454. Chapter 454

After Suicide Squeeze

Episode 2.15

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I have never used performance enhancing drugs to write my stories. And I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

"You did what?" Kate asked in a shocked whisper. "Tell me you didn't?"

Castle shrugged. "Okay, if you insist, I'll tell you that I didn't, but I did."

"Do you have any idea what you're getting into?"

"Of course. I mean, how hard can it be?"

"You have no idea." Kate said, shaking her head.

They were interrupted by Ryan and Esposito coming into her office. "We have the final report on the Sanders case, boss." Ryan said. He did notice there seemed to be some tension between the Castles. "Something wrong?" He asked.

"Yes!" Kate said quickly.

"No." Rick said with a smile.

Ryan and Espo looked at each other. "It's been a while since you've done that."

Kate glared at Rick. "My husband has volunteered to be the coach for Johanna's Little League team."

"See?" Castle said with a smile. "No problem at all."

"Isn't Johanna on the SoHo Braves?" Ryan asked with a smirk.

"Yes." Castle said, not understanding the smirk.

"And your team will be playing in the same league as the Manhattan Yankees, which features Javier Ryan and is coached by Espo and yours truly. You should also know that we won the city championship last year, while your Braves…didn't win a game?"

"They did win a game." Castle said sharply.

"That's right." Espo said, slapping his forehead. "The bus for the team from Long Island broke down and they couldn't make the game. You won by a forfeit."

"It's still a win." Castle said doggedly.

"And if memory serves," Espo said, "the first game this year is our Yankees against….Who is that team, Ryan?"

Ryan looked at the ceiling and frowned in fake concentration. "Why, it's against the Braves. Castle's team. We beat you 11 to 0 when the mercy rule was enforced last year."

"You'll be playing against a team coached by the Castles." Kate said, giving Ryan a glare.

Espo and Ryan laughed and left Kate's office.

"Castle, how could you have agreed to coach Johanna's team? You can't throw or catch and you…"She shook her head slowly. "Why?"

"No one else volunteered. And I'm not going to be pitching or playing the hot corner, "Castle was proud of his use of baseball slang," I'm the coach. My job is to motivate the team."

Kate nodded. "And I'll be responsible for all the rest."

Although Kate tried very hard to be a good coach, she had actually played very little baseball as a child and the older Rebel Becks wouldn't dream of throwing a ball around with her dad. The first practice was a disaster.

"Mom," Johanna said, "when did Dad learn to play baseball?"

"Why do you ask?" Kate said, feeling a bit nauseous.

"Did he learn in some foreign country where they play differently? You get four balls and three strikes, not four and four. And a force is when…"

Kate hugged her daughter. "It's just been a long time for Daddy." She lied.

Later that night in bed, Kate rested her head against Rick's chest. "Today was a fiasco. A fiasco inside a disaster with a side failure and a dash of catastrophe."

"It wasn't that bad." Castle said seriously.

"Our pitchers threw exactly four strikes in the entire practice. And one of them was after a time out had been called. Luisa Carillo got on base four times because she was repeatedly hit by pitches. No one got an actual hit."

"How could they have gotten a hit?" Castle asked reasonably. "None of the pitches were in the strike zone. Those kids have good eyes, it you ask me."

Kate lifted her head off of his chest and glared at him. "In case you haven't noticed, Johanna is very competitive. She hates to lose, and I hate to see how she feels when she loses. We have to do something."

"Okay, we'll do something." Castle said, running his hand under her sleep shirt.

"That's not what I meant!" Kate said.

"Does that mean I should move my hand?"

"No."

Two weeks later, both Ryan and Espo were getting ready to leave the precinct, and both were wearing their managers' uniforms, a ball cap, sweatshirt, jeans and cleats. "How's the Braves doing?" Ryan asked.

"Fine." Kate shot back.

"Fine?" Espo said. "That's funny. Javi said that one of the kids at his school saw your first practice. He said it looked like no one knew how to play the game."

Castle bridled. "We're doing just fine. No one starts out in midseason form. We're going to surprise a lot of people this year."

Ryan nodded. "Oh, they'll be surprised all right. When the batter takes off for third base after a single."

"Or a pitcher tries a pick off when there's no one on base." Espo added.

"Mistakes easily corrected." Kate said through clenched teeth.

"Hmm. You don't sound too confident there." Ryan laughed.

"We're plenty confident." Castle said.

"Confident enough to put, say, fifty bucks on the game?"

"You'd bet on a Little league game, Ryan?"

"I'd bet on Team Castle not being able to win against us, boss. A writer and a once upon a time tomboy can't beat a team coached by us."

"Fifty bucks?" Castle said. "You're on."

They shook on the bet and Ryan and Espo left.

"They'll never let us hear the end of it if we lose, lover."

Castle smiled. "Don't worry. I have a cunning plan."

Kate shuddered dramatically. "I've seen Blackadder, you know."

"Don't worry about it."

The first day of the season was soon upon them and Kate and Rick met with Ryan and Esposito at the diamond.

"You ready?" Espo asked.

"My mom and her friends will be here in a minute."

Espo suddenly got interested. "Friends? Some of those hot dancers from her show?"

"I'm sure you'll like them, Espo." Kate said with a smile.

In a minute or so, the town car carrying Martha and her friends arrived and the redheaded actress got out with her friends.

Ryan and Esposito stood there with their mouths open as the friends came up to Castle and shook his hand. Castle turned to his two friends.

"Ryan, Esposito, I'd like you to meet my bench coach, Joe Torre. And this is my pitching coach, Mariano Rivera. And we can't forget my hitting coach, Derek Jeter. Oh, and you know Martha of course."

"You have three members of the Baseball Hall of Fame as coaches?" Espo asked, not quite believing what he saw.

Joe Torre nodded. "Rick, and Martha and Kate, are old friends of mine. When I heard Rick needed a little help, I volunteered and got a couple of pals to help, too."

"So, are we ready to play ball?" Jeter asked.

Although the game was hard fought, it ended in a zero to zero tie, so no one won the bet. And, at the end of the season the Braves had managed to become respectable.

And, also when the season was over the Braves manager did not go into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but he did get a very nice gift from the assistant manager.