Disclaimer: I own nothing and earn nothing from Castle.
"Do you think we should have a gender reveal party or just tell people when they ask? What if we keep it a secret until he's born?" Kate was rambling and she knew it.
"We can do this however you want," Castle began cautiously, "but most of our friends know that we know and will not be happy just having to wait. Besides, we had that bet going."
"You mean you had that bet going." Kate teased, "and you were wrong by the way." Kate playfully bumped her shoulder to his as she walked past him into the kitchen.
"Well, it was a fair assumption to make," Rick said with a laugh.
"Fair, yes. Correct, no." Kate chuckled as she grabbed a bottle of water and walked over to him and gave him a soft kiss.
"Kate?" Alexis called down the stairs.
"Yeah, bud, what's up?" Kate answered as she walked towards the stairs.
"I wasn't eaves dropping or anything, but," Alexis blushed a little as she continued, "I heard you were talking about how to tell people that it's a boy." She finished as she reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Yes," Kate said, in a tone that suggested Alexis continue.
"And I was wondering if I could plan it?" Alexis asked, sounding like she already had a plan.
"Oh? Yes, that would be great," Kate said with a smile, "right, babe?"
"Yeah, we would love that," Rick confirmed.
I can't believe that I'm now a part of a we. We would love that. We will be there. We'll bring dip. Such a small word, we, but has such a big meaning.
"Great, I'll let you know when I have a time and a place." Alexis said as she hugged the both of them.
"Sounds good, pumpkin," Rick said.
oOoOoOo
"Sooo," Lanie said rather than greeting Kate.
"Sooo, what?" Kate said with a smirk.
"Don't make me smack a pregnant lady," Lanie said in mock annoyance.
"I want to tell you, really, I do," Kate said earnestly, "but we told Alexis that she could plan the reveal, and I don't want to ruin the surprise."
"Fine," Lanie said with sass.
"Lanie, she is so excited to plan this, she asked if she could and who are we to deny her that?" Kate said as she patted her best friend on the shoulder.
"No, it's fine, really," Lanie said as she pulled her friend into a warm hug.
"It's just, I love the fact that she is so excited about being a big sister. That she wants to plan things for this peanut." Kate quickly wiped a tear from her eye with one hand as the other rested on her bump. "Sorry about this," she said gesturing her emotions, "I blame the hormones."
Lanie just laughed and hugged her friend again.
oOoOoOo
"So what's the guest list going to be?" Alexis asked as they were all having dinner together a few days later.
"I was thinking it would be just our friends, Javi and Lanie, Kev and Jenny, maybe Gates and then the family even though they know," Kate said as she looked at Rick. "Do you want to add anyone to that list?"
"No, I think that about covers it," Rick said simply.
"Is there someone you'd like to invite?" Kate asked, "Maybe a certain barista that we have yet to meet?" Kate laughed at the blush rising in Alexis cheeks.
"I think that meeting the entire family at once is not the best idea. I think a quiet dinner with just the four of us would be better, and not for a few more weeks. We've only been dating a couple of months. I mean just meeting the two of you is hard enough for …" Alexis was rambling and Kate felt a little sorry for starting it.
"Honey it's fine, later is fine," Kate cut her off, as she grabbed the girls hand and gave it a light squeeze.
"Thanks," Alexis sighed.
"So," Rick said loudly, as if to pointedly change the subject, "a small gathering of family and friends, with a grand total of 10 people invited, us included."
"All right," Alexis seemed her same chipper self. "Oh, and by the way I might have some sort of wardrobe preferences for you. How does next Sunday sound?"
"Sounds great," Rick and Kate said in unison, then looked at each other and smiled. Kate loved that they were always so in sync, that they still did that.
oOoOoOo
"Hey guys," Rick said as she approached her desk. "You're free next Sunday right?"
"Why?" Javi asked, slowly dragging the word out.
"Alexis is planning a gender reveal and I was hoping you would be there."
"Sure, of course we'll be there," Ryan said with his signature friendly smile.
"Ryan, you're bringing Jenny right?" Kate said as he stepped of the elevator, then turned to Rick, as Ryan nodded, and added, "Babe, Lanie is confirmed."
"Great, so we have everyone except Gates." Rick said as he looked around the office. "Where is she by the way?"
"Where is who, Mr. Castle?" Gates asked as she walked out of the breakroom.
"Ah, sir, there you are." Kate looked a little flustered and a little apprehensive. "We were wondering if you would like to come to the gender reveal that Alexis is planning, next Sunday, more detail to come."
"That will be fine," Gates replied curtly, though Kate thought she saw a glint of excitement in her eyes.
"And of course your husband is welcome to join us," Rick added.
"Thank you, I'm sure he will be happy to come along," Gates said with an amused smile.
Kate was making a mental list, Gates plus one, Ryan and Jenny, Javi and Lanie, Martha, dad, Alexis, Rick and I. That's a total of 11 people, that's way more appropriate than the over two hundred invited to the engagement party/pregnancy announcement turned wedding. That means no giant surprises, thank God! Kate was well aware of the fact that she was getting more hormonal with each passing day, it's just that she could not for the life of her control her emotions. For that reason, she had asked Rick to refrain from doing anything that might cause her to be overly surprised in a bad way.
oOoOoOo
Kate was surprised when Alexis didn't pick up when she called, she was too used to the girl having her phone glued to her for her to miss a call. The only time she had known the girl to let it go to voicemail was during dinner, because there was a no phone during dinner rule, that was only allowed to be broken if there were calls from the precinct.
Lost in thought as to what might be going on with Alexis, she was startled when her phone began to ring in her hand. Alexis was calling her back, and it had only been five minutes.
"Kate? Is everything all right?" Alexis sounded a little out of breath.
"Hey, bud. Yeah, everything is fine," Kate said in hopes of calming the girl, she really did sound nervous. "I just wanted you to know that everyone is coming to the party, even Gates and her husband."
"Right, OK, that's great," Alexis still sounded nervous, or was it flustered.
"Honey, are you all right?" Kate asked in her best motherly/captain Beckett combo voice.
"What? Yeah, fine, just, uhm." Kate heard a giggle and hushed voices and felt herself blush a little, realizing what was disturbing Alexis' focus.
"Say 'hi' to the barista for me," Kate said with a laugh.
"Right, love you Kate," Alexis said quickly.
"Love you too," Kate wasn't sure Alexis heard her before hanging up.
oOoOoOo
"All right, I need a few things from you before the party on Sunday," Alexis said.
It was Friday and Kate was getting excited to see what Alexis had planned. She and Rick had not been allowed to know any of the details beforehand and it was starting to bother her how easily her husband and daughter could keep her out of the loop. Of course this particular loop, Rick was also out of.
"Sure thing, sweetie," Kate smiled, "what do you need?"
"First I need you to pick out a plain white dress to wear, nothing fancy, I might ruin it," Alexis said, looking from Kate to Rick she added, "second, I need you to pick out a pair khaki pants and a white shirt, no tie, brown shoes, brown belt." Alexis then looked between the pair. "Last, but not least, I need you to sit down with me individually for maybe an hour each. We will discuss during this sit-down, what it entails."
"All right, when would you like to do it?" Rick asked matching Alexis' professional tone.
"If you have time, I would love to do it now," Alexis looked at Kate," and I would like you to go first."
"Yeah, of course," Kate felt somewhat uncomfortable, not knowing where this was going. "Lead the way."
When the two women walked into Rick study, Kate was surprised to see a video camera on a tripod waiting.
"When did you set this up?" Kate asked.
"While you had breakfast," Alexis said with a sly smile. "So the thing is, I want to make a little video for the reveal, and I needed a few shots of you and dad and all the excitement around this baby."
Kate smiled at the loving tone Alexis adopted whenever she talked about her little brother. "That's a brilliant idea."
"So I have a few notes, a few things I have scripted and a few questions I want you to answer. Sound fair?" Alexis asked, and before Kate could reply she added. "If there is anything you want to add or some parts of the script you want to change or not say or something, then that's fine. I just thought this would be a good way to go.
The hour turned into two, and when Kate emerged she couldn't help the smile on her face or the tears streaming down her face. She just walked over to her husband and hugged him as tight as her bump would allow.
"Dad?" Alexis called from the study, "you ready?"
"Coming," he said and kissed Kate softly before going in.
"Love you," he whispered as he let Kate go.
A/N: I would just like to say, thanks for being so patient. I know I suck for not updating sooner and that you don't want any excuses, so I won't bore you with the details.
Just know that I am back and will most likely post the wonderful reveal party on Sunday (I have no idea where in the world everyone is, but seeing as I'm in Iceland assume it's going to be during normal waking hours here).
Much love.
