Frozen Love (A Castle Fanfiction)

Decisions

Rick and I were currently sitting in the precinct just waiting for a case to appear so we could bring an end to the paperwork duty. Gates had been forced to let him back due to the Mayor's loud chastising, but that wasn't winning Rick any points with her. She basically hated him and she definitely kept a close eye on the two of us. I wouldn't even let him bring me tea just because I didn't want it to look suspicious. He still did it anyway, but any time I caught him getting up to go do so, I insisted he let me do it. I generally used the excuse that getting up and moving was good for the baby.

By now, I was about seventeen weeks pregnant and could no longer hide the baby bump. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't something loose clothing could keep hidden. It didn't ever bother me when I was home or just sitting around the precinct doing paperwork or something, but every time a suspect came in, my belly became a potential weakness or distraction. Gates was still letting me do interrogations, but soon I wouldn't be able to. Soon I'd be forced to be confined to my desk and I'd just have to deal with the fact that arrests were being made by the boys without me. It sucked, but I didn't care that much. At least that way I got done with the paperwork faster and got home faster and got to sit with Rick and just feel the baby move and kick.

Finally, after about three hours of sitting in silence and getting the help I should have been getting the whole time with the paperwork, the phone rang. I quickly snatched it up and answered, "Beckett."

Javi replied, "We got one." He quickly gave me the address and Castle and I were gone in a flash. Both he and I were so excited to just see a body and get on a case. However, that wasn't what happened. When we arrived, Lanie wasn't hovering over a body, but looking over a large pool of blood. For some reason, it kind of made me feel nauseous.

Castle asked, "Where's the body?"

"Gone," Esposito enlightened us as we walked closer. "The body was gone before we got here. Neighbors said they heard two gunshot. Cops came to check it out and found this."

Trying not to be sick, I waved my had toward the ground and said, "There are tire tracks. You think someone took the body with them?"

"We think this might have been a professional hit. Check out the footprints," Javi gestured.

Rick thought aloud, "There aren't any treads."

"And there are two sets of prints," I conveyed. "Are we sure this guy was dead and he wasn't just taken to the hospital?"

Lanie then enlightened, "Oh, he was dead. With this much blood loss, there's no way he wasn't dead. Your vic bleed out and he bleed out fast." For some reason that kind of talk was making me even more sick. But I was seventeen weeks pregnant and out of the first trimester. I didn't have morning sickness ever and I'd made it through several other more disgusting crime scene. Hell, I made it threw a crime scene where the vic was cut in half. I don't know what was making me sick, but something was and everyone saw it. "Kate, are you feeling alright?" Lanie asked.

"Yeah, I'm- I'm fine," I lied, waving them off and trying to ignore my body.

Castle then said, "You look like your going to be sick. Do you want to go home? Call it a day? It's three o'clock, and if you take your paperwork, I don't think Gates will care."

"No, Castle, I'm fine," I insisted, although I was sure he was right. Gates was by the book, but she'd been fairly understanding about the pregnancy. She didn't trust me, but being a mother herself, I think she understood the symptoms. "Do- do you have a blood type? If you do we can look through missing persons tomorrow and see if we can't find a match."

Lanie hesitantly replied, "AB+. I can get a gender for you too once I get back to the lab." I nodded and then she went on, "The blood's been here for about two hours which fits the time of the gunshots."