The vision of a hot bath, the bottle of wine and her man making love with her in front of their fireplace vanished from Beckett's head as she saw the excitement in Daniel's eyes.

'Hey, that's great! We'll be up soon.'

'Oh, I also have orders from Honey-Milk that if I ran into you to that you were supposed to see her, Lanie and Meredeth first before going into see Andrea.'

'Okay.'

Beyond exhaustion now, with the weight of the case off of her shoulders, Beckett nodded in placid agreement. She plucked at her shirt, sniffed her armpit discreetly. 'I stink,' she said childishly.

'That's why Honey-Milk wants to see you first,' Daniel agreed.

They stepped off the maternity floor and suddenly Beckett was aware of the fact she was covered in sweat and dirt and grime, and even a little of the blood that had transferred to her clothes when she'd been holding the barely-conscious Adam's head. All the...newness here, she didn't want to soil it with the outside world of death and despair she seemed to bring with her today.

'Right in here.' Daniel saw that his friend was pretty much a walking zombie, so he gently pointed her towards the lounge, where she saw Honey-Milk sitting on the floor with Nessa playing a game of cards, Shane reading something on his iTouch, Meredeth and Lanie sharing a magazine, and Miss Agnes and her father watching television. 'Hey everyone, Auntie Katie is here.'

'Kate!'

In a flash, Jim Beckett was up and across the room, pulling his daughter tight against him, and for Beckett this was almost the breaking point, but she had a new mission now. Her sister needed her strong for a much happier reason than Adam did - a new baby was about to be born - so she squeezed her father tightly and looked at him.

'Daddy, I-'

'No, Katie-Lou it's okay. Castle's been keeping us updated on what's been happening and I know why you needed the distance. But I'm here now.'

'You'll come for breakfast,' she decided instantly, 'unless Andrea and Daniel's baby isn't here yet.'

'Baby?' Nessa looked up from her game of Go-Fish with Honey-Milk. 'Baby here?'

'No, sweet-pea, the baby's not here yet,' Agnes told her, and came over to give Beckett a hug as well. 'My girl has been asking for you but first you need a shower and a change of clothes.'

'That's my cue.' Meredeth stood up, picked up a tote-bag, as did Lanie. 'Let's go, girl.'

'Go? I just got here, go where?'

'With me.' Honey-Milk levered herself off the floor and pointed at Shane. 'Your turn.'

'Okay.'

Ever the affable sort, Shane plunked himself down with Nessa, who batted her eyes at the pathologist and shoved Honey-Milk's cards at him while Beckett was left in the care of the three women.

'Where are we going?'

'Nurse's lounge,' Honey-Milk informed her.

Beckett knew she was tired, for she didn't remember being ordered to strip, or stepping into the shower in the lounge where Honey-Milk and Andrea stowed their gear. But the blast of water in her face, icy then warm until it reached a glorious steaming temperature. Beckett actually moaned in pleasure as she stretched and writhed and washed away the soot of hard work.

'Here.' Honey-Milk poked her hand around the flimsy plastic curtain and wiggled two travel-sized plastic bottles at Beckett. The hand disappeared when she took them, then reappeared with two more. 'Pink one is facial cleanser, purple is body wash, blue is shampoo and green is conditioner.'

'Thank you,' she said with such profound gratitude, she was amazed her knees didn't buckle.

Fifteen minutes later, smelling like a florist's shop, which was much better than the swamp-ass smell of the warehouse and its activities, Beckett took the towel offered by Honey-Milk and wrapped it around her. The moment she stepped out of the shower, she saw Lanie was there, with a couple of ensembles that Beckett recognized as being from her own wardrobe.

'Okay, which one you want, girl,' Lanie asked her friend who was wringing her hair out over the drain. 'We have business-esque in case Montgomery stops by-' she pointed to the jeans and cream cashmere turtle-neck sweater '-or the super-professional-' she pointed to one of the suits Beckett usually saved for court '-or the very relaxed mumum look-' Lanie held up the third ensemble which was one of Beckett's long-sleeved yoga shirts and her Lululemon fitness pants, complete with sneakers.

'How about we take the yoga top and the jeans, and my flat-heeled boots,' Beckett said as Honey-Milk dug into a massive cosmetics case and produced a hairbrush and hairtie for her friend the super-cop.

'Cool. You want the every-day panties-' Lanie held up a pair of cute black-and-yellow striped bikinis with a match bra in her left hand '-or the kind that will make Castle's eyes pop out of his head-' she held up her right hand and made Beckett laugh when she saw the lingerie that was little more than bits of pink lace held together by satin strings.

'The everyday panties, Elenia,' she giggled, 'because those pink things belong to Alexis. I'm giving them to her for her first married Valentine's Day, didn't you notice the tags still attached? Or the fact the size is completely different than for me?'

'My bad,' Lanie shrugged with a smile, and occupied herself with taking the clothes off the hangers to give Beckett a modicum of privacy. 'Socks,' she added, tossing them over her shoulder.

When Beckett was dressed and feeling much more human now, she looked at Meredeth. 'Well that one bathed me, and that one dressed me, so I am fairly certain I know what you're going to do.'

'Yep. I know it must seem like I'm always feeding you sandwiches, but I believe they put us back in touch with our food since you assemble them by hand and eat them by hand too.' Meredeth produced a sandwich of epic proportions from her tote bag, one that had Beckett's eyes popping. 'Smoked turkey with cabbage, broccoli, carrots, onions, lettuce, bacon, honey mustard and Monteray Jack.'

'What, no kitchen sink?'

'That only fits in my thermal bag. I also have German potato salad in here, orange juice, chocolate milk or root beer.'

'No potato salad, but I'll take the root-beer.'

Meredeth nodded and as she handed over the sandwich, she sat down beside her friend and smiled. 'Your mom would be so proud of you.'

'No, Mere.' Beckett bit off a hunk of sandwich and wanted to start crying for the thoughtfulness of her friends alone. 'None of that yet, we have a baby on its way and I know once the tears start they won't stop until I am dry.'

'Understandable.' Lanie moved so she was standing behind her friend, and took the hairbrush in her hand, began to brush her damp locks. 'Let's see if I can manage a French braid for you.'

'Thank you, all of you.' Beckett swallowed, lowered her sandwich to her lap where, unsurprisingly, Meredeth had discreetly lain a paper napkin for her. 'I'm so sorry to have scared you about sending your children away but-'

'If it were any one of us, we'd have done the same thing Kate,' Honey-Milk cut her off. 'My kids loved the idea of extending their stay in California with the Parrish-Robbinses, especially Dell. He called this morning and said they were going to the La Brea tarpits.'

'Oh, that would be nirvana to him,' Lanie laughed.

'RJ has a surprise for me from the Bushy Garden, apparently,' Beckett said and the others laughed with motherly appreciation; she closed her eyes as she listened to her friends talk about their babies on their impromptu vacations as she finished her sandwich while Lanie used her doctor's hands to do her hair.

When she'd finished the last bites of turkey and focaccia bread she stood up and looked at them all. 'There, do I resemble a human and won't scare a newborn?'

'You look like Detective Kate Beckett Castle, super cop and super friend,' Lanie replied. 'Andrea's in six-oh-nine.'

'Cool. Oh, Honey-Milk, can you check in on Adam Brennan, make sure he comes up to the lounge when he's cleared?'

'Sure. We're adopting again?'

'Yes we are.'

Beckett left the lounge and headed for six-oh-nine, where she hung at the doorway while Daniel helped Andrea breathe through a contraction. She was a fighter, just like the other women in her life, something Beckett herself had learned from her mother.

'You'd love this, Mom,' she murmured gently; when she heard the monitor keeping tabs on Andrea's heart-rate go back to normal, she walked in. 'You, lady have excellent timing.'

'Katie!' Andrea's face was a study in physical exertion but she smiled brightly nonetheless. 'You wrapped the case? Everyone's going to jail?'

'Everyone who deserves it is going to jail.'

'Good. I didn't want to split your focus because I have a very important thing to tell you.'