"I woke up on the floor the next morning," she recalls.

"I know."

"Right where he left me."

"I don't think that anything happened."

"Did you ask Javi?"

"He must believe whoever threatened the lives of the people that he cares about."

"I would like to see someone pin a murder on you."

"He wouldn't say who it is."

"You have a theory?"

"Just that it is someone with connections."

"Like who?"

"I wish that I knew. Esposito is a good cop. He is a good guy do you really think that he orchestrated this plan on his own? Do you think he would have evidence to prove his innocence and not share it, if there wasn't another party involved? He is smart."

"Castle if all of your outlandish theories are true what does that mean for us?" she asks the question directly.

"I don't know," he admits.

"You keep showing up here, like you're expecting something to happen. Castle I love you, but I can't put you through this."

"It's too late to consider my feelings now, don't you think?"

She shrugs, "I don't know."

"Whether we end up together, or not you have to accept the fact that I'm not going anywhere. I am always going to be around. I am always going to be a part of your life. We are going to have a child together."

"I know."

"And that scares you, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," she nods.

"No matter what happens between us, or where we end up we are always going to be tied to each other."

"How do we make this work? Everything is such a mess."

"We have to do whatever is best for our child."

"Our child," she repeats in a hushed tone. Her hand floats to her abdomen without a second thought. Her eyes fall on the man sitting at the table next to her. He smiles in the face of uncertainty. It reminds of why she fell in love with him in the first place. Her mind wonders as her eyes slowly transition to her stomach. Under her borrowed t-shirt it is impossible to see any change in appearance. Yet she still knows that it's real. All of this is real.

The upheaval, and the downfalls, and everything in between, it always leads back to him. She thinks about the child growing inside of her. An unborn baby who she feels completely, and totally unprepared for. A child who she should have known the origins of simply based on the uncanny ability to show up at the worst possible time, just like Rick. He always shows up at the worst possible time, right when she needs him.

Without a word she scoots her chair away from the table. He watches her as she leaves the room, but he doesn't say anything. A few moments later she returns from her bedroom. She stops in front of the table. She stares at what's in her hand for a brief moment, before she looks at Castle. She smiles at him.

"There is something that I want to show you," she tells him.

He nods, and she places the pictures in front of him. She lays them out on the table. He studies each one of them carefully, as if he is committing them to memory. Her glance finds it way to the most recent picture of her unborn child. Without a single word she approaches him. She takes a seat on her chair, and pulls it closer to him, and looks at the pictures with him. He points to one of the pictures as he smiles widely.

"Can you believe that we did that?"

"No," she admits.

"I am sorry that I was so insensitive when we were talking about having kids."

"You? I was the one who was insensitive. I told you that I would 'let' you have a dog. Castle I didn't mean it like that. You are a grown man, and you can do whatever you want. I have a tendency to say, and do really stupid things when I'm scared."

"I know that. I should have considered that might have mixed emotions about this."

"What makes you say that?" she queries.

"Your entire adult life has been focused on justice. You live for your career. Getting married, having a family that is scary for anyone. You have been alone for so long that I think, and maybe I am completely of base here, but just maybe you're afraid of having something to lose. Before it was always just you. You were the only person that you had to worry about, but that isn't true anymore. Change is scary, for anyone."

"I never pictured this. I never pictured being pregnant, or having a child, even though it was something that I wanted."

"Why didn't you ever say that?"

"I don't like letting people in."

"I am not going to hurt you."

"I just didn't want anyone to judge me. As a single female detective what would people say if I had announced that I wanted to have a child? Until recently none of this was anything more than just a dream."

"You never once considered that you could tell me?"

"So much of our relationship has been dictated by timing. There was never a good time to tell you. I thought I would just wait until you brought it up."

"I didn't want to push you. I tried to respect your feelings, your boundaries, but I couldn't wait forever."

"That's okay."

"Are you still mad at me?"

"Mad at you, for what?" she furrows her brow.

"Esposito said that you were pissed at me, when you thought that I was responsible for you getting pregnant."

"You are responsible."

"And you were pissed."

"It doesn't matter now."

He brushes stray strands of hair off her face. She stares at him with dark circles under her eyes. She looks more tired than he remembers. Her chin quivers.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she lies as she tries to stave off the tears.

"Are you tearing up?"

"No!"

"You are."

"We're going to have a baby," she reminds him, "It's just a lot."

"I know," he smiles.

She places her finger on one of the black and white images, "That is our baby."

"Who even looks good in black and white."

"In a way, I am a little glad you haven't been around."

"That is harsh."

"I cried after a laundry detergent commercial the other day. I know you never would have let me live that down."

"You're pregnant. You are hormonal. I would never harass you for crying."

She shoots him a questioning look, "It's because I have a gun, and you're afraid of me, isn't it?"

"I would prefer not to answer that question."

"How do you intend on getting Esposito to admit to any of this?" Kate changes the question.

"I'm not, that's your job."

She slides off her chair, and begins walking away. He calls after her, "Where are you going?"