Chapter 5
A/N: Hey so now that it's summer I should be able to update more often, hopefully at least once a week but maybe more than once a week. It just depends on when I feel like writing. I know there was a lot of narration in the last chapter but this one will have the second gender ultrasound and blood tests (to check for abnormalities in the babies) and other stuff so it should have more dialogue. But there was some girl talk and stuff last chapter. I hope you weren't too bored. I guess incorporating dialogue into stories is difficult for me but I'll definitely try.
"Are you ready to go yet Kate?" Lanie called from the living room in her apartment. Kate was getting ready for her doctor's appointment in the bedroom and was taking forever.
"Yeah I am, this annoying back pain is just slowing me down," Kate said as she emerged from the room.
"Well, are you excited to find out the gender of your twins?" Lanie asked excitedly.
"Yes, it means I won't have to carry them around inside of me much longer. I mean the kicking is really great but the back pain isn't. I need to do stuff but I can't when my back will never stop aching and my ankles are swollen and every so often I get leg cramps," Kate complained as she and Lanie left her apartment and started for the elevator.
"Oh relax, all of that will go away in about four months," Lanie said.
"Yeah, but come on four months," Kate said with a smile.
"Oh forget it you're making it worse by complaining. Anyway I don't know about you but I'm excited to find out the gender of your twins, and I'm not even the mother!"
"Yes I am, I don't really have a preference but I can't wait to start preparing. Buying clothes and stuff, although I can't exactly paint a nursery, there's a policy against painting rooms in the university housing."
"Well buying clothes is fun," Lanie said raising her hand to hail a taxi.
"Yeah, hey speaking of doctor visits and all, am I really going to have to go every week?" Kate asked.
"Yes you will," Lanie answered.
"Why?"
"They just want to check your weight and blood pressure and run tests to make sure the babies are okay. It's standard," Lanie explained.
"Will they at least try to make them the same time every week?"
"Yes, they'll try."
They rode the rest of the way to the hospital mostly in silence. When they got there they paid the cabbie and went into the hospital. Lanie led them up to the gynecology department. Kate went straight for the window to get checked in while Lanie found them a couple of seats.
"Hey thanks for coming with me by the way, even if you don't work here anymore," Kate said when she came back from the window.
"No problem, that's what friends are for right?" Lanie said nudging Kate in the shoulder.
The new nurse that came and got Kate and Lanie was pretty green. She said Kate's name quietly at first and then louder once she cleared her throat. She said everything by the script and almost led them to the wrong room. Lanie went around to the nurse stations greeting and hugging her old friends from the department. It was as if she hadn't seen them in years but it had only been a month. The new nurse was a little surprised by this but attempted to not let it faze her. When they finally got to the room after Lanie's reunion with her old nurse friends the nurse started to go through the tests. Lanie constantly had to correct her and the nurse was highly embarrassed. When she attempted to do the IV for the blood sample Kate flinched because she was doing it incorrectly and the nurse looked with a panicked expression to Lanie.
"Here you want me to help?" Lanie asked before automatically taking over.
"Yes please. It's my first day and they only gave us one tutorial on how to do these."
"Don't worry I asked some of the older nurses to do it for me at least 5 times until I got it down and it just takes practice," she said donning gloves and taking up the equipment. She tied a rubber band around Kate's upper arm and started the process of inserting an IV. She dictated instructions slowly to the young nurse at each step. When she had the blood sample she turned to the other nurse saying "Here you can do this part."
"Thank you," the nurse, Nurse Stefanie, said taking over and getting Kate cleaned up. She went through the other tests and then got Kate set up for the ultrasound. It took a few minutes but they got the picture up on the screen and Nurse Stefanie began to take the necessary pictures. Lanie looked attentively at the screen for a few minutes and then looked to Kate with a smile.
"I've seen enough of these to guess the gender. But I'm not giving it away," Lanie said.
"Lanie come on! Why? Can't you just tell me?" Kate said exasperated.
"The doctor will tell you for sure. I could be wrong," Lanie said laughing at Kate's impatience.
Stefanie the nurse took the rest of the pictures that she had to and then left to get them to the doctor. Lanie assured Kate that the doctor shouldn't take too long but Kate was pretty impatient. The doctor took max 5 minutes but it felt like an eternity to Kate.
"Well I looked it over and it looks like you're having a boy and a girl!" Dr. Collins said when she came into the room.
"Oh that's great!" Kate said.
"Now I'm just going to listen to the heartbeats and make sure everything is going good. According to the ultrasound they're growing well and after the tests we run on the blood sample we'll know there aren't any abnormalities."
"Abnormalities like what," Kate asked worriedly.
"Things like Down syndrome and such but hey, that's only an occasional thing. Only about one in every 700 babies is born with Down syndrome. There's no need to worry. The tests are just precautionary," the doctor assured like she probably had many times before.
"Okay," Kate said letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
"Would you like to get a printout of the ultrasound?" Dr. Collins asked going over to the machine.
"Sure I need a new bookmark," Kate said with a smile. At Dr. Collin's confused expression Kate explained "I keep the ultrasound picture in whatever book I'm reading."
"She reads a ton. Half of the boxes from her dorm were filled with books," Lanie said jokingly.
"Not half, maybe one fourth," Kate said defensively.
"Uhuh," Lanie said with a smile.
"Alright here you are, your new bookmark," Dr. Collins said handing Kate the picture. Kate tucked it in the bag she had with her and got up to go. "Oh and if you could just stop by the front desk to pay, of course, and to set up your weekly visits? We should have the results from the tests back next week."
"Alright, thanks," Kate said waving on her way out. She stopped by the front desk as asked and got everything set up, her appointments were to be every Friday at 11 AM. She and Lanie made their way back to the street and hailed a cab home. Of course Lanie wanted to go shopping for baby stuff immediately.
"What you said you were excited to go shopping!" Lanie defended when Kate opposed the idea.
"Not immediately. I have four months to go shopping," Kate said.
"I thought you were all about being prepared and stuff you control freak. Besides in about two and a half months you won't be able to stay on your feet long enough to go shopping, might as well get it out of the way now."
"I am a control freak but what happens to the stuff we buy over the next four months? It'll just sit in boxes all over the apartment waiting. Let's at least wait another month before we go out to raid the nearest Babies R Us."
"Fine but whenever you're ready to go baby shopping, I'm coming with you," Lanie ordered.
"Fine with me," Kate said with a roll of her eyes.
They got home and Kate got ready to go to work, making sure to pack her book along with her lunch and afternoon snack. She knew it would be boring as usual and would need something to do. She went to work and read about a quarter of "A Rose for Ever After." Kate counted at most 7 customers that came in that day. She got home and got ready to prop her feet up with some Mexican. Lanie had approved because it was a day to celebrate: she now knew the gender of her twins. She got set up on the couch and started to relax turning on the TV to Jeopardy. She liked to test her knowledge and found Jeopardy more fun to watch than Wheel of Fortune, she didn't need Vanna White to rub it in that she had a slim figure and Kate didn't.
Lanie came in with the food and sat down on the couch next to Kate. "Jeopardy again? Come on, I know you know all of the answers there's no need to rub it in!" Lanie said setting the food on the coffee table and digging in.
"Would you rather watch this or Make a Deal? Or maybe you'd prefer The Price is Right? Come on this is more entertaining."
"Alright I'll watch Jeopardy tonight with you if you'll watch Shop till You Drop with me tomorrow," Lanie bargained.
"Deal," Kate said grabbing a burrito from the bag of food on the coffee table.
"So have you ever thought about names? Now that you know you'll have a boy and a girl you'll need names for both genders."
"I've thought about it before. I might name them after my parents but call them different names. Like instead of Johanna just call her Jo and instead of Jim call the boy James," Kate said before calling out the answer to one of the questions right as a contestant buzzed in and answered. Lanie gave her a glare.
"Don't you think that's a little cliché? I mean of all of the names you name them after your parents? Plus didn't you say once that your dad wasn't exactly Grandpa Material? So why would it make sense to name your son after him?"
"Well I don't have many other influential people in my life. And yes my dad isn't Grandpa Material now but he was a great father when I was growing up. The way he acts now is just a product of his grief over my mother's death," Kate explained. "And before you ask I am not going to call her Lanie. I would probably include that as her middle name but if I called her Lanie it would just get too confusing."
"I actually wasn't but that's so sweet! Anyway what about your dad? Haven't you told him you're pregnant yet?" Lanie asked fixing her with a classic look that Kate had come to know as the 'you can run but you can't hide you will answer my nosy but annoyingly on point questions' look. Kate avoided eye contact and focused on eating her burrito. "You haven't told him yet!?" Lanie exclaimed when she recognized Kate's evasive actions.
"Well can you blame me? He probably talks to the damn bartender more than he talks to his only daughter! I mean I could call him but I know that his phone makes outgoing calls just as well as it receives calls! What if I tell him and he doesn't ever speak to me again or worse, what if I tell him and he shows up to the hospital drunk when I have the twins. I don't want him to be around them when he's drunk. Do you know how damaging it can be to kids to have them around alcoholic adults?" Kate mused.
"But what if you tell him and the idea of grandkids is enough for him to sober up huh?" Lanie asked, another one of those annoyingly on point questions.
"But what if the fact that the father isn't around drives him to drink more?" Kate asks sounding almost like the teenager she is.
"How would that cause him to drink more?"
"Because he's worried about me, whenever he's worried he drinks," Kate said still sounding like a kid.
"Look you can't just have his grandkids and not tell him," Lanie reasoned.
"Sure I can. I can just call him every so often and only tell him if he's sober," Kate countered.
"What happens when they're five years old and they haven't met their Grandpa because you don't want to risk exposing them to the real world? I mean at some point they'd be exposed to alcoholics."
"But I don't want him around them if he's drunk. Forget exposing them to alcoholism what if the only memory they have of their grandpa from childhood is a clumsy guy that slurs his words, has random outbursts of inexplicable anger, takes more naps than they do, and wears sun glasses to hide his bloodshot eyes? That's not fair. I want them to have a real grandfather and that means one that is sober."
"Alright I guess that's fair. But you'll have to tell him eventually," Lanie said with a sense of finality.
"I know." Kate said choking down the last of her burrito.
"But seriously you can't just name them after your parents. You have to be original. What about Skylar or something? Maybe Richard for the boy, name him after your favorite author?" Lanie teased.
"No that's ridiculous. I'm not naming my son after my favorite author. Would it really be so bad to name them after my parents if I'm not going to call them by the same names?"
"Actually a lot of people name their kids after favorite actors, characters, or authors. It wouldn't be that strange."
"Well I could always call him Richard Castle's middle name, Edgar," Kate said with a smile.
"No, I will not permit you to name your son Edgar."
"Hey I could call him Eddie that's not bad," Kate said. Lanie just glared at her, "Hey I had a neighbor named Eddie, he was really sweet, it's a good name."
"See that has some importance to you, you should pick the names based on importance. I know your parents are important to you but don't you have other people that have been influential on your life?"
"Well there are teachers but that would be kind of strange. I could name them Jean Louise and Jem from To Kill a Mockingbird."
"Are you really going to resort to characters in books?" Lanie asked.
"Well I just can't think of anyone that's been influential enough to warrant me naming my kids after them. The only people I can think of that deserve that are my parents, and of course the middle name from the best friend anyone could ask for," Kate said nudging Lanie in the shoulder.
Lanie smiled at that and said "So you really can't think of anyone?"
"No I really can't. I guess I could come up with names but would it really be that cliché to name them after my parents?" Kate asked.
"No I guess not. So it's settled, you're going to name them after your parents?"
"James and Jo, it sounds good. I like it, let's just hope they'll like it," Kate said looking down at her growing stomach and rubbing it. Suddenly she felt the heartburn set in and gave a grunt of discomfort.
"I'll grab the tums," Lanie said picking up the trash from their meal and heading for the kitchen.
"Thanks Lanie," Kate said shifting to try and ease her discomfort. "Maybe Mexican wasn't such a good idea while I still have heartburn."
"Uhuh," Lanie said walking back to the couch with two tums in her palm. She handed them to Kate and sat back down. They continued to watch Jeopardy, Kate adding in answers every now and then, even Lanie was able to answer some of the medical based questions.
2 Months later
For the thousandth time I'm way too busy to go baby clothes shopping!" Kate said waddling more than walking into the kitchen.
"Classes have been going on for two weeks how can you already be too busy?" Lanie said pouring herself a cup of coffee and rushing over to the flip the bacon she had cooking in the frying pan.
"I told you I'm still having to take extra classes because I switched majors, plus doing the reading and other work I have to do takes longer because I have to take brakes every now and then. I'm finding it increasingly difficult to focus now that Pele and Beckham have discovered their new favorite pastime, kicking Mommy," Kate tried to reason as she sat down at the table. Seven months pregnant she still insisted on going to class and working and simply had to cook dinner at least once a week.
"Why don't you back off of classes this semester? You can take them next semester and that way you can miss a couple of weeks before you give birth and after. You aren't exactly going to be ready to go to class an hour after you give birth. Plus you'll have to spend time with the twins in their first weeks in this world."
"Well then I'll just be less stressed when I go to school next semester and take care of them. This way it stays evened out. I can spend the time I'm not able to sleep, because they wake me up, studying."
"You make no sense. And are you sure you want to move into student housing? You can always just stay here," Lanie said eyeing the boxes that were packed up in the living room. Kate had been in the process of moving out for a couple of weeks, but with her growing stomach she wasn't able to move as fast.
"Then where would the twins sleep. No I'll be fine. This way I can have my own room and they can have their own room. By the time they need separate rooms I won't be able to get student housing because I'll have graduated."
"Do you still want to join the force?"
"Yes. I know that it will be difficult because I'll have young children but I can use daycare and sitters and spend time with them on my off days. Trust me I have it all thought out."
"Well not all of it. You have two more months until they're here, you have to make time to go clothes shopping!" Lanie started again.
"Okay I don't have any classes on Saturdays and I think I could spare a few hours from packing up my stuff to move to go shopping, but only a few hours!" Kate finished loudly to compensate for Lanie's squeals.
"Wow there's a large selection," Kate said as they came into the Babies R Us closest to Lanie's apartment.
"How much stuff were you planning on getting?" Lanie asked going over to a rack of newborn sized onesies.
"I was hoping to get all of the stuff I'd need after they're out of me and in the real world. You know like at the hospital," Kate looked around her and sighed, "I should have made a list."
"Oh we'll think of everything, here just do what I do. Think of it in order of necessity: So you've just given birth and now what do you need for them?" Lanie started.
"They need diapers and something to wear," Kate said pushing the cart they had picked up over to the diaper section. She picked up a large pack of newborn size diapers and paused for a second. "What about when they need to change?"
"Ah ah. Not so fast, in order," Lanie said steering her over to the clothes section.
"Lanie we'll just keep going back and forth," Kate complained.
"You were just saying this morning you wanted to get more exercise! Come on in order," Lanie said as they approached the newborn sized onesie rack again. Kate sighed and looked through the onesies, paying special attention to the size since she was on a budget. Lanie helped her shuffle through the onesies picking up one that was blue and covered in planes, imitating the sky. "This one is cute," she said holding it up so Kate could see.
Kate flipped over the price tag and smiled "Yeah it is, and affordable. Throw it in the cart." Lanie threw it in and continued helping Kate look. Kate picked up one covered in a flowery print. "What about this one?"
"Yeah, that's nice. Well we have the hospital clothes covered. Do you want to keep looking or can we move on to something else?"
"No let's pick up a few more, plus don't newborns have to cover their heads? I mean every baby picture I've ever seen the kid has a hat on its head."
"Better safe than sorry," Lanie said walking over to the shelf with all of the miniature hats. "You keep looking through onesies I'll work on the hats. Also we'll need to get blankets."
"Oh you're right. We'll work on that later." They continued to browse in silence, throwing newfound items that fit the budget into the cart. Much to Kate's dismay they did end up walking around the store at least three times to get everything they needed. They got everything even down to the cribs, mobiles, and carriers.
"Are you sure you can pay for all of this?" Lanie asked concerned as they got closer to the cash register.
"Yeah, you know how I've been saving money from my paychecks since I found out I was pregnant? Most of the money has had to go to the doctor but I still have some that I can use for this stuff. Plus I had a rainy day fund that I had to raid and it had all of the money I had saved since high school. It paid for the first doctor's appointments. I'll be fine, I already paid for the first semester for my student housing and food. I don't know what I'll do about furniture but I'll deal with that when I have to. I think my dad has some old furniture in a storage unit he said I was welcome to when I transferred to NYU."
"If you say so," Lanie said unconvinced as she looked over everything in the cart.
They paid and then went out to the parking lot, they had thankfully driven Lanie's car. It didn't get used a lot but on trips like these it was useful. They got everything loaded, eventually. Kate attempted to help but upon doctor's orders she wasn't able to lift anything too heavy. It took a nearby father to get the cribs loaded but they did it. Kate was rather satisfied with their shopping. Now she knew she would be prepared for the twins. Well there was still the matter of assembling the cribs but she could cross that bridge when she came to it.
A/N: So I covered a lot of time with this chapter. And covered some stuff like names and all. And in case it wasn't clear yes Kate is going to move out since the school year has started but she is just moving a little slower now and it will probably take a couple of weekends before she can get everything moved into the new dorm/ apartment. Also about names, some people had said that they didn't want a mini Kate named Johanna but honestly what else would she want to name her daughter. I included Lanie as the middle name because she has been SO helpful to Kate through all of this stuff. I didn't want to have the names completely identical to her parents though, hence Jo and James instead of Johanna and Jim. And about her dad, he will come into the picture. According to the show he didn't sober up until 5 years after her mom's murder and I'm trying to keep some things canon so I don't think he will completely come into the picture until the twins are five so it will be five years after the murder. And all of the stuff about what he would be like is true; I have experience with an alcoholic so I know how they act. Of course maybe all of them don't act the same but, generally the description I gave is fairly accurate. To those of you who were wondering about Castle: ALL OF THE COP AND CASTLE STUFF AND EVERYTHING IS COMING! BEAR WITH ME. I HAVE TO ESTABLISH STUFF FIRST. Thank you for reading and reviewing and I hope you enjoy this chapter. **Also Pele and Beckham are soccer players so I thought using them as names for the twins when they're kicking a ton was appropriate**