362. Chapter 362

After Cuffed

Episode 4.10

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Owning Castle would be Grrrrrreat! But I don't. Rating: K Time: See above.

Author's note: This is a sequel to chapter 217. Although I've tried to explain the backstory here, you might wish to re-read that chapter.

As soon as Castle walked into the loft, Kate knew something was wrong.

"Hi, gorgeous." He said with a wide smile.

That confirmed it for Kate. "Okay, Castle. What have you done?"

"Done? Me?" He said innocently.

She shook her head slowly. "You know that you can't lie to me. I know every one of your tells."

"No, you don't."

"Then why do I know that you're up to something?"

He admitted defeat. "You know every one of my tells? All of them?"

"Quit stalling. What is it?" Kate walked over to her husband. "Castle," She said softly, "you know that I love you, right. So, wouldn't it be better to tell me rather than not, and get me angry later?"

"Do you remember Toni?"

Kate frowned. She tried to remember every victim, murderer, or witness on all of their many cases and couldn't remember a Toni. "No."

This time, Castle got to roll his eyes. "Toni the tiger? The one we met when we were cuffed together?"

"Met, is putting very favorable interpretation on what happened."

Castle ignored that remark and went on. "Back then, I did a little research on the endangered animals' trade, hoping to find something useful for Nikki and Rook. And I found that Toni was about to be sold off to some god-awful animal safari place with a horrible record of mistreating animals, safety issues, and all sorts of things. So I bought Toni and arranged to donate her to the National Zoo in DC."

"And that was a very nice thing for you to do." Kate said. "Those are the sorts of things that made me love you."

Castle smiled hugely.

"But what have you done now?" She asked.

"If you remember, we found out that Toni was pregnant, with four little tiger cubs."

"So? You gave Toni and her cubs to the National Zoo. Didn't you?"

Castle looked a bit sheepish. "Not exactly."

"What did you do, exactly?" Kate asked sharply.

"What happened is that the zoo didn't actually take ownership of Toni until all the paperwork was done, Toni had passed her physical and a whole bunch of stuff. So, when the cubs were born, I owned them, too."

"But the zoo took them." Kate said reasonably. "Didn't they?"

"The zoo had nothing in their budget for four more tigers, but they weren't about to just throw the cubs out on the street, so to speak."

"Of course not." Kate said sarcastically. "Immature cubs with no parents, out on the mean streets of New York? They'd be hanging around street corners, panhandling, and soon there'd be a rash of convenience store robberies, with striped suspects."

Castle smiled. "I'm glad you understand."

Kate rolled her eyes. "What happened?"

"If I'd agree to pay for their care, the National Zoo agreed to take care of them until they were old enough to be transferred to another zoo. Three of the tigers found homes in no time at all. But poor Tatiana had no luck."

"Tatiana?" Kate said, her eyes narrowing. "The name I used as that Russian party girl?"

"Tatiana the tiger is gorgeous, tough, caring, and impossible for me to get rid of. There was a zoo in San Francisco that was just about to take her, but they got an offer for a breeding pair of Siberian tigers. Very rare. The zoo in Omaha was that close to taking her, but there was some kind of a fire in the monkey house and the funding had to be diverted. There was a zoo in Bulgaria, but I know I couldn't have slept nights knowing Tatiana was in a dump like that. And I know you couldn't have slept either."

Kate was positive that if all the tigers in all the world moved to Bulgaria, she would have slept just fine. "So the National Zoo wants…."

"Me to take my tiger back. It's only fair. It is my tiger."

"That tiger is not staying here. Absolutely, never, ever, not in a …"

"Of course not." Rick said quickly. "How hard will it be to find a zoo that wants a free tiger? We just need to find a temporary home for Tatiana."

The man at the animal shelter looked at the Castles and smiled. "Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Castle. Did you say a tiger?"

"A small tiger." Castle said. He held his hands out to show something the size of a kitten, when in reality Tatiana was nearly full grown.

"Mr. Castle…"The man looked at the ceiling. "Mostly we do dogs and cats. We get the occasional exotic pet. We've had tortoises, a pot bellied pig, a coati mundi, and sometimes even wild animals, such as raccoons. We even take in coyotes that are found in Central Park. But we have no facilities to take in tigers."

"This would be a wonderful opportunity to expand your program." Castle said, sounding entirely reasonable to him.

Once back out on the street, he turned to his wife. "That's why species are endangered. People like him who can't see the big picture."

"I think the problem was that he could see the big tiger." Kate said, not commiserating a bit.

Later, back at the loft, Castle was busy closing the door on one avid would-be tiger owner. "Certainly, Mr. BuzzKill, I can readily see why an MIT dropout whose IT company just went public and made him a billionaire at twenty five would want to own a tiger so that those stuffy old money types would sit up and take notice." Castle finally got the door closed. "What kind of a person wants a street name like BuzzKill?"

Kate didn't answer him. She was too busy laughing.

Esposito narrowed his eyes. "No."

"Knicks floor seats for the rest of the season? The Ferrari for every weekend until the fall? How can you say no to that?" Castle whined.

"Watch." Espo said, "No. I am not tiger sitting. Not if you gave me the Knicks."

"I have a place, but I need someone there twenty four seven until I can find a zoo to take Tatiana."

"Tatiana?" Ryan asked. "Isn't that the name Beckett uses when she's that Russian party…"

"Enough, Ryan." Kate called out to him. "And don't let him talk you into tiger sitting. I need all of my team."

Castle's phone rang. "What? You can?" Castle turned to Kate. "It's a place that takes care of old circus animals they have a place right here in Manhattan where they can keep Tatiana temporarily." He turned back to the phone. "Yes! I'm still here." He was silent for long seconds. "You're kidding me. I could send Tatiana and her whole family to Harvard for four years for that." He sighed deeply. "I know. I'll take it." He hung up.

"Beckett, it's a very good thing I'm rich."

"You're in this mess because you're rich, Castle. Perhaps we could say you're lucky that your wife has a good job."

Kate walked wearily into the loft and sat down, pulling her boots off and putting her feet up.

"Is that you?" Castle called from his office.

"Yes. And I have good news for you."

Castle shot out of the office. "Should we go to the bedroom?"

She smiled. "Later perhaps. The good news is that the NYPD will be taking care of Tatiana for a while."

"You've arrested her? But she's innocent. A good tiger led astray by evil companions. She's a bit naïve, perhaps, but at heart a tiger that can be made a productive member of society."

When Kate stopped laughing, she explained it to Castle. "Do you remember Willy Leonard, the guy who's been shooting rival drug dealers? Uniforms chased him into a building in Manhattan today. Guess who he met there?"

"Tatiana?" Castle looked very paternal. "Is Tatiana all right? Was she hurt? Did she eat him and get sick? I'll sue!"

"Castle! Leonard got the surprise of his life. When the uniforms found him he was in a fetal position in a corner, sobbing. And he needed to change his underwear."

"So?" Castle asked, curious.

"Leonard's lawyer is called Michael the Magician. His specialty is stringing out a case by bringing in every irrelevant thing he can think of hoping the DA will get tired of dealing with him. He's already blaming the NYPD for his client's mental distress and threatening to sue. We've had to seize Tatiana as evidence. With the Magician's record, I'd say it'll be years before the case is resolved and Tatiana can be released. And the NYPD will be responsible for her upkeep until then."

"Tatiana actually helped catch a dangerous killer?" Castle was smiling. "Just like the other Tatiana. She's out there bringing evildoers to justice."

"So, vould you like to see Tatiana again, Meester Kessel?" Kate said in her best Russian accent.

"I thought you'd never ask."