151. Chapter 151

Chapter 151

April went by with family outings and get-togethers with various groups of family members and the work family. The Ryans babysat a time or two for the Castles, and the Castles returned the favor for the Ryans.

At Castle's invitation, Ryan and Esposito and their families all went to the beach house in mid-April, the two men and Maria taking Monday off so they could have a long weekend at the beach. Kate had a girl's night with Lanie and told her about the baby before they left the city; and once they were in the Hamptons, they told the other adults at the beach gathering. While accepting the congratulations, Rick and Kate warned them that Jamie wouldn't know for another week, explained why, and asked that Gabe not be told until after the doctor visit.

The water was still too cold to play in the ocean, but the heated pool and the overhead heating in the area around it saw plenty of action; and Castle manned the grill for a cookout a couple of times.

On Sunday afternoon, Kate and Esposito stood near the pool,alternately watching Castle and Ryan playing in the pool with the boys and the ocean waves crashing in and rolling back out.

"This place is unreal," Esposito said contentedly. "It's a good place to be after a hellish week like the one we just had. Everything in our last case went wrong or ran into a dead end, and it looked like we might never straighten it out."

"Did you manage to close it, or did you have to put it aside until Monday?'

"Late Thursday afternoon, we re-interviewed a guy we originally thought was only a witness. He said something in passing that he didn't intend to say, and it set off a chain reaction of connections that finally started to make sense. We sent him home…let him think we didn't notice. It took most of Friday to follow everything up and get a warrant, but we did it. We arrested him, finished the paperwork, and gave the file to the captain not long after our shift was over. He should be arraigned and locked up by now. I needed a nice, quiet weekend."

Kate made sounds of agreement and sympathy, and they both watched the soothing action of the waves and sipped their fresh lemonade for a little while.

Esposito broke the silence saying, "So…another little Castle, huh?"

"Yeah." Kate's smile was all it took to transmit her joy in their new baby. With one hand over her baby, she said, "A Castle under construction."

Esposito groaned. "I would have expected that from Castle, but Beckett…bad puns? Is this what too much time off does to you?"

"Looks like it, doesn't it?" she answered with a grin. "But I really don't care. I'm very happy right now." After another little pause, she asked, "Will we be seeing a new little Esposito someday?"

He looked down at his glass and answered, "I dunno. Maybe. We've talked about it." He took another sip and looked back out at the ocean. "My dad was real bad at the job. I guess I still wonder if I've got what it takes to raise a little kid from day one."

"Gabe loves you. Anybody can see how much he looks up to you. You've been a good dad to him, Javi."

"Yeah, but Maria already had him off to a good start. He was already a good kid when I met him." He looked down at his drink again and admitted, "I learned a lot from Castle. He's a good dad. Sometimes I'd mention something Gabe was doing or something I couldn't decide was a problem or not and ask if Alexis ever did that, or thought that, or whatever. You know how he loves to talk about her. I got all kinds of good advice by just letting him talk. I hated to outright ask. I felt like I ought to be able to figure it out without having to ask anybody, you know." He looked up at an amused Kate and grinned. "Don't tell him. Okay?"

Kate grinned back. "Lips are sealed, partner. But Castle didn't have a dad at all. You don't think he needed to ask some questions?"

Then Gabe called out, "Dad, are you gonna get in the pool with us?"

"Yeah. Be right there," he called back and turned to Kate again. "Guess I gotta go be a good dad."

"Don't second guess yourself, Javi. You're not your father, and you're already a good dad. We all know it, including Castle."

He gave her a small smile and an appreciative nod, then turned, pulling his T-shirt over his head as he went to join the other males in the pool.

Their visits didn't always divide into male and female, but in this case the females were all gathered around the shallow pool Castle had restored for Jamie. Jenny and Maria were sitting on the step with Sarah Grace sitting in the water at their feet. She seemed fascinated with the water, and now and then she would suddenly start madly splashing and laughing.

"I can't believe she's already nine months old," Kate said. "It won't be long before she's walking."

"Hush. I'm not ready to think about that yet," Jenny answered. "She can already crawl fast enough that she almost gets away from me sometimes."

"We're excited about the baby, Kate. I guess it's good Jamie has already been around Sarah Grace as much as he has," Maria said.

"We think so, too. He's always anxious to see her, so we're hoping that's a good sign. And he certainly has two fine examples of how to be an older sibling in Alexis and JD. I dread the day we have to tell him that JD isn't his actual brother. He's been as much a brother to Jamie as a blood relative could ever be, and Jamie loves him so much."

"Jamie is really good with Sarah Grace," Jenny assured Kate. "He's always careful of her and upset with himself if he thinks he might have done something wrong. I really don't think you have anything to worry about."

"Maybe…but we're parents. We're always going to worry about something," Kate answered.

The other two women smiled and nodded, and the three of them talked and laughed through several subjects and played with Sarah Grace while the men and boys played in the other pool.

The weekend was a good retreat for the three families, and they all enjoyed the time together. It seemed the guests had just arrived when it was suddenly Monday afternoon. Their long weekend was at its end, and "the working class" as Ryan referred to them, had to get back to their jobs the next day.

The Castle family stayed another week after the others left and used the unencumbered time to enjoy their beach house. They took walks on the beach almost every day, letting Jamie race over the sand to his heart's content, and on the warmer days, take off his shoes and wade in the cold ocean water. Then it was time to go back to the city for Kate's next appointment with Dr, Holland. Kate and Castle debated whether they should tell Jamie about the baby the day before they left or on the way home. They finally decided they would get home far enough ahead of the appointment that they could talk to him about it before they went to the doctor's office.

After they took their luggage back to the loft, they sat Jamie on the breakfast bar and Castle said, "We have something to tell you, Jamie. You're going to be a big brother."

"Me? Like JD?"

"You won't be any bigger than you are now," Kate answered, but you're going to have a baby brother or sister."

"Like Sarah Grace?"

"Right," Castle said. "Like Sarah Grace."

"Where is my baby?"

"It's still growing inside Mommy."

"There's a baby inside Mommy?" he asked, looking at Kate skeptically.

"Remember when Aunt Jenny's tummy got really big? That's because Sarah Grace was growing inside her until she was big enough and strong enough to be born."

"Mommy's tummy isn't big like Aunt Jenny." Their son answered.

"It will be, though," Kate told him. She took his wrists and put his hands on the little baby bump that was just forming. "Can you feel that my tummy is a little bit bigger? There's a round bump there. That's because the baby is growing. It's still really little, but it's going to get bigger like you did."

"I was in your tummy?" he asked in what appeared to be horrified surprise.

"Yes, you were. For a long time. We were really glad to get you out into the world where we could snuggle with you. But while you were inside me, Daddy used to read books to my tummy so you'd like stories when you were born. And he'd kiss my tummy and tell you he loved you." Jamie smiled.

"Want to see pictures of you when you were inside Mommy? They're not quite like most of our pictures. But they're pictures of you."

Jamie nodded. "Where are they?"

"I'll be right back." Castle went to his desk and took out two envelopes with both their babys' ultrasound printouts and lined Jamie's up in order next to his son. Knowing they were planning to have that conversation with their son, Castle had put a peanut still in the shell in his pocket to remind Jamie of the size of a peanut, and he took it out to show him. "This is the first one. That's why we call you Peanut sometimes. You were just about the size of this Peanut then."

"I was that little?"

"Yep. But see? You had grown bigger every time there was a new picture. Look how much bigger you were in the last one over here."

"Is that when Mommy's tummy was big like Aunt Jenny?"

"It was pretty big," Kate agreed.

"This is Mommy and you," Castle said, and showed him a side view picture of Kate not long before Jamie was born. "

Jamie giggled. "Mommy looks funny."

"Thanks a lot, Munchkin." Kate answered and tickled his tummy.

"We're going to the doctor's office with Mommy today so the doctor can make sure our baby is okay, and to find out whether you're going to have a little brother or a little sister. And you get to hear the baby's heart beating."

"Can we go now?" he asked as his dad put Jamie's ultrasound prints back in the envelope.

"We do need to go pretty soon," Kate said.

"We can leave now and walk to the next block to catch a cab…take our time," her husband suggested.

"Good idea."

"Do we get pictures of the baby?" Jamie asked.

"We'll get a new one today. Hang on. I'll show you the first one." Castle opened the other other envelope and took out the first print then took out the first one of Jamie. "See our baby is about the size of a peanut, like you were when we found out we would have you."

"Can we call the baby Peanut, too?"

"We can give the baby your name?" Kate asked.

"I'm big now. Not a peanut."

"Okay. Let's go then, Big Boy."

As they walked through the lobby, Jamie excitedly announced to Eduardo, "There's a baby in Mommy's tummy, and I'm gonna be a big brother!"

Eduardo chuckled, knelt down, and said, "Well congratulations. Do you want a brother or a sister?"

"A sister like Sarah Grace."

"Our friends' baby," Kate explained.

"We'll find out if it's a boy or a girl in an hour or so," Castle told him.

"And judging from this exit, you'll probably hear the results as soon as we get back." Kate added. "Looks like it's a good thing we're ready to let it be public."

Eduardo chuckled again and answered as he stood, "I'll be here another three hours, and I'll look forward to it. Congratulations to both of you."

"Thank you," Castle answered as Eduardo opened the door, giving the doorman a companionable pat on the arm as they left.

They took their time walking to the far end of the next block before they hailed a cab, timing their arrival reasonably for their appointment. To avoid any more public announcements from their son, Castle looked for the least occupied part of the waiting room while Kate checked in.

When she joined them, she smiled at Castle and said, "Good choice."

"I'll definitely need to make a statement on the website tonight to get ahead of the kid."

"You probably need to let Paula in on it first. She's been going to bat for us with Gina lately. We should make it as easy for her as we can."

"I'll call her when we get home. She probably has something ready to send out by now anyway. I did tell her it would be around the end of the month.

It wasn't long before Kate was called in, and her men went with her. They waited in a secondary waiting room while Kate was weighed and the other routine tests were covered, and then she was taken to the examination room. Castle kept Jamie with him and hushed him when he asked too many questions. We'll ask the doctor when we go to see Mommy," he promised. A nurse blessedly came to his rescue after the last burst of questions, some of which were reruns by then, and took them to Kate's room. By that time, the stirrups were down and Kate was just lying on the examining table.

"Is our baby okay," Jamie asked as soon as they entered the room.

"Your baby is just fine," Dr. Holland assured him. "Do you want to hear your baby's heartbeat?"

Jamie nodded and Castle asked if she could let him hear all their heartbeats to compare. She seemed impressed and not at all opposed to the idea. Let's start with your daddy's heartbeat. She told Castle to sit him on the table with Kate, and put the eartips of the stethoscope at Jamie's ears. Castle helped hold them there and she placed the other end on Castle's chest. She imitated the sound of an adult heart and asked if Jamie could hear that. When he indicated he did, she moved to Kate, then to Jamie.

"Did you hear that yours is faster," she asked, and he nodded. "It's because you're smaller. Now we'll hear the baby's heart. We'll put stuff on Mommy's tummy and listen."

Gel was smeared on Kate's middle and Jamie tested it with one finger before Castle picked him up again and got a tissue to wipe it off before he decided to taste it. Then there was sound.

"Is that the baby?" Jamie asked, listening again. "It's fast," he added with a smile.

"Because the baby is much smaller than you."

"Can we have a picture?"

"Any minute," Dr. Holland answered patiently. Before long an image of the baby showed on the screen.

"Is that our baby?"

"It sure is," Castle answered as the doctor kept moving the wand looking for the right angle.

"Ah. This should tell us," she finally said. "It looks like you're going to have a girl."

"Did you hear that, Jamie? You're going to have a little sister." Looking lovingly over at Kate, he took her hand and added, "And I'll bet she'll be just like Mommy. Could we have an extra copy of the printout this time, please?" he asked the doctor and pointed at Jamie.

"Of course," she answered.

"Thanks. I'll take him out and let you and Kate finish up."

"Thank you for your patience…with all of us. I think both of my men are a little over excited," Kate said apologetically. "We told Jamie right before we came here, so it's all new to him, and Castle has been excited since we found out.

"I thought it was charming. That man of yours does love his children, doesn't he?"

"He does. And they both said they wanted a girl."

"Jamie seems well prepared for another child."

"Time will tell. He's been around a friend's baby since she was born and loves her, so we're hoping for the best."

"Well, it looks like you're off to a good start. "Everything looks good, Kate. Your next appointment should be right before you leave for Europe and another right after you get back home. I'll see you then."

Kate cleaned up and joined her men to go home, all of them smiling. They talked in the car, Jamie always coming back to the baby.

When Eduardo opened the door for them, Jamie all but bounced in and greeted him with, "I'm gonna have a little sister!"

"I'll bet you're going to take good care of her and teach her things, too'" the doorman answered with a big smile.

"And when I'm big like Lexis, I'll read to her." Turning to Castle, he asked, "When can I learn to read, Daddy?"

"We'll work on it a little at a time, Buddy," Castle answered, ruffling his hair.

"Let's go call Grams and Granddaddy, and you can tell them about the baby," Kate said, pointing her son toward the elevator.

Phone calls were made, and grandparents were enthusiastic in response to Jamie's excitement, as well as happy for Castle and his hope for a mini Beckett. It was a girl, which put him a step closer.

Alexis was at the door to find out about the baby almost by the time the phone calls were made, and Jamie started his spiel all over again. "Lexis, there's a baby inside Mommy, and it's a girl, and I'm gonna be a big brother, and we have a picture, and we're gonna call her Peanut, and…"

"Whoa. Slow down," she said, picking him up. "That means I'm gonna have a little sister, too." Jamie appeared to be mentally weighing that new information, so she explained, "I'm your big sister, so if you have a baby sister, she's my baby sister, too."

"And JD's?"

"Yep. Will you show me the picture?"

"This one was just for me," he said proudly, scrambling to get out of her arms and pick it up from the sofa.

Alexis looked at it, smiled, and kneeled to look. Then she said to Jamie, "We're going to have a little sister. This is our little sister. Show her to JD." Then .Jamie handed it to JD as Alexis went to hug her parents and talk to them, and JD picked Jamie up and sat him in his lap on the sofa.

"JD, Look. It's our little sister."

JD grinned at him. "She really is little, isn't she? When I was little, I didn't have any brothers or sisters. Then I had you for a little brother, and now I'll have a little sister, too. I'm pretty lucky."

Jamie curled up in his lap and leaned against him, seeming to be calming down from his excitement; and JD held him and kissed the top of his head, looking for the world like a true Castle.

The family atmosphere calmed while Alexis and JD were there, and JD was particularly attentive to Jamie; but he seemed to grow more pensive as time passed. When Alexis and JD left, Alexis looked at her husband and asked, "What's bothering you? I could tell you were excited about the baby when we got here. What happened?"

"When you were explaining to Jamie that since you're his big sister, it's your little sister, too; I began to realize that he's getting closer to being old enough to understand I'm only his brother because I married his sister. So I'm almost his brother, but not quite. I know I'll love your sister just as much. I want to be their brother, but I can only be close to it. I feel like I'm going to be letting Jamie down when he realizes I'm only his brother-in-law."

"Listen to me, JD Farnsworth. That little boy couldn't love you any more if you were his twin. It may change how he introduces you when he's a little older, but it won't change the fact that to him you'll always be his big brother. My parents feel like you're theirs. And your Granddad might as well be mine and Jamie's, too. Face it. You've both been assimilated by the Castle Borg. Resistance is futile."

"You sound like your father," he answered, his mood lifting.

"I learned from the best."

"Yeah, you did." He swung an arm around her shoulders as they left the elevator and crossed the lobby.

"Congratulations on the little sister," Eduardo said as he opened the door, and both of them answered, "Thank you."

xxxxx

Later in the week, the bombshell quality of excitement that accompanied introducing the idea of a new baby to Jamie was leveling out, and his parents were grateful that it had all been positive energy. The next two orders of business were Alexis's graduation in a couple of weeks and getting ready for a trip to Europe two weeks after that. There was another meeting coming up at Black Pawn to finalize the tour plans, Jamie needed a passport, and Kate needed to be sure she had clothes that would accommodate the next month of the body changes she could now actually see happening.

In the time before graduation, Rick and Kate mapped out a plan so they knew what they needed, whether they had all of it, and how long they had to get it if they didn't.

She wasn't showing enough for it to be noticeable yet if she wore the right clothes, but Kate's slacks weren't comfortable anymore, even the more generous ones she had been wearing lately. She found her stored maternity clothes and pulled out the ones she had used at her current stage of development with Jamie. Since she had been working then, she had bought nice, work appropriate clothes which would be fine in case of encounters with fan groups or meetings with Black Pawn's European counterparts.

Rick insisted Kate shouldn't pack too much because his sugar daddy status demanded that he take her shopping in Europe. He insisted he was looking forward to finding her clothes to accommodate all stages of her future changing figure while they were there, including a couple of fancy gowns to wear to parties they knew would be given by some of Black Pawn's associates. When she complained, he argued that she was having to do all the hard work to have this baby, the least he could do was to help her do it in style.

Before graduation, Jamie had a passport, Kate had new luggage and enough comfortable clothing to get her through the trip to Europe, Castle had a new suit and a few other additions to his wardrobe, and Jamie had some new jeans and long pants to replace the ones he was quickly outgrowing as well as a new suit to replace the one he had already outgrown.

At the next meeting, they discovered that Gina as well as Paula would be going on the tour with them this time. Walter Haskell, Black Pawn's Publisher, wouldn't be able to be in Europe during the tour; so Gina, as Managing Editor and second in command, would be representing the publishing house. Castle was certain she didn't mind. She never passed up a trip to Europe. He wondered how Kate would feel about it, but it couldn't be helped.

During that meeting, the finalized itinerary was presented to the Castles. They asked for a couple of minor accommodations to their free time; and the requests being easy to adjust, Gina and Paula agreed. They left with a packet of information that included a finalized itinerary, schedule of events, and transportation and hotel arrangements.

They could now turn their attention to Alexis and her graduation…and then to the trip through Europe.