Her warmth radiated through the blanket and into Kate's chest. It sat there; lingered with the baby. The small eyes that wouldn't open yet and her fist in a ball near her face. Kate traced her jaw line and down to her chin. Her daughter. Her breathing, healthy, beautiful daughter is here, in her arms.

Kate's tired eyes hurt and tried to shut, but she kept them open, never leaving her girl's site. A trance overcame her the moment the doctor handed her the baby in a blanket from the table across the room.

Castle was still questioning the doctor. He held her already, and cried – and did what he did best as a father. But now that Kate was with their daughter, he went back to his worrying way that never completely left.

The delivery had been hard. As soon as Kate started to push, the monitor began to beep. Within seconds, the beeping became louder - slower. Kate stopped – looked at Castle – and then the doctor. The doctor's eyes were on the monitor and he was talking to the nurses. Castle panicked. He held her hand as his heart raced, his face turning from Kate to the doctor. Words couldn't form, so he watched as he thought of history repeating itself. He squeezed her hand tighter, as if to hold her here for a little longer. Kate looked at him. She couldn't look at anything else. Don't let me go. Don't let me go, she repeated. She didn't know if she meant his hand or her mind. She would stay here, regardless of what nature was telling her to do.

The doctor left the monitor and whispered to his nurses who immediately went into a planned routine around the room. They grabbed tools and brought over a tray. Kate saw what they were doing, but turned back to her fixated look at her husband. She would look at him the entire time.

Castle held her hand tighter and moved his arm to rub her shoulder. Whispering to her, encouraging her. Kate jumped when her bed began to tilt back. Turning her head, she saw a nurse at her side, an arm on her left shoulder.

What are you doing? Kate yelled. Her body staying up, refusing to go with the bed.

We're just moving you back a little so that the doctor can get your baby out. They repeated the sentence within the few seconds it took for the bed to lower to a soft angle.

It's okay. Kate, just lie down. Please. Castle pleaded with her, but his voice shook. He looked at the doctor. The man knew their past. Why wasn't he telling them anything.

Okay, Kate. You're going to feel this a little. Just listen to me when I tell you to push.

Her eyes went from person to person. From the calm demeanor of the nurses back to her shaking husband. Her mind racing, Kate knew she had to push. The doctor had asked her, but she froze.

Now! Kate? Kate! The doctor grabbed her thigh, squeezing it. Her head turned back to him, registering his words.

Kate pushed. And it hurt. More than the first pushes. Her face went tight and stars were around her. She was getting dizzy and she could feel something inside of her. But the doctor was right, and she felt her baby enter the world.

Castle loosened his grip on her hand as he looked down to see his daughter.

His daughter that wasn't crying.

Is she okay? Why – why isn't – she isn't crying, Castle! She's not crying. Why isn't she crying?

Kate pushed up on her elbows, her hair sticking to her face. For the first time, her eyes began to water. Panic found a root inside of her. She looked at Castle whose eyes never left his child. Seconds seemed to go by as hours, both of them waiting as a team of doctors huddled around a tiny cart. Their shoulders moving as they grabbed tools, blankets – moving the cart a little.

But she let out a cry. One first cry.

Nora's sound traveled and eased them back to the bed. Kate resting her shoulders on the back of the sheets, she let out breaths that she had held. Castle turned back to her, engaging in her joy, and took her hands. They laughed and wiped away tears.

Their daughter was making a noise.

Kate looked down at her. She was perfect. A slight bruise on her face was all that was left of the delivery.

"Kate."

She looked up to see him sitting next to her.

"The doctor wants to talk to us now."

The same man who had been silent through her most recent source of panic came over to the side of Castle. The two men sat down in chairs, the doctor with a clipboard.

Castle blocked a chill. The clipboard. The chairs. Looking across to an unknowing person. Giving them information about something they were unaware.

"Your daughter is fine. She's completely healthy – in regards to her age. The first hours are crucial. Her body is responding to things that it's just now experiencing for the first time. We will feed her in a bit. Her response to that, I'm assuming, will be completely normal. Which will tell us everything is okay."

The doctor shifted in his seat, looking down at the clipboard.

"During your delivery, you baby experienced a loss of oxygen. It's not normally as quick as it went - normally we see it before this late stage in the delivery. But because of your baby's place in the canal, her supply was cut off. We used forceps to quickly get her out. She was trying to breathe when we got her, but because of her trying to get air inside of you, she had some fluid in her mouth. But, we were able to get it out. And she's healthy."

Kate smiled. She looked to Castle, who didn't share the same look.

"You used forceps?"

"Yes."

"But doesn't that hurt her?"

Kate was confused. She looked at her sleeping baby. Nothing was wrong. Her brown hair brushing her head, her tiny fingers – a little nose. Nothing was wrong.

"Nothing should be wrong. The delivery went smoothly as soon as we got her moving. The baby was breathing. We cleared her passageways just like we would with every baby. She responded normally to every procedure. We will see how she responds to feeding and we will go from there. If something seems to worry us we will take a scan of her brain. But we don't see a reason to do anything. She's completely normal, Mr. Castle."

His lips were in a line, his brow lowered. He wasn't convinced. After Aiden, anything was possible.

The doctor left them alone. Castle walked back to Kate's bed and trailed his fingers on the blanket.

Kate looked at him – her eyes booming to his - a bundle in her arms.

"Can I sit?"

Without answering, Kate scooted closer to the railing and made room for one of his legs to lie next to hers.

Castle huddled closer to his family; an arm coming up around the blanket to feel his daughter's tiny legs moving underneath it.

Kate couldn't tear away from her. A feeling was inside her, filling voids that she didn't remember having. It didn't make Aiden any less painful, but being able to hold a baby - her baby - made it somehow more bearable.

A/N: A short chapter, I know. But the next topic I'm approaching will be too much to go inside this one.

Thoughts?

I'm taking suggestions - where do you want to see this go. Do you want a time jump? I'm writing for you out there. Let me know :] You can put a review or I can talk with you on twitter (at sign)megghh11

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