Title: Chocolate Soothes The Savage Beast

Summary: A heavily pregnant Alexis decides to swing by the precinct. Takes place a few months after they get married.

Genre: Romance/Humor

Characters: Alexis

Alexis stepped off the elevator and glanced around the homicide floor but only saw Esposito amid some other unfamiliar faces. She made her way over to his desk and waited patiently for him to finish his phone call, her hands tugging slightly on the bottom of her blouse to keep it down over her rounded stomach.

He jumped up after ending the call and hugged her before pulling out Ryan's chair for her to sit down in. "Hey girl, look at you looking all beautiful today."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," she grinned as she carefully lowered herself and leaned back with a sigh of relief. "God I wish I could breath. Where might my husband be?"

Esposito jerked a thumb over his shoulder, "Interrogation with Beckett, your dad's observing. So what brings you down here, everything ok?"

She smothered a smile, even though Kevin was the father-to-be Esposito was just as protective as he was over his unborn niece or nephew. He had taken it upon himself to be there when Ryan couldn't be and had even taken her to a couple appointments when Ryan had to take care of things for Devlin. "Everything's fine, I just thought I'd get out of the apartment for a bit. Are you guys really busy, should I come back later?"

He quickly waved off her concerns, "Nah. I mean we might get more after this interrogation but we just have to see. So how's my nephew doing?"

"You mean niece?" she asked teasingly. She was waiting to know the gender, much to Ryan's dislike, and everyone had their own opinion of what the baby would be. Esposito and Castle were betting on a boy, Ryan and Beckett were betting on a girl. "The baby's fine, everything's good." Her eyes drifted to the break room but before she could ever lift herself out of the chair Esposito was standing.

"What do you want? I'll get it."

"Water if it's not too much trouble please," she asked. Amidst the not being able to breath and constantly feeling like she had reached maximum capacity it was nice that at least everyone waited on her hand and foot.

When Esposito disappeared the door to interrogation swung open revealing Kate and Ryan who closed the door and spoke quietly before Castel burst out of interrogation, "He's lying. You know he's lying."

Beckett arched an eyebrow and smiled, "Yes Castle, we are trained detectives. We'll hold onto him while we check out his story. Ryan, call the boss and get the security footage so we can make sure he was where he said he was. I want to know everything he did that night, every move he made."

"On it," he replied before turning and noticing his wife. A massive smile broke across his face as he walked over. "What are you doing here?"

She tilted her head up to accept the kiss he gave her before smiling as he dropped down into the chair by his desk. "Just thought I'd stop by."

Esposito reappeared and handed her a bottle of water as Castle and Beckett approached. "Hi honey, everything ok?" Castled asked.

She groaned, "Yes, everything's fine. Everybody stop asking me, I'm not going to spontaneously combust." Not done ranting she glared at Kate, "Do you have anything to add? Hmmm?"

Everyone's eyebrows shot up at her snappy words and short temper; her mood swings were making talking to her a minefield. She had good days and bad days but ever since hitting thirty-three weeks more bad days had begun to appear. She was sick of not being able to fit in booths anymore at restaurants and her feet hurt, she hated that she couldn't take a hot bath and was really starting to miss having a glass of wine in the evenings.

Kevin grinned and dug in his desk drawer before producing a chocolate bar and handing it to her. Her eyes lit up as she removed the wrapper and broke off a piece. As soon as the sugary chunk hit her tongue she relaxed and smiled, "Yum, thank you."

They all sat quietly for a few moments until Alexis sighed, "I have to use the bathroom. Again. Ugh." With some help from Ryan she got out of the chair and waddled away with a warning, "If anyone touches that chocolate bar I will rip off your arms and beat you with them."

Once she was gone Castle began to laugh as Esposito stared at his partner, "She's getting worse. Thank God you had that chocolate bar."

Ryan nodded seriously, "Chocolate soothes the beast. I've got them stashed everywhere. At no point during the day am I farther than ten feet from something chocolate."

Beckett began to laugh, "Seriously?"

"Oh yeah. My desk, Javi's, the break room, all over the apartment, the car. There's even some stashed at Castle's place and in Dev's backpack."

"Dev doesn't eat them?" Esposito asked.

He shook his head, "Dev's not dumb, he doesn't have a death wish." Seeing Alexis come around the corner he looked at his boss, "Could I take a lunch before I call about the security footage?"

Esposito nodded before Beckett could answer, "I'll call the boss you just get her out of here before she attacks someone."

Hiding a smile Ryan grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair and his keys out of his desk drawer as she approached. "Come on, I'll take you to lunch."

"But what about calling whoever about your suspect?" she asked curiously.

"Javi will take care of it."

Alexis stood and looked at his partner as her eyes began to well with tears, "You're so good to Kevin and I. I don't know what we would do without you." As more tears began to gather and fall Ryan gently grabbed her arms and began to steer her away.

"Yeah he's great," he said dryly and grinned when his partner flipped him off behind Alexis's back. "So where did you want to go eat? There's that place by the park that has that dark chocolate cake you love."

"You just keep feeding me and then I'll get fat and it'll be all your fault," she hissed.

He shook his head and cast everyone a pleading look over his shoulder, "No honey, you're beautiful. You'll always be beautiful."

Castle watched them enter the elevator with a smile, "I remember that, the role of dad-to-be."

"Do you miss it?" Beckett asked her boyfriend softly.

"God no. Meredith literally tried to kill me when I accidently said she was getting too big for the apartment. I had to hide all the kitchen knives until Alexis was born."

Esposito listened with wide eyes and made a mental note to never get Lanie pregnant.

Ever.