A/N: Hola! I hope you're all doing great, guys. Here's the next chap to this story. I am hoping to be done with another one and maybe a short epilogue after that. I might be able to finish this before Easter after all. YAY! :P

Thank you so much for your support. I really love reading your reviews, and every email I get, notifying a follow or a favorite, brings a smile to my face. You guys are awesome :)

Big shout out to my lovely Tshlw. I wouldn't be able to write a word without her. She's my best cheerleader/editor/bff. You are worth your weight in gold, girl.

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 3

First thing in the morning, while Kate was getting ready for work, Castle called Robbie, his lawyer.

He and Kate had discussed the possibility of her adopting Aidan legally soon after Castle got total custody of the child. She had been eager to do it from the very beginning, but the more they talked about it, the more doubts they came up with, due to the feeling that the events in Aidan's life were still very recent.

They both knew the boy was mad about Kate. He had been since minute one, but he had lost his mother and found out that he had a father he didn't know existed just a few months back, and that made them think that maybe it'd be better if they waited a bit longer to add a new factor to that equation.

Then, their engagement happened. Aidan seemed to be doing ok after his mom's death almost a year before, and was completely integrated in his new family, so, since they were going to take their relationship one step forward, it only seemed right to do the same with their son.

They wanted to tie the knot as a couple and as a family.

Castle called his lawyer back then, but once they had talked, the writer explained to Kate that the process would be a thousand times easier once they were officially married.

It took Kate a while to agree, but in the end they decided that if being married would speed the process in the end, they could wait a bit longer. They already were a family, with or without the papers to testify to it.

And that had been their plan… until now.

Castle understood Kate's worries about his son's behavior, and he was more than willing to start the adoption process for her. There was nothing he wanted more in the world – aside of getting married to her - but he didn't understand the sudden rush to do it.

After hanging up with his lawyer, he walked back into their room to find Kate sitting on their bed, buttoning up her shirt cuffs with a lost gaze.

"Hey." He muttered to make himself present. "I just hung up with Robbie."

Kate looked up, the tiredness on her face evident even under the thick layer of her make up. "Oh. What did he say?"

"Well…He was surprised. We had already agreed to wait until after the wedding."

Kate huffed a little annoyed. "People change their minds. And we don't even have a date for the wedding yet, Castle. We don't know how long that could be."

"I know." He rubbed his forehead and sat beside her on the bed. "He's meeting us today at 1 pm, if that's ok with you?"

Kate nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah. That's fine. I'll be there."

"Ok. Good."

After an awkward few seconds, he grabbed her hand and tugged at it for her to look at him. "Can I ask you something?"

Kate nodded once and tightened the grasp on his hand. "Sure."

"Um… I know… Please, don't get me wrong, ok?" He pleaded. "I know all this thing with Aidan is really getting to you; I totally understand, seriously. If it was me in your position, I'd be going crazy by now." He joked, trying to lighten the mood. "What I mean is… Why now? What's changed for you to want to do it all so suddenly?" He paused for a second to clear his mind and then added, "You know this won't change things with Aidan, right? He doesn't understand what the adoption papers will mean; how they will change your legal relationship."

Kate scoffed and took her hand away. "This is not about Aidan, Rick. I know he won't care about that bureaucracy. This is about me. I want to be his mother and I don't see the sense in waiting any longer." She reasoned, looking outraged.

Castle nodded, but he wasn't able to reply before Kate started speaking again.

"Remember that time when Aidan was sent to the ER from school?"

He assented, his eyes locked with hers. "Yes. That's when he got his appendix taken out."

"Uh huh. Well… That day I had to take out my badge so the nurse would let me in to see him." She admitted looking up at him under her thick eyelashes.

"WHAT!" Castle squeaked; his brow furrowed. "You never told me that." How could she hide something like that from him?

"Castle, you were worried sick about your son going through surgery. Me having to show off my badge didn't seem exactly important at the moment."

"Yeah." He sighed. "I guess. But after… You could have told me."

Kate sighed loudly. "The thing is that I don't want that to happen again. I don't want to have to flash my badge at a nurse just to be allowed to see my baby when he's sick and alone, laying on a hospital bed." She took a deep breath and pursed her lips, reaching for his hand again. "Maybe you're right and this thing with Aidan has speeded things up. Hearing him say I'm not his mother last night… That was hard, you know?"

"I know, Kate, and I'm sorry if I made you feel like you had to justify yourself. I understand your point, it was just a bit sudden after we decided to wait, but seriously, there is nothing I want more than you to become Aidan's mother for real."

She gave him a broad smile and squeezed his hand. "Thank you, babe. You know I love that kid more than anything in the world."

Castle smiled at that and pulled her closer for a sideways hug, pressing a kiss to her temple as soon as she was close enough.

"So… Um. You love him more than you love me?" He asked wrinkling his nose, oozing mischief.

Kate chuckled and pecked him on the lips before tweaking his ear. "They're two different kinds of love, you lovely idiot." She laughed. "Now, come on. I'm gonna be late for work."

They spent over an hour at the lawyer's office that afternoon, going through paperwork and discussing how the process would be.

Since Castle was Aidan's father and he was willingly authorizing Kate for the adoption, the requirements were not going to be as exhaustive as you would expect them to be.

Robbie warned Kate about the interviews and how she could expect to be grilled about her lifestyle, the way her getting hurt at work would affect the child, or how she dealt with her gun at home.

Those would be the rougher patches along the way. The actual hard part, which was the adaptation process for the child to get integrated into the new family, was something they wouldn't have to deal with again, so the lawyer didn't see any kind of impediment for Kate to be granted the shared custody of Aidan.

Feeling, at the least, a little bit relieved, Kate pushed the lobby door open and stepped outside, breathing in deeply. Castle was right behind her and winded a reassuring arm around her waist as soon as they set a foot on the street.

"This is looking good." He mumbled against her temple, leaving a soft kiss there.

Kate smiled and leaned into his warmth. "Yeah. I can't wait for it to be done."

"I know." He sighed. "Want me to walk you back to the precinct?"

Kate smirked and leaned in to kiss his lips softly. "Actually, that won't be necessary. I took the rest of the day off." She grinned. "Since I have to work tomorrow and will be missing our Christmas Eve dinner, I thought it'd be nice to spend today with you, guys. I might even try talking to the munchkin. See if he gives something up about why he's so mad at me."

Castle beamed at her and set them into motion. "That's a great idea, love. I'm sure he'll open up soon."

He was worried about the situation with Aidan, but he couldn't help but feeling excited about Kate embracing the idea of a family Christmas. The previous year had been pretty hard for all of them…

Aidan was still recovering from losing his mother and had only been in the family for a few short months. He was mostly ok, but he obviously missed his mommy very much and couldn't help asking about her every now and again, causing everyone to hurt for him immensely.

And Beckett… Well, her dislike for the season was pretty much known by everyone in the Castle household, so when she announced that she was not going to be there for the celebrations, it was not exactly a shock for anybody, except Aidan who didn't take it well.

So seeing how things were and hating having to spend such important days away from his girlfriend, Castle's brain turned into gear and he decided that, if Kate wasn't coming home for Christmas, Christmas would have to go to Kate.

The whole family spent that night at the precinct, eating among all the detectives and officers working the night shift, singing Christmas carols and opening little gifts Castle had managed to get for every single one of them.

It was a magical night and Kate thanked him for it in several ways, one of them being a promise to be with them for Christmas the next year, which she was actually going to do after her shift on Christmas Eve.

When they arrived home, they found Martha sitting on the couch reading a script while she watched Aidan as he played with what seemed to be the entire LEGO factory.

The little tiles were spread all over the place forming colorful piles, towers and some pretty impressive walls.

"Hey bug!" Castle greeted kneeling down beside his son. "You building a fort here?"

Aidan nodded but never looked back at his dad, completely focused on his task.

"Can I join you?" The writer tried again, a little concerned about the boy ignoring him. Normally, he was all over him (and Kate) when they got back from anywhere he wasn't allowed to accompany them to.

The kid shook his head and kept on playing, not raising his eyes from his newest construction.

"O-kay…" Castle mumbled, getting up from the floor and wincing at both his mother and his fiancée. "Looks like he's mad at me now."

Martha hummed and nodded, passing another page on the script she was reading. "He must be mad at everybody today. He hasn't spoken a word to me all morning and he didn't want to kiss Alexis goodbye when she left for her study group earlier."

"Well, that's weird." Castle observed. "He's never done this before. I don't get it."

Kate sighed and left herself fall onto one of the kitchen stools, feeling completely defeated. "This is all my fault. He's mad at me and I don't even know wh-…" She gasped midsentence when realization hit her. "Oh, crap."

"What?" Castle asked intrigued. "What is it? You ok?"

Kate nodded dumbly and bit her lip. "Yeah. I just… I remembered something."

Rick's eyebrows raised in amusement. "You remembered what exactly?" The writer inquired, his curiosity growing.

"I'd rather talk to Aidan first. Alone." She remarked, raising from the stool and heading to the bedroom to get changed. "I think I know how to fix this."

With Martha having left for her studio, for a rehearsal with her students, and Castle at the store, getting some groceries for the Christmas Eve dinner, Kate was left alone at the loft with Aidan.

Her fiancé had been very reluctant to leave the two of them alone after the previous night's incident, but she had managed to persuade him, even though he had been extremely curious about what she was going to talk to the boy about. Nothing she hadn't been able to placate with a soft kiss and a "trust me, Castle" as she pushed him out the door.

Now, she was perched at the office door, watching Aidan play with his colorful sea of Legos, building taller and taller walls around him, like a painful metaphor.

Taking a deep breath she started pacing to the kitchen, trying not to pay attention to the boy as she passed beside him. She wanted to give him space until she found a way to approach him.

She grabbed a bunch of ingredients from the pantry and set up camp on the counter, to start mixing the batter for her favorite gingerbread cookies. It was her mom's recipe and she hadn't made them in a while, but they were delicious and if her plan didn't go well, at least she would have something to nibble on while she drowned her pain in hot chocolate.

The batter was ready and she put it to chill in the fridge. It would still take a while for it to be ready for rolling, so she decided to sit in the living room with Aidan.

The boy was now playing with his hot wheels, rolling them inside the impressive wall he had built around himself, making gear noises that made him purse his lips in an extremely cute pout.

"Hey, bug. I am making cookies." She started, her tone as friendly as she could manage. "Would you like to help me decorate them later?"

She got no response, which didn't surprise her at all. There had to be a way to make him talk.

"Aidan? Did you hear me?" She asked, slipping down from the couch to the floor and sitting crossed legged right beside the tile fort. "Can you talk to me? Please?"

The boy stopped playing with his car, inhaled deeply and simply shook his head.

"O-kay." She whispered to herself. "So you won't tell me why you are so mad at me?"

"No." The boy barked, surprising her with the harshness of his voice. "Go away."

Kate's heart broke at his words, but she didn't move. She had told Castle that she would fix this mess and she would. She had to gain her little boy back.

"I am not going anywhere, Aidan." She vowed. "Please, tell me what's wrong, baby."

The kid dropped his red car and turned to face her with two fat tears rolling down his face. "I'm not your baby!" He yelled, trying to escape from inside the Lego fort he had created and tripping over, falling face first into Kate's open arms.

The kid squirmed and tried to throw off her arms, but she held him tight against her chest. "Of course you are my baby, Aidan. You will always be."

"No." He sobbed against her neck. "You are having another one and you won't want me anymore."

Ah, there it was. Exactly what she suspected. He heard her talking to Lanie and her stupid doubts about having two kids to take care of had resulted in this nonsensical and painful misunderstanding.

It still escaped her mind how it had taken her almost two days to realize what was going on. How could she call herself a detective? It had been so obvious.

"Shh. Aw, sweetie. Of course I want you." She whispered in his ear, cradling him softly to calm him down. "No matter how many babies I have, I will always love you, Aidan."

"But you said you didn't want two babies. You said it was too much."

Damn her stupid mouth! How could she even think something like that?

She exhaled loudly and brushed a hand through Aidan's hair. "I know I said a lot of silly things the other day, baby, but I was scared, you know? Like when you have those ugly nightmares."

The boy raised his eyes and looked at her with a hurt glare. Ok, not the best choice of words. "What I mean is that I felt a little lost and afraid and sometimes when one is feeling that way, they say some stupid stuff."

"Stupid is a bad word." The boy sniffled. "You owe daddy a dollar."

Kate couldn't help but laugh at the kid's remark. "Yes, I do." She chuckled. "Now, can you tell me why you got so mad at me? I understand you were scared too?"

She questioned, her hand never leaving the soft strands of hair in the boy's crown.

He nodded and snuggled closer to her, causing a soft smile to bloom on her face.

"Aidan, I want you to know something. Look at me, babe." She commanded, tilting his face so he would meet her eyes. "I love you more than anything in the world and that will never change, you hear me? Ever."

"Even when you have the new baby?" He asked, his lower lip pouting out.

"Even then. And the new baby will love you so much too. You know why?"

Aidan shook his head and sniffled. "Why?"

"Because when that baby comes, you will become its big brother and he or she will be so proud of you, Aidan. You will be their hero." Kate explained, smiling at the kid's awed expression. "You will get to teach them how to play, how to trick mom and dad, how to get into our bed without being noticed…" She joked. "You guys will have so much fun together."

"Will he play laser tag with me and daddy and Lexi?" He asked completely thrilled.

"Sure!" Kate assented. "But… we don't know if it'll be a boy yet, hon."

"But I already have Lexi! Can we take it back if it's another girl?"

The detective tried to hold back the fit of laughter that she felt coming at the boy's question, but she barely managed to do it. "Um… I am afraid not, bug. But girls can be pretty fun too, you know." She reassured, stroking his back. "You love playing with your sister."

"Yeah." Aidan agreed. "But a boy would be way cooler."

Kate snorted and kissed the top of the kid's head, pulling him closer to her and savoring the first moment of peace in the last 24 hours.

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for reading. I hope you guys are enjoying the journey as much as I am.

Please leave a comment below so I know what you liked the most; or the less. What would you do after this? How would you think Kate should tell Castle about the baby? I would love to know what you think.

Until next time! xoxo