Love Conquers All

Chapter 1

For Kate Beckett taking a long car ride was a relaxing thing to do. With her feet pulled up on the seat and her head resting on the window she found herself completely relaxed. She's always been like this as a baby her parents took her for a ride around the block when she didn't want to settle, most of the time she was asleep before they even pulled out of the driveway. But it could also cause some problems, she remembered an incident when she was 7, she fell asleep in the school bus on the way home, when they reached her street the driver had to come and wake her up. But today she couldn't do any of such things. She had woke up at 5.30 am this morning-, which was an accomplish on its self because normally she couldn't drag herself out of bed, -after showering her parents drove her of to her yearly summer camp. She had being going to this particularly camp since she was fifteen. Her first time there she had called home and begged her parents to come pick her up because she didn't like that camp and wanted to go back to her previous one. Her mother had calmed her down and reminded her that she was too old for her previous camp. After talking for over an hour Kate went back to participating in the camps activities and in the end she couldn't remember anytime that she had so much fun on camp.

But now after being in the car for four hours she was really tempted to tell her parents to turn around and drive back home. The drive to camp normally took 3 hours but because of the holiday traffic she was still stuck in the car when she could be on camp right now. To kill time she had read some of the books she brought with her, she had a few books which she rented from her friends. She also had the first two Derrick Storm novels by her favorite author Richard Castle. But after reading three chapters her eyes were burning and she put her book away again. After that failed attempt to kill time-, because she could swear they didn't move an inch, -she had try to fall asleep which worked for a little while but after half an hour she woke again. She was relieved to see that they finally made it off of the highway and we're almost there. Thankfully there wasn't much traffic on the back roads. It took them another 20 minutes but they had finally arrived.

Everything looked the same to Kate, the wide path down the middle of the camp that started at the entrance and went all the way down the lake, even the buildings looked like they hadn't been touched by the weather. "Are you excited?" Her mother asked while she was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and trying to stifle a yawn.

"I was just thinking, everything looks the same like it was when I left last year. Even down to the tree with that branch that looks like it's about to fall off any minute. It feels like this place never aged over the last year." Kate replied while still watching the view from the car window, trying to find some difference that would tell her that this past year hasn't been just a dream and she would wake up any minute to find herself in a bunk bed in the cabin she was assigned to last year.

"This place must be magical then." Her farther chuckled while her turned off the car's engine and stretched himself out, as best as you can while sitting in the driver's seat of a car. While they all stared for a little while the team leader walked up to their car to welcome them to camp. "Good Morning Folks, seeing as you guys were expected here over an hour ago you had struggle with the morning traffic too, huh? Anyway that's fine, we're still expecting a few other people too, you guys are not the only one. Katherine Beckett is staying in Cabin 5 this year. You can go ahead and drive the car to the cabin so you can unload all of your stuff, as long as you put the car on the parking lot when you finish. Good to have you back Kate." After giving the introduction Jack McMountain starting walking back to camp, heading to direction of the main office building. Jack has been working on this camp since way before Kate started going here. Jack always said that this was his calling to be working here, he took great pride in his work. And he made sure that every kid on camp could do something that they liked.

"Cabin 5, awesome! It's basically the best cabin you can get, it's slightly bigger than the other cabins but they still put 6 people in there. Plus it's in the back so it's very quite." Kate told her parents, you could hear her excitement in her voice, which made her parents laugh.

"Katie, why would they build one cabin that's bigger than the other ones? All these cabins were build at the same time, just like all the other buildings on this camp by the way. They wouldn't build one that was larger than the other ones that makes no sense at all. Maybe it was meant to be for the staff, the staff cabins are bigger right?" Jim asked his daughter curiously. Jim has always been someone who was interested in history, when they first bought the house they were living in now he wanted to know as much as he possibly could.

"Right, staff cabins are a little bigger. But this wasn't designed to be one. This has been here since before this was even a camp, at first they wanted to put it down to the ground but they decided not to that in the end and now it's the biggest cabin you can get." Kate replied and unbuckled her seatbelt when she saw that they were nearly there.

"But why-" Before Jim could even finish that sentence Johanna interrupted them. "We get it, old cabin , bigger cabin, let's just get to unloading all your stuff, shall we?" She told them while she stepped out lf the car and opened the trunk to unload the bags.

In the end it took them about 15 minutes to get Kate settled in. Kate had chosen the free bunk bed that was opposite from a big window that looked out over the lake. When they had entered the cabin they find that two of the beds were already made that suggested that she at least two roommates. After getting Kate settled in Jim went to park the car while Johanna and Kate went over to the cafeteria to see what the schedule for the day was. They found out that the first thing was the welcoming speech that would be held at the Grand Theater in 15 minutes. Every building or place was named as if it was some kind of high-end place, while the Grand Theater was just a wooden stage with log benches surrounding it. They even named the toilets The Throne. At the Grand Theater they found that a lot of people had gathered their selves there. The three found themselves a bench somewhere in the middle and waited for Jack to officially open up camp.

"Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, I hope you all had an save trip. Some of people aren't here yet but I'll give them a personal welcome when they do arrive. I can personally promise that this is going to be the best year of camp you will ever have. Me and the rest the staff will do everything they can to make sure everyone is having fun and is comfortable. You all know the rules so I expect you to obey them. Now let us meet the staff." Kate didn't really pay much attention to the staff because she already knew them pretty much. But when an unfamiliar name was called she raised her head. She didn't expect the young man that stood on stage, he was tall, over 6ft, wearing a jeans and one of the camp shirts. She didn't know how but somehow she felt n connection, she didn't even know the guy, hell she had never had an conversation with him. But why did she feel this way then? Whatever it is was, there was something about 'Alexander Rodgers'.

"I don't think that this is a good idea." Martha said as she followed her son into his bedroom. His suitcase was open on the bed, still needing a few things to pack for these few weeks.

"I don't care about what you think, mother. I've been doing this for two years now, I'm going, whether you like it or not." Alex said while grabbing a few shirts from the dresser and bringing them over to the bed so he could pack them.

"Alex, think about it. Your book sales have been through the roof this year. Sooner or later they are going to find out that you're Richard Castle. Do you really think a teenager camp would like to hire a famous novelist." She said while waving her hands through the air. She had told weeks ago, that he should call the man in charge, so he could resign. But Alex was having none of this, he was determined to go through with it. Martha knew about the great times he had the last two times. The difference being that those two years were on a camp with children and not teenagers. She trusted her son, she really did but she didn't know if she could trust the girls on camp.

"Mother, don't you trust me? Those girls are way too young for me. No way I would fall for them."

"I know you wouldn't. But I'm not so sure about them." Martha turned on her heel and walked out of the room, leaving her son alone to finish with his packing. She still thought this was a bad idea but she knew that if he was determined there was no way of talking him out of it. Alex let out a frustrated sigh and went back to his packing. After 20 minutes he was finished and dragged his suitcase to the front door. He knew that his mother was somewhat right. Right now Richard Castle was only a ghost writer, his publicist had done a great job of keeping it a secret. That was the only wish he had when he handed over the books to his publisher Gina. He loved writing he really did, but he just didn't want the fame that came with it, he wanted to live a normal live in the shadows. There was always time to out himself later on. He did enjoy the money he got though, he had moved from his small apartment to a loft on Broome St. shortly after he moved in there his mother moved in too because she lost everything to her ex-husband. Not only did he buy a nice place to live, he also bought a cherry red Ferrari and loads of gadgets. And still he had more than enough money to live comfortably. After packing all of his writing gear in another bag and bringing the bags down to his car.

The next day he woke up early and left to go to camp. He arrived at camp after an 2.5 hour drive. He found out that he was the only person assigned to this particularly staff cabin. He was glad about that, it would be hard to keep his secret when he had to share the room. Even though he would be here Gina did expect him to write and send her some new chapters.

An hour after he settles the teenagers started to dribble in. All the kids that he saw walking around were around the age of 17, seeing these kids made him wonder why his mother was so concerned. Yet another hour late the welcome ceremony started. When his name was called he climbed up on stage and looked around to see dozens of kids and parents sitting on the log benches in front of him. He was never a person to get stage fright but standing there in front of all those people it made him a little nervous. Thankfully the next person was called up and they didn't look at him anymore.

After the ceremony she walked with her parents back to their car. All the while she couldn't shake the strange off of her. Why would she feel a connection with a men she has never seen before? Even the name was unfamiliar. Reaching the parking lot she turned to her parents and hugged them both. She saw her parents getting in the car and drive away, after they disappeared from sight she turned on her heel and went to her cabin to find her roommates. When she returned she found two girls both sitting on their respective bed with a cell phone in their hand. One of the girls jumped up and walked towards Kate extending her hand. "Hi, I'm Victoria, just call me Tori." The girl said, Tori had pitch black straight hair and braces. She was wearing a mint green shirt with black shorts. "Hi, I'm Ava." The other girl said, Ava had red hair and blue eyes. she was wearing ripped jeans with and a shirt with Marvel superheroes on it.

"Nice to meet you I'm Kate." She replied to the both of them. "Is this all? I would have expected that there would be more people here." Kate asked curiously, after all most of the time there were 6 people in one cabin.

"This is all. Now we have the top bed over so we could lay our stuff on it. I have brought way too much with me to put it all in the dresser. I can use the top bunk for the rest of my stuff." Tori replied, while trying to drag her half full suitcase op to her top bunk bed.

"No offense but aren't you older than the rest of the people here, Kate? All of the people seem to be around 16, 17 and 18 years old. What are you doing here?" Ava asked when she sat down next to Kate on her bed.

"I've been going to camp since I was small. I've been going here since I was 15, this is my last year. I'm 21 years old by the way." Kate replied, sighing that this was really her last year of camp, oh boy, she was going to miss this place. "Anyway should we get going, brunch is going to start soon." They all started walking to Le Chef to eat brunch. Ava and Tori asked her questions while walking, since it was their first year here. Kate explained that every day there were activities you could participate in. Some were obligatory and other you could choose to join. On Sundays there weren't any activities, you could do whatever you wanted so to speak. Today after Brunch they would be going canoeing. They would start out in the lake and then go on a still water river it was connected too. Between the lake and the river there was some sort of gate in the water so you couldn't go on the river if it wasn't allowed. To top the day they had an bonfire at 9pm.

After brunch they went to see who their cabin leader was, every cabin had a cabin leader you could go to if there was something wrong, they found out that their cabin leader was Alexander Rodgers. While reading his name Kate felt those strange feelings coming back. It's that why she felt that connection? After staring at his name and cabin number for awhile she pulled herself away and went to change for the canoeing. Kate changed in to a simple one-piece bathing suit with shorts and a camp t-shirt on top of it. After arriving at the bottom of the lake she dragged an canoe into the lake. She boarded the canoe and joined the group that was already in the middle of the lake. The group was supervised by Alex Rodgers. That made the feelings come back again and her head wasn't in the game anymore. She saw the rock to late before her canoe flipped and she fell into the water. She resurfaced to find that Alex had flipped her canoe back and was holding it so she could climb back in it. "Are you okay?" He asked her while she climbed back into the canoe. "Yeah, I'm fine. Lost my paddle though. I'm Kate"

"Nice to meet you Kate, I'm Alex. Don't worry about your paddle I've got a spare one." He said while giving her a new paddle. Kate accepted the paddle and looked into his eyes, he has gorgeous eyes, she thought. What the hell, she thought, were did that came from she wasn't supposed to like this guy. She couldn't like this guy, hell he was her cabin leader her superior, she had to get herself under control.

"Thank you." She muttered and begin to paddle forward leaving a stunned Alex behind.

Continue? Thoughts?