Hey Everybody! So because I sat my last exam today you lovely readers get another chapter! YAY. But I still have another week left at school until I'm all done :(
In response to lv2bnsb1 who couldn't figure out what Beckett's pregnancy had to do with Josh's court case, here's a recap: Josh sees Kate pregnant at the precinct. Josh punches Rick. We then found out in Josh's dark musings while he was behind bars, and when he spoke to Montgomery, that he was adamant that the 'child' was his. This was to become the basis of his case. Thus why Kate's pregnancy was part of the case. Everyone slightly less confused?
Ok, on with the story… and Kate's labor…
-Enjoy :D
Disclaimer the characters that you recognise are not mine, I just like to have fun with them.
Chapter 17
"Rachel, we need to get Kate to the hospital, her waters just broke."
Kate started her slow waddle towards the entrance of the court building with Rick at her side. She had barely been walking along for five minutes when, out of nowhere, a wheelchair appeared. She forcibly refused, like hell if anyone thought she would sit in a wheelchair. Lanie seemed to notice this as she just continued to walk behind her with it.
When she, finally, reached the entrance Kate was glad to see Murrey standing with the door of their town car open. She gently climbed in, followed closely by Rick, Lanie and Dr Witherby and they made their way to the hospital.
-!-!-!-
Kate's arrival at the hospital was relatively uneventful, since they had literally brought her doctor with them. She was admitted to a private room and she had to admit that being the fiancé of Richard Castle had its perks.
By the time five in the afternoon rolled around she had sent Lanie and the boys (who had followed in their car) home and was waiting anxiously for these babies to come.
Dr Witherby came in at seven for another check to see how things were going, and again told them that it was nowhere near time.
"Castle I sware." Kate said to him through gritted teeth. "If I deliver your children on the 29th of February, all hell will break loose! How does one explain to a child that they are only going to have an actual birthday every four years?"
"With my Castle charm?" Rick quipped.
"What are you using your 'Castle charm' for this time dad?" Alexis asked entering the room. "No, don't answer that. Kate how are you feeling?"
"Like a balloon that is just about to pop." Kate replied tersely. "But isn't ready to yet.
By nine o'clock that evening the contractions had started, but that was all. They were still way too far apart, and to short, to be of any use to Kate. Dr Wetherby's arrival in her room only confirmed that she wasn't even half way there yet.
By just before eleven Kate was lying in her bed, to exhausted to be anywhere else. She could sense Rick at her side, but couldn't feel his touch, of that she couldn't really blame him. After her outburst at him after being tod, yet again, that they didn't know how long it would take, even she would have been scared of herself.
Kate reached her hand out and placed it softly on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." She said. "It's just very overwhelming." She smiled softly. "I love you, Rick."
"I love you too." Rick replied, standing and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. Their moment was interrupted by Kate screaming as she was hit out of nowhere with her strongest contraction yet.
Rick immediately looked at the clock on the wall and smiled. "What are you smiling at?" Kate asked him once she had her breath back.
"That was your longest one." He replied.
"Well until they start getting closer together there's not much to smile about." She said tersely. Rick gently took her hand and resumed his place in the chair by her bedside, thinking that it would not be a good idea to put anything like what was happening in the next Nikki Heat book, or any book for that matter.
Rick was pulled out of his musings about his next book and another blood curdling scream. He stood, looked at the clock again and smiled. "They're closer together." He said when he saw the look of scathing in Kate's eyes, and rang the bell for the nurse.
"Yes?" The nurse questioned when she arrived.
"This contraction and the last," Rick said. "Were barely three minutes apart."
"I'll page your doctor." The nurse replied. "She'll be here soon." She finished before walking out.
Alexis walked into the room just after the nurse left. "What was she doing in here?" She questioned of the nurse.
"It's time." Rick replied. "She's paging the doctor now." He finished excitedly.
-!-!-!-
In the ten minutes it took for Dr Witherby to arrive Kate had had three more contractions, and they were getting closer together and longer very quickly. To Rick everything seemed to be going way to quickly, it was going to be over before he knew it. Very soon her was being handed a set of scrubs to dress in.
Kate was in a world of pain. Why had she decided that a drug free birth would be a wonderful thing? And where was Rick? He was supposed to be there with her. She called his name and instantly felt a hand in hers, a hand she knew very well. She looked over and that hand was attached to a set of blue scrubs. Her eyes widened.
"Kate?" She heard Dr Witherby say, and looked at her before her next contraction took over and she squeezed Rick's hand. It felt like the pain would never end, but finally it stated to subside enough to hear Dr Witherby call her name again and tell her that it was time to start pushing.
The pain took over again. Kate screamed bloody murder, gripped Rick's hand and pushed with all her might.
"I can't do this Rick." Kate said to him, and her vision was filled with his face.
"Of course you can." He said softly before she started screaming again.
She pushed again. Long and hard and room was filled the ear piercing cries of a newborn child. Rick looked up.
"A boy." Dr Witherby said, before handing the newborn to one of her staff.
A smile spread across Rick's face before he lent down to Kate. "We have a son." He told her and she beamed up at him. She laid her head back and noticed that their son, their son, was brought over so Rick could cut the cord. It was a beautiful sight, until the next contraction hit and she was reminded that she was going to have to do it all again.
As soon as the scream had passed her lips Rick's face was back in her vision and his hand back in hers. Kate's scream subsided and she was told to push again, and she did. It seemed to take forever but finally the sound of another cry could be heard and Kate collapsed against the bed again, noting somewhere in her brain that it was fifteen minutes before midnight. She was glad it was over.
"We have a daughter." Was the next coherent thing Kate heard out of Rick's mouth and she smiled. She paid no attention to what the doctor was doing she was watching her family. She had a family. She watched as Rick followed the two nurses out of the room with their children.
Kate drifted to sleep with a smile on her face. She had a son. She had a daughter. At that moment her life couldn't get any better.
-!-!-!-
When Rick walked into the waiting room he found not only Alexis and Martha but Montgomery, Lanie and the boys as well. They all stood when they noticed he was there.
"Well?" Martha asked, pulling him out of his silence.
"A boy." Rick replied, "And a girl."
His announcement was met all round by hearty congratulations and Alexis' exclamation of "I always wanted a little sister". Rick also noticed that Lanie slyly made her way out of the waiting area.
Soon enough the noise died down and he relayed all the details to the group and they started to head home. Only after Montgomery had given the boys the following day off. Rick suddenly felt very lonely. He made his way back to Kate's room and noticed that she was asleep, so he made his way to the nursery and looked through the window at the only two cribs in the room.
Looking at the two sleeping babies, one with a pink blanket, one with blue, he noticed that their name cards hadn't been placed on their cribs yet and though about the amount of time he and Kate had spent talking about names. First names had to be special and second names had to sound good, not only when said with affection but when tacked onto the end of the first name (and in front of the last name when necessary) so that the child knew they were in trouble. Rick smiled at the memory of Kate standing in the nursery as he assembled furniture, sternly saying names to see how they sounded.
Rick focused again on the present as he noticed a nurse enter the room and place name cards on the cribs. He got a tear in his eye as he read the names.
Alexander David Castle and Joanna Abigail Castle.
It was finally real. He was a father again.
So what'd you think? Did I do it justice? Are the names good? I had a couple of different ways this chapter could have panned out, but after telling my critique about one of them she said it would have been mean, so I didn't.
Anyway, there's just the epilogue left!
Drop me a line, let me know what you think. :D