"Carl Aston's in the wind," LT announced an hour later. "No sign of him in his apartment, no wallet, a few items of clothing strewn about, looks like he left in a hurry."

"Has he been in touch with Jemima?" Beckett asked.

"Not yet, but we're putting a trace on her phone," Esposito told them with a shrug. "You never know."

Beckett nodded, stifling a yawn and looking at her watch. 6:00 P.M. Early, by her old standards, but these days...

"Let's wrap up for the day," she said to Castle. "You guys too." She nodded at the boys, and managed a tired smile. "We'll get back onto this first thing in the morning."

"Takeout?" Castle suggested, falling in step with her as they made their way to the elevator.

"Do you think you could cook for me instead?" she asked, taking a peek at him from behind the hair that had fallen into her eyes.

He nodded eagerly. "Sure. Yes. Of course. Something fancy. Nutritious. Maybe red meat. Oh! Steak, you know, iron for the baby. Keep your ferritin stores up. After all, the last blood test showed they were a little-"

"I know what my ferritin stores were," she interrupted him, stepping into the elevator. "And steak is a nice idea. But honestly? I just want comfort food. Maybe mac and cheese?"

"Babe, this is delicious." Kate smiled up at Castle from where she sat at the counter, another forkful of mac and cheese already making its way to her mouth.

From where he stood, serving himself a bowl, he smiled back at her, the first genuine beam of happiness she'd seen all day, before rounding the counter and sitting beside her. "I can tell," he teased, "by the way you couldn't even wait for me to finish serving before you started."

Kate's cheeks pinked, but she just shrugged, her lips still upturned as she took another bite.

"So at the precinct..." he started, before trailing off, and she let her cutlery drop into her bowl, turning to him.

"At the precinct," she encouraged.

"At the precinct, you seemed... sad. Miserable. Bereft..."

She blinked, taken aback. "I don't need a list of synonyms for sad, Castle."

"It seemed like you did," he defended his linguistic choice.

She managed a wry look, taking another spoonful of mac and cheese to buy herself some time before replying. "I've been thinking a lot. And it's… a lot of changes."

"The baby?" Castle prompted.

"Not just the baby. Me. Who am I, once I have the baby?"

Castle stared at her. They'd discussed this already, recently in fact. She knew he probably thought she'd made peace with not planning further ahead than they had to. "You're… you. You're Beckett. You-" He swallowed down another mouthful of their dinner before frowning at her. "What do you mean?"

"I'm- I feel like I'm already losing my whole identity. I used to... know who I was. What I did. But things changed when I become captain, and this is just compounding it. Last night they didn't even call me."

"You weren't on call," Castle pointed out.

"That doesn't usually mean much."

"True," he conceded.

"But they called you. Not me. You."

Castle's eyebrows knit together, his expression darkening. "Because they mistakenly thought the case was 'Castle-flavored.'" He air-quoted with more than a hint of annoyance in his tone.

At that, Kate forced a chuckle. "Well, they figured out their mistake pretty quickly."

Castle huffed, pushing his plate away, and Kate rolled her eyes at his dramatics, reaching out for his hand. She stood, tugging him with her, and he gestured to the dishes on the counter. "What about-"

"Leave them," she instructed. "Let's just watch a movie or something."

"With popcorn or ice cream?" he asked, and she stared at him. Who was this man and what had he done with her husband?

"Both, babe," she said. "It's you. It's always both."

The credits were rolling, and Kate was curled up into her husband's side, her eyes closed and her breathing even. Castle ran his hand through her hair as she slept, his mind still working a million miles an hour. Maybe he needed to put his consternation with the case aside and get to the heart of what was bothering his wife.

She worried about their baby, sure, and he couldn't blame her; amongst other things, having a serial killer fixated on them and their baby was incredibly concerning. But this, he felt, was something else. She sighed in her sleep, shifting against him, and he marveled at her ability to sleep in the many and varied positions this pregnancy forced her into.

He closed his own eyes as the parallels became clear. Beckett was being forced into new positions, and they weren't all of her own making. She was never one to shy away from any number of challenges, but this was something else altogether, and all the baby whisperer books in the world were useless. Maybe they could assist with sleep routines - he was skeptical - and maybe they could help with preparing for labor - again, he doubted it - but they couldn't tell her whom she would be after the baby was born.

And apparently, this case was forcing the point. He tried to put himself in her shoes. Until she'd become captain she'd been in the thick of every case, and until she'd become pregnant there still hadn't been any reason not to work all hours.

Of course Beckett was lost.

He just needed to help her find herself again. Just as his life had not so much changed - well, okay, it had changed irreversibly but he had not a single regret - so much as been enriched when Alexis was born, so Beckett would see that a baby would turn her world upside down in the most wonderful way.

He just needed to-

From the coffee table, his phone chimed with a message, and Beckett bolted upright, reaching for it before he could, and swiping the screen to read the message.

"Ryan's got something," she said.