Author's Note: Sometimes I just love writing fanfic and picturing everything in my head just like it plays out on the screen. I can literally picture very moment and every facial expression... I can hear the way they say the dialogue and I just love doing it. Also... Review if you totally called it before this chapter... you'll know what I'm talking about when it happens! hehe...
Disclaimer: If I owned Castle, I wouldn't have credit card debt...
"Kate… what happened?" he asks in a voice that only she can hear, as he watches the tears fall down her face.
"You were in an accident, Rick. There was a drunk driver and we… God… we almost lost you."
He takes a moment to look at his surroundings. Alexis is sleeping in a chair by the foot of his bed, and he sees his mother's coat on the chair next to that.
"Your mom must have gotten up to get something to eat." She says, swiping at the tears on her face.
"Kate, I'm okay…" he says quietly, not wanting to wake his daughter just yet. "I'm sorry I missed our dinner date."
At this statement, fresh tears make their way down Kate's face, and she allows herself the indulgence of resting her head near his chest once more.
"I told you that you weren't ever going to lose me Kate…"
"It's so much more than that now, Rick… how… you don't understand."
He looks at her in confusion because he's never seen her quite this shaken or unable to form her thoughts.
"Have I been out longer than I think I have?"
She smiles then, knowing that all she was doing was confusing the poor man.
"No… it's just… you put a wrench in my plan. When I got that call… everything just stopped and all I could think of was what you were… what we were going to miss. I had it all planned out."
Now he's even more confused. "Kate, I'm not going to miss anything."
"I know, but I… I thought that you were… I don't think I could do this on my own."
"Kate, you're stronger than you give yourself credit for." He says, shaking his head and closing his eyes… trying to resist falling asleep again, and failing.
The next words out of her mouth weren't said in the way that she had hoped, after a lovely dinner and small talk over candlelight… after letting him discover the small photograph she put under his plate for when she went to clean up after their meal.
"Castle, I'm pregnant."
With a small smile, the last thing she hears him mutter is, "Caskett babies…"
"Katherine?" she hears, and turns quickly towards the source.
"Martha, how long have you been there."
"That depends…" she says, with a smile to the younger woman.
"On?" Kate answers with a question.
"On whether or not you're ready for everyone to know your secret."
"Everyone… no. You and Alexis… yes." She says with a smile.
"Katherine Beckett, while this has been one of the worst days, you have made it simply one of the best… and even though my son fell asleep, I know that he's going to be over the moon about this." Martha says, coming over to her son's bedside to hug her future daughter in law.
"Kate… Gram?"
"Alexis, darling… your father woke up for a few minutes, which is a good sign. Now Katherine is going to tell the nurse about that, while I take you to get some breakfast and we grab some food for your wonderful Stepmother to be…"
"I want to be here when he wakes up again."
"He'll probably be in and out for a while, Lex… go get something to eat." Kate says with an encouraging nod.
They talk about the kids they're gonna have, and the good life.
The house on the hillside where they would stay,
Stay there forever, forever and always.
A few minutes after they left, the nurse came in to take vitals, which woke Castle from his slumber. He didn't say anything except answers to the nurse's questions, which led her to believe that maybe he hadn't heard anything she said… and maybe that was a good thing for right now.
She was wrong of course.
"So what do you think about Jameson or Nicole for middle names… that way what brought us together will be a part of him or her." He says, when the nurse leaves, promising that she will be back in another half hour to check on him again.
When Kate looks up and sees the smile on his face, she knows that Martha was right… he's over the moon. She smiles right back, and leans in to kiss him.
"So you're okay with this?"
"Okay with this… are you kidding me? Kate, I don't think that anything could make me happier than this."
"I was going to tell you tonight at dinner. I got a sonogram the other day, and hid the picture under your plate."
"You already went to the doctor? How long have you known?" he says with a frown.
"I got a positive test a few weeks ago, but then I… uh… I started bleeding a little bit, so I made an appointment."
All her thoughts were on the baby. How was she going to tell Castle and how was she going to… holy crap… she needed to figure all this out before her got back. She had just started wrapping her idea around this idea of having a baby a few days ago, which was a few days after the word pregnant stared up at her from the pregnancy test she bought while Castle was out of town at a book signing engagement.
Her only symptoms thus far were an aversion to anything with chocolate and the fact that she was late. However, she was starting to think that her bladder was starting to be of concern as well, when she had to go to the bathroom every hour on the hour.
This time, she wasn't prepared for what greeted her.
"Oh God…" she muttered to herself in the bathroom.
"Detective Beckett?" she heard from the stall next to her.
"Captain?" she questioned, knowing that was the voice she heard.
"Are you all right?"
"I uh… Yes… I'm… I'm fine." She says, not even convincing herself.
After a few minutes, she comes out of the stall to see Captain Gates leaning against the bathroom counter.
"Ma'am." Kate acknowledges.
"Detective… I may not be your best friend, but I know when something's wrong. You have the watery eyes of a woman who's about to break down." She says, and Kate glances up at her reflection to note that Gate was right about the unshed tears she didn't realize were there.
"It's nothing." Kate says, shrugging while internally screaming.
"Kate." The older woman says, putting her hand on the younger woman's shoulder.
"I'm… crap… I'm spotting a little… I don't… I uh…"
"Are you cramping up at all?"
Kate's eyebrows shoot up in surprise for a moment before answering, "No. Nothing like that. I just…"
"You start cramping, then I would worry. If not… don't. Make an appointment either way."
"Sir?"
"Two beautiful girls and one baby that wasn't meant to be, Detective. I think you all sometimes forget that I'm a woman… with a family at that."
Kate nods as she watches Gates push the door open, turning back before leaving completely, "and Detective… you tell me officially whenever you're ready… and make that appointment."
They hadn't been able to see her for a first OB appointment for another few weeks, but she hadn't experienced any cramping or any more bleeding after that. The secret held for a few more weeks and after Castle got home, but only because she needed to be sure everything was okay.
"But you're okay? The baby's okay?" he asks, concerned.
"The baby's fine, Castle. Nine weeks and strong."
The smile grows wider and she can tell he goes somewhere else in his head for a moment.
"Where were you?" she asks with a smile.
"You, me, baby, Alexis, mother… in the Hamptons. You trying to keep our little girl away from the water long enough to put sunscreen on her, and after that, trying to reign in her curls with a braid. God Kate… it's going to be amazing."
"What's going to be amazing?" they hear and turn towards the voice.