55. Chapter 55

Chapter 55

With their own case information delivered to Jordan and Avery the day before, Castle and Beckett returned to the precinct the next morning set on helping Jordan with the kidnapping case.

When he went back to the precinct the night before, Avery talked to the three team members who went to dinner at Pederson's, the restaurant in question. The three made conversation briefly with the manager, Leon Sandoval, returned with his surreptitiously obtained fingerprints, and then went back to their hotel for some rest.

The FBI team on duty at the precinct that night then went to work and found that Leon Sandoval's fingerprints came up as belonging to a Leon Carpenter, who had owned a nice restaurant in the area where Vera grew up. They found his Iowa driver's license and sent the picture and information to agents near Vera's family, instructing them to speak to relatives and friends to see if they recognized him. The overnight team had also researched the restaurant, the owner, and looked for any other connections to the victim or the small town in Iowa where she lived. Vera's fingerprints matched, but the name she was using at work didn't. The people there called her Mary Cain.

The morning's first job was to interview the owner, the manager, and all the employees who worked the shift with Vera/Mary. Interviews in Iowa eventually revealed that Leon was once her mother's live-in boyfriend and that Mary had a restraining order against one of his friends.

When Avery came in later in the day, they compared notes on the case. As they took a break for coffee, Avery was in the break room with Ryan and Esposito.

"Have you met Castle's mother?" he asked.

Both of the detectives smiled, and Ryan answered, "Yeah. We love Ms. Rodgers."

"Avery smiled, too, then chuckled and shook his head. "When she opened the door and invited us in, it was a little bit of a shock. She was kind of overwhelming, but I decided I was good with a whole evening of that after I saw her take Jordan by the elbow and actually herd her into the dining room, chatting the whole way. I don't think in all our years of working together I've ever seen Jordan Shaw that far from being in control."

"Ryan laughed. "I can't even imagine Jordan Shaw not in control."

"You saw the other side of Ms. R., too, though, right?" Esposito asked.

"Yeah. That's quite a family," Avery responded respectfully. "A little eccentric, but strong…formidable."

"That's them. Some of the toughest people we know." Ryan nodded in agreement just before someone came in to let them know they had just accessed more information on the man who was the subject of the restraining order.

After two days of sorting out the real identities and putting together the pieces of the puzzle, everything centered around Jeffrey Cain, a friend of Leon's who had become obsessed with Vera. Jeffrey, having let them know he had already killed her ex and made it seem that the man had simply moved away, was able to manipulate Leon and Vera with threats of more violence against them or others…most often against Vera's fiancé. Cain forced her to marry him before they reached New York, where his mother had bequeathed him her small house in Brooklyn. He knew that would be a place where he could keep Vera under his control. When Vera complained about being locked in all the time, she was allowed to work in the kitchen at Leon's restaurant, but not allowed to go outside during the day. Jeffrey walked her in and picked her up, and Leon kept a close watch for fear of crossing Jeffrey. Any time Jeffrey wasn't with her at home, Vera was locked in a basement room in his house. That was where they found her early Thursday morning.

By eleven, Vera had been examined at the hospital, her statement had been taken, and Jordan and Avery had promised to take her to her family before they went home. Leon was offered a lesser charge to supply information on Jeffrey Cain, and Cain was charged with everything they could hold against him.

Later in the day, as Jordan's team was disassembling their command center, Kate watched Jordan enter the break room talking on the phone with her daughter and saying, "No, I probably won't be home for dinner, but I think I'll be there in time to read you a story and tuck you in." There was a little pause, and Jordan smiled. "Yes, Honey. That means Mommy slayed another dragon."

Kate smiled and offered Jordan the coffee she had just made. "Sounds like she's proud of you," she said as she made another for herself.

Jordan took a sip of the coffee and closed her eyes in appreciation. "I think so. Do you and Castle plan to have children?" she asked as Kate finished making her own and adding the vanilla syrup. "None of my business, of course, if you'd rather not answer."

As they walked across the hall back to the bullpen, she answered, "Not right now, but maybe before too long." More quietly, she added, "It would be nice to know the threats from the past are over first."

Rather than answer that with something that would give them away, Jordan nodded. "I hear you're about to become a lieutenant. That might make a difference, too. Rank has its advantages, offers possibilities that might be easier to take advantage of. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see you take over the captain's office one day."

"I haven't planned that far ahead. I wouldn't be this far if Captain Gates hadn't pushed me."

"She's impressed with you. She's impressed with Castle, too, but she told me not to say so." Jordan grinned and added, "I lied and said I wouldn't, but he deserves to know."

"I think we already knew. She just wants the rest of the department to think otherwise."

"I don't think she has too many of them fooled, either."

Kate smiled again and answered. "Neither do I. I think everybody has decided that when it comes to her people, she isn't quite as bad as the nickname 'Iron Gates' would indicate. She's gained a lot of respect here."

"Well-deserved, from what I've seen."

Kate made a nondescript sound of agreement before changing the subject. "I feel so bad for Vera. I doubt she'll have any trouble getting the marriage annulled, considering the circumstances; but she can't annul the memories of being confined and used the way she was. The poor girl had just grabbed her first opportunity to escape when she was taken again from that alley."

"I hope her fiancé loves her enough to stand by her. She's going to need somebody to help her through this." Jordan paused and took a deep breath. "On the bright side, though, today is her first day of freedom in six months. One of our agents took her out for lunch and has taken her back to the hotel to get some rest before we leave. She'll be back with her family by dinnertime."

"And you'll be back with yours by bedtime."

"That's the plan. But today was one of those days that makes all the difficulties that come with the job worth it."

"Hey," Castle said, approaching the two women. "Stay in touch when you can?" he asked, raising his eyebrows to indicate that he meant more than a social connection."

"We will. Whenever there's time." As the last of the FBI's equipment was removed, Ryan, Esposito, and Avery joined them, and Jordan said, "That's our cue." Shaking hands all around, she said, "Again, it's been a pleasure. Thank you for all your help. We may just make you our designated liaison team in New York…let Castle play with the cool toys now and then. All of you relax for the time being," she said purposefully.

Gates had appeared at her door and was watching the scene unfold. "She's right. You're scheduled for the weekend off, Detective Beckett. When you leave tomorrow, I think you should you should use it well. You've had an eventful couple of weeks. Fortunately, the FBI gets most of the paperwork for this one; so go home on time today and take care of your end of the reports tomorrow. Good work this week."

"Would you mind if we leave now and go by the sixty-eighth on the way home. We checked, and the detectives who originally had the case are there for the rest of the day…paperwork of their own. I promised to let them know how things turned out, and we thought we might offer to take them for a beer and tell them about it. It can't hurt to smooth things over. You never know when we might need their cooperation on something."

"I agree. Go and mend fences. See you in the morning."

xxxxx

On the way to Kate's car, Castle said, "You know, I didn't think to ask Jordan how they got a case assigned in New York as fast as they did. I was so busy being glad they were here that it didn't occur to me until now."

"Jordan can be devious when she wants to be. She said this case was originally assigned to another female agent's team and Jordan's next case should have been in Maine. The other agent has family in Maine; so Jordan took advantage, followed her to the ladies' room one morning, and manipulated the conversation so the other agent asked to trade assignments. The woman planned to take a couple of days off to visit her folks after they finished their work there. The other agent even made the request for the change, so Jordan wasn't seen as trying to get to New York, just looked like she was accommodating a colleague."

"Castle chuckled. "She's good. It was still a lucky circumstance."

"Okay, we're here. Let's go be diplomats." Extending her hand after reaching their desks, Beckett said, "Flanagan, Dorset." Castle acknowledged them and shook hands as well.

"Is the case closed?" Dorset asked.

"Yeah. It was an ugly situation," she answered.

"Beckett promised we'd let you know how it turned out," Castle told him. "We wondered if you'd like to hear about it over a beer. Our treat."

Flanagan looked at his partner, who nodded, then they picked up their things, and said, "Where to?"

"You know this neighborhood better than we do. Your choice. We'll follow you."

They went to a little cop bar near the station and told the other two detectives the whole story, feeling that there was good will in their wake when they left. As they were leaving, they heard another cop ask, who's the pretty boy and the model?"

Flanagan asked, "You didn't see the model's badge and gun?" Adding air quotes and emphasizing 'the model', he said, "Some cop you are."

Dorset explained, "That's Detective Beckett from the twelfth, and the guy is Richard Castle. He works with her."

"They had to take one of our cases…the FBI appropriated it and was working with them," Flanagan explained. "They came to buy us a beer and tell us how it turned out. You don't get that too often."

"So Richard Castle and Nikki Heat made a trip over all the way over here just to buy you a beer." another man commented.

"Aren't they married?" one of the female officers asked.

"I think the gossip starts now. Just as well we're leaving," Castle said

"Yeah. I don't think I want to know." Beckett answered, and they left smiling, his hand at her back.

xxxxx

As they fastened their seat belts before heading back to Manhattan, Castle suggested, "Mother is out tonight, and Alexis has the late shift with Lanie. Let's stop for dinner somewhere then go home and unwind."

"Nice idea," she said as she pulled away from the curb. "Tell me where, Castle."

They went to one of their favorite little restaurants, a quiet place that was nice but not too fancy or pretentious. The people there knew them but were good judges of whether to stop and chat or leave them to themselves. That night they were left to themselves to hold hands as they waited, sit close to one another, and have sporadic easy conversation. They enjoyed a good meal and uninterrupted time to themselves and then went home.

When they were home, knowing they had the loft to themselves for the entire evening, they stripped down and took a leisurely shower together; but left their activities at sensual, not too sexual.

"Want me to make some coffee?" Castle asked after he dried his hair.

"You know the way to my heart, don't you?"

"I hope it's more than the coffee you love," he answered, putting down the dryer and turning to take her in his arms.

"You know it is," she answered, standing on tip-toe to place a gentle kiss on his lips.

He smiled contentedly at her, placed another little peck on her lips, and said, "I'll start the coffee."

"I'll dry my hair and be there in a few minutes," she promised and watched him walk toward the kitchen with a towel wrapped around his lower half. She heard the grinding of coffee beans start just before she turned on her hair dryer; and when her hair was dry, she dressed in night clothes and went to meet him in the kitchen.

By the time she got there, the coffee was ready and he was pouring it into large mugs. He looked up as she joined him, finding her wearing one of her long satiny robes, which was hanging open over a subtle but enticing negligee. Their evening seemed to have taken on a no rush approach, even though they both knew where it would end.

"You look beautiful," he told her appreciatively.

"You look pretty good yourself, she answered, running her hands across his bare chest.

He planted a little kiss on her lips and said, "Be right back. This towel isn't going to hold on much longer."

"I could live with that," she called behind him suggestively as he walked toward their room, and he smiled over his shoulder and wiggled his behind at her as he entered the study. When he came back in one of the silk pajama sets she had bought him…no shirt and the short robe hanging open at the chest…she smiled her own appreciative smile and said, "Mmmmm. I can live with that, too."

He took her in his arms and held her a moment before saying on an exhale, "You make me feel twenty years younger. And you make me feel loved and wanted. And for so much of my life, I didn't have you."

"I don't know if I could keep up with you if you were twenty years younger. And you are loved and wanted…and appreciated and respected. And you won't spend any more of your life without me," she answered, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. "I don't know why it took me so long to give in to admitting that you're the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm so glad you came back for me."

"That was almost two years ago. It's almost our 'We finally got our act together' anniversary."

"The one we keep entirely to ourselves," she answered.

"I don't know about you, but I kind of like that we have a secret anniversary."

"Me, too."

"The coffee is going to get cold," he observed.

"There's more, isn't there?"

"You know I don't allow us to run out of coffee."

"Then if it gets cold, we'll make more. I like it where we are now," she answered.

"You know, coffee might be overrated."

Kate giggled as she snuggled closer. Castle loved that.

After some gentle kissing and soft caresses of faces and shoulders, they tested their coffee, replaced it with warmer brew, sat down close to one another at the breakfast bar, and talked for a while.

Kate eventually asked, "Do you think Meredith will be here for Alexis's graduation? It's right around the corner; and, unless something has changed while we weren't paying attention, our girl will be valedictorian."

"I don't know. Meredith has been taking time to call more often lately, but a plane ride across the country is different. As long as you're there, though, I think Alexis will be fine either way."

"She amazes me, Rick. She's still technically enrolled at school because of that biochemistry class she wanted, but she's gone in and taken all the tests when everybody else did. She studied off and on with her classmates, and somewhere in the morgue there was always somebody who could help with any question she had, and she aced all of them. The school even allowed her to test the same way for the physiology class because of the internship, and she's acing that, too. I still can't believe Stanford turned her down."

"Maybe it's for the best. She's talked about Columbia a lot more often lately."

"That's what's best for you, Dad. It keeps her in town."

He smirked at her. "A dad can dream, can't he?"

"Yeah. A stepmom, too," she answered. "I'd miss having her close by.

"But JD is there."

"Is that a bad thing? He's a great guy. Responsible...fun. You like him."

"I know. It just feels like it's too close for comfort. All that freedom to…"

"She talks to me sometimes, asks questions…advice. Rick, they're not sleeping together yet. There's making out, touching…"

"Stop, stop, stop, stop… I don't want to hear about touching. I was totally happy with the not having sex." He took a deep breath and released it. "I know it's going to happen, and I know I'm lucky it hasn't yet, and I know I'm being completely irrational about it. But it's soooo hard for a dad to have to imagine his little girl not being his innocent little girl anymore. I mean, I do want her to find somebody who makes her as happy as you make me, and to enjoy her marriage as much as we enjoy ours. But…"

She slipped off the barstool and pulled him to face her. Standing between his legs so she could put her arms around his neck, she pulled his head comfortingly to her shoulder and ran her fingers through the hair at his neck. "I really, really need to apologize to my dad for that last year and a half of high school. I left a lot for his imagination to…"

"Yeah, you do," Rick answered, easing out of most of his momentary dad crisis and pinching her backside gently. "He's told me a little bit."

"Don't believe it all. He tends to exaggerate…like somebody else I know."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

She smacked the back of his head lightly, and he laughed before lifting it to kiss her playfully. The kissing continued and began to take on a different intent, and soon hands were wandering easily over silken covered bodies. He stood and walked her slowly backward to their room as the kisses continued, closing the doors to the study and their room behind them.

Easing her down on the bed, he hovered above her, bracing himself on his forearms long enough to whisper, "God, Kate, I love you so much."

She brought her arms up around his neck and answered, "I love you, too. I didn't know I could love anybody this much."

Their loving was slow and gentle and patient, and they woke in the morning feeling as close and loving as they did when they went to bed.

xxxxx

Martha and Alexis first noticed the way they behaved with each other that morning when Kate came into the kitchen dressed for work. She walked up behind Castle where he sat having coffee and scanning the newspaper, wrapped her arms around him from behind, kissed his cheek…and then said softly, "'Morning, Sweetheart."

Castle smiled as he looked over his shoulder and gave her a loving little kiss on her lips.

She kissed his temple before getting her coffee, and Martha and Alexis raised eyebrows at each other before Martha mouthed silently, "Sweetheart? It must have been good."

Alexis's lips silently told her, "I don't want to know."

"Anybody interested in going to the Hamptons this weekend?" Castle asked. "One more trip before the tourists take over the town?"

"I'll stay here," Alexis answered. "Dr. Parish is way behind and might need the help, and my final exams are coming up. Oh, and I decided on Columbia."

"You're staying in New York?" her dad said joyfully.

"I'm glad, too," Kate agreed with a big smile, and she lifted her coffee cup in acknowledgment.

"But I want to live in the dorm. I want to feel like I'm at college," Alexis insisted.

"Done," Castle agreed. "We can still come to see you though, right?"

"Just not every day…and call first."

"Right. I should have known there would be rules."

"I should stay here, too. Final touches on getting my school open this summer. Paula has done a great job of helping me with marketing. Thank you for sharing her. I've had more response than I had expected for the opening semester."

"You and Kate should go, though, Dad. You've had a stressful few weeks."

"Maybe we will," he answered as Kate sat down beside him with her coffee. "Kate has the weekend off…not even on call."

"Take some time to yourselves," Martha encouraged. "You need that now and then."

"Shall we leave tonight and have a little more time there?" he asked his wife.

"I have to admit, waking up to the sound of the ocean does sound relaxing."

"Waking up to you sounds even better," he whispered close to her ear.