It had been a week since Rick and Kate had been shot. They were both steadily recovering and they had had many visitors, but they had yet to see each other face to face. Since none of the nurses nor his mother and daughter were around to scold him, Rick decided to see if he could make it down the hall to see Kate himself. Rick slowly made his way out of bed, grabbing his IV stand and doing his best to walk down the hall which was proving to be a more difficult task than he originally thought it would be. It took him about five minutes, but he finally made his way to Kate's room and knocked on the door, "Kate?"

Kate awoke startled and questioned, "Castle?" Rick quietly opened the door and gave her his cocky grin that she loved, "Castle, what are you doing in here?"

"I just had to see you," he said, sitting down on the bed and stroking her cheek lovingly.

"You know you could pass out or pop your stitches or something else like that! You were shot a week ago," scolded Kate.

"But so were you," emphasized Rick, "Forgive me if I want to comfort my injured wife."

Kate sighed and turned her head towards the window, "I've been shot before, that's not the worst thing that's been said to me this past week."

Rick looked out the window along with Kate though a view of the hospital parking lot wasn't the most interesting sight. He knew deep down why Kate was so upset but he didn't know how to bring it up with her. As much as the possibility of not having children stung to him, he knew it was 1,000 times worse for her. He at least had Alexis, and while Kate loved Alexis like her own daughter, he had also wanted to be able to have children with Kate. There was still a chance, but a pregnancy would be higher risk now, along with the fact that Kate was over 35. Rick grabbed her hand gaining her attention, "You're the strongest woman I know Kate. Everything will work out."

Kate glanced down at their entwined hands, not knowing what to say. She knew Rick was troubled by the news as well and she didn't want to upset him even further. She took a deep breath, "There's always adoption…"

"Kate..." interrupted Rick, though he was unsuccessful.

"Or surrogacy. Or maybe this was the universe's way of telling us we're not destined to have children together," she completed her sentence.

"Kate," he said again, this time gaining her attention, "Focus on your recovery right now. We'll cross that bridge when we get there or if we feel a stronger baby fever."

But that was just it. Did Kate really have baby fever because she genuinely wanted children? Or was it because the possibility might now be out of reach, like a young child suddenly wanting to play with the toy their sibling was playing with at the moment. She had watched her husband with her Alexis and Ryan with Sara and Nicholas. And every time one of the detectives welcomed a new member of the family, she had always felt a pull towards motherhood. She was just always too scared to bring it up with Rick. She was always afraid that she would be a terrible mother with her long work hours and also because of the fact that she had lost her own mother at nineteen. The more she thought about it, the more she realized it wasn't just because of her abdominal injury. She desperately wanted children with Rick and she was going to make it happen. How, she didn't know yet, but she knew Rick, Martha, and Alexis were right. They would work it out, just like they always did. She rubbed circles on top of his hand with her thumb and asked, "How do you always know what to say to make me feel better?"

"Well, you know that day eight years ago when I was brought in to work on the copy-cat killer case with you? I took one look at you and knew you were the one," said Rick.

Kate looked at him skeptically and said, "Castle, I love you dearly, but with all due respect, I couldn't stand you when we first started working together."

Rick chuckled lightly and then groaned out of pain. He knew he had been a thorn in Kate's side early on in the partnership and he probably still was. But somehow, he had become the luckiest man in New York City to get her to agree to spend the rest of her life with him. A nurse knocked on the door and entered the room, "Mr. Castle, there you are. I found him Dr. Owens," she called.

"Thank you Melissa," he said. He lightly scolded Rick and said, "While it is good to see you up and moving around Mr. Castle, it is not advised you do so without the supervision of a medical professional." Kate smirked, desperately trying to hold in her laughter, partly out of respect for her husband and also since it was still pretty painful for her to laugh hard at this point, "Now Melissa needs to take both of your vitals, so I need your to return to your room, Mr. Castle."

Melissa helped Rick stand and he turned to Dr. Owens, "You think I'm stubborn doctor, just wait until she's up and walking," he smiled, pointing to Kate. That time, Kate couldn't help but laugh and then winced out of pain.

"Alright Mr. Castle, back to your room you go," said the nurse. Rick turned around and mouthed 'I love you' to Kate to which she mouthed 'I love you too' back to him.