A Growing Family

Chapter 17

A Growing Family Chapter 17

"Castle! We are not naming one of the boys Luke just so you can make the Star Wars reference to him all the time!" Kate said with exasperation, having already had this argument more than once.

"But Kate!" Castle started to whine, but one look at his wife's face shut him up. She had been irritable lately, understandably, and he didn't want to anger her further.

Kate had been uncomfortable for a very long time. At 25 weeks along, she was already measuring 36 inches around in her belly and she was still growing. She was going to be put on bed rest later in the week, and she wanted to have the babies named before then so that it would be one less thing they would have to do.

So far, they had nothing. The notebook they had been writing names in had been scrutinized so many times by the expectant parents that they had eventually crossed out all of the names. Kate internally groaned at the mere thought. How would they ever figure this out?

"C'mon. We gotta get this done," Castle said, breaking her from her thoughts. "Ok. Maybe we can just throw random names out there until we find some we like," Kate suggested. "Sounds like a plan," her husband agreed

The couple decided to start with boy names, since they figured that would be harder.

"Levi," Castle started. Kate made a face and shook her head, immediately putting an end to that name.

2 hours later...

They still hadn't decided on any names, but Castle had found Alexis's old stash of Disney movies at some point, so the couple was watching them for the fun of it and procrastinating the naming task.

"Little Mermaid?" Castle asked, as the previous movie had finished. Kate nodded, and Castle put the movie in.

As Kate watched the movie she had enjoyed so much as a little girl, she found herself hoping that her children loved Disney movies as much as she had. Ariel was her favorite Disney princess.

"Hey Castle," Kate started, an idea popping into her head. "Yeah?" he asked. "What about Ariel for one of the girls?" Kate threw out.

Castle thought about it for a moment. "I love it Kate!" Castle said. "I think, if you're okay with it, that Johanna would be the perfect middle name to go with Ariel," Castle said.

"I love it Castle! Thank you for wanting to include my mom in this," Kate said with a smile.

"Did we just name one of the babies?" Castle asked, feeling accomplished. "I think we did!" Kate exclaimed, happy over having completed 1/6 of the task. She quickly grabbed the notebook full of names, started a new page, and wrote down Ariel Johanna as the final name for one of the girls.

Once that happened, the couple felt like they were on a roll of naming babies. Alexis paused the movie and excused herself to go call one of her friends whom she had been meaning to talk to, which Castle and Beckett knew was an excuse to leave the two of them alone.

"What about Liam for one of the boys?" Castle suggested. "I always think about the magic case we had that one time. You mentioned your grandfather William, and while I don't like the name William, Liam is a derivative of that."

Kate thought for a minute. That case was seven years ago. She didn't even remember mentioning her grandfather. She couldn't believe that Castle did. "I love it," she said with a smile. "I think that goes perfectly with the middle name of Alexander that I was thinking of."

"You want to name one of them after me?" Castle asked. "I've always imagined having a little boy who looked like his daddy. Now I will have three. I want at least one of them to have your name," Kate said with a shrug. Castle nodded, and Kate wrote that down on the page.

A few minutes went by, and despite the roll they were on, they had come to a stop. The creative juices weren't flowing, and Kate was sick of it. "Ok, the boys are coming over later, so we should get this done before they get here." Castle nodded. They began their tactic of shouting out random names.

"Rebecca." A shake of a head.

"Joshua." A loud 'No'.

"Olivia." "Zachary." "Kristen." "Ethan."

"No." "No." "No." "No."

Castle huffed. Kate groaned. This felt like the never-ending task of naming babies.

"Ok, how about Meghan?" Castle suggested, not feeling hopeful despite his love of that name. Kate's face lit up. "That's...kinda perfect. I had been thinking the same thing!"

Now the task of finding a middle name to go with that one. Finally, Kate suggested 'Hope', and the little girl was named. Her name went down on a list with the others, and the task continued.

"Three down, three to go," Castle thought as he sat up straighter, eager to continue the task.

Kate began to think back. She remember when she was in college, sharing a dorm with Lanie, when the two had been hanging out one afternoon. "Have you ever thought about what you would name your kids?" Lanie had asked, starting a conversation. "Not really," Kate answered, suddenly thinking about it. "Well, what would you name them?" Lanie asked. "I don't know," Kate said with a laugh. "How about for a boy? Just a name that you like," Lanie said pushing for an answer, as she would so many times in the future. "I've always liked Noah," Kate answered with a blush, quickly changing the subject.

"How about Noah? Kate suggested. Castle smiled. He loved it. He then suggested the middle name James after Kate's dad, and Kate loved the idea. Noah James was added to the list, and the couple continued on.

Castle remembered a name Alexis has told him once as a child when he and Gina were married. "Daddy, are you and Gina gonna have babies?" The young girl had asked one night as her father was putting her to bed. Rick had just married Gina a few weeks earlier, and Alexis was excited at the possibility for siblings. "I don't know pumpkin. What would you like for them to be named if we did?" Castle asked, curious to know his daughter's answer. "Liana Faith. There's a girl at school who's really pretty, and that's her name. I just like the Faith part because it sounds nice with Liana." Castle smiled and told his daughter that he needed to get some sleep. He walked out of the room to let his daughter rest.

"Alexis told me when she was little that she liked the name Liana Faith. How do you feel about that for the last girl?" Castle suggested. Kate nodded happily, eager to have her stepdaughter be a part of this in a special way.

After a while more of no more names popping out to them, the couple relented and took out Castle's laptop, looking up boy names. They came across the name Peyton, and pointed at the name at the same time with a synchronized "There." They smiled, having obviously agreed to that name. "I think Jackson would be a good middle name with that, after your dad," Kate suggested. Castle nodded and said that he would love that.

Kate wrote down the final name and sighed, leaning back into her husband's arms. Their children were finally named, and they couldn't be more excited.

A/N: *comes out of hiding with a weak smile and wave* Remember me? This took me absolutely forever, and it is inexcusable. I am so sorry, and if you stuck with me for this then I am so grateful. This chapter is kinda boring, but I had to get the boring stuff out of the way so that there can be some good stuff before the end. And hey, the kids are named now so yay. Some angst will be coming up, followed by the babies being born. After that, the story will end, but don't worry, I have been planning a sequel since I started this story. Hopefully I will be a better updater since school is out, but we all know that I never keep my promises on that. Again, thank you so much to those that stuck with me. Love y'all!