7. Frozen

(5 weeks)

Frozen.

After a relationship lasting four weeks, five if you counted that week they'd returned from LA, Castle and Beckett had begun to drift apart. It wasn't entirely Castle's fault, in fact none of it was.

It was all on her and Beckett knew it.

Castle had wanted their relationship to work. She had wanted their relationship to work but there was something stopping them, stopping her.

Officially to the people who knew about their relationship: Martha and Alexis, and even Beckett's father, Jim, they were still together but all three knew it wasn't true, not entirely.

It had started a week ago back when Beckett had woken up one morning. She and Castle, though on speaking terms still, had spent the night apart as he had to work on a new chapter for his third Nikki Heat novel.

Her day had felt like the worst she'd ever had- waking up with tender breasts, their size a bit larger than what they had been the day before and there was a darkening around parts of her breasts that hadn't been there before either.

Not only had that changed but she had peed twice, her bladder suddenly feeling on overload and just as she was ready to head out the door, she found herself covering her mouth and making a line to the sink, the bathroom suddenly too far away.

The rest of her day hadn't gotten any better. She had heaved at a crime scene despite her stomach being empty of its contents from earlier. And when Castle had brought her morning coffee, she was repulsed by the smell of it and tossed it away in a nearby dumpster along with the cup he had brought for himself.

"Hey," Castle said as he came to Beckett's desk, mid-week and took a seat at his usual chair, "Are you okay, you don't seem like yourself."

Beckett tried to focus on the paperwork in front of her but all she really wanted to do was sleep.

"I'm fine," she replied harshly.

"Come on Beckett, if you're not you can tell me."

Castle then leaned in so he wouldn't be overheard by anyone else.

Why did his cologne have to smell so bad, Beckett wondered, as she tried to put a little distance between herself and him.

Castle tried not to take offense so instead he whispered, "You know if you're on your period you can tell me."

"God, Castle!"

"What? I have raised a teenage daughter. Mother had to show me how to use a tampon and a pad so I could be the one to show Alexis. She believed that since women are the other half of the population then the least a man could do was try to understand how puberty works especially when there's not a mother in the picture. I'm not one of those guys who freaks out over menstruation. I have been known to buy my daughter's feminine products when she felt too uncomfortable to do it herself. "

Beckett looked disgusted at him despite wanting to be impressed that he wasn't a guy who was bothered by a woman's personal days.

"I didn't actually use them myself," said Castle, "I-,"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Beckett said to him as she stood. She had to pause for a moment as she got a little dizzy.

Castle was quick to his feet and offered her a hand on her arm, "Woah, easy there."

"It's nothing," said Beckett.

"Like hell it's not."

"Castle, I'm fine. I'll just be right back."

"From where?"

"First to the restroom and then throw up or throw up and then use the restroom, whichever comes first."

Things still hadn't gotten better by the end of the week. Castle wasn't the only one commenting on how bad Beckett seemed. The boys also started to worry about her especially after she had thrown up a couple of times at a crime scene even though they'd seen worse and not once had Beckett ever been squeamish before.

"You need to see a doctor," Montgomery said a couple days later as he talked to Beckett in his office.

"Sir, I'm fine," said Beckett.

"You're not fine," Montgomery told her, "You're sick. You can barely keep it together. I won't have you getting the rest of the team infected. Go home, get some rest, see a doctor. Take care of yourself."

"Sir-,"

"Do not make me turn this into an order, detective."

Beckett took a deep breath as she tried to hold in a wave of nausea. She hated everything that was going on with her: the mood swings, the irritability, the body changes, her tiredness, and more importantly the need to constantly void her bladder and throw up every hour or less for the past week.

Beckett swallowed and composed herself, "You're right. I can't do my job if I can barely hold things together. I should get a handle on this."

"Come back when you feel better."

"I'll do that, thank you sir."

Beckett left the office not too pleased with either her boss or herself. She grabbed her jacket from her chair and made her way to the elevator.

"Where are you going," Castle asked as he caught up to her.

"Home," Beckett replied.

"I'll come with you. I can take care of you."

"Castle please, don't. A couple days rest and I'll be good as new. I can take care of this. I don't need you to look out for me all the time."

Castle froze but said nothing.

The elevator door opened and Beckett turned to it, making her way inside. She held the door for a second and looked at Castle.

"Look, I'll call you, okay?" she told him before she let the door close.

"Katherine Beckett," the nurse said with a smile as she called out the detectives' name.

Beckett took a breath, putting her memories and the fact she hadn't called Castle in a week aside.

She stood up and followed the nurse into an exam room.

The exam took a bit longer than Beckett was expecting, the doctor wanting to be thorough with just about everything including ordering a blood and urine test.

It only took twenty minutes for the lab results to come back so rather than leave and come back; Beckett remained in the exam room.

When the doctor finally returned, Beckett looked at her and asked, "So is there anything you can give me? I'd like to be back at work as soon as possible."

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can give you, detective."

"I don't understand, why not?"

The doctor smiled, "because you don't have the flu or an infection of any kind. Katherine, you're pregnant."