Previously:

As if reading her thoughts, Castle bent his head and kissed her gently. She moaned into his mouth, pressing her body closer to his. Forget playing it cool, I need more. She whined when he pulled away, her lips sticking out in a sexy pout. "Only for you." He purred in her ear.

Despite the sexual intensity hanging in the air, Kate couldn't control the laughter that suddenly erupted from her. She was pulling in deep breaths, trying to get air as she held her sides laughing. Castle simply gawked at her a moment. "I'm not sure I've ever made you laugh that hard before." He mused, raising a brow.

"That….was….so…..cheesy." She managed between gasps for air. Rick shook his head in amusement. He'd never had a woman laugh at that line before. Of course Kate wasn't like most women he knew either. Seeing that the moment was lost, Rick grabbed the glasses and poured them a glass of wine each.

Richard Castle sat at his desk, putting the finishing touches on Heat Wave. It was a quiet day at the precinct and Kate had ordered Castle to spend some time at home. He had come home to peace and quiet, not something that happened often. A note left on the counter told him that Alexis and Martha had gone out shopping. He'd been going at it for at least an hour, when a knock broke his concentration. Secretly hoping it was Kate coming by for a surprise visit, he hurried to the door and threw it open.

Seeing a pregnant, upset and crying Meredith on the other side of the door was not what Castle had expected. "Meredith?" He couldn't keep the surprise off his face. It had been quite some time since he'd seen her last and she had left in a rather happy mood. Meredith poured herself into Castle's embrace, soaking his shirt with fresh tears. He managed to close the door and lead her to the couch. "Meredith, what's going on?"

"He….he…..left me." She sobbed.

"Who?"

"Derek."

Alexis and Martha chose that moment to return home from their shopping escapade. Alexis, seeing her sobbing mother, immediately dropped her bags and rushed over. "Mom?! What's wrong?"

"Oh, I'm fine sweetie." Meredith tried to smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I just decided to stop by."

"Is the baby okay?" Alexis was rapidly giving her mother a once over. She'd have Beckett on the phone in five second if she saw even one mark on her mother.

"We're fine sweetie, I promise." Meredith straightened up a little and attempted to smooth the wrinkles form her shirt. She glanced to Martha, giving her a curt nod and then looked to Richard. "Can I stay here?"

"Of course, for as long as you need." Richard smiled and moved to the kitchen, pouring Meredith a glass of water.

"Come on Mom, I'll get you set up in the spare bedroom and you can see what gram and I bought today." Alexis smiled, picked up her bags and led her mother up the stairs.

Martha watched as the two disappeared and turned to her son. "What are you doing?" She tried to sound calm, but her tone was anything but.

He gave his mother a sad look. "Meredith and I may not always get along, but I'm not going to kick her out, especially since she's pregnant." He ran a hand through his hair in defeat. Martha looked like she was going to protest, but he cut her off. "I know mother, but I'm thinking more for this child than Meredith. You know how she was when she was pregnant with Alexis. I had to force her to go to those appointments." His mother nodded in remembrance.

"What are you going to tell Beckett?"

He felt his shoulders slump as he found himself suddenly worn down. He was not about to see Meredith pop out another child and completely forget about it. He'd seen how it affected Alexis and what made matters worse was that this child had no father. "I don't know what I'll tell her, but I will." He gave his mother a weak smile and disappeared into his office.

Kate smiled as she saw Rick enter the precinct, but her smile faded as she took in his demeanor. He looked tired, disheveled, as if he'd had a bad morning. He plopped into his chair with a small grunt and attempted to smile. "Morning." Was his only statement.

She tilted her head slightly, confused. "Is everything alright Castle?"

"Yea, sure, just a weird day yesterday."

Ready to ask him why, Kate was interrupted by Ryan and Esposito's approach. "We got a murder in Central Park." Kate and Richard stood, but he halted at the sound of his phone.

"Hello…..what's wrong……ok, I'll be right there." He clicked his phone shut with a resounding sigh and Kate's worry ratcheted up a notch.

"Is Alexis alright?"

He nodded and grabbed his coat. "You guys go ahead."

"You gonna catch up?" Esposito was beginning to worry about his friend. He'd never seen Castle like this before.

"Tomorrow." Was Rick's only reply as he turned and strode toward the elevators. The three detectives watched him walk away, each of them trying to figure out what was wrong with their friend.

At the crime scene, Lanie took notice to Kate's off mood and pulled her aside. "What's wrong?"

"Hmmmm?" Kate knew what she meant, but wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about it.

"Something's wrong and not just with you. I saw how you guys reacted when I asked about Castle. Tell me."

She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "He showed up at the precinct today looking like he'd gotten no sleep, so completely……..un-Castle." She heaved a frustrated sigh. "He got a phone call right before we left and told us to go without him and that he'd be back tomorrow."

Lanie shrugged. "I'm sure he's just having a bad day. We all get those from time to time, even famous Rick Castle." She offered her best friend a gentle smile and a hug. "No need to panic."

Alexis began rifling through the papers strewn about on the dinner table. She could hear a phone ringing and was trying to find it before whoever was calling could hang up. She found it at last and answered, knowing her father was busy. "Hello?"

"Alexis? Is your father ok?"

"Kate? Ummm, yea Dad's fine. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, he just seemed out of sorts today." Kate still sounded worried.

Alexis wasn't quite sure how much she should divulge to the detective. She figured her Dad would tell her when he was ready. "He's ok, I promise." Kate accepted this answer for the moment and said her goodbye.

Alexis found her father in his office, staring at his laptop. He wasn't working, she could tell by his still hands in his lap. "Dad?" He looked up at her, smiling.

"Hey pumpkin."

"Dad, are you ok?" She moved so she was standing at his desk, her hands idly turning his cell phone over and over. He noticed her worry and frowned. "Kate just called," she continued, when he didn't respond, "She asked if you were ok."

"I didn't mean to scare you Alexis, I've just had a lot on my mind since yesterday." He closed the laptop and scooted back. Alexis made her way around the desk and sat in his lap. He hugged her tightly.

"About mom?" She felt him nod and sighed. "I'm angry at her." She finally admitted after a moment of silence. Rick leaned back a bit to look at his daughter.

"Why?" He brushed a stray hair away from her eyes.

"I hate knowing that she carelessly got pregnant and will be having another child that she will most likely abandon." Ricky hugged Alexis once more, knowing what this was doing to her.

"Don't you dare worry yourself over this, do you understand?" He said, giving her stern, yet soft look. "You have school and boys to worry about. I'll take care of your mother. Ok?" Alexis nodded and stood.

"I've got homework to finish." She stated simply, giving her father a peck on the cheek. He watched her leave and heaved a heavy sigh. What was he going to do? What in God's name was he going to tell Kate? Would she be ok with Meredith living here and him helping her with the pregnancy? He laid his head in his hands and grunted. This sucked!

Castle returned to work the next day as his usual self. He brought coffee and donuts for everyone as an apology for his mood the previous day. He flirted, teased and got on Kate's nerves like he did any other day. Kate was beginning to think that Castle had indeed just had a bad day. It wasn't until it came time for everyone to head home. Esposito and Ryan had already disappeared, leaving Kate and Rick to themselves. "Want to come over tonight?" She offered, a hint of seduction in her voice. She barely caught the flicker of emotion in his eyes before it disappeared. Fear? What was he scared of?

He smiled genuinely. "Sorry, not tonight." He glanced around the bull pen, and upon seeing that they were indeed alone, he leaned forward and kissed her gently. As her body responded to the kiss, her hands reached out to grab his shirt, but he was already pulling away. "Night Kate." She watched him walk away. Her body screaming that it wanted more and for him to march his ass right back here and finish what he started. Kate felt more confused tonight than she had the night before. Something was definitely going on.

Another two weeks passed with same behavior. Kate was beginning to feel like she was going mad. He hadn't asked her to come over or even to go over to her place. He still flirted and pushed her buttons, but at the end of the day it all seemed to disappear. She'd called Alexis again a couple days ago and had gotten simple answers from the teen. She hated that should couldn't figure out what was going on, it was so unlike her.

Castle sat across from Meredith in the living room. She was stretched out on the couch, a Cosmo mag in hand. "What are you going to do?"

She plopped her magazine down on her steadily showing stomach. "About what?" She asked as though she had no idea.

"The baby Meredith." He could feel his frustration beginning to rise.

"I plan on having it." She picked at the edge of one of the pages, her eyes not meeting his.

"Then what?" He wasn't about to let her slide on this conversation. When she didn't respond, he continued. "Are you going to get a job? How are you going to support this baby?"

She nodded, her eyes still not meeting his. "Meredith. I don't want you to do the same thing to this child that you did to Alexis." Meredith looked about to protest to his statement, but he cut her off. "No, don't try and tell me different. Where were you for Alexis's ballet recital? Or how about her thanksgiving school play?" He pulled in a deep breath to calm his suddenly shot nerves.

"I'm keeping this child Richard." She stated definitely, holding her magazine back up and proceeding to ignore him.

Rick sat with Meredith the next day at her doctors appt. He was flipping through some magazine, but wasn't even really looking at the pages. It was just some action to occupy his time. He still couldn't believe Meredith wanted to keep the baby. Meredith had been whiney most of the morning and Rick kept trying to tell himself it was just pregnancy hormones. His patience was running thin. All he wanted to do was get this appointment over with, take Meredith home and get to the precinct. Unbeknownst to him, his day was going to get a whole lot worse.

Kate gave a relieved sigh as she stepped into the air conditioned lobby. Spring had decided to come early in New York and it arrived with a vengeance. It was already pushing eighty and it was even noon yet. She was here to speak to a victims doctor. A young woman had been murdered in her home and she'd been a few months pregnant. They had yet to find any family members, so Kate was hoping to get some information from the woman's doctor. Stepping off the elevator onto the third floor. She pushed open the door of Dr. Herrera, OBGYN. The waiting area was fairly empty, her steady gaze taking in every couple. There was one couple being led to the back and Kate could swear she recognized the voice of the male. The female turned to the nurse and Kate immediately recognized Meredith. Her brain rapidly pulled the memory or her talk with Alexis. No surprise that was she was pregnant. Kate shrugged and made her way to the counter, she had work to do. It was as she was following the doctor back to her office that she heard it. Richard Castle. Clear as day. She stopped in her tracks, her head whipping around to where she heard the voice. Sure enough, Castle was standing at the scale, trying to console a sobbing Meredith. "Meredith, you're supposed to gain weight with the pregnancy. It's normal." Meredith didn't seem to care as she continued to cry all the way to their room.

"Detective?" Dr. Herrera's voice broke through Kate's day time nightmare. She immediately chastised herself for falling out of performance while on the job and smiled, continuing to follow the doctor. Despite her pleasant outside appearance, on the inside Kate was falling apart. No wonder he doesn't ask me out anymore. No wonder he takes so much time off. I know I should have known better! Kate knew what she had to do. After work, she would go to Castle's and do what had to be done. For her sanity and for the sake of the baby, their relationship had to end.