Peace of Mind

Lanie was still processing her pregnancy to a degree. She hadn't told Esposito yet. Beckett was still the only one besides Lanie that knew about Lanie's pregnancy; Beckett hadn't even shared the news with Castle. Castle wasn't exactly good with keeping things quiet.

"Yeah, uh… speaking of that. You know, Ryan's my boy. So I gotta tell him about Jenny and Bailey."

"You only told me I couldn't tell Ryan."

It was clear to Beckett that Lanie was still a bit worried about telling Esposito and about the pregnancy itself. So Beckett arranged for another girls' lunch with Jenny and Martha. A meeting of the moms and the mom to be. Lunch this time around would be at Balthazar restaurant. Beckett would swing by the building that held her loft along with Martha's to pick Martha up for lunch. They would meet Lanie and Jenny at Balthazar's.

At lunch the quartet was seated almost immediately and their drink orders were taken shortly after that.

"First off; congratulations Lanie, you're going to be a great mom." Jenny said.

"Yes congrats." Martha echoed.

"Thank you both."

"Now why are you so worried?"

"I'm worried about things changing once I tell Javi. He's not exactly the baby kind of guy."

"He will be with his child." the ladies assured Lanie.

There was a pause before Lanie spoke again. The waiter brought their drinks.

"Things are different for me than it is with you guys."

The ladies looked at Lanie incredulously.

"None of us have the same story when it came to our kids; darling. Richard was the result of a one night stand." Martha said.

"It took Kevin and me a lot of trying before we got pregnant with Sarah Grace."

"You know the roller coaster ride that Castle and I were on before we had our four."

"And as I recall both Castle and Kevin were more than thrilled when you two were pregnant."

Lanie then turned slightly to Martha.

"And then there's the minor detail that Castle's father did keep tabs on all of you for years before he help rescue Alexis and before he dropped in after he was shot."

The entrees the group ordered after their drinks were brought arrived.

"Okay before this gets any more heated; you are going to tell Javi about the baby as soon as we're done here. Even if that means I have to bring you to him."

"We; darling." Martha said correcting her daughter in law.

After lunch Lanie was escorted to Espo's apartment by her friends.

"What's up?" Espo asked once he answered the door.

"We need to talk."

"Okay."

The duo walked over to the couch in the living room.

"What do we need to talk about?"

"I'm pregnant; Javi and it's yours."

There was silence after Lanie told Espo about the baby. Lanie's mind raced as she waited for a response from a speechless Esposito. As Lanie's mind raced; Espo's raced as well as he processed what Lanie had just told him.