A Growing Family

Chapter 20

A/N: I'm awful. I'm a horrible human being. I tried so hard to write this fast but I literally have the worst writer's block ever that feels constant and I'm sorry because I know a lot of you have been waiting so patiently for this. Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with me for this story. I am truly so grateful. I know I say this every time but I'm really going to try to update more quickly. I'm almost done with school so I should be able to update more regularly during summer vacation. Anyways, enough of me rambling. I hope you enjoy Chapter 20. Let's meet the little Castle babies.

"Okay, so a woman who is having an emergency c-section with triplets just went in, so it'll be a couple of hours. I say that you call your family and tell them to get over here," Kate's day nurse, more friend than nurse, Olivia, instructed. The Castles nodded.

Olivia walked out of the room, leaving phone calls to be made as the extremely excited but also extremely nervous couple awaited the birth of their babies.

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Alexis got there first, out of breath as she seemed to have rushed there all the way from Columbia. Next was Martha and Jim, who had arrived at the same time.

Then, Ryan and Esposito got there, Gates having been more than happy to put them off duty until the babies were born. Lanie showed up not long after the boys, Perlmutter actually volunteering to cover for her. Jenny showed up minutes after Lanie.

Everyone was just standing in Kate's room around her bed chatting as the nurses bustled around performing various tasks until Olivia came into the room and cleared her throat.

"Okay, we need to take Kate back in a few minutes and we need to get Dad ready, so I'm gonna need everyone to start making their ways to the waiting room," she said, kind but firm.

Everyone started to nod and gather their things until Jim spoke.

"Could we pray first?" he asked.

While no one in the room was terribly religious, the second the idea was brought up they all felt like they needed to pray. They may not be the most religious people, but these babies needed all they could get.

Olivia nodded and left the room, more than happy to give the family a few moments.

Everyone grasped hands and formed a circle, and Jim prayed a simple but eloquent prayer. When he was done, everyone said Amen and gave a few final hugs before they left the room.

"Castle," Kate said, looking up at her husband who was standing beside her.

"Yeah," he said, looking down at her.

"Let's go have these babies."

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Kate was taken into the OR first, Castle being instructed to wait for a few minutes while they were getting Kate setup.

In those few minutes, it all finally hit Castle. How was he going to handle six babies? The food, the diapers, the toys, the love? Of course he would love all of them, but would they feel it? Would they all know that they were loved?

Richard Castle knew in that moment that he would have to make sure each and every one of his children knew just how much he or she was loved if it was the last thing he did.

When he was able to be taken back to Kate, Castle was about as white as a sheet.

"Rick, babe, breathe," Kate said with a little chuckle as Castle sat down.

"I'm fine," Castle said in a reassuring voice, getting his nerves under control as he grabbed his wife's hand.

"Well, guys. Are you ready to meet these babies?" Dr. Caldwell asked.

"Always," the couple spoke in unison, smiling at each other.

"Then let's get this show on the road," Dr. Caldwell said. "Mark the time: first incision at 11:26am."

Castle was holding Kate's hand the whole time, speaking softly to her as the doctor did her thing.

Suddenly, the room was filled with cries as Baby A, Ariel Johanna, made her way into the world.

Dr. Caldwell held her over the surgical drape for a second, letting her parents see her quickly before she was taken to be cleaned. Kate and Rick were both crying happy tears as they saw their daughter.

Moments later, more cries were heard as Baby B, Liam Alexander, was born.

It went mostly like that the whole time. Baby C, Meghan Hope, was born, followed not long after by Baby D, Liana Faith. Moments later came Baby E, Noah James before a shortly thereafter came Baby F, Peyton Jackson. Each baby was shown to their parents before being whisked away to begin getting taken care of.

Peyton was the smallest of the bunch, and he needed the most help breathing. It wasn't much more than his siblings, but it was still the most. All the babies needed some, their lungs not being fully developed yet due to how early they were.

They were all small too, that also being from how early they were. Rick could hold all of them in two hands. They were tiny, but full of spirit.

While Kate was being stitched up, she told Castle to go tell their family and show them the what seemed like millions of pictures he had taken.

When Castle entered the waiting room, everyone stood, eager to hear about the babies.

"Well?" Alexis asked impatiently.

"We have six happy and relatively healthy babies. They're all small and needing a little help breathing, but they're all doing great," Castle said with the biggest smile on his face.

The family talked for awhile more before Castle needed to make his way back to his wife, the both of them eager to be able to see the babies later in the day.