Twelve

Just the day after announcing their engagement to their friends and family, Kate surprised Castle with another confession. Not only did she want to get married before their baby was born, but she didn't want to wait at all; she wanted to elope.

At first, Castle protested, fearing she would ultimately regret not having a large wedding or anything that resembled a wedding at all, but she said she didn't mind. She had never been one to dream of a huge wedding with hundreds of people in attendance. All she wanted was something intimate, celebrating their love with one another.

Castle countered her suggestion with an idea he hoped she would go for. He proposed the idea of marrying at his house in the Hamptons during the first weekend in April—exactly one year from the date of their first meeting. After thinking it through, Kate decided she loved the idea, and it gave them six weeks to plan a modest affair with fifty of their closest friends and family.

Somewhat untraditionally, Castle suggested that they go on a honeymoon trip before their actual wedding. His reasoning stemmed mainly from that as her due date grew ever closer, Kate would be increasingly more uncomfortable with travel, especially with spending long periods of time on an airplane. She conceded to this point, and the two of them planned a Caribbean escape two weeks before the wedding.

During their trip, Castle continually apologized to Kate, saying he wished he could have taken her on a whirlwind tour of Europe or to see the Great Wall of China for their honeymoon, but Kate refused his apologies. She was perfectly happy spending a blissful week in the sun and sand with him, taking long walks together and making love. They could save the grand vacations for later on, when they could bring their child along and he could enjoy it too.

Kate had never in her life been so grateful for family as she was when she and Castle returned from their trip a week before their wedding. She had only agreed to go because Castle's mother and daughter had promised to keep all wedding plans on track while they were away. True, with a small affair, the details were as minimal as they could be, but a few things did still manage to go wrong. Martha and Alexis were up to the task though and, ultimately, created as beautiful of a beach-side wedding as she could have imagined.

Castle and Kate spent their first night as a married couple in the master suite of his Hamptons estate, laughing and reminiscing about one year prior when he'd blinded her with a magic trick and zip-tied her to a chair. She told him how she knew right from the start there would be something special about them because of their ease around each other, particularly given such bizarre circumstances. He told her that had he not been blinded by his concern for his life (not to mention his desire not to spend the rest of his life in prison), he would have actually kidnapped her and taken her with him so that she would have never had to leave his side again. This caused her to laugh before pulling him in for a kiss.

The weeks after their wedding passed like a beautiful blur and before either of them realized, they were one month from their baby's due date. According to the doctor, everything was going as well as it could have. The baby was healthy and projected to be a sturdy eight pounds at birth.

By that point, with her belly clearly noticeable, Kate had, much to her chagrin, been reduced to mostly desk duty at the NYPD. She still consulted on each of Ryan and Esposito's cases, reviewing the facts and insisting on full recaps for any field interviews that they did, but she was unable to interview suspects and interrogate as she once had. She was, of course, more than willing to do so, but had to submit to the fact that a pregnant interrogator did not necessarily convey the brutality that was needed in order to get a confession.

It was also around this time that she and Castle began discussing plans for after the baby's birth. The week after their wedding she had officially moved into the loft and sublet her apartment. The nursery was done, the crib built, and the closet stacked with diapers. Thanks to several all-nighters, Nikki Heat's inaugural story had also been completed, so both Kate and Castle were prepared to be full time parents for the first several weeks after their son's birth.

During their discussions, Castle told Kate that she could stay home with their child as long as she wanted. Her income was financially unnecessary for their family, which gave her the freedom to do whatever she saw best. Kate decided that she would stay home with their son for twelve weeks and then reevaluate the situation. She knew she would have to return to the NYPD for her own sense of fulfillment, but recognized that their son's needs now came before her own desires and she was not a fan of daycare or full time nannies, at least not during the first three months of life.

As he had been doing, Castle arrived at the Twelfth around quarter of twelve that early May day so that he and Kate could eat lunch together. He, of course, enjoyed spending all the time he could with his wife, but he also enjoyed teasing her for the high volume of food she was consuming in her final weeks of pregnancy. Kate didn't even mind that he did this; some days she even disturbed herself with how much she could put away.

"Hello beautiful wife," he greeted her, swooping down to kiss her on the cheek.

She spun around in her chair and stared at him. "You're never going to believe what just happened."

"Ohh," Castle whined. "Did I miss a good case?"

"No. Not yet, anyway. Gates just told me that the FBI will be coming here to speak with us. They would like our assistance on a case. Specifically, my assistance; they want me to consult."

Castle considered this for a moment. "Does that mean-"

"Oh yes," she said. "Agent Banner—my favorite person. Is it too late to take a sick day?"

"Uh," Castle said, turning towards the elevator where several men in dark suits could be seen approaching. "I'd say so."

Banner and a grim faced college entered the bull pen and stood for a moment, observing their less-than-federal-level surroundings. Banner's eyes skimmed the room until they landed on Kate, who remained seated at her desk. For the moment, he took no notice to the man standing behind her.

"Agent—er—Detective Beckett, nice to see you again." He said, though his tone made his words sound like an obligation more than a pleasantry. He glanced up at her companion and did a double take. "Mr.-Mr. Castle?!"

Castle nodded. "Agent Banner."

"What the goddamn hell are you doing here?"

"He consults with the NYPD," Kate told him proudly. "He's helped out on many of our cases."

Banner's expression could not have been more incredulous if Kate had told him Castle was an expert witness in an alien abduction case. Blinking and shaking his head, Banner turned back to Kate. "Yes, well, we should really get a move on."

"Where would we be going, exactly?" Kate asked.

"The joint taskforce is going to be meeting uptown."

"Well, I'm sorry if you were misinformed, sir, but I'm actually not on field duty right now. If you have case files, I'd be happy to look at them, or provide you with any information I have on your suspect, but I cannot go to a taskforce meeting."

Banner huffed into his mustache and folded his arms. "Why the hell not?"

"Because," Kate said, pressing one of her hands flat on her desk as she stood, belly first. "I'm pregnant."

Banner's eyes dropped to Kate's expanded middle, which had been concealed while she was seated by the desk and her dark colored shirt. When she was standing, however, there was no mistaking it. "O-oh…I see. Well, you know I'm sure it would be fine. It's just a meeting and possibly a field interview and-"

"Hey," Castle said, stepping forward so that his body was between Kate's and Banner's. "She said no field duty; she's not going."

Banner blinked at him, almost stunned to silence by the way this civilian (and former fugitive!) was trying to tell him how to do his job. "And why the goddamn hell do you care what she does?"

"Well, she's my wife and carrying my child—I'm kind of funny that way." Castle retorted and, for emphasis, placed his ring-bearing left hand on Kate's shoulder.

For a solid moment Banner's eyes darted between Castle and Kate, his expression appearing as though he'd accidentally ingested several insects. Kate could almost see his mind spinning back to one year prior, rethinking the entire Castle fugitive situation with the knowledge of their nuptials. It was all she could do not to laugh.

Ultimately, Banner turned from them, muttering something incoherent as he stomped off towards Gates' office. One he was out of earshot, Kate turned to her husband to see that he was just as amused as she felt. "That was great—we should have taped his reaction."

"His face was classic."

"You really put him in his place Castle," she said proudly.

"Well he hunted me down and tried to arrest me; he had it coming."

Kate nodded. "Well I'm certainly not complaining. I don't miss that partnership at all."

Castle placed a hand on each of her shoulders and pulled her as close to him as her belly would allow. "Yeah? You think you have a better one now?"

"Eh, sometimes." She shrugged. Then, when his jaw dropped, a grin broke across her face. She stood on her toes and kissed him. "Kidding. You're the best partner I could ever want."

Six months later

"Rick?" Kate called out when she stepped into the loft apartment that evening. She toed off her heels and winced as her aching feet came in contact with the cool floor. She really was getting to old to run in stilettos, wasn't she?

"In here!" she heard his voice coming from the office.

Kate walked into the room to find Castle on the floor on his stomach, laptop a few feet from him. Beside him, also on his stomach, lie a little boy, the spitting imagine of his father, grinning and slapping the ground with his hands. Kate's face instantaneously melted into a grin at the sight of her son.

"Well hello!" she said in a sweet tone. The baby looked up to her and cooed. She knelt down and scooped him up, pressing a kiss onto his still-bald head. "Did you miss Mommy today? Because Mommy missed you."

"He did miss you," Castle said as he pushed himself up to a seated position. "But he also wrote his first death by trash compactor scene."

"Ohh," Kate said, trying to keep her voice light despite her horror. "Is your daddy trying to give you nightmares, JR?"

"Please," Castle waved his hand dismissively. "He's a Castle; this is in his DNA."

Kate gazed down at the innocent little boy in her arms. James Rodgers—JR for short—certainly was a Castle by DNA—a thought that terrorized her for his upcoming mischievous youthful years. But, honestly, she wouldn't have had it any other way.

"Speaking of," Castle continued. "Any interesting murders today?"

"No, sorry," Kate said, moving the baby to her hip. "Just the regular kind."

"Darn. Well, hopefully next time Alexis is available to baby-sit there will be something really, really gruesome."

"Like murder by trash compactor?" she offered with a laugh.

He shook his head. "No, much better than that." Then, after a moment, he added, "but I guess I don't mind. I'll take a regular every-day jealous rage murder if it means spending the day with you."

Smiling, Kate leaned over and kissed her husband. "Sounds good to me."

A/N: Thank you guys so much for reading! And for all your reviews; I really appreciate those. I hope you all enjoyed this story!

The next story I post will be called No Place I'd Rather Be and I will post it on Saturday. Summary: "When Richard Castle learns his publisher hired a writing consultant to help him complete his latest novel he's insulted-until he meets her. Dr. Kate Beckett was merely looking for a summer job between semesters, but could three weeks with the famous writer might be more than she bargained for."