I could give you the list of the stuff I had that kept me from updating for a week, but that would take up half of this fanfiction. Let's just say… life happened. But, I am keeping my promise, I am NOT abandoning this story. I made this chapter a little longer for your long wait. :)

Thank you for the feedback on the 3rd chapter! I know that was a long time ago, but it really helped me get back in the groove again this weekend. I love you all!

Disclaimer: No, I do not own this show. But I would die if I could be a guest star on it. *faints at the idea*

Chapter 4

Castle grabbed two white porcelain bowls out of the cupboard when we reached the kitchen. I leaned against the kitchen island on my elbows, watching him move expertly through the kitchen.

"So, do you do all the cooking in the game too?" I asked suddenly.

Why on earth was I still talking about this? Why did this interest me so much? I need to settle down.

Castle looked back at me with an evil grin across his face. "Actually, no one in the game cooks."

My brow furrowed. "Well, that's not very lifelike. Everyone has to eat sometime."

"I put in a cheat so no one has to cook." He stated simply as he pulled the lid off of the monstrous chili pot. The condensation rolled off the clear lid and he set it down carefully to the side on a towel.

My mouth gaped open, both at what he said, and the divine smell that was coming from the pot. "You can cheat in that game?"

He looked back and smiled again. "Yes, of course. There are lots of cheats that I use on a regular basis."

"Like what?"

"Well, there is this long cheat I can input that unlocks a bunch of codes if I right click on certain objects or people in the game. If I right click on the mailbox and hit two buttons, "Make All Happy" and "Make Needs Static", they no longer get hungry; and not only that, but they never have the need to sleep, they never have to use the bathroom, and they never get dirty." He explained to me as he ladled chili into the two bowls. "It makes using the game a lot easier."

"Well, then, what is the point of playing? What do they do?" He handed me a bowl and a spoon and we both went to sit at the bar.

"Putting the cheats in allows them to do more fun things, and it also saves a lot of time."

I cocked my eyebrow. "What kind of fun things?" I asked suspiciously, thinking about the conversation earlier.

He smiled and shook his head. "How did I know you were going to put a nasty twist on that one?"

I smirked and stared down at my chili, trying to hide the light blush. "It's because I spend too much time with you and your constant innuendos."

He snickered and went to take the first bite of his chili, a big spoonful. I watched closely as his lips parted and consume the chili off the spoon. Those lips…

How did he manage to make eating chili sexy?

I looked away before he could notice me staring. Then I heard Castle whimpering.

I glanced back to see his face completely red, and fanning himself. I bit my lip in an attempt to keep the laughter from rising from my throat.

"Hot, Castle?" I smiled.

He swallowed the chili and took a couple deep breaths through his nose. He cocked his eyebrow and said.

"I am, but that's not the point." He succeeded in making my eyes roll.

"Is the chili hot, man-child?" I corrected myself, teasing him.

He nodded, still seeming to be recovering. "Mhmm. Temperature hot."

"Well, blow on it first." I regretted that as soon as I had uttered it.

He looked like he was going to make a comment, until he fully interpreted my 'don't-even-go-there' look. Instead he pouted and said.

"I'm not a baby. I know how to handle hot food."

I smiled at his stubbornness and took my first bite of the chili, blowing on it first. The mixture of beans, noodles, beef, and just the right spices tasted heavenly on my tongue. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I had taken that first bite.

An involuntary moan escaped my throat at the taste.

I heard Castle clear his throat next to me. When I looked over he was staring at my lips, his eyes glazed over with lust and dark with desire. My face grew hot, both from the still extremely hot chili and the attention Castle was showing my lips.

Instead of teasing him about it, I kept eating silently. Before long, Castle began to eat again too. I didn't look over, but I knew he kept glancing at me. We were both too embarrassed and probably too hungry to have a conversation.

That one bowl filled me up well, the heartiness of the chili coating the walls of my empty stomach. It was the first good meal I had had in about three days.

"Well, someone was hungry." The sudden voice of Castle shattered the silence of the past 10 minutes. I looked at him and he was smiling that special crinkly eyed grin that triggered an almost immediate mirror reaction from me.

I looked down at my empty bowl. "Yeah, that chili was amazing. Thank you, Castle."

"No problem." He took his bowl and my bowl in front of me and walked towards the sink.

I got up immediately and followed him. "Let me do that. You cooked."

He looked back at me with a mock disapproving look. "No! Guests don't get to clean."

I folded my arms and shook my head, smiling. "Fine, then what should I do?" True, the intent of my visit was just to eat, but I didn't want to leave yet. I did want to spend more time with him.

He gestured with his head towards the living room. "Go find something on TV and I'll meet you there when I'm done." He waggled his eyebrows. "I'll even bring wine."

I chuckled and walked toward the living room. "It better be good wine."

I heard him yell from the kitchen. "Do I ever disappoint?"

I smiled and sat on the couch. I grabbed the remote from the side table and began flipping channels. News, Cops, Judge Judy, Jeopardy, nothing really interesting. By the time Castle came in with the wine, I had already reached the movie channels.

"Anything good?" He asked as he handed me a full wine glass and sat down on the couch next to me. I could tell he wanted to sit closer, but he kept a safe distance probably for my sake.

"Nothing yet. Looking through the movies now." I took a sip of the white wine. It was a nice crisp Moscato, with just the right hint of sweetness I wanted.

"Is the wine to your satisfaction, milady?" He grinned as he saw me taking another longer sip from my glass.

I nodded and swirled it around. I turned back to the TV and it landed on another movie channel.

The feature movie was the Back-Up Plan.

"Oh, I love this movie!" Castle whispered.

A pregnant Jennifer Lopez was eating chili directly from the pot, and her ruggedly handsome love interest from Hawaii Five-Oh was commenting on her hunger.

We stayed silent, staring at the screen. Like clockwork, we both looked at each other with wide eyes. Castle began to smile, amused.

Pregnancy. Chili.

Was God trying to mess with me?

Without thinking, I turned off the TV suddenly.

"Don't. Say. Anything." I said, staring at the black TV screen.

I could still hear him snort under his breath. I shot a look sideways at him. "Don't."

"Come on, Beckett. You have to admit how hysterical that was!" He laughed, setting his glass down on the table.

"Not hysterical, weird. Just weird." I admitted. I rubbed my temples with my right forefinger and thumb. This fake pregnancy thing would not leave me alone!

"Hey!" Castle started. I opened my eyes to him standing up from the couch. "Let's go check and see how they are doing."

I groaned. "Why? That game is so weird!"

He offered me a hand to get up and pleaded. "C'mon Kate, it's fun! And I have to make the baby's room."

I looked into his eyes. He seemed convinced that because I hadn't wrung his neck for making pretend characters of us, that I approved of his fantasy manipulation. But he looked so excited, like he really was going to design a nursery.

This fatherly side of him warmed my heart and despite my best efforts at hiding it, I beamed up at him. "Well, if you are designing a room, you need a woman's touch. I don't want the kid to get scarred by the things you put in the room."

I smirked and stood without using his hand. His eyes gentled and we walked into the office together.

He gave me the chair and knelt down again by the desk. We opened the window to Sims, and looked at the 'Castle' family in action. 'Kate' was lying on the bed, reading a book calmly. 'Rick' was typing swiftly at the computer with a blue bar over his head, and a little icon at the side said that 'Alexis' was off at school.

The normalcy of the scene made my heart race. I looked closely at 'Kate's' stomach, and the bulge in the front looked a lot bigger. My brow furrowed as I looked down at the day counter. Only two days had passed since they had discovered her pregnancy.

"Well, that was quick." I said out loud. "I wish normal pregnancy was like that."

Rick chuckled. "Yes, for all parties included, that would be better."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Oh, you men. You guys think that the world is just SO out to get you when you have to deal with a pregnant woman. So weak."

Castle shuddered. "Most men don't have to deal with a pregnant Meredith for nine months. Hell. On. Earth." He emphasized every word. I snickered.

He then changed the subject. "Well, now that the baby is coming soon, we need to get designing."

I blushed at the intimacy of what he was saying, but hid it while moving out of the chair and teasing him. "Okay, Sims master. I will give your old bones the chair so you don't kill yourself."

He fake laughed, but took the chair anyway. "Very funny."

I stood behind him as he changed menus to edit the actual house. The whole planning looked very elaborate, lots of different tabs for different ways to decorate.

"Okay, this is the boring part, where I add onto the house."

I tried not to get distracted by his gorgeous hair in front of me, and watched as he made new walls and floor, making sure the outside of these walls matched the outside of the rest of the house.

When he finished, he glanced back at me. "What color should the walls be?"

"Blue." I said automatically, implying exactly what he thought I meant.

"A boy?" He smiled gently.

"Yeah, I just know." I smiled. I had the little voice of my wall inside telling me that I was taking this too seriously, but I didn't care. I was having fun.

He chose a lighter blue with a white border and covered the walls in it.

"Okay, so carpet or hardwood floors?"

At the same time, we both confirmed, "Carpet."

After trying to hide the blush, I picked the paw print carpet for the room.

Castle then entered the kid's room tab, where all the baby essentials seemed to be stashed. The different cribs, the baby changing stations, and the high chairs were all categorized together. After choosing the right blue ones, Castle went through all the toys.

"There are not many toys, so I guess we'll have to buy all of them." And he filled the room with xylophones, talking rabbit heads, toy blocks, and teddy bears.

"You loved buying toys for Alexis, didn't you?" I said softly in his ear.

He smiled and his eyes glazed over as he thought of the past. "Yeah. I went overboard like this too. I spent half of a book advance on her room." He chuckled.

He moved his head to give me a better look at the room. "Does it look okay?"

I looked at the filled room. Any kid would have been lucky to get that room, full of toys and all it needed. I smiled lovingly as my eyes glistened a little. "It's kind of perfect." I whispered.

He looked back up at me, that look of love back in his eyes. The look that took my breath away. I cleared my throat and tried to get his unwavering attention off of me. "Well, let's let them see it."

He chuckled and pressed the play button.

Suddenly both 'Rick' and 'Kate' got up from what they were doing and inspected the new room and all the new items in it. The way 'Kate' was waddling made both Castle and I laugh.

Our laughter was cut short as the camera focused in on 'Kate' again. I gasped and grabbed involuntarily to Castle's shoulder. I knew those camera zooms meant something was going to happen.

'Kate' raised her hand like she did before, but then she clutched her stomach, howling. 'Rick' turned to her and grabbed his head in exasperation, jumping up and down.

My heart was racing. What was wrong? I looked down at Castle and he was smiling from ear to ear.

"What, Castle?"

"It's starting, Kate."

TBC

I AM UPDATING THIS TOMORROW. So do not panic! I will not take another week hiatus, especially on a cliffhanger like this.

Please leave a review! Or find me on tumblr and leave me a message! My tumblr name is the same as my username on here, nikkicaskettlover. Thank you for reading!

~Nikki

BTW, what other Back-Up Plan parallel do you think I am going to use next? :)