Castle and The Originals

Chapter 8

"Scotty, why don't I have a bump yet?" Lilly called to her partner who was currently in her kitchen getting the lasagna out of her oven.

True to his word, Scotty had been coming over on their days off and teaching her how to cook. She'd discovered that he was in fact a very talented chef and a good teacher; he was a completely different person when he cooked and his patience with her had been amazing. The first time he'd come over he tried to show her how to make an omelette, which had ended up with her burning the egg mixture to the pan. Scotty hadn't lost his temper though, simply washed up the pan and went through it with her again, explaining that she needed to fold it just slightly earlier. The second omelette had been great and she was now a fairly accomplished omelette marker.

"You've got a slight bump Lil, see here?"

Coming in from the kitchen he handed her the plate of lasagna, sat down beside her and gently pulled her maternity top tight to reveal her slightly distended abdomen.

"I just look fat." She grumbled.

Initially she had been enjoying the "fat" stage of her pregnancy but now she was 16 weeks along and she really wanted the bump stage to begin, which surprised her. She was even getting bump envy when she saw another pregnant woman in the street.

She'd discovered that one of the advantages of working with guys was that if they'd noticed she'd been putting on weight, they never said anything. So, although she'd been wearing her maternity clothes to work and getting a few curious looks, no one had asked her whether she was pregnant. Stillman had also been very subtle in the way he had approached her desk duty too. There had been no big announcement, but him purely allocating her the internal work to do, and making sure the boxes were always taken to her desk by either himself or one of her colleagues. He'd caught her lifting a box once and the glare she had received promptly made her put it down and she'd never tried it again. The fact she was still allowed to do interrogations probably made Will and Nick less suspicious of her condition too.

Part of her wished now that they'd asked Boss to make an announcement or that one of the guys would just ask her why she looked like she had put on weight or why she was going out of the office, as she still hadn't figured out how she was going to break the news to Will and Nick. The other part of her was glad as it meant she didn't have to deal with the rumors, because miraculously, the news of her pregnancy still hadn't broke and IAB hadn't launched an investigation yet. Rumor was they had their hands full investigating a human trafficking ring that they thought some detectives in East were involved in.

"Nah Lil, you look great." Scotty reassured as he flipped on the DVD they had rented.

It had become their routine now to hang out after Lilly's cooking lesson and he was starting to unearth the real Lilly Rush, and he had to admit, she was pretty amazing underneath all the bravado.

Lilly just sighed and started eating her lasagna whilst watching the film, which gives Scotty the perfect opportunity to study her. She was definitely thicker around the middle but if you didn't know Lilly was pregnant, you'd never suspect it. The little extra weight she'd put on made her look at a lot healthier though in his opinion.

Settled back on her couch they watched the film together, making comments here and there. However, Lilly could tell that Scotty was nervous about something. From the moment he'd turned at this morning he'd been acting jittery and on edge and the closer they were coming to the end of the movie, the more and more nervous he was becoming.

"Spill it, Valens." She demanded in her best detective voice as Scotty was switching off the DVD and TV.

Scotty turned towards Lilly, then turned and started pacing across her living room. Lilly started to feel nervous as she'd learnt over these last few weeks that Scotty only paced when he was uptight over something.

"Um Lil. You know I told my parents about the baby a few weeks ago? Well, they want to meet you." There he'd said it.

"What?" Lilly was puzzled.

She'd known he'd broken the news of Bean existence to his parents the day of the scan, but she had gotten the distinct impression the next day at work that things hadn't gone well. For the remainder of the week his parents had been calling him several times a day and Scotty had been having heated discussions with them in Spanish. Her knowledge of the Spanish language was limited to say the least, but even she could tell the conversations had been about her and the tone hadn't exactly appeared welcoming and friendly.

"They want to meet the mother of their future grandchild." He said.

When he'd first broke the news of Lilly's pregnancy his parents had been thrilled at the prospect of a new grandchild. However, once it transpired that the baby was as a result of a "brief relationship" with a work colleague (he thought that sounded better than a one night stand) and that they weren't getting married, all hell had broken loose.

It was now four weeks later and his parents had only just calmed down enough to talk to him rationally about the situation. His parents had demanded to meet the woman who would be bringing the next Valens into the family, and well, he could hardly deny them that. Now he just had to get Lilly to agree.

Lilly was shocked. The Valens' wanted to meet her? She didn't know if that was a good idea after the conversations she had witnessed between Scotty and his parents.

"I... I don't know if that's such a good idea." She said.

Truth is, she'd only done the whole "meet the parents" thing once and it hadn't gone well. That had been whe. She was engaged to Patrick and his parents had never warmed to her. It seemed they'd known their womanizing son could never be tamed and they hadn't seem bothered with getting to know Lilly, as was if they'd known it wouldn't last. In hindsight she probably should have paid attention more attention to them.

Scotty sighed, he knew this would be hard work. "Please Lil. My parents, they really want to meet the mother of their grandchild and I at least owe them that. I've messed up so much recently that I need to show them that this isn't a mistake and that I can do this."

Lilly heard the pain in his voice and she realized then just how disappointed his parents must be by the situation. She knew Scotty had been raised Catholic, had been a choir boy and gone to Catholic school, so she surmised his parents must be fairly devout. A child out wedlock was probably considered a sin to them and she supposed she should be grateful they even wanted to know their grandchild, as she figured Bean must be bringing a degree of shame on their family. Not having a mother that cared about her was finally paying off for once she thought ruefully.

But then realistically, what did she expect? For her to bring a child into their family and to never actually meet his family? She realized that at some point she was going to have to meet them, and it was probably better now whilst she was still pregnant and not at the hospital after having given birth and in a completely exhausted state.

Plus, she was finding it increasingly difficult to look at the pained expression on his face. She may not have a bump yet, but Scotty's genes inside Bean were obviously making their presence felt at that moment.

"Okay." She agreed reluctantly.

Scotty started in surprise. "Really, Lil?"

He'd expected it to be much harder than that.

"Yes, really. I'll have to meet them at some point, right?" Lilly replied with a forced smile.

She was just glad to have that pained expression gone from his face.

"Okay then. How about in two weeks?" Scotty asked.

That would give him time to try and persuade his parents to meet them at a restaurant. At least in public things wouldn't get too heated, or at least that's what he hoped.

"Sure. Just let me know where and when." Lilly replied, trying to sound positive.

She just hoped she grew a bump by then, because from what she'd heard of Scotty's family, seeing their grandchild might be the only thing that would keep them civil towards her.

Maybe she would have a second helping of lasagna after all.