Chapter 3
"Kate?"
From her seat in the waiting room, Kate looked up towards the nurse who had called out her name. She gave a nod, then stood from her chair and gazed down at Castle expectantly. He stood and walked with her back to the examination rooms. At that point, just after six in the evening, the OB-GYN office was nearly empty. Kate's appointment had been considered an "emergency" which was why she'd been slotted in at the end of the day. She felt slightly guilty for labeling her situation as such. After all, she did not feel that she was in active danger due to her pregnancy; the appointment could have waited until the following day or the day after, but Captain Gates had been insistent she be examined as soon as possible and had even called the office herself to make sure Kate was scheduled for the next possible appointment.
Frankly, by that point, she felt as though she was running only on fumes—and the Wendy's hamburger and fries the boys had bought for her on the drive back, which had been mediocre at best, but the only food she'd eaten that day. She wanted to get home to her apartment and knew she would soon be able to do that, she just needed to have the examination she was dreading first.
After spending nearly two hours with the FBI during which time she went through her statement a total of three times, Kate was finally permitted to leave with her partners. Once in their cruiser driving south, Esposito had informed Kate of Gates' intent to schedule her an examination appointment. She began to protest, but then found herself simply too worn down to fight back against what Gates was insisting upon, so she merely took Castle's hand in hers, shut her eyes, and leaned her head back against the seat, falling asleep almost immediately.
When she awoke, the boys were just pulling the car up to the curb at the Twelfth precinct. Inside, Gates welcomed her back and expressed her relief that she was no longer in Tyson's clutches. She also informed Kate of her six-p.m. doctor's appointment, which, unfortunately, did not leave her enough time to go home and make it back to the doctors in time. She simply had to settle for changing into the spare set of clothing she kept at work so at least she was out of the scrubs Tyson had provided her. Though she kept dress pants and a button-down in her locker, she did not keep any dress shoes. The best she had were the sneakers she wore in the precinct's gym. Castle had offered to buy her shoes on the way to her appointment and while she found those sentiments sweet, she assured him they were unnecessary.
It wasn't until they left the precinct and got into the hired car that would take them to the medical center that Kate and Castle were actually alone. Of course, she had no interest in having a very personal discussion with the driver listening in on them, so once again their talk would have to wait. At least she was once again able to be comforted by his hand splayed over her thigh and his thumb rubbing slowly back and forth across the fabric of her pants.
Now, after her height, weight, and blood pressure (which was a bit too high, but not shocking considering the examination she was about to face) were recorded, the even-tempered nurse, also named Kate, led her to an empty examination room. She directed Kate to sit at the end of the examination table while Castle sat in the chair just inside the door. She asked Kate the standard set of pre-gynecological exam appointment questions and then provided her a gown to change into.
"Want me to close the curtain?" Castle asked softly when she began to unbutton her pants. She shook her head in response and he was quite for a few moments before letting out an audible breath. "Gotta say…this is now how I pictured doing this with you."
While folding her pants in half then half again, Kate turned to him with an arched brow. "You pictured doing this with me?"
"Having a child? Of course. Did you?"
Feeling the skitter of nervousness down her spine, she confessed truthfully, "No, not exactly. I mean, not to this level of detail, but I…I thought briefly about it during the holidays—about what it might be like if we had a child."
The writer smiled at her. Then, when she took off her shirt, the smile became a frown. "You look thin. Have you had a lot of nausea or trouble eating?"
She scoffed. "Only because I was so freakin' sick of that chocolate protein powder he kept giving me. I've had some mild pregnancy-related nausea, I suppose, but mostly it was just being so sick of that stuff some days I couldn't really gag it down."
"Well, I promise to make you any and all of the delicious pregnancy-safe foods you want."
She smiled as she tugged on the oversized examination gown that was provided to her. "Thanks, Castle; I'm looking forward to it."
Once she had returned to the seated position on the examination table, Castle walked over to her and pressed a kiss against the side of her head. "You know whatever happens we're in this together, right? Anything you need, Kate, I-"
"Kate?"
Castle was interrupted by a knock at the door and a feminine voice calling out the detective's name.
"Yes. Come in," Kate said loud enough to be heard in the hall.
The door opened revealing a woman in her late-forties with greying hair knotted in a bun and grey-blue eyes that reflected equal amounts of kindness and wisdom. Though Kate was not overly picky about which gynecologist she visited for her annual appointments (especially since scheduling routine appointments such as those was always difficult giving her ever-fluctuating work schedule) she did favor Dr. Palmer for her bed side manner as well as deep knowledge base.
"Nice to see you again, Kate. And you must be…?"
"Rick Castle," the writer said, extending his hand. "Hello."
"Dr. Palmer; nice to meet you."
"Okay, Kate, let's get down to business here," the doctor said as she walked over to the in-room sink and began washing her hands. "I read through the notes from your captain that were left for me, but I'd like to hear it from you directly if you're comfortable."
Kate nodded. "Sure, of course. It's a bit of a complicated story, I'm afraid."
Dr. Palmer shrugged and said, "That happens sometimes. Please, tell me everything you're able to."
Kate gave as an abbreviated history of Jerry Tyson as she felt she could before moving on to explaining the situation with her kidnapping and subsequent positive pregnancy test. The doctor listened quietly and only once she was done asked Kate to detail the symptoms, she had that might have been pregnancy related like pain, spotting, and nausea.
Again, the doctor listened to Kate as she recalled all the details she could, making sure to mention that it was difficult to discern what symptoms might have been specifically related to a pregnancy given the general stress of her existence as Tyson's captive.
After typing up some notes in Kate's file, Dr. Palmer clasped her hands together and faced Kate directly. "Okay, here's what I'd like to do. First, we need to do a health check on you to make sure everything is okay, that will include a physical exam as well as STD testing both in office and I'll be sending you for bloodwork tomorrow. Then, assuming you have no other issues that need to be treated, we can begin to discuss the options that you have from here, which can include termination if-"
"No." Kate interjected swiftly. "No, I'm not interested in that."
The doctor nodded. "Okay, then. Once we confirm the pregnancy, I'd also like to schedule you for an ultrasound since the exact manner of conception is unknow. Is that okay?"
"Yes."
"Very good. Then we can get started. Would you like the curtain pulled?"
She shook her head. "It's okay."
"Okay then. Go ahead and slide all the way down the table and try to relax as best you can."
By the time they arrived at Kate's apartment, Castle felt as though he had experienced the full spectrum of emotions—several times over, in fact. He was physically and emotionally drained, and he and Kate hadn't even been able to talk about what had happened yet! He knew that she was tired as well, so he suspected their most in-depth conversations would need to be pushed off until the following day. Still, there were things that needed said—things that couldn't wait.
As they were waiting for their Chinese food order to be ready for pickup, Kate had received text message confirmation that her lab work did confirm her pregnancy. Even seeing it in print did not lessen the shock Castle felt, for as much as he'd suspected it all along, having the confirmation meant that Tyson really had done all the twisted things Castle had feared. That knowledge made him sick to his stomach and the blood boil in his veins.
Unsurprisingly, Kate didn't say much on the ride back to her place. As they rode in the elevator, she told him she wanted to shower right away, but that he could start eating without her if he wanted. He promised to wait for her. As he listened to the hiss of the shower water, Castle organized plates and eating utensils as well as sent a text to his mother and daughter saying that he would be spending the night with Kate and that he would catch them up on everything the following day. With all that settled, he began to pace the kitchen as a method to process the muddled thoughts in his brain.
Kate was pregnant and, thanks to Tyson's twisted game, it was unknown whether he or Tyson was the father of her baby. Tyson had always been about precision and control, thus Castle felt it was safe to assume he had taken a medical approach to impregnating Kate. From Kate's report, it was not certain that the gap in her memory was equivalent to the same twelve-hour gap he faced, but it was a fair assumption. Given that she fell pregnant in that period, it made even more sense that Tyson had used someone—perhaps the woman Castle remembered seeing—with fertility knowledge of some sort.
No matter the manner used, Tyson's plan had worked and Kate was pregnant. In this case, that was a good thing, because it was her free pass to get away from the psychotic serial killer. Now that she was free, that could begin to unravel the mess Tyson had left behind as well as capture him once and for all.
When Kate exited the bathroom with her hair hanging wet around her shoulders wearing an NYPD hoodie and sweatpants, Castle smiled at her and asked, "Feeling better?"
"Better, yes, but still exhausted."
"Understandable given everything that's happened today. I have everything set up for us to eat."
"Thanks Castle."
He let her eat for a few minutes before saying carefully, "Listen, Kate, I know we have many, many things to talk about and we don't have to do any of it now if you're not ready, but I just want you to know: whatever you decide, I will support you one hundred percent. Whatever you decide. Even if is ultimately to terminate the pregnancy."
Castle had never before been in a situation where he needed to discuss a pregnancy termination with a partner. Though when Meredith became pregnant with Alexis it had been unexpected, she had been thrilled at the concept, so it was never brought up. To the best of his knowledge, none of his other partners ever became pregnant while they were together, so the discussion simply hadn't had to happen. Now, despite Kate telling the doctor she was uninterested, he wanted to make sure Kate knew that he would fully support her if that was the route she decided to take since the pregnancy had been forced upon her.
"I can't do that."
"I know it's a terrible decision to have to make bu-"
"No, I can't," she said a bit more forcefully. "I actually can't—it was one of the conditions of Tyson letting me go."
Castle blinked in shock. "What?"
Kate signed and placed her fork down against her plate. "One of his conditions—Tyson. He said he'd be watching me—us. He'd keep watching, keep checking in, and if I chose to terminate, he'd kill you. Those were his exact words, and I can't—I won't—risk that."
Castle's felt the hollow pit in his stomach expand at this news. So, Kate was no longer a prisoner, but she was still very much held captive by the worst human they'd ever met. "Oh Kate. What…what else is there? More things you didn't tell the FBI?"
She shrugged. "That's it, really. He showed me some surveillance photos of you alone and you with Alexis just before making me put on the blindfold. He was trying to reinforce the message, I suppose."
Feeling the anger percolate inside him again, Castle said, "We're going to find him Kate."
A mirthless laugh escaped her lips, and she shook her head. "I wish I could believe that."
"We will. You, me, the whole team—we'll work together until we bring him in. If he's going to keep tabs on us, that means he'll stay close, and he's bound to screw up."
"Tyson doesn't screw up."
"He will. He's a person—a human person. He has flaws; he will make mistakes."
Kate said nothing more. She continued to eat until about half of her plate was empty, then she got up and carried it into the kitchen. She scraped the food back into its takeout container and then put that container in the fridge.
When she returned to the table, Castle stood, wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pressed a long kiss to her forehead. "We're going to be okay, Kate. Tyson—he can't break us."
Her fingertips pressed into the column of his spine and she said, "I know."
"I'm sure you need some time to process everything—I know I did—and I'm sure Burke would be more than willing to help you again. He's been helping me."
She slid out of his embrace and gazed up at him curiously. "You've been seeing Dr. Burke?"
He nodded. "Yes, once a week since it happened. I…I started to have vivid dreams that I was convinced were flashbacks, so we've been going through them. Looking for clues, mostly, because we were trying to find where you were. But also talking about the possible outcomes."
He brow furrowed slightly. "You…one of the first things you asked me was if I was pregnant. Did you have a dream about that?"
"Sort of. I had dreams about Tyson poking you with needles as well as dreams with a crying baby that I could never find or get to. Through my regressions with Dr. Burke, I recalled overhearing a conversation spoken by the mysterious woman in the surgical mask. It's possible I heard more than I remember as well and my subconscious just put it all together."
"I…" She began then her face froze in a position that indicated confusion for ten seconds before finally she shook her head and said, "No. Too tired."
"Of course. We can talk about it all tomorrow. Or the next day. Or whenever you need to. Are you okay with me staying tonight?"
She nodded. "I don't want you to go."
"Good, because I don't plan on leaving your side from here on out. Ever. I'm even going to follow you into the bathroom."
She half-groaned and half-laughed, "Castle."
He sighed dramatically. "Okay, I'll stand outside the bathroom door, but everywhere else I'm going to follow you."
She eyed him suspiciously. "Oh, I think that'll end pretty quick—especially because tomorrow I have to go bra shopping."
"Oooh," he commented, his interest piqued, until she shook her head.
"This will not be sexy bra shopping. My breasts have been feeling really tender the last two days. I need something softer. Possibly larger."
"So, what are we talking here? Wire-free? Bralettes? Front closures?" he questioned. When she arched a brow he confessed, "I, um, had to learn a lot about bras since Alexis started needing them."
She chuckled and then kissed his cheek. "You are very sweet. And a good father."
"Thanks. But seriously—I will happily shop for comfortable bras with you."
She gave his arm a squeeze and said, "I appreciate that, Castle, but for now let's just go to bed."
Having no complaints about holding Kate in his arms after more than forty nights apart, Castle easily agreed.
A/N: once again thank you so much for all your kind reviews for this story
