44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

When they got home from work on the Friday evening after Meredith's departure, Rick and Kate saw Alexis coming down the stairs, dressed up and on her way out.

"Whoa, whoa," her father said. "It's already eight-thirty. Where are you going?"

"Ashley was supposed to call me hours ago. I'm going to a party. I'll be back by eleven. Grams knows where I'll be."

"Thank you."

Martha passed a piece of paper from a notepad to Castle, saying, "If that boy could see her tonight, he'd be sorry he didn't call."

"She did look nice," Kate said with a smile. "Ashley isn't doing himself any favors." Looking up at her husband, she said openly, "Reminds me of my own sins. I'm really glad you gave me a chance to come to my senses. I don't know what I'd do without you." She left a kiss on his cheek, then a soft, loving one on his lips.

"Totally worth the wait," he answered, kissing her back.

"No argument there," Martha chimed in. "I've never seen him happier, and I've certainly never been happier with his choice. "I feel like I have a daughter…and I think Jim feels like he has a son." She went to the closet to get a wrap and told them, "I hate to break the news to you, but you have the entire place to yourselves until Alexis gets home. I have my own party to attend. Don't wait up." She stopped at the door and turned to them before she left. "Please take advantage. I wouldn't mind another grandchild while I'm still young enough to enjoy one."

"Mother," Rick warned.

"Well, you can at least practice," she said unapologetically. "See you tomorrow."

Kate shook her head, unable to hide a smile at Martha's ways.

"Sorry," Rick said. "What would you like for dinner?"

"Something we don't have to cook. I have enough energy to either fix dinner or take advantage of this unexpected time alone. What do you want to do?"

"Have food delivered," he answered without hesitation. "Thai? Chinese? Pizza? Italian? Seafood? Comfort food?"

"What's fastest?" she asked with a grin, gently squeezing a part of his anatomy that she knew would encourage him to order quickly. "I wouldn't want to start something and then have to stop to answer the door."

"Ordering now," he agreed readily. "Thai is right around the corner."

"I'm going to take a quick shower," she told him.

"Want some company?"

"You may need to answer the door."

"Bummer."

"We'll make up for it after the food is here. We may need sustenance for what I have in mind."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she called over her shoulder as she disappeared into their room.

Rick was smiling as he made the phone call. He loved it when she was already mischievously making plans for them. That always insured that he would end up a happy man. Kate's shower wasn't long, and she came back in a long gown he recognized as one of his favorite mischief starters, which was covered by a long silk robe that was very flattering but conservative enough to wear to quickly accept a delivery order.

"There's cash on the table near the door…enough there to include a good tip," he said. "My turn. Be right back."

Kate accepted the food delivery just before her husband came back dressed for her as well as she dressed for him. One weekend when they had gone to the Hamptons alone, she had bought him blue, silk pajama pants and a short, matching robe that showed off his chest. Knowing how much she enjoyed seeing his chest and arms, he had left the robe hanging open and got exactly the response he had hoped for. They left the food in the bag for a minute or two and indulged in some kissing and caressing before they got around to dinner.

After their meal, they sat on the sofa and made out like teen-agers for a while. Then they decided not to take the chance that Alexis would come home early and find them in the middle of what was about to happen. At that point, they retired to the bedroom and indulged Kate's intentions for the evening, which they both enjoyed immensely. And Castle, as he had anticipated, was indeed a very happy man.

xxxxx

On Monday morning, a not so happy Richard Castle called his wife at the precinct and said, "Tell me you need me."

"You know I do," she answered with a smile he could hear in her voice.

"No. Tell me you need me there. Please tell me there's a murder somewhere we can be solving."

"Sorry. No dead bodies, just a lot of paperwork. But you're welcome to come and do your share for once."

"The only thing worse than being here is being there doing paperwork."

"How come we're partners when I'm chasing down bad guys; but as soon as there's paperwork, I'm on a solo mission?"

"I need to wait for mother. She's determined to arrange this loan on her own, won't let me sign anything. I'm so frustrated with her but proud of her at the same time." There was a little pause and he said, "Huh. That's odd."

"Odd that you're proud of your mother?"

"I think this bank is about to be robbed," he said quietly.

Beckett was about to believe he was just bored until there was the loud sound of someone dropping a metal, makeshift lock on the door and shouting, "Everybody get down on the floor." She immediately began gathering information, and Castle was far enough out of sight to provide a play-by-play of what was happening until someone put a gun to his head and took his phone.

The man with the gun talked to Beckett long enough to know she was with the police, then destroyed the phone. She had Ryan call dispatch, then they all went to the scene, arriving right after the SWAT team. Much to the chagrin the captain in charge of negotiations, the bank robber in charge refused to speak to anybody but "the lady cop with the bedroom voice".

After Castle managed to get a message through later, she stepped outside the command van called to put Ryan and Esposito to work on the information resulting from what Castle provided. Then she saw Alexis standing at the perimeter and went to her.

"They're here, aren't they?" Alexis asked, and then the words started flooding out almost non-stop. She was quickly reaching panic mode. "My dad and grandma are in there. I know they were coming to this bank, and now no one is answering their phones. My dad always takes my calls. And you're here. You're supposed to be at work, and you don't work bank robberies…"

Beckett had to try a couple of times to get Alexis's attention, finally taking her in her arms, and Alexis held on tight. "Listen to me. Everything is going to be fine, okay? But they are inside that bank. We're doing everything we can."

"You don't understand, Kate. They're everything I've got."

She just nodded and answered, "I know, Honey." She held her stepdaughter close and tried to reassure her. "We're trying to get them out." She pulled away to hold Alexis at arm's length and promised, "I'll come back and give you updates as often as I can, but I need to get back. Stay close to where you are now so I can find you." With one more quick hug, she called back, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

After that, Alexis was alone except for the officer that Beckett ordered to keep an eye on her; and she was frantically trying to call Ashley for support. She finally left a message explaining the situation and begging him to call her back, then she found a place to sit at the perimeter point Kate gave her, coping the best she could on her own.

Throughout the ordeal, Castle found ways to do some intelligence gathering, and Beckett was pulled in numerous directions. She was alternately working with negotiations, coordinating with Ryan and Esposito, going in undercover to take a look at the situation while removing a hostage for medical reasons, and trying to help piece together a seemingly unrelated string of evidence. All of that was layered above the deep worry for her family. After the quick undercover assignment, she was able to leave with another piece of information from Castle and to assure Alexis that her father and grandmother were okay.

And not long after that, the explosion happened.

Everything went quiet for a moment, and then everyone moved into action. Beckett followed the SWAT team in and the hostages were found unharmed in the caged area with the safe deposit boxes. As the hostages left and Alexis was able to get to Castle and Martha, Esposito asked Beckett if they were okay.

"Yeah," Beckett answered. "They just need a minute." She took care of the business at hand, glancing longingly over to check on her family periodically.

Then she felt arms go around her and a teary voice with words flooding out again saying, "Kate, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I said they're all I've got, and you didn't stop me; but they aren't all I've got, and I know that. And you didn't act like it hurt your feelings, but I know it must have, and you still took care of me anyway, and…"

By that time, Kate was holding Alexis again, and Castle was holding both of them. "Hey, calm down," she said gently. "If my dad had been in there and I were standing out here with your dad, I might have said the same thing. It would probably rip your father's heart out, but he'd let it go…understand that I meant all I have left of the tiny family I was born to. I understood that."

"Did I rip your heart out?"

"A little bit, but I'm already over it."

Alexis was still holding on tight. "I'm really sorry anyway."

Kate just held her and kissed the top of her head, saying, "You can be extra nice to me tonight. We have some loose ends to tie up right now."

Martha had been listening, and it was obvious that Castle was anxious to help the detectives. "Go on, Richard. Alexis and I will be at home waiting for the two of you."

After putting together the remaining pieces of the puzzle and being certain that the Ithaca Police had arrested the man who perpetrated the entire scheme, they went home to find Martha putting the finishing touches to a feast on the table. She said that facing death called for celebrating life.

"Where is Alexis?" Castle asked, and Martha pointed sadly to the phone in the next room, where they heard Alexis breaking up with Ashley.

Neither of them offered opinions. They had a few words of conversation about whether she was okay and then walked her to the dining table for dinner. Once the remnants of the feast had been stored and the dishes were clean, Kate and Castle went to Alexis's room and tucked her in…for themselves at least as much as for her.

As they walked downstairs, Kate said, "Poor kid has had a tough few weeks. Stanford not accepting her, worrying about Ashley, then the whole thing with Meredith, the bank today, and a break-up tonight. I hated leaving her at the perimeter alone. Except for the bank, none of it was earth-shattering in the overall scheme of life, but…"

"But a rough few weeks for a barely eighteen year old. She's pretty resilient, but that's a lot in a short time. Good thing it was a teacher workday or she'd be stressing over missing school on top of everything else," Castle answered as they walked toward their own room. "Maybe we can think of something to do for her tomorrow night to make her feel better."

Martha was now dressed for bed, bright turquoise silk robe trailing over colorful pajamas. She went to the kitchen for one more glass of wine, and told them as she poured, "I'm finally unwinding…and realizing I'm too old for this kind of excitement."

Kate impulsively hugged her mother-in-law before Martha picked up her wine glass. "I'm so glad you're okay. I was so scared."

"I know you were, Darling," Martha answered, holding Kate close, "and I'm constantly astounded at how well you hide it. But I'm fine. We're both fine. And after a week or two, Alexis will be fine. Now get some rest. The two of you are probably exhausted, too."

Kate stepped back, picked up the glass, and handed it to Martha, saying, "I hope it helps you sleep." Martha gave her a little bow, accepted the glass and drifted toward the stairs in a splash of color.

Kate went back and wrapped her arms around her husband, saying, "I was so afraid I was going to have to live the rest of my life without you."

"Well, you aren't. I'm not going anywhere. I have to admit, though, when I felt that explosion, I thought…" He took a deep breath. "They went down the hall and we heard some drilling, then there was an explosion that rocked the building, and it looked like everything disappeared from the end of that hallway out toward the front. I'm not sure why we weren't hurt."

"Me either, but I'm not arguing with the universe. I'm just glad I still have you."

"I'm wiped out. Let's go to bed. We can just snuggle up and sleep or do some more celebrating life. How about we just play it by ear?" Kate nodded and leaned into him as they walked to their bed.

xxxxx

As they entered the precinct the next day, Gates said, "Mr. Castle, after yesterday, I would have thought you'd stay home. Detectives Ryan and Esposito are off today."

"Don't discourage him, Sir," Beckett suggested. "He's actually planning to help me with the paperwork this morning. With the man who planned this involved in what amounts to three separate crimes, including the pre-meditated murder of five people before he even got to the crime he originally intended, there's plenty of it to do."

"I haven't procrastinated sufficiently on the next chapter of Nikki Heat," Castle explained. "So I'll do some of the typing for Beckett, since I'm faster than she is. But it will be her words and her signature. No Richard Castle novella will be submitted for 1 PP, I promise."

"I'll count on that," Gates said sternly as she went to her office, smiling once she had turned away from them.

"I think she's weakening," Beckett whispered.

"You really think so?" he whispered back.

"Yeah. Trade places. You need the computer. I get to dictate again."

"You're good at that," he answered. That got him a swat on the arm, and he laughed, the low, rumbling chuckle his wife loved. Then they started their work on the reports and forms that Beckett needed to complete.

After they finished the reports and were in the process of taking down the murder board, Castle's phone rang. "Thank you," he said to whoever had called. "I'll be there in about an hour." Turning to Beckett, he reported, "The package that was going to be delivered to Black Pawn is there. I'm going to go and pick it up."

"Okay. I'll finish packing this away. With my entire team gone, I doubt I'll be assigned anything new today. Go home and try to write after you leave Black Pawn. I don't want Gina to start calling me again, and you know she will."

"I'll try," he agreed. "See you at home."

Later on, Gates walked past on the way back from the break room. "Where is your shadow?" she asked Beckett.

"Probably still procrastinating. It's pretty quiet here today, and he needed to run some errands. He's supposed to go home and write after that."

Gates actually parted with a small smile. "What are the chances that will happen?"

"Probably fifty-fifty," Beckett said with a returning smile. "But when he does finish his books, they usually fly off the store shelves."

"You're proud of him."

"I am."

The captain nodded and regarded her tired looking detective for a moment. "The rest of your team is out for the day, and yesterday you had as rough a day as they did. I can't very well assign a new case to a quarter of a team anyhow, so go home, Detective. Make your husband do his real job." Gates turned to go to her office, then she turned back and added, "And get some rest. I'll expect you at your best tomorrow."

"Yes, Sir," Beckett answered, sounding surprised. "Thank you."

"Good work yesterday." The captain turned again and went into her office.

Not needing to be told twice, Beckett gathered her things and left the precinct.

xxxxx

"Mr. Castle," the receptionist greeted him as he entered the lobby at Black Pawn. "I have your package here. Shall I get someone to help you with it?"

"No need, Dawn. I can handle it on my own. Thanks for running interference for me."

"All I had to do was sign my name and call you. Not a big deal. I hope Alexis likes whatever it is," she said, referencing the reason he gave for having it delivered there.

"Yeah. Me, too." He walked around the desk, picked up the box, and took it to the elevator with him, saying, "Thanks again," as he left.

Once he got home, he unpacked the box and checked the contents, stored the phones and the other two devices in the safe, and sat down at his desk to work with the computer. That's where Kate found him when she got home.

This is the new one?" she asked.

"Yep. Here's the administrator name and the password for you."

"Well, neither of those is likely to be anybody's first guess," she answered with a nervous smile.

"The entire reason behind administrator names and passwords. We don't want anybody else in this."

"Always amazed at your creativity, though." She leaned in and kissed his cheek.

"Good ones, huh?" he asked with a self-satisfied smile and pulled her into his lap to give her his full attention.

After a long moment of indulging in welcome home kisses, Kate asked, "Are we going to let the rest of the family know what we're doing?"

"I've thought about that. On the one hand, letting them know would insure that if anything happens to one of us, everything we know would be in the hands of someone who could take it to the proper authorities. On the other hand, if they don't know anything, they're less likely to let something slip. I don't think any of them would, but everybody has a forgetful moment. With only two of us, the moments…"

"So how about we get everything logged in and then tell them? We really don't have anything new yet, and a lot of the newer things came from Roy's confession at the hangar. It might be helpful, but it probably wouldn't be admissible in court."

"Okay."

"Where do we keep it?"

"Eduardo's nephew is a terrific trim carpenter, and just as discreet as his uncle. He's done some work here before…a couple of laser tag incident repairs as well as a few other research related mishaps over the years…and you couldn't tell there was ever a problem. He's going to be here tomorrow morning to build us sort of a safe behind the safe…storage space That gives us a place to keep everything related to your mother's case and yours, and anything related to Montgomery. If someone breaks into the safe, they won't find anything except what you'd normally expect, and a solid looking wall. If it comes to it, we can keep cash, go bags, documents, anything we'll need to get out of the country, in the new space, too."

"You've been thinking about this for a long time, haven't you?"

"It's my job to keep my family safe, and I'm trying to be prepared for that. Somebody carried out a hit on my wife, and I'm going to do everything I can to be sure that doesn't happen again."

"It scares me, too, but I don't want anything to happen to any of you, either. We have to do this, don't we? Keep digging?"

"I think so. You know whoever this guy is, he won't give up. All he has to do is identify Smith and find those files, and you're a target again. And you know he's bound to be looking. We've already established that he has access to things he shouldn't and that he knows when you're working on things he doesn't want you to find. It could happen. I know people who can help us look into things without either of us being visible; but again, I don't want to involve them unless we have to."

"Where did you find these people? Or would I rather not know?"

"Research. My books need bad guys, too. Some of my contacts have pretty wide networks, but I'd like to avoid owing any of them too many favors if I can. We have a lot of last resorts available that I'd rather not have to use."

"Dad?" they heard from the other room.

He closed the new computer and put it in the chair behind him as he called, "In the study."

"You're both home early," Alexis said with a questioning look.

"The captain sent me home. It was just me there today, and she said she couldn't assign anything new to a quarter of a team," Kate told her.

"The boys had the day off, and there was nothing to do but paperwork; so I came home to do some writing."

"Yeah. I don't see a lot of that going on," his daughter teased.

"She just got here. I was welcoming her home," Castle answered innocently.

"Well, if you don't get some actual writing done soon, Gina is going to start calling all of us again. We're gonna have to gang up on you in self-defense."

"Okay, okay. I'll see if I can get something done tonight."

"I'm going to get a snack and go do my homework. You can get back to welcoming Kate home."

"Hey, I'm glad to have you home, too," he called after her. Alexis just giggled on the way out.

"Wait," he said to Kate in surprise. The captain said she couldn't assign something new to a quarter of a team?"

"That's what she said," Kate affirmed.

"So she's saying you have a team of four…not three?"

"Told you she was weakening," she answered, smiling at his excitement.

"Yes!" He squeezed her a little tighter and allowed himself more welcome home activity as his daughter could be heard moving around in the kitchen. Then Kate retrieved the computer from behind him and said, "I'll put this in the closet for now. I do need to let you write. You're a week past your deadline."

"At least leave me with a little more inspiration."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, gave him a searing kiss, and asked, "Will that do?"

"It might not do much for the plot; but starting from there, I could write a scene that would put page 105 to shame."

"Well, Nikki and Rook do deserve a break now and then." Holding up the new laptop, she clarified, "So we'll start working on this after Eduardo's nephew…"

"Julian…nice guy," Castle interrupted.

"After Julian installs the extra space?"

"Right. We can do a little at a time."

"Help me not fall back into this. Help me stay sane."

"Remember what Dr. Burke said? If I tell you I see a problem, you listen? Will you do that?"

"I think I can do that now, but I don't want you to get pulled too far into it, either. I don't want to take you over the edge with me."

"I'm not falling, Kate. I'm not feeling paranoid…not yet anyway; but we can't stick our heads in the sand and pretend he isn't still out there, either. I just want to be prepared. I want to see him coming next time…get to him first if we can. That's all."

"That's a lot."

"But together we've always been able to accomplish big things. That's how we have to do this…carefully and together."

"Together," she agreed.