Chapter 2- Big News on a Slow Day

Kate was actually kind of excited to have Castle stay at home for a while before coming into the precinct. She was having a rough day; she woke up strangely sore, and couldn't understand why. It was possible that it had something to do with the night before but it wasn't that kind of sore. Yes, she has felt sore after a night in Castle's bed before but never like this.

She ran down the events of the past couple months in her head on the drive over to the precinct. They had been working really hard on their last cases, spending nights on the couch in the break room and sometimes too exhausted to even make it to the bedroom when they did go home. Her body acted weirdly when she had cases like that, but never this long.

There was no doubt in her mind that she was late, but sometimes it was because of her bad dietary habits and lack of sleep not because of that. It couldn't be because of that. She's been on birth control for years, and her body always worked itself out in the end, but it never took this long.

As she stopped at a red light, a bright sign flashed in her peripherals causing her to glance over and see an ad for half-off pregnancy tests. Maybe she should just get a test. What would it hurt?

"Yo Beckett, where's Castle?" Esposito yelled across the bullpen as she stepped out of the elevator.

"He's uhmm… he's talking with… with Paula," Beckett said as her mind drifted to the small paper sack in her bag.

"You okay boss?" Ryan asked wondering why his boss was acting suspiciously and why her partner was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't unusual for Castle to be gone when they just had paperwork to do, but it was strange for his boss to be acting this distracted while he was gone.

"Yeah, fine," Beckett stopped the conversation right there and turned on her computer to start her paperwork and get her mind off the little stick tearing a hole in her bag.

Ryan and Esposito exchanged looks and a head nod towards the break room. When they reached the room they closed the door to discuss what could possibly be wrong with their boss and her partner. They both hoped that mom and dad weren't fighting. They knew they got in fights sometimes, what couples don't, but it hasn't been this awkward in months. After discussing all the possibilities of what could be wrong, they decide to bring Beckett a cup of coffee and maybe get an insight into what was clearly eating away at Beckett's mind.

"Hey boss here's some coffee," Ryan said as he placed it on her desk and walked back to his own.

For the next half hour Kate didn't even touch the cup, she didn't even glance at it when Ryan placed it on her desk. She didn't even realize it was there until she finally decided to get up and go to the bathroom. She couldn't think straight her mind was drifting between a good future with rick and a baby and to a bad future of him becoming a single parent again because her job took her life, like her mother's took hers. Back and forth between good and bad, and she didn't even know if she was pregnant yet. She got up, grabbed her bag, and quickly stepped towards the women's bathroom as if she couldn't wait any longer.

She paced in the bathroom for what seemed like hours until her alarm went off and she finally turned the stick over slowly like her life depended on it. Well it did, but it couldn't be that bad. If she was pregnant she would be happy, right? And if she wasn't, would she be content as well?

Quit stalling and just do it!

She flipped over the stick to see one word staring back at her clear as day, when she heard a knock at the door.

Startled, she dropped the stick into the sink and cursed out loud at her clumsy fingers.

"Kate, are you okay in there?"

"Crap, Castles here," she thought trying to shove the stick into her purse before running her fingers through her hair that she apparently tangled while waiting the ever so agonizing five minutes.

When she exited the bathroom he grabbed her elbow lightly and led her to the break room. Why was he rushing her away? It's not like he was hiding a small baby from her, or did he know before she did? He did know her better than she did sometimes but would he know her cycle well enough to where he knew she was two months late.

"Look Kate, there's something I need to tell you," he said while locking the door and closing the blinds. He knew she could be mad so why have an audience for his possible death.

Kate ran all the possibilities of what could be so important that he felt the need to close the blinds. Maybe he did know she was pregnant, maybe something happened to Alexis or maybe he got dropped by Black Pawn.

Castle could see Kate running her mind into places he knew he didn't want to reach; it wasn't that big of a deal. He was just going to ask her if they could take a trip. It was a trip on Christmas, and to Texas, but it was still just a trip. He could do it. Just do it.

"Kate, I need to tell you something you might not want to hear," he said already regretting his word choice by the look she started to give him. "No, it's not bad; well I don't think it is. It's just kind of difficult to explain."

Kate looked at him patiently. She knew that what he was trying to say must be important to him so she waited his rambling out, knowing he would get to the point eventually.

"Look, what I'm trying to say is that something has come up with work and I have to go to Dallas for a couple meetings and a small book tour. It's a couple days before and after Christmas and I wanted you, your dad and the boys to come with us. It will be like we are taking Christmas south for the year. What do you say? Will you go with me?"

Kate looked at Rick admiringly. She saw how much thought he put into this and it was kind of cute how worked up he got up about it. Maybe they could have a kid together; maybe she would be okay with him.

"Kate," he said wondering where she went.

"Oh Castle of course I'll go to Texas with you, always right?"

He grabbed her up and twisted her around. He knew she hate PDA, especially at work, but he couldn't help it. He worked himself up to believe the worst was going to happen. When he finally let her down, she hit his arm playfully. It hurt a little, but he didn't care because she surprised him more and more every day.

"Castle, you follow me at work every day, even when I just have paperwork, sometimes. The least I could do is use a little vacation time to follow you with your work."

"You know I love you, right?"

"I love you, too, but I have paperwork to do and you have a vacation to plan so go home and get started on that while I tell the boys to pack up there stuff and beg Gates for the time off," Kate said while shoving Castle towards the elevator.

When the doors closed, Kate sighed with relief. She knew that Castle would do anything for her so it is a good thing for her to do this for him. He needed this deal, especially if she really was pregnant. He would need to have something to distract him while he took care of their children. Child? How could she be thinking about more children with this man if they weren't even engaged, yet? She thought about dropping hints and hopefully he would use his supposed detecting skills he claimed to have to realize what she was trying to tell him without even having to tell him.

When she got back to her desk she saw her personalized coffee cup that Castle got her for their anniversary. It said "Coffee is love, especially in the Morning," she smiled at the cup, grabbed her phone, and went to the stairwell to call her Doctor. She was going to make sure that she was pregnant and knew that no other man in the world could be a more perfect father.