Her stomach grumbled.

She needed to eat and this was the perfect time to have lunch, a much needed chance to clear her head. Luckily, Lanie was free and agreed to meet her at a new little lunch cafe that they were dying to try.

Something about the interview stuck with her, nagging at the back of her mind, but she wouldn't let this case mess with her head. Husbands cheated on their wives all the time, but she knew there was no way Castle would ever cheat on her. The paranoia was the result of her hormones, planting seeds of irrational thought where they were not needed.

Kate was lucky. Castle was a great husband; his only fault lately was annoying her with his exaggerated need to take care of her. Like that was a bad thing.

It wasn't. It was her problem and her problem alone, that every last thing he was doing lately was getting under her skin. He didn't deserve her irritation.

He was trying - really trying - to be good to her. Man, she really owed him, needed to figure out a way to somehow repay his kindness. She needed to surprise him with something tomorrow for Valentine's Day, something unexpected.

Stepping out of the elevator onto the ground floor, she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. It was most likely Castle wondering if he could get her anything. Her heart fluttered at the thought; her overly thoughtful yet sweet husband.

When she reached for the device, she was surprised to see Alexis's picture flash onto her screen.

"Hey Alexis, everything okay?" Kate asked, as she pulled her keys from her bag, looking around to locate her car in the parking lot. She was so forgetful lately, a lovely side effect of pregnancy that people had failed to warn her about. Focused on her search, she almost missed the voice on the other end of the line.

"Yeah. Everything's fine. I just can't get ahold of my dad," Alexis said, words rushed in one breath. "Is he with you?"

Kate stopped in her tracks, suddenly worried by the call, when she spotted her car.

"No, I'm on my way to meet Lanie for lunch," she explained, adjusting her bag back onto her shoulder as she resumed walking. "He left over an hour ago to take care of some errands."

Alexis sighed and released a soft laugh into the phone.

Suspicious.

"Oh, that's right."

"That's right? What is he up to?" She hated secrets. Well, maybe not hated, she just wasn't necessarily fond of being out of the loop.

"Kate, he made me promise not to tell." Her tone was light, mocking her. At least she could count on Alexis to not treat her with kid gloves. Finally next to her car, she paused for a second, her mind coming up with a plan.

"I'm sure he did. But how about you join Lanie and me at lunch and I can tempt you?"

She reached forward and pulled open the driver's side door, angling her body behind the wheel and collapsing into her seat. If Alexis wouldn't tell her what Castle was up to, maybe she'd let it slip to a certain ME.

"Lunch sounds good, but his secret is safe with me," Alexis said with a soft laugh.

"Stupid father-daughter bond," she teased. "I'm on the way to Joe's Cafe on 2nd."

"Meet you there, but my lips are sealed."

"Uh huh, we'll see." Kate rested her hand along her stomach, feeling her daughter kick in agreement. "I can't wait til this little one is old enough to keep secrets from both you and your dad."

Castle stepped into the loft completely discouraged. He had walked around the city for hours, in search of the perfect idea for Kate's Valentine's Day surprise. He had never been this behind before when planning for the holiday, but with their recent vacation and life in general, he had completely lost track of time.

After spending hours aimlessly weaving through the snow-covered streets, he was left feeling frozen and defeated. For years, he had never had issue finding a romantic keepsake or planning the perfect night on the town, but this year any idea left him feeling cliché and shallow. This was Kate.

His wife.

His always.

She was carrying his child and deserved far more than diamonds and flowers. He would give her the sun and moon if it were possible, something that mattered as much as she did. This last week had been tough; every day further into her pregnancy the more irrational she became. He was desperately trying to make her happy, but at every turn he was either doing too much or not enough. He used to be so good at reading her, but at this point, he seemed to be completely lost and he hated it.

He needed a miracle.

...a secret weapon.

He needed to call Jim.

Alexis was already seated next to Lanie by the time Kate managed to find a parking spot and walk - who was she kidding - waddle to the restaurant. She wasn't as big as other pregnant women she'd seen, but her days of power walking were over, at least until after their little one made her grand entrance into this world.

"Alexis was just telling me all about her boyfriend," Lanie said with a knowing smirk as Alexis blushed.

"You didn't find out all about it through the precinct gossip mill?" Kate teased, throwing her coat on top of her bag and sinking down into an empty chair.

"Funny." Alexis rolled her eyes at Kate before turning her attention toward the ME who was barely able to contain herself.

"Don't you look adorable," Lanie cooed, turning toward Kate and trying to hold back a laugh at her expense.

"Call me adorable again and I'm going to smack you."

"Oh girl. Now I know why you called. If you're getting this snarky with me, I can only imagine the load that Castle is getting."

Kate narrowed her eyes on her friend and bit her lip; she had a point, but Alexis nodding out of the corner of her vision only confirmed it. God, her husband was a saint.

"Okay, you're right. It's why you're both here... I might have been getting a little short with him lately."

She watched as Alexis winced and offered her a supportive smile.

"Possibly just a little. Just recently. You haven't been bad the entire time," Alexis explained, reaching forward and squeezing her hand. "It's almost like you hit your third trimester and your patience with my dad disappeared."

"Usually he does everything to test my patience..."

"True, but lately. It's more like he's walking on eggshells."

"You're right. I'm awful," she sighed. "I need an idea, but..."

The waiter greeted their table, putting a temporary hold on the conversation as they ordered. Simply chatting with the waiter was distracting enough that they switched topics and started talking about both Lanie and Alexis's love lives. They had almost lost sight of the initial purpose of their lunch until after their meals arrived.

It seemed to dawn on Lanie, so she went back to the task at hand. "The man has everything," she added, between bites of her salad while she was momentarily mesmerized by the size of Kate's turkey club. This place definitely lived up to the hype that had made its way around the precinct.

"He does have everything," Alexis agreed, toying with the straw in her iced tea. "And I don't think he'd want you worrying about buying him something for Valentine's Day."

She had a point. They had a tradition of gestures or homemade trinkets when it came to the typical Hallmark holidays, even though he rarely stuck with that idea.

Castle enjoyed buying things for others, but he also bought a lot for himself. He had an impulsive personality which definitely extended to buying every gadget the second it hit the shelves, which made Christmas and birthdays difficult.

But for Valentine's Day - a gesture would work this year, probably would be for the best.

"Actually, that helps," she said, her lips splitting into a smile.

Alexis beamed at Kate, as her friend looked up from her plate, raising her eyebrow.

"It does? Girl, pregnancy really must do crazy things to your mind because how was any part of this conversation helpful?" Lanie asked incredulously and Kate tossed her napkin at her in response.

"Castle's never been about gifts from me. It's about the gesture. So I have the perfect idea to surprise him. Something we haven't done together in a while." She popped a french fry into her mouth and Lanie's eyes grew wide.

"Ooo is this a freaky sex thing?" she asked, leaning closer and Alexis groaned, hiding her head in her hands.

"Lanie, this is my dad we're talking about."

"True," she offered, putting her hand on Alexis's shoulder. "Kate, you'll tell me later if it's a freaky sex thing, right?"

"It's not a freaky sex thing," she scoffed, rolling her eyes at Lanie's idiocy. Apparently whatever love life her friend claimed to have wasn't enough if she was so concerned about Kate's sex life.

"Can we stop saying freaky sex thing in reference to my father?" Alexis pleaded, scrunching her face in a way that made her seem far younger than the twenty-something woman she was. As cute and juvenile as her reaction might be, Kate agreed.

"Of course."

"You both need to live a little," Lanie said, spearing a tomato with her fork. Kate shook her head at the grumble from across the table and finished up her sandwich. She knew it was only a matter of time before she'd get called back. Now that she was captain, someone always needed her there.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, her phone buzzed to prove her point. Reaching over, she saw the precinct number flash on her screen and waved the device toward the pair.

"Sorry, I need to take this," she whispered, pulling the phone to her ear. "Beckett."

"We found the wife. We're bringing her in," Ryan said, his voice hesitant. No one ever wanted the scorned spouse to be the killer, but it was always the most logical choice.

"Do we have any evidence to charge her?"

"Not yet, just bringing her in for questioning. I feel for her though. If she knew about the affair? That's earth-shattering enough, but then your husband winds up dead."

His statement left an uneasy fluttering in her chest. It was an awful situation to find yourself in, but this was just another case. Emotions couldn't taint their judgement.

"She could still be a viable suspect," she stated. She hoped she was wrong, but she couldn't let preconceived notions interfere with the truth.

"Could be."

The true victims were the couple's children, and that thought alone made her heart drop entirely. Losing a parent was never easy. She had lost her mother when she was an adult and it had broken her. She couldn't fathom the idea of losing her mother at a younger age. They had learned that the victim's kids were young, so young that they might not even remember their dad by the time they were grown.

It was all heartbreaking.

"Scorned wife or not, if she's the killer she did more than murder her husband. She single-handedly destroyed her own family."

"Hopefully Espo can find out more."

"No. I'm on my way. She's pregnant and emotional. She might be more responsive to me since we're both pregnant." Kate stood up and shrugged on her jacket, shoving the phone into her pocket. "Sorry to cut this short."

"Duty calls," Alexis said, smiling. "I hope everything works out tomorrow."

"Me too." She moved around the table to offer Alexis and Lanie half hugs before rushing out the door.

Or as close to rushing as she could manage...