Thank you all so much for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story. This chapter will not be rated M, but I think it's safe to say it'll rate a T.


Dr. Burke recommended one of his colleagues to counsel Rick. Geoffrey Lerner's specialization was PTSD. Kate accompanied Rick to his first appointment at Rick's insistence. ("It's our story, Kate. I can't tell it right without you.")

Dr. Lerner was very encouraging and very understanding, and assured both Kate and Rick that PTSD was a manageable condition. At the end of the that first session, after working out a treatment plan with Rick, he and Kate left Dr. Lerner's office feeling a lot better about the manageability of PTSD.

With five days to go until they were officially cleared to launch Operation Baby Beckett-Castle, however, their relief over the initial visit with Dr. Lerner soon gave way the frustration of months of sexual tension all but begging to be relieved and released.

When they got home from Dr. Larner's office, Rick decided to have ice cream for lunch, and went straight for the Potato Chip Fudge. Kate did indulge in some coffee ice cream with caramel sauce, but only after she'd had a ham and cheese sandwich.

It had been several weeks since Rick had had Potato Chip Fudge ice cream, so he could be excused for his enthusiastic reaction to it—an ecstatic moan at his first taste of it, and continually muttering things with each mouthful like, "Oh, yeahhhhhhhhhh," "That is gooooooooooooood," and "Mmmmmmmmmmm."

He honestly wasn't doing it consciously; he was reading the latest email from his overly enthusiastic new publisher, a 25-year-old named Adam Chomsky, and was preoccupied with Adam's persistent fanboying and yet another wordy request for their first face-to-face, in-person meeting.

But finally, Kate could stand it no more and literally threw her own spoon in her still-half-full bowl of coffee ice cream with caramel sauce with a noisy, angry clink. "Do you have to do that?" she asked irritably.

Startled, Rick set aside his tablet, swallowed a huge mouthful of Potato Chip Fudge that gave him a brain freeze which had him grimacing and pressing one hand to the middle of his forehead, and after he had recovered from the brain freeze, he asked, "Do I have to do what?"

"Act like you're about to have an orgasm over that stupid ice cream!" Kate exclaimed.

Rick's lips twitched as he fought a grin. "Are you jealous of the Potato Chip Fudge ice cream, Kate?" he asked.

"Jealous of the most disgusting flavor combination ever inflicted on the ice-cream eating public? No!" Kate said. "That's just ridiculous, that I would be jealous of a bowl of ice cream." She rested her palms flat on the kitchen island and leaned as far across the island as she could until she was her husband's face. "I am not jealous! I am sexually frustrated, because we haven't made love in almost two months, and I want you so much, I can hardly see straight!"

The fact that her face was flushed from this outburst of frustrated temper, and her pulse and respirations were up, making her breasts move rapidly and appealingly up and down beneath the v-neck t-shirt she was wearing, sent blood rushing from Rick's head to points south of his belt buckle.

He carefully pushed his bowl of Potato Chip Fudge ice cream away from him so that Kate couldn't mistake what he was about to say and do in any possible way.

He braced his own palms on the island and leaned his head forward until the tip of his nose was almost touching the tip of Kate's nose. "I want you too," he said quietly, "so very much that if I stood up right now, you'd see just exactly how much."

Then, he did stand up and walk around the counter until he was standing next to Kate. He watched her look him up and down, her gaze lingering on the physical evidence of his desire for her straining painfully behind his zipper. "I wasn't trying to bait you, or get a rise out of you-"

"No pun intended," Kate said, looking from his pants to his face now.

"No pun intended," he repeated. "Don't think this hasn't been as hard on me as it's been on you, Kate."

Kate was trying not to laugh now, and she gestured to the fly of Rick's jeans now. "Obviously," she said.

Rick rolled his own eyes now. "I'm actually being serious here," he said.

"They do say that when two people have been together for a long time, they start acting like each other," Kate said, still fighting laughter, but not as successfully now.

"I always thought when that day came, you'd be more horrified," Rick mused.

"Rick, right now, I'm too horny to feel anything else," she replied honestly. "I've had so many sex dreams about us in the past month..."

"So have I!" he exclaimed excitedly.

Now Kate was the one pressing a hand to her head. "Don't go into detail. I might spontaneously combust right here if you do."

"I would carry you to our bed and make love to you until we both collapsed from exhaustion right now if that were an option," Rick continued fervently but seriously. "But it's not an option yet. And I don't want to do anything to risk messing things up or hurting you."

"I don't want that either," Kate said, back to her usual serious self now. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Okay, we waited four years before we made love the first time."

"And if we had had any idea what it would really be like, we wouldn't have waited that long," Rick said.

"I had to get my head on straight," Kate reminded him.

"And I had to grow up enough to be worthy of you," Rick added.

"I know that five days is nothing compared to four years, but..." Kate said.

"Yeah," Rick said.

They were both silent for a long moment.

Then Kate spoke again as she and Rick looked at each other intensely. "You'd better get a lot of sleep in the next five days," she said.

"You should too," Rick replied.

"Because as soon as we get the all-clear from the doctors, you're not going to be sleeping for a long time," she said, giving him a meaningful look.

"I was just about to tell you the same thing," he replied.

"It's highly unlikely that I'll get pregnant right away," Kate said next, still serious.

"Well, we'll just keep doing it 'til we get it right," Rick said. Then he smirked.

Kate rolled her eyes, but affectionately. "And we're back," she said.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Rick asked.

Kate looked at Rick and smiled a genuine smile. "None at all," she said. He smiled back at her.


Alexis and Javier were sitting in their usual booth at Remy's. When they had afternoon study sessions with Kevin for his upcoming sergeant's exam, they always stopped at Remy's for at least a milkshake, if not a bite to eat, afterwards.

"I can't believe you guys ate here all these years Dad was coming to the 12th, and he never once told me about it," Alexis said. "Is it possible to get addicted to milkshakes?" She took a healthy drink of her strawberry milkshake before setting the glass back on the table.

"Remy's does have the best milkshakes in the city," Javier agreed before taking a drink of his own chocolate shake.

"You know, you don't absolutely have to come over to the Ryans' on Saturday night. I can handle Sarah Grace and Nick by myself," Alexis said. Kevin and Jenny had asked both of them that afternoon, at the end of the study session, if they would baby-sit Sarah Grace and Nick on Saturday night, since Jenny's parents had surprised them with a dinner reservation at The River Cafe and tickets to Hamilton for Jenny's birthday. The O'Malleys had been planning to take the kids for the weekend, but Jenny's dad had fallen off the roof two days ago while cleaning out the gutters and had broken his collarbone and sprained his knee as a result, and so they were no longer able to take Sarah Grace and Nick for the whole weekend. Kevin was determined to make Jenny's birthday perfect, and so he had asked Javier and Alexis that afternoon if they would baby-sit while he and Jenny went out, and when he explained about Jenny's parents' gift, and her dad's accident, Alexis and Javier both said yes immediately.

"You don't want me there?" Javier asked.

"It's not that," Alexis hastily assured him. "It's just if there's anything else you'd rather do..."

"There's not," Javier replied with a smile. "Besides, two little kids aren't as easy to handle as you might think. You wouldn't believe how many times Ryan has called me on a weekend afternoon when we're off and Jenny's out with one of her sisters or something and he's on daddy duty, especially since Nick was born."

Alexis laughed. "Has Nick hosed you yet?"

"Hosed me?" Javier pretended not to know what Alexis was talking about, but she saw right through him.

"Detective Esposito doesn't do diapers?" she teased.

"Not as a rule, no," he replied seriously. "I have been puked on more than once, though, by both Sarah Grace and Nick. Baby puke isn't quite as bad as being puked on by belligerent drunks, though."

"I would hope not," Alexis said.

"It's nothing against you, Alexis," Javier assured her. "But this is a big deal for Ryan and Jenny. This'll be the first time they've gone out alone together without the kids since Nick was born. Besides, it's my godfatherly privilege to spend time with Sarah Grace and Nick."

"Has Sarah Grace ever made you wear a tutu or a princess crown?" Alexis wanted to know.

"I plead the Fifth," Javier said, stonefaced, which made Alexis laugh. Her laughter made him start laughing.

Just then, her phone binged. "Excuse me."

Javier became alarmed when he saw Alexis slump back against the booth and turn white as a sheet as she stared a burning hole through her phone's screen. "What is it, Alexis? What's happened?" he asked anxiously as he leaned forward, trying not to crowd her but wanting to offer whatever support she needed.

"I got an email from Columbia Law School," Alexis said faintly.

"All right!" Javier exclaimed. "It's about time!"

Alexis's eyes flicked from her phone to Javier's steady gaze on her—his brown eyes were twinkling with excitement. She swallowed hard. Javier silently prayed that the news from Columbia was good.

Alexis finally tore her gaze from Javier's encouraging eyes to open and read the email. She choked on a sob, her free hand flying to her mouth as tears filled her eyes.

Javier Esposito had the very strong urge at that instant to head straight for Columbia's campus, find the dean of the law school, and ask the man what kind of two-bit operation he was running if he didn't admit someone as brilliant and as dedicated and as focused as Alexis Castle to the law school.

But that urge disappeared completely when Alexis removed her hand from her mouth and said in a voice barely above a whisper, "I got in."

Javier wanted to make sure he had heard her correctly. "You got in?" he repeated hopefully.

"I got in!" Alexis shouted, not caring that they were in the middle of Remy's, not caring that total strangers were staring.

She stood up, so Javier did too, because he wasn't sure what she was going to do.

He was not expecting Alexis, still clutching her phone in one hand, to launch herself at him in a fierce hug, laughing in his ear and crying on his shoulder at the same time.

But what he was really not expecting was how right it felt to be hugging Alexis...not because she was coming apart at the seams after awakening from a screaming nightmare, as had happened a couple of months ago, but because she was happy and excited and relieved that her dream was coming true, and she would be heading off to Columbia Law School in January, just like she wanted.

Alexis felt electrified, both from the amazing news from Columbia, and from Javier's arms around her.

Yes, she had launched herself at him in her excitement and joy over being accepted at the law school of her dreams.

But they had been spending an increasing amount of time together since that horrible day they found her dad and Kate shot at the loft, and they were getting closer all the time.

Alexis considered Javier one of her best friends.

At this moment, she was absolutely sure of only two things: first, that getting into Columbia Law School made her feel happy and relieved; and second, that she was glad that Javier was the first person in her life to find out about it.

Alexis released Javier, and they just looked at each other for a long moment. "I should get going," she finally said. "I've got to tell Dad and Kate and Gram, and Jim, and Lanie, and Kevin and Jenny, and a couple of my school friends. You'll see Kevin before I do, so don't say anything about this to him, okay?"

"I won't," Javier promised. "It's your news to tell. And congratulations, Alexis. I always knew you'd make it."

"Thanks for having faith in me even when I was being crazily insecure," Alexis said.

"Anytime," Javier replied.

Alexis left the money for her milkshake and fries on the table before hurrying for the door. When she got to the door, she stopped and turned around. Javier was still standing next to their booth, watching her. She waved at him, and he waved back.

After Alexis left, Javier settled his own part of the bill before leaving Remy's himself and opting to walk home instead of catching a cab or the subway, because he had some serious thinking to do.


By Friday, the entire family knew that Alexis was bound for Columbia Law School, and everyone was happy for her, and Rick, Kate, and Martha were especially proud of her.

Friday was The Big Day for Kate and Rick: the day when they would both finally be cleared by their respective doctors and physical and respiratory therapists to resume all normal activities.

They had the first appointments at the hospital. When the alarm went off, Kate and Rick were both instantly awake.

They sat up in bed and reached for each other, sharing a lingering good morning kiss. When they broke the kiss, Kate touched her forehead to Rick's, then peppered his face with little kisses. Although he had stubble on his face when they first met, he began consistently maintaining a clean-shaven appearance shortly after he began coming to work with her, and she wouldn't want him to ever conceal his—yes, she admitted it, she agreed with him now—ruggedly handsome features with a significant growth of facial hair, but as hyperaware of everything as she was this morning, the feel of his scratchy morning whiskers under her lips was both distraction and delight.

When she drew back to look at him, her eyes narrowed. "You're up to something," she said.

To his credit, Rick didn't even try to deny it. He just beamed at Kate, pride and love radiating from his eyes, and said, "Our kids aren't gonna get away with anything!"

"They're not going to like that," Kate replied.

"I promise, I won't make you be the bad cop all the time," Rick vowed.

"Well, we have to have the kids first," Kate reminded him. "And I repeat: you're up to something." He said nothing. "That's it?"

"I'm not denying it," he pointed out. "But I'm not telling you exactly what it is, either."

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Because it's a surprise," he replied. He took both of Kate's hands in his. "Do you trust me?"

"Always," Kate replied, her features softening.

"Then trust me on this. It's a surprise, but it's a good surprise. At least, I hope you'll think so," he replied. He kissed her forehead, then all but leaped out of bed. "Dibs on the shower first!"

As he hurried into the bathroom, closing the door behind him, he heard Kate call from the bedroom, "I'll get you back for that later, Castle! And we're showering together tomorrow!"

While the shower was warming up, Rick opened the bathroom door and stuck his head out. "I'm already looking forward to it. We'll definitely need a shower by tomorrow. Maybe before." He ducked back into the bathroom, closing the door just in time for the pillow Kate threw from their bed to hit the door instead of his face.

When they got to New York Presbyterian—Lower Manhattan, they saw Dr. Gallison first. He shook hands with both of them and said, "It's wonderful to see you two looking so well and so happy."

Rick waited outside while Dr. Gallison examined Kate, and when he had cleared her, she went to meet with her physical therapist while Dr. Gallison examined and cleared Rick.

Rick's physical therapist cleared him faster than Kate's physical therapist cleared her, which was understandable since Kate's physical therapy was more extensive than Rick's. Janine, the respiratory therapist from Hell, was the one that Rick was most concerned about getting past, but she was happy to give him his medical release, a process that, much to Rick's surprise, took less than five minutes.

When Rick left Janine's office, he didn't see Kate. A passing nurse, who remembered them from their stay at the hospital back in May, kindly explained to Rick when she saw him looking bemused that his wife was in with her physical therapist right now, but that the physical therapist was running behind that morning, so she didn't get Kate in exactly on time.

Taking the slight delay as a sign that Fate was absolutely cooperating with his plans to surprise Kate, he decided to change his original surprise plan to one that he hoped she would like even better. He pulled out his phone and sent his wife a quick text, leaving the hospital and heading home as soon as he had hit Send on his phone.

Kate, meanwhile, impatiently drummed her fingertips on the arm of her chair in her physical therapist's office. Of course she'd have to wait today of all days.

When her phone binged, she pulled it from her pocket and was not surprised, but was a little dismayed, to see that it was a text from Rick.

"Meet me at home. I'll definitely make it worth your while."

Kate replied to the text: "This better be a good surprise, Castle."

It was only seconds before his return text came in:

"It will be. Better than what I had originally planned, if I do say so myself. I think you'll like it. I love you."

Kate had just texted back, "I love you too," and sent it when her physical therapist arrived in a flurry of apologies and, at last, Kate heard the words she'd been waiting for: that she was cleared to resume all normal activities.

It was only her iron self-discipline that kept her from barreling out of the hospital and running all the way home. She texted Rick from the elevator, "On my way."

She paused before going outside to read his reply: "Good. I'm waiting," followed by the Devilish, Winky, and heart emojis.

When Kate exited the hospital, she was surprised to find herself walking into a pouring rain. The morning had been muggy and overcast, as July mornings in New York City sometimes are, but this

downpour was bordering on torrential. Kate was soaked to the skin by the time she hailed a cab, and she'd only been outside for three minutes.

After giving the cabbie their address, Kate leaned back against the seat and her mind instantly flashed back to a rainy night four years earlier...the night that everything changed forever between her and Rick, the night that they officially became partners in every way.

She hadn't thought at the time it was possible, but now she knew for certain that she loved him more now than she had that night. And she also knew that she would love him more with each passing day, month, and year.

When the cab stopped outside their building, Kate paid the driver and exited the cab, then stood on the sidewalk, with the rain still pouring.

She spun in a slow circle, oblivious to the people passing by on the sidewalk, the traffic on the street behind her, and everything but the rain.

It was absolutely perfect that it was raining today, and she would tell Rick how poetic she found the rain later. But right now, she wanted him even more than she had wanted him on that rainy night four years ago, and she knew he was waiting for her upstairs.

So she didn't waste another second. She dashed inside and willed the elevator to go faster, as fast as her heart was pounding.

The elevator doors slid open, and Kate strode quickly to the front door. She had her key in the lock when the door swung open, and there stood Rick, looking at her with a mix of love and concern. "I was watching for you. I saw you get out of the cab and just stand there and look up at the building for a few minutes, and then spin around in the middle of the sidewalk. Is everything o-?"

He was cut off when Kate grabbed him and kissed him deeply, framing his face in her hands. He deepened the kiss, pushing her back against the door, which slammed shut from the force of their bodies colliding with it. With one arm wrapped around Kate, and without breaking the kiss, Rick locked the door.

When the need for oxygen forced them to break the kiss, Kate pulled back just enough so she could see Rick's face. "I'm okay. Better than okay. Everything is absolutely perfect. It's raining, Rick. Pouring, just like-"

"Just like the night we became partners in every way," Rick finished, brushing Kate's wet hair behind her ears.

"It's poetic," Kate said.

"It really is," Rick agreed. "And you are soaking wet."

"Well, then, why don't you help me get out of these wet clothes and warm me up?" Kate asked, her voice soft and husky and already making Rick hard.

He kissed her again, fusing his mouth to hers, pulling her flush against him, and she moaned low in her throat. She was surprised when he abruptly broke the kiss, then threaded his fingers through hers and confused her by saying, "Look down."

Kate looked at the floor and gasped softly when she saw the trail of red rose petals leading from the living room rug into the bedroom. They walked into the bedroom together holding hands, and she saw that the trail of rose petals led right to their bed. She also noticed that Rick had filled their bedroom with tealight candles, which cast a soft glow in the storm-induced darkness of the afternoon, and had turned down the bed.

They stood next to the bed, looking at each other hungrily. "God, you're beautiful," Rick said softly. He began unbuttoning Kate's sodden blouse, and she went to work on his shirt buttons as well. When she had his shirt off, she leaned forward to rain kisses across his bare chest. He held her there for a long moment, reveling in the feel of her arms around him, her hands stroking up and down his back, her lips warm and soft as she left a trail of wet, open-mouthed kisses all across his chest.

She lifted her head to look at him, and said huskily, "We're both still very overdressed here."

"So we are," he murmured as he deftly unhooked her bra with one hand, slipped it off, and tossed it aside.

She backed up to the bed, pulling him with her, then pulling him down to the mattress with her. They finished undressing each other, punctuating the removal of each article of clothing with lingering kisses and tender caresses, their hands and mouths roaming each other's bodies eagerly after not being able to do so for what felt like far too long.

Raindrops bounced off the windows as Kate and Rick settled themselves in their bed. "I love you so much," Kate whispered as she pulled Rick on top of her.

"I love you too," he whispered back.

He was leaning down to kiss her when she stopped him with her hand in the middle of his chest. "I know you, Rick Castle, so I know you want to say it, so just go ahead and say it already." She beamed up at him.

He beamed back at her as he positioned himself to join their bodies. "Commencing Operation Baby Beckett-Castle," he said, unable to keep the happiness and awe out of his voice.

Kate reached down and helped Rick guide himself into her. They lay still for a moment, savoring the feel of being joined as intimately as possible. Then Kate wrapped her legs around Rick's waist and said, "Yes, we certainly are," before pulling him down to her so their chests were touching and capturing his lips in a sizzling kiss. Their tongues dueled and danced, and then they began to move together, their bodies mimicking the actions of their tongues as they found their rhythm, both as old as time and timeless, and made passionate love with each other for the first time since being shot.

And on that rainy summer afternoon, Rick and Kate's lovemaking was not only about being with each other in the most intimate and sacred of ways, or about trying to make a baby together.

Their lovemaking was also another, very powerful act of healing, and a reaffirmation of the life they had built and were continuing to build together...a life that nothing and no one would tear asunder.