Her hands trembled as she scrambled out of bed, pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and found her shoes. She kept trying to reassure herself that they took precautions, and she had been under a lot of stress over the past few weeks. She pushed the fatigue and nausea away as she made her way to the drug store and bought the test that could change the rest of their lives. Her hands continued to shake all the way home and as she took that test and waited for the results. She didn't have long to wait because the results were almost immediately apparent. Two lines. It was positive. She was pregnant with Richard Castle's baby.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, although I sure wish I could have Rick to myself for awhile.

Kate couldn't quite comprehend that she was actually pregnant. How could this be possible? They took precautions! It was just her luck that she was in the two percent failure rate. How could she have a baby? She was a homicide detective, and her job put her life at risk every day. She was also single, and the baby's father seemed like he didn't want anything to do with her anymore. She collapsed on her bed, and the great Detective Beckett cried herself to sleep.

When she woke up in the morning, a wave of nausea overtook her and she was in the bathroom again with mostly dry heaves. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Kate decided to exercise some control and try to make sense of everything. When her aunt was pregnant and having morning sickness, she remembered her mom telling her how saltine crackers would help to ease it. To that end, she rummaged in her kitchen cupboard until she found some. Cautiously, she ate a couple and noticed she felt a little better. She ate a few more, and then decided to make a couple pieces of dry toast with some orange juice. With the nausea under some control, she thought about the predicament she was in. Even though she didn't know how she would manage everything, she knew she would have the baby. She loved Castle with all her heart, even though he seemed like he couldn't stand her anymore. Castle was a good father. He might not have feelings for her, but she was sure he would love his child. She knew she had to tell him, but she decided to wait until after she confirmed the pregnancy with her doctor. She definitely did not want to tell him she was pregnant, and then find out she was wrong. Things were already complicated enough. No, until she went to the doctor, she planned to keep this whole thing to herself. She needed time to deal with the enormity of having a baby and being a single mom with a dangerous job. In the meantime, she would be more careful at work and just take one step at a time.

Before she went to the precinct, she called her doctor. Surprisingly, he was able to squeeze her in if she could be there in an hour. She called the precinct and told Gates she needed to take half a day off for a doctor's appointment that slipped her mind. Gates gave her the green light, and Kate rushed to make her appointment on time. About an hour later, the doctor informed her she was definitely pregnant. As a matter of fact, from the date of her last period, she was about eleven weeks along. He gave her a prescription for prenatal vitamins and told her he would need to see her in a few days to do blood work and an ultrasound. She wanted to ask him some questions, but before she could, he got called to the hospital for an emergency. Instead, the nurse gave her a lot of pamphlets, congratulated her, and made her an appointment. Kate couldn't believe how much her life had changed in 24 hours.

Rick couldn't believe they were actually chasing a zombie killer. He and Kate were also in a somewhat better place as well. His mother was right. He couldn't go on punishing her. It wasn't good for either of them. He decided this was going to be his last case, but then she opened up to him twice. First, she eluded to the fact that she didn't say she remembered because it was too big to deal with and she couldn't face it just yet. Then, she surprised him by telling him she was in therapy and was in a place where she could finally accept everything that happened when she was shot. She also said her wall was coming down, and she wanted him to be there when it did. He was still hurt and somewhat confused, but when she looked at him with those beautiful hopeful eyes and that Kate Beckett smile, his heart wouldn't allow this to be his last case. He hoped he wouldn't regret it, but he had to follow his heart. She shouldn't have lied, but maybe she actually couldn't deal with what happened that day, including his confession. Maybe she wasn't able to accept that he loved her because she still was working on accepting everything that happened to her when she was shot. She almost died that day. He also remembered the sniper case. She was definitely falling apart then. Yes, therapy was good. Actually, he was somewhat proud of her that she took the intiative and went into therapy on her own. Maybe her having sex with him was because her wall was finally coming down, and not because she wanted a meaningless sexual encounter. If she wanted to be "friends with benefits," wouldn't she have pursued him before four years? The problem no longer seemed to be that she didn't love him, but rather that she wasn't ready to love him, admit her feelings, or deal with the fact that he loved her. Would this be enough for him? For now, he thought. He had to admit he enjoyed having her back as his partner on this case. She did seem a little different though. He noticed she was avoiding coffee and drinking tea instead. She also seemed to have a lot on her mind and was really tired. He caught her yawning at least three times on her way to question Kyle at the hospital.

Kate was tired. She tried to get up the courage to tell Castle all day about the pregnancy, but she just couldn't spit it out. She was able to admit she was in therapy, she was dealing with everything that happened when she was shot, and that her wall was finally coming down. She was surprised to see Castle really listen to her like he cared and help her solve the case like old times. It was beginning to look like their partnership would be okay. She was relying on this, because they were going to have to get along for the sake of their child. He or she would always connect them now. She was still hurt by the way he was been treating her before this case, but she had to get past that because she had so much more to deal with now. Even though it might be pathetic, she didn't want to completely lose him. Her heart couldn't deny how she still loved him and needed him, even if he didn't feel the same way about her. What did Castle say a couple years ago? The heart wants what the heart wants. She was relieved the nausea wasn't so bad today. The tea she drank seemed to help a lot. For some reason, she noticed the smell of coffee completely turned her stomach. She didn't know how she was going to live without her daily coffee. As she was contemplating this, she yawned for the hundredth time and decided to head home.

Kate was on her way home on her motorcycle when it happened. If she wasn't yawning, she might have noticed the car run the stoplight. Instead, she heard the crash of metal as it hit the front tire of her bike. The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was hitting the pavement after being thrown from the bike.

Castle was playing laser tag with Alexis when he got the call that would completely change his life.

"Mr. Castle?"

"Yes."

"This is Dr. Bernstein from Presbyterian Hospital. You are listed as an emergency contact for Katherine Beckett. She was involved in an accident tonight. Can you please come down here?"

Castle felt his heart drop to the floor. "I'll be right there."

He felt his hands shaking as he quickly explained to Alexis that he had to get to the hospital because Kate was in an accident. He promised to call her when he had any news.

It seemed like the drive to the hospital took forever. What if she was dying? What would he do if he lost her? He was hopeful after today. Things were better between them. Why did this have to happen now? He fought to blink back a tear as he parked the car and rushed into the hospital. The nurse at the emergency room desk immediately paged Dr, Bernstein, and he appeared after a few minutes.

"Mr. Castle, I'm Dr. Bernstein," he said as he extended his hand.

"Kate...How's...How's Kate?" he stuttered.

"Katherine was involved in an accident. It seems a car ran a stoplight and hit her motorcycle. The force of the impact threw her from the bike. Luckily, she was wearing a helmet. She still suffered a pretty nasty gash on her head, which required ten stitches, and a concussion. However, her left wrist and left lower arm took the brunt of the fall. She fractured both of them. She also has some road rash on her left side, but I would say, with all factors considered, she's a pretty lucky lady. Oh, by the way, the baby's okay. Its heartbeat was strong, and even though we only did a quick scan, the ultrasound showed no evidence of any threat of miscarriage."

"She's pregnant? Are you sure?" Castle felt shocked and a little sick to his stomach.

"Yes, I'd say she's almost three months along."

"Have...Have you told her informed her of this?" he felt as if the room was starting to spin.

"No, she hasn't regained consciousness since she's been here. We casted her left lower arm, stitched her up, and gave her some pain medicine through her IV. Don't worry though, it won't hurt the baby. We'll definitely be keeping her overnight for observation, and then we'll go from there, depending on when she regains consciousness." He flipped open the chart and handed Castle a picture. "Here's an extra ultrasound picture. I know how it is to be expectant parents and worry after something like this. My wife had a fender bender when she was about five months along. Even though everything was okay, it still shook us up a lot. It's nice to see tangible evidence that everything's okay."

Castle felt tears in his eyes as he stared at the picture. He saw what appeared to be a very tiny human form. He couldn't believe it. This was their baby...His and Kate's. They had a baby.

So, these two are in quite an interesting place now. She's going to need to rely on him a little, and he's going to want to be a little more involved. He doesn't think she can handle him confessing his love for her, and, ironically, that's the one confession she needs more than anything else. Worse yet, he doesn't know if she knows that she's even pregnant. This should be interesting.

Please review! I need to know that you're reading and want me to continue, or I'll lose my motivation to continue.

I know the ultrasound only showed one Castle baby, but life is full of little surprises. Please tell me if you guys want one baby or twins.