Lost and Found (A Castle Fanfiction)

True Fear

A few days later, after a weekend of pure bliss, playing house as though the three of them were already a family, Kate and Rick rose early, dressing Alexis and strolling with her into the doctor's office as his mother was unable to babysit. While Rick stood beside Kate's bed, Alexis on his side as she laid back, waiting for the doctor to come in, he continued to insist, "But Damien is a great name!"

"It so is not! It's the name of the anti-Christ."

"It's so cool, though."

Kate sighed, "It's better than Cosmo, but I refuse to name my son Damien. That movie has ruined that name for me."

"It's fiction," he stated.

"So is Batman's Scarecrow, but you don't want to name the baby Jonathan," Kate replied while rolling her eyes.

Rick defended, "He was creepy!"

"He was a fictional character," Kate replied, raising her eyebrow.

Rick sighed and then hesitated. He shifted before asking Kate, "Have I ever told you how we named Alexis?"

"No."

"Well, we waited until she was born, and out popped this gorgeous baby girl with way too much bright red hair. She was stunning. The moment I saw her, I could just imagine my baby girl growing up and becoming this astonishing, powerful woman with the whole world at her fingertips, and I prayed she would turn out like me. The moment I realized this, I thought of a comic book character that most people doesn't even know exists. Alexis Luthor, she's young and foolish and dead set on taking Superman for herself, and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to give my baby girl something to strive toward. Grow up in money, grow up with every advantage she could possibly wish for, and outlive that selfish, immature image. So, that was how Alexis got her name."

Kate smiled at Alexis as the child grinned in merriment. Looking at the young girl in his arms, she told her lover, "I think she'll reach that goal."

"I hope so," Rick replied.

"I know so." At that very moment, the doctor walked in. She smiled at her chart until she looked up at her patient's facial wounds. Her smile then disappeared. Kate replied, "That bad, huh?"

"No. I'm just surprised. I thought you were sticking this out alone," the doctor replied, regaining her smile for professionalism. "I'm glad to see daddy's on board now." Kate looked up at the writer with guilt and awkwardness, and he looked down at her with wonder-filled eyes. The woman continued, "So I hear someone had a rough night last Wednesday."

"Yeah," Kate awkwardly agreed.

The doctor then said, "I know it's tough, but I'm going to need you to take me through what happened to be absolutely certain of what I'm looking for."

The nineteen year-old then looked up at her writer and told him, "Maybe you should take Alexis into the hall."

"Are you sure," he questioned.

She strongly replied, "Yeah, I'm sure. We'll be just fine." The man didn't agree until scanning the doctor once over. Before he left, he leaned over and gently kissed her forehead, ignoring the pain in his back, telling her he'd be outside if she needed him. He then told their son to be good for his mommy before carrying Alexis off and disappearing out the door. Once he was gone and the doctor told her that he seemed like a good man and a good father, Kate told her the story she dreaded most.

The doctor told her, "Well, Kate, I can honestly say you are one of the strongest young woman I think I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I mean, I doubt I could handle everything you're going through at my age, let alone at nineteen. I would be a wreck."

The young girl, not even of legal drinking age yet, told the woman with a half smile, "You know, thinking about the baby, thinking about Rick and knowing that whatever I do, I still have them, I have a pretty decent reason to be hopeful."

Doctor Reisberg took pleasure in seeing her, so strong, so able. She seemed like a different person than that original scared, cold, distant teenager she had treated whom she had been concerned enough about to make a note in her chart that she was at a high risk for postpartum depression and other complications after birth. She seemed happy. She seemed like she was getting better, even if she wasn't all the way there. At least she could still see and understand the bright sides of life. At least she was still content in her world.

She then heard something that nearly broke her heart. When she looked up from her paperwork at the sound of a sniffle, she found Kate was crying to herself quietly. The doctor looked at her and Kate simply said, "Please, just- tell me my son's going to be alright. I- I don't think I could survive if anything happened to him. I-..."

Doctor Reisberg then quickly told her, "Well, why don't we find out."

After the exams were finished and blood was drawn for regular testing about thirty minutes later, Kate walked out to the front room with a massive grin on her face. Rick stood the moment he saw her, and asked, "Everything's okay?"

Kate flew to him, tossing her arms around his neck, tears threatening in her eyes that he hadn't been able to see when she was at a distance, before telling him, "Everything's perfect." She was truly astonished and in complete disbelief. In the back of her mind, she hadn't let herself believe her son would be alright. Most of her nightmares which Rick had helped her through for the entirety of the time she had been with him had been about her father causing her son's death. But their baby was healthy. He was fine. His heart was strong and he was absolutely perfect.

Rick held onto her, a sigh of relief passing over his lips. "He's fine," he whispered to them both, just to refirm the knowledge. "He's fine."

When the two pulled apart, Rick looked at her for a moment, his hands sliding over her stomach. He then smiled at her, lifting his hand to wipe away her tear. She rested into his touch, smiling as he held her face for his own. Finally, after breathing so cautiously, he told her with a full heart, "I love you, Kate."

Her heart stopped. She didn't know what to say. Inside, her son must have felt her instant panic because he moved around enough to have Rick feel it. His heart instantly lifted. That was the first time he had ever felt his baby move inside of her. Her hands fell from the writer's ribcage down to the sides of her stomach as her hand drifted over his. The writer was distracted by the baby, but she really wasn't. She was petrified. At least, for now, he wouldn't notice if she didn't say it back. But- she was absolutely terrified. She didn't know what to do or say, she just let him wonder at her stomach as her mind told her one simple thing. "Run."