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74. Chapter 74

Chapter 74

On Saturday morning, Rick and Kate announced they were going shopping for baby furniture, and anybody who wanted to could come with them. Alexis was on her feet right away, and Martha went to her room for her purse. Jim had joined them on Saturday morning, and he took pity on JD and said he'd stay at the house with him. Alexis and Martha were enthusiastic shoppers, and the sales people seemed to enjoy the group's visit. They chose nursery furniture for the beach house, but chose not to order it quite yet. They did buy a bassinet, though, and told the woman helping them that they would let her know later when to deliver it.

The rest of the weekend at the Hamptons was easy going family time. The tiny hint of a baby bump was still there, and Castle found the need to check again a few more times during the day; but he and Kate were keeping it to themselves to enjoy for the time being.

"Beckett." Kate answered her phone on Saturday afternoon without checking to see the caller. "Meagan," she exclaimed happily. "Are you back in the country now? Where are you?"

"At my apartment. It's good to be home. Are you at the loft?"

"No, but we'll be back tomorrow night. We're at the beach house. A lot of things have happened since you left. We need to catch up."

"You sound about as relaxed as I've ever heard you," Meagan remarked. "It must have been good."

"It eventually turned out that way. We'll be home before dark tomorrow. Dinner is probably going to be leftovers, but you could come by if you're not afraid of pot luck with the Castles," Kate offered.

"Sure. If it scares me, I just won't eat it," the ex-Marine answered.

Kate laughed. "Okay. I'll text you when we're back, and we'll be looking for you."

"Meagan is home," Kate announced as she ended the call. "She's coming over tomorrow night."

"We have a lot to tell her. Wonder how much she can tell us about her assignment?" Castle asked.

"I'm sure you'll drag as much as you can out of her before you quit."

"What are friends for if not to help with book research?" he answered shamelessly.

"Who's Meagan?" JD asked Alexis quietly, and she explained.

"Just wondered if I'd missed out on a relative or something," he answered.

"You know how we are about family," she said. "There aren't very many of us, so every now and then we adopt another one.

The rest of the weekend was pleasant and unhurried, and everyone left much more relaxed than when they arrived.

JD and Alexis stopped at the loft for dinner so JD could meet Meagan before they went back to their dorms. Jim did the same, and Martha visited a while before going upstairs to rest up for a busy Monday. Before long Castle, Kate, and Meagan were the only ones downstairs, and they sat down to talk.

"So you're going to be a mom," Meagan said as Kate handed her a cup of coffee.

"I'm a little worried about being a good one, but Rick will help me."

"Alexis knows you aren't her mother, but she depends on you for the things she'd go to a mother for. And you know you aren't her mother, but you love her as much as if she were yours. You're conscientious about always being there when she needs you. You should stop worrying. Right at first, tiny little human beings just need to feel they're loved and well taken care of. I know you can handle that. The rest will come."

"That's what I keep telling her. She underestimates herself sometimes," Castle noted as they all went to sit in the living room.

Meagan told them as much about her assignment as she could. The security company she worked for was providing support for clandestine operations, and there were things she couldn't talk about. "I think that's going to be the last long stretch I spend in some isolated place out of the country, though," she told them. "I retired from the Marines, and now I think I'm retiring from anything that takes me too far from home."

"If it fits into your schedule, you can start working with me again when you're ready," Kate told her. "I don't want to get too out of shape, but I want to be sure I don't do anything that would hurt the baby."

"Give me a week or so to get settled in again and we'll work it out. Now tell me about those things that eventually worked out well."

Castle told her about their work to put together information on Bracken and Simmons, and Kate picked up the story at the point where Captain Gates and Jordan Shaw entered the picture. Conversation bounced back and forth between the three of them as Meagan asked questions. Kate's promotion was mentioned, and the situation with the undercover assignment and Simmons and then discovering that she was pregnant."

"Good Lord!" Meagan exclaimed. "Haven't you two figured out how to stay out of trouble yet?"

"Didn't we hear that question from Gates?" Castle asked with a smirk.

"And Ryan, and Esposito, and Lanie, and Karpowski…" Kate added. "And even the doctor, I think."

"Life is feeling more settled lately," he told their friend.

"Good. It's about time." After a short pause, Meagan said, "JD seems like a nice guy. I take it Ashley is history."

"Looks like it. We like JD, too, don't we, Castle?" Kate asked with a teasing grin.

"As much as a dad can like the guy who's dating his little girl," Castle answered.

Meagan laughed and said, "I should head home. Kate needs her rest, and I'm loving that I can sleep in my own bed again. I hear it calling."

"Well, don't be a stranger now that you're back," Castle told her, standing when did.

Kate stood with them and the couple walked their friend to the door.

xxxxx

Cases came and went over the next month. They were varied and a couple overlapped one another. Kate started working out with Meagan. By the end of the next month, she also started feeling the need for a bit more room in her clothes and was sporting enough of a small baby bump that it could be noticed when she moved the right way in the looser shirts and sweaters she had been wearing.

The week before Halloween, Alexis met Kate and Castle at the doctor's office for her exam and the ultrasound. While the doctor was examining Kate, Castle sat in the waiting area with Alexis, both of them trying to control their excitement so they didn't look too crazy.

After the twenty minutes or so that seemed to both father and daughter to be at least two hours, the nurse finally called Castle.

"We'd like our daughter to be with us this time," he told the nurse, indicating Alexis.

"Mrs. Castle asked me to bring both of you," the nurse answered with a smile. "Follow me."

"Dad, we find out now," Alexis whispered excitedly.

"I know," he answered with the same excitement, as two sets of blue eyes twinkled at each other. They sounded almost conspiratorial and left some of the others who were sitting near them smiling as they left.

"I take it you're ready for the ultrasound," Dr. Holland said as the other two Castles entered the room.

"Will we hear the heartbeat again?" Alexis asked.

"Any second now," the doctor answered.

Alexis grinned as she listened along with her parents, and Castle held Kate's hand.

"So when can we tell…" Castle started.

"When we get the right angle," Dr. Holland answered as she moved the small instrument around Kate's slightly expanded belly. "Here we are…see? Looks like you have a boy."

"I have a little brother?" Alexis hugged her dad and reached over him to help him hold Kate's hand.

"Kate, we have a son," Castle said almost reverently. He lifted their three hands and kissed hers and his daughter's. "A little boy Castle."

"That's what I wanted. A little boy just like you," Kate told him.

"Are you sure, Kate?" Alexis asked. "I've heard some of Grams's stories."

They all chuckled, and Castle playfully protested. The doctor told Kate she'd meet them in her office. She printed a copy of the ultrasound for them, then printed another one for Alexis. Handing it to her, Dr. Holland said, "It's good to see an older sibling so excited about a new baby."

"You can frame it and put it on your desk in the dorm," Castle teased.

Alexis giggled. "Come on, Dad. Let's let Kate get dressed so we can celebrate with ice cream. I wanted a little boy, too."

He leaned and kissed his wife gently. "We'll wait in Dr. Holland's office, Sweetheart. Love you."

"Love you, too. I won't be long."

The doctor had only good things to say. The baby and the pregnancy were progressing as expected. "Now go get your ice cream," she told them.

As they sat in the Castles' favorite ice cream store, he said, "I'm excited about having a son, but I've always lived in a houseful of women. What do I do with a boy?" Turning to Kate, he asked, "You think your dad would teach me how to use a catcher's mitt, and maybe how to throw a football?"

"I'm sure he would, Rick." Slipping her hand over his on the table, she added, "Or I could. Dad taught me. He left the princess stuff to Mom."

"Just do what you did with me, Dad…minus the princess stuff maybe. Baby brother may or may not be interested. But all kids like superheroes…and a dad who makes up silly games, and watches Disney movies with them, and writes them books…"

"Wait! Why haven't I heard this before?" Kate asked, looking delighted at the idea. "You wrote books for Alexis?"

"Of course I did. At first I did it alone. Little ones about what we saw in the park or at the beach or out the window. I'd take pictures and scan them into the computer to illustrate them. Then, when she was talking more, she'd tell me what to write about. By the time she was six, she had a mystery series of her own. She'd help me make up the stories, then I'd write and she'd illustrate. Sometimes her dolls or stuffed animals had to solve the mystery, one of them might be a superhero, or sometimes…"

"Sometimes a little red-haired girl was the detective, but for some reason I never named her Alexis. Funny thing is, though, in those stories I always insisted she needed a little brother as a sidekick."

"Do you still have them?"

"They're on my bookshelf. I can't wait to read them to my little brother. He'll think it was always meant to be about him. And I can help him make up stories for Dad to write for him. That's okay, isn't it, Dad?" Looking back and forth between them, she asked, "You and Kate won't mind?"

"We won't mind," they said together.

"Did you hear that, baby boy?" Kate said, rubbing her hand over her growing middle, "Daddy's gonna write books for you."

Reaching for Kate's belly, he placed his hand over hers. "I've written books for Mommy and Alexis. I can't leave my boy out, can I?" Kate's loving smile threatened to melt him into a puddle. "And Mommy and Alexis can help read them to you," he added.

"It's Dad," Kate said with a smile when her phone rang. "Dad," she answered mischievously, "did you have a reason for calling?"

"Funny, Katie. Will we be adding a boy or a girl to the family?"

"A boy," she answered softly. "You and your son-in-law will finally have a male to keep you company. He's already worried about how to raise a boy. Rick wants to know if you'll teach him how to use a catcher's mitt or throw a football."

"Tell him I'll be happy to. Tell him to bring the girl child if she wants to learn, too. Your old mitt is still in a box somewhere in storage. I cleaned it up and took good care of it before I put it in storage. Alexis could use that if she's interested. Even if the boy child doesn't care about sports, the rest of the Castles will know how to use a catcher's mitt," he teased. "Is Rick excited?"

"Yeah, but I think Alexis might be more excited. Apparently, she's always wanted a little brother. Anything else on your mind?"

"Nope. My curiosity is appeased. I believe I can get my work done now." The smile could be heard in his voice.

"Okay. Glad I could help. See you soon, Dad." She relayed her father's message to Rick and Alexis; and when they finished their ice cream, Alexis dragged them off to a baby store on the next block so they could buy something for a boy baby.

They told Martha when she got home, and Kate called Lanie with the news that night.

xxxxx

When the couple left the precinct elevator the next morning, Castle announced enthusiastically to the entire homicide floor in his strong, solid baritone, "Beckett and I are going to have a boy!" There was laughter, a smattering of applause, and some congratulations and teasing, all of it laced with a strong dose of good will."

"You think he'll be just like Castle?" Ryan asked with a grin as Castle and Beckett reached her desk. "If he is, you're gonna have your hands full."

"And how long have you worked with Beckett?" Castle asked. "Half this baby is Beckett genes. You don't think I'll have my hands full?"

"Half you and half Beckett?" Esposito barked a short laugh. "You're both screwed."

"He's probably right," Beckett answered, dropping her forehead to Castle's shoulder briefly. Then she looked up at him with a grin. "We're probably in deep, deep trouble."

Castle returned her grin. "Too late to back out now. We'll survive," he promised.

"So what do we have?" Beckett asked the boys. "Anything new come in?"

"No, but new information for the Tahlberg case turned up this morning. A Mr. Jackson called. He's Tahlberg's general manager...had been out of town on a business trip," Ryan answered. "He said he had some financial and legal information that might help. Should be here at eleven."

"I sure hope it helps," she said. "We only have a few days before we have to close that one for lack of evidence."

"Me, too," Esposito responded. "You want to talk to him, or you want us to take it?"

"I'm stuck here anyway. Might as well take care of whatever conveniently walks in and finds me. Castle can sit in and leave with you if there's a call."

Mr. Jackson's information was good. It showed that Tahlberg was about to expand his business, something his rival didn't want to see happen. That pointed their investigation in a new direction, and it seemed the rival wasn't doing as well because he wasn't as bright as his competitor. Evidence started falling into place. It extended the time they could continue to work on the case, and they successfully closed it the following week.

xxxxx

The day before Halloween, Kate and Rick didn't get home until almost eight, and Kate told him she was going to change before they ate dinner.

"Go ahead," he told her. "I'll make a salad to go with the leftover lasagna."

She went straight to the bedroom, stripped down to her underwear, and pulled some yoga pants and a loose T-shirt out of a drawer. She sat down to put on the pants then gave in to the temptation to lie down for just a minute or two. Rick went to check on her about half an hour later, suspecting what he would find. She was stretched out on her back, yoga pants and T-shirt still in her hand on one side, and it was obvious that she was deeply asleep and probably would be until morning.

Rick smiled a mischievous smile, went and gathered several things before coming back into the room, and went to work. He waited until he was ready to go to bed, then roused his wife only enough to get her under the covers.

The next morning, he and Martha were in the kitchen having coffee when they heard, "Castle!" from the direction of the bathroom.

He grinned at his mother like a little boy and said, "I think I'm being paged."

"Richard, what have you done now?"

"Castle, what the hell is this?" Kate asked as she stood in front of the mirror.

"Kate, it's Halloween. I couldn't resist. It's his first Halloween costume. Just leave it until tonight. You know how much I love Halloween, and it'll be fun knowing it's there all day," he pleaded. Using his best diplomatic skills, he not only managed to talk her into leaving his work intact for the day, he had her laughing about it and agreeing to show Martha. "I'll only tell Mother…and the boys…and Lanie. Oh, and your Dad and Alexis."

Kate rolled her eyes put on a robe, and said, "You'd better be bringing me coffee in a couple of minutes as a reward, Writer-Man."

When they arrived at work, both of them were laughing.

"What's so funny?" Ryan asked.

"My overgrown child of a husband says our son is wearing his first Halloween costume," Kate answered.

"And how did you get this costume on the little guy in there? Esposito asked with a chuckle, pointing to Beckett's middle.

She gave them a look that combined humor and annoyance. "I woke up this morning with an eight inch Batman face painted around my belly button. He actually painted my belly while I was sleeping and defenseless."

The snickering from the boys was immediate.

"I used paint Alexis and I have used with costumes. It flexes with your skin," Castle explained excitedly, pulling out his phone. "Look at this. Oh. Oops." He covered the top and bottom of the screen. "I can't show you those parts.

"Castle, you took pictures?! Give me that!" Beckett shot her hand out to retrieve the phone, but Ryan and Esposito had caught enough of a glimpse of skin and Batman…as well as the murderous look on Beckett's face…to dissolve into outright laughter as Castle and Beckett vied for the phone.

"Dude, you are in soooo much trouble," Ryan said through his laughter.

"I know. I already sent the picture to her father and Alexis and Lanie. But in the emails, I cropped the parts of it I covered before I showed you." Winning his phone back from Kate, he quickly put it in his pocket. "It's his first Halloween costume, Kate. Of course I took pictures." Turning back to the boys, he continued. "And you should have seen my mother this morning when I told her the baby had his first Halloween costume. Then Kate opened her robe and flashed her wearing nothing but her underwear…and Batman, of course. Mother was trying to give me the standard mom scolding, but she was laughing so hard she had to sit down."

Castle was laughing with them at this point, bringing Gates to their desk to see what was causing the lack of decorum. Esposito couldn't help explaining, and Gates's eyes went straight to Kate's middle. "Batman?" she said, looking surprised. Then she emitted a loud, explosive short laugh and went back to her office chortling. About the time she reached the office door, the team thought they heard her muttering something to herself about Ray Gates being impressed.

Beckett went and plopped down at her desk looking resigned. "This story stops here, understand?" She turned her back on the men and fired up her computer; but anybody who could see her face would have seen her smirky little smile.

When Castle was back at her desk, he leaned toward her and whispered, "I'll wash it off for you in the shower tonight and make it worth your while."

"I'll hold you to that, Babe," she said, looking over her shoulder to let him see her little smirk.