Hearing a large knock at the apartment door, Kate groaned as she slipped out of bed and tightened her robe around her, exhaustion covering her face as Rick sat up and stared at her in confusion. Shrugging, she quickly disappeared out of the room and approached the door, opening it quickly to reveal Ryan and Esposito, an envelope clearly noticeable in Ryan's hands as they entered the apartment and sighed, not knowing what to say.
"Can I get you two something? Tea? Coffee? A reason for waking me up this early?" she asked, the two men smiling at her weakly before shaking their heads and looking up to see Rick standing on the stairs with Johanna in his arms, a small smile covering his face as he walked over to the brunette detective and kissed her lightly, knowing she was exhausted after staying up most of the night trying to work out the seating plan for the wedding. Looking at the envelope, she quickly looked up at her two colleagues before approaching the table, knowing they were going to show her something from the way they were clinging onto the parcel and looking across at the table every couple of seconds. "So going to tell me what's going on?" she asked, Ryan sighing as he slipped the photographs out of the envelope and placed them onto the table.
"A member of the press came today, he'd just got the photos developed and the paper didn't want to use them and when he looked carefully he saw the men in the background" Ryan explained, Kate sitting as she slowly took the pile and watched herself in the photos for a moment. She was laughing in one before her arms were flung around Esposito's neck in the other. Flicking through the photos, she stopped at the last one of her lying on the street, one of Esposito's hands pressed to her stomach while he used the other one to call the ambulance. "Do you recognize the men in the background?" the detective asked, Kate sighing as she finally focused on the images, seeing three different figures across the images.
"He used to work with Tom, he left once he was arrested. God, his name was Greg something, I'm sorry but I only met him the once. I didn't like him but he tried to get me drunk" she explained, Esposito nodding as he took the photo from her and scribbled the name onto the back of it as well as the information. Moving onto the next photo, she sighed as she stared at it for a while before biting into her lip. She knew his face, she just couldn't remember where from.
"Take your time Beckett, there's no rush" Esposito smiled, Kate nodding as she continued to stare at the image.
"He came to the apartment, I don't know his name but he was one of the people who came to the apartment and attacked me" she explained, Rick approaching them quickly as he rested Johanna on his hip and sighed, staring down at the image which his fiancée was looking at. "He was a school friend of Demming's but I can't remember his name, I only saw him in photographs Tom had from college" she explained, the two men nodding before she finally moved onto the third person in the images.
"Kate?" Rick asked, noticing the shock on her face. "Kate who is he?" he whispered, kneeling beside her with Johanna in his arms as she bit into her lip for a moment before looking up at the two men who were waiting for her answer in desperation.
"His name's Jack. He's a doctor at the local hospital" she muttered, shutting her eyes for a moment as everyone watched her. "Jack Demming, he's Tom's brother" she admitted, annoyed that she hadn't remembered that the robbery detective had a brother. Of course he would be involved in this, she knew that Tom and Jack were close and she'd met the man on numerous occasions. "Tom taught him how to shoot; they spent a lot of time together even since they were kids. I haven't ever seen anyone as close as them" she explained, standing quickly as her fingers ran through her hair. "How did I forget about him?" she asked.
"Kate you've been under a lot of stress, you've closed all of that out. No one would blame you, he really hurt you of course you don't want to remember what happened when you were with him" Rick explained, approaching her quickly before he kissed her lightly and allowed her to take their daughter into her arms. "Do you guys need anything else?" Rick asked, staring across at the two men who were putting the photos back into the envelope, their heads shaking in response.
"I'm sorry we woke you up Beckett, Castle. We just thought the sooner we got you to look at the photos, the sooner we'd get the bastards" Ryan explained, Rick nodding as his arm slipped around Kate who was staring at their daughter. "We'll call you if you we get any further" he added, Kate nodding as they slowly began to approach the front door again.
"Oh, Lanie wants to know if you want to come to dinner tonight. We have something to tell you" Esposito blurted out before he left, both Kate and Rick nodding quickly as they thought about the Parish Esposito baby that wouldn't be a secret after tonight.
"Of course we'll be there Esposito" Kate smiled. "Do you mind if I bring Jo though? I don't like leaving her with a babysitter and Alexis is out with friends tonight" the brunette explained, Javier beaming at the comment. "Why am I even asking? I know you'd do anything to spend more time with my daughter" she smiled, Esposito nodding as Rick laughed at the man's excitement over children before the male detective explained the time and place and said his goodbyes, slipping out of the apartment with his partner.
"Can I give you a hug now?" Rick asked, Kate nodding as his arms slipped around her and kept her close to him; Johanna wiggling in between them as they both sighed. "We're getting closer, soon they'll be gone and we can get on with our lives" he explained, Kate nodding as she moved away slightly and looked up at him, tears filling her eyes.
"I know, it's just I'm scared Rick" she admitted, shocking the writer slightly at her confession. "I'm really scared that something will happen before Ryan and Esposito find them and I can't risk any of you getting hurt because of me" she whispered, looking down at her daughter for a moment as Rick watched her in silence.
"Trust them, we'll get through this. We've got through a lot worse than this and I'm sure we'll have worse to come with your job" he explained, Kate nodding lightly before the sound of footsteps on the stairs grabbed their attention. "Morning pumpkin" Rick smiled up at his daughter who waved as she yawned, Kate smiling at her weakly as the writer approached the kitchen slowly and began to look around. "I fancy pancakes, anyone else?" he asked, everyone nodding quickly before he laughed and began to make their breakfast.
XOXOXOOXXOXO
Sitting at the table, Kate smiled for the first time that day as she watched Javier Esposito playing with her daughter, Lanie watching him with a completely dreamy look on her face. Kate had known Esposito would be a good dad from the first time they had a case where a child was involved, he was naturally calm around them and seemed to find a way of explaining things to them that they understood; in an odd way he was like Rick when it came to children. Turning to look at her fiancée, she smiled as he squeezed the hand he was holding before leaning across and kissing her lightly, everyone waiting at the table for Ryan to arrive. Hearing footsteps, they all looked to see the detective walking towards them, exhaustion covering his face as he collapsed into the spare seat and groaned.
"So why are we having dinner?" Ryan asked, looking across at Esposito and Lanie who were beaming at each other, the male detective holding Johanna on his lap as she continued to stare across at her parents who were smiling together. "I mean we don't normally have dinner unless we're celebrating something" he admitted, Kate's eyes rolling at the detectives comments before Lanie looked at him.
"Well we didn't plan on telling you this until after the meal but because Ryan is being a typical detective we better tell you now" Lanie explained, looking across at the man who was grinning beside her. "Esposito and I are having a baby" she admitted, shock covering Ryan's face as Esposito beamed and looked from person to person to see smiles covering all their faces.
"Congratulations Esposito" Kate and Rick both beamed; shaking his hand quickly as he continued to smile at the fact he was going to be a dad. He was going to be a father to a baby with Lanie Parish, the ME who he'd spent years teasing and flirting with.
"Wow, congratulations" Ryan finally commented, shaking his partners hand as Lanie continued to laugh in amusement. "Now I've got to find someone" he sighed, standing quickly unaware of the woman who was walking towards him and who he knocked slightly. Grabbing her as she began to lose her balance, Ryan stared at the woman who was staring at him in embarrassment while everyone smiled at them. "I'm so sorry" he explained, the woman shrugging as she beamed.
"Happens to anyone" she laughed, fiddling with the sleeve of her dress as she looked at him.
"I'm Kevin" Ryan blurted out, Kate and Lanie's eyes rolling at him as Castle and Esposito just beamed at their friend. "Seeing that I knocked you over, I thought you might want a name to add when you rant about me to your friends" he smiled, the woman laughing lightly as she stared at him.
"I'm Jenny" she admitted before laughing. "Seeing that you knocked me over, you might want a name to add when you laugh about this later with your friends" she beamed, everyone smiling at them as they continued to watch the interaction between the couple.
I know Jenny and Ryan probably didn't meet like this but it's a story, I can change some things when I want. Also I had a completely blank when I was writing this (seeing that it's 2 am) so I couldn't remember if I'd mentioned Jenny before but I have a huge feeling that I didn't so hopefully this fits, if not I'll come back and delete it later once I've read my story again. Anyway after this chapter we haven't got long to go until the end as I've decided to go up to the wedding and end it once they're married so I think we have about three or four chapters left at the most. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this and review. Thank you again for your wonderful responses to the previous chapters, I do love hearing from you in relation to all my stories.