Chapter Two
Kate gasped out loud as horror flashed across her face.
This was not like what she had planned.
This is surly not how she planned to reveal this secret.
God! How awful this must be looking? She closed her eyes momentarily to curse her own self.
She should have been aware. Considering their past, she should have known how bad timings can get to them. How A Perfect Timing was not a word for them to take a chance on.
His accusing eyes were darting between her face to her slight swelling waist, blazing with fire.
She swallowed hard. How she did have imagine this moment in the last two and a half weeks. How she wanted to see awe, surprise, happiness passing through those blue orbs she so love. She desired to see him jump in the air launching a fist or two there, his brows wiggling in their natural teasing way, his lips curved into that sexy grin that was just reserved for her. She needed him to kiss her hard, murmuring sweet nothings in her ears about how happy had she made him. She wanted to witness his body shivering with hard to contain excitement.
Instead, here he was standing so rigid. His lips stretched into a fine angry line. His eyes so furious that she felt a jolt of electricity passing through her whole body just with there force.
Her fingers rubbed the skin where they were still in touch with swell as if assuring her little ones. As if getting confidence from them to face their dad. Comforting them with that little moment even though she felt a bile rising into her throat.
"Kate..." He started with a firm voice, determined to get few answers out of her but was cut with her rapid moment. Pushing away the sheets, she stood up quickly and ran towards the bathroom.
Concerned, he followed her their just to see her throwing her lungs out while leaning against the sink. Tears streamed across her face as she took a breather and looked up just to see their reflection. He was standing right behind her as she wanted but unlike her imagination, his hands were by his side. There was no such moment where he was comforting her back with a little movement of his hand or allowing her support to lean onto him. Another nausea-tic moment caused her to bend down before she wiped her face with the running water. But this time, when she looked up, Castle was gone.
He rushed out from her apartment for a breather.
Oh Lord! It felt like he was keeping his lungs on break till now. But then, it was too much for him to bear at a time.
He missed Kate. Badly. Extremely.
He was hurt. Badly. Extremely.
But none of it had prepared him to witness this.
Kate's expecting. They were going to have a baby. He was going to be a dad once again.
Leaning against the wall right beside her apartment's door, he ran his hands on his face. His mind was already on a fast track, running various circumstances through his very imaginative head and none of them were optimistic.
For the first time, he hated being a writer.
For the first time, he hated his active imaginative skills.
But right then, he was startled by an elderly woman voice, which he recognized as Kate's landlord from his previous visits.
"Good morning Mr. Castle". She greeted with a polite smile making Castle reply with the same one.
"I am sorry for calling you up so early…..But I just couldn't wait much…."
"No…No….it's…..It's ok….Actually, thank you for that call and…Thank you for taking care of Kate" He stammered, gathering himself but really, he was grateful.
"No problem there. Kate had been my tenant for 3 years. We used to share a good rapport and occasional greetings. This time though I didn't see much of her and that truly worried me out…." The lady pursed her lips before pointing a finger towards the door. "Is she awake?"
"Yeah…yeah…she is…Morning sickness catching up on her…" Castle explained simply as the lady nodded and step in to knock on the door before Castle interrupted her.
"Hmmm…..Can you help me with something? Suggest me some good foods she can at least keep down?"
Getting out from the bathroom after brushing her teeth, Kate hoped to find Castle sitting on the bed or standing against some wall, waiting for her, waiting for some explanation. She actually had spent few minutes extra inside just to process her words but was met with disappointment on only getting greeted by the silence of her all too lonely apartment.
Her fists curled against the wooden pane partially cause of nausea and partially cause of Castle disappearance.
None the less, just for the sake of their babies, she gathered her courage and moved towards the bed taking small tender steps, just hoping to not loose any balance.
Getting back on the bed, she leaned against the head board when the knock was heard.
Her heart leaped with happiness.
He isn't gone. He merely stepped outside for a moment.
She thought and rushed her fingers through her bed hair just in nervousness before replying in an enough hearable voice.
"Come in..."
The door creaked open and instead of her ruggedly handsome husband, she faced her soft spoken land lord.
"Hey...how are you feeling now?" Passing a soft smile, the land lady, Mrs. Greta approached her bed.
"Better...thank you once again" Kate whispered, trying her best to hide her disappointment on not finding Castle.
"Enough of thank you's my dear...just take care of yourself...now more so then ever" Greta looked at her belly, making her know she knows her secret.
"Will do..."
"Oh that I am sure even if you not, Mr Castle will...He just stepped outside to grab somethings for you to take on..." With the provided information, Kate felt her body relaxed.
"I am sorry if I intertwined anyhow between you two...but my dear! I could not think of anything else since you refused to check in with a hospital"
"It's ok...I am actually glad you did it...I...I was on my way to meet him this morning when..." Greta just moved closer and pressed her hand.
"Everything will be fine..." Greta tried to assure before moving back. "I am going off to church...Will pray for you...Do you need something otherwise right now?"
"No. I am fine...you have a great day..." Kate wished her with a feeble smile.
"You too...bye"
Castle stood infront of her apartment for the second time that day. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm down his inner self before making a move in.
Kate was leaning against the headboard while closing her eyes but he knew, she know he is here by the way her eyes moved behind those lids. To others, she might have looked at peace but he knew, she was walking on the same eggshells as him by the way her fingers were twitching in her lap.
Grabbing a small chair that was placed on a side, Castle placed it beside bed, leaving a few good inches between themselves. He didn't want to be at arm length, yet neither he wanted to be too far away from her reach.
Taking out a club sandwich from the bag along with a decaf coffee, he put them on the side table.
"Eat it... Mrs Greta said you should eat something light in small intervals". He spoke after a moment when she didn't make a move to acknowledge his precense.
"Why are you here, Castle?" She whispered in a defeated voice and he instantly felt the earlier anger returning back before she added. "You shouldn't have come here"
"Why am I here, Kate? I should ask you why are you here?" His voice turned harsh.
"I had reasons" Kate looked down, unable to look back at him.
"I bet you had... And I bet even more that those reasons are far more than just the excuse of needing space... May be you just had finally realized how worthless of a relationship we were having. Or is it that whatever we share was too powerful that you started to feel suffocated. You needed to keep a step outside for a breather...Or is it my baby that freaked you out?" He accused her straight away making her look up oncd again with a gaping mouth.
"How...how can you think like that Castle?" She was astonished. "You do know I am as much into our relationship as you are".
Castle looked back with the same glare as earlier and replied. "Seriously, I can't seem to find that here. Hell, I can't see a relationship." He declared and Kate couldn't seem to find any words to reply.
Silence prevailed the room as Castle tried to lower down his temper while Kate found a comfort by rubbing her waist.
"Were you even going to tell me about this?" He asked keeping his gaze on her belly. Damn, he so wanted to run his fingers on that slight swell. The indication and proof of the love they shared.
Kate licked her lips as she nodded. "I...I was on my way to meet you in the morning. My first ultrasound is scheduled today...and I wanted...I want you there" She replied.
At that, he felt some of his anger melt away. Atleast, he was not abandoned in this scenario. He wasn't pushed away from the life of their baby.
"Right. Eat something then. What time is your appointment?" He moved to unwrap the sandwich to mae her hold it.
"At 10..." She replied and he looked down at his watch.
"Okay" Getting up on his toes, he moved towards her closet and opened it. Her hand carry, she took with herself while leaving was still intactly placed in the bottom. She was living out from the bag. The only thing hanging was a shirt. His shirt. That he knew he was wearing the night before she left.
A pang of sadness rushed through him but he took off the shirt and put that into the bag before zipping it up.
As he emerged with her bag, Kate stopped eating and stood up in a panic.
"What...What are you doing Castle?" She stammered.
"Making you end this stupidity and come back home"
"No...No...I can't" She replied instantly making him frustrated.
"What? What do you mean by you can't. Don't tell me Kate that you are planning to keep my baby away from me... What is it that keeping you away? What have I done?" He put forward all his insecurities before another thought stroke him and that made him took a step back in bewilderment.
"You don't want this baby? Is that why you left?"
"No...No" Kate shook her head to making her explaination believable. "I want this baby Castle. As much as you want it. I only got to know about this baby after I left. It's not about the baby". She stresses.
"Then what is it about?" A straight away question made its way back to her. Her hands felt at the side in defeat as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"It's you. ...I...I can't loose you Castle...If I get back home, I will bring a risk to your life and I...I just can't take it" She slumped back on the bed while he stood rooted to his place.
She had some explanation to do and he wouldn't left till he get it.
Any thoughts?
A/N: First of all, thank you so much for the amazing response. Thank you for heloing and guiding me in this venture. It's the unedited version as I am updating it from my phone. Will edit it soon. So sorry for delay though. And don't worry, Castle is not going to be too easy on her ;)