Author's Note: The second of two chapters dealing with the January 9th anniversary.

Then Came Love

Chapter 55

As Kate had prophesied, so it proved. Castle showed up in near-record time, hurrying into the restaurant as if he thought the invitation might expire if he showed up a minute too late, certainly long before she and her dad had finished eating. "Kate. Jim, thank you for letting me join you. Oh, don't stand up," he quickly added.

Her dad ignored this injunction, standing to rest a hand on Castle's shoulder giving him a half-hug, that had Castle's expression registering a mix of surprise and some pleasure. "I'm glad you could join us at such short notice."

"Oh, well, I wasn't getting much writing done this morning anyway," Castle responded, attempting to sound casual as he slid into the booth beside her, curving his arm around her shoulders. With her dad right there, he limited his affection to that but his glance was soft, searching, and she allowed herself to press more snugly against his side in the best reassurance she could give him at the moment.

Castle's presence necessarily changed the atmosphere of their lunch, although Castle was quieter, more subdued than Kate had ever seen him. But Jim's inquiries about Alexis and Martha had Castle relaxing as he answered and between Castle and her dad, the rest of their lunch passed in relatively normal conversation mostly between the two men while Kate contented herself with a few comments.

Her dad and Castle really did get along, not just because of the circumstances, their bonding over her, but on a more personal level. They were becoming actual friends in their own right, she thought, as she listened to the mostly idle chat. Kate knew both her dad and Castle well enough to recognize the affinity growing between the two and it kindled a strange warmth in her chest, to know that the two most important men in her life honestly liked each other.

And she thought with a flash of realization that her dad hadn't liked Will all that much. Oh, her dad had been perfectly civil and good-humored but she recognized that her dad had been employing his social facade. She hadn't thought much about it at the time, had assumed it was due to the fact that her dad really didn't know Will that well, since he'd only met Will a couple times.

But her dad and Castle, after all, hadn't met that many more times and already, she could see that her dad was himself, wasn't using his social façade to project a friendliness he didn't feel.

She might assume that some of it was due to Castle's charm–he was a people person and, as she knew all too well herself, hard not to like–and to a point, it was probably true. But her dad was not the sort to be won over just by facile charm either so really, it was just Castle himself that her dad liked.

She ducked her head to hide a small smile. It was a good thing, after all, would certainly make her life easier and happier that her dad liked Castle, just as she was thankful that she liked Martha and Alexis. She would have hated thinking that her dad didn't really like his son-in-law–wait, what? She choked on air, coughing, and both her dad and Castle turned to her in some concern, Castle patting her on the back, although without any force.

"Beckett?"

"Katie, have some water."

Castle handed her glass of water to her and she took a hasty drink, hoping that the ice water might also serve to cool her flushed cheeks.

She forced a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, Dad," she cleared her throat a little. "Don't look like that. I just swallowed the wrong way, that's all," she lied, hoping both her dad and Castle would attribute her blush to embarrassment over causing such a fuss over nothing. "What were you saying about Charles?" she hurriedly added.

Her dad narrowed his eyes at her a little but he resumed the story he'd been telling about what one of his friends had told him and after a moment, she felt Castle relax as well. Kate kept her eyes fixed on her dad's face, not quite daring to look at Castle, irrationally nervous that if she did, one or both of them might somehow guess what she'd thought, how her traitorous, stupid mind had betrayed her.

She was not–absolutely was not–planning ahead to marriage. It was only because of having just gone to Kyra's wedding anyway, she told herself, to say nothing of the whole silly bouquet incident. Not that she believed in the ridiculous superstition anyway because she didn't.

Although marriage did tend to be the next step after falling in love, moving in together, a voice in her mind inserted and she hurriedly silenced the pesky voice, shoving it into a figurative dungeon and slamming a triple-bolted steel door on it.

And there was the baby to think about too. Wouldn't the baby be better off, happier, if her mother and father were married?

Never mind, she was not having an argument with her own stupid internal voice. She would just ignore it, that was all. And anyway, what did that stupid voice know anyway?

It was too soon, far too soon, to be thinking about things like that. And she and Castle were just fine as they were.

But you do want it, don't you, the damnable, irritating little voice persisted.

She snuck a glance at Castle beneath her lashes, noting the animation in his face as he spoke to her dad, the movement of his lips, his hands–and then forcibly yanked her gaze away.

Yes. For a second, the single word echoed in her mind.

Yes, she wanted it, marriage, a future, a life, with Castle. She, who had stopped believing in things like happily ever after on this very day 11 years ago, wanted to marry him. And for the first time in 11 years, she was even starting to hope, think, it was possible.

Oh god oh god, what was she thinking?

She didn't mean now or even any time in the immediate future, she told herself, trying to calm the butterflies rioting in her chest. Not until after the baby was born–but then… Well, then, she supposed she would see.

She was still nervous, felt jittery, but at least she no longer felt quite so much as if her heart was going to jump right out of her chest.

She took another sip of water and focused on steadying her breathing.

"–Katie, you okay?"

She jerked her eyes up as her dad broke off from what he'd been saying to direct this question at her. She forced a smile. "Yes, fine, why?"

Her dad studied her. "You just looked a little off for a moment."

"That's just my face," she tried, going for the unoriginal quip.

Beside her, Castle choked on a small laugh while her dad relaxed into a faint smile, although she could tell from the way he looked at her that he wasn't fooled.

"All right, then, Katie, keep your secrets," he relented and then looked at Castle. "She's always been so stubborn."

Castle–dratted man–had the nerve to smirk. "No, really? I never would have guessed," he drawled. "She hides it so well."

Her dad, traitor that he was, actually chuckled. "Well, she has improved since she was a teenager, I'll give you that."

"Fee fi fo fum, I smell a story in that, probably a lot of stories," was Castle's (predictable) response.

"Suffice it to say, there were a couple years there where I wasn't sure I liked her all that much, even if she is my daughter."

Kate coughed loudly. "I'm sitting right here."

Her dad gave her a look of limpid innocence. "Surely we're not saying anything that surprises you. You have to admit you weren't exactly an angelic teenager."

"It doesn't mean I want you to tell Castle about that ancient history now."

"You're not that old, Katie. I'd hardly call it ancient history," her dad responded with mock reasonableness.

Castle coughed and glanced at her. "Remind me to give Alexis an extra-hard hug tonight."

She narrowed her eyes at them both. On second–or third or whatever–thought, it was not a good thing that her dad and Castle got along so well at all.

"For not being a teenager like I was?" She pasted on a look of affected injury. "You don't think I'm a good role model for Alexis?"

Castle's eyes flared. "What–no–I didn't mean–that wasn't what I meant at all!" he backtracked so quickly he probably left figurative skid marks on his brain. "I only meant I'm glad Alexis isn't a typical teen. Of course you're a good role model, the best I can think of."

She allowed her smirk to tug on her lips, deciding she'd tormented him enough. For now, at least. "You really are such an easy mark sometimes."

"You–Beckett!" he sputtered a little. "That was mean."

"And here I thought you'd be on your best behavior in front of my dad." What, she might as well get some use out of her dad's presence, after his earlier teasing.

Castle immediately pasted on one of his most beguiling, wide-eyed expressions. "Oh, I am. I will be good, I promise."

She sternly bit the inside of her lip to keep her smile from escaping. Really, it should be impossible (and possibly illegal) for a grown man to be able to look so damn adorable. She turned her attention to her dad, who had chuckled again. "You see what I have to deal with?"

"Yes, I see what you mean. And clearly, you're suffering terribly," he pretended to commiserate. "That light in your eyes is obviously annoyance."

"Don't you need to be getting back to work, Dad?"

"How nice of you to keep track of my schedule for me, Katie," her dad returned blandly. "I think I have a few more minutes."

"Anyway, we haven't had dessert and I thought you promised me dessert," Castle inserted.

This was his idea of being good? Of course it was, she answered her own question. She heaved an exaggerated sigh of resignation. "I should have known you'd remember that and insist on it."

"Of course you should have," he agreed with mock reproach. "I thought you knew me better than that."

She slanted a look at him. "I do but somehow I keep expecting you might grow up."

He smirked. "It hasn't happened yet. Just ask my mother."

Her dad turned a laugh into a cough and she felt some absurd color creep into her cheeks. She hadn't really meant to be so distracted by teasing Castle but the push-and-pull of their banter seemed to have its own gravitational force.

Her dad's eyes were bright with amusement and a deeper sort of happiness and it occurred to her with belated self-consciousness that she would never have talked to Will like this in front of her dad. Not only because her relationship with Will had been less teasing in general–because Will himself was much less playful than Castle–but also because she'd always been too careful of her behavior in the couple times Will and her dad had met. She hadn't been all that comfortable herself in those times and had just assumed it was the natural and inevitable awkwardness of talking to a boyfriend in front of her father but maybe, it had been less about that than it was about Castle being different. Her relationship with Castle was different and, well, she herself was different when she was around Castle. She was… happier with Castle, smiled and teased more readily–even on a day as melancholy as The Anniversary. Castle brought that out in her.

And she thought for about the billionth time that her mom really would have liked Castle. The thought had tears pricking at the back of her eyes but fortunately for her composure, the server returned at that moment to take away their plates and provide them with the dessert menus.

Perusing the menu and ordering their desserts put a necessary pause in the conversation.

For the rest of the meal as they ate their desserts, her dad and Castle, having apparently decided they had tormented her enough, slid into an easy conversation about their recent visit to the Hamptons and her dad shared that he had a few friends who also had houses out there. And now that her dad and Castle were behaving, Kate was content to listen to her dad and Castle talk, although she did contribute a few comments of her own.

Afterwards, Castle insisted on paying for their lunch, overriding her dad's protest. "No, no, really, it's the least I can do after letting me invade your lunch."

"We invited you; you didn't invade," her dad objected.

"Still, I insist." He threw a smirk at her. "And as Beckett can tell you, I can be quite irritating if I don't get my way."

That made her dad laugh and he gave in. "All right, Rick, you win, thank you. But next time, I really must insist and I'm not above asking Katie to steal your wallet," Jim pretended to threaten.

Castle grinned. "If you put it like that, I suppose I can allow it once."

"I'll hold you to that, Rick."

Once Castle had paid, they stood up, Castle helping her into her coat, although with her dad watching, he did not use the gesture to steal a kiss as he usually did.

Outside the restaurant, her dad gave Castle another half-hug. "Thank you again for lunch."

"It was my pleasure, Jim. You should come over to the loft for dinner sometime soon," he suggested. "I'm sure Alexis and my mother will be happy to see you again."

"I'd be happy to," her dad agreed and then added with a quick sidelong glance at her, "It'll be nice to see more of Katie's new home."

Castle choked a little but managed to turn it into a cough while she tried to subtly nudge her dad.

Her dad ignored the nudge. "Take care of her, will you, Rick?"

She huffed a little at this.

"She can take care of herself pretty well on her own but I'll try," Castle responded, saving himself from injury.

For some reason, this answer made her dad's smile widen. "Well, I'd better get back to work."

"We'll walk with you back to your office, Dad," she offered and linked her arm with his as she started walking so he had little choice but to follow, overriding the mild protest she knew was on his lips.

As usual, Castle fell into step beside her for the short walk to her dad's office.

She gave her dad a last, quick hug. "Have a good rest of the day, Dad."

"You too, Katie. Bye, Rick."

"Til next time," Castle responded characteristically. She smiled to herself as Castle slid his arm around her shoulder while she lifted a hand in a half-wave at her dad as he vanished into his office building.

Once her dad was gone, Castle turned to her, his façade of good cheer falling away as he studied her face. "You okay?"

Something about his tone, the concern and tenderness in his eyes, made her throat tighten with another of those abrupt surges of emotion she couldn't seem to help these days. She nodded, moving in closer to rest her head against his shoulder as he closed his arms around her. "I'm fine." And amazingly enough, considering what day it was, it was true.

After a moment, she lifted her head to meet his eyes. "I talked to my dad," she began inanely– although to his credit, Castle's lips didn't so much as twitch. "He told me that the best way to honor my mom's memory would be to move forward with my life… be happy the way she would want me to be," she finished, her voice not entirely steady.

"Your dad's a wise man."

She sniffed and managed a somewhat watery smile. "I'll tell him you said so."

The tips of his lips curved slightly. "And I wasn't even trying to suck up."

She choked on the beginnings of a laugh. "No? You seemed happy enough to take his side in teasing me."

"Your dad and I are both on your side, you know that." He paused. "You told your dad about moving into the loft?"

"Wouldn't you expect Alexis to tell you if she were thinking of moving in with a boyfriend?"

He shuddered. "Bite your tongue. That will never happen, at least not in the next ten years, maybe 20, if I have my way."

"I wouldn't bet on that," she told him dryly.

He grimaced at her. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Anyway," he went on pointedly, "since your dad didn't try to punch me or anything, can I assume he's okay with it?"

"I did tell you he likes you so he's fine with it."

"The one flaw in his otherwise impeccable judgment," Castle quipped.

She nudged him. "Nice try, I know you're not that modest." She sobered. "Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?"

"Of course not. What plans would I have? I'm a writer; I don't have daily schedules."

He spoke lightly enough but she knew what he meant was that he hadn't planned anything because he'd wanted to be available for her if she'd needed anything.

"Because I was thinking maybe we could spend the afternoon looking for things for the nursery, decide on a decorating theme so we can start setting it up? What do you think?" she ventured a little uncertainly, betraying the nerves fluttering in her chest.

It was what her mom would want, she told herself again, for her to spend today not just in mourning but taking a step forward towards the future, the baby.

He abruptly bent and kissed her, briefly, but with enough force that her lips felt seared.

"Yes, of course, yes. That sounds great, perfect. We should leave now, go anywhere you want. Where were you thinking of going? And we can arrange to have everything delivered to the loft so we won't have to worry about carrying it," he enthused, his words almost tumbling over each other in his eagerness.

"We could start with some furniture and interior design stores to give us some ideas," she suggested much more calmly, even as something seemed to squeeze her heart at how happy he was. She remembered what he'd said about how Meredith hadn't been excited over Alexis–and not for the first time, she thought how… lonely it must have been for Castle in those months, when he had been so hopeful and excited at the thought of having a baby and not been able to share that excitement with the baby's own mother. Castle might have been through this process of becoming a father before, unlike her, but she could still share this 'first' with him, the preparation and the anticipation for their baby. And there was something… precious in that thought, although she couldn't have explained why.

Shopping for things for a nursery might have been precious in theory but in practice, it was proving to be decidedly less so, Kate thought about an hour later.

Castle, perhaps predictably, took them to two very high-end stores in turn. Kate tried not to gape at the prices of various items ($1000 as the lowest starting price for a crib?) and squelched another flutter of nerves at the fresh reminder of just how rich Castle was. They hadn't talked about any sort of budget for the nursery but she wasn't inclined to break the bank for it, even if Castle could afford it.

She glanced at Castle and was somewhat heartened at his expression as he viewed the various model nurseries set up.

"What do you think?"

He slid his arm around her waist. "I'm not wild about any of these," he answered. "You?"

She shook her head. "No. I think we should try somewhere else."

"Good thinking. I knew you were smart," he quipped.

She hid a smile as they left the store. "None of those model rooms felt right. They were too… fancy." They had been expensive but all the designs had been rather too sleek, even with the more child-like design embellishments like teddy bears or flowers. "They looked a little…"

"Sterile," he supplied. "That's what I thought."

"I was going to say cold but that works too."

"Oh, I wanted to mention that I still have Alexis's crib in storage so we could use that, if you're okay with it. I mean, we can buy a new crib if you want but we don't have to."

"No, we can use Alexis's crib," she agreed, all the more readily because she was sure that Castle would have bought the best crib available for Alexis and done so after doing weeks of research into cribs, knowing him.

"You're sure? There must be lots of newer, fancier models out there now."

She smiled. "I'm sure. I like the idea of Alexis and the Sprout using the same crib–like the sisters they are." Alexis and the Sprout would be too far apart in age to grow up together as siblings but they would be sisters and she wanted, hoped, that they would have a strong bond.

"Sisters," he repeated, his voice and expression softening, before he bent and kissed her hair. "You are amazing, you know that?"

"Alexis is the impressive one. She's going to be a great big sister," she deflected.

His face softened into his 'Alexis look.' "Yeah, she will be."

She momentarily rested her head against his shoulder before straightening. "Where do you think we should go next?"

Castle's next suggestion proved to be much better and she couldn't quite help but smile as he rebounded into enthusiasm the moment they neared the baby section of the store. She could understand his cheerfulness as it was hard not to smile considering how cute just about everything was but of course Castle, being Castle, was all but bouncing from one thing to another. At this rate, deciding on anything for the nursery might take a while since Castle appeared to love it all.

"Ooh, Beckett, look, isn't this just the cutest?" Castle gestured to a lamp with a base in the shape of a teddy bear.

"Very cute," she agreed mildly.

And on it went, with Castle enthusing over another lamb with a base shaped like a unicorn and then turning to a cushion with the image of a lamb on it, only to be distracted by a crib complete with sheets featuring the characters from Toy Story (those sheets were tempting) and then moving on to enthuse over a sample of wallpaper featuring a print of rocket ships and another wallpaper featuring the Winnie the Pooh characters and finally a series of wall art made to look like children's alphabet blocks that could be used to spell the baby's name.

It was all adorable with rather too many choices now. She was starting to feel a little overwhelmed.

"Ooh, now I think this would be perfect!" Castle bounded over to pick up a plush giraffe, about three feet tall, displayed next to a crib. "Don't you think he'd be great to watch over the crib?"

"That is a nice idea," she agreed, fingering the giraffe's ears. She could picture the giraffe, keeping silent vigil next to the crib, could picture, too, a dark-haired toddler clutching at the giraffe as an aid as she tried to stand. And the giraffe appeared to be both sturdy enough and soft enough that the baby couldn't be injured in attempting such a thing.

"Let's put this down as a maybe," Castle agreed. "Oh, here, there are lots more options to look at." He gestured to a binder with pictures of all the other items in the store's inventory that were not out on display, beginning with some pictures of fully-furnished nurseries as suggestions and then followed by pictures of individual products.

She joined him in flipping through the binder as he punctuated each page with a small noise, either of approval or doubt, or a word or two ("cute," "no," "ooh," "too boyish," "too pink," etc.) She was a little surprised, and more pleased, to note that for the most part, she agreed with his reactions, although she stayed mostly silent.

"Oh!"

"Yes." His reaction overlapped with hers and they exchanged quick smiles before focusing on the item that they both agreed on, wall art applique featuring three elephants, two parents and a baby elephant. Simple, adorable, and sweet.

"It's perfect," he said quietly. "A family of elephants. Like the ones on your desk."

His words made her blink, sudden hot tears stinging her eyes, and she leaned into him, turning her face into his shoulder.

"Kate? What is it?" He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Worry sharpened his tone on the last question and she sniffed, lifting her head as she attempted a watery little smile. "I'm okay. It's just… the elephants," she managed to answer, not very clearly. She swallowed and tried again. "The elephants on my desk, they're my mom's."

She saw understanding dawn in his eyes. Her mom had liked elephants and that was why she liked them, because elephants reminded her of her mom. "My mom loved elephants…. she chose the ones on my desk now and used to say that those elephants were a family, just like ours." Their family, the one she had lost when she lost her mom, because as much as she and her dad tried, as much as they had built their relationship up again, it wasn't the same, could not be the same when it was only the two of them.

"Oh," he breathed. "Would it be too much, then, too hard for you to see another family of elephants?"

She looked at the picture again. And thought about what her dad had said, about focusing more on remembering her mom's life, rather than what had happened to her. "No," she finally answered slowly–and realized as she said it that it was true. It was poignant, yes, but not painful. "I think it's just right," she managed, even through the ridiculous tears blurring her vision and tightening her throat. A way of honoring her mom while embracing the future, this new family she was now a part of. "Our new family, us and the baby."

"Kate," was all he said, his voice husky, before he kissed her, a brief, tender kiss, aware of the fact that they were in a public place although the store was, thankfully, not busy. "That sounds perfect," he agreed.

She swiped away the silly tears, summoning up a watery little smile. "So I guess we've decided. And if we get the giraffe, that would make for a sort of safari theme. What do you think?"

"I love it."

"Yeah?"

Almost as if on cue, she felt the familiar little movement in her stomach (maybe a punch this time?) and her hand immediately came up to her stomach. "Oh, she just moved," she gasped, smiling into his eyes. "I think she approves."

She wouldn't have thought it was possible but his eyes seemed to light up even more. He curved his warm hand over her stomach. "You like that idea, huh, Sprout?"

Somewhat disappointingly, the baby didn't move again in response to Castle's question but she and Castle still stood there for a long minute, their hands cradling her stomach, as they waited.

After a while, she shook her head in response to his questioning look. "I think she's ignoring us now."

"Is that it, Sprout, are you ignoring us because it's not very nice of you, you know. Mommy and I are trying to decide what your room should look like," he addressed her stomach conversationally.

Mommy and I. He said that so easily, so naturally, and oh, she wondered a little fuzzily how long it would take before her heart stopped fluttering so wildly at being called Mommy. "She could have gone to sleep or something."

"I suppose it was too much to expect we'd be able to carry on a sort of conversation."

She choked on a small laugh. "Yeah, that might be a little unrealistic."

He pretended to sigh. "Well, I still think she approves of our idea for the nursery."

"I think she does too." She leaned into him and he slid his arm around her again, kissing her hair.

"Do you want to keep looking through the binder?"

She agreed and they resumed perusing the binder of nursery items. There was a sheet set featuring Curious George and she teased Castle about his resemblance to the curious monkey, making him bridle in mock offense, and other adorable items. They saw a rug that featured a collection of animals, an elephant, a giraffe, a zebra, a monkey, and a lion, and decided to add that as well, in keeping with their theme.

By the time they finished going through the binder, she was starting to flag. They'd been shopping for almost two hours, after all, and she tired more easily these days.

Castle noticed, probably because she was leaning more heavily against him, and made quick work of flagging a sales associate so they could purchase the elephant wall art, the giraffe, and the rug, arranging to have them all delivered to the loft in the next few days.

"Ready to head home?" he asked when that was all taken care of.

"Yeah, let's go home."

The loft was quiet when they returned. "Alexis not back from school yet?"

"She texted to say she was going to study in the library for a couple hours and just be home for dinner."

"Oh, okay. I think I might take a nap," she admitted. She hadn't slept well last night–she never did the night before The Anniversary–and had woken up early, to say nothing of the tiredness that came from all the emotions that had buffeted her over the course of the day.

"Of course, whatever you want," he nodded a few times more than necessary. "I should probably write… or I could lie down with you for a while?" he offered tentatively.

Her only answer was to hold her hand out for him and he almost tripped over his own feet in his rush to join her.

When they were in bed, he didn't wait for an invitation, readily curled up behind her just as he had that morning, his arm curving around her waist, his large palm easily sliding under the hem of her loose maternity top to curve over the swell of her belly.

A soft hum escaped her throat of its own volition as she relaxed, intertwined their fingers over her stomach.

Her eyes were sliding closed when she felt the baby kick and her eyes flew open and this time, she felt him tense.

"Kate–"

"I know. She just kicked."

"I felt it too. I felt her this time." There was so much awe, so much emotion, in his voice she felt the seemingly ever-present tears pricking at the back of her eyes again.

He smoothed his hand over her stomach in a circle and then gently tapped her stomach with his finger. "Hi, baby, it's Daddy."

If he expected a response, he didn't get it.

"Ooh, maybe I could try Morse code?" he volunteered and actually started to tap on her stomach again.

She huffed a soft laugh, grasping his hand. "Castle, I highly doubt the baby knows Morse code."

"She might," he reasoned with perfect seriousness. "Don't underestimate how brilliant our daughter is. She could be a prodigy."

"A prodigy who's learned Morse code in the womb?"

"It's possible," he insisted.

She laughed again. "Daddy's being silly again, baby. You'll get used to it but don't feel like you need to indulge him when he's silly like this."

As if in agreement, she felt another jab and Castle made a sound that was almost a squeal.

"See, she heard and she agrees with me."

"She could be agreeing with me that you're silly," she countered, trying and failing miserably to sound tart.

"Don't spoil my fun, Beckett. Isn't that right, Sprout? You know it's your Daddy and you're saying hello back, aren't you?"

The baby didn't respond, their daughter apparently no longer feeling like being communicative, and after a while, Castle settled back down behind her, his chest warm against her back.

He was absurd and so… endearing in his silliness, his love for the baby clear in everything he said. "Castle?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For…" she lifted her hand to make a vague, encompassing gesture. "Just… everything. Giving me space this morning, joining my dad and me for lunch. Being here for me today."

"I'll be here for you every day, always," he promised.

Always. That sounded… nice. And for the first time in years, she could even hope it was possible. "We'll hold you to that, me and the baby," she murmured.

"Sounds good to me."

They didn't say anything more and after a little while, she drifted to sleep and dreamed about their baby.

~To be continued…~

A/N 2: Thank you, as always, to all readers and reviewers.