A/N This is the second of a two-part arc.

Disclaimer: The only part of Castle that I own is the TV on which I watch the show.

I woke up and it was very dark. I was pretty sure it was still nighttime.

"Scrapple? Are you awake?"

"I am now. What's up?"

"Me! Get it? I'm up. That's my joke."

"Good one, Eliot, but go back to sleep."

"I can't. I don't like it that Mom's not here."

"She'll be home soon."

"I know, but I don't like it. I want to go sleep with Dad."

"Why don't you just call him? Just yell his name and he'll hear you on the monitor."

"Thanks, Scrapple!"

I had to call Dad about five times but then I heard him running up the stairs and he crashed into my room and Scrapple had to jump out of the way before Dad stepped on him. Dad's hair was sticking out all over the place and he picked me up out of the crib and hugged me.

"Eliot, Eliot, Eliot! Are you okay?"

"Hi, Dah."

"Are you okay?"

"Mom way?"

"Mom's away, but she'll be home soon. Are you worried? She's fine."

"Seep you."

"You want to sleep with me?"

"Yah. Seep you down."

"Okay. Okay, my guy. You really scared me for a minute. I have to catch my breath. We'll go downstairs and you can sleep in the big bed with me."

"An daw."

"And Scrapple? Okay. That's our secret, though, so don't tell Mom! It'll just be us three guys in the bed."

"Thanks, Eliot."

"You're welcome."

In the morning after we took Scrapple out and had breakfast it was still too early to go see Mom. So while Dad was sending some emails and calling people I decided I better tell the rest of the story by Mom. I heard Docky tell her and Dad that I have "a truly exceptional memory," which I think means I remember a lot. That's good right now since I have to think of exactly everything I heard Mom tell people about it so I can tell you. Here goes!

Sidney was such a trouper. I know he's a doctor, and he kicked into professional mode, but still. I mean, he hadn't really had to deal with a live patient, not to mention three of them, in years. He called the hospital and Lotte and got everything rolling like making sure there was an ambulance, with incubators, downstairs asap. He said, "I don't care if you have to pick people up bodily from the street, get that bus here now." It was pretty obvious, even to me, that I wasn't going to have a lot of lucid moments in the immediate future so we tried to discuss things right away, between contractions. And while I was in the middle of maybe the third and fourth ones he took my phone and called my dad and Martha and Alexis to tell them what was going on.

After that I said, "Remember when I was trapped standing on that bomb for hours? Castle insisted I wasn't standing on one and and kept trying to cheer me up, keep my mind off it. I remember that I said to him. 'If I have to be stuck not standing on a bomb, then I'm glad I'm stuck with you.' Kind of how I feel right now, Sidney. Hate to say it, but God I'm glad it's you in here and not Ryan and Espo."

"Thank you, Kate. But there's no bomb here."

"Yeah, except me. I feel like I'm a time bomb."

I'll spare you the grizzliest details, but Sidney helped me get my shoes and pants off, and took his own shirt off and hung it on the railing in case he needed it for the babies. He put our coats lining-side up on the floor of the elevator for me and used some of the bottled water to rinse off his hands before pulling on his gloves. When my phone finally rang, it was Castle on FaceTime. I'd say it was a private conversation, except that Sidney was standing about three feet away, diplomatically trying not to listen. But Castle got Martha to meet him and take Eliot home and stay there with him and the dog. And then he raced to the precinct, climbed up the stairs and waited in my office. He stayed on the line the whole time. Didn't even wince, I think, when I was screaming terrible things at him. He kept apologizing for not being there with me.

"Maybe I should have brought Eliot so he could talk to the babies."

"I think not, Castle," I said somehow, through my teeth.

"Right," he said.

At some point the repairmen arrived and we could hear some clanking below us. Sidney told Castle to ask them please "to keep the jostling to a minimum." I'd have laughed if I weren't already close to another kind of hysteria. No, that's not really true. Time was going too fast, because I didn't want to deliver in the elevator, but not going fast enough. And Sidney kept me calmer than I'd have thought possible. He must have been terrified, too. The responsibility of it. The worry.

Finally he told me one more push, just one more push, I'd done this before, I was great.

"Bull! I did this in a hospital! In a clean hospital! And there was only one kid to push out." But he was right, he was right. One more push and there was the first one.

Sidney smiled the most beatific smile, that's the only way I can describe it, which is good for a newly-minted saint, and put the baby on my chest for just a moment. "Another boy, Kate. You have another wonderful son. Castle! Can you hear us? It's a boy!" And then he cleaned him off as well as he could and wrapped him up in his shirt and had about a second to recover before the second one arrived.

The smile for that might have been even bigger than the first. "This must be Obi!" He blurted it right out. "You're the smaller one. She's a girl, Kate! A beautiful little girl. Castle! One of each! They're perfect."

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Docky. Wow, that was something. We're out! Can you put me over there with EB?"

"Yes, I'm wrapping you up with EB. And we're all going to get someplace much nicer very soon."

I thought nothing could surprise me at that point. I mean, I had just given birth to my son and daughter in an elevator in which my family and colleagues and the most disgusting criminals ride. But it did surprise me. Maybe it shouldn't have, but it did. "Sidney? Perlmutter? Did you just hear her talk?"

He looked up from the two-baby bundle and laughed. "Yes! Yes, I did. Totally unexpected." And he told me what she said and I burst into tears and then I laughed, too.

All the time this was going on I was aware of a background of noise, the workmen underneath us trying to free the elevator. Castle was talking nonstop and I was trying to hold the phone so that he could see the three of us.

"Ask Perlmutter to take a picture."

"I'll do it in a second, Castle, I'm busy with Kate."

Then Castle asked us to hang on and I could hear that he was talking to someone else. He came back with the news that the repairmen had fixed the problem and were going to bring the elevator down as slowly as possible to the ground floor. Everyone had been cleared out, and three doctors and some EMTs were waiting with a gurney for me and portable incubators for the twins.

I've never been happier to see a door open. Castle ran in ahead of everyone so he could see us. We babbled a lot, that's all I'll say. After I was put on a gurney and wheeled out onto the sidewalk, I saw twelve squad cars lined up, twelve from the Twelfth, six in front of the ambulance and six behind. We peeled out about a minute later. "Greatest police escort ever," Castle said.

Hi. It's me, Eliot. That's the end of Mom's part. I told you it was amaze balls! I can tell the rest myself because I went to the hospital with Gram and Granddad.

The twins were five hours old when we got there. They had gotten washed off so they wouldn't have germs. I didn't know they were going to be so little! Mom's belly had been so big I thought they'd be bigger. My brother, the one I used to call EB but now he has a real name which I'll tell you in a minute, was in a bassinet. He was wrapped up tight and had a blue cap that said IT'S MY BIRTHDAY. My sister, you know, Obi, was too tiny so she has to spend a few days in something called an incubator to keep her extra warm. She had a pink birthday cap and was down the hall in a special place called the NICU.

After I hugged and kissed Mom I got to sit in the bed next to her and hold my brother in my lap.

"Hi. I'm your brother. I'm Eliot. You had a big adventure getting born. Everybody is talking about it."

"Didn't you get born that way?"

"Nope."

"How's Obi?"

"Good. She just has to get a little bigger before she can be in a bassinet like you.'

"Told you she was a pipsqueak. I'm tired. Night."

So he went back into the bassinet and Mom and Dad told me that babies do that. Sleep all the time. Gram and Granddad and Alexis came in to see Mom and meet the babies, but they left pretty soon because they didn't want to make Mom tired. I got to stay, though, and then Mom and Dad started talking about what to really call EB and Obi.

"Castle, I will strangle the first person who suggests that we name them Patrick and Patricia."

"Right behind you, Beckett."

Dad was right next to her, not behind her, but that's an expression. It means that he's on her side which is funny because he really was on her side! Oh, and Mom was kidding. She wouldn't really strangle anyone.

"I know we have a list for boys and girls, but I'd like to toss it, at least the girls' one."

"Yeah?" Dad's eyebrows went up. "You have something in mind?"

"Abigail. Abby for short. In honor of Perlmutter. Of his daughter. I don't think we'd have made it without him." Mom looked serious all of a sudden. "He's told me a lot about her. Do you think he would mind? Would that be too painful? Should we ask him?"

"Let's ask him. He's nothing if not forthright."

"Can we do it right now? Is he here?"

"Yes, he went and got clean clothes but he came back and he's in the waiting room. But before I go out, I want to run a boy's name by you."

"Should I be worried?"

"No! But we weren't completely happy with the list and I have an idea. Otis."

"Otis?"

"It's a distinguished name. I love the sound of it, Otis. A lot of vowels, like Eliot. And It's not too long, which is good since his last name is Beckett-Castle."

"Give me a minute here, Castle, so my befogged brain can work on this. I actually love that name. You don't hear it often, but I know you. I know you didn't pluck this from the ether." She squinted her eyes at him. She is better at this than Dad and after a while his mouth moved a little bit. "Aha! Your lip just twitched."

"It may have."

"I got it! The elevator. The Otis elevator company? Are you kidding?"

"I'm not kidding. Elisha Otis is the genius who invented the safety feature that keeps elevators from falling if the cable—"

Mom put her hand up like a traffic cop. "Don't say it. Please don't finish that sentence."

"I won't. But admit it, it's a great name. And this has been a completely surreal day."

"Castle? You think it was surreal? You have no idea."

"Not like you, I know, but some. Don't forget I was on FaceTime."

Mom put her hand around Dad's chin. "I'm not going to regret this am I?"

"No. And it's kind of a cool way to commemorate his arrival into the world, don't you think?"

"Never dreamed I'd say this, but yes, I do. Otis. We have an Otis. What do you say, Eliot? Do you like that name?"

"Yah! Oty. Guh."

"How about I go get Perlmutter now?" Mom said yes and Dad went and found Docky. As soon as he came in the room I slid off the bed and hugged him around the knee.

"Thanks for helping the twins get born, Docky."

"You're welcome, Eliot. I'm glad I could help. I was lucky to be there."

"Sidney? Castle and I want to ask you something. About our daughter, formerly known as Obi."

Docky laughed. "What about her?"

"We would very much like to name her Abigail, Abby, in your honor. And in memory of your daughter. But if you think, um, if that's. If it's too painful. We don't want to be presumptuous."

I never saw Docky's face like that. He looked sad and happy at the same time. He didn't say anything for a long time, but he looked out the window for a minute and he swallowed so hard I could see it in his neck. He blinked a couple of times. And then he turned around and he cleared his throat. "I was just visiting her in the NICU. I think it's a perfect name for her. Perfect. And I, uh, I so look forward to watching Abby grow up. I am in your debt."

It looked like he gave a little bow. Noboby said anything for a while, until Dad did.

"No, Sidney, it's we who are in yours."