FOUR - Snow Globe

Setting: Castle, post-show

Walking into her daughter's room, Kate walked immediately to the crib and scooped up the whimpering infant. "There, there little love. Mama's got you. Did you have a nice nap?" In her favorite spot snuggled against her mother's chest, Lily settled down quickly and was soon goo-ing happily. Cradling her head, Kate lifted the baby from her shoulder, nuzzled the tips of their noses together, and then carried Lily over to her changing table.

"Are you ready for your second round of Christmas little one? I know, I know—this morning was very exciting but now Pop-pop is here to see you and he's got something special for you."

Kate chatted as she changed Lily into her second Christmas outfit of the day: white leggings beneath a red, green, and gold plaid dress that had a white lace collar. This outfit was much nicer than the green My First Christmas onesie she'd warn that morning because the hope was to get some nice family pictures now that the entire Beckett-Castle clan was under one roof. That was the wish, at least. Time would tell to see if Lily was interested in the photo shoot or not.

Earlier that day Kate had begun her very first Christmas with her daughter and though it had begun at five-forty-five—more than an hour before she would have liked—she had absolutely no complaints at all, because it was their first Christmas as a family of three. She had looked forward to that moment for longer than she realized and it was just as lovely as she'd hoped. All the excitement she had, however, paled in comparison to her husband, who had popped out of bed almost right away and begun loading Kate's lap with wrapped presents while she breastfed until she laughingly had to ask him to stop because she was running out of space.

At just seven months old, Lily had absolutely no concept of Christmas or any clue why her parents were excitedly holding up new clothes and toys for her to see. In fact, at one-point Kate suspected she became overwhelmed and started to cry, so Castle took her for a little stroll around the kitchen as he whispered hushed words into her ear. When he brought her back a few minutes later she'd returned to her happy, gurgling self and proceeded to grab at the wrapping paper until her pudgy fists were full and her one-toothed smile shined bright.

Where some women floated through their pregnancies happily, Kate had found hers to be utter drudgery. She and Castle had been so excited in the face of the positive pregnancy test, and when she made it the first few weeks without much nausea, she actually thought maybe it wouldn't be that bad. And it wasn't, until around the eighth week, when her body decided to—for lack of a better term—freak out completely.

The nausea hit her like a bag of bricks; she could hardly keep any food down. Then, the muscle cramps started. At first she thought it was dehydration and lack of nutrients due to her never-ending vomiting, but when the abdominal pain came with it she was fearful she was having a miscarriage. A trip to the ER told her that was not the case, and a follow up with her OB told her that she was most likely just one of the women who experienced an unusual amount of discomfort as their uterus expanded and some of their organs rearranged to make space. Coupled with this, the doctor theorized that that process was partially hindered by some remaining scar tissue she had in her abdomen thanks to the bullet wounds she had sustained at the hand of Caleb Brown. On the advice of her doctors, she'd waited six months after the shooting before trying to get pregnant and her wounds should have been healed, but she supposed scar tissue hadn't exactly been taken into account.

For the next seven months Kate had far more miserable days than not. The pain radiated from her abdomen to her back and, as her daughter grew, spread into her hips. She was exhausted all the time and found herself sobbing in her husband's arms every few days. All her life Kate had been the person who pulled herself up by her bootstraps and fought through pain and whatever else came her way, but during pregnancy she simply…couldn't. There were days when that truly terrified her, but through all of it her husband was her rock. Castle had been there for every single second, being more supportive than she could have ever wished for. He rubbed her back and her legs daily without ever being asked. He ran out for supplies at all hours of the day and night and read dozens of articles and blogs looking for ideas or tips to make her feel better. He was incredible and she couldn't have loved him more deeply for it.

Despite her misery, the one thing that kept Kate going was Lily. The thought of eventually being able to hold her daughter in her arms helped Kate through some of the roughest days of her life. When she was feeling particularly bad, it was almost as though Lily knew somehow, for she would bump a foot or an elbow against Kate's stomach and reminded her of why she was doing this. She was going to be a mom, and it was going to be wonderful.

Ironically, when Kate did finally go into labor, Lily's delivery ended up being rather easy. Of course that might have just been because she expected it to be dreadful given all the pain she'd experience, but it wasn't. Lily was born a week before her due date at seven pounds, three ounces and when she was placed on Kate's chest, Kate knew she would have gone through the misery of her pregnancy ten times over just to experience that moment; it was perfect.

Though she had been nervous about her skills as a mother, Kate quickly found they came quite naturally. She'd never say it was easy but with her husband being as wonderful—and experienced!—as he was, they were a very happy, healthy family. Lily hit all her milestone goals and really her only struggle to date had been the introduction of new foods, none of which she preferred to her mother's breastmilk. Except mashed bananas—those were her favorite.

After going back to work full time when Lily was four months old, Kate felt the fall had passed in an instant and the holiday season was soon upon them. Of course Castle, who loved the holidays already, wanted to go all out for her first Christmas, though Kate tried to reign him in the best she could, reminding him that some of his amazing ideas might be better saved for the following year when their child could stand, let alone sit, by herself. He conceded some ideas, but others he refused to let go of, though she couldn't really blame him for that; she was excited too.

Once Lily was dressed, she held the girl at her hip as they descended the stairs. They were first greeted by Martha and Alexis, who hugged her and kissed her, then Kate took Lily over to her father, who Lily had taken quite a shine to. She immediately began cooing and reaching out her pudgy hands towards the gray-haired man, who didn't hesitate to take her into his arms.

"Well hello, Lily. Don't you look so pretty in your Christmas dress? Mmhm yes you do. Would you like to see what I got you for Christmas?"

"Ohh Lil—let's go see what Pop-pop got you," Castle said excitedly. The trio walked over to the seating area where Jim held Lily with one arm while pulling out the small wrapped box he'd brought with the other. They sat on the couch together and he held her against his chest while he unwrapped the gift in front of her. From inside the box he pulled out a very small snow globe that had a Santa figurine inside the swirling world of snow. On the front was a small sign that read "My First Christmas."

"Oh wow, look at that Lily." Kate sat beside her father and shook the snow globe, so the particles swirled around. Lily watched it curiously for a moment then grinned and smacked her hands against it excitedly. Kate laughed. "I think she likes it; thanks Dad."

Hugging his granddaughter tight he said, "No problem, Katie; no problem at all."