I don't own Castle.

Title: What My Mother Never Told Me

Rating: T+

Description: Kate Beckett didn't want to be a mother. Her job was dangerous; the thought of leaving her child alone in the world was too much to bear. However, it might be a risk she is willing to take to see what brings such a smile to Rick Castle's face.

Epilogue

The nightlight gave the room a magical glow.

Kate leaned over her daughter and brushed the auburn hair away from her eyes. She gently kissed her on the forehead. Johanna Emily Castle's nose scrunched upon contact and she snuggled deeper into her bed, clutching her favorite stuffed animal of the week: a T-Rex Alexis had bought her when they went to the museum the previous Sunday. There was a collection of other animals, Monkey Bunkey among them that watched over Anna, just as her mother did.

Kate sat back down in the chair she had dragged over so she could tell Anna her story. She watched her little girl sleep. She used to think that it was creepy when Rick watched her do paperwork or meaningless tasks. However, as she sat, watching her daughter's eyes flutter and her chest move up and down, she reminded herself once again that it wasn't creepy at all. It was comforting, watching the person you love do the simplest things. It was nice – just knowing they were breathing.

Now that she thought about it, it was still kind of creepy.

"How far did she get?" a voice asked from behind her.

She didn't turn her head or even bat an eyelash at the voice. She wondered how long he had been standing there, watching them. "Only to when she found out she was a girl," she replied, hearing his socked feet pad closer to her. "I was just thinking about the rest of it." She chuckled quietly, remembering when Anna was just a day shy of three-months old at the seventh Nikki Heat novel, The Heat is On, book-release party.

Kate never pictured herself as the bumbling mother with a baby in one arm and a car seat in another with a diaper bag resting on her shoulder. However, here she was doing just that. Anna slept peacefully while Kate looked around for a place to sit. Her Tadashi Shoji cocktail dress tugged uncomfortably as the bag pulled on her shoulder.

"Kate!" she heard Rick call from the ground.

Like the Red Sea, people parted as he came jogging to them. He took the diaper bag and car seat off her hands. He leaned down and kissed her sweetly on the mouth. Anna rustled in her blanket. "How are you?" he asked. She bit her lip and sighed, the busy day catching up to her finally.

"Tired," she admitted. "Sparky's been fussing since I got home and we got absolutely nowhere on the case today." She gave him a small. "I could use a drink."

"I will get right on that," he nodded, eyes searching the room for a waiter.

At that moment, Alexis came up to them. "Hey, Kate!" she greeted, kissing her stepmother on the cheek. "How's Anna?" At Kate's distressed expression and tired eyes, she bit her lip and nodded sheepishly. She then held out her arms. "I can take Anna off your hands then, for a while."

Kate smiled guilty and passed her child. Immediately, Alexis started cooing and talking to her still-sleeping sister. She took her to her date, Eric, and introduced him to 'the' Anna he had been hearing about for months. Kate watched the scene until a stifled cough brought her out of her thoughts. She turned her head to see a glass of white champagne handed to her.

Rick smiled. She blinked heavily, and then downed the drink in one swallow

And eyebrow of her husband rose.

She rolled her eyes in response and set her empty glass on a tray that was passing them. Slowly, Rick walked forward and rested his hands gently on her hips. "I'm sorry I've been busy," he uttered, kissing the corner of her mouth. She sighed then snaked her arms around his neck.

"Not your fault," she affirmed. "It's just been a busy week. Our daughter is beautiful but sometimes she can be like her father." He gave her a crooked smile, leaning in so their lips were nearly pressed against one another.

"Oh, yeah?" he took the bait. "Charming and ruggedly handsome?"

"You wish."

Then she pushed the back of his head so his lips came crashing down against hers.

She felt him lean over her shoulder and kiss her ear. "It's a beautiful story," he whispered hotly. She closed her eyes and shivered, biting her lip. Somehow, even after all these years together, he managed to have her blushing and shivering and wanting him. It had a little over six weeks since they been together and she was excited to be cleared to finally feel him again.

"Mind out of gutter, Beckett," he nipped her earlobe and she looked up at him, grinning.

"You wish, Castle," she retorted, failing to hide the lustful darkness in her eyes.

Then she noticed the bundle of blue blankets he was holding. She gave him a look, wondering how he managed to arouse her and hold a baby at the same time. He grinned in response, silently communicating that he just had many talents. She held her arms out and he passed the blankets to her.

"He woke up," he explained. "You were telling Sparky her baby story so I heated up a bottle. He only fussed a little bit when he realized it was Daddy and not Mommy."

Kate looked down at her son's sleeping face. He looked identical to the pictures of his sister when she was only six weeks old. The only difference was his eyes hadn't turned hazel like his sisters – they stayed bright blue. Alexander Westley Castle, despite looking like his father, was partial to his mother. For some reason Rick could hardly hold him without him screaming. Anna had totally been a Daddy's girl – she slept on Rick's chest for hours. There was no such scenario when it came to her little boy.

Rick started to rub her shoulder gently. "Excited about going back to work tomorrow?" he asked when she rested back and looked to his eyes. He leaned down and kissed her on the nose.

"Yeah," she replied. "You're way better at being Mom than I am."

He narrowed his eyes. "Did you just degrade my manhood?"

She smirked. "Maybe."

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, Anna!"

The Precinct chorused as the now five-year old Anna twirled around in her mother's desk chair. All the uniforms, detectives, family, and even Captain Gates all clapped as Esposito and Ryan brought out the giant cake, decorated with the iced picture of the Twelfth's symbol.

Anna giggled and clapped her hands together.

"Lexi, look! I got a police cake!" she called out to her big sister. Alexis, who had turned 25 years old just a few months before, leaned over her sister, her long red hair mixing with Anna's brown locks.

"I told them that was the one you wanted," she winked at her dad and stepmom who were standing off to the side shaking their heads at the same time. Anna had insisted – for months – on a police-themed cake. She wanted her party at the Precinct. She wanted toy handcuffs so she could arrest her stuffed animals when they were "being bad."

This was what happened when a detective and a crime-novelist reproduced. They thought it was endearing, though most thought it was a recipe for disaster.

Alexis stepped back as Eric, her boyfriend of four years, came forward with a knife to cut pieces for distributing. They shared a look then he cut into the Marble cake with vanilla icing. Soon the cake was scattered amongst the Precinct and everyone ate and chatted happily.

Alexis kissed a bit of frosting that had managed to wipe itself on Eric's cheek during the process of handing out police-theme plates of cake. Martha was chatting up some other detectives who all wanted to hear of her escapades in the theater. Ryan was clearing off a large space at his table while is one-year-old son, Aiden, clapped his chubby hands in anticipation of the sweet treat; Jenny watched her husband in amusement. Lanie and Esposito managed to disappear, newlyweds they were. Captain Gates was conversing with her husband while her kids ate their pieces in her office, excited because their mother hardly let them inside.

Cake was consumed and a giant stack of presents was waiting on the floor in front of Kate's desk. Anna was led around the corner and happily tore open the wrapping. A police woman costume, fake handcuffs, and other police memorabilia settled amongst the traditional girly presents like dolls and coloring books. Anna managed to thank everyone, even running up to give each person a hug, jumping up and down with excitement.

Finally, there was a small present left from just Rick and Kate.

They had been sitting in front of their daughter, scooping up wrapping and tissue paper, stuffing it into a yellow trash bag. Now, they each scooted so they were on either side of their daughter, leaning back against Kate's desk. The duo watched as their daughter tore into the blue wrapping and, out of a white box, pulled out a pair of blue baby booties.

She gave her parents a look. "What's this, Mommy?" she asked Kate first.

Kate smiled as everyone else in the room gasped in shock. "Those are baby shoes," she told her daughter.

"You know how you said you wanted a baby brother or sister for your birthday," Rick interjected, touching Kate on the shoulder. They shared a look. "Well, happy birthday, kiddo. Your Mommy is pregnant!"

Anna's face shined as she jumped up and down, hugging and kissing each of her parents. The Precinct cheered, whooping and hollering and clapping for the new addition to the Castle family.

"Here, I'll put him to bed … you must exhausted," Rick said after a pause. Kate smiled sleepily and handed her son back to her husband. He started cooing and whispering to the little one and left Kate alone. She rubbed her palms along her sweat pants and stood up. She decided to move the chair in the morning because she didn't want the noise to wake her daughter.

She pulled her hair to one shoulder and then leaned down, kissing Anna on the temple. "Love you, Johanna," she whispered, feeling the cold metal of her mother's ring and two mother's pendants bouncing against her neck.

"Love you too, Mommy," her daughter mumbled, falling deeper into her pillow.

"Can we really make his middle name 'Westley'?" Rick asked, bouncing his knee in anticipation.

Kate rolled her eyes and shrugged off the question. "Alexis's middle name is Harper from To Kill a Mockingbird. Johanna's middle name is Emily for Emily Dickenson. We might as well round off the entertainment industry-themed middle names with Westley from The Princess Bride."

Ricks smiled and kissed her protruding belly peeking out from under their comforter. "So, Alexander Westley Castle," Rick repeated their son's name, resting a palm flat on her night shirt.

"Alexander Westley Castle," she confirmed, giving him a kiss on the shoulder.

As Rick laid his head down by her belly and talked to Alexander, she reached up and clasped the necklace around her neck. Her mother's ring was accompanied by two mother's pendants now – joining the small girl with pigtails was a small boy of the same brand.

Kate collapsed on the couch, waiting for Rick to come downstairs after putting their son to bed. It had been a long day today. It was her last day before heading back to her day-job in the morning. Alexander seemed to have known – despite his presence on earth for a mere six weeks – and was fussy and awake since three that morning.

She glanced at the digital clock by the television and '11:02' blinked back at her. When had it gotten so late? God, she was turning into Castle if she had stayed up that late to tell a story.

She had managed to close her eyes for a brief three seconds before the shrill sound of her ringtone claimed her attention. She leaned on her side and reached for the cell phone, too lazy to get up, walk over, and get it like an active person. She saw on the caller ID it was Alexis.

"Lex," she greeted with confusion. She glanced at the clock. 11:04. Didn't Alexis have to court in the morning? What was she doing up so late? Alexis had graduated NYU's Law school the previous summer and had gotten a job where she had done her internship for the previous year. She worked in civil cases, a similar job to that of Kate's mother. She was damn good at her job. Kate and Rick had gone on her first case, creeping in the back, watching her ask all the right questions.

She won that case.

"Kate," she breathed, excitement laced in her voice.

"What is it? Don't you know what time it is," Kate chided. "I thought you had a case in the morning."

Alexis sighed. "I do, but, I have an announcement." There was a pregnant pause and Kate bit her lip in anticipation. "Eric proposed! Kate, I'm getting married!"

Kate's eyes went wide and she tried not to scream for fear of alerting the rest of her household. "Lex, that's great! Congratulations! How did he do it?"

She had Eric had been best friend turned boyfriend-girlfriend couple since their sophomore year of college five years before. While Alexis continued to pursue a job as a lawyer, Eric had shifted his focus from lawyer to detective after becoming interested in cold cases from the readings he had done for several of his classes. He now worked as a Uniform at the 5th Precinct in the Little Italy area. The next year he was expecting a promotion to detective and working primarily with cold cases.

Alexis spent the next three minutes gushing about the most romantic evening of her life. She had met him at the Precinct after a long day for the two of them. After changing, he had a taxi waiting outside for them. Instead of going to a little diner they usually did after long nights, he took her all the way across Manhattan to a coffee shop right outside of the NYU college where they had their first "friend-date."

They hadn't been there in years. Kate bit her lip when her stepdaughter continued. "So, we get to the door," her voice was gaining even more excitement over the phone. "And I noticed that all the lights were off. I mean, it's like 10:30 at night. They were probably closed. "But then he pulls out a key. We go inside and when he flips on the lights, the whole place was like a montage of … us."

Kate smiled, pressing her lips together. Eric had always been cheesy – cheesier than Rick, even taught him a thing or two. Kate didn't put it past him to have the sweets, cheesiest proposal ever.

"I mean, there are pictures of us scattered all over the tables and rose petals and poems we both loved." Alexis sighed wistfully. "It was so romantic. He sat me down, and then brought two cups of our favorite hot chocolate – the same drinks we got that first time. Then he gave me the ring.

"It was perfect, Kate."

Kate smiled, her eyes nearly closing from the stretch of her mouth. "I'm so happy for you, Lex," she chimed in. "Eric's a good guy. I approve."

They shared a giggle before Alexis said, "Don't tell dad. I'm going to surprise him tomorrow morning. But I had to tell my mom tonight. I was too excited to wait." Kate could feel the smile in Alexis's voice upon talking about her conversation with – obviously – Meredith before she called her.

Kate ignored the dropping of her stomach and replied, "Oh? I'm sure Meredith was ecstatic."

As the years passed, Meredith became less and less a part of Alexis's life. Alexis went out to California a few times since Kate and Rick got married but Meredith had only returned the favor once but appearing on the Castles' doorstep the week of her senior year finals three years before. Meredith hated Kate with a burning passion; at first, she teased Kate and wore a fake smile, gushing about what a great guy Rick was and how happy she should be to be with them, all the while, thinking they were going to break up. But when Meredith found out they were getting married, she had flew all the way across the country to have a screaming match with Rick while Kate tried not to use her gun for murderous purposes.

Alexis's breathy laugh brought Kate out of her thoughts. "I'm not talking about Meredith, Kate," she whispered with an all-knowing tone of voice. "I said I called my mom, not my mother."

Oh. Kate felt her stomach push its way up to her throat. "Oh, Lex," she mumbled, taken aback. Despite the first year of tentative glances and awkward conversations, Kate and Alexis were the best of friends now. They went shopping and shared coffee. Kate was Alexis's go-to for fashion advice and Alexis always had time to watch over her half-sibling(s) when Kate and Rick were caught up in their respective jobs.

But, through it all, Alexis had never called Kate her mother, not to mention her mom.

Damn hormones, she thought idly, brushing at her eyes. "Thank you, Alexis," she bubbled. "I'm so glad you told me first. It's an honor."

"Kate, I was always going to tell you first," Alexis's voice was serious. "You have been in my life longer than my own mother ever has. My mother never talked to me about my life, only her own. I went to you first when I lost my virginity" – yeah, Kate remembered, that had been awkward – "and when I was stressed over graduate school. I even went to you first about moving out!" She giggled. "I was always going to tell you first."

"Thank you, Alexis," she repeated. "Really."

"No problem," she could hear the happiness just seeping out of Alexis.

They chatted briefly for the next few minutes about the pending wedding. Alexis and Eric hadn't talked about dates or anything, but Alexis dreamed about getting married in the summer at the Hamptons at the giant beach house, the same place Rick and Kate held their wedding.

The slow steps down the stairs brought her conversation to a halt. "Hey, Lex, I hear your dad," she whispered so he wouldn't eavesdrop. "I'll let you go. Come to the Precinct tomorrow after your case? We'll have coffee." Alexis confirmed that a resounding 'sure'! She hung up, the voice of her fiancé briefly heard in the background.

Kate rolled her eyes and tossed her phone on the coffee table just as Rick sat down next to her. The couch sunk in as he settled in and he wrapped an arm around Kate's back, pulling her in close. "Was that Alexis?" he asked as Kate rested her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah," she clipped, trying to come up with a fib. "She wanted my advice on her case tomorrow." That was good; she thought once again thought that living with the Castles had improved her story-telling abilities. She felt him nod against her temple.

"Did Zander fuss much?" she asked him, using their son's nickname equivalent to Johanna's Anna.

She moved so she was looking up at him. He met her eyes and smiled, his eyes tired but lovely. "Just a little but when a nice rocking and a song later he was out." Kate kissed his chin and then moved along his jawline. "Six weeks are up," he mentioned briefly as she reached his ear.

"That it is," she nibbled on his earlobe. A second's hesitation later, he had managed to flip her so he was lying on top of her. "Pushy, much?" she laughed as he captured her lips with his own.

"And you're not?" he retorted before delving back into the kiss.

Things got heated pretty quickly. Chastity had never been their strong suit but for the past six weeks they had managed to get through with just heated make-out sessions. She had some post-pregnancy problems and Dr. Schmidt wanted to make sure was fully healed before, ahem, more intimate actions were taken.

She arched her back and pressed herself into him, happy to finally have him here with her. She pulled his t-shirt off as he messed with her pajama pants, trying desperately to pull them off. She felt the broad expanse of his chest while he ran his fingers along the inside of her thigh.

She gasped and moaned, the way she knew he liked it and he rocked himself against her hips. "I love you," he whispered between hot kisses to her neck and lips. She opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling, pulling at his sweat pants. He managed to get her shirt off before she completed her task.

"I love … you too," she grunted and he kicked his pants off.

With just their undergarments, they plunged into each other, tasting each other and licking, teasing, and biting.

Kate had never expected to be a mother of children when she met Rick Castle eight years before. She had never expected to even meet Richard Castle, let alone bear his children. She never expected to get married – she wanted to, sure, but she didn't really expect it to happen. She never expected the late night Star Wars marathons or Harry Potter pop quizzes. She never expected breakfast in bed. She never expected sand castles, Santa Clause, and vacations to Paris.

She never expected becoming the inspiration of Richard Castle. She never expected for Alexis to go to her first with her problems, or to call her mom. She never expected showing Anna how to handcuff her father when he was being naughty. She never expected to look down at her son and think that he looked too much like his father for his own good.

Her mother never told her what it was like to be truly in love.

Johanna Beckett had shown her daughter what true love was. When she danced around the kitchen with her husband; when she would chase little Kate down the beach with a water gun in hand; when she appeared her daughter, even after death with a memory or warm breeze when Kate needed it most. And Kate was experiencing that true love every single day living with the Castles – Rick, Alexis, Martha, Anna, and little Zander.

She never expected this.

But as she lay here, feeling Richard Castle kiss her and love her, Katherine Beckett knew there was no other place she would rather be. She had never been one to believe in destiny but here with him she could believe in all those things Rick did.

The shrill ringing brought them back to reality.

Rick groaned into her neck and Kate shook her head, trying to bring herself out of the lustful haze. Rick didn't release her but she reached out and grabbed her phone. Not bother with caller ID, she pressed her phone against her ear, thinking maybe it was Alexis, and announced, "Beckett."

"Yo, Beckett," Esposito's gruff voice replied. "Got a fresh one. Welcome back, boss."

A.N.

And thus ends my first story on , "What My Mother Never Told Me." I hope the ending was satisfactory. I just want to thank you guys SO much for following this story, along with my Twitter and Tumblr. I hope you've had fun reading, like I have writing. It's been a blast. :)
I am finalizing my first chapter for my new story so look forward to that! If you follow me on Twitter or Tumblr, expect some sneak peeks. ;)

Title: Elektra
Rating: T+ (closer to 'M' than 'T')
Description: When he walked in to the 12th Precinct, he expected dead bodies, trash cans, and paperwork. But what young Detective Richard Rodgers was not expecting, however, was his new partner, Detective Kate Beckett. Caskett/AU.

Thanks so much,
Lizzy