Castle and The Originals

Chapter 37

Jim Beckett hesitantly approached the door. He really didn't think he could do this, but... he'd been summoned; his daughter had asked for him, and if one thing in this life was certain, it was that he could never refuse his Katie.

He knocked gently before traversed the curtain draped threshold. The fist in his chest eased instantly at what he saw; she was smiling, laughing even. Thank heaven for modern medicine; his little girl was no longer rendered motionless by pain.

Jim listened to the melodic way Kate laughed at her husband, who jovially poked and prodded at the enormous mound of babies just beneath the sheet covering her body.

"Can you feel me now?"

"No."

Rick poked her other side. "Can you feel me now?"

"Nope - nothing."

"Can you feel me now?"

Even though Kate leveled him with a patented Beckett glare, Rick's mouth split into a huge grin as his hands palmed Kate's belly like a baseball player about to make a press.

"Let me guess?" Jim interrupted as he made his way to the bedside. "She left her gun at home?"

He winked at his son-in-law before leaning down to kiss his daughter's head.

"You're looking quite a bit better." Jim said.

"Thanks Dad, I feel a lot better." She smiled up at him with wide and happy, yet very tired eyes.

"Actually, she's not feeling a whole lot at all right now." Rick massaged the back of Kate's head; his fingers digging deep into her tightly braided hair in order to reach her scalp. "The epidural just kicked in."

Kate thumped the top of her right thigh with a fist.

"Yep, pretty much numb; not sure why I waited this long." Her sentence ended with a huge yawn.

"I'll give you two a few minutes." Rick leaned in and planted a reassuring kiss against Kate's lips. "Be right back."

"Promise?" Kate's hand curled around his ear holding him in place.

"Promise."

"Hey, the gang's all here!" Rick announced his entrance to the waiting room. "Oh thank God, we have food."

He leaned over the nearest chair and hugged Alexis from behind.

"I'm starving." Rick said.

He grabbed a cheesy slice then took a seat between his daughter and mother. Rick filled everyone in on Kate's progress. She was currently dilated to seven centimeters, completely effaced, and at minus-one station. Lanie quickly jumped in to explain the science behind the whole dilation, effacement, and station thing to the clueless Detectives in the room. She was sure to mention that a woman normally dilated about a centimeter an hour so it should only be a few more hours before Kate reached the full ten required for pushing.

While Lanie talked, Rick practically inhaled three huge slices of pizza and a bottle of root beer; he hadn't eaten since earlier that morning. Of course neither had Kate, but that wasn't going to change anytime soon; she was restricted to ice chips only until after the birth. The sweet nurse that had been assigned to them, Brooklyn was her name, had promised to provide a nice big meal as soon as the twins were delivered.

"So." Rick stood back up and glanced at his watch. He'd been gone ten minutes, which was long enough; was as long as he could bear. "It may be a while longer before we have babies. If you guys want to head home, we can call you..."

"No way. Dude. Richard. Ain't happening." They all spoke at once.

Rick held his hands up in surrender; it was all he could manage with the lump currently residing in his throat. They had the best friends; the best family.