Kate woke up once again this morning. She couldn't sleep. Something like this, on top of what else was happening, wasn't anything she could accept at the moment. Her stomach was bigger than it was the day before, and the day before that to be exact. She couldn't focus on sleeping when she had a watermelon for a bedmate. But, this time it was actually time to wake up. Stretching, she leaned to the side to stand – the only way she could now. The baby would be here in a couple months, but, with her petite frame, it looked like she could go any day now.

All ready to go to work, she grabbed her keys and reached for the spot where her phone should be but grabbed nothing. Where did she put it this time? Last time it was in the freezer from some sleepwalk adventure that only happened once. She ransacked the front of her apartment because she was already late – late for desk duty, but late nonetheless. Then it clicked. She opened the door that was recently put in which led to the space where her office use to be. Josh had decided that her place would be better to raise the baby for some long reason that she couldn't remember. It didn't really matter anyway. But, they had added more of a wall and a door to this room. She saw the outline of her ringing phone underneath the directions to the crib that hasn't been put up yet. Each time she sat down to figure it out she had been called away – or just didn't feel like doing it. She told herself she could do this on her own, but she's realizing how much she does need an extra set of hands even before the baby is born. The surrounding mess of blue clothes and toys created this cave that had yet to be discovered, or cleaned. It lacked lights, but had the smell of a recent paint job, something that Castle had set up for her. She thought the baby could just use the old furnishings, because it's a baby, but Castle insisted that even babys can feel their surroundings – which is true, she had read that somewhere. She honestly just ran out of time. She reached for her cell, shut off the call from her house phone, and walked out of her apartment.

When she arrived at the precinct a pile of paperwork awaited her. She now had to send the boys to do the dirty work and she got to fill out the paperwork from their endeavors. Castle's seat was empty, but her coffee mug was there, which means he was around here somewhere. She usually wasn't this late, but she was getting more and more careless as the days went by. Captain Gates hadn't minded that she was late either, as long as she showed up. Kate was supposed to be on maternity leave by now anyway.

She approached her desk and put her cell and purse down. Her coat sat on the back of her chair. She opened the bag that contained her usual breakfast and thought about what she had to do first. The boys weren't anywhere to be found which meant that they were probably out on a case. It was pretty late in the morning – for them. Her phone buzzed next to her. She was hoping it was Castle letting her know that he would be in. She didn't let him know, but he was the closest thing she had to support during this whole process. And he had been the most supportive person she could ever have asked for – and she didn't even ask. And she was right; it was his text message. He was out with the boys because she was late again and they really needed him to tag along. Something about reading hand written notes and figuring out exactly whom they were from. She didn't know. She would read about it later in the paperwork or when they decided to fill her in. Until then, it was her and a stack of yesterday's proceedings.

It was time for lunch by the time they got back and Kate was starving. She hoped, and knew, that Castle would be bringing food with him. He didn't even have to ask twice for her to eat whatever he brought back. Sure enough, a few seconds later she looked up and saw the answer to her question, and smelled it.

"How's the little man today?" Castle said eagerly as he approached his usual spot.

"Starving," Kate responded.

She watched as he unloaded the Chinese food from the bag. Usually a dinner option, but now it was definitely for lunch.

"How's the case going?" Kate asked as she began opening each one of her containers.

"Boring, it's really just a 'he said, she said' kind of thing, but we're just waiting for this girl to confess. We know she did it and she knows that, but she's stubborn and we have nothing concrete to go on."

"Where is she now?"

"Sitting at her apartment with the detail outside her house."

"And now we wait,"

"And now we wait." Castle said reassuringly.

He fumbled around with the take out boxes until he found his. The one box that was actually something she did not like.

"Did you finally get that crib set up?" Castle said. Kate had mentioned going home early yesterday to lock herself in that room and just do it already.

"No, I ended up just watching tv instead. Can't go for a walk anymore. All I want to do is sit"

"Kate. If this is how you feel now, what are you going to do next month when you have pieces of crib all over the floor and you're even more tired. And bigger."

Kate shot him a look. She knew he was right, but she was in denial. For now it was just her. She took this child wherever she went and didn't need to hear it cry, or feed it, just herself for a little while longer. She didn't know what she was going to do when it actually arrived. But, she knew that she could handle it because there wasn't another option.

"Did Josh –"

"Castle, I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay, fine. Then why don't I come over and help set up the crib today. It's not like I haven't done it before."

"I don't know –"

"Kate, just let me do it. It's settled, okay."

"Fine. I'll be right back."

Kate stood up to use the bathroom, but had to grab onto the desk to push herself up. Really, this baby could not get any bigger. Neither could she. Castle grabbed the back of the chair so it wouldn't fly back and knock her over when it suddenly lost its support against her.

"Thanks," Kate responded.

As she walked to the bathroom she thought about telling Castle what really happened. What happened with Josh, but she didn't want to. It was too recent. And she did a better job at ignoring her emotions than actually facing them. All he needed to know was that it was just her and this baby right now.

Just stumbled upon this idea the other day. Let me know what you think! (Sorry if there are any grammar issues. I wrote this pretty fast and proof read it a thousand times, but I always miss something.)