Disclaimer: I do not own Castle.

Please let me know what you think of my story, I'd really appreciate it.


"Kate," Rick nudged her shoulder softly.
"Kate," he kissed her temple, then her cheek.

She knew she must have dosed off in the car on the way home, she had let Rick drive in case she felt sick again.

"Sweetheart," he whispered, "we're home, you need to get to bed."

She stirred in her seat as she registered his words, looked at him and smiled. He called me sweetheart – that was a first, I like it.

"Do you want me to carry you, or do you think you can walk?" He was so caring and concerned.

"I can walk," she said, "I'm fine, just tired."

"Well," he didn't like this, "a lot tired, by the looks of it."

She chuckled, if only she had told him already. Then she could tell him that this was all his fault, the exhaustion, the nausea, all of it. Kate didn't want to just blurt it out in the car, she had wanted to tell him the day before. The announcement would have to be epic, about as epic as the day of the conception, if the tables were turned and Rick had information this big he would go all out. Kate had no ideas that could possibly top Ricks birthday surprise, but she had to find a way.

"Babe?" Kate didn't know how she would tell him, she just knew that she didn't want him to be out of the loop for any longer than need be, "would you ask Alexis to join us for dinner tonight?" She didn't know if Rick had told her about the engagement, and she wanted make sure her future step-daughter to knew about the ring first.

"Uhm, well," he hesitated a little, "are you sure that's a good idea? You might be contagious."

"I don't think it's contagious," she smiled to herself, adding for good measure, "or you would have caught it too."

"You know," he shook his head in concede, "you're right. I'll call her during her lunchbreak."

Kate had slowly made her way through the door and into the bedroom, where she unceremoniously ridded herself of her clothes. She put on Ricks things from this morning and crawled into bed.

"Rick?" she wasn't sure where he was as she was drifting out of consciousness, but heard footsteps coming her way. "Stay with me?" Kate said softly and patted the other side of the bed.

He didn't answer, but she felt him get in and move closer. She wrapped herself around him and was asleep in seconds, feeling completely safe in his arms.

She was startled awake by the sound of her phone ringing. She heard Rick voice, "Beckett's phone." She looked around for a second, to see if she could spot him. He had obviously left the bed when she was out cold. When she realized he was out of sight, she closed her eyes and listened intently.

"Yes, sir. Thank you, I'll tell her." She heard pride in his voice and wondered briefly what it could be about.

She heard his approach and opened her eyes, not wanting him to think she was still sleeping.

"Who was it?" her curiosity peeking, who could blame her, the phone call had been meant for her anyways.

"It was the AG's office," he was about to burst with pride, "you go the job, you just have to call them back tomorrow and accept." He was happy for her, but she wasn't sure how this would play out.

Can I possibly take the job, just to sit on the bench? The AG was not hiring her to sit her behind a desk and do paperwork, or would they just to be able to … No, no one would do that – it was stupid to even consider.

"Hey? Where did you go just now?" He could always tell when she was about to lose herself in her own thoughts.

"I was just thinking," she took a deep breath, "just wondering how we will make it work if I go to DC."

"If?" He looked straight into her eyes and held her gaze for a second. "Beckett, this is the opportunity of a lifetime." He always called her Beckett when it was about work, as a rule she set for them after they had crossed the line from partners to lovers. Not wanting to give people a reason to think things were different. "We will make this work, Kate," his voice was low, "I love you and that's all we need right now. I can come visit you in DC some weeks and you can come home and see everyone here some weeks, we will make this work."

Will he feel the same way after I tell him?

"I love you too," she said softly and kissed him, putting as much feeling into it as she could.

"Alexis will be home any minute now," Rick told her as she walked in to the kitchen, kissing her lightly. She could really get used to this.

"Well, then I better get dressed," she left the kitchen heading for the bedroom and quickly changed into her own clothes.

"You're positive that you are feeling better?" He looked her over, she didn't look sick did she, or sound sick.

"I'm fine," she gave him a hug, "don't worry." He sighed and went back to work on their food.

He was putting the finishing touches on dinner when the front door opened and in walked the graceful ginger.

"Hi," she called into the loft as she quickly ridded herself of her umbrella and jacket, that was a little damp. "What's so important that I had to be home for dinner tonight?"

Rick put his arm firmly around Kates' waist as his face broke into a radiating smile, he took Kates hand out of her pocket and lifted it into view of his daughter and beaming announced, "we're getting married, she said yes."

Wait what, had he told Alexis about his intentions to propose?

"Well, duh, dad." Alexis was not surprised at all by the big announcement, which was a bit of a letdown to Kate. Alexis walked over to Kate and hugged her tightly, "welcome to the family, Kate." It was so heartfelt that Kate had to quickly wipe away a stray tear that managed to escape. It always surprised her how much she could love the girl.

I will become her step-mother, I will have a step-DAUGHTER, and let's not forget the secret stowaway. Kate involuntarily placed her hand on her stomach and walked into the dining room.

"So Kate," Alexis looked at Kate over her plate as they ate their food, "what do you think of the ring?"

Kate smiled as her eyes darted to her left ring finger and back at her step-daughter to be and sighed. "It's big," she let out a shaky laugh, "but it's beautiful."

"Well, I'm glad you like it," she was looking at her father with a smugness that rivalled only his own, "see I told you she'd like it! I'm glad I talked you out of your 'bigger is always better theory'!"

Yes, thank god, it was already too much.


This chapter was mostly to prepare you for the next one, the big reveal. There is some info that I had to get across.

One being that Alexis was not the last one to know about the engagement, and that she was not in Costa Rica with Pi. Mostly because I dislike the Pi character on the show and didn't think I could represent him in a polite manner. So I decided to do it my way, as is implied with the AU tag.

Please let me know what you think. Sorry if you feel like I'm bombarding you with updates, it's just that I've been very inspired to write this fic and this/my version of events.