CH1
(May)
Kate was sitting at her desk sipping the sludge that the precinct called coffee, making a face of disgust. "I can't take this crap, I need real coffee. Something to wake me up."
Kate was just rounding the corner when she remembered her coffee. "There is a coffee shop just around the corner from the precinct." And it had Kate walking that way, when suddenly she started jogging or she was going to miss him.
Kate made it to the door and stopped and waited outside for the door to open, except it didn't. "Maybe I'm early." Kate talked to herself and went inside. Kate gave her order and started looking around, he should already be here.
Kate had her coffee and was standing there sipping her coffee while she waited. Problem was she had finished drinking her coffee and he still wasn't here. "Damn it, where are you? And why am I waiting here for you anyway?"
Kate ordered another cup of coffee and took it with her to the precinct.
Stepping out onto the 4th floor felt really familiar for a change, someplace she hadn't been for a long time now. "Long time?" Where the hell did that thought come from?
She was in early and Ryan and Espo weren't here yet. It allowed her a moment to put her weapon away while turning on her computer. "Why is it taking so long?" Kate slapped the monitor. "And why isn't it a flat screen?"
Kate looked around and no one had a flat screen. "WHY?"
"Morning Beckett." Roy calls out as he walks past her and into his office.
"Morning sir." Kate answers back happy to see him, and then suddenly pissed as hell. "You back stabbing, lying son of a, ..." Kate slapped her hand over her mouth. Where the hell did that come from?
Roy was at his doorway again. "Don't forget to pick up Castle this morning for the Tisdale case from yesterday." Roy goes back inside his office and sits down. "Ryan and Espo picked up the case during your day off yesterday."
"CASTLE!" Her favorite writer. The Tisdale case. All of that sounded so familiar, so very familiar.
"No sir, I know just where he lives sir." Kate answers and grabs her weapon, car keys and her coat and heads down to the parking garage.
Crown Victoria. "The Charger must be in the shop. Just why are all of the Chargers missing?" Kate looked around.
Kate pulled up outside of Castle's loft, somehow knowing that he lived here. Kate held up her badge to the doorman. "I'm here to see Richard Castle." Kate comments as she starts walking past him.
"Mr. Castle doesn't live here anymore officer. …. He moved out roughly a month ago. His old unit is presently empty waiting for the new owner to move in." The door man calls after her just as Kate opens the outside door.
MOVED! But he lives here. I know he lives here. "Where did he move to?" Kate turns back, surprised. I even know what his loft looks like, I've been inside several times, and never in my lifetime.
"I'm sorry officer, I don't have that information. I do know that he didn't move out of state." The doorman offers.
"Thanks." Kate tells him and gets back into her car. "But he lives here." Kate started her car and headed back to the precinct to look up where Castle had moved to.
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Alexis ran down the stairs and into the kitchen and slammed into her dad. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Alexis was happy.
Rick was still trying to figure out why he was in a kitchen, let alone this kitchen. "You're welcome pumpkin. … And why, ... what am I thanking you for?" Rick was even more confused now. He was in a kitchen and he was pretty sure it was his kitchen, it just didn't feel like his kitchen.
"You got me a puppy daddy." Alexis looks up him.
Rick looked down at his daughter and she was young, … again. Though she was always young in his eyes, just that now she even looked younger. "Puppy, what puppy?" Rick was starting to think he was losing his mind.
Then a puppy came running into the kitchen after finally making it down the stairs since he wasn't used to going up and down them just yet. He came flying into the kitchen and put on the brakes only to slide across the floor till he was almost all the way to the other side. Then he scrambled while raking his big puppy feet across the smooth floor and made it over to Alexis and started jumping all over her legs.
Alexis sat down on the floor and took the puppy in her arms and started hugging him while the puppy squirmed in her arms trying his best to give Alexis's face a bath. Getting Alexis to chuckle.
"Puppy." Rick looked down at the two of them. "When did we get a puppy?" Rick tried to remember going out and coming home with a puppy. Any puppy, let alone what looked like a Golden Retriever puppy.
At least it was a real dog puppy, not some stupid Chihuahua puppy. It was going to grow up into a real dog and not stay a wind-up toy.
"What's his name?" Rick asks, since he didn't have a clue.
"Mellow daddy." Alexis looked up at Rick like he had lost his mind. How could he not know the name of the puppy. "Can we show mom the new puppy?" Alexis looks up hopeful.
"Your mother? … Your mother lives in California pumpkin." Rick was pretty sure she did, though he was confused about that. It felt like he was supposed to be having coffee with her right now.
"No dad, Kate is at work." Alexis knew her mom worked today, and would be home with her suitcase later tonight and stay with them.
"Kate!" Rick's head shot up and it had him looking out the window at nothing. Not Meredith but Kate, Captain Kate Beckett of the 12th precinct.
Just how was Kate mom when he knew they weren't even married. And yet it felt like they had been together for years, just not in this house.
HOUSE! Why were they in a house in the first place? They lived downtown in the loft, didn't they?
Go see Kate. … Maybe she had some answers, since he was fresh out. "You need to get dressed first. You can't go see anyone dressed like that." Rick points out that Alexis was still in her PJ's.
"Ok daddy." And Alexis was up and running for the stairs with Mellow right on her heels, at least until the stairs where he was forced to stop and look up the stairs, wondering why his best friend had to keep going up and down these scary things.
Still his best friend went up them so he was too, so up the stairs he went and then kicked in the after burners to catch up.
"Captain Kate Beckett." Rick tries her name on for size. Somehow it actually warmed his heart. "Now how do we get there, and where is there. …. Hell where is HERE, so we can get back." Rick didn't even know his own address.
It was now that Rick saw some mail sitting on the breakfast bar, likely from yesterday that he hadn't opened yet. Rick picked them up and all but one said the same thing.
Richard Castle, 9 Timber Trail, Rye, New York 10580. "Rye, we live in Rye? That's upstate New York, isn't it?" Sounded like if they were going to get into downtown Manhattan they were going to need transportation.
Buick or the Ferrari? Then he looked at the other piece of mail. Katherine Beckett. 9 Timber Trail, Rye, New York 10580.
"KATE LIVES HERE!?" Rick looked at his ring finger that was empty. How can she live here if he wasn't married? Were they living together? Going to live together, only hadn't moved her yet?
THIS WAS NUTS!
Ok think Rick, think. Alexis called her mom and he could see her. He could even feel her in his heart. Kate Beckett was special, really, really special.
"Keys." Rick put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a fob that had a Mercedes symbol on it. "I thought I had a Buick." Rick was confused.
Rick was still looking over the mail, his, Kate's and the keys in his hand. "Can we take Mellow with us daddy?" Alexis was back.
Rick shook his head to try and clear it. "I suppose, we need his leash." Rick comments and watches Alexis hold it up.
"Hook him up than and let's go." Rick tells her and heads for the door that leads to the garage. Just how did he know that it did, since this place didn't feel right to him.
Rick stepped out into the garage and found two cars to choose from. Rick looked at the closest car first.
2009 Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S
The keys in his hand were for a Mercedes, so who's was the Maserati and where was his Ferrari? Not that he minded owning a Maserati. Rick tried opening it. "Locked. … I need the keys."
Rick pressed the button on the keys he did have and watched the lights flash and then it sound two beeps for the next car over. "Get in and get buckled up and I'll be right back." Rick tells Alexis.
Rick somehow knew where the keys were, or in this case the spare set of keys, and was soon back pressing the button for the Maserati and sat inside. It actually felt familiar somehow sitting in the passenger seat.
Rick started searching it and eventually found the registration form. Katherine Beckett, 9 Timber Trail, Rye, New York 10580. "This is Kate's car." Rick suddenly could almost see Kate sitting in the driver's seat next to him with Alexis in the back seat.
Except it didn't make sense, none of this did. And yet it also felt right somehow.
Rick took the registration card and the keys with him and re-locked the car and got in the Mercedes. "12th precinct." Rick whispers out and presses the button to open the garage door and starts the car, and pulls up the navigation display and finds the 12th precinct already programmed into the car.
Rick knew he, they, had a Maserati so what was this car, so he searched for the registration card.
2009 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG
"O-kay, that makes things easy. …. Ready to go back there?" Rick looks into the rear view mirror.
Alexis had the puppy in her lap. "Ready dad." Alexis was anxious to go see Kate. Alexis was confused too. She didn't remember living in this house or ever having a puppy. She did however remember her dad having a car a lot like this one, just different.
What Alexis wanted was for her mom to explain all this to her. Her dad might have answers, it's just that Alexis wanted to hear it from Kate, her mother. Who was and wasn't her mother. It was one of the countless reasons she wanted to see Kate.
A little ways down Timber Trail for a right turn onto Polly Park Road followed by a right on North Street to get to the access ramp for Hutchinson River Parkway. This continued for a number of miles before transferring to Cross Country Parkway. This lasted for a few miles before transferring to Henry Hudson Parkway. Then a left at Canal Street until he reached the 12th precinct according to his GPS unit.
Then came the fun of finding someplace to park. The entire trip had taken just under 55 minutes. There was some traffic, but not bad. He knew that on better days it would take a little less time and on worse days it might take closer to 2 hours. Still he doesn't remember Kate complaining about the commute, not that he can remember Kate having said anything at all about it.
"Let's go see if we can surprise her." Rick offers as he helps Alexis out of the car along with Mellow who was thankfully still on his leash.
Rick with Alexis and Mellow in tow went inside. "We're here to see Katherine Beckett." Rick explains, choosing to leave off her rank. "I'm Richard Castle and this is Alexis Castle."
Rick watched and listened.
Kate had just gotten to her desk and getting her computer back to life and noticed that Ryan and Espo had gotten in while she was gone. "Castle, Castle." Kate talks to herself. They wanted to talk to him about the case they had. A somehow really familiar case.
Kate picked up her desk phone when it rang. "Beckett. … Castle is here?" That got Ryan to look up and Espo to turn in his chair. "Yeah, send him up." Kate hung up and gave up looking up where he lived and simply waited for Castle to get to her.
Kate was sitting there looking towards where the elevator was, even if she couldn't see it from her desk. Then a young girl who had a puppy on a leash came around the corner. She was younger than Kate thought she would be as soon as she saw her.
The hair color was about right, if not a little darker perhaps. However it was the "MOM!" And Alexis running for her and end up with her arms around the young girl, that suddenly for reasons that Kate didn't understand, that had both of them in tears.
Kate was squeezing Alexis for all she was worth, while feeling Alexis hug her back. "Alexis honey!" Kate knew her name. Kate didn't understand how she did, but she did.
Kate buried her head into the young girl and breathed her in. It felt right somehow. Even having her in her arms felt right too.
"Hi Kate." Rick offered weakly.
Kate didn't let go of Alexis and didn't even try and wipe away the tears. "Hi babe." Kate smiles up at him and the recognition gets Rick to smile back at her. Plus Kate didn't use his name but her term of endearment for him.
Kate pulled back from Alexis just far enough to place her hands on each side of Alexis's face. "Look at you, you're so young." Kate was interrupted from saying anything else by a puppy that wanted in on the action. "And who is this?" Kate released Alexis and picked up the puppy who instantly did his best to lick Kate's face clean.
"His name is Mellow. … And what did you do to your hair mom?" Alexis tilted her head a little to look at Kate from a different side.
Kate did her best to hold the hyper puppy in place and chuckled. "This is what I look like. … Or did." Kate looked up at Rick. "How did you know to come here? And why are you two not at the loft?" Kate had countless questions, these two simply came out first.
"Apparently I sold the loft and bought a house, along with two new cars, one of which is in your name." Rick points out.
"MINE? … But I don't own a car." Kate states, though she did own a motorcycle.
"Well you do now." Rick pulls out the registration paper and hands it to Kate, who reads it.
Rick can see Kate's eyes open wide. "I OWN A BRAND NEW MASERATI!?" Kate could easily see her name and signature on the paper.
"You taking us for a ride Beckett?" Espo speaks up, since him and Ryan had been paying attention to everything that was going on. Including hearing the word, MOM.
"NO!" Kate gives Espo and quick look, before turning back to Rick and Alexis. "I don't understand."
"Neither do I, since the car I drove out here in isn't one I remember ever owning. Plus you have mail at the house that has the house address on it." Rick fishes it out of his pocket too and hands it over.
Kate has no problem seeing her name with 9 Timber Trail, Rye, New York 10580 typed in. The return address was for 1Police Plaza (1 PP). Kate instantly ripped it open and found a single sheet of paper.
"It's their acknowledgment for my change of address correction and asking that I review the address listed for any errors. … And you got this at this new house of yours?" Kate questions.
Kate watched Rick nod his head. "I also found this." Rick hands over his phone to Kate and watches her unlock his iPhone 3 and look at the screen.
"This says there was an appointment to move all my stuff. … with my address!" Kate looks up shocked. She was moved? What would she have found if she had gone home tonight before seeing Castle?
"Mom?" Kate looked at Alexis who looked about ready to cry.
"Oh, honey. … Come here." Kate pulled Alexis into her for a hug after putting the puppy back on the floor. "I don't understand Rick. … Any of this." Kate looks up at Rick who looked like he was just as lost as she was.
"And how did you know the code to my phone Kate?" Rick asks, getting an even more confused Kate looking back at him.
"I just did. … And it looks thin for some reason." It was still just a bit bulky, however it was thin compared to what she remembered. "What, ..." Kate closed her mouth since she was in the precinct.
"Kate?" Rick whispered and held onto Kate's left hand and held it up.
Kate sucked in her breath and slapped her hand over her mouth. "I'm married?" Kate talks through her hand.
"When the hell did I get married?" Kate whispers out hoping only just loud enough for Rick to hear and not Espo and Ryan.
"I'll see if I can find out while talking with my lawyer. Is there anyone you can remember marrying?" Rick asks as his heart sinks. Kate was married and he didn't think it was him.
Kate simply shook her head. "What the hell is going on Castle?"
"Find out what you can and we can talk when you get home." Rick chuckled. "Home! … Plan ahead a little tonight, it took me close to an hour to drive out here." Rick warns her.
"Do your work and I'll do mine and we can compare. We'll see you later tonight." Rick leaned in and kissed Kate. "Say goodbye pumpkin, we have places to go."
"You're coming home mom?" Alexis wasn't ready to leave and she hadn't asked her questions yet.
"I'll be there honey." Kate hugged and kissed her. "Take good care of your puppy." Kate reminds her.
Kate watched them both leave and felt the distance between them that came with that start pulling at her heart. "I better not be married." Kate didn't feel like she loved anyone else, so how could she be married?
And it suddenly hit Kate. She did love both of them and Kate suddenly cursed silently at herself. She had not thought of looking to see if Rick had a ring. If he didn't and she did, what did that mean for them?
This day was just too screwed up. It got Kate to turn back to her computer and fire off an email request to 1PP. She wanted to know if they had her as being married? If not that meant it was just an engagement ring and not too late to tell whoever he is, no thanks and give it back to him.
It's just that the ring wasn't like any normal engagement ring she was use to seeing. The main gem in the middle was obviously not a diamond that she was used to seeing, however the stones that circled it obviously were.
Maybe if she tried looking for something similar she could find out how much it cost and that might give her a clue as to who gave it to her. She obviously knew him, whoever he is.
Kate soon found that trying to do it backwards was proving to be difficult. Her search did show that there was a jeweler just down the road a few blocks. Maybe she could get it appraised during lunch?
Just did she want to know what the guy who bought it for her had spent on it? … Yes, yes she did.
Mark Broumand 5.30ct Fancy Yellow Oval Cut Diamond Engagement Ring VS2
Kate was standing at the counter while watching the guy who had come up front from someplace in the back of the store as he was bent over with his eyepiece in his eye.
"It's a nice ring, very nice. The main and even side settings are excellent. The main stone doesn't appear to have any flaws that I can easily detect. It has obviously been modified to fit your finger nicely." He hands it back to Kate.
"Can you offer a guess as to what it's worth?" Kate hated asking. It made her look like she didn't trust the man who had given it to her.
"I would say your man has chosen nicely and would say it is worth somewhere between $50 and $60, … thousand." He just couldn't resist teasing Kate and had delayed before adding the last part.
$60 thousand, … dollars? Kate was tempted to keep it off and place it where she couldn't lose it, or risk having it fall off her finger.
Still Kate put it back on and prayed.