Castle and The Originals

Chapter 6

"Castle and I will be there in a couple of hours. Go ahead and start the canvas and tell Lanie to transport the body to the morgue; we'll catch up with her after the autopsy."

Kate disconnected the call and looked up to see a handful of very horrified woman staring at her. Apparently morgue and autopsy weren't words commonly overheard while sitting in a waiting room. She hadn't been paying attention as she and Rick entered the room. They were on their way to Dr. Candace's office for their first OB visit when the call came in. Her team caught a body and Ryan and Esposito were already on scene.

"Sorry." Kate shrugged her shoulders and mouthed the apology to the room as she tucked her cell in her pocket.

"Katherine Beckett." She heard Rick say and quickly joined him at the receptionist desk.

"Castle." Kate interrupted trying to get the attention of the young woman behind the desk.

"What?"

Kate placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned over the desk.

"It's Katherine Castle, not Beckett, Castle." Having clarified the name she looked at her husband. "This isn't work related. Technically my name is Katherine Castle."

Before he could respond the receptionist was back with a clipboard full of paperwork instructing them to have a seat, fill out the forms and return them to her once completed. Kate wasn't expecting this. She had been coming to here since she was eighteen when her mom brought her for her first visit. She only ever had to fill out paperwork if there was a change of insurance which there had been when she married Rick, but she had already given them that info on her last visit a few weeks before the wedding.

Before taking their seats Rick helped her with her coat. Kate quickly took note of all the other women in the room. A few of them were in various stages of pregnancy. They all seemed to be watching her, and as Rick slipped her coat from her shoulders, she was pretty sure a few, if not all, of them snuck a peak at her belly. Of course, hadn't she done the same thing to them? Still, she was suddenly self-conscious. She had hidden the baby bump pretty well so far. Alexis hadn't even noticed, but the teenager had been in Paris for over a week and was now preparing to leave for college, so she was a little pre-occupied.

Kate glanced down and remembered the frustration of the morning. A pair of jeans she had just worn two days prior were now too tight to button. In fact, the gray trousers she currently wore were the only pair of pants she could squeeze into. She had already decided that the next day would be spent shopping for maternity clothes. She and Alexis had a girls day planned; they didn't have a whole lot of time left to spend together before Alexis left for school. Of course Alexis had no idea but her parents planned on giving her the big news tomorrow, as well.

Rick saw the nerves and placed his hand on her hip and gives a gentle squeeze. He then steered her to a set of chairs against the wall. One of them had a handy little tray that would allow for the clipboard to rest on while he filled out the paperwork. He knew she was anxious, so was he, but Kate had been completely flustered all morning. It took him ten minutes to convince her that her pants weren't too tight and that as long as she didn't place her hand over her midsection repeatedly, something she had started doing recently, then no one would be the wiser until they were ready to tell everyone.

"I'll fill these out, you just relax."

Kate sat very close to Rick and clung to his left arm for dear life. She found herself wishing she were in the interrogation room at the Twelfth. Staring into the eyes of a hardened criminal seemed pleasant compared to facing the glances of the women in this room. She knew it was just her imagination, but she felt as though she was being sized up. She suddenly realized what every pregnant women must feel like as strangers smiled and nodded at their distended bellies, or asked if they could rub it for luck. Oh God, if anyone does that... Kate shook the terrifying thought from her head and laid it on Rick's shoulder.