"Captain Beckett, you need to see this."

Kate had barely stepped off the elevator with Castle, and she was really craving that cheese sandwich she had waiting in the fridge. Hunger pangs gnawed at her stomach, but she followed Vikram into the tech room anyway.

"We finally got that security footage," he said, and pushed play. "Here's your relevant section."

The timestamp read 7:21 a.m. when they saw a person striding across the lobby toward the bank of elevators.

"And here…" Vikram fast-forwarded until he'd found the next scene he wanted, "is the reverse." On the video, one of the elevator doors opened, and the same person came out, crossing through the lobby again at 7:48 a.m.

"I've seen that scarf before." Castle stepped closer, tapped his index finger on the screen.

"Recognize anyone we know?"

"So, Miss Lombard, did you enjoy that yoga class yesterday morning?"

Kate sat down across from the woman, placed her file folder in front of her. Next to her, Castle settled into his chair, forearms resting on the table and his fingers folded: attentive, focused.

"It was… fine?" Claudia Lombard looked a little startled. To anybody less trained than Beckett or her team, the woman would seem sincere in her bewilderment, but Kate could tell they had rattled her with the question.

"Did they do Salabhasana? Because I've heard that it's the best pose for posture."

Kate had to press her lips together to keep the smile off her face at Castle's comment.

"Yes. I think so?"

"You think so? You don't know? It was only yesterday."

"I'm not sure. It blends after a while? I go every week."

"Just odd that no one who took the class actually remembers seeing you there," Castle pointed out. He kept his tone matter-of-fact, deliberately pensive. "Not even the Yogi. And you'd think he'd recognize you by now, seeing as how you attend his class every week? Unless-"

Kate leaned forward. "You didn't attend the class, did you, Ms. Lombard?"

"Yes. I did. I told you guys I checked in at the studio at quarter to seven."

"You did. You also clocked out at eight twenty-two. However, that doesn't prove that you were actually in the studio for the entire 90-plus minutes in between."

"Instead, you snuck out the unsecured fire exit into the alley at the back of the studio," Castle narrated, bringing the story to life.

"As it turns out, YogaWorks is less than a mile from Ms. Van Houten's apartment. That's what," he turned toward Kate, "maybe fifteen minutes by foot?"

Beckett nodded. "You went to visit her," she picked up the narrative where Castle had left off. "She let you in, she even made you coffee! And then you shot her, in cold blood, with her own gun!"

"Why would I do that?" She was my best friend." Claudia Lombard leaned back, folded her arms. "You've no proof of any of that." She added, sounding sullen now.

"Actually, Miss Lombard, we do." Kate opened her folder, slid out the first still shot pulled from the building security footage. "Here you are, entering the apartment building at seven twenty-one yesterday morning…"

The woman turned her head, defiantly did not look down at the photograph.

"And here," Kate slapped the next photo on top of the first. "You are walking through the lobby on your way out at seven forty-eight."

"Who's to say that's me?"

Wordlessly, Beckett placed a third photo on the table. This one was a close-up, zoomed in on the security video that showed the face of Claudia Lombard.

"We have the statement of the security guard whom you bribed to let you through without recording you into the visitors' log. And your fingerprints were found on a coffee cup sitting on the kitchen island next to Ms. Van Houten's mug of tea."

"I won't say another word without my lawyer."

"That's okay," Beckett said. "We really don't need your statement. We have enough already to charge you with two counts of first-degree murder." She was laying it on a little thick; just the evidence alone wouldn't quite be enough to make those charges stick, but Claudia Lombard didn't know that.

"That's a Class A-I felony, Ms. Lombard. Carrying a minimum sentencing of twenty to twenty-five years."

The woman paled, valiantly tried not to show any reaction, pushing her hands into her lap to hide her shaking fingers.

"Could be life without parole," Castle added. "For two murders, a mother and an unborn child?"

Kate nodded. "Or the death penalty. The people of New York won't look kindly on that." She slid the photographs back into her folder and got up, Castle's chair scraping over the floor as he did the same.

"I'm going to call the DA," Beckett said to Castle as they walked toward the door.

"She always got everything."

Castle and Beckett turned as one, stared at the woman who in the span of thirty seconds looked like an entirely different person.

"Do you know that I introduced them? I met him first. I was in love with him. And she just took him from me."

This Claudia Lombard was angry, years of pent-up, deep-seated frustration spewing from her in waves. Her beautiful features had transformed into a grotesque mask of crazed eyes, blotchy skin, and throbbing blue veins.

"She already had everything: the looks, all that money, her own business, that gorgeous apartment…" She pressed the words from between her teeth, her jaw clenched.

"And she just sat there, all giggly and holier-than-thou all the while she's trying to slip that…. That cuckoo's child right under Luce's nose? No, nah-uh, not on my watch. So I went there to see her but she wouldn't listen, she didn't get it, she just didn't… get it, and so I took her gun from her purse, and I shot her." Claudia Lombard flopped against the back of the chair, folded her arms.

"She got what she deserved."

"And now, Ms. Lombard, you'll get what you deserve," Beckett said evenly, and walked out.

"Really, he's only leaving now?" Through her office windows, Beckett saw Officer Aragon lead Luciano DeLuca through the corridors of the precinct toward the sign-in desk. She rose from her desk chair and hurried out into the bullpen.

The man was signing his paperwork when she caught up to him.

"Mr. DeLuca." He looked up, dark soulful eyes meeting hers. "I'm Captain Beckett. My apologies for having to keep you in holding for so long."

"What's it matter?" He shrugged. "No worse than going home, facing-" He swallowed visibly, closed his eyes, and Kate remembered those feelings, that visceral pain, in all its facets and incarnations.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Mr. DeLuca." He opened his eyes again, his starkly beautiful face looking marred, his cheeks hollowed. He nodded in acknowledgment.

"I wanted to let you know… Our investigation has shown conclusively that your wife never had an affair."

His eyes welled with tears.

"Seems that she loved you very much," she added.

"Thanks." His voice was no more than a whisper, and then he turned around and started walking. Near the elevator stood Sander Van Houten, and as DeLuca reached him, the two men just looked at one another for a long moment, and then they stepped into the elevator together.

"You didn't tell him about the child, did you." It wasn't a question; Castle knew her that well. Kate leaned back slightly, let her back rest against the warmth of his chest, the strength of his presence.

"No."

Was it still betrayal, a break of trust when the intentions had been that good? When choices had been made to spare pain, to bring joy instead? She sighed.

"Come on, Castle, let's go home. We have an important dinner to host."

"Hey, so glad you could make it tonight, come on in!" Castle gave the other man a brief, manly hug, and then Jim Beckett stepped into the loft, held out a square glass dish.

"Pecan double fudge brownies. One of Katie's favorites."

Rick took the dish from his hand. "Oh, she's gonna like that," he declared. And you don't know the half of it, he added in his mind. Not yet.

Laughter swelled behind them, and Jim glanced past Rick's shoulder at the small crowd already assembled in the dining room. "I'm so sorry, am I late?"

"Oh, not at all, you're right on time." Castle set off to bring the dessert into the kitchen, and Kate hurried past him, letting her fingers lightly trail over his waist and leaving his skin tingling as she passed by him. He watched from the kitchen island as Kate embraced her father at length, her dad murmuring things that made Kate laugh softly.

The catering was set up along the kitchen island, the food hot and fragrant. It made his stomach rumble. Before they'd left, the catering staff had placed the desserts on the dining table as they'd been instructed, one plate before each chair, each plate covered by a shiny silver dome.

Everything was just right.

"Okay everyone, please, have a seat," Castle called out above the chatter, and the group quieted, pushed back chairs, scooted in. He let his eyes wander over their small, close-knit group of family, and friends who were like family - his mother and Alexis, Kate's father, Ryan with his family, Espo and Vikram, Lanie, Hayley. A hodgepodge of a group; people from such a variety of backgrounds; smart, interesting, fun people who had found their way together, found common ground in their shared values. He felt sappy tonight but he couldn't help it; he was just so grateful to be standing here with all of them, with Kate, to get to share this life-changing, life-affirming news.

Kate appeared next to him, pressed herself against his side and wrapped an arm around his waist.

"You ready?" he murmured quietly. His wife looked up at him, and her eyes sparkled with excitement, her smile wide, uninhibited. She nodded, and he knew she was nervous as well; he could tell by the tight hold she had on his waist, her fingers digging into his skin, by the way she rolled up on her toes, the tension that ran beneath her skin. And yet she couldn't stop smiling.

"Ready for what?" Alexis piped up, and all eyes rose to the two of them, still standing at the head of the table.

"For dessert, of course! Who says dinner always has to come first?"

"Everybody. Society. Common sense?"

"Well, that's a silly rule. Come on guys, lift up those covers."

On each plate, hidden until now under the silver domes, lay an individual-sized cake, carefully crafted and artfully frosted to resemble the shapes of tiny baby shoes, of bottles, teddy bears, strollers, rattles. But before even half of the food covers were lifted, his wife blurted out,

"I'm pregnant."

A chorus of squeals, of 'what?' and 'oh my god!' and 'really?' rose up around them, swelled like a tidal wave, eyes widening, faces blooming into overjoyed smiles.

"Yes. We're going to have a baby," Kate added, and then everyone was up from their seats, crowding around them. Kate was swept into a tight hug by Ryan, who had been closest, and Alexis pressed herself against Castle's chest, her cheek resting over his sternum and her lithe arms tight around his waist. He ran his fingers through her soft, sleek hair, still missing its length, aching a little, remembering times gone by. His baby girl. His first child.

She looked up at him, a stunned kind of joy shining in her eyes. "Really, Dad? I'm going to be a big sister?" He nodded, and then her smile widened, like a sunrise over the Hamptons, bright with possibility.

"Richard, darling. Congratulations."

Alexis kissed his cheek and then untangled her arms from around him as his mother approached. From the corner of his eyes he saw his daughter leap onto his wife with an adorable little squeal, and his heart felt like it might burst.

His mother hugged him tight. "My boy," she whispered, her voice wobbly. "My boy."

Over the next few minutes he was hugged, back-slapped, hugged some more, felt like his grin was going to split his face. He watched Jim Beckett cradle his daughter in his arms, her face pressed to his neck, and the man was crying, smiling through his silent tears.

At long last, the hectic enthusiasm calmed into a quieter joy, and he found his way back to his wife. He dragged Kate into his arms, kissed her sweetly, and she lifted her arms around his neck, left them there to hang loosely as she leaned her forehead to his.

"This was perfect."

He nodded.

"Aw, come on, man!"

He and Kate turned toward Espo's voice, found the man digging a 50 out of his wallet and slapping it into Ryan's open palm, Vikram adding another 50 on top.

"I can't believe you guys didn't get it. It was so obvious!" Ryan stuffed the dollar bills into his front pocket. "Remember the week of the awful baby puns?"

"Yeah, right!" Espo scoffed. "You didn't know squat! Lucky guess is all."

Oh yeah. Everything was just right.

Episode beta work by acertainzest and ivyandtwine

Castle Season 9 is produced by Team Planet and the writing team of Castle Season 9. Executive Producer is encantadaa.

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