Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and support of this story, and to my guest reviewers on the last chapter, if I could answer you personally, I would. Father's Day will be in the next chapter, in case anyone was wondering.
As the month of May progressed, everyone was busy. Kate began working on her campaign from home, and not only did Madison get involved, but so did Kate and Rick's family and friends. The first batch of campaign paraphernalia was ready for distribution by now. The only person who didn't openly mock the straw boater hats was Ryan; he liked them, and was, in fact, already wearing one. "You're the only one who actually looks good in one of those," Esposito told him. Still, the flat-brimmed, flat-topped hats wrapped with a wide, red-white-and-blue grosgrain ribbon were political tradition, or so Rick, whose idea they were in the first place, claimed.
"Can I just hand out buttons and signs?" Maddie asked. "I'm a restauranteur, not a milliner."
"Hey, someday these will be collector's items," Rick insisted.
"Seriously, Castle?" Esposito asked.
Ryan grabbed a stack of straw boaters. "I think you could be right, Castle." He looked at Kate then. "You run for the Senate, we'll all be able to say we knew you when. And in that case, these 'Kate Beckett for New York City Council' hats will become a collector's item."
"Do politicians have groupies?" Rick wondered then.
"I doubt anyone will be asking me to sign their chest, babe," Kate replied.
"I should hope not," Rick said, grimacing.
"Do you still do that?" Madison asked.
"I haven't signed a chest in years," Rick replied.
Madison spoke then."And I bet you stopped signing chests after you met Kate." At the look on Rick's face, Madison beamed triumphantly.
"Wait, you stopped right after we met?" Kate asked.
"Yes," Rick replied earnestly.
The look they shared stretched until Alexis plopped a straw boater on top of her head and mused aloud, "This is the first time I've seen one of these in person. All the other times, they were on TV at political conventions."
"Okay, I take it back," Esposito said, putting an arm around Alexis's waist and pulling her against his side. "You look better in that hat than Ryan does."
Smiling, Alexis grabbed another straw boater and put it on Javier's head. Before Javier could finish sputtering his protest, Kevin had snapped a picture of Alexis and Javier both wearing the straw boaters.
Martha arrived at Kate's campaign office then, and after being told, much to her disappointment, that Lily was with her Grandpa Jim for the afternoon while they sorted through these campaign materials, she said, "Just remember, I'll have her at my place on the evening of June 10."
"June 10?" Madison asked. "What's so special about June 10? You told me your wedding anniversary is a week before your birthday, Becks, which is how you know you'll never forget it. What's June 10 then? Castle's birthday?"
Martha, always blunt and ever helpful, supplied, before Kate or Rick could stop her, "June 10 will be six weeks since my granddaughter's birth. And since she is sleeping in your bedroom, Richard, Katherine, and respectable married couples, especially when one half of that respectable married couple is running for New York City Council, do not rent motel rooms by the hour, I had assumed that Lily would be with me at my place for the evening."
Esposito, Ryan, and Alexis all three looked distinctly uncomfortable. Madison couldn't hide her amusement and didn't bother to try. Kate pinned Maddie with a hard stare. "Not a word, Madison," she said sternly.
Madison chewed on the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing out loud and nodded.
"Yes, Mother, Lily will be with you at your place the evening of June 10," Rick said, amazed he could get the words out without gritting his teeth. "We'll let you know when we're on our way to get her."
"Take your time," Martha encouraged her son and daughter-in-law. "You know I can go all night if need be."
Unable to stand it any longer, Madison turned her back and bowed her head, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Alexis's face was flushed pink, and Ryan and Esposito couldn't look at either Beckett or Castle.
Alexis rushed forward, grabbed a stack of boaters and one of the many small boxes of campaign buttons, and handed them to her grandmother. "Why don't you hand these out to some of your students and tell them about Mom running for City Council from District 1 in Manhattan? Maybe they're eligible to vote for her."
"You know, I believe some of them are!" Martha exclaimed as she took the items from Alexis. "In fact, you've inspired me, Katherine. I have just decided that we will be doing scenes from The Tempest. Oh, I know it's about the possibility of a philosopher-king, but considering how many women's parts Shakespeare had played by men, it's no wonder he wasn't thinking of women beyond the stereotypical terms of characters like Juliet and Lady MacBeth." And Martha was off in a flurry of goodbyes.
After she had departed, Madison, still laughing, said, "Castle, your mother is a hoot!"
"That's not the word I'd use," Rick muttered.
"Gram's definition of 'boundaries' is very loose and ever-changing," Alexis said.
"Is Martha aware there's really only one definition for 'Too Much Information'?" Javier asked.
"Well, now that we've all fulfilled our embarrassment quota for the day," Kate said, holding a couple of envelopes aloft, "there's a Manhattan Criminal Justice Breakfast on June 16 that I have been invited to as a candidate for City Council, and there's going to be an Equal Pay Rally at City Hall on May 30. I'm definitely going to attend both of those events."
Ryan and Esposito got phone calls then; a body had dropped, and newly minted Detective Ann Hastings Whittaker had recently been promoted to Homicide and was now working with Ryan and Esposito as their junior partner. "She has good instincts," Esposito said.
"She worked her way up from the uniformed ranks," Ryan replied.
"Yeah, I remember her from a case years ago," Kate replied. "You guys better get going." Ryan took a box of straw boaters to hand out at the 12th, Esposito grabbed a box of campaign buttons, and everyone averted their eyes when Alexis and Javier kissed goodbye.
"I'd better get going too," Maddie said, taking two boxes of campaign buttons. "But email me the details on that Equal Pay Rally, Kate, okay? I definitely want to be there for that."
"I will," Kate replied.
After it was just the three of them—Kate, Rick, and Alexis-remaining at Kate's campaign office, Alexis's phone rang. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Excuse me, I have to take this." She stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind her to take the call.
Alone with Rick, Kate said, "So on a scale of 1 to 10, Martha-"
"A million," Rick interrupted. "And I know, that's just her, but it's still embarrassing."
"I think she and my dad are trying to out-grandparent each other," Kate mused. "We've got to stop them from being jealous of each other. Lily needs both of them in her life, and she loves both of them. They don't have to compete for her attention."
Before Rick could reply to that, the door to the campaign office flew open, and Alexis stood there, her face flushed with pride. "I got the internship!" she exclaimed. "Kubow, Edwards and Meyer!"
"That's wonderful!" Kate exclaimed as Alexis rushed forward to hug Kate and Rick.
"Congratulations, Pumpkin!" Rick said as he and Alexis hugged.
"I have to text Javier, and Gram, and Jim, and everyone," Alexis said. She hugged her parents again, then started to head for the door, but stopped and turned back to look at them. "We're all moving onward and upward." She paused, then said, "It feels really great, doesn't it?"
Kate and Rick exchanged a look, and then looked at Alexis. Kate beamed as she wrapped one arm around Rick's waist and plunked one of the straw boater hats on top of his head before looking back at Alexis and saying, "Yes, it does."
Kate attended the Equal Pay Rally on May 30, and she was interviewed for the news, which brought her campaign its biggest exposure to date.
May gave way to June, and her appearance at and participation in the Manhattan Criminal Justice Breakfast was such a big success that Kate was invited to take part in a "Meet the Candidates" forum at the end of the month. This was where she began the delicate task of balancing career and motherhood. Without question, Lily always came first with Kate. In fact, the Equal Pay Rally began the tradition of Lily and Rick accompanying Kate on the campaign trail. Also, whenever possible, Ryan and Esposito would be there too, unofficially acting as security while also supporting their friend's candidacy, which also began with Equal Pay Rally, which Kate and Rick's entire family, and family of friends, attended.
June was an eventful month all the way around. Alexis spent her days interning at the law firm, and her evenings and weekends were split between Javier and her family, as she helped with Kate's campaign, bonded with Lily, and just spent time relaxing with her parents, having one-on-one time with both Kate and Rick, and spending time with the rest of their family and friends. She and Javier watched Sarah Grace and Nick a couple of times for Kevin and Jenny so they could go out on date nights. Alexis went to the theater with Martha, quizzed Jim about what to expect from law school, and even took a few days to just veg out and relax.
Javier started coming to Sunday brunch with Alexis, and although the first time he accompanied her to the loft there was a silent beat of uncertainty between him and Castle, the others, especially Alexis, were too determined he would fit in to let things get weird or tense, and by the third Sunday brunch, Javier was accepted as one of the family.
Alan and Lanie moved ahead with their wedding plans, over strenuous objections from Lanie's mother, until Alan, tired of the stress and strain Mrs. Parish's attitude was putting on his beloved, finally stood up to her on Lanie's behalf. "Mrs. Parish, with all due respect, Lanie and I don't know Lydia or Marian Brightfield, and we don't care what kind of wedding Lydia Brightfield and her fiance had. This wedding is ours, and we're going to do it our way because Lanie is the bride and I'm the groom. We want you to celebrate with us, but no dictionary I know of defines 'celebrate' as 'stress out your daughter with a lot of demands that she wants no part of because of the wedding of somebody else that she doesn't even know.' Whatever Lanie says goes here. And I'll be the one helping her make most of the decisions, and the ones that don't involve me will involve Kate, because Kate is her best friend and matron of honor. I love your daughter more than anything in this world, and I'm asking you to accept her decisions for our wedding, because I don't like seeing her so upset."
Mrs. Parish's reaction to that was initially frosty, but Mr. Parish literally embraced Alan, clapping him so hard on the back he almost fell over and said, "Welcome to the family, son! And I will help you any way I can to make sure my princess has the wedding of her dreams, not a wedding to outdo the Brightfields' daughter."
At last report, Mrs. Parish was being very civil and very formal about everything regarding the wedding, while her dad was happily agreeing with everything Lanie and Alan told him they had decided on already.
Lily was christened at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, where Gates and her husband attended and where Kate and Rick had started attending services a few months prior, the weekend before Father's Day. As Kate and Alexis had predicted, everyone wanted to hold Lily during the actual christening ceremony, but one look from Victoria "Iron" Gates and it was very clear that she would be the one holding Lily during the ceremony. Her other godmother and both of her godfathers would get their turns holding Lily later.
And so it was that as Alexis, Jim, and Alan all three filmed the proceedings, which were also attended by Madison, Lily Johanna Castle was presented for baptism by her mother and father, her two godmothers, and her two godfathers.
Father Kenneth went through the questions of the ceremony, which Lily's parents and godparents answered in unison, then blessed the water, and the oil, and then came the actual baptism, where he poured the water on Lily's head and intoned, "Lily Johanna Castle, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
Everyone returned to the loft after the service to celebrate—Kevin and Jenny detouring to pick up their kids from Jenny's parents' house—and Sarah Grace officially met Lily for the first time. She was in awe of the baby. "She's so tiny," she said in a loud whisper to Kate. Madison had insisted on catering the party as her gift.
"She is," Kate agreed. "But she's growing every day, and someday she'll be as big as you are, Sarah Grace."
"And then we can play together," Sarah Grace said happily.
Nick Ryan, who had turned one year old in April and was walking everywhere and picking up new words every day, toddled over, looked at Lily in Kate's arms, pointed at her, and exclaimed, "Baby!"
"That's right, Nicky, that's Aunt Kate and Uncle Rick's baby," Jenny said. She was following him around to make sure he didn't get into anything he wasn't supposed to get into.
"Baby," Nick repeated before toddling over to his Uncle Javi.
"The short attention span of a boy," Jenny said wryly.
"They don't always outgrow it," Kate said, and Jenny followed Kate's gaze to where Rick was laughing with Alan and Kevin. "At least, not completely."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Jenny replied, only half-jokingly.
Martha and Jim came rushing over then, and Martha got there first. "Ha! I win!" Martha crowed. "May I, Katherine?" she asked, gesturing to Lily in Kate's arms.
"Sure," Kate said. She looked at her father, and was amazed to see that he was actively forcing himself not to pout. "I'll make sure you get plenty of time with her later, Dad," she said, resting her hand on her father's forearm while Martha began talking to Lily about being little and fierce, which, Martha explained, came from Shakespeare.
Jim's face lit up at Kate's promise. "I'll hold you to that," he told her.
"I have no doubt that you will," she replied. "And you know, it's not a competition between you and Martha. Lily loves you both and needs you both."
Jim smiled ruefully. "I guess neither Martha nor I are very good at sharing. But I'll work on it, Katie, I promise."
Rick approached then. "Jim, just the man I wanted to talk to," he said. Rick looked at Kate. "Actually, I need to talk to Kate first. Would you excuse us for a moment, please?"
"Of course," Jim said.
"Alexis, if my dad and Martha start fighting, get Lily out of the middle of it," Kate called as Rick took her hand and led her towards his office.
"I will, Mom," Alexis promised with a smile. Kate reflected, not for the first time, that it felt really right to her to hear Alexis calling her 'Mom,' and she honestly wasn't sure who was getting the biggest kick out of it—Kate herself, Alexis, or Rick.
"We still have a few weeks to go, you know," Kate said when she and Rick were in his office, "not to mention a house full of people."
"June 10, I know, it's burned into my brain," Rick assured her. "I'm actually being serious here. I realized recently that I hadn't updated my will since you agreed that you would be Alexis's guardian if anything were to happen to me...and that we never wrote a joint will after we got married. Nothing is going to happen to either one of us," he said fiercely, "but just in case, I want to have all the bases covered, and so I thought maybe your dad could recommend somebody that could help us out with writing a will."
"We do need to get that taken care of, and the sooner the better," Kate agreed. "I'm sure that Dad will be happy to refer us to somebody."
Alexis stuck her head in the office then. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Victoria wants to make a toast, and she wants everyone present for it," she said.
"We'll be right there," Rick said.
Alexis returned to the party, and Kate said, "We'll ask him before he goes home, but after most of the other guests have left."
"Okay," Rick agreed.
After Rick and Kate had returned to the living room, and with Javier holding Lily now, and Alexis standing beside him, everyone raised their glasses after Victoria had called for everyone's attention. "I would just like to thank you, Kate and Castle, for giving me the honor of being one of your daughter's godmothers. I think I can safely speak for her other godmother, and both of her godmothers, when I say that we will all be there for Lily through good times and bad for the rest of our lives, and we will not take our responsibilities as godparents lightly." Lanie, Kevin, and Javier murmured their agreement.
Victoria looked at Lily then. "Lily, we are all here today because we all love you very, very much, and we all wish for you nothing but joy in life and a long, exciting, and promising journey. To Lily Johanna Castle, and her wonderful parents who have brought her into all of our lives."
Everyone echoed Victoria's "To Lily and her parents" and then, since the guest of honor was overdue for her afternoon nap, the party began to break up, though Jim Beckett stayed to help get Lily settled for her nap and didn't leave without giving Kate and Rick the name of a friend of his who would help them draw up a joint will.
That night, as they lay in bed talking softly while Lily slept peacefully across the room in her bassinet, Kate said, "You know, we're going to have to name guardians for Lily in our will."
"Oh, god, we are," Rick realized. He and Kate were lying on their sides, facing each other. "Nothing is going to happen to either one of us, though."
"No," Kate agreed. "No, it's not. We're going to grow good and old together."
"Yes, we are," Rick agreed.
"But it's going to be a requirement for the will for us to name guardians for Lily. And we have no shortage of candidates."
"That's true," Rick said. He sighed as he rested one hand on her hip. "I hate talking about this part. I know I'm the one who brought it up, and it's the responsible thing to do, but I just...I don't want to miss a thing with you, and with Alexis, and with Lily."
"Talking about it isn't going to jinx us, Rick," Kate replied, framing his face in her hands. "Like you said, it's the responsible thing to do. So let's just do it, get it over with, and then we don't even have to think about it. We can just get on with our lives."
"As soon as we decide who to name as Lily's guardians," Rick mused.
"Yes," Kate agreed. "But we don't have to decide that tonight."
"No, we don't," Rick agreed. Kate's hands began to wander. Rick was pleasantly distracted for several minutes, especially when her lips began to follow the path of her hands and his shirt ended up on the floor beside the bed. "Um, K—Kate," he finally managed to get out. "It's not June 10th yet."
"I know," Kate replied. "But making out is okay. Unless you'd rather n-"
His kiss cut her off. But then he broke the kiss and said, "Should we really be heatedly making out in bed with Lily sleeping across the room?"
"She's going to be seeing us kiss a lot as she grows up," Kate reasoned. "And she's asleep for the moment. I don't think this will scar her for life."
"That makes sense," Rick agreed. Their makeout session was interrupted a few minutes later when Lily awoke, fussing to be fed.
When Kate was settled back in bed with Lily, she looked from Lily to Rick and said, "June 10th."
"June 10th," Rick repeated before following Kate's gaze to Lily, who was nursing contentedly as her mommy and daddy talked quietly, the timbre of their voices and, eventually, her full stomach soothing her back to sleep.
