708. Chapter 708

After The G.D.S.

Episode 8.14

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I've never forgotten that I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: see above.

Time had seemed to crawl for Richard Castle from the time he had first watched himself on the dark web video. He had sat there thinking until Haley had finally gotten up and packed his suitcase for him. The ride to LAX seemed to take forever and the plane flight was endless. Even the cab ride from JFK to his loft went on forever.

He hadn't been in the loft for more than a minute when he got a text from Kate. She was in a budget meeting at One PP that threatened to last for hours. He moved restlessly around the loft, going from his office to the living room, to the bedroom and then back to the office. He made coffee, but decided he didn't want to drink it without Kate. He even went back to the dark web and re-watched his video.

He thought about calling One PP to make sure that Kate was actually there and not off in her shut down strip club office working on Loksat. However, he realized that one way or another, it wouldn't make any difference. He'd just have to wait.

Finally, his phone rang. The caller ID said it was Kate. "Hello? Kate?"

"Hi, babe, I'm next door. Is it okay to come to the loft?"

"Yeah, and hurry."

He could almost see her smile. "I will."

He went to the door and opened it. In less than a minute she walked out of the elevator and headed to him. This time he could see her smile. As soon as she reached the door, he put his arms around her and pulled her inside, closed the door and then kissed her.

The kiss lasted for long minutes, then he released her and stood back.

"I missed you, too, Castle." She grinned at him.

He pulled her close again and ran his hands over her back, savoring the warmth of her body against his.

"I love you so much, Kate. More than anyone, more than anything, more than I ever thought I could love. Don't ever think that I don't love you that way. I'm so sorry, Kate. I'm so sorry."

She leaned back so she could look at his face. "Rick, what happened in LA? Tell me. You're scaring me."

He led her to the couch and sat down. She crawled onto his lap and put her arms around him. "Whatever it is, remember I love you just as much as you love me. I want you to remember that, too."

"I found out a lot of things in LA, not everything, but a lot. I apparently really was on a CIA mission to Thailand, but it only lasted for two weeks."

"What happened the rest of the time?"

"I must have learned something during my trip to Thailand and gone rogue. I went to LA, but how I knew to go to LA, I have no idea."

"Why did you go rogue? What did you learn in Thailand?" Kate said worriedly.

"I'm not sure exactly what I learned, but I found out about Loksat."

Kate stiffened. "Loksat? You've known about this the whole time?"

"No. I really did have my memory erased."

"Rick, I don't understand why…."

"Let me explain. Haley told me all of this. She knows my dad and was hired by him to keep an eye on me in LA, so I guess my dad knows I knew about Loksat. Haley put a GPS tracker in my watch, but lost track of me. While she lost me, I tried to find which plane Loksat used to bring his drugs into the US. But I got caught. That's when and how I got shot. After that I made a tape that I put on a dark web site. Haley knew about it and let me access it. I told myself that I was having my memory erased in order to protect you. I was afraid that if you found out that Bracken had a partner, you'd go after him and you'd get killed. I couldn't take that chance. I love you too much."

She kissed him gently. "As much as I love you."

"Kate, I put you through hell, wondering where I was after I got back from Thailand. I did have my memory erased which had to be hard on you as well as me. And everything that I was mad at you for when you left me, everything I said to you, everything I thought about you…." He shook his head. "I did exactly what I was mad at you for doing to me. Worse, maybe it wasn't the memo you asked for that got McCord and her team killed. Maybe I spooked Loksat. Maybe they died because of me. I don't think Loksat's people identified me, but….I just don't know."

She gently shook her head. "No. They died because of Loksat. Not because of you or me. I realize that now and so should you. We are not responsible for their deaths."

"Do you forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive, lover. We both did what we did because we love each other. The question is, what do we do now?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Whatever I learned in Thailand about Loksat, I don't remember it now. Maybe I'll remember more, but maybe not. But Haley thinks we can match airplane landings with the time I was shot and figure out which plane it was and that'll lead us to Loksat."

"What will we do about Haley?"

"What about her? I figure if she helped me, she's on my side."

"Maybe she only helped you because you were starting to figure things out by yourself. She's lied to you before."

"So I should fire her?"

"No. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."

"What else should we do?"

"I'm not sure. It's not like I have a lot on Loksat to brief you on. Otherwise I would. Let me think about it. In the meantime, we'll go on being separated. In public."

"And in private?"

"What do you think?" She got up and moved to the bedroom.

"Do you forgive me for everything?"

"Always."

Haley Shipley had been calling the number she'd been given for a half an hour. She'd let it ring four times and then hang up if there was no answer, just as she'd been told.

Finally someone answered. "Hello?" It was not the voice she was expecting.

"Who is this?" She asked.

"You first. Who are you?"

"A friend."

"What do you want?"

"To talk to him."

"Talk to me instead."

"That's not what I was told to do."

The call disconnected, leaving Haley with a problem.

Author's note: Obviously, I have no idea what's going to happen in the next episode, but sooner or later Rick and Kate have to have a talk something like this. As for Haley, I'm still not convinced that she's fond of Rick and adores Alexis, but maybe she is. Perhaps she's calling Loksat, or maybe it's Jackson Hunt. Oh, maybe Haley is already a member of the GDS and is calling them?