Chapter 15

"Kate? Kate!" Castle called out as he skidded to a stop in front of the exam room he'd been directed to. He burst through the door and found Kate laying propped up in a hospital bed with her eyes shut. He could see wires coming out from beneath the gown she wore, and his heart sunk in his chest for a moment, fearing she was still unconscious, but when he took two steps into the room and called out her name again her eyes opened immediately.

"Castle?"

"Oh Kate, oh thank god!" He rushed forward and cradled her face with his hands, giving her a quick kiss. "You scared the hell out of me, you know that?" he forced a smile as he stroked her cheeks with his thumbs.

"The baby?"

Castle nodded reassuringly, still stroking her cheeks at even intervals. "Jake's fine. They took him to the nursery to get cleaned up and be observed, but all his vitals were good. You did an amazing job with him." He brushed his lips sweetly against hers.

"Tyson?" she asked next.

"I, um, I'm not sure, but how are you huh? You passed out and I was so worried about you."

Her eyes drifted shut and she nodded. "'m tired. And sore."

"Of course, you are. Of course." He continued to stroke her cheeks, trying not to be more insistent than he needed to, but he desperately wanted more of an update than her just being "tired."

Fortunately, he did not have to wait more than a few minutes for a doctor to enter the room and provide them with updates once he'd reviewed the monitors hooked up to Kate.

"I'm glad to see that everything seems to be returning to normal, Ms. Beckett; you're very lucky," the doctor said to them.

"Do you know what happened?" Castle asked.

"Well, we're still waiting for her bloodwork results, but our best guess is that her body just became overwhelmed by the stress of the delivery. Based on what was described to me, I'm operating under the theory that the drugs given to her to start her labor were misused and her body was pushed to its limits. As I said, though, we're still waiting to see what the bloodwork results tell us. Then we'll be able to move forward with a plan for her care."

Castle nodded slowly, trying to process that her good vital signs were a good thing, while also feeling the flames of rage climb his spine at the fact that Neiman's idiocy could easily have injured both Kate and their baby. The baby! He let out a little gasp and said, "Oh! She—she hasn't seen the baby. Could we…?"

The doctor nodded. "As soon as we get the blood work results back, we're going to get her a room in the maternity wing and then you can have the baby brought to your room if that's what you'd like."

With that, the doctor left, leaving Kate and Castle alone. He went over to her and kissed her again saying, "Thank god you're going to be okay."

She hummed and asked, "Can you get an update on Tyson? Please?"

"Ah…" he hesitated, not wanting to waste any mental energy on the serial killer but he understood how that might help her be able to rest, so he ultimately agreed. He left her room and walked out to the ER waiting area where cell phone use was permitted. He had no messages from the team, so he decided to try and call Ryan. The call went directly to voicemail, so he tried Esposito, but the result was the same.

Ultimately, he just sent them both text messages requesting an update when they were available and then he returned to Kate's bedside, where she once again had her eyes closed. Not wanting to disrupt her rest, he pulled up a chair beside her bed and sat down. When he did so, the chair let out a loud creak and she ended up opening her eyes anyway.

A bit groggy she asked, "Any update?"

"No, I couldn't get ahold of Ryan or Espo. I will let you know as soon as I hear something from them."

"Mm you should go be with Jake."

"Jake is in the nursery and I'm sure he's fine. I need to be here with you for when your test results come back," he explained.

She shook her head. "No, no, I can't stand the thought of him being alone, not this soon after he was born. I…I already miss him," she said, placing her hands on her stomach, which remained quite rounded, though was definitely smaller. "Please. Please go be with him. Then you'll be there just in case Tyson-"

"There's no way he'd get to the nursery," Castle said. Immediately the look on Kate's face told him that they could make no such comments with regards to Jerry Tyson as he had proved endlessly determined—and creative. Huffing out a resigned breath he asked, "Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded. "I can take care of myself; Jake can't."

"And you promise you'll rest if you know I'm with Jake?" he asked. She nodded. He gazed at her for several moments, almost challenging her to change her mind as he hated to leave her side, but then ultimately agreed. With a soft kiss he said, "Please rest. And have someone contact me as soon as you're ready to be moved to a room."

"I will," she promised. Then, with a kiss to her forehead, he departed her room bound for the elevators—and their son.


Kate Beckett jiggled her foot impatiently as her wheelchair was rolled down the hallway from the elevators to the room she would be staying in on the labor and delivery floor. She had been without her son for five and a half hours and while she had only been conscious for about half of that time, she was more than ready to see him. The urge to cradle him in her arms and hold him close to her chest was so powerful she could hardly stop herself from sprinting down the hallway towards him, even if she knew such a move would be very painful on her healing body.

Even up until the previous day Kate had been worried about her motherly skills and instincts. She feared she would not be able to assuage her baby's cries, that she wouldn't be able to breast feed him, or changes his diapers and clothing with ease. Worst of all, she feared she wouldn't bond with him and feel that lightning bolt of motherly love when he was placed into her arms. Thanks to a psychotic killer and his evil partner, she had been unconscious for that exact moment after his birth, but the craving for him to be in his arms was so strong, she could not believe she wouldn't experience it when she was finally able to hold her son.

Waking up in in a hospital room and immediately realizing Jake was no longer inside of her was almost equally as terrifying as waking up in the presence of Tyson's cohort Dr. Neiman—and unfortunately, she had experienced both in just a fifteen-hour period. Despite her initial terror, as consciousness returned to her Kate did have memories of Castle's face and his strong hand gripping hers, and therefore she felt comforted by the fact that if she had given birth to their son in his presence, he would protect their child at all costs. Still, she knew that she would not feel fully at-ease until the baby was with her once again.

After journeying down the hall at a speed at which turtles could have passed them, Kate was wheeled into the room that would be hers until she and her son were discharged from the hospital. When the orderly stopped the wheelchair, she pushed herself up and out of it and slowly swung herself around so she could sit on the bed. While her groin area was sore from the handful of stitches she needed, mostly she felt an overall level of exhaustion, which was from both the stress of delivery and of the entire day as a whole.

"There she is; there's mommy."

Kate startled at the sound of her partner's voice. She whipped her head towards the windows in the room and realized he sat stretched out in a chair. She hadn't seen him previously because the in-room baby bassinet had mostly blocked him from view until she was in the elevated bed. As her mind recovered from surprise and processed his presence, she realized from his bare arms that he must have been shirtless, but his torso was covered by a white blanket, under which a petite lump could be seen.

"Jake…" she breathed out, her vision beginning to blur with tears.

"We've been waiting for you," Castle told her, a soft smile on his face. He dipped his chin to kiss the top of the baby's head before gradually beginning the process of sitting up. He cradled Jake's head with one hand as he wrapped the blanket around him with the other. Meanwhile, Kate arranged herself on the bed so she could lean back against the pillows, which were inclined to a forty-five-degree angle, and cradle him in her arms.

"Is he okay?" she asked.

"Yup, he's doing just fine…no problems at all."

Castle held out the bundle of blankets to her and she grabbed onto them hungrily, pulling the baby into her chest and feeling relief cascade down her spine. The strongest sensation of love and devotion she'd ever felt burst through her chest and tears began to slide down her face. "Hi Jake…hi…I'm so sorry I couldn't meet you before now."

"He forgives you, of course." Castle sat gently on the edge of the bed beside her knees and rested one of his hands on her left thigh.

Cradling the baby in her left arm, Kate used her right hand to tug at the blanket, which had bunched around his face. She also gently pushed up the blue cap he wore so that his whole face was exposed to her and, upon doing this, she gasped. "Oh Castle!" Her heart clenched in her chest as she dusted her index finger down the baby's nose before looking at her fiancé with more admiration than she'd ever felt in her entire life. "He looks just like you!"

The writer quirked his lips to the side. "I was hoping you'd notice that."

"Oh…oh my god." She reached out her right hand for his and squeezed it tight when their fingers connected. "He—he has your nose and your brow line."

He nodded. "I know. I didn't see it until I went to visit him in the nursery when he was all cleaned up, but even some of the nurses commented on it. I did ask them to do the DNA test just to be certain but-"

"He's your son." She could hardly get the words out as wave after wave of emotions rushed through her. They had made it. Somehow the three of them had survived the most trying experience of their lives and, as it turned out, she had never needed to worry all along. Tyson's terrible plan hadn't worked. She had carried the child of the man she loved the entire time. Now, they would be a family and raise their son together. She would get to watch him blossom and grow into an adorable, though most likely mischievous, boy and she could not wait to experience every second of it.

"He's our son," Castle corrected, emotion evident in his voice. Leaning forward, he kissed her cheek, then rested their foreheads together.

They sat that way for several moments before Jake let out a grunt and began to wiggle in Kate's arms. "Hi…hi Jake. What are you doing, hmm? Do you remember my voice from when you were in my tummy?" She brushed her thumb against his cheek and he turned his head towards her hand.

"He might want to eat," the seasoned father observed. "Are…are you okay for trying that?"

"Uh," she hesitated with a slight laugh. "I mean…yes, but don't they have people come and help you figure out how to do it?"

"I think so, but you can just try if you want," Castle suggested.

Kate agreed with a nod and allowed him to help her untie her gown and pull it down enough to expose her breast. She adjusted Jake so that he was at the appropriate level on her chest, then used her hand to guide her nipple towards his mouth. "Oh!" she gasped when he latched on right away.

"Are you okay?" Castle asked softly.

"Um…yes, I think so. This is just…different." She laughed lightly before stroking her hand down Jake's arm until he closed his fist around her thumb.

"It's amazing," Castle said sliding a bit closer to her so that he could gaze down at Jake. They watched him quietly for several moments before he asked, "Oh, hey, do you know the results of your bloodwork?"

"Um, yes. Everything looked okay except kidney function, which was on the very edge of being below normal. The doctor wasn't too concerned, he thought it might be as a result of them misusing those drugs, but they're going to check me again in twelve hours."

"Good, good. Hopefully everything will be okay then and we can put all of this behind us."

Kate gazed at him curiously. "Have you heard anything about Tyson?"

Castle shook his head. "Ryan texted about two hours ago and said they were still looking."

"If he gets away-"

"Stop," he said firmly. "We can't think that way. It won't help either of us, not right now. Let's just…let's just enjoy this moment and worry about that if we have to. Okay?"

"Okay," she agreed.

For the next hour they snuggled together and took turns doting on Jake only to be interrupted by Castle's phone buzzing. When he read the text message, he saw it was from Esposito saying he and Ryan were ten minutes out with an update. In preparation, Castle helped Kate put her gown back on properly, so her team didn't see her in a state of undressed. Though, even as he did this, Kate silently acknowledged to herself that if she planned to keep breast feeding through Jake's entire first year of life, it almost seemed inevitable that the boys might catch her either feeding or pumping at one point during that time.

Almost exactly ten minutes later there was a knock on their door and Ryan poked his head in. "Can we come in?"

"Yes, please," Castle said, waving them in.

Ryan entered and walked directly over to the bed so he could see the baby in Kate's arms. While he "Aww-ed" in appreciation, Espo stepped up beside him and commented, "Oh no; he got Castle's nose."

"Hey!" The writer groaned instantly.

"You got a big nose, bro."

"He'll grow into it," Ryan amended positively.

Kate clicked her tongue with annoyance. "Did you guys come all the way here to insult my baby?"

"No," Espo corrected, "we came in here to tell you that Tyson's been found."

"Dead?" Castle asked, the hopefulness of his tone obvious.

"Yeah, very dead." Esposito told them before explaining that when Tyson had first slipped out of the back of the warehouse where Kate was being held, a gunfight ensued, but Tyson had managed to flee down an alleyway. The manhunt that followed eventually discovered Tyson a few blocks away by the train tracks. Evidently, a bullet had clipped the femoral artery in his leg, and he bled out while trying to escape.

Relief flooded through Kate, and she lowered her face to snuggle it against that of her sleeping baby. They were safe. Finally, forever safe from Jerry Tyson.

"Good," Castle said, voicing similar thoughts aloud. "He can't hurt us or anyone else ever again."

"Well, we'll get out of your hair." Ryan nodded to both of them and began to back his way out of the room.

"Yeah, we got tons of paperwork now that you started your maternity leave early, Beckett." Espo commented.

Kate let out a light laugh and said, "Well I'll try not to do that next time."

Espo gave her a wink then turned and followed Ryan out of the room.

"We're finally safe; everything's going to be okay," Kate said, turning her gaze towards Castle, but he didn't seem quite as relieved as she would have hoped. In fact, his expression indicated concern. "What's wrong?"

He flatted his lips and gazed at her cautiously. "Do you think Jake's nose is too big?"

"What? No. Castle—don't let those two get into your head about this. They were only teasing."

"But I do have a big nose!" The writer lamented as he brought his hand up to cover the middle part of his face.

"Yes, and it makes you very handsome." Kate leaned over and kissed his cheek adding, "I'm very happy that Jake will look just like you."

His expression softened and he said, "Me too. Definitely."

Several seconds of silence passed between them before Kate spoke again. "You know what else I'm happy about?"

"What's that?"

"Raising our son together and getting to watch you be his father."

Castle shut his eyes for a moment and sucked in a long, slow breath, almost as though he was saying a prayer, then he opened his eyes and smiled at her. "Me too, Kate; I can't wait."


A/N: thank you all so much for sticking with me through this story. Epilogue will be up tomorrow