Epilogue

Castle stared down at the bundle swaddled in his arms with no small amount of disbelief. Though she was only three hours old, he already loved his daughter so much his chest ached. He loved everything from her ten little toes all the way up to her adorable button nose; she was perfect.

Turning back to his wife, who was now resting in the nearby hospital bed, he grinned. "She's incredible Kate; I just can't get over how much she looks like you."

Kate hummed. "That's what you said about Samantha," she said, referring to one of their almost-three-year-olds waiting anxiously at home under the care of Kate's father and an android nanny.

He nodded at the recollection of such an assessment, and it was still true—Sam did favor her mother more than her father, but the older she grew, he could definitely see both of them reflected in her face. As for this little one, however, Castle suspected she would remain the spitting image of her mother with dark hair and eyes. Walking over, he brushed his lips against Kate's forehead and said, "But Jo's going to look just like you; I know it."

Kate smiled and reached up to rest her hand atop the seven-pound-five-ounce bundle. "You're not disappointed she's not an Alexander?"

"Are you kidding me?" he responded rhetorically. Disappointment wasn't even on his radar at that moment; it wouldn't have been possible.

Nearly six years had passed since the night the two of them were officially engaged, and the certainly had not had the easiest path. After a miniature reunion during which Castle finally met Kate's father, she agreed to reinstate her human identity. Unfortunately, as she feared, the government was none too pleased about the fact that she had hidden from them for so long, and they took her in to custody immediately despite Castle's protests.

As Kate's case was rather unprecedented, it took Castle and his lawyers nearly two months to free her from the detention center at which she was being held. For the duration, Castle was a wreck. He had never once thought she would face such a punishment, particularly after their continued insistence that they came forward because they wanted to marry and have children. Ultimately, Kate was released and promised him that her time in solitary confinement was no worse than some of the times she'd had during her android life. She simply wanted to keep the past in the past and begin their lives together.

They married just a few weeks later and spent a month honeymooning in Europe before returning home in time for Castle's novel about Nikki Heat, the human hiding as an android, to be published. Though the book had a sluggish start, after a well-respected book columnist wrote an article about how refreshing it was, the book grew to be as successful as his previous works, and his publishers gave him the green-light to write two follow ups.

Just as Castle began Nikki's second tale, he and Kate discovered that she was pregnant. A few months later, they found out she was carrying identical twin girls. Though their obstetrician was downright gleeful, Kate remained wary, fearful their twins would fail to thrive as so many infant girls had. Thankfully, that was not the case, and both Samantha and Elizabeth were born healthy.

For their second pregnancy, Kate and Castle agreed to keep the gender a surprise (though he was far more reluctant than she to get on board with such a plan), and thus did not know whether or not they would have a Johanna or an Alexander until the moment of delivery. Though some part of him wished for a son, Castle could never be disappointed with a healthy child.

"I love all my daughters—and I love you," he added while gazing adoringly at his wife.

"I love you, too."

After rocking her a few more moments, Castle placed Jo down in her bassinette and then sat down at the edge of Kate's bed. "It's going to be so much easier just having one this time," he said while silently thankful that there would be no more sleepless nights with two screaming babies.

"Unless she's like Liza."

He suppressed a shiver at the memory of one twin's colic phase. "Don't even put that out there."

She cracked a weary smile. "Sorry."

Placing his hand on her arm, he shook his head gently. "It doesn't matter, though. Whatever happens—she's here and she's ours and she's perfect.

She put one of her hands over his and nodded. "I couldn't agree more."

A/N: Thank you so much for reading!

Since its me and I can't help myself: I have parts of a gender reversal of this plot written, so that may or may not be posted at some point in the future :)

Saturday I will be posting the 2nd and final part of Undying Love. After that I have one or two more ficlets (2- or 3- shots) and then I'll be posting Looking for Love, the next multi chap from a twitter prompt about putting Caskett on a show like The Bachelor.