The Visitor

by ucsbdad

In "The Magnificent Seven" Rick and Kate were shanghaied to another planet to solve a murder. They are now back on Earth, but one of their extraterrestrial friends has come to visit them in Manhattan. What could possibly go wrong? ONE SHOT.

The Visitor

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Castle is one of the many things I do not own. Rating: T Time: the future.

Author's note: I'm a fan of science fiction, and I wrote a story, The Magnificent Seven, in which Rick and Kate are shanghaied to a distant planet to solve a murder. After all, Rick deserves for at least one of his oddball ideas to prove out. Then I got to thinking how Rick would react to having an extraterrestrial visit him. I've tried to give enough background that you won't have to go read The Magnificent Seven, but then again, it wouldn't hurt to read it, would it?

The phone rang and Kate automatically reached for her phone by the bedside. Long years of such calls brought her instantly awake. She checked the alarm clock. 3:07 AM? There should be a special punishment for people who commit murder at this time of night.

"Beckett." She said into the phone.

There was a brief pause at the other end, then a deep voice spoke. "Oh! Excuse me. I'm trying to reach Captain Katherine Castle. Is she there?"

Kate was puzzled. Captain Castle? I'm not a captain and I use Beckett for work. What could possibly… An impossible thought shot through her mind. "There is one place I'm known as Captain Castle. Who is this?"

"It's me. Ruffalo. Don't you remember me?"

"Of course I do, Ruffalo." Another thought crossed her mind. "Where are you calling from, Ruffalo? From a spaceship?"

"No. I'm here in Noo Yoork City."

"Where's the murder?" Castle asked sleepily.

"It hasn't happened yet. This is Ruffalo calling from New York." Kate spoke to Ruffalo. "Where are you?"

"Um, I'm not too sure. It's a large wooded area."

"How did he get a phone?" Rick asked.

"Hi, Rick." Ruffalo said happily. "Oh, I got the communication device from a man. I asked him for directions, but he ran off, leaving this behind. I'm afraid I smelled alcohol on him." Ruffalo stopped for a second. "He seemed surprised to see me."

"Ruffalo, tell me what you can see."

Ruffalo described the area he was in.

"Ruffalo, you're in Central Park, near the merry-go-round. The big round building. Hide there until we come and get you."

"Am I causing a problem?" He asked.

"Not yet."

In minutes Rick and Kate had thrown on their clothes and were headed for Central Park in the Mercedes. As they entered the park, Kate spotted the flashing lights of a patrol car ahead. "Damn! Pull over."

A bulky Hispanic policewoman was walking over to tell them to move along when Kate rolled down the window and showed her badge. "Beckett, homicide, 12th Precinct. Problem?"

The officer shook her head. "Just a drunk. Came running out onto the road like a bat out of hell. My partner almost flattened him."

Kate could hear the man screaming. "Get your guns out. He'll be here any moment. Get more cops! More guns! For God's sake."

"Some guy is after him?" Kate asked.

The uniform smiled. "No. A gigantic wolf. Grabbed the guy's cell phone." She shook her head. "And it isn't even a full moon yet."

"The wolf's probably needing to make a call to tell the three little pigs he'll be late." Castle said, seriously.

"As good a theory as any, detective." The uniform replied, tiredly.

As they drove away, Kate glared at Rick, but he was too excited at being called "detective" to notice.

Rick switched off the lights and Kate turned off the interior lights as they approached the merry-go-round. Kate slipped out of the car and called softly, "Ruffalo? Are you here?"

"Of course. Where else would I be?" Said a deep voice not too far from her.

"Get in the back of the car. Now!" Kate barked.

Getting a seven foot tall, and somewhat bulky, bipedal alien who resembled a gigantic wolf, into the back of the car was not easy, but once Ruffalo was in, Rick and Kate covered him with a blanket. "Just stay still no matter what, okay?" Kate said.

"I have the feeling that I might have made some sort of an error." Ruffalo said quietly.

"We'll discuss that when we get you home."

They parked in the garage under the loft and Kate checked out the area. No one was there. They loaded Ruffalo into the elevator, still under the blanket and took him to their loft.

Once all three were back in the loft, Rick and Kate let out a sigh of relief. "We're safe." Rick said, "For now."

The Castles got their first good look at their guest. He was indeed a seven foot tall wolf-like being, wearing a pair of loose blue trousers and a loose grey shirt. He had a large bag on a strap over his shoulder.

"Is anyone else here?" Ruffalo asked. "I was looking forward to seeing your family."

"Martha is in Provincetown for a summer stock play and Alexis is at a seminar on US politics in Washington, DC. We're all alone."

Kate sniffed. "Ruffalo, I smell…"

"That's me, I'm afraid. I rolled in some excrement when I went to hide. Can I go wash?"

"Take the guest bathroom." Rick said. "Upstairs, on the left."

Ruffalo went upstairs and carefully washed his hands and removed a piece of excrement that had stuck to his neck, then toweled off and looked at himself in the mirror. He felt and smelled much better, and decided he was hungry.

He walked out of the bathroom and confronted a red headed young woman. He instantly recognized her. "Alexis?" He held out his massive paw.

The girl's eyes bugged out and she screamed.

Downstairs Rick and Kate heard Alexis screaming about a monster, followed by the howling of their giant friend. They ran upstairs.

"What is…" Rick began. It was obvious what was wrong. Sort of.

"Monster!" Screamed Alexis.

"Your daughter saw a monster!" Ruffalo screamed. "Where is it? I'll protect you all."

Rick shook his head. "Ruffalo. I think Alexis is calling you a monster."

Ruffalo looked offended. "Me! A monster? Nonsense! I'm an astronomer."

Alexis stared at Ruffalo and then at her parents. "You know this….this…being?"

"We should all go back downstairs and discuss this." Kate said. This was really getting complex.

They sat by the kitchen island while Ruffalo demolished some left over spaghetti.

"First, why aren't you in DC?" Rick asked.

"We have an alien sitting in our…"

"Alexis?" Rick said, frowning.

"Fine! Congressman Bollinger tripped on the Capitol steps and broke his leg. The seminar was cancelled. Now will you please explain him?"

"Alexis this is Ruffalo. As you can tell, he's from…another planet."

"Ruffalo, this is our daughter, Alexis."

Ruffalo held out his massive paw. Alexis took a deep breath, gathered her courage and shook hands.

"Do you really think I look like a monster, Alexis?"

"I suppose not, sitting here in the kitchen, talking with my parents." He turned to her dad. "And just how did you meet an extraterrestrial astronomer? Is this another guy you know?"

Rick looked over to Kate, who obviously was going to let him tell Alexis. "Do you remember when we showed up with Penelope a year or so ago."

"Penelope, the actress? The topless coed in Sorority House Zombies? The Old West hooker in the bathtub in the Good, The Bad and the Undead? That Penelope?"

"She has done some serious work, you know." Rick said defensively.

"Like the psycho policewoman in Graveyard Bust? A good title concerning her…assets."

"Perhaps we could get back on subject?" Kate said.

"Kate and I and some other humans were… transferred to another planet by some hydrogen breathing aliens to investigate a murder for them."

"How could you investigate a murder in a hydrogen atmosphere?" Alexis asked.

"Just let me explain." Rick said, getting exasperated. "The planet was like Earth and had a number of humans on it as well as other races. Thousands of years ago, another race of explorers had brought them there for some unknown reason, probably to be cheap labor for the explorers. The humans mostly seemed to be from Greece from the time of Alexander the Great. Then the explorers left and the other races stayed. Anyway, the hydrogen breathers were from something like a university, sort of a field trip. However, instead of just observing, they decided to help the people on the planet out. Regrettably, they helped a local warlord build up his technology, his economy and his military. He then conquered most of the most populous continent and was ready to conquer the rest of the world when he was murdered. That's the murder we were asked to investigate. But it was a set up. The hydrogen breathers were afraid they'd get caught since they are supposed to observe and not help out."

"Kind of like violating the Prime Directive on Star trek?" Alexis asked.

"Very good." Rick smiled. "What the hydrogen breathers wanted to do was start a war between the most powerful generals so that when they got inspected, the war would have erased all evidence of their interference. Does that make sense?"

Alexis slowly nodded. "I guess."

Rick turned to Ruffalo. "Now how in the hell did you get here?"

Ruffalo looked at Alexis. "Do you really think I look like a monster?" He asked, sounding somewhat hurt.

Alexis didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she had to be honest. "Well, when you see a huge…being coming out of the bathroom, all fangs and claws, your mind does run in that direction."

Ruffalo frowned. "I always thought of myself as cuddly."

Alexis nodded quickly. "Cuddly works. Now that I know you. You're kind of like the biggest teddy bear I've ever seen."

"Teddy bear?"

"Take it as a compliment, Ruffalo. Now can you tell us why you're here?" Kate broke in.

"The inspectors showed up about a month after you left. By that time, the war was well under way. However, my patron, King Antipater has managed to remain aloof from the war, so far. Since no one can come close to matching his fleet, no one can challenge his domains. He does, however, provide assistance to both sides of the civil war. Just enough to keep the war going, but not enough to let anyone win."

"About as I expected." Rick said sadly. "What about the hydrogen breathing inspectors?"

"They were far more interested in making sure all the proper forms were filled out and filed properly. If our planet had been vaporized, they'd hardly have noticed."

"What happened then?" Rick asked.

Ruffalo shrugged. "Having successfully broken their own laws about interfering in other cultures, they decided to interfere some more. They decided to help My Lord Antipater. Since I already knew about them, they contacted Antipater through me, offering to help him upgrade his technology."

"What's the level of the local technology?" Alexis asked, becoming very interested.

"They have a few ancient machines left over from the beings who brought them to their planet thousands of years ago, far beyond anything we have, for the rest, the highest technology is maybe World War II level, maybe a bit higher."

Alexis nodded. "So with a technology base already in existence, they could teach them about radar, jet aircraft, transistors…"

"And lots of cool ways to kill people, Alexis. Which is something no one needs." Rick turned to Ruffalo. "So how did you get here? And better yet, why? You know Earth has never seen any confirmed extraterrestrials?"

"Would you repeat that?" Kate said teasingly. "I want to be able to quote you in the future."

"No." Back to Ruffalo. "Well?"

"I'm a scientist. An astronomer. King Antipater has no interest in astronomy. I remembered the few talks we had about the state of astronomy on Earth, your wonderful satellites and such. We won't have those in my lifetime, I fear. So I thought if I could just come here to your wonderful planet, I could learn so much. I talked our friends into sending me. They'll pick me up in two weeks. I hope that's enough time."

"Enough time?" Rick said, shaking his head. "Do you think we can just waltz into a local college, or to NASA, or an observatory with a giant wolf-like alien and not be noticed?"

"Would that be a problem?" Ruffalo asked. "I could wear a disguise."

In his mind's eye Rick saw Ruffalo walking into the planetarium with a false mustache and glasses. He shuddered. "I don't think that would work. I don't see how we can help you."

"Dad!" Alexis spoke up. "Of course we can help him. All he needs in our computer and an internet connection. I can go to the library at Columbia, or to bookstores, for anything he needs. Come on Ruffalo, I'll show you how the internet works."

Their large, furry guest was fascinated with the internet and stayed on it for hours at a time. There were far more sites than he could possibly ever read in his two weeks on Earth, so Alexis spent her spare time buying books and DVDs for Ruffalo.

"Look at all of the extra-solar planets your astronomers have found!" Ruffalo enthused. "There are thousands of them! My people knew that there had to be a few, because each race on our planet was brought there from a different world, but this is amazing."

"Can you find your home world?" Alexis asked.

Ruffalo sighed. "I'm afraid not. It's too far away."

For the next four days Ruffalo and Alexis worked happily at adding to the giant astronomer's fund of knowledge. Then disaster nearly struck.

"Hello, all." Martha said as she walked through the door. Rick and Kate were in the kitchen and Alexis and Ruffalo were in Rick's office. Ruffalo instantly froze.

"Mom? What are you doing back so soon?"

"We had a leak in the roof and the entire electrical system in the theater shorted out. It'll be weeks before it's finished." She turned to Alexis. "Hello, dear." Then she looked more closely at Alexis and…What? "Richard, isn't that awful full sized statue of Bobba Fett in the bathroom enough? You had to buy a stuffed…whatever."

"I think it looks cool, but I'll get rid of it if it bothers you." Rick said quickly.

Martha headed for the kitchen and was almost there when Ruffalo sneezed. He sneezed the sort of sneeze that you'd expect from a person of his size.

"Alexis!" Martha said, heading back to the office. "Are you coming down with something?"

She walked into the office and got a better look at Ruffalo. "My! I know a great deal about makeup and prosthetics." She began. "But your friend here…" Martha began to check out the makeup and prosthetics. As a professional she realized that this was not makeup. "You're…" She began, backing away.

"A huge fan of yours!" Ruffalo said, standing up. "I am so pleased to meet you, Mrs. Rodgers. I am enormously impressed with your body of work." Ruffalo came around the desk and took Martha's hand. "I am so glad to meet you. I'm Ruffalo. I'm a Vorlag and I'm an astronomer from another planet, visiting my friends, Rick and Kate. And my new friend, Alexis."

"You're a fan?" Martha said, smiling.

"How could I not be?"

"Richard, why didn't you tell me about this charming fellow before?"

Rick and Kate just shook their heads, as Martha led Ruffalo off to watch an old VHS tape of Martha as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

It turned out that Ruffalo was a huge fan or Martha's, in more ways than one, and had watched all of the tapes and DVDs of her performances while also studying, pulsars, quasars, black holes and neutron stars Martha, however, was not the only actress he was a fan of.

A knock on the door sent Ruffalo scurrying upstairs while Martha checked the area for signs of her biggest fan and then Alexis opened the door.

Standing there was a tall, voluptuous, well-endowed platinum blonde. "May I help you?" Alexis asked.

"Alexis? It's me, Penelope. How have you and Martha been? And Rick and Kate, of course."

Rick and Kate stuck their heads out of their bedroom. "Penelope?" Rick said, uncertainly. "You're a blonde?"

"For my latest role, Sunset Stripper Vampire. " She said.

"I thought your last movie was Panzer Zombies?" Alexis said. "About World War Two?"

"Panzer Zombies was the last one that was released, Alexis. Sunset Stripper Vampire is in post- production."

Penelope walked over and gave Rick a brief hug, and Kate, Alexis and Martha a longer hug and then she jumped into Ruffalo's arms. "How are you Ruffalo? I was so glad to hear from you."

"You heard from Ruffalo?" Rick asked.

"He called me and told me he was in New York. I got on a plane as soon as I heard."

"Ruffalo, you haven't told anyone else you're here, have you?" Kate asked.

Ruffalo looked puzzled. "Of course not. But I have been thinking about calling that nice Mr. d'Annunzio, and the lovely Irina Konev, and of course…."

"Of course?" Rick and Kate said together.

"Believe us, Ruffalo. You need to stay hidden. The rest of our team are scattered all over the planet. They couldn't get here in the time we have." Rick said.

"Are you ready to do our film?" Penelope asked.

"A film?" Rick said, disbelieving what he'd heard.

Penelope nodded firmly. "I'm not knocking my career, but I'm beginning to feel limited. Oh, I know what they say. Some actors play the same character in different films their whole career. Arnold Schwarzenegger for instance. He hasn't done so badly, but I think I can do more. Unfortunately, no one is willing to give me a chance. So, I've decided, to produce, direct and star in a short film. About a friendly, cuddly alien who only looks dangerous."

"Who did you have in mind to play the alien?" Ruffalo asked.

"You, of course."

Martha shook her head. "I'm not at all sure that this will…'

"And I'll need Martha, of course. I learned so much from her already."

"…be a problem." Martha finished.

"I never thought meeting the first extra-terrestrial to come to Earth would be like this." Rick was driving a rental truck to the empty building that Penelope had rented to shoot her film. Kate sat next to him, nodding sympathetically.

"I thought we'd be at the White House. On one side of me there'd be the new ambassador from Vulcan or Tattooine. You'd be on the other side of me, of course. Looking absolutely gorgeous in a designer gown, decked out in tasteful jewelry. Everybody there would be talking about you, wondering how Richard Castle ever got so lucky as to marry Kate Beckett."

"It wasn't luck, it was a lot of hard work on your part. I know. I was there. I know that I was the lucky one to have you put up with so much until I was ready." She reached over and squeezed his hand.

"At least we're together."

"Could you two quiet down?" Ruffalo called from the back of the truck. "We're trying to learn our lines."

"Yeah, Dad." Alexis added. "We're trying to work back here."

Martha put her two cents in. "After all, the new lines we have to learn are what you wrote."

"And I don't even get writers credit because no one wants anyone to take too close a look at the relationship between Penelope and me. We don't want anyone to find out she was born on another planet."

"If this works, Rick, I'll try to get you some screenwriting work in Hollywood."

"Sounds good." Kate said. "A beach house in Malibu, fabulous parties, shopping on Rodeo Drive, working on my tan…"

"On your tan?" Rick interrupted. "What about my tan?"

"You'll be too busy working."

"Really?"

She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. "Of course not."

Castle drove the rental truck into the basement garage of the building. A quick check showed that there were no cars there and, seemingly, no one in the building. The rode the elevator to the floor Penelope had rented and quickly set up their equipment. Penelope was the star and director, Ruffalo the co-star, Martha the camerawoman and Alexis was everyone's assistant. Rick and Kate provided security.

"Everyone ready?" Penelope asked.

"I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille." Ruffalo said.

"This isn't Sunset Boulevard, Ruffalo." Penelope said.

Just as the camera was about to roll, Kate's phone rang. Everyone was silent while she answered it.

"I'm sorry, babe. That was Espo. We just had a body drop not too far from here. Two people in a mom and pop were shot. A robbery gone wrong, they think. I have to go. You stay here, okay?"

"You don't need me?" Rick was always worried when Kate went off without him.

"I'll be fine. The perps are long gone by now. I'll tell Ryan and Esposito that you're with your family." Kate kissed him quickly and left.

The shooting of the film quickly got under way. Penelope was a crack investigative reporter and Ruffalo was a fierce looking, but quite cuddly alien tourist who had somehow gotten separated from a tour group and ended up one Earth. Rick thought that Penelope was quite modestly dressed, considering her prior roles, and Ruffalo was excellent. Rick was certain that the film critics would never be able to tell if Ruffalo was an actor in makeup and prosthetics, an animatronic, or CGI. He was happy that Martha, the family expert on all things theatrical, thought the short film would be a winner.

Castle's phone rang. It was Espo. "Hi, Espo. What's up?"

"Bro, we got a problem. A patrol car ran across the two shooters we were looking for. They exchanged fire and one of the perps took a round. We found a blood trail leading to an abandoned building near where you are. We went in and…Somehow Kate got separated from us and…She's a hostage, bro."

Rick's blood froze. He tried to think of something to say, something to do, but he just froze.

"You there, bro?"

"Yeah. Where are they?"

"33rd and Lex. They're on the top floor. The elevator is dead because the power has been shut off for months. The top floor, according to the building owners is one great big room, a couple of small offices and tons on junk in the big room. If we rush them…"

"Yeah. I know. I'll be over in five minutes." He hung up.

"Do you want us to go with you, Richard?"

"No, Martha. The cops would never let you anyplace near the building. I have to go alone." Castle said a quick goodbye to his family and friends and was off.

"I hate this sort of thing." Alexis said. "I just hate it." Alexis began to cry.

"Perhaps we can go up on the roof and see…something." Penelope said.

No one could think of anything good that would come of seeing the building from a few blocks away, but no one had a better idea.

Once on the roof, Ruffalo, who had excellent eyesight, hearing and all of the other senses, scanned the skyline. "That's the building. It's lower than ours."

"So?" Martha said softly. "We're here and she's there."

Ruffalo studied the buildings between them carefully. "These buildings aren't very far apart. I could get there."

"Ruffalo!" Alexis said sharply. "They're two lanes and a sidewalk on each side between us and the next building. What will you do, jump?"

"Of course."

"You can jump across an entire street to the next building?"

"Of course, can't everyone?" He said, puzzled.

"No." Alexis said. "And what will you do once you get on the building across the street? There are two more buildings before you can get to the one Kate is in."

Ruffalo nodded. "I think that both my visual acuity and my depth perception is better that yours. Once I get across the street here, the next building is across and alley, and the one after that I'll need to jump a street, but not as wide as the one right here. It's be no problem."

"And what is an astronomer going to do when confronted by two armed humans?" Penelope asked.

"Subdue them, of course." He wondered why Penelope had asked such a question. The answer was obvious.

"I'm a lot better in a fight than you are, old friend." Penelope said.

"And you couldn't possibly jump between the buildings." Ruffalo countered.

"Could you carry me and still make the jump?" She asked.

Kate's head was throbbing from where the woman had hit her. In spite of having her hands cuffed behind her back, she had managed to get into a sitting position. There were boxes and old machinery all over the floor they were on. But, she could see the two perps just a dozen feet from her. The man was holding his wounded stomach and the woman was cursing. From the slurring of their words, Kate was sure they were still high.

"Bitch cop. You shot Jimmy. I ought to blow your fucking head off. Damned cop." The woman kept repeating more or less the same things over and over.

"Don't shoot her, sweetie. We need her. She's our ticket out of here."

The woman nodded. "And if they don't give us exactly what we want, I'm going to waste her skinny ass." She turned to Kate. "You hear that you bitch? If your fucking friends don't give us what we want, you're dead."

Kate tried to get through to her. "Your friend has lost a lot of blood. He needs a doctor. He needs a doctor now."

Jimmy shook his head. "I'm good, sweetie. I don't feel so bad."

"He doesn't feel bad because he's high." Kate said earnestly. "He needs a doctor."

"You shot him you bitch. This is all your fault." The woman screamed.

"It wasn't me. Look, he needs help…"

The woman rose and ran to Kate, aiming Kate's own gun at her head. "You stupid whore! You shot Jimmy! I ought to blow your fucking head off. Fuck it! I will!"

"Sweetie, I'm hurting. Come here." Jimmy said slowly.

The woman looked at Jimmy, then back to Kate. Then she headed for Jimmy. "This isn't over, bitch." She yelled over her shoulder.

Ruffalo stood looking down at the twelve story drop and then across the street to the other building. "No problem." He said.

"You can do it carrying me?" Penelope asked.

"I could do this carrying all of you." Ruffalo replied confidently.

Alexis looked down and then looked over to the next building as well. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."

"I agree." Martha added.

"Nonsense." Ruffalo said, then turned and walked to the far side of their building. He slung Penelope over his shoulder and took several deep breaths.

"Cry havoc, and let slip the Vorlags of war!" He said and began running.

Both Alexis and Martha closed their eyes. They couldn't watch. They waited a few seconds, and hearing no screams, opened their eyes. Ruffalo and Penelope were standing on the roof of the building across the street. Ruffalo made a small bow, and they headed for the next building. Soon they were lost to sight.

Kate was trying to get out of her handcuffs. Sooner or later he police were going to try to assault the floor she was on. She knew too much about police procedure to think they wouldn't. She had tried to talk to the woman, and to Jimmy, but it appeared that both had taken more drugs. Both were less and less in contact with reality.

Kate heard a scratching and a whining from behind a doorway at the end of the floor. After a few seconds, the two perps heard it, too.

"What's that, sweetie?"

"Cops! It's a damned K-9 unit."

Jimmy shook his head. "No. They wouldn't use dogs that'd make noise. It's a stray dog. Maybe there's a way to get out of here the cops don't know about. Go check it out."

"I don't want to leave you, Jimmy."

"Go do it. I've got a gun. If it is the cops, I'll finish her." He gestured towards Kate.

The woman walked towards the door, looking back over her shoulder at every step to make sure Jimmy was okay. She reached the door and stood there.

"Go ahead, sweetie, Open it." Jimmy encouraged her.

"What if it's the cops?"

"Use your gun. We'll go out together, with company." Jimmy laughed at that thought.

She opened the door, looking down to where a dog would be. What she saw stunned her for a split second. Instead of a dog and a cop, there was a huge wolf, standing on his back legs, howling madly. In the second that she froze, a tall blonde woman stepped out from behind the wolf and flattened her with one punch. Ruffalo made a mighty leap and landed next to Jimmy. He grabbed the gun from Jimmy's hand and slapped him across the face. The slap was enough to knock Jimmy unconscious.

Captain Gates checked her notes. "Let me see if I have this straight, Detective Beckett. You were held hostage, but your captors were doing drugs?"

"Yes, sir. Jimmy, the male, was badly wounded and the woman kept giving him drugs. I checked, sir. They had a whole pharmacy with them. In fact, it looks like they probably robbed a pharmacy."

"And when they passed out, you retrieved your handcuff key, picked up all of the weapons and used your cell to call us?"

"Yes, sir." Kate tried to appear as honest as she could.

"And the loud roar that everyone heard?"

Kate shrugged. "It sounded like it was outside to me, sir. It might have been an aircraft, or some kind of machinery. I couldn't say, sir."

Captain Gates decided to ask no more questions. "The paramedics have cleared you, Beckett." She turned to Rick. "You should take your wife home, Mr. Castle. You should come in after lunch tomorrow to complete your formal report."

As Rick and Kate were leaving, they ran into a familiar face. The policewoman from the night Ruffalo arrived. "Excuse me, Detective Beckett? I'm Officer Cortez. The woman is awake. She says she was attacked by a ten foot tall wolf and a gigantic blonde Amazon."

Kate shrugged. "Considering the amount of drugs those two had on them, I'm not surprised."

Cortez looked conflicted. "Still, it seems odd…" She let her voice trail off.

"Of course if you want to put out a BOLO on the Big Bad Wolf and his girlfriend, go right ahead." Castle said, smiling. "You might want to check building permits for any pigs building homes in Manhattan."

Cortez shook her head. "Just an odd coincidence, Detective." She walked off.

Fortunately, it was quite late by the time they all got back to the Castles' loft. They again snuck Ruffalo in. "We have to find a better way to move our friendly local ET astronomer around." Castle said.

"Hiding under a blanket is no fun." Ruffalo admitted.

"We'll find something." Kate said, hugging her huge friend. "Thank you so much, Ruffalo."

Somewhere under his fur, the astronomer blushed. "It was the least I could do. You two have been so nice to me."

"Tonight we should celebrate." Martha said. "Only the best."

"Could we order a pizza?" Ruffalo asked. "I really like those."

"A pizza?" Rick said with a smile. "We might want more."

"How many more?" Ruffalo asked.

"As many as you want." Kate said, scratching Ruffalo behind the ears.

Many, many pizzas later, the Castle family and their friends went to bed.

When they returned to Penelope's makeshift movie studio the next day, they had a very large crate with wheels on it, marked "Special Effects", for Ruffalo to make the trip in. They also made sure he had plenty of pizza.

At the end of his visit, they gathered in the Castle's living room. Ruffalo stood there with boxes and boxes of books and DVDs covering almost every aspect of astronomy.

Ruffalo sighed. "If I can convince King Antipater to fund it, I have the technology to build the biggest telescope in our history. But an orbital telescope like you have is out of the question, I'm afraid."

Kate commiserated. "You'll still have enough work to keep you busy for the rest of your life. And you'll be the most famous astronomer in all of Alexandria the Farthest. That's something."

Ruffalo hugged each of his friends and thanked them for their help. Then a hologram of a grandmotherly looking woman appeared in the loft. "Ready, Ruffalo?" She asked.

Ruffalo nodded. "Be sure to take all of my boxes, too." Then he and his boxes simply disappeared.

"Are you headed back to LA?" Rick asked Penelope.

She nodded. "Absolutely. I sent my agent the rough cut of my short film. He loved it. In fact, he showed it to some friends at HBO and they were very impressed. I'm hoping to get something in development soon."

"Development hell?" Rick asked, having some knowledge of Tinsel Town.

"I'm afraid so." Penelope looked at Rick and then at Kate. "Rick, I know that you always see Kate whenever you think of Nikki, but since the original Nikki Heat movie went straight to DVD, there hasn't been much interest in another one."

"Tell me about it." He said glumly.

"So, if I could put some people together, you wouldn't mind if I tried playing Nikki?"

Rick quickly looked at Kate, who smiled at the actress. "I'd love it if you played Nikki and so would Rick."

Several months later Rick and Kate got a call from Penelope. "Can the four of you come to LA in about six months? I found a financial angel for my film. I'll be doing a full length feature based on my short film."

"Great! We'll be there." Castle said. "How will you replace Ruffalo?"

"Oh, I got a letter from him. Those hydrogen breathers think he's doing such a great job, they're going to let him come back to Earth for a longer vacation."

Rick and Kate looked at each other. "Um, is that wise?" Rick asked.

Penelope laughed. "Rick! This is LA. Do you really think seven foot tall bipedal wolf is going cause a comment? All I have to do is say it's all special effects. And, really nobody cares. It's not like LA isn't full of people who aren't at all human. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?"

Both Rick and Kate shook their heads. "Okay. Let us know exactly when shooting starts and we'll be there."

Once the phone call was over, Rick frowned. "Do you think I should take one of my lawyers with us?"

"Duh! More like all of them."

"I'll charter a plane so you can take your gun."

"Sure. What could possibly go wrong?"