I do not own Castle/Beckett or anyone else in this show

Not my characters nor my TV show.

I have decided to use other things for my inspiration.

This is number 6 in my "Murder In The..." series

Please read them to see how we got to where we are today

Kate is brought in to investigate the murders of several women. They all recently had children

Guess who has to go undercover?

A request from me: I do not write canon. My stories do not follow canon. I will drag a line or scene from the show but only if I think it fits my scene

We begin with Beckett being about 5 months pregnant

Sitting in their loft alone, Katherine Beckett-Castle is flipping pages, looking through a magazine she picked up on her way home this afternoon. A family and children magazine

"Raising the Perfect Child" is the title of the article she is glancing over. Since she has been with the police department she had determined that it does not matter how hard some parents try, the grown child will do whatever he or she wants to do no matter how much training and education the parents provide. Each person is responsible for their own life and life decisions.

Kate thinks about herself. She received a great upbringing. A firm foundation with both parents being in the legal profession She was destined to become a lawyer. That was the hopes of both her parents for her to become well respected in the legal world.

But today she is a detective instead. Some consider her job the complete opposite of being a lawyer. They consider an attorney as a person giving the voice of the less fortunate and helping them to have justice with the enforcement side, police, the enemy

But Kate sees herself as a person that brings justice to those whose voice has been totally silenced

As she is flipping from page to page, she gently passes her hand over her own growing stomach.

At a little past the half way point in her pregnancy her heart is so overwhelmed at her current life situation:

Happily married

Great job

Nice home

A tiny new life is growing inside her body

Just like her day job of protecting the citizens of New York, she is also responsible full time to protect this new child that she and the love of her life have made

There is a firm knock on her door. She drops her magazine on the table and moves barefoot to the entry.

She has reached the point in her pregnancy that certain body parts have either grown noticeably or have become swollen. Today the size of her shoes and boots have become a little too small to be comfortable. It feels so much better to leave them at the door the moment she arrives home and spend the rest of the day with only socks or slippers

Pulling the loft door open she sees her best friend on the other side holding a couple of sacks. One is the normal take out bag for a neighborhood sandwich shop and the other is obviously a bag from a package store

Holding up the-to go meal bag Lanie comments "I brought dinner from "Sandwich Heaven Deli I got you a hot pastrami on rye" she then holds up the other bag "And non-alcohol wine"

"That is so sweet of you Lanie" Kate's smile is honest. She is very glad to see her longtime friend. It has been a very long time since the two have had the chance to just sit, eat a take-out, drink (even without alcohol) and talk about their guys

Kate has already brought out the plates and napkins and placed them on the counter. Lanie is taking the wax paper wrapped meal and placed them on the plates. She reaches back into the bag and brings out two pickle spears and two bags of chips

"Kate, you should just get out paper plates instead of messing up the fancy stuff. I am just mere family here, you know?"

"Lanie, we don't even have a paper plate anywhere in the loft. Rick believes we should always be prepared to host out guests with our best foot forward"

"I bet you don't even have paper towel rolls?" Lanie chuckles

"Beckett smiles back "No, we do have paper towels, but they are for clean up only, not for serving guests. Cloth napkins only for that"

Lanie moves ahead of Beckett into the kitchen and locates the paper towel roll and pulls off a few sheets and places them down next to the plates "Your husband is out of town and he will never know"

Kate actually giggles at her best friend's comment "So true"

"When will your writer boy be back?"

"Writer man" Kate rubs her hand over her swelling stomach "I promise you, he is definitely a man"

Lanie nods her head

"He is due back tomorrow evening" Kate answers

"So what? He has been gone for what? Three days. You must be a little relieved to have a a little alone time?"

Kate can be seen turning red "Lanie!"

"What? Aren't you glad to not have him under foot for a little while?" Having a little time just to yourself for a few days?"

Kate is looking toward the bedroom door "Lanie…I miss him. I mean I miss him a lot. This has been the worst three days since Rick and I decided to break down that ignorant wall between us and be together"

"Are you telling me that you two are…?"

Kate answers "Inseparable"

"Wow Girlfriend. I have never seen you like this"

"I know"

"It must be the hormones. Pregnant women go through some crazy hormonal swings"

"I kind of think it is, but I don't want them to change. I sort of like being this way"

Beckett pause a few heartbeats "Before this book tour, Rick and I only spent that one night apart right after we got married"

Lanie laughs "Yeah and I remember you jumped on an airplane and flew to Texas and jumped him"

"Yeah I did and Lanie that is how we have been ever since"

"Girlfriend, you need a little time apart"

"Oh we have that. When I am at the precinct and he is home writing or at meetings"

"I mean like now. With him out of town, you get to do whatever you want and he does whatever he wants"

"Lanie, we have our personal time apart but after fighting our feelings for one another for over four years we knew that this…" Kate waves her hand around the room as if indicating their life together "is what is important"

"So the playboy woman chaser is gone for good?"

"Oh he still chases this one woman…sometimes"

"Kate Beckett you are so bad"

"I know. So how about you and Javi? Any movement on that story?"

"Not really. We have the occasional booty call but neither one of us has the feelings you and Rick seem to have. I wish we did but we just…"

"I understand" Beckett comments helping Lanie change the subject

"So Kate, back to you. You are glowing. Pregnancy looks good on you"

"Thank you. I feel so good. I thought it was going to be difficult but it is not. I mean other than the expected things"

"Like what?" Lanie asks

"The itching" Kate rubs her stomach "The swelling of my ankles. I am having trouble wearing my boots…"

"You need to switch to comfortable shoes for the duration"

"Yes, I know. Then there is my boobs" Kate rubs her chest

"Oh yeah!" Lanie laughs "They are beginning to grow a little...or more like a lot"

"A LITTLE? Hah!" Kate responds "I don't have a bra I can even wear comfortably right now. I need to go buy another one. I need a bigger one or go braless to work and I don't think police regulations allow that"

"Not to mention your husband not allowing his wife to be out in public sans her underwear"

Kate smiles thinking about the cruise ship and the scavenger hunt game where she removed her bra and went the rest of the day without it and how Rick reacted to that.

Kate looks down at her own chest "Well, I might grow as large as Joy Mason and then see how Rick reacts to that"

"Who's Joy Mason?" Lanie asks not knowing about the women from the Hamptons

"Never mind" Beckett smiles

"Well Kate I gather that Castle is still taking good care you?"

"Very good care. That is why I miss him so much right now" She stares off with a look on her face. Somewhere between sheer bliss and sadness at his absence "Lanie, he treats me like a queen. I want for nothing. He would buy me the moon if I asked. In fact he did. He bought a parcel on the moon and gave it to me for my birthday"

"That guy really loves you"

"And I love him…I did not know marriage could be so good. I heard of couples becoming boring after a short while together. You know? Going to the same two restaurants and only having sex on national holidays"

"But this is different?" Lanie is happy for her friend "No waiting for national holidays?"

"We make it a point to find one new restaurant each week to try and…Lanie, I could not be bored with Rick no matter what. He said that every day is a holiday somewhere…and if it isn't then he declares it our holiday"

Kate's cell phone rings. She looks over to the screen and sees the image of her husband and she smiles "Hey lover" the words tender "I am so missing you"

She listens for a few seconds then her face turns fire engine red. "Hey, Lanie is here…no she did not hear what you said and I am not repeating it to her"

Kate looks up from her phone. "Can I call you back in a little bit?"

"OK Love you too" Beckett disconnects her call

"I gather that Castle was telling you about what he was going to do to you when he gets home?"

Kate drops her head and covers her face to hide her blush

"And I am sure it was not doing anything bad" Lanie continues to chide her best friend

Kate ignores the comment and tries to get back to their conversation

"So Lanie have you got any good cases on the table?"

"Funny you should ask" the medical examiner side comes out "I got two unknown Jane Does arrived today. Both just partial skeletons"

"Not even a whole body?"

"No soft tissue at all, just bones. I estimate they were in the ground at least two years"

"Buried together?" Beckett asks as she puts her cop voice back on

"Same location but it appears they were buried at different times. Possibly years apart"

"How were they found?"

"Construction crew starting a new foundation for an office building came across the remains" Lanie answers

"Who has the case?" Kate is intrigued

"The 12th has the case. I don't think anyone has the assignment yet. I hope you get it. It's not like you need to run after some criminal in the field right now. This one is a lot of research and investigating done from the desk"

Kate laughs "Borrrrring"

"You need to take care of my niece or nephew…?" Lanie stops "By the way…which is it. A boy or a girl?"

"We haven't found out yet. I hope it's a boy for Rick. He deserves a son…" she then finishes her statement in a poem

"Ten Fingers

Ten Toes

Two Eyes

Two Ears

And a nose"

Beckett's cell phone rings. Caller Id says "Gates"

"Hello Captain…yes I will be in tomorrow, I can handle that case…see you then"

Kate drops her phone and looks at her best friend "I got the case"