This is great! Right amount of doubt from her and just enough cuteness

Can I just say that I'm a little at a loss for words here? I can, right?

I loved every single word in it, from the song lyrics (Band of Horses!) to the final sentence, nothing less, nothing more. I can't pick a favorite scene, or chapter, or section, because it was all so perfectly blended together that it was almost as if there were no scenes or chapters, just a long, uninterrupted scene, flashing before my eyes.

The Sleep series is definitely not deluding yet! Thank you so much for this insight into the early moments of Dashiell's life!

Awww, great stories! Dash is too cute and I love seeing Kate's path of acceptance:)

Catching up on the companions... This one is so fabulous! How far Kate came :)

Just lovely.

This is just so achingly wonderfully perfect and I kept reading it on my phone on lunch breaks and then I kept reminding myself that I had to go back and review and then I almost didn't ANYWAY because what on earth could I say that would match how awesome this story is, NOTHING, but I just had to do something even if it was just incoherent flails, THIS IS SO WONDERFUL, I ADORE ITTTTT.

Awwww the jeter jersey!

She should have another glass of water - she's short by about sixteen ounces - but she just can't. She feels like she's drowning in water. - I love this. It makes me sad though.

To make up for it, she pours a glass of milk and eats green beans one by one out of the pan, spearing them with a fork, standing over the stove. - NOOOOOO. Single, lonely Kate. I'm so glad I have a Dash update in my pile lol.

Castle grunts and jerks in his sleep, restless, finds himself awake with his heart pounding.- I love that they're both have restless dreams.

He flips the locks and opens the door and she's there, messily dressed, her hair scraped back in a pony tail that reminds him of both how very young she is, really, and how beautiful the line of her throat, the curves of her ears are. - UGHHH this paragraph.

She walks straight into him, her chest tight against his, and he falls down because of his stupid, numb leg, both of them tumbling to the floor because she expected him to be able to take it, the full weight of her body, and she let go, released, trust fell right into him. - I love this.

I'm afraid," she says slowly, looking into his eyes. "But it's not like there would ever be anyone else. It's not like I'd ever not choose you." - THIS LINE. DEAD. I also love that she has the courage to admit it to him.

"Hey," she murmurs, leaning in to brush her mouth at his lips, fingers still there like she needs the touch as guidance. "I know you're going to drive me crazy. I know I'm going to be stubborn and closed off and confusing. But-"
"But?"

"I want it. All." - Yayyyyyy.

She told herself this wasn't forever, but who was she kidding?

This was always forever. - Yes. This.

She's looking and not looking at the same time, idly checking out the display because it's Yankees merchandise, idle and not thinking baseball, just this, this, all of it rolling over her, when she sees the Yankees jerseys all in a row. Jeter. Number two. - Sobbing. Dash's jersey.

He pulls out the toddler-sized jersey - it is just so very small. How tiny it is in Castle's hands, and yet how huge, massive, the biggest thing ever. - I love this comparison. How the to tiniest thing is the hugest decision.

"He'll be a fan," she murmurs, her chest thick with awe. Him. In his tiny-

"A boy?" he says then, dazed. His body rocks back, like a blow. "It's a boy. We're having a boy." - Want to cry. On the bus.

She's going to have a little boy. She'll dress him in his Yankees jersey and take his hand and they'll go to the stadium together, sit side by side, and Castle will fall all over himself trying to buy them hot dogs and peanuts and a foam finger and everything a boy should have for his first baseball game.

"It's a boy," he murmurs again, sliding his arm down to circle her waist, bring her even closer. "A son." - DYING. I NEED THEM TO HAVE A KID.

"Castle, I'm gonna have to be the one to teach him how to throw a baseball, aren't I?"

He laughs then, breaking the spell, and his grip eases.

"Yeah. Yeah, Kate, you are," he says back, and his voice catches on her name. - So much love.

Catching up on life!

"No, honey, I'm talking about this. . .look you got going." - LMAO. My only hope is that Kate gets pregnant and this exact line is uttered.

"Don't start with me. First of all, I don't know why you think you can play me. Was I, or was I not, the first one to notice you two were having sex?" - HELL YEAHHHHHH.

"It's Castle's," Lanie says, and even the ME knows that isn't in question.
"Yeah."

"So you're keeping it."

She opens her eyes. "Was that a question?"

"Does it need to be a question?" - Love this exchange.

Kate pivots and comes back, biting her lip. "He's a good father."

Lanie's face softens. "He is a good father. Honey, you couldn't have done better, if that's what you're worried about." - UGH. That is so true. He's the best father.

"I was gonna tell you - ME's office is backed up, bodies are coming out my ears. It'll take me a while to get to yours. So. You should take the day. Talk to your dad."

Oh jeez.

"Your dad will be happy for you, Kate." Lanie squeezes her hand. "Even if you can't be." - This breaks my heart. The obvious difference between Dash and Ella. It's so amazing how it turns out but this is so painful.

He drops to his knees, staring at nothing, staring at a vision, a dream, the only thing in the world he wants at all, has to have, can't - he can't not have that. Them. Her and their child. - Heartbreakkkkk.

He's so in love with her. He's so helplessly in love with her. And where that love used to make him feel so strong, so determined, so much better for the loving, now it only makes him a wreck. - I CANNOT HANDLE HIM CRYING, LAURA. NOPE.

She sits in silence beside him for a long time, his mother, his strong and clever and humorous mother who made a production out of everything in their life, everything, but never once made him think he was at all unwanted. - I love this. I really think this is who Martha is. I loved that scene between them last night at the end.

She shoots him a look, and he's grinning at her. "Ah. How long have you known?"

"Kinda obvious, sweetheart. You two aren't quiet about it." - Yeah I bet they're not.

He laughs, delight spreading across his features, his smile turning into that wide and careless thing that she remembers from a hundred childhood memories - before her mother was murdered - back when it was spontaneous and easy. - Awwwwwww he's so HAPPY. That warms me.

Oh God. I'm going to be a terrible mother,"- NOOOOOOO. The BEST.

"I wasn't there for you when you needed me. But I'm here now. I'll make it up to you, sweetheart. No judgment, no questions asked. You feel like getting away, you feel overwhelmed, you have a fight with Rick - whatever it is. You come to me." - LOVE.

"When it comes time," he starts, his smile growing wider, even sly as he nods at her. "I want to be called Papa." - PAPA. NOOOOOOOO. IT'S TOO MUCH!

I laughed out loud at the last three lines of this chapter. Loved it.

Aaah, I love it. So amazing.

I love reading all about Dash so much, too. As much as I loved reading all about Ella.

Martha and Jim being supportive respectively is so awesome to see.

Beautiful. Particularly liked your depiction of Kate's inner struggle. I adored the final scene.

Very nice job capturing the characters in all three sections of this chapter. Lanie was spot on. And I liked Martha's perspective as a woman with an unplanned pregnancy.

i love it 3