Chapter 3

Thank you everyone for sticking with me on this one. A/U This chapter will be more Caskett orientated. Alexis will be making an appearance but will, to fit in with how I want things to go, only be 16. Oh yes as a quick warning Josh Davidson, one of my least favourite characters, also appears, in this story he is one of the good guys! He is after all a heart surgeon and also does voluntary work with Doctors Without Borders therefore he cannot be all bad.

Once again I have nothing to do with the program and nothing to gain, unfortunately.

Friday January 1 2016

Rick and Kate arrived back at the loft about 11.30pm and decided to go straight to bed, when they were in bed Kate pushed Rick on to his back and put her long shapely legs on either side of his torso, as she wanted to be able to look him fully in the face as she told him her news, as she finished the word pregnant Ricks face lit up in a huge grin and he quickly flipped her on her back and said "Kate I love you with all of my heart and soul, roll on the next nine months. He asked "When did you find out and how many weeks gone are you?"

She replied "This afternoon and about seven weeks."

The next hour passed by in a loving blur as they celebrated the news.

When they were settling down to sleep Kate said that the doctor had made an appointment for them at 11.45am on the following Tuesday with a Dr Emma Jones who was one of the top OB-GYN's in the city.

Tuesday January 5 2016

On the Tuesday morning Rick had an early morning meeting with Paula his book agent and Gina Cowell his ex-wife/Book Publisher to set up a book signing tour in the early Spring. Therefore they agreed to meet outside Dr Jones office at 11.30am.

Rick arrived a couple of minutes early to find Kate already waiting, they went in to the office and told the receptionist that they had an appointment with Dr Jones at 11.45am, She said "Take a seat, Dr Jones will be right with you."

When they were called in Kate said "Hello Dr Jones I'm Kate Castle and this is my husband Rick,"

Dr Jones said "I'm please to meet you Mr and Mrs Castle"

Kate said "Please call us Kate and Rick"

"The Doctor said "Please call me Emma or Em." She went on to say that there are some things she wanted to talk to Kate about such as her general health and life style." She asked a number of questions and found out that Kate was very much into keeping fit by working out at the gym and running. she also said she tried to eat healthily, though a couple of her guilty pleasures were, burgers and milkshakes at Remy's and also take away Chinese food.

As Kate finished Emma said "Is there anything else I should know about you health wise?"

Kate said "I was shot in the heart in 2011, though my heart does seem healthy, I'm still a bit worried as to how it may affect my pregnancy."

Emma was just about to ask her for further details when there was a knock at the door. She said "That will be my husband." She called out "Come in." As he walked in Kate and Rick were somewhat startled at the sound of a familiar voice saying. "Hey Em are you ready to go for lunch?"

Both Kate and Rick turned round and he looked at the couple he said, "Kate" and at the same time Kate and Rick said "Josh"

Emma said "This is my husband Josh.…. but I take it that you all know one another already?"

Josh said "You could say that Em. You remember me telling you when we first met on that last Doctors Without Borders project we did in Haiti that I had just been dumped by a girl friend, this was the girlfriend!"

Kate said "I didn't know you had got married Josh."

He replied "Em and I met on that DWB project and got married when we got back to the States."

Kate said "Congratulations Josh," before going on to ask "Have you two got any family yet?"

Emma said "We have one boy aged two years, with another baby on the way."

Both Kate and Rick said, once again in unison, "Congratulations to you both"

Emma turned to her husband and said "I am glad you came in when you did Josh as Kate was just telling me that she had been shot in the heart in 2011 and that she is worried as to how this might affect her pregnancy and ability to have a natural childbirth."

Josh said "She was, and it was very much touch and go, at the time, as to whether she would recover."

Emma told them Josh was now one of the top Cardiac Consultants in New York and if Kate and Rick didn't mind she would like him to run tests on her heart and to keep monitoring Kate throughout her pregnancy.

Kate turned to Emma and said "Can Rick and I have a quick chat about this, could you just give us a couple of minutes?"

She knew that Rick had been very jealous of Josh when they had been dating, and she wanted to make sure he was OK with things before committing.

Emma and Josh left the room and Kate asked "How do you feel about this Babe? "

Rick replied "I am not overjoyed at the idea but if as Emma said he is now one of the best consultants in N.Y. then I want him, besides as he is now a family man there is very little danger of him trying to run off with you.

After they finished their discussion they called Emma and Josh back and said that they would like to take them up on their offer of a full examination and monitoring, and they scheduled an appointment for Friday afternoon of that week for Josh to run preliminary checks

On the Friday afternoon Josh gave Kate a very thorough examination which included an EKG. Blood Pressure and various other tests. when all had been completed, they made an appointment for the following Tuesday to discuss the results.

On the way home Kate was very quiet as she thought about all the possible results of the test and what it could mean to them as she was desperate to have Rick's baby.

The weekend and the following Monday seemed to be never ending, but pass it eventually did.

Tuesday January 12 2016

On the Tuesday they set off for Josh's office in plenty of time for the appointment. When they entered his office they were surprised to see that Emma was also there, she said "I hope you don't mind me being here as your results may well impact on how we treat this pregnancy"

Josh then went through the results and said "The good news is Kate that you are very healthy for someone who suffered the trauma of a bullet in your heart four years ago. However this doesn't necessarily mean that everything is absolutely fine. As you are aware during your journey to hospital and whist on the operating table that day you did experience cardiac arrest which did weaken your heart to a certain extent, this shouldn't affect your ability to carry your baby to term, so long as your take things much easier, this will mean that you will not be able to go out on cases and you should avoid stressful situations whenever possible, you will also need to take as much bed rest as you can. When it comes to the time that the baby is due to be delivered then I would very strongly advise that you come into hospital a couple of weeks before the due date so we can monitor you as the date of birth gets nearer. You should also consider giving birth by C Section so as not to put any undue strain on your heart. I am sorry to say that you should also think very carefully before starting any further pregnancies.

Kate and Rick listened to this verdict intently. Although Kate was not the type of person to show her emotions in public she did feel a couple of tears running down her cheeks at the thought that this was probably her one and only shot of having a baby of her own.

At the end of the consultation further appointments were arranged so that Josh could continue to monitor her cardiac health and appointments made with Emma for her Pre-Natal clinics.

As they were leaving Rick found that he didn't resent Josh as much as he had when he had been dating Kate, especially after Josh apologised for the incident in the hospital corridor whilst Kate was still on the operating table, saying that he had been a Jerk and that the reason was he had been very worried about Kate as to whether she was going to survive the surgery, he also admitted he had been very jealous about Rick because Kate had been very obviously in love him through out their relationship.

On the way home Kate was subdued as she thought over everything that had happened that day, when suddenly another idea started to form in her mind one that she needed to keep quiet about until she had thought everything through thoroughly.

They both also realised that as yet they had not told their families that they were having a baby and decided that the following evening they would invite Jim, and Martha over for dinner and would tell them then. They decided to wait until the end of the first Trimester to tell the rest of their extended family at the precinct and beyond.

Kate said that there was one person that she had to tell though as she would be relying on her to help out at work and that was Jo Martinez it was decided that she would tell her on the following Monday when they returned to the precinct after the leave she had taken over the last couple of weeks.

On the Wednesday evening Kate made one of her Lasagnes using her mother's favourite recipe followed by a home made Tiramisu. As they all finished Rick said "We have an important announcement to make." Looking at Kate with a smile on his face he prompted her to make the announcement. She told them that she was now nine weeks pregnant and said that they would not be making a general announcing until the end of the first trimester. She told them, with tears in her eyes, this was probably her only shot at having a baby herself due to her shooting and the damage that had been done to her heart as a result of her four cardiac arrests. What she didn't tell them was that she had been told that if she had had another arrest then it was unlikely that she would still be alive, even Rick didn't know that fact, she had been given the information by her cardiac surgeon when she was still in the hospital after her shooting, he had told her that a further electric shock could have done too much damage to her heart.

Thursday January 14 2016

The following evening when they had finished dinner Kate said to Rick and Alexis "Lets go and sit on the couch there is something that I need to discuss with you both. On Tuesday after Josh said that this was likely to be my only pregnancy I realised how much I wanted to be a mother to more than one child."

Rick said "You already are the mother of one child, Alexis."

Kate said "I am the step-mother to Alexis and that phrase has always made me feel as though I have one foot out of the door and to be something of an outsider I also talked to Alexis just before what should have been our actual wedding day and told her that I would never take sides between her and her dad, and Alex had said she appreciated that," She continued "Now that we have been married for over a year I realise that I want more from our relationship, I want to be her mother and her to be my daughter."

She continued "I have talked to both Meredith and Gina over the years as to why they think both of your marriages had failed Rick. Meredith told me that she felt that you knew everything about her but she knew virtually nothing about you, she thought of you as a soufflé that was very nice and full of air at first but eventually fell flat and became boring. With Gina it had been a case that although she had wanted to get close to Alexis, you had always acted as though you wanted Alexis just for yourself, and she told me about the Christmas present doll and also the Taylor Swift concert tickets, granted that had been after your marriage had ended, but it was while you had been having your ill fated fling after you had gone to the Hamptons in the Spring of 2011 Gina had said that she had always felt that you had to be number one where Alexis was concerned and she was an also ran."

Kate sais "Babe I know that you have shared more about yourself with me than you probably ever shared with those two combined, but I want us to be a proper family and I want us both to adopt Alexis as our own child so that we have a joint responsibility for her, and so we can share the ups and downs of parenthood together.

Rick turned to Alexis and said "How do you feel about this idea Pumpkin?

Alexis had a huge smile on her face and could hardly speak, when she could articulate her words she turned to Kate and flung her arms round her neck and said "Thank you Kate I think that it is a fabulous, fabulous idea that you would become my mom rather than step-mom. Although I do love my real mom I very rarely see her and secretly I have been thinking of you as my mom ever since the two of you eventually tied the knot."

Kate's eyes filled with tears, of happiness, which escaped down her cheeks and she said light heartedly "You both realise that I will now no longer be a neutral party and may well take sides when it comes to arguments etc between the two of you?"

Both Rick and Alexis said "Understood."

Kate asked Rick "Can you arrange an appointment next week with your Legal Eagles to get started on the process of adoption Babe?"

When they all finally went to bed a couple of hours later, Rick cuddled up to Kate and whispered in her ear "I love you and I am so proud of you for thinking up this idea, as it has not only made us happy, but it also has made Alexis so very happy too."

He then kissed her deeply with passion which led to them thinking that perhaps they weren't quite as tired as they had imagined when they had decided that it was time to come to bed.

Monday January 18 2016

On the following Monday morning Kate and Rick walked into the 12th precinct at 8.00am fully refreshed after their absence and raring to go.

When Kate got to Jo's desk she said "Good morning Detective Martinez and a very Happy New Year to you."

Jo replied "Good morning and a Happy New Year to you Captain Beckett."

Kate said "I need to have a talk with you Jo when I have had a chance to look through my paperwork and emails can you come to my office about 10.0clock get Rick to get coffee would you?"

At that moment Rick appeared with two coffees one for himself and one for Jo, he told Kate that her cup was in her office.

At Ten O'clock Jo said "Can you get some more coffee Rick and bring it into Kate's office as she wants to have a talk, and you are invited."

Rick went off to the break room and Jo went into Kate's office.

Kate said to take a seat. She started off by asking how things had been whilst she was off.

Jo said "Things went pretty smoothly, we caught half a dozen murders but all but one were domestics, no doubt caused mostly by the Christmas/New Year holiday period. The other one was gang related but we were able to close it quickly due to information received from an informant.

At that point Rick walked in with two coffees and a tea for Kate.

Jo looked surprised and raised her eyebrows as she knew that Kate was a caffeine addict like herself.

Kate said "Yes Jo, your suspicions are correct I'm pregnant, but can you keep it to yourself for the time being, as we don't want, if we can help it to announce it generally until the end of the first trimester"

Jo immediately congratulated the couple and told them of course she wouldn't say anything to anyone.

Kate said "This pregnancy is why I asked you to come in now. The thing is I may have to take rather more time off than you would expect because of my shooting in 2011, whilst the bullet didn't kill me I did suffer four cardiac arrests, two between the cemetery and the hospital, and two more on the operating table, and although my heart appears strong enough for me to carry the baby to term, I have been advised that delivery will be safer by C section and that I will be called into hospital two to three weeks before the due date which is August 13 2016. Also I have been advised that I shouldn't risk another pregnancy after this one."

Jo said "I am so sorry Kate."

She replied "Thanks Jo." She carried on "You have been here now for about three and a half months how are you finding things with your new team?"

Jo replied "They are showing good potential, and Sully has been a great help in their learning process, I don't know yet when they will be fully up to speed with things but I don't anticipate that it will be too long. I must say that I will be sorry to see Sully go back to his own precinct when his secondment is up, I keep dropping hints for him to put in for a transfer to us, so far the seeds seem to be dropping on fallow ground but you never know! I will keep trying."

Kate asked her "Did you start studying for the Captains Exam?"

Jo replied "Yes. It was hard to get back into the routine of studying during an evening but it is becoming easier."

Kate teased her by saying. "You do realise Jo, that this may be your one chance to get that revenge on me that you have been threatening over the years for beating you in the finals at the Academy?"

Jo said with a smile on her face "That has definitely given me an incentive to carry on. Tell your dad that I think you have given me a way to get my own back on you for beating me at the Academy and also give him my regards, tell him I will get in touch with him to arrange another lunch, as I enjoyed our lunches when he was helping me with the problems I was having after Sean died."

Kate said "Of course I will Jo, he will be very pleased, to see you again I am sure as he keeps ask after you. To get back to why I asked you to come in I want you to deputise for me during any in any absences that might occur due to problems I may encounter with the pregnancy. Because of your up coming Captains exam and the likelihood that by this time next year you are likely to be in line for promotion, if not already promoted. I want you to get as much experience under your belt as possible, if you as OK with the idea I will clear it with 1PP. So what do you say Jo?"

Jo was very happy with the idea since it had come from her friend Kate and she had no hesitation in saying "Thanks Kate for your faith in me and of course I will deputise for you as necessary."

Their meeting finished and she went back to her desk, just in time to take a phone call about a murder that had just been discovered. After telling the rest of the team, she called out "Castle, we've got a body are you coming?"

A/N This chapter has turned out to be a bit longer than I expected. You will have realised why I had to have Alexis loose a few years off her age, it would have been somewhat bizarre for Kate and Rick to adopt her at 21.

I would like to thank everyone who has followed this story and submitted reviews. I am most surprised and pleased at the response. I have not yet been able to get to replying to your reviews, but I promise to do so as quickly as I can.