"The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout…"

The soft-spoken words pierced through Kate’s subconscious as she slowly became aware of her surroundings.

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out…"

She caught sight of a mussed mop of brown hair down by her belly and felt a slight weight on her bare abdomen.

"Out came the sun and dried up all the rain…"

"Castle?" Kate mumbled. "What are you—"

His blue eyes peeked up at her and he held a finger to his lips, before looking back down at her bare belly.

"And the itsy-bitsy spider went up the spout again." When the song was over, he laid a sweet kiss over her belly button, which made Kate giggle.

"That tickles!" she laughed. He smiled up at her and crawled up the bed to lay a kiss on her lips.

"Good morning, Beautiful," he whispered against her lips.

She smiled. “Good morning,” she replied. “Why were you singing to my stomach at…” she looked at the clock on the bedside table and groaned, “five in the morning?”

"I was singing to our baby," he said, as if it were obvious. Kate narrowed her eyes at him.

"I’m not pregnant," she said, "unless…is this your way of telling me I’m getting fat?"

"What? No!" Castle exclaimed, backpedaling. "Of course not! You’re just as physically-fit as you’ve always been. It’s just…"

"What?" Kate asked, lifting one brow.

"Wouldn’t it be nice?" Castle said, smiling. "If you were pregnant? With my child? Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a little baby in there that came out  with my eyes and your beautiful smile and golden hair? And I would wake you every morning singing to that gorgeous little baby? Wouldn’t it?”

Kate smiled softly, leaning in to give her fiance another sweet kiss. “Yes,” she said against his lips, “it would be. But I’m on the pill, babe. I don’t think there’ll be any of that happening anytime soon…at least, not until after we’re married, okay?”

Castle nodded in understanding. “I can see why you would want to wait,” he said, “but, just so you know, Meredith was on the pill when Alexis was conceived.”

He scampered off the bed before she could grab his ear for bringing up one of his exes in bed—which was strictly against one of Kate’s imposed “rules”—and hurried out of the room, leaving Kate glaring at his glorious backside, which he’d forgotten to cover up after their little post-case ‘celebration’ last night.

Kate rolled her eyes and laid back on the bed, her hands resting over her flat stomach, just under her bellybutton.

"Baby," she said, "you’re daddy is a goof ball, but I’m sure you’ll love him." She smiled softly to herself, before standing, grabbing Castle’s shirt from the chair next to their bed, and sliding it on as she walked out of the room in search of her man-child.