894. Chapter 894

After Montreal

Episode 7.02

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I'd say I don't own Castle bilingually if I could. Rating: K Time: See above.

Christmas Future

"Castle? What do you think you're doing?"

Rick Castle looked up from a pile of toys that he set aside on a counter in the toy store. "Beckett, it's Christmas. "I'm buying toys for Lilly. Really, what did you think I was doing?"

She started looking over the toys. "You do remember that Lilly is a newborn, don't you? All she does now is drink milk, sleep and poop. And it'll be a while before she does anything else." Kate rummaged through the toys Castle had selected. "This computer game is for children five and up. How do you expect her to play it?"

Castle gave her a superior smile. "I'm sure she'll be ready for it way before she turns five. With the two of us as parents, she'll be playing in no time."

"By no time do you mean when she's three or so?"

"Well, we'll have it for her when she's ready for it. See? Planning ahead."

"And she'll wonder why she has toys that are years old when her friends all have the latest new toys."

Castle's look changed from smug to worried quickly. "Do you think so?"

Kate shrugged. "All that I know is that if she asks why she doesn't have the very latest and coolest toys, her father can answer that one." Kate grabbed a teddy bear from the pile. "A teddy bear with glass eyes and buttons on his little uniform?"

"He's approved by Major League Baseball. See the logo and his Yankees' uniform is an exact copy of the real thing. Much smaller of course."

"Rick, babe, she can chew off these eyes and buttons and choke. We need a simple bear with eyes that are embroidered and with no clothes or other things. The teddy bears are down this aisle. Leave these her. We'll get a plush bear, a mobile for over the crib and something musical."

"There's a computerized bear that's…."

"Not coming home with us this Christmas." Kate said sharply.

Castle was less than cheerful when they arrived back at the loft.

"How was shopping?" Alexis asked, somewhat surprised at the limited number of presents that they bought.

"Ask Detective Grinch." Castle muttered. Then seeing the look on Kate's face, he put his arms around her and hugged her. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve that. Christmases with you have been the best Christmases of my life. You're the present I get every day and I love more and more each day."

She kissed him. "You're pretty spectacular, too, Mr. Rick Claus."

When they were ready for bed that night, Rick pulled her close and stroked her hair. "Are you mad at me?"

"No. It's nothing." Kate then shook her head. "No, I swore I'd never do that again with you." She took a deep breath and thought for a moment. "I've been afraid what kind of a mother I'd be. For the longest time I never thought I'd have a husband or children. And now I have both and I'm still afraid I'll screw it up."

"Kate, you're a great mother. Remarkable, if I can use that word."

"Sure, but what we have now is easy."

"Waking up four times a night sometimes is easy?" Castle teased.

"Relatively speaking. What we're doing now isn't that hard. Give her a bottle, change her diaper, put her in bed, talk to her, play some music, and such. That's all easy. And I haven't left the baby on a subway, or any of the awful things you read about happening. But in a year or so, it'll be different. She'll be a little person and she'll be looking to us for a lot of things. I've read all of the books there are, I think, and I still don't know if I'm ready"

"You're a great mother and you'll only get better with age."

Christmas Future Plus Three

"See? Her gun is small so it'll fit in her tiny little hand. She just can't use the one that Alexis used to use, it's too big for her."

"And she can't move because she's buried in the adult sized vest she has to wear." Kate said, smirking.

"That's the beauty of the buying the extended warranty, Kate. They'll not only replace anything that fails to work or is lost, free of charge, but as Lilly grows, we'll get bigger guns and a bigger vest, one of each for each and every year until she's an adult."

"I thought you were all about winning, Castle. Are you sure you don't want her immobile in an adult vest and barely able to lift her laser tag pistol?"

Castle did his best to look shocked. "Katherine Beckett Castle. Do you think I'd stoop to cheating to win?"

"Yes."

Castle looked guilty. "We'll discuss this later. Now we have to look at the computerized teddy bear. And if she wants to chew his eyes off, she'll have to hire Jaws from the James Bond movies."

Rick introduced Kate to a bear that came with more computing power than were used on the Moon shots and came with an extensive and growing library of programs. From the looks of it, the little bear could probably tutor Lilly when she went to college. But he was soft and cute and furry and Kate knew Lilly would love him.

"Are you okay?" Rick asked back at the loft. "I mean, remember a couple of Christmases ago? You were worried about how you'd do when Lilly became more than an eating and pooping machine?"

Kate smiled at her husband. "I'm not so much worried now. Lilly seems to be such a happy and content little girl. She's smart, too. She's already figuring out the words in her picture books and I was surprised at how big her vocabulary is. And she's very organized, too."

"She gets all of that from her mother, you know. I happen to know that her mother is a remarkable woman. I predict that Lilly is going to be a remarkable woman."

"Thanks, but I still worry. Three years have gone by like that and soon she'll be off to school, then she's going to start maturing and…"Kate shivered dramatically. "I remember my teenaged years. Rebel Becks was never as bad as I told you back when I was teasing you about it, but when I think of some of the things I did back then."

"Tell me. I just love to hear Rebel Becks stories."

Kate smiled. "Too bad, because you've already heard your last Rebel Becks story."

Christmas Future Plus Twenty Three

"Are you okay, sweetie?"

Lilly nodded. "It's just so scary. Becoming a mom and all. Is anyone ever ready for it?"

Kate smiled. "No, I don't really think anyone is. I know I never was ready for anything that happened. I was so worried that I'd screw you up somehow, or the twins when they came along. But I guess I didn't do too badly."

Lilly shook her head. "Mom, don't try to make me feel better. You, not ready for anything? You're the best mother ever."

Kate just smiled.