A/N: I think Ryan just didn't get how serious they were.
How weird is it that i think of these characters like my friends?
A/N #2: No, Alexis is not a 'switch hitter". She just has a wide open heart. Someone who falls for a person, not a sex.
A/N #3: Wow are we here already? Here we go... (No seriously... really... lol!)
Castle collapsed onto the couch as Alexis left to take her friend home; gladly accepting the use of his car service... for once.
"Uh..." He shook his head. "So not how I saw tonight ending."
Kate pressed a glass of scotch into his hand. "Does it bother you?"
"Bother me?"
"That she might be..." Kate waved her hand in the air.
"No! No, no... not at all." He ran his hand through his hair. "Gay, straight... whatever. I don't care what she is. All I want is for her to be happy. But... it's still not an easy road."
"No." Kate sat down next to him, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. "But that wouldn't be her fault would it?"
Rick shook his head, laughing softly.
"You should be proud, Castle." Beckett felt the honesty behind her own words. "You raised a remarkable young woman. The fact that she could see this as an opportunity..." Kate smiled shyly. "Not everyone is so together at seventeen."
He peered at her from the corner of his eye. "You?'
Kate shrugged. "We all have those periods in our life, Castle. Times when we don't know what we're doing. We just have to do the best we can... and hope the people who love us keep on loving us."
"I always will." He looked at her seriously. "Both you and her. I always will."
Swallowing heavily, Kate shook her head. "C'mon superstar. Time for bed.
"Kay." He took her hand, pulling her down close to him. "But someday, you ARE going to tell me that story."
He woke slowly the next morning; stretching languidly, reaching for her now familiar form.
He frowned when his hand hit paper.
Last night was great...
He rubbed his eyes slowly.
Better than I had hoped. Get some writing done before Paula and Gina hunt me down and wrap me up in scotch tape. See you later tonight.
Castle grinned.
It wasn't whether they would be together every night anymore.
It was simply when.
Humming under his breath, he went to make himself coffee.
It was late.
And he hadn't heard from her all day.
He told himself to relax, that she was more than capable of making it through one day without him.
There were three knocks on the door, making Castle smile and whisper "Penny" under his breath as he turned the heat down on his famous Carbonara. For some reason she was still wary of using her key. Three more knocks came, making him whisper "Penny" again with a smile before throwing the towel he was using over his shoulder and heading for the door just as the knock came three more times.
With a huge smile on his face, he pulled it open. "Penny!"
Kate blinked up at him, her forehead furrowing as she looked at him in confusion. "Who's Penny?"
"Sheldon? Penny? Leonard?" He shook his head with a sigh. "You and I are seriously going to have a TV night." When she didn't laugh Castle grew serious. "What's wrong?"
Beckett shook her head, clearly distracted.
He took her hand and pulled her into the loft; peeling off her leather jacket and directing her to the couch where she sat absently. He sat on the edge of the coffee table across from her. "Tell me."
She looked up at him, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. "I..." She shook her head. "I'm...afraid..."
Rick blinked. Those were two words he had never thought he would hear from her. "Of what?"
"Of what you'll think...
She looked so sad that he reached out and stroked her cheek gently, blinking when he realized she was vibrating like a hummingbird. Like her body was massively amping up her adrenaline. "There is nothing you could tell me that would change how I think, or feel, about you... You know how much-"
She couldn't stand the look of love in his eyes. "I'm pregnant." She blurted out before slapping a hand over her mouth.
So not the way she had practiced it.
Castle stood up, moving to slowly sit down beside her, careful not to touch her. Not that he didn't want to, but she looked like she might explode at the contact. "Are you sure?" He whispered, his heart hammering in his chest.
Kate nodded. "I had them run it twice."
"Okay." Rick swallowed. "so..."
"I swear I was on the pill, Rick. I'm not some money grubbing socialite after the White Whale."
He blinked. The bewildered look on his face turning into anger. "Is that how little you think of me? That I would think that little of YOU? That's something Meredith might do. Not you."
He took a deep breath and tried to lighten the moment. "Look... The pill is only 98% effective so that's like two chances out of a hundred that it might fail... figure in how many times we've had sex over the last two months..." He did the math in his head. They both looked at each other, faces flushing. "That would make our percentage... Uh...yeah...we were doomed from the start." He smiled gently. "Besides, this isn't all on you, Kate. I didn't do my part either. It's just... Once I had been inside you with nothing between us... I don't think I could've managed to not be that close to you all the time."
Kate had the good grace to flush. Then her eyes went stony. "Aren't you going to ask?"
It was Castle's turn to look confused. "Ask what?"
"If it's yours." Her voice was so small he had to lean in to hear her.
"Are you fucking serious?" NOW he was mad. Standing up, he went to the stove; moving their dinner off the burner so that it wouldn't overcook.
Kate watched him stand there for a moment, his shoulders heaving as he tried to get his temper under control. When he could breathe normally again, he turned to face her. A look of sadness in his eyes.
"I know it's mine." He walked towards her slowly. "From the moment you told me I never had a doubt. Do you know why?"
She shook her head, brushing away the tears on her cheeks.
"Because you're you." Castle came to a stop right in front of her, kneeling down to look into her eyes. He took both her hands in his. "You have more integrity than anyone I have ever met."
Kate began to shake as the tears took over. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for dear life. "I don't know what to do, I never... I didn't think I would ever..."
"Hey, hey ,hey..." He smoothed his hands across her back, soothing her before gently pushing her away to look into her eyes. "Maybe this wasn't planned. Maybe...it's not the greatest time... but please don't think for a second that I am not excited or happy as hell, because I am... I mean... can you imagine a little version of us? My looks, your brains..."
She threw him a sarcastic look, rolling her eyes.
Castle smiled. "What do YOU do? You eat well and stay healthy. What do WE do? We do what all couples do. We just... do it a little out of order."
She sniffled and looked at him in confusion. "I don't understand."
"Marry me."
Kate just stared at him. Slowly the confused look turned to anger, making Castle blink.
That was definitely not the effect he expected.
"So you want to marry me because I'm pregnant?" She stood up and brushed passed him. "I'm not trying to 'catch' a husband, Castle, and I certainly do not want to look back on my life and wonder if you married me because you wanted to, or because you felt obligated to." She strode to the door, grabbing up her coat and pulling it on as he quickly caught up to her, holding her gently by the arms.
"Listen to me-"
"No, Castle. I think we've both said enough."
"Kate!" His grip tightened slightly, forcing her to look at him.
"Let. Me. Go."
Rick swallowed. "Just one minute? I know you love me... As much as I love you. All I am asking for is ONE minute."
She took a deep breath. "You have exactly sixty seconds."
He smiled. "Okay, wait here." He darted quickly into his study, Kate watching him with wide eyes.
He had one minute and he was leaving her standing alone in the foyer?
He was back seconds later, flying through the doorway so quickly he tripped over his own feet, stumbling into her and knocking them both to the ground.
"Castle!" She snapped trying to extricate herself from the tangle of extremities. "Was it your plan to break my legs so I couldn't crawl away?" She was finally able to stand, confused when he stayed on his knees. "Rick..." Her voice was full of warning.
"Just...listen." He took her hand. "I admit the first year we worked together, all I wanted was to get you into bed."
She rolled her eyes and tried to pull away. "Like that's news."
"Just... for once will you just listen to me?"
The honest plea in his voice made her stop. "Fine... go on."
"But when you let me come back that second year... I knew how I felt had changed. Don't get me wrong, I still wanted to sleep with you... But not for the same reasons. I watched you everyday; the way you invested in the victims, the way you cared about their families... and I knew you were unlike anyone I had ever met in my life. Everyday I would wait for a call... and trust me there is a certain amount of guilt involved in hoping for a body to drop just so I could be near you."
The anger faded from her eyes as she listened to him.
"And when you let me come back this year..."
"I didn't let you come back. You won the bet."
Castle snorted. "You don't really think I believe that do you? I write fiction for a living."
She blushed slightly.
"Then... in that hotel room in LA..." He continued. "I knew how hard I had fallen for you, how badly I wanted you... and not just for one night."
Kate had to clear her throat before she could respond. "That's..." She shook her head. "What does any of that have to do with now?" She blinked when he began to tremble right in front of her.
"When you sent me home the day we got back to check on Alexis and Mother... I made one other stop." He put his hand in his pocket. "If I only wanted to marry you because you're pregnant... Why would I already have this?"
He pulled a small, black velvet box out of his pocket, opening it slowly.
All the breath left Kate's body as she stared at the ring nestled in it's little bed.
It was gorgeous.
A platinum filigree band with small clusters of sparkling diamonds surrounding a flawless princess cut that had to be at least five carats. It wasn't as big as she knew he would have wanted...but it was the most she would ever wear.
He did know her.
Kate reached out with one finger, gently tracing the top of the ring. "You've had this since then?"
"Well, it took them a while to make it. I picked it up yesterday. But... yes."
"Why?"
Castle's face was wide open, honest. "Because I want more."
Kate bit her lower lip, remembering back to that night at The Old Haunt and suddenly realizing that he hadn't been talking about sex.
"But... what about Martha..." Her eyes widened. "And Alexis!"
Castle sighed. "They love you. But even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter. I love you. And this is about US."
Kate stared at him for a very long time, her face unreadable.
"Uhm... I'm losing feeling in my legs here."
She laughed softly, her eyes brimming with tears as she dropped down to the floor in front of him. Unable to speak, she nodded.
"Is that a yes? You know I can be dense sometimes..." He desperately needed to hear the word.
She threw herself into his arms, holding him tightly. "Yes." She kissed him hard. "Yes." Another kiss, harder this time. "Yes..." She took the box from his fingers and set it aside reverently. "Yes!" She tackled him, knocking him backwards to the floor; straddling him as she brought her lips down to his, kissing him passionately. Her hips began to move against him through no volition of her own.
For a moment, Castle was stunned, but he caught up quickly; wrapping his arms around her tightly and flipping her over.
Kate groaned as she felt him harden against her thigh.
"Wait!" Rick drew back quickly. His eyes wide with fear. "Is this okay?" He placed his hand on her belly, under her shirt and Kate felt her heart swell with love for the ridiculous man.
HER ridiculous man.
"Castle... The baby is the size of a snow pea. I'm pretty sure we have quite a few months before we need to start worrying. And even then..." She wiggled her hips against him, loving the way his eyes rolled back and closed. "Even then..." She leaned up to whisper into his ear. "I can always be on top."
Castle's eyes glazed over as he imagined a pregnant Beckett on top of him, riding him passionately... her belly big with his child. The corners of his mouth turned up in a delighted smile.
"Focus, Castle." Laughing, she slipped her hands down his back, cupping his firm, perfect ass. She used the purchase to pull him into her. "So... feel like celebrating now?"
"Oh hell yes! But first..." Rick looked around, spying the box on the floor next to them. He grabbed it up, pulling the ring from it before tossing it over his shoulder. He looked directly into her eyes as he slid it onto the ring finger of her left hand.
It fit perfectly.
"NOW we can celebrate!" Jumping up, he pulled Kate to her feet before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder, running for the bedroom.
"Castle!" Beckett squeaked through her laughter.
"Don't make me hit you over the head with my club."
"Okay, Caveman." She said breathlessly as he threw her gently onto the bed. "But you better have a loincloth under those clothes."
Please review if you have time! Thanks!
(Yes, you get the caveman scene in the next chapter... Pervs after my own heart. :D This just... well... yeah... OKAY! I am a softy!)
A/N: Okay. Just for you Ron!