes over, if you like," Rick offered. "Since you'll eventually be living there and no is not an answer."
"I know. But I still have time. I'm not even showing yet," Kate pointed out.
"All right, but be ready for Alexis to start helping you do just that, like it or not," Rick warned her.
"She's sweet. …Did you put her up to that?" Kate was going to hurt him if he had.
"NO! We have a deal, Kate. You tell her you're pregnant, not me. But I know her. She isn't going to let you stay at home all alone when you could be living in the loft where we could all be helping you. Better get used to it," Rick told her.
Kate relaxed and went back to eating her Popsicle. She wasn't used to having anyone help her. "She doesn't know…you know, about me?"
"No, that's for you to tell. And don't think it's not eating away at me, because it is. Half the planet should know by now that I love you. I'm dying, Kate," Rick said while moaning about his predicament.
"Poor baby. I'll make it up to you next time I have two days off," Kate promised.
"Really!?" Rick got up and headed for Montgomery's office.
"CASTLE!" Kate hissed at him. She meant normal two days off, not what she was betting Castle was about to do.
_/\_
She watched him sit down in his chair, stared at him, and waited. "Not till you solve the next case or one week, whichever is longer. Not shorter." Rick was devastated but at least it was something.
Ryan hung up his phone. "Got a body."
"OH GOOD!" Rick got up, looked at Ryan and Espo, and then at Kate. He raised both hands. "Stay here or dead body? Stay or dead body? …I'm coming." Rick hustled to catch up to Ryan and Espo.
Kate couldn't believe it. "I just lost to a dead body."
"Don't worry, he still loves you. And thanks for the winnings," Roz told her and kept walking.
"Winnings?" She had forgotten about the pool already.
"The entire precinct knows Castle's the father by now," Roz called out over her shoulder.
"Oh God!" Kate hid her face in both hands. That also meant the entire precinct knew she was having sex with Castle.
Soon everyone that even looked at her made her think they knew what she was doing. Riding out to the Hamptons to fuck Castle's brains out. She needed a pretzel or something.
_/\_
Kate was sitting at her desk when the elevator dinged and out rushed Castle. "The victim was Vivian Marchand the Psychic!" Rick plopped down in his chair. "She was found by her daughter stuffed into a sleeper sofa. She did a reading for me at a party about 8 years ago. It was extraordinary. Just like you!"
Kate ignored Castle; she wanted facts. "Guys?"
"Stabbed in the neck with an ice pick and then stuffed into a sofa," Espo told her and handed her his memory chip full of photos.
"Bet she didn't see that coming," Rick mentioned. Kate ignored him and began loading her pictures so she could see the place.
"Full rigor. Lanie places time of death somewhere around yesterday afternoon. The daughter showed up looking for her," Espo reported.
"She was alive when she went into the sofa," Ryan added as she began pulling up pictures.
"I'm surprised you're so gullible, Castle." Surely the man she loved wasn't so easily taken in by all these fakes, was he?
"I'm not saying that I can do this. I'm just saying that there might be people in this world that might be more sensitive than me," Rick said while defending himself.
"That's not hard to believe, Castle." Kate grinned at him as she kept looking at pictures.
"Walked right into that one," Rick muttered to anyone who was listening.
"Copy of my notes." Ryan handed over a photocopy followed by Espo.
"So this is how this works now?" Rick was a little amazed.
"Yup, this is me stuck at my desk because someone got me pregnant," Kate told him.
Rick was hurt by her comment. "You make that sound like a ball and chain."
Kate corrected what he was thinking. "I love you, Castle, and I love our baby. It's just this method makes it hard for me to help, is all."
"You love our baby?" This was a first and he leaned in closer.
Kate took her eyes off her computer and touched his cheek. "Yes, I love our baby. Him or her, I love this baby. It's why I'm stuck at my desk. If I got our baby killed because I was stupid, I might kill myself before you did.
"Now focus, we have a murder to solve. Before you go back to the Hamptons and write because that's our deal and you're going to keep it. …Or else." Kate glared at him. "I bought you a whip, Castle," she reminded him.
"Roger that." Rick didn't need to not be able to sit down for a week.
_/\_
"Let me guess. You were one of those 6-year olds that didn't believe in Santa Claus because you figured out he couldn't travel faster than the speed of light, weren't you?" Rick asked her since Vivian's work was actually working out.
"I was three and we didn't have a chimney," Kate replied.
"OH MY GOD! My girlfriend doesn't believe in Santa? This is so not right." Rick felt his world spinning out of orbit and falling apart all around him.
"Girlfriend?" That was all Kate got out of that.
"Well, aren't you? You've admitted that you love me. You're pregnant and we've at least talked about marriage if not actually getting married," Rick reminded her.
That had Kate thinking. "Fine. I'm your girlfriend." He had a point after all.
"Good. That makes me your boyfriend. And we're working on your belief in Santa. My girlfriend has to believe in Santa," Rick told her.
"Well, boyfriend, it's time for you to go back to the Hamptons," Kate informed him.
"WHAT? But we haven't solved the case yet!" Rick moaned at her.
"Don't make me use my whip on you, Castle," Kate warned him.
"Fine!" Rick groaned. "But I want updates. Daily! NO hourly. No—"
"Castle, GO!" Kate pointed at the elevator. "And no PDA in the office or Montgomery will yell at both of us." Rick was leaning in to kiss her.
"I'll buy him a pony." Rick gave her a quick kiss that maybe no one saw and he finally left. It wasn't really that late yet. But with traffic it was going to be a long ride home and he still need to make himself dinner.
Rick was back. "Happy birthday. Your birthday present should be here any minute." This time he really did kiss her and got kissed back.
"RICK!" Kate stopped him. "Thank you, boyfriend, and I do love you." Kate let him kiss her again and watched him finally leave. What she wanted to do was leave with him. She felt naked somehow.
But she still had a murder to solve.
_/\_
"Beckett. This was downstairs for you." Smith set a huge vase full of flowers on her desk. "Pretty sure it says Happy Birthday somewhere." He smiled at her and left her with her flowers.
Kate couldn't help but smile at them. She'd never had a boyfriend that did these kinds of things for her. She might be a cop but she was a woman and she loved them.
She stood up and searched for a card. "You're not older, you're more perfect. Rick." Her smile got bigger. She leaned down to smell one and saw something else stuffed into the flowers so she pulled it out.
"OH NO!" It was a ring box. He wouldn't, would he? Not like this. She wanted him down on one knee asking her to marry him, not this. She opened it and didn't see that kind of ring.
In fact she found two rings. They were gold and looked handmade. One said LOVE and the other said ALWAYS. She wiped away a tear that had escaped, took them out of the box, and found a finger for each of them.
Suddenly the entire floor erupted into clapping which had her looking and she saw everyone standing around clapping while looking at her.
"Happy Birthday, Beckett," Roy told her.
This had Kate wiping away more tears. "Stupid hormones." She didn't cry so this was all Castle's fault.
"Happy Birthday, girlfriend." Lanie walked out from behind a pair of guys on the floor carrying even more flowers and set them on her desk. "Castle bought the flowers. This, though, is from me." Lanie handed over a wrapped present that looked like an envelope.
Kate took it, opened it, and opened the envelope. "A ticket to the Yankees! …This isn't until March." Kate hugged her for the thought. "I'll be four months pregnant by then." Kate was already thinking she would be huge.
"You'll have had the baby by then," Lanie told her. "I know you."
"Thanks, Lanie." Kate hugged her again.
"One last thing." Roy had his own surprise compliments of Castle. "There's a birthday party at The Old Haunt tonight. You can't have alcohol but the rest of us can. Sooo, all of us out." Roy waved his hand in a circle over his head and retreated to his office to collect his bag, weapon, and anything else he was going to need and came back out.
"Now people, the first drink is free. But if you go you have to be back in the morning one hour early. That's the rule. Dr. Parish, you bring Beckett." Roy headed for the elevator and held the door for whoever was right behind him.
_/\_
Kate showed up since Lanie was making sure of it. Down the stairs she went and on the door was a sign. CLOSED FOR PERSONAL PARTY
"Closed?" Kate read it out loud and once inside she stopped dead in her tracks. She saw a large banner that said HAPPY BIRTHDAY and there were balloons drifting around all over the ceiling thanks to air movement.
Kate's mouth fell open. Castle had closed it just for her birthday. She even saw a table that had wrapped presents sitting on it.
"DAD?" Her dad was here?
"Hi, Katie!" Jim walked up to her and hugged her. "Is everyone here?" He had a job and he loved it. It was really different and somehow he thought that was perfect for his daughter.
"Hit the lights," Jim yelled and suddenly the place went dark as all the lights went out. "Press play," Jim yelled again.
Suddenly a wall lit up and she saw Castle.
"Katherine Houghton Beckett, knowing you I'm trapped in the Hamptons writing. You probably threatened my life yet again. I don't know what it is with you wanting to shoot me all the time," Rick paused and Kate heard lots of laughing.
"Today is your birthday. If I've timed this properly you should have flowers and something else from me that hopefully you're already wearing." Rick paused again and Kate even raised her hand to look at her two new rings.
"Jim, you're up next," Rick told him.
Kate watched her dad get down on one knee in front of her. "Dad, what are you doing?"
"Kate, I already asked your dad's permission. Katherine Houghton Beckett, if you would, please do me the honor of marrying me and make me a very happy man," Rick asked her.
"OH MY GOD!" Kate put both hands over her mouth and looked between Rick on the wall and her dad down on one knee. He was holding up a ring box and then opened it to show it to her.
Kate couldn't help but cry as she stared at the ring in a box. It even looked just like she had told him. No massive stone to get in the way but she did see diamonds even if they were small ones.
"It's handmade by a company in Honolulu. I had it flown out in time for your birthday. It's just what you asked for," Rick told her.
Kate watched her dad take out the ring and show it to her. "You get to put it on, Katie, since Rick isn't here." Jim watched her trembling hand reach out and take it.
She thought she saw an inscription. Hocus Pocus, Love You. Always
"Oh my God!" Kate could feel tears rolling down her cheeks. He was talking about her being a Witch on her engagement ring!
Kate had trouble holding the ring steady enough to put it on her shaking finger.
"Did she say yes?" Rick asked on the screen.
Kate laughed while crying and listening to everyone in the place clapping yet again. "Oh, Dad!" Kate hugged him tightly. He was in on Rick proposing and he wasn't even here because she had sent him back to the Hamptons.
"He loves you, Katie. Who else do you know that would do all this just to get you to say yes?" Jim asked her. Kate could have simply held onto him and cried. She loved him and she was pregnant.
"Stupid hormones," Kate complained and listened to her dad break out laughing along with everyone else that was close enough to have heard her.