AN: This author is more than slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of emails she woke up to this morning, sorry I haven't replied to reviews personally, but I haven't got time, as I have to leave my house very soon. So, by popular demand (please note that it wont always work) here is the second chapter. I'll try to reply to reviews tonight, but to all of you out there that did, I appreciate your love and criticism. :D
-Enjoy :D
Disclaimer the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.
Chapter 2
When Castle walked into the 12th the following Monday with two cups of coffee he was surprised not to see Beckett there. It was after noon, and he had only just come in because he'd had a horrible meeting with Paula that morning. He stopped at Esposito's desk to see if he could find out where she was.
"She took a personal day." Was all the response he got when he asked. So she isn't here, he thought. Regardless he went and sat in 'his' chair by her desk. He was about to open his angry birds app when he got a message from her.
Need to talk to you. Dinner?
He replied instantly.
Sure. My place, 7?
It was about ten minutes later when he got a reply.
Needs to be alone, wouldn't want to kick your family out.
That would be easy to overcome.
Alexis and Mother are both out tonight. So dinner at my place. 7.
Merely seconds later his phone tingled again.
Sure. C U then.
He promptly got up, rushed past Ryan and Esposito, who looked questioningly at him, and left.
-!-!-!-
Kate had taken the morning off, as she had to go see a doctor. She had ask Lanie the other night if she could run a test for her just to make sure, surely she had the equipment to do that, but she refused. So she had to go to an OBGYN, and Lanie had given her the name of one the other night, one of her friends from medical school.
Lanie had managed to book her in for a nine a.m. appointment with her friend, a Dr Rachel Witherby. So there she was, sitting in the waiting room, just before nine, too nervous to even read one of the magazines on the table.
"Ms Kate Beckett, the doctor will see you now." The nurse told her and led her to a room. She had barely sat down when the doctor entered. She was short, with stark blond hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. She was slightly on the plump side, without being overweight, and she was very friendly.
"Hi," she said, extending her hand, which Kate shook. "I'm Dr Witherby, but call me Rachel. Lanie told me to be expecting you, but she didn't say exactly why." She finished coyly.
"Well," Kate just looked at her hands, she didn't know how to tell this to a stranger. "I think I'm pregnant."
"That's generally what I'm for." The good doctor joked and without a smile from Kate she continued. "Right. So, I'll do a test to confirm, and then do and ultrasound to find out how far along you are."
She was sitting there looking at the prints that the doctor had given her. That little blob of a thing was her baby. Her and Castle's baby. She still didn't know what she was going to tell him.
Did he remember what had happened that night? Because if he did he didn't say anything about it. What was this going to do to their partnership, their friendship? Was he going to want more from their relationship? Did she want more?
She didn't want him to feel like her rebound, but that's how this whole mess started wasn't it?
Kate was confused, but didn't have much time to think on it as she had agreed to dinner at his loft and after looking at her watch realised that she had only fifteen minutes to get there. She put the prints in her bag, grabbed her jacket and headed out.
-!-!-!-
Kate stood outside the door to Castle's loft and looked at her father's watch as the second hand ticked over to 7, she touched her mother's ring for a little of her courage, then knocked on the door. Kate always knocked on his door; she thought his doorbell didn't have a demanding enough sound for the announcement of her presence.
Castle opened the door, invited her in, took her jacket and led her to the table where dinner was sitting there waiting for her. Pasta with a creamy white sauce, and a glass of red wine. Kate sat on the chair that Castle pulled out for her. Always the gentleman, she thought. Castle sat and held his wine glass up to her. She picked up her glass of water; if he noticed he didn't say anything.
They ate in silence, Castle not wanting to push her, Kate trying to figure out the best way to bring it up. They finished their dinner and Castle collected her plate and she watched as he stood at the island in his kitchen and put together chocolate ice-cream sundaes. He added a cherry to each one and picked them both up and motioned for Kate to follow him to the couch.
When Kate was seated on the couch he handed over her sundae, and still they ate in silence. When she was finished Castle took the bowl out of her hand and placed both bowls on the coffee table.
"You said that you needed to talk to me…" He started once he was sitting back down.
"Uh, yeah. Just hand on a sec." She got up and retrieved her bag from the hook by the door. Once sitting on the couch she started. "How much do you remember about the night I came here after I broke up with Josh?" She asked him.
"We've had this discussion." Castle said.
"Humour me." Kate shot back.
"Ok. Well I remember getting a call from down stairs that you had barrelled through, soaking wet, and I went to meet you at my door with a towel. You flung yourself into my arms and started crying." He paused for a breath. "You told me that you had broken up with Josh because he didn't like that we had stayed in the same hotel suit in LA, and then I broke out the heavy scotch."
"Anything else?" Kate questioned him.
"No. I assume I called you a cab. I had a massive hangover the next day when I awoke, not surprising when I saw the little amount of scotch that was left in the bottle." He stopped, and his expression changed to that one he gets when he's stuck for what to write in one of his books. "I also had some pretty amazing dreams that night." He wasn't going to continue until he saw her expectant face. "About you."
"They weren't dreams Castle." She replied in such a quiet voice he wasn't sure he had heard properly.
"What?" He questioned.
"They weren't dreams." She repeated. "It was real. All of it."
"How do you know?" Castle asked her.
"Because I'm pregnant as a result." She looked at him and he had a dazed look in his eye. "The child is yours, Castle."
A myriad of emotions ran across his face. The foremost being elation and confusion. Confusion won out. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I only just found out for sure this morning, that was the appointment I was at today." She dug her hand into her bag and pulled out the black and white shots from the OBGYN and handed them to him.
He just stared at them, elation showing on his face again. "Why did you decide to tell me now?"
"Because it's your child as well, but if you don't want to be a part of this then," she stood up, "I'll just leave."
"Beckett." Castle said. She wouldn't look at him. He tried again. "Kate," he placed his hand on her arm. "Of Course I want to be a part of this. I was just a bit shocked. That's all."
His words, the use of her first name, turned Kate to mush and she sank down, not onto the couch, but onto his lap. She just needed to be held, and hold her he did.
An hour later Castle heard a key turning in the lock and he quickly hid the small black and white photos that he had been staring at. He didn't need his mother or Alexis seeing them before he had a chance to talk to Kate about it.
-!-!-!-
The door opened and Alexis entered and started walking towards the stairs until she noticed her father sitting on the couch, with a sleeping Detective Beckett on his lap. She stopped and looked at her father with a questioning eyebrow.
"Had a long day." Castle answered her unasked question about the detective.
Alexis smiled, shook her head sadly and continued on the way to her room. She had seen her father and his lady detective together many times, but never had she fallen asleep on his lap. Alexis wondered when those two would see what everyone else could see. What was right in front of them.
-!-!-!-
It was some time after Alexis had come home that Castle realised that he needed to get Kate, and himself, into bed. He looked down at her and she looked so peaceful that he didn't want to wake her so he stood and carried her into the guest room. He laid her in the bed, pulled off her shoes and covered her with the comforter. He made his way back out to the hallway and stopped at the door to look back. He smiled as she snuggled into the bed and relaxed.
He slowly made his way down the hallway and into his room to get himself ready for bed. He was defiantly in for a long night; what with finding out about Kate, and with her being in the room right next to his. He was in for a sleepless night.