Author's Note-How awesome was 6x01? Totally worth staying up till stupid o'clock to watch it here in the UK :D. I thought I'd update as a treat seeing as Castle's back. This is short, but for good reason. It's also the beginning of the end. I'm hoping to end this at chapter 50 if all goes to plan, so the countdown starts here. NYLF xx
The morning of her birthday, Kate woke to her phone ringing.
Alexis had had nightmares all last night and in the end, Rick had camped out on her bedroom floor, so when Kate sat up and grabbed her cell, she was alone.
"Hello?" She asked quietly, still trying to wake up from her rude interruption.
"Katie, hey birthday girl." Jim Beckett slurred thickly.
Kate's eyes slipped closed as she fought both tears and nausea.
It had been months, her mother's birthday now she thought about it, since they last spoke, and he'd broken her heart by talking like Johanna was still alive and well.
His had been the last voice she expected to hear today and that, more than anything else, broke her heart.
"Hey daddy." She could never break the habit, no matter how little of her father there was left.
"How you doing baby girl? Getting so old."
Kate choked on a tearful laugh. "I'm good." She whispered.
"Still with that man of yours?"
Kate had an urge to slam the phone down.
How dare he, after basically ignoring her for a year, after crawling into the bottle and not looking back, then try and be her parent?
She didn't though.
No matter how much he hurt her, she missed him.
"Uh huh. Taking me out tonight, hasn't told me where yet though. But Martha's watching Lex for the night."
"That's good." He hummed. "Your mom and I love you so much, Katie."
That tore it.
Barely hitting the end call button before she lobbed it across the room, Kate fled to the bathroom, falling to her knees in front of the toilet, just in time to empty her stomach.
That was how Rick found her an hour later; hunched over the bowl, sobbing as she coughed and gagged, while her body violently rid her of her stomach acid.
"Kate?" He asked concernedly before crouching beside her and pulling her hair into the back of her neck. "Sweetheart, what's going on?" He asked pointlessly, Kate was too busy to answer. "How long have you been here Kate?" He could see the red welts on her forearms where she'd been leaning on the rim for too long, could see the strain in her back every time her whole body jerked as she heaved.
When he realised she wouldn't, or couldn't, answer him, he wetted a cloth and sat beside her, resting the cloth on the back of her neck, trying to offer her some relief.
It was at least another ten minutes before she flopped back against him.
Rick flushed the toilet before gently running the cloth across her face, removing the traces of her exertion, before tucking her into his chest and pulling her over so she was sat in his lap.
"Baby, what happened?" He whispered against the top of her head.
"My, my dad, he, oh god Rick." She sobbed, clutching at him with both hands.
"Shhh." Rick hushed gently. "I'm here Kate, it's okay."
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Kate dragged herself out of his lap and started the shower.
"Hey, Kate, talk to me." He practically begged her.
She'd been distant these last few weeks and he had no idea why, but he really hoped it wasn't one of the situations his writer's imagination had so kindly provided.
If she was going to leave him, he wished she'd just get it over with, rather than dragging it out like this.
She turned to him, her skin pale, eyes red, and shot him a tiny smile. "Just give me ten minutes, please? Just, go make breakfast with Lex and I'll be out in a minute?" Her voice shook oh so violently.
She didn't wait for an answer before stripping her clothes and stepping into the shower.
Rick sighed and gathered her discarded pyjamas and the cloth he'd used, and threw them all into the wash basket on his way out.
Kate waited until she'd heard the bedroom door closing before she sank to the floor and sobbed.
Her father calling hadn't been ideal, that much was obvious, but there was a lot more to cry about than that.
Her first birthday without her mom was always going to be hard but today?
Her periods had been regular from the very start, so being more than three weeks late was a pretty obvious sign something was going on, no matter how much she'd tried to ignore it.
The three tests she'd done the morning before, while Rick took Alexis to the dentist, had only confirmed her suspicions.
She was nearly two months pregnant, and she hadn't felt this alone since before she met Rick.