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And so everyone gathered at the loft to celebrate Rick's birthday. Alexis and Javier brought the pizzas, and Martha brought the cake and ice cream (Potato Chip Fudge for Rick, Neapolitan for everyone else). Wrapped gifts were stacked on the coffee table in the living room. Ryan and Jenny brought Sarah Grace and Nick, whose own first birthday was on April 11, and Nick was walking, with the aid of the furniture or with one of his parents bent low and walking behind him, his hands wrapped around their index fingers for handholds, all over the place.

One second Rick was watching Ryan walk Nick from the foyer back into the living room, and the next second, he said, "Kate, we still have to babyproof this place!"

"I think we have some time yet, babe," she assured him before taking a drink from her water bottle. She, Rick, and Jim were drinking water. Alexis and Javier were having soda, and the others were split pretty evenly between beer and wine, although Victoria had surprised almost everyone by having a Rolling Rock Red with her pizza instead of wine like her husband Gerald, Jenny, Lanie, Alan, and Martha.

Ryan and Nick returned to the living room, and before Nick could make a grab for the pile of presents, Ryan swept him up and blew a big raspberry on his belly before settling him on his shoulders as the baby giggled and squealed. "No, no, Nicky, those are Uncle Rick's presents," Ryan said. "You'll get yours in another ten days."

"You'd better start opening those before the kids can't restrain themselves any longer, Rick," Jenny advised.

Sarah Grace, however, was much more fascinated by her Aunt Kate's belly than by her Uncle Rick's birthday presents. "You have a baby in your tummy, right, Aunt Kate?" Sarah Grace asked. She was sitting on Jenny's lap on the couch next to Kate.

"Yes, I do, Sarah Grace," Kate replied, "but not for much longer."

Sarah Grace's face brightened even more than it already was. "When will the baby come out?"

"When she's ready," Kate replied. "In another six or seven weeks or so."

"'She'?" Sarah Grace repeated. "It's a little girl, like me?"

"Yes, she's a little girl," Kate replied, smoothing a hand over her baby bump.

Sarah Grace jumped off her mother's lap and began dancing around the living room and cheering. "Can I play with her when she gets here?" she asked Kate.

"Well, she'll be a tiny little baby like Nick was when he first came home to live with you and your mommy and daddy," Kate said. "So you can't play with her right away, but when she gets a little older, sure, you can play with her."

"You know, Sarah Grace," Rick said, completely enchanted by Kate and Sarah Grace's entire conversation, "if you talk to Aunt Kate's tummy, the baby can hear you."

The look of amazement on Sarah Grace's face was so complete and so pronounced that Alexis, who was taking pictures with her digital camera, couldn't resist snapping a picture of Sarah Grace. "She can?" she said in a reverent whisper.

"Yeah," Rick said. "I talk to the baby all the time."

Sarah Grace looked to her parents. "Mommy, Daddy, can I talk to the baby?"

"Yes, sweetheart," Jenny said.

"As long as you're careful and not too loud," Ryan added.

Sarah Grace climbed back up on Jenny's lap and leaned over to address the baby in Kate's belly. "Hi!" she exclaimed, then she clapped her hand over her mouth, thinking maybe she had been too loud. "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't scare you," she said. "My name is Sarah Grace Ryan, and you and I are going to be friends. I'm glad you're a girl. I have a little brother, Nicky, and I love him, but he's a gross boy. He's a messy eater, and he toots and then laughs about it." This remark made most of the adults in the room fight not to start laughing about it themselves.

"I can't play with you right away, because you're going to be too little, but as soon as you're old enough, we'll definitely play together, okay?" Sarah Grace said.

Lily moved then, responding to Sarah Grace's voice, most likely, and Kate said, "Sarah Grace, would you like to feel the baby?"

"How can I feel her? She's still in your tummy," Sarah Grace said.

Kate gently placed Sarah Grace's palm on her bump. "Okay, you can't feel her," Kate corrected herself, "but you can feel her move and kick." Just a few seconds later, Lily did indeed kick, and Sarah Grace felt it.

Sarah Grace's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates. "Wow," she said in a hushed, reverent voice. "I felt her kick! Does she do that a lot?"

"Oh yes," Kate said, looking from Sarah Grace to Rick with a smile.

Sarah Grace remained mesmerized by Kate's baby belly until Rick started opening his presents.

Alan and Lanie's gift was a vintage Dungeons & Dragons t-shirt. The Ryans gave Rick The Complete Sherlock Holmes in hardcover.

Esposito got Castle Halo Wars 2, the latest edition of Halo. "Alexis assured me you didn't already have it," Esposito said.

"I didn't," Rick said. "This is great! I knew it was coming out this year, but I've been so busy lately, I managed to miss the release. Thanks, Esposito!"

Martha's gift was a print of the famed portrait of dogs playing poker. Rick honestly wasn't sure if it was intended as a joke or if she meant it seriously, since he did enjoy playing poker.

Jim surprised everyone but Kate, who knew how much her dad admired, respected, and loved Rick, by giving Rick a Montblanc 1924 Limited Edition 75th Anniversary Diamond Solitaire Fountain Pen. "Jim, this is amazing," Rick said as he carefully lifted the pen from its box.

"Every writer should have a pen like that," Jim said.

"Thank you," Rick replied. "I'll display this on my desk proudly."

The pile of presents was dwindling. "Okay, who's the biggest one from?" Rick asked as he grabbed the largest box. "You, Kate? Or you, Alexis?"

"Actually, that one is from me," Victoria Gates said before taking a sip of her Rolling Rock.

Rick, Kate, Lanie, Kevin, and Javier all exchanged surprised looks. Victoria just smiled as she sat there with her beer in her hand.

Rick tore off the wrapping paper and ribbon and opened the box, lifting out a large wooden sign painted black. In white letters, a mix of calligraphy and block printing, the sign read, "Welcome to Our Loud, Crazy, Fun Home." The "Welcome" was in calligraphy, "to Our" was lined up on the right underneath the word "Welcome" but in regular print, and the words "Loud, Crazy, Fun" were staggered in between "Welcome" and "Home," the final word being in block capital letters.

"This is wonderful," Rick said. "Thank you so much, Si-I mean, Victoria," he hastily corrected himself.

"I thought it was fitting. I'm glad you like it," Victoria said with a smile.

"She painted in the commas herself," Gerald Gates piped up. At Rick's look, Gerald nodded. "She said you're such a grammar and punctuation freak that she had to add the commas, or you would have been obsessing over the lack of commas."

"You painted the commas in for me?" Rick asked, astounded.

"It wouldn't have been a suitable gift if you had to obsess over the missing commas, would it?" Victoria countered.

"You're right, I would have obsessed over them," Rick said. He smiled. "Thank you for adding them."

Victoria smiled back. "You're welcome," she replied.

Alexis's gift was a picture frame that contained two pictures of her and her father together, one when she was 5 years old, and the other from last Christmas. In between the two pictures, the frame read "BEST DAD EVER." Above the pictures, the frame said "ALL AROUND GOOD GUY," and underneath that, in cursive writing, it said "Someone to always look up to." Down the left side of the frame were the words "A Mentor and Hero"; down the right side of the frame were the words "A Father and Friend." The lower right corner of the frame read "Devoted," and the lower left corner read, "Dedicated." In between "Dedicated" and "Devoted," were the words, "I love you, Dad! Alexis, 4/1/17."

Rick gave Alexis a big hug. "I love this!" he said. "Thank you, pumpkin."

Kate's gift was last. "Comic-Con tickets!" Rick exclaimed, looking up at Kate with mingled surprise and awe.

"After all these years, you think I don't know your guy?" Kate asked with a grin. "They aren't even available for the general public for another few weeks. And look in the box again."

"Tickets to the Joss Whedon panel!" Rick said, even more awed as he looked from the tickets to Kate.

"Four tickets to the Joss Whedon panel," Kate pointed out.

Rick looked at her, his heart pounding. "You mean-" he began.

"You, me, Lanie, and Alan," Kate said. "But I get to pick my own costume, if you insist on going in costume."

"Kate Beckett, how could you do this to me?" Lanie asked, only half-jokingly as she poured herself more wine.

Alan's eyes lit up. "Does that mean what I think it means?" he asked hopefully.

Lanie sighed but then smiled. "Yes, it means we're going to Comic-Con in costume. But no weird aliens!"

"Oh, I know exactly who we're going to be," Alan said confidently, "and you don't have to worry about any weird alien stuff, honey. You are going to look completely bad...uh, I better not finish that sentence." He had belatedly realized that Sarah Grace and Nick were looking at him expectantly.

"Would you be willing to negotiate on the costume?" Rick asked Kate.

"Would you be willing to negotiate on your costume?" Kate countered.

"Yes, I would," Rick said. He looked at Alan then. "Front-row tickets to the Joss Whedon panel and going to Comic-Con without there being a murder. My wife is so much cooler than your girlfriend!"

"Castle, you do know I'm sitting right here," Lanie said.

"Don't make Lanie mad," Ryan advised Castle earnestly. "She'll come after you with a fire extinguisher."

"A fire extinguisher?" Kate asked. "I think Rick and I missed a story somehow."

"Well, Kate went through your guy. Of course she got prime tickets, and I am incredibly grateful for those, by the way, Kate, thank you," Alan added.

"Who's ready for cake and ice cream?" Martha interjected then.

"I'll help you, Gram," Alexis said.

"Me too," Esposito added.

"And me," Jim chimed in, standing up and following the trio to the kitchen.

"Cake!" Nick exclaimed.

"Not yet, little guy," Ryan said, brushing Nick's blond locks off his forehead. "Ten more days. Then you get a smash cake and a birthday cake and get to blow out your candle. Tonight you get to watch Uncle Rick blow out his candles."

Everyone headed for the dining room, Ryan with Nick on his hip, and Jenny holding Sarah Grace's hand, leaving Kate and Rick alone in the living room.

Rick carefully put the Comic-Con tickets in his shirt pocket. "Thank you," he told Kate, leaning in to kiss her.

"I had to do some fast talking to convince your guy to give me those tickets for your birthday. He said he was already holding onto them for you," Kate said, her wrists resting loosely atop his shoulders.

"I don't mean just for the Comic-Con tickets, and the Joss Whedon panel, and agreeing to go with me," Rick said. "Thank you for my life."

"I'm the one who should be thanking you for my life," Kate said. "Before you, I didn't have much of one. Now, I have everything I was afraid to dream of for so long."

"We make the best team ever," Rick said.

"We really do," Kate agreed.

"Dad! Hurry up before your candles melt into the cake!" Alexis called.

Rick stood up and helped Kate up from the couch. "And you still have one more present to unwrap later," she said in his ear, so only he could hear her.

"Best birthday ever," he said with a grin and a raised eyebrow look just for her.

"Good to know where the bar is for next year," Kate said as she linked her arm through his and they walked to the dining room table, where their family and friends were illuminated by the candles on Rick's cake.

After everyone sang "Happy Birthday," Rick closed his eyes, made his wish, and then blew out all the candles on the first try. Alexis and Martha cut the cake, while Jim and Esposito doled out the ice cream.

And later that night, after Rick had unwrapped Kate, and they were lying in bed, wrapped up in each other and the sheets and the afterglow, he nuzzled her temple as he felt her yawn against his shoulder. "Happy birthday," she said sleepily.

"It sure was," he replied. Kate was already asleep, though. Rick kissed the crown of her head and with Kate in his arms, he was asleep just a couple of minutes later.