663. Chapter 663

After Cuffed

Episode 4.10

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: It's all a blur, but I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

Author's note: This is a sequel, of sorts, to chapters 217 and 362. Although I've tried to explain the backstory, you might wish to re-read those chapters. Or read them for the first time.

"We are going to have so much fun." Rick Castle looked at the reactions of three women in his life. "These are not the faces of women who are about to have so much fun."

Kate, Martha and Alexis exchanged glances. After a few seconds, Kate spoke first. "Rick, I saw enough of that tiger the first time we met. I don't know why you decided to buy her."

Castle pouted. "I was doing a little research on the illegal sales of endangered species. I thought Nikki might get involved in the endangered species trade. The customs agent I talked to, happened to mention that Toni was being sold to the highest bidder once she wasn't evidence against the Spurlochs. And she was being probably going to be sold to some low rent animal attraction that had a horrible record, not feeding the animals properly, not giving them proper medical care, letting them get into fights. I couldn't let any animal be treated that way, so I bid on Toni and then gave her to the National Zoo in Washington, DC. And now were headed to DC to see her. She'll be thrilled, I'm sure."

"Only if we get there at feeding time." Kate said under her breath.

"Dad, I won't be going to the zoo with the rest of you. I'm heading for the National Air and Space Museum. They're having a fascinating exhibition on exoplanets that I've wanted to see."

"Since when are you interested in exoplanets?"

"Probably since she heard we were visiting a tiger." Kate muttered.

Alexis shook her head. "When I finish medical school, I might apply for a job with NASA. They're doing some fascinating research on the medical applications of zero gravity and the use of a vacuum. Did you know that outer space is a hundred times better any vacuum than we can create on Earth?"

"Could you take me with you?" Castle asked

Kate glared at him.

"Maybe not." He conceded.

"I won't be going with you, either, Richard. I'm going to the National Gallery of Art. They're having a retrospective for Francis Delabord."

"Do you like his work, Grams?" Alexis asked.

"I know the man, dear. In fact I posed for him."

"Posed?" Castle asked. "How?"

"Nude, of course. It was the sixties, you know."

"Alexis, you're staying home."

"Dad! That's not fair."

Castle fought to keep Alexis from seeing Martha in the nude, but he was badly outnumbered. Eventually, they headed for the airport and Washington, DC.

Castle was happy, thrilled even, to take Alexis to the Air and Space Museum and tried to keep the family there as long as possible, but eventually, Martha's constant looking at her wristwatch started to tell.

"We should go to the Gallery, Dad."

Castle smiled. "But we're having so much fun here. Aren't we, Kate? Martha?"

"I think we can go to the Gallery now." Kate said evenly. Martha just glared at him. Castle thought that she must have been taking glaring lessons from his wife.

"We could go to the zoo." He said, desperately. "They won't close for another hour."

"And the Gallery is open until 9PM, Dad. We should go."

"Wouldn't you like to back to the hotel, Pumpkin?" Castle asked, looking pained.

"I'm an adult, Dad, and I have been for a very long time."

"Longer than you've been an adult." Kate added.

And so, with a heavy heart, Richard Castle headed for the National Gallery of Art to face a destiny that was quite unexpected.

Once inside the Gallery, he began looking though the catalogue. "There's a really wonderful exhibit of Asian art…"He began.

"Martha!" Cried a male voice.

"Francis!" Martha fell into the man's arms.

As the artist and his former model caught each other up on their lives, Castle looked at the man. He looked exactly as Castle thought a not too successful artist should look. A scraggly beard and hair, wrinkled clothing and mismatched socks and the smell of cheap alcohol. Castle had done a bit of research on his phone and knew Delabord was more famous for being outrageous than for his art.

"Martha, you must come and see yourself as I painted you. You haven't changed a bit."

Martha laughed, took his arm and walked off towards the gallery containing his works. Alexis followed.

"Coming, Castle?" Kate asked, holding out her arm. "It won't be that bad."

"You have no idea." Castle grumped.

Kate patted his arm once he'd taken hers. "It'll be okay, Rick." She lowered her voice." We can play artist and model when we get back to the hotel."

Even that failed to make Castle happy.

Arriving at the appropriate gallery, Castle was happy to see that there were no more than a dozen people there, all surrounding the artist. He took a quick look around, but didn't see any painting of Martha. Maybe he forgot it. Maybe it caught fire. Maybe rats ate it.

His thoughts were interrupted by a young man who entered the room, wearing jeans and a hoodie. He cleared his throat to draw attention to himself. "If I can have your attention?" He said in a pure New Jersey accent. "This is a stick up." He pulled a gun from his hoodie and pointed it at everyone.

Kate surreptitiously reached for her Glock, then remembered she had flown to DC. She hadn't been able to bring it. She cursed silently.

The young man stood there as if unsure of what to do next. For some reason Castle helped out. "So, what do you want us to do? Give you our wallets?"

The man slowly nodded. "Yeah. You first."

Castle handed over his wallet. The man smiled when he opened it. "Score!" He said. "There's a bundle in here. Must be five or six thousand."

"Five thousand. And there's more where that came from." Castle said with a smile. He handed the man his watch. "It's a Rolex, worth about $20,000, but you probably will be lucky to get ten thousand for it." Castle also handed the man his money clip. "There's only a little change in there, about fifteen hundred, but the clip itself is solid gold and my initials are spelled out in diamonds. Oh, and my wedding ring. Platinum."

His wedding ring? Kate thought, trying to decide how she was going to kill Castle once this was over, but Castle went right on.

"Oh, and would you take a check?" Castle asked.

"A check?" The man frowned in concentration.

"There's a nude painting of my mother here." He pointed to Martha. "I'll pay you ten thousand to steal it and chop it up."

"Richard! How dare you!" Martha screamed.

The man looked at Castle suspiciously. "Yeah, and how do I know you won't stop payment on the check?"

"Good question. You're a smart one, aren't you?"

The man smiled and nodded his head.

"Simple, keep the painting until the check clears, then you can destroy the painting. If I try to double cross you, you just send the painting back. Okay? It's a win/win for both of us."

The man nodded and Castle took out his checkbook. "Do you have a pen by any chance? Or a pencil?"

The gunman tried to reach into his pocket, but he had a gun in one hand and his loot in the other. He put his pistol under his arm, butt outward and reached into his pocket. As soon as he did, Castle grabbed the gun.

"Hey! That's mine, give it back!" He yelled.

Kate just rolled her eyes, then kicked the gunman's feet out from under him. "You're under arrest, dimwit."

He looked up at Castle. "You cheated."

Castle smiled and shrugged.

Once the police had gone, Castle put his arms around the three women in his life. "Now that the excitement is over, shall we go?"

"Not without seeing my painting." Martha said determinedly.

Sighing, Castle let the artist walk them to the end of the gallery where painting hung. After staring at it for a few minutes, Alexis was the first to speak.

"Grams, um, is the red blotch at the top supposed to be your hair?"

"Of course, darling."

"And the big green part with the yellow spotty….things?" Kate asked.

"My soul, of course. Francis said I had a very green soul."

"The pink thingy at the bottom?" Castle asked.

"I think that's my liver. Francis, what was it again?"

Francis scratched his jaw. "It might be the liver. But I was entering my spleen period at that time."

"And you're nude?"

"Isn't that obvious, Richard?"

"I don't know much about art, but I do know what I don't understand."

Back at the hotel, Rick and Kate got ready for bed.

"Castle, after we met Toni the tiger, and you said you wouldn't mind being hitched to me, was that a Freudian slip?"

He thought about it. "Maybe. But from that day to this, I've never been 100% sure where I stood with you. Maybe I was just trying to find out if you were as interested as I was."

"Oh, I was very interested. Do you know what else interests me?"

Castle shook his head.

Kate just smiled and held out her handcuffs.