Frozen Love (A Castle Fanfiction)

Home

By the time we actually got to things in the loft, I was eight months pregnant and my stomach was pretty much mixed out in size. Castle and I still hadn't made it down to the court house, but the case load at the office was miserable so we hadn't had time. I'd been on permanent and strict desk duty for about two months which meant I wasn't even going to crime scenes anymore, but I didn't care. I hadn't been able to finish physical therapy before my trainer said I would have to stop so that I didn't strain myself, so my muscles ached constantly.

Castle did his best to help, but I'd been really stubborn about being able to doth things I could do. I had helped baby proof everything in the apartment that didn't require me to bend much, and I'd helped Castle clear out the upstairs guest bedroom by taking the little things I could carry. As soon as we were finished carrying everything out, we brought in Alexis' old crib, Castle painted the room a light neutral color, we brought in the light mint green sheets and decorated the room with a zebra carpet and amazon wallpaper (the thin boarder kind, not the cover the whole wall kind).

Rick had brought in the matching white wood rocking chair and dresser with the no slam drawers while I was out with Lanie and now he was leading me in with my eyes covered by his hands. The paint smell had finally disappeared and so did the smell of the new rug. "Can I open my eyes now?" I asked, standing in the doorway, waiting for him to say something.

He took a breath and said, "Open them." When I did, I was blown away. He'd brought in little stuffed bears for the dresser and the rocker, and a baby monitor. A changing station and a small little shelving station found their way into the room and were both prepared. The room was still spacious enough to play in and completely baby proofed. But what really got to me was the gorgeous mural on the wall above the crib of a rainforest, amazon type scene with animals and plants holding up letters and spelling out Brayden's name.

The sight made me so absolutely happy that tears came to my eyes. I some what begged myself not to cry, but the hormones made it absolutely impossible. I barely got out, "It's perfect," before my voice choked out and I couldn't speak. Rick smiled and came over to me, wrapping his arms around me and holding me close. He was doing that really annoying amused-but-touched-half-laughing-half-soothing thing that he did that always made me feel better, but annoyed me when I thought about it later on.

"You really like it?" he asked, holding me close, rubbing my back with the palm of his hand.

Through tears, an airy word managed to escape my lips. "Yeah." When I calmed myself back to not crying, I told him in a more regular voice, "Rick, this is absolutely perfect. Thank you so much. How did you manage to get this done?"

He smiled, "I didn't. Alexis asked on of her friends from a computer class to make an image for the nursery and when he was finished, she had some guys come in and paint it. She said it was her gift to her brother."

"Well where is she? I need to hug her," I replied, still very emotional.

He laughed in a breathy outlet and said, "She's out with the graduation committee planning their ceremony."

My smile grew, "She deserves whatever she wants for dinner tonight. Like, seriously, anything."

"Yeah, well, she won't be home. She's spending the night at a friend's," Castle said. He seemed kind of down, and I understood why. In a few months he'd be helping her move out and into the Colombia dorm rooms and she'd be in college and independent and he'd see her less and less until they eventually had to make plans to get together. She was all grown up.

I moved my head a bit so I could look him in the eyes. "Rick, she'll be fine, you know. And she'll be only be a cab ride away."

"I know," he replied, smiling back at me. "It just seems like it was yesterday that Meredith and I were doing this across the hall for her. That's all. She's just getting too old."