Chapter 26- 13 Weeks

With Alexis' pre- school year over she had been spending a lot more time at home with her Dad and Kate. Some days she would still go to daycare just to have time to play with other kids, but for the most part Kate had insisted on keeping the little girl if Rick had to work.

Rick had scheduled meetings all day and it being the start of summer Kate had insisted on taking Alexis out to have some fun in the sun. They packed a picnic basket and took off for Central Park. Kate had spent many afternoons in the park with her parents as a child and she decided that she would start the tradition with Alexis and her own child.

Alexis had been quiet all morning, which was odd for the rambunctious four year old. She was usually talking Kate's ear off, but today she sat quietly on the blanket next to Kate eating her sandwich.

"Lex, you okay?" Kate asked, running her hands down through the back of the little girls hair.

"Does my daddy love me?"

"Are you kidding me? He loves you more than anything in the whole world."

"More than he loves you?"

Kate nodded, "Way more than he loves me, but it's a different kind of love."

"Why is it different?" The little girl asked, placing her sandwich back on the paper towel laid out before her and crawling over closer to Kate.

"Because you're his little girl, his family. I'm just his girlfriend."

"But, you are our family too, right?"

"We aren't real family, but I love you, and your daddy."

"So will the baby be my family?"

Kates eyes grew wide, "What baby?"

Alexis giggled and rubbed her hand over Kates belly, "Isn't there a baby in there? Lauren said her mommys belly got big before her little brother came."

Kate was almost speechless; she and Castle had talked about telling Alexis soon, but hadn't decided on a good time. Now the little girl was asking a question that she clearly already knew the answer to and Rick was nowhere around to help.

Kate placed her hand over where Alexis' sat on her stomach, "Yeah, the baby will be your family."

"So my daddy will be the baby's daddy too?"

Kate laughed at that, realizing how confused Alexis must be about everything.

"Yeah, you and the baby will have to share your daddy, is that okay?"

Alexis went silent for a moment, and Kate could tell that she was gathering her thoughts.

"Will my daddy still love me the same?"

"Well of course. He will love you even more because you will be the best big sister ever. That will make him so proud."

"I'm gonna be a big sister." A smile sprouted on the little girls face.

"Not just any big sister, the best big sister, right?"

"Oh yeah! I'm gonna teach the baby everything."

"Like what?"

"Like how to fly a kite, and how to color, how to say her ABC's."

"Her? We don't know if it's gonna be a boy or girl yet."

"When will we find out?"

"Not for another month or so."

"Oh, that's a long time."

"Not that long, we will find out when we get back from the Hamptons, around your birthday."

"Who is going to tell you? The doctor?"

"Yeah the doctor will be able to see it's private parts, then she will know if it's a boy or girl."

"Can I come?"

"I don't know Lex, I'll talk to your dad and see how he feels about it, and if he says yes, then I would love for you to come."

The little girl seemed to deal with the whole thing a lot better than Kate had expected. Kate looked down at her belly, and she could see how Alexis had caught on. If the small girl could tell, she was sure everyone else could as well, which made her a little nervous. She had been anxious about the press finding out, fearing they might tear into her if they found out about her pregnancy before really finding out about their relationship.

After spending most of the afternoon in the park with Alexis, Kate decided to take the little girl home and lay her down for a nap. She might have been the one that needed the nap more but Alexis cuddled up with her on the couch and they were both fast asleep by the time Castle came in from his meetings.

Kate was woken up when the Chinese delivery man rang the buzzer. She heard Rick thank the man and shut the door before sitting up, sliding her arm out from under Alexis' neck.

"Chinese?"

He turned back towards her giving her a little smile and nodding towards the kitchen for her to follow.

"I ordered your favorite, don't worry."

"Oh, I wasn't worried, I know you know better than to tease a pregnant woman with food."

She ran her hand down his arm, pulling his hand around her waist as he sat the food on the counter. He pulled her closer, wrapping his other arm around her waist and interlocking them.

"That bump is really growing," he said looking down between them.

"Yeah, about that….. Lex asked if I was having a baby today."

His eyes grew nervously, "Oh did she? What did you tell her."

"I told her that I was, and then she had a million questions about if she and the baby had the same daddy and if you would still love her," her eyes met his, "Which I assured her you would still love her, and probably love her more for being an awesome big sister, which made her even more excited."

He let out a deep breath, "Wow, well I'm glad it went well. I have been pretty nervous about telling her."

"Yeah, me too, but I think that we are pretty much in the clear now."

He leaned in and gave her a kiss, and she opened her mouth allowing him more access.

"I really love it when you kiss me like that." She giggled as they broke apart.

"Like what?"

"I cant explain it, it just gives me butterflies."

He leaned in again capturing her mouth in an even more passionate kiss, their tongues twirling around each other, and Kates hands pulling at the front of his shirt, bringing their bodies into closer contact.

"Ewww, is that how you made the baby?"

Both of their heads shot to the little girl who had climbed up onto a barstool and sat down.

"Kind of." Rick let out a laugh, running his hand down over Kates bottom and giving it a sqeeze.

"Is that what happened when you went to the Hamptons without me? You made a baby?"

Rick looked towards Kate, giving her the eye.

"Hey, I didn't go into any details sir, don't look at me like that." She teased.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that we did a little too much kissing in the Hamptons."

Kate shoved at his arm, "I think it was the perfect amount of kissing."

"Oh it was perfect, but we weren't expecting to leave with a baby Lex."

"mmmhmmmm," the little girl shook her head, "If you didn't want the baby then why did you make it."

"Oh Lex," Kate interrupted, "It's not that we don't want the baby, we can not wait for this baby, it was just a surprise at first."

"Just like you were." Rick interjected.

"I was a surprise too?" Alexis mouth dropped, "Were you and mommy excited about me?"

"Oh my goodness are you kidding me," Castled circled the bar and took the little girl in his arms, spinning her around and placing her on his hip, "I was so excited to meet you. I don't ever remember a time where I was as excited to meet someone."

"Was I cute?"

"Oh, the cutest, and you had these teeny tiny fingers and toes," he pinched at her feet.

"Daddy stop it." he giggled, shaking her feet away from his touch. "Put me down, no more tickles."

He sat her on the ground and bent down to his knees in front of her.

"You were so cute, you still are soo cute, but now you have hair."

"I didn't have hair when I was little?"

"Nope, barely any."

Kate watched their exchange from the other side of the counter, watching Alexis' eyes light up at her dads excitement.

"You two hungry? This baby and I are starving and we are going to have to eat without you."

"oooh, no, dad, the baby, how do we feed it?"

Both Adults laughed at the question.

"By feeding its mommy." Kate told the little girl, "The baby gets nutrition when I eat."

"So shouldn't you be eating a lot more than you do?"

"I do eat more than normal, but sometimes it's things I shouldn't be eating too much of, like ice cream, and cookies."

"The baby doesn't like ice cream and cookies?" Alexis questioned.

"No the problem is, that the baby and me both like them too much."

After dinner, and bath time, Kate left the story time to Castle, she loved helping out with Alexis but after today she thought it might be best to just give them a little time alone.

Kate lay on her back in the middle of the bed with her night shirt pulled up under her breast, ice cream bowl proper up on her belly, watching a rerun of 'Friends' when Castle walked in the room.

"Our baby is not your own personal TV tray ya know." He teased, sitting at the end of the bed as he pulled his jeans off.

"Don't start with me tonight." She looked towards him, scooping another bite from her bowl and slowly licking it off the spoon.

"You're a tease."

She pointed down to her belly, "Not a tease."

"fair, fair." He laughed, crawling up next to her and removing the bowl from her belly, placing it on the bedside table, his hand taking its place.

He placed a kiss over her belly button and started to talk to the baby. He had been doing this every night before bed.

"How is my baby doing?"

"Castle, the baby is fine, but its mommy could really use some love."

"Oh really? What kind of love?"

"Not that kind, that's for sure. I was thinking more like a back rub."

"Well turn on your side. All you have to do is ask, Kate."

"I did, its not like I am in pain, just a little sore, and a lot tired."

"A lot tired? You took a nap just a few hours ago."

"Well harvesting a baby takes a lot of energy."

"Oh does it?"

She nodded, pulling him down to lay next to her. She wrapped her arm over his body, tucking herself into his side and placing a kiss on his chest.

"I thought you wanted a back rub."

"I do."

"Well turn over then."

She rolled her body over onto her other side, grabbing the pillow from the top of the bed and tucking it under her belly.

He started at her shoulders, working the knots out.

"That feels so good, thank you for being so amazing to me."

He hadn't noticed any uneven breathing but he could hear that she had been crying in her tone.

"Whoa, whats wrong?" he asked as he pulled her shoulder down rolling her back onto her back.

Her eyes were red, she had definitely been crying.

She anxiously ran her hands over her stomach.

"Kate…."

"I'm just scared Castle."

"Scared? We still have plenty of time before the baby comes, you will be more than ready by the time he or she arrives."

"I just don't know if I can do this."

"It's a little too late for that babe. We are gonna do this, and you are gonna be such a great mom."

"I don't know how to be a mom, I'm 19, I'm just a kid."

"Yeah, so what? You'll be a young mom, but I was a young dad the first time, and look how good Lex turned out."

He ran his hands under her eyes, drying the tears that were running down her cheeks, leaning in and placing a kiss on her nose.

"She is perfect."

"A little too perfect, right?"

Kate laughed, "I can't deny that. She definitely makes my days a little easier."

"Easier? " he questioned.

"I've just been struggling with this a lot lately. I can physically see this baby growing inside of me now, which is absolutely terrifying. My body is going through the weirdest changes. Castle I swear milk was leaking from my breast the other night in the bath."

"Wait," his eyes grew, and he looked down at her chest, "Why didn't you call me in there for that?"

"Castle, really? Its embarrassing."

"Embarrassing? You're crazy. There is nothing embarrassing about what your body is going through. It's growing a human being, a teeny tiny human being. I mean really how is growing a baby inside your stomach even suppose to be normal? It's a miracle."

"Yeah, it is, isn't it." She looked down at her stomach where his hand lay protectively over their baby.

"Its okay to be nervous and scared. That feeling is only going to intensify once the baby is here. I promise you though, if you let me, I will help you every step of the way. You aren't going to be alone, you're not doing this by yourself."

The tears began to well up in her eyes again, "You really are the best, I can't imagine doing this with anyone else."

"Well you wont have to, because its gonna be me and you and Lex and this new baby and we are going to be the happiest little family in all of Manhattan."

"We are going to live together when the baby comes, right?" she asked, cocking an eye over at him.

"There is no way I am letting that baby leave my sight once it makes its way into this world. Like, I said a perfect little family."

"Okay…" she sighed, turning back to the tv.

"Kate…" he cupped her face and turned it back towards him, "Don't make me kiss it out of you."

"What are we going to do about the press. They are going to find out eventually. I don't know that I am prepared for what they'll say about me."

"Say about you? They don't know you.."

"Exactly. "She whipped her back towards the tv, trying to hide the fact that her emotions were getting the best of her tonight.

"Kate, I'll tell them whenever and however you want."

"I'd rather them never find out. I'm not really looking forward to all the criticism we will get for having a baby together when we barely know one another."

"We know one another just fine."

"Yeah, but we have only been together for what… 5 months."

"Soo… they don't know that."

"Well they know we weren't together on New Years. You were out making out with Gina." She rolled her eyes, clearing the tears that were still sitting on her cheeks.

"Kate, I know you're stressed out over this, but there is no reason to be. No matter what they say about us, we know the truth. We are happy together, and we love one another. These past 6 months or so have been crazy between us, I mean look at how our relationship started, and look at how happy we are now. I don't remember the last time I was this happy."

"Yeah, me either."

"I think we should just rip the band aid off, let the world know."

"Rick, I don't know."

"I have an event this weekend, and you are more than welcome to walk that red carpet with me and show off this," he ran his hand over her bump.

"Everyone would freak, I mean imagine what Gina would do if I showed up looking like this."

"Yeah, she is gonna freak."

"Oh, I've already mentally prepared myself for her wrath, Castle."

"Well who cares about her opinion anyway."

"You really want me to come?"

"Of course I want you there, I want you everywhere with me, forever."

A smile broke across her face, "Forever?"

"FOREVER."