Chipping Through the Ice
Chapter 1
"Sliders!" Martha exclaims. "When I was in labor with Richard, the nurses wouldn't allow me to eat anything except ice chips. I almost broke a tooth."
"Nurses, Mother?" Castle queries. "Didn't I hear you tell an interviewer that I was born on the subway on the way to the hospital?"
Martha fingers her chunky necklace. "Yes, well, I may have embroidered a bit for the press. I did have to take the subway to get to the hospital. I certainly didn't have anyone to drive me in a fancy SUV."
Castle shakes his head. "Mother, Toyota didn't make SUVs when I was born, and I bought the Acura for its safety rating, not the luxury appointments, but only the best for Kate and our child. And that goes for the sliders, too. I had Remy's make them especially for her. Freshly ground meat and double ketchup. She has to keep her strength up, and until Callie decides to greet the world, Kate is still eating for two."
"It is lovely that you decided to honor Callie Lowell by naming your daughter after her," Martha remarks.
Kate takes a healthy bite of a mini burger. "Callie started us down a new and wonderful path. I'm not sure there would have been an Out of the Cold if she hadn't been so determined to look into her parents' death."
"The ring she made wasn't bad either," Rick notes, handing Kate a king-sized shake. "Here. Calcium for Callie's strong bones."
Kate runs the palm of her hand over her belly. "The way she's kicked the past few months, I don't think we'll have to worry about her strength."
Castle feathers a kiss to Kate's hospital-gown-draped Callie-bump. "No doubt she's inherited the incomparable Beckett limbs."
Kate winces as the fetal monitor shows the start of another contraction. "I should call the nurse." Castle worries, pointing at the cannula leading to Kate's back. "Maybe you need more joy juice."
Kate reaches for his hand. "I'm fine. Just a little tightness. At least I know something is happening."
"Something is definitely happening," Castle declares. "We're going to have a baby!"
Chase Fairweather regards the plans for reactivating the railroad yard. It and the cars in it have been sitting practically unmaintained for years. About the only thing the company is doing in terms of upkeep is having a service mow the grass around the edges now and then, and employing a guard to keep anyone from trying to steal metal parts for scrap.
Even if passenger travel is a losing proposition, there is plenty of money to be made these days in moving freight, especially if the company can get tax subsidies for reducing greenhouse gases by putting the transport containers on the rails instead of having semis burn diesel to haul them on the highways.
Chase's first step will be to take his team to inspect the equipment and figure out just what it will cost to get the equipment up and running again. After that, he can throw some numbers at the board. His assistant is making the arrangements now. He should be able to start putting some figures together in a day or two.
Nurse Kelly places the newly emerged Callie on Kate's chest. The strands of a full head of hair peeking out from beneath the baby's cap are dark brown like Rick's and what he guesses might have been Kate's original color. Dr. Francis declared that everything that is supposed to be there, is, but Kate counts Callie's fingers anyway, while Castle beams.
Kate both dreads and looks forward to what will be coming next. The parade of visitors will include not only her father, who she wants to see but her Aunt Theresa. She also expects a stream of friends and colleagues from the precinct and Out of the Cold. It's not that she doesn't like company, she just wants some time alone with her daughter and her husband first. Callie's fist wraps around her father's little finger. The baby's already got Rick wrapped around hers.
Jackson gazes through the glass separating him from his newborn granddaughter. He had to wait for her to be brought back to the nursery. She was with her parents, as she should have been. Richard has turned out to be one hell of a father. Hunt can't take any credit for that, but he's proud anyway.
The covert grandfather can't make up his mind if the baby looks more like Kate or Richard. Who can tell with babies, anyway? In any case, compared with all the other infants, Callie Beckett-Castle is far and away the most beautiful. Hunt is absolutely sure of that.
Castle triple checks the attachment of Callie's safety seat before sliding behind the wheel of his new vehicle. He turns to Kate, who is shifting around in the passenger seat. "Are you all right? I can adjust your lumbar support, and I have pillows."
"Fine, Babe. Dr. Francis said I'd be a little sore for a while, but I've felt worse after a good sparing session in the gym. Just get us home, OK."
Castle starts the ignition. "Family Beckett-Castle is loftward bound. Alexis promised she would have lunch waiting. She's keeping Mother away from the kitchen, so it should be edible. Big sister says she told Custos that we're bringing home the baby and she thinks he understood her. Nevertheless, she'll be holding on to him when we come in until we have a chance to introduce Callie to her big furry guardian. From then on, anyone who tries to get near our newest edition uninvited will have a muzzle in his face and 180 pounds of protective canine on his chest."
Kate reaches across the console to put a hand on her husband's knee. "And you wouldn't have it any other way."
"Where the safety of my family is concerned, you know it. Dog or commando squad, whatever it takes."
Gunther Klemperer walks along the tracks where the railroad cars have been idled ever since he can remember. Guarding the yard has been an easy gig. He's had to chase off a few kids now and then. There's a cable running from an electrical line to one of the old freezer cars. He thought for a while that some homeless might have rigged it so they could camp out in there, but he hasn't seen anyone. For the most part, he's been able to spend his time reading.
Gunther always carefully hides them from his buddies at Louie's bar, but he loves romance novels. The guard can't get enough of heroes and heroines overcoming the odds to find happiness with each other. He didn't have much luck with either of his marriages, but the books give him hope.
Unfortunately, if Gunther is reading the tea leaves right, he won't have much chance to read anymore. Big shot Chase Fairweather is determined to make these old relics run again. Gunther surveys the fading paint and rusting metal. Fairweather is going to have one heck of a job on his hands to refurbish them.
Gunther muses again about the power running into the freezer car. If it is something he should have reported and didn't, he could be in trouble when Fairweather shows up. Making his way to the still shiny hulk, he examines the heavy doors. The padlock securing them doesn't look like it's been touched in years, and he has no key for it anyway. He's checked on what he could. If anything turns up in there, the bosses can't blame it on him. He reaches into his back pocket for a slim paperback volume. He has time to read a few chapters before his shift is over, and after that, he can hit Louie's for a beer.