I'm back. Sorry again… as usual.

Chapter 24: The Third Day

"Oh, hey," Kate says to Lux, who is standing outside the loft's building.

She looks up from rummaging through her bag for her keys. "Oh hey," Lux responds. Lux looks back down into her bag, "I can't find my keys." By this time, Kate has caught up to her and gently taps Lux's shoulder, so that she can use her key, which she already has in her hand.

"You probably left it on the counter again." Kate says as she opens the door and lets Lux walk under her arm.

"I swear I put it in my bag this morning."

Kate stops Lux from going down the hall to the elevator, guiding her back towards the entrances, where the mailboxes are. "You say that every other morning," Kate says, "and every other morning-"

"Yeah, I know. Every other morning, I leave them on the counter." Kate nods, as she opens the mailbox. She frowns for a second, taking a moment to realize that the crinkled-up plastic inside the mailbox is a package. She pulls it out and hands it to Lux, "I'm sure one day-" she stops, for a second before reaching to pull another package out of the mailbox. "One day I will be happy for all the baby clothes Alexis and Martha keep buying."

Kate hands the second package to Lux. Lux smirks, "But today is not that day?"

Kate glares at her daughter for her smartass attitude. She swiftly pulls the rest of the mail out of the box, including a documents envelope, and locks the door. Once they're in the elevator, Lux rearranges the soft packages so that the labels are facing up. This catches Kate's attention. "You can open them if you want."

"You think I care about baby clothes?"

"Maybe, not usually," Kate smirks, knowing her daughter all too well. Knowing herself all too well. The elevator doors open and Kate goes first, since she does in fact have the keys. When she gets to their door, she glances behind her to see Lux having had opened one of the packages and slightly having pulled out a dark blue onesie covered in stars. She looks away, before Lux looks up and sees her. Kate unlocks the door, but again lets Lux go first. She is too busy trying to break into the envelope in her own hands. Realizing her distraction, Lux asks, "What's that?" as she stuffs the onesie back into the bag.

"Don't know. It's from social services." As soon as they walk in, Kate looks up and sees that Castle is on the couch, but looking over at Alexis, who is in the kitchen.

A couple days after learning Kate was pregnant, Castle had put a white board up in the kitchen, and although the two things didn't originally have anything to do with each other now they did. Seconds after hanging it up for dinner plans and an undying grocery list, Castle and Alexis had decided that it could also be for throwing out name ideas for the baby. Now, four weeks later, that was its primary use. Which should have been expected since everyone seemed to have at least one idea every couple of days and that's only out of the four of them, not including any guests or parents that may pass through.

Currently it seemed that Castle was trying to convince Alexis out of the name Lumen. "I don't know."

"Why it's cute?" Alexis defends, marker still in hand.

At the sound of the door shutting, they both look at Kate and Lux standing in the doorway. "Go on," Kate assures, letting them continue debating this now common form of debate. But Alexis doesn't start up again, glaring at her dad, as if wanting him to first admit he could warm to the name.

"Yeah, go on, ask them," Castle says, surrendering to Alexis' puppy dog eyes. For crowd control of the board they had decided that if any name was disliked by all three of the other members of the family it would be erased. This meant everyone had some that they loved and some not so much on the board.

"Beckett, what do you think about Lumen?"

Kate walks over to the kitchen, while Lux puts her backpack on the stairs. Kate scrunches her face, "Lumen? It sounds a lot like Lux." As if her name made her appear, Lux comes to sit at the island, seated across from Kate on the other side of the island. "I mean it may even mean the same thing." Once her peace has been said, Kate puts the mail down on the table, but focuses on the thick envelope.

"Lux, you're the deciding vote," Alexis says turning to her.

"We could call her Lulu." Lux shrugs, "I vote we keep it."

Castle sets his laptop down on the couch cushion next to him and walks over to them. "Lulu is still a lot like Lux," He points out.

"Why does it matter if the baby's name is like mine. It's not like Kate, even pick my name," Towards the end, Lux's voice fades, afraid that she may have let her words get in front of her.

Kate stops struggling with the double taped envelope for a second. "She's got a point," she says turning to Castle, seeing if he may reconsider and unknowingly allowing Lux to not feel guilty.

"Do you need help with that?" Castle asks, gesturing to what is in Kate's hands.

She hands it to him defeated. She turns back to the girls, then to the board. There has to be at least thirty-five names. "We need a better system."

"That is a lot of names," Castle says, trying to subtly get a grip of an edge of the tape on the envelope.

"What if everyone, just picks their top three," Alexis suggests.

"Maybe four, two boys, two girls," Castle says, midst growls trying to get the second wrapping of tape undone.

"That sounds good," Lux slowly says, distracted by Castle's struggle.

"Yeah," Kate agrees, matching Lux's tone. She takes the envelope from Castle and hands it to Lux. He looks at her confused. She gives him a smirk, before grabbing the marker off the counter in front of Alexis and circles four names on the board. Her favorites are, Reece, Schuyler, Atticus, and Jordan. Without turning around, she says, "Alexis, you go."

"Okay…" Alexis takes a second to think, then momentarily gets distracted be Lux ripping the tape off the package. She smothers a smile, then notes, "I pick Thea, Beatrice, Atticus, and James." Kate circles the three new names.

Alexis looks at the names that Kate circled and laughs, "It's funny I didn't come up with any of my favorites."

"Me either," Castle says, just before Lux pulls the tab on the envelope to open it.

"What's your favorites?" Kate asks Castle, trying not to laugh and, in a quick glance, giving her daughter a coy smile.

"Bennett, Joan, and I also like Beatrice and James."

Kate goes to write it down, but pauses and turns back around, confused, "I thought you said you didn't think of any of yours."

"I didn't," Castle says, straightening.

"You didn't suggest James?"

Lux, who is placing the envelope back to in front of where Kate had been standing before, freezes and says, "I suggested it, why is something wrong?"

"No, we like the name, a lot, it's just that…" Castle starts, and Kate picks up, "It's my dad's name. You know that, right?"

"Yeah," Lux says, slinking back in her seat and tucking her hands in. "I just never knew anyone named after someone. And Castle said he wouldn't want a boy to be named after him. I-I don't know, I just thought that you and your dad have a really good relationship. Plus, you've only had each other, family wise, for a while, but now you have all of us, like a new thing- a new chapter and I looked it up and that's what the name kind of…means…" She sinks back in her chair a little more.

There is a blanket of silence for a second. Castle looks up at Beckett and who is smirking, the way she only does when someone impresses her, when she remembers why she admires someone. After a second, Beckett says, "Okay, Lux. What are your favorites?"

"Um… Nellie, Atticus, Jordan, and James."

Kate circles Nellie, then erases all the names that weren't chosen, leaving only ten behind. "Much better," Kate sighs, turning around.

Lux gently taps the tips of her fingers to the envelope she opened and sighs, "Okay, well I think my job here is done, so I'm going to go do my homework,"

"Do you have any English homework?" Castle asks, but Lux quickly overlaps his routine question. "Just reading."
"What book?" Alexis quirks, even though Lux has already grabbed her backpack and is walking backwards to the stairs.

"The Catcher in the Rye," Lux answers.

"That's a good one," Kate persuades.

"A bit of a bummer," Castle throws back squinting at her.

"Is that all the questions you guys have for me?" Lux says, interrupting their banter.

Castle looks at Kate and Alexis, then nods, "Yeah."

She smiles, "Good." Then she turns around, stumbling because she hadn't realized how close she got to the stairs.

"Oh, watch out," Alexis and Castle say, almost in tandem.

"I'm fine," Lux says, cautiously running up the stairs.

"She's going to be the death of me," Kate sighs, pushing her palms into the counter and cradling her head in her shoulders.

"Can I just say…" Alexis starts, but actually waits for someone to allow her to share.

"Yeah," Castle says.

"If you guys do have a boy, you really should…"

Knowing where Alexis is going, Castle looks to Kate, who relaxes her shoulders and softly smiles back at him. He looks back to Alexis and says, "We know."

"Okay, I just have one more question than I should really go do the same thing as Lux. What on Earth is in that 'impenetrable,'" she rolls her eyes at her father, "envelope."

Kate had almost completely forgotten that the thick envelope had even existed. She walks back over to that side of the island and sees Castle giving Alexis a mocking and silent 'haha.' Kate opens the envelope and finds a letter-sized portfolio folder with another piece of paper on top. Kate turns the whole of the contents, so that the letter on top is upright. She reads the letter aloud, softly, "To Katherine Beckett and Richard Castle- I had the opportunity to intercept this, I hope you don't mind. I know its been a long wait. I just wanted to say, thank you for helping Lux. She couldn't have found anybody better. I hope you are all doing well. -Sincerely, Fern Redmund"

"What is it?" Castle asks, now completely thrown off of what it could be. Alexis is leaning forward. Undying curiosity at this particular moment seems genetic. Kate opens the folder and is a little shocked by what she finds. "It's a-an amended birth certificate for Lux."

"What's that mean?" Alexis asks.

Kate can see Castle wants to see it, so she gently hands it to him. She looks to Alexis, "It's a document to make an amendment to Lux's original birth certificate."

"With your guys' names on it?" Alexis asks.

"Well, your dad's. Lux was never adopted, I would that that her original one was… her only one," Kate says, looking back at the document. She had never really thought about it before. She'd never thought about it like that; the fact that for the last seventeen years there was someone out there who she was legally the mother of.

"Which means she's officially, like on paper, officially my sister."

"Yup," Kate agrees.

Castle is looking for a specific column, but he gets caught for a second. He realizes he didn't know Lux's middle name was Cassandra. He continues on and quickly finds under father's name Richard Edgar Castle. It takes him a second to realize Kate's finger is gently tapped on the corner of it. He looks up and sees her looking back at him. "I may not know what the baby is or what their name is, but you do officially have another daughter."

Castle smiles a peaceful smile and says, "Yeah, you know, I've known that for a while."

…

Kate presses her knuckles into her cheek which is pushing her eye closed. If she keeps up with this posture, her chair is sure to slide out from under her and she'll smack her chin on her desk. She lazily scooches closer to her desk, thinking about the possibility of doing exactly that. She stares at her monitor. She wonders if this is what she always has Ryan do. If so, why hasn't he protested in the past. It's boring, like really boring, being chained to this desk like a puppy waiting for their owner to come out of a coffee shop. If she hadn't told Gates she was pregnant, she would have been able to go in the field for more exciting things than walking crime scenes and interviewing witnesses, and even more mundane things. Is this why Castle never stuck around for these things? Because without anything to wind down from this is just exhaustingly boring. However, if she hadn't told Gates, Castle would have insisted being around all the time, not trusting her own judgement. She's so lost in her own boredom, that she almost misses Gates calling her into her office. "Detective Beckett." When she looks up at her boss, Gates continues, "Can I speak with you for a minute?" Kate is about ninety percent sure she hasn't done anything recently to warrant Gates to call her into her office, so Kate walks in the room with some confusion, but no hesitation.

"Sir, you wanted to see me?"

Gates sits down at her desk, as she asks Beckett to shut the door.

Any sign of confidence dissipates from Kate. She does as she's told and closes the door. She goes back to her spot, standing in front of her captain.

"Beckett, you are one of my best detectives. The fastest female detective to move through New York City ranks."

"Yes, Sir," Kate answers, unsure if it's a question.

"That is until you made detective."

"I-"

"No need for explaining, Detective. You like your job, and I'll be damned if you're not the best I have, but did you ever think about moving passed where you're at now."

"I, uh," Kate shakes her head, "I did think about it after my mom's case was solve, but not recently."

"I know you have a lot on your plate right now, but I've been accepted for a position as Commander at Internal Affairs, and they asked me for a recommendation on my replacement. I want to recommend you."

"Sir, I'm honored, but…"

"If you're thinking about leave, I already checked with 1PP and they would be able to have Captain Bryant over see things here while you're gone."

"I-I don't know what to say."

"Like I said, I know you have a lot on your plate right now, so just think about it and get back to me, "Okay?"

…

"You're not going to-" Kate stops herself shortly after stepping in the door. "What are you making?"

Castle, who is in the kitchen, doesn't seem to hear her or even realize she walked in the door until Alexis answers, "Spaghetti grilled cheese."

Kate bites her lip, nodding her head. "I have mac-n-cheese ready to go if this does, and it will go horribly wrong," Alexis reassures, as she holds up the box of mac-n-cheese.

"Good to know," Beckett nods.

"You guys are just mean," Castle scoffs.

"You'll never believe- wait where's Lux?"

"She's upstairs. She asked if she could go over to Tasha's and I told her, she'd have to ask you, but I think she's packing a bag."

"That sounds right," Kate says, taking off her jacket and walking over to the island to take a seat next to Alexis. Before she actually sits down, she asks Castle, "Just out of curiosity, if I were to say no, to Lux then I would be the bad guy?"

Castle huffs a laugh as he stammers, but Kate doesn't give him time to answer her tease. She looks at Alexis, who is smirking, and says, "I just want to be clear about what the next eighteen years of my life looks like."

As soon as she sits down, Alexis questions her, "We're not going to believe what?"

"Huh?" Kate asks, momentarily forgetting her whole day, before she walked into the loft. "Oh, Gates offered me a job."

"Like an assignment," Alexis asked.

"Like a spy," Castle bounces off of Alexis' statement.

Kate gives Castle a scolding look as if to say 'no, I never mean like a spy,' before softening. She looks between the two of them before clarifying, "No, I mean her job."

"Are you serious?" Castle stuns.

"She wants you to be captain?" Alexis asks. "That's amazing."

Castle can see the hesitation on Kate's face, "What did you say?"

"I said I'd think about it."

Castle turns away to strain the noodles. Alexis looks to Kate, "You don't want to be captain?"

When Castle's done, he turns off all the burners and turns his full attention to Kate. "No, I mean, I don't know. I love my job, but I've felt stuck in the same place for a couple years now."

"So, what's holding you back?" Alexis asks, before Castle gets a chance to.

"It's a lot more paperwork and politics and a lot less excitement."

"A lot less danger," Castle points out. A point he personally can live better with, if she takes the job.

"Yeah," Kate sighs, looking down and letting her hair fall over her face. She knows that she can make just as much as a difference as captain as she does as a detective, but the politics, rule abiding, and temperance that it required was less tempting. She is the first to admit that her job was dangerous, but she was a big girl and she could handle it, she always has and always will. Kate looks over when she hears Lux coming down the stairs. "Hey," Kate says, looking at her daughter, who is currently on the phone.

"Hey," Lux greets Kate, hesitatingly stepping down the last step slowly. Kate can't tell if she is reading her tension or just realizing that Castle and Alexis probably already filled Kate in on her plans. "Can I go spend the night at Tasha's?"

Kate looks over to the clock. It's a quarter 'til seven, "Are you having dinner with us?"

"Tasha and I were going to order pizza."

"Are you sure? Dinner is ready," Castle asks, holding up two plates he already made up for Kate and Alexis.

Lux walks over to the living room and smothers a laugh with a sharp exhale. "Yeah, I'm sure," Kate hides a smirk as she steals a glance over to Castle who uncharacteristically shrugs it off. With almost perfectly combined humor, Kate looks back at Lux, who gives an amused pout. As if to say, 'hm, okay.'

Kate lets out a little bit of a laugh as she agrees, "Yes, you can go to Tasha's."

Lux gives her a quick smile, movie in hand as she listens to whatever Tasha is saying. Before Lux disappears up the stairs, she manages to say, "Thanks Mom."

"But Lux, I'm going to drive you, okay?"

"Yeah," Lux responds quickly and rushed.

Kate looks back at Castle who is looking at her in the most curious way. She can feel Alexis' piercing blue eyes looking at her in the same way. "Kate…" Alexis breathes. She is thrown for a second, when she hears her first name. She almost asks what, but by the time she looks back at Castle she clues in. "She called me mom."

"That she did," Castle says, smiling.

Kate shocks at this for a second. "I can't believe-" Kate's face quirks, immediately making Alexis' own smile fade. Kate's eyes start to water.

"Oh shot," Castle says. He turns to Alexis, "You and me switch." Alexis quickly nods and swaps places with her dad. Castle pulls the barstool closer to Kate before sitting down. He rubs Kate's arm, comforting her for a second, before he taps her furthest knee to get her to turn towards him.

She does that, quickly wiping her cheek, trying to prove it's not a big deal. "I'm sorry, you guys. I'm not- I'm fine."

"You're crying," Castle laughs, wiping her cheek.

She pulls back, tucking her hair behind her ears. "I'm fine. It's just- that made me happy and I didn't think it was going to make me that happy," She says, turning from Castle. She puts her elbow on the counter and her knuckles over her mouth.

Castle gently rubs Kate's back. He looks up to see Alexis snagging half of her grilled cheese. He gently says, "Beckett, you're pregnant. We're not judging you." Kate is about to rebuttal, but Alexis, who just took her first bite, pulls her attention away from Castle. Alexis immediately frowns at the taste, "This sandwich on the other hand." She spits out her chewed up bite into a paper towel.

Kate gently giggles into her fist. She straightens, "Sounds like, we should order pizza too."

"Sounds better then mac and cheese," Alexis says.

"Oh, come on," Castle says, defensively.

"No really, Dad," Alexis says, pulling the plate away from in front of Beckett. She grabs them and throws out the contents on both.

"Fine, but you have to call in the pizza," Castle says.

"Fair enough," Alexis agrees, picking her phone up off the counter. After dialing, she scrunches her face at Beckett. "Wait, we got side tracked are you going to- Oh, hi, yes, I was calling for delivery."

"Oh, pick up," Kate interrupts, "I'll get it on my way back from Tasha's."

"Make that pick up…" Alexis walks into the living room to finish their order.

"So, are you going to take the job?" Castle asks, turning again to Kate.

"What?' Kate asks, rubbing her eye again, but this time seemingly more out of tiredness then drying her face.

"Are you going to take to captain position?" Castle asks, choosing not to explain his questions and rather rephrase it.

"I don't know. I've been saying for a while now that I've felt like at some point I lost momentum, but now that an opportunity has come up- I don't know." Kate looks down at her hands. Castle doesn't say anything and she quickly realizes that he is letting her tell him her thoughts, before giving her his, possibly unwelcomed, opinion. She continues, "It's less hands on, at least not in the same way. Risk taking, taking on bad guys face to face, I can do that. Calling that shots for a whole precinct, people pleasing, and dealing with the politics- I don't know Castle." She stops and looks up at him. He can tell that she wants to hear his opinion.

Castle takes a breath, thinking about it for a second. "Well… I would be lying if I said I wouldn't sleep better with you having a safer job, but I can't talk you out of or into this."

"Do you think I should?"

"I can't make this decision for you."

Beckett cocks her head to the side, unsatisfied with his answer. He smirks, "Look, I think you've been wanting an opportunity to move up and this seems like a great opportunity, but if you feel like you'd be happier saving the city as Detective Kate Beckett, I'm going to support you. I will continue standing by your side either way."

"I know you mean that metaphorically, but you do know that if I take the job."

"Our work partnership is over," Castle finishes. He smiles, "yeah." He stands up, so he is looking down at her now. "I'm fine being your partner, unprofessionally." He kisses her on the forehead, before going on the other side of the island to put the almost dinner dishes in the sink.

…

Beckett taps her pen against her desk, as she watches Ryan and Esposito pass her. She looks over her shoulder, watching them as they walk to the elevator. She turns back around to see if Gates is still in her office, as if she would have left in the last couple of seconds. When she hears the ding of the elevator arriving, she looks to see the boys getting on the elevator. The tapping of her pen slows, as they step in and the door glides shuts. She didn't know why she felt the need to wait for them to leave to talk to Gates, but she felt it was a necessity. She taps the top of the pen, one last time, this time unclicking it. She stands and walks over to Gates office. She twists her fingers, as she listens to the echo of a speech given to her just feet away from this spot. We speak for the dead. That's the job. We are all they've got once the wicked rob them of their voices. We owe them that, but we don't owe them our lives. I've spent most of my life walking behind this badge and I can tell you for a fact; there are no victories. There is only the battle. And the best that you can hope for is that you can find some place where you make your stand.

"Detective Beckett, are you just going to stand outside my door like a sick puppy or are you going to come in?" Gates says, without looking up from her desk. Beckett quickly opens the door. As soon as she steps in the doorway, Gates sits back. She crosses her arms and looks at her over her glasses. "I presume you made a decision about my offer"

Beckett drops her fiddling hands, hanging them by her thumbs, on her pockets. "Yes," she says, now flowing with confidence.

Gates leans forward, waving her hand. Beckett takes the que and closes the door behind her. Gates takes off her glasses, "So, Kate, what's your decision?"

"I want to take the job," Beckett takes a couple steps forward.

A smile spreads across Gates' face. "That's good to hear. You know I was a little worried you weren't going to take the opportunity."

"If I'm being honest," Beckett gently sits down, "I almost didn't."

Gates nods, "I remember stepping out of being an officer, for this. You think your taking yourself out of the noble job, the one where you truly can fight the battle, and maybe a bit more fun." Gates sighs, "On top of that, it comes with a lot less responsibility." Beckett doesn't say anything. She waits patiently for the reason Gates is telling her all this. "You want to know the secret?" Beckett looks up at her with big eyes, which Gates takes as a yes. "It's better. Sure, it comes with new responsibilities and you'll have to find more- P.C.- ways of handling things, but you get to oversee and make the decisions for not one case, but all the precincts cases. Most of the time, you have final call." Beckett lets a smile out. Gates smiles back, knowing that any uncertainty Beckett might've had is officially gone. "You'll be one of the big dogs," Gates finishes.

"You think I can do that?"

Gates flippantly points her pen out the window, "As lovely as Detective Esposito and Ryan are, they are not the leader of your little pack." After a beat, Gates continues, "If you're sure, I'll make my recommendation by the end of the day."

"I'm sure," Beckett nods, standing from her chair. She shakes hands with Gates, then turns to leave. Just before she reaches the door, Gates stops her, "Detective." Beckett turns when hearing one of her many titles. One, she realizes at that moment, she may not have for much longer. "You have a good heart and you're the strongest detective I've ever had. You'll be perfect for the job." Beckett gives one last soft smile, then opens the door to leave.

…

"Kate?" Castle whispers. She blinks a couple of times, letting her eyes adjust to the bedroom's darkness. Once they did, she rolls onto her side to face him. "Are you happy?"

"Yeah," She says, without really thinking, then after a pause, "Yes, of course." She squints, trying to see the position of his features, trying to read why he asked. "Why?"

"Because, I'm happy and sometimes I presume everyone around me feels the same way." He sighs, looking and seeing he has her full attention. "Just- So much has changed in the last year and I feel like- sometimes, I feel like I might lose sight of you, where you're at. Where we're at."

Kate sits up, "But, all the things that changed was for the better. We got married."

"I went missing."

"And we found you. We figured it out. We did get married."

"We did," Castle agrees, softly.

She makes sure, that even in the darkness, she can look him in the eyes, which she finds by glint. "And we adopted Lux, got her well."

"And now we're going to have a baby," Castle adds to the list, still very softly.

She grabs his arm to pull him up. "Yes, we are."

"That's a lot of change Kate."

She cocks her head, when she hears her first name. She worries about how much it seems to bother him, "It's a lot of good change. A lot of good things, as chaotic and unexpected as all of that was, they are all good things." She looks down, gently grabbing his hand, then looks up at him, "Right?"

"Right," Castle confidently agrees.

"And besides, I don't mind getting lost in the chaos, because at the end of the day I'm here with you and I love you and our family."

"Good, because I like you too," he says all seriousness wiping away with his insecurities. She shoves him in the shoulder, "Oh, shut up." He falls back on to his pillow and shortly after she does the same. For a second, she almost lets it fade with her wave of sleep. However, after a couple of minutes and without looking away from the ceiling, she quietly says, "I'm happy, Castle. I'm happier, than I thought I would be. If you asked me last year, if I could be this happy in just a few months- if Lux could be this- yes, Castle, I'm very happy."

He sighs, letting his entire body relax with her words, "I love you too."

Next one is the last one. Thanks for still reading. Seriously.