217. Chapter 217

After Cuffed, Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: You don't need a tiger to make me admit I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

Kate Beckett shook her head in disbelief. "Castle, you couldn't have said what I thought you just said. Please repeat it slowly for me."

Richard Castle leaned across his partner's desk and enunciated very clearly. "I just bought our tiger."

Kate glared at him, but it seemingly did no good. He just kept smiling at her. "To begin with, we do not have a tiger. And why would you buy one, especially one that wanted us for dinner?"

"I was thinking that the whole tiger thing might be something I could use for Nikki and Rook."

"So you decided to follow a tiger around to do research?" Kate interrupted.

"No. That would be silly."

That got an eye roll from Kate. Castle continued. "I went over to see Jim Holland at Immigration and Customs Enforcement to get some background on the case and on endangered species in general. While I was there, he told me that Toni, that's the tiger, was going to be sold since she's no longer needed for evidence against the Spurlochs."

"And you decided you needed a tiger as a pet?" Kate asked sarcastically.

"No. Jim told me that the only bid was from some low rent animal safari park. You know, one of those places where you drive through and you can see all of the animals in sort of their natural habitat? Except this park has been on the edge of being shut down since it was opened. Poor care of the animals, safety violations, all sort of stuff. So I decided to submit my own bid. I just found out that I won the bidding."

Kate shook her head slowly. "After all that we went through with that tiger, you're going to just take her home? Are you out of your mind?"

"Probably, but I'm not taking Toni home with me."

"You are not keeping her here!" Kate said quickly.

"No, Detective Beckett, I'm donating her to the National Zoo in Washington, DC. The way the economy is, a lot of zoos have had to cut back on acquiring new animals. The National Zoo would have loved to have had Toni, but it just wasn't doable within their budget."

Kate smiled. "That's very sweet of you, Castle, and quite mature."

Castle frowned. "I'll make up for it." His frown changed to a smile. "Toni's being held at the Bronx Zoo for now, but she'll be going out tomorrow. Want to come with me and say good bye to her?"

Kate shook her head. "I've seen enough tigers up close and personal to last me for a life time. "

Castle shrugged. "Okay. Tomorrow, Beckett." And he walked off to the elevator.

Kate glanced over to Ryan and Esposito who had watched the whole conversation with great interest. "Well, how much trouble can he get into at the zoo?" She asked.

"Castle and a tiger? Are you kidding?" Espo said with a grin.

"The mind boggles." Ryan shook his head slowly.

"Damn it!" Kate muttered under her breath. "Hey, Castle! Wait up." She turned to her team. "If Gates gets back from One PP before quitting time, cover for me, okay?"

"No problem."

Upon arriving at the Bronx Zoo, Castle was greeted like royalty. Apparently anyone who would donate a rare and expensive animal to any zoo was something of a hero.

"Welcome, Mr. Castle. I'm Dr. Pete Reese, assistant zoo director. And this is…?" He looked at Kate.

Kate held out her hand. "Detective Kate Beckett. Mr. Castle and I work together."

Dr. Reese nodded. "Of course. You've met Toni before then, haven't you?"

Kate only nodded in return.

Dr. Reese turned to Castle. "I'm afraid we won't be able to ship Toni out on schedule as planned, Mr. Castle."

"Why not?" Castle was concerned.

"It seems that Toni is pregnant."

"Pregnant? Rick and Kate said together, getting a look from Dr. Reese.

"She didn't look pregnant when I saw her." Castle said,

"Gestation period for tigers is about three months. We think she was artificially inseminated just before she was to be sold. And tigers don't show the usual physical signs of pregnancy until about ten days before birth."

"When will she give birth?" Castle asked, obviously fascinated. Kate rolled her eyes.

"Any time now."

"Can we see her?" Castle asked, greatly interested.

"Sure. Follow me."

Kate followed the two men with no great enthusiasm. Dr. Reese took them to the enclosure holding Toni and proceeded to tell Castle, and Kate, all about tigers, in great detail. Castle absorbed it all like a sponge with water. Kate was marginally interested.

Finally, Dr. Reese checked his watch. "Well, I'm afraid it's about our quitting time, Mr. Castle, Detective Beckett. We'll let you know when Toni is ready to be shipped."

"Who's watching Toni tonight?" Castle asked.

"Watching Toni?" Reese asked, with a puzzled look on his face. "Why, no one."

"You're leaving a pregnant tiger all by herself? "Castle was clearly upset. "What if something happens?"

"Mr. Castle, tigers have been having cubs without humans watching out for them for millions of years. I'm sure Toni will be fine."

"This is not any tiger, Toni is my tiger. Don't you have a veterinarian on call or something?"

"The number of veterinarians who are trained to handle exotic, and dangerous, and endangered species is quite small. Dr. Donna Cebulski is out of the state right now, but she'll be here tomorrow morning. Everything will be all right."

Castle shook his head. "No, I'll stay here tonight and look in on her."

"Castle! I am not going to stay here babysitting a tiger all night!" Beckett said testily.

"Of course not. I'd never ask you to do that. I'll pay for a cab to take you home." He turned to Dr. Reese. "Is there somewhere I can stay tonight?"

Beckett thought about the possible consequences of leaving Castle alone in a zoo all night, with his tiger. "I'll stay with you, Castle." She said resignedly.

"No, Beckett. That's all right. I'll call you a cab."

"Castle! Don't argue."

Dr. Reese led them to his office, which was actually quite nice. "You have a large couch, Mr. Castle, a closed circuit TV that'll show you Toni, and a 56 inch TV with cable. The staff cafeteria will be open until six, you might want to eat dinner now."

Kate agreed to let Castle take her to dinner in the cafeteria and then they returned to the office. Dr. Reese said goodnight and left.

"I bought a whole bunch of stuff from the vending machines, Beckett. We can watch TV and nosh. It'll be fun!"

Somehow Kate had doubted that, but she sat next to Castle on the couch and was soon engrossed in a movie.

Castle noticed a sudden weight against his shoulder. Kate had fallen asleep on the couch and her head was now resting on his shoulder. He turned the volume down, but did watch the rest of the second movie.

Kate woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee. She was surprised to find that she was on the couch, under a blanket and with her head on a pillow.

"Aha! You're awake. I found some instant coffee for us. Not bad, if it's not a grande latte with two pumps of sugar free vanilla."

Kate sat up. "I'll take it." She said as he handed her a paper cup. "How did I end up like this?"

"I looked around. The blanket is probably something they use on the animals, but it smelled clean and the pillow I found in Reese's closet."

"Where did you sleep?" She asked.

"In the chair." He pointed to a chair behind Reese's desk that now had a blanket over it.

"That couldn't have been very comfortable, Castle. You could have slept on the couch with me."

"Are you kidding, Beckett? I'd rather wake up to a hungry Toni than wake up next to you and, have you think I was trying something."

Castle busied himself with opening something from the vending machines for breakfast. He didn't see Kate's look of disappointment. I finally decide I want to be more, to be with Castle and what do I find out? I not only have to work with Dr. Burke on changing myself, but I've spent so much time pushing Castle away, now I have to fix our relationship as well. How could I have screwed up my life so badly?

After their breakfast, the zoo began to come to life. Dr. Reese arrived and with him was a tiny, grey haired woman introduced as Dr. Cebulski. She shook Castle's hand vigorously. "Thank you, Mr. Castle. I have friends at the National Zoo. They really appreciate what you're doing for them."

She clapped her hands together. "Now. Let's go look at our patient!"

Castle, Beckett, Dr. Reese and Dr. Cebulski and a group of other zoo employees were soon looking down into Toni's enclosure. "I don't like the looks of that." Cebulski said, looking at Toni and some files.

"What is it?"

"I think Toni is having a breach birth. I'm, afraid we'll have to operate."

"Cool" Castle enthused. "Can I help?"

An hour later, Kate found herself watching the vet removing tiger cubs from Toni.

"Here you go, Mr. Castle." The doctor handed Castle a tiny cub.

"Wow! These guys are small. How much to they weigh?"

"Usually, no more than three pounds." She handed him a second cub.

When she removed a third cub, she handed it to Beckett who took it.

"They're cute, aren't they, Beckett?"

She nodded. "They look like kittens. Even their eyes are closed." Before Kate could say anything further, Dr. Cebulski handed her another cub.

"Okay. That's all the cubs. I want to do a quick check on them, then we'll put them back with Toni and let her wake up with them."

Castle held his cubs in his hands and admired them. "They are so cute, Beckett. Just look at them."

Kate glared at her partner. "No! Absolutely not, Castle."

"What?"

"You are not taking one home with you no matter how cute they are. Do you understand me? You are not taking one home."

Castle stroked the cub's tummy. "Sorry, little guy. But Beckett has spoken."

Arrangements were made to send Toni and her cubs off to Washington, DC in a few days and Castle regretfully said goodbye to the cubs and to Toni. He did say goodbye to Toni from a safe distance.

As they walked out of the zoo and towards a cab, Castle spoke. "I'm taking you to breakfast, Beckett. Instant coffee and an energy bar are not the breakfast you need for a hard day of crime fighting. Where do you want to go? Name it. Any place in the city you want to go."

Kate thought for second. "You know, I think I'd just like to go to Remy's. Is that okay with you?"

"Sure, but to make up for last night, I'm taking you to dinner. And not at Remy's." He stopped for a second. "If that's okay with you, of course?"

"Sure." Okay, maybe fixing our relationship won't be as hard as I thought.