Close Encounters 29: Octopussy
for all of you
who, during hiatus, asked for Spy again and again
with all my heart
The night before their meeting with the Director, Kate Beckett Rodgers had a dream.
She wasn't the one who usually had dreams, those were left to CIA Special Agent in Charge Richard Castle - or Rick Rodgers, as her accountant husband was known to the world. Rick was the one to dream of his plans and visions for their future - but even after she woke, it clung to her like the fingers of mist in a low-lying field, clammy and haunting but already a ghost.
She couldn't remember what it was, only how it had made her feel.
Kate turned over in bed, the window filled with a pregnant moon. The light was yellow but the face of the moon was nearly red, a sight she hadn't seen - or perhaps, more accurately, hadn't paid attention to - ever before her in life.
A blood moon.
She slid out of bed, glancing over her shoulder at Castle. He was asleep, as rare as that was these days. And because he was in those scant handful of hours where he did get restful sleep, he slept deeply, and she wouldn't wake him for a dream.
She moved barefoot through the faint chill of the air-conditioned room; Castle was so warm that she woke up sweating if they didn't run the AC even at night in late September. She slipped out of the bedroom and moved down the hall for James's door, easing it open to peer inside.
The boy was on his back, sleeping like his daddy, one arm up and the other tucked around his elephant. She didn't see Sasha, so the dog must have gone downstairs. James's first birthday was coming up, and they had tentatively planned a dinner party with their extended family. And Castle's mother; she had to remember to make a point of inviting his mother.
As she had thought, she found Sasha in the kitchen, asleep in front of the open basement door, her fur pressed against the baby gate. Kate had been quiet enough that the dog hadn't stirred, and she tried not to wake her.
Now that she had found everyone, her family safe, she didn't know what to do. The dream had faded but the feelings hadn't, churned-up turmoil and frustrated grief, and it was somehow worse, not knowing what it had been. She couldn't battle ghosts, ghosts of the past, ghosts of the dead.
She stood in the living room before the back windows, looking out at the shadowed lawn and the tool shed, the neglected garden. They'd been on their island for the last month, and while their security team had kept things running here, their house still felt empty.
It would just take a little time to settle, she told herself. They'd only been back for a day, and they were taking a flight to DC tomorrow morning to meet the Director, so of course she still felt at loose ends.
Colin Hunt was out there somewhere, acting as their agent inside the Collective, while John Black was trying to disappear off the Task Force's radar. They had a lot of loose ends, she realized, and the disturbance she felt was natural.
But it was time to get to back to work, do damage control, reestablish their professional lives.
She was grateful, at least, that she and Castle were solid personally. They had only grown stronger, their marriage, their relationship, their family. Their partnership.
She might not be able to fall back to sleep tonight, but she would have other nights. That was important to remember.
They had a lifetime ahead of them.
It was James's first plane ride, and he wasn't even a year old.
Castle held the boy against his chest while Kate carried their overnight bag, following him down the jetway. He glanced over his shoulder at her, fingers tightening on the edge of the carseat, but she was at his back.
Their meeting with the Director wasn't until five - evidently he was squeezing them in at the end of day, not a good sign - but they were taking the second flight of the morning since James was with them, making a day of it. They'd return tomorrow.
Kate caught him by the back pocket of his jeans, tugged. "Leave it here, Rick."
He glanced back again, saw she'd stopped him by the door used by the ground crew. A collection of overweening luggage was piled there, all tagged with neon orange stickers.
Just like the carseat. Castle dropped it there, surprised by the informality of the arrangement.
"Seems dangerous," he muttered.
"We're all ticketed passengers," she said quietly. "Move along, babe. You're holding up the line."
Ticketed passengers. Right. Castle didn't appreciate having to take a commercial airlines to DC, but the presence of their son necessitated such a flight. He had tried calling Marjorie back, pleading a fake illness or grumpiness, but the Director's secretary had seen right through him.
And you just didn't cross Marjorie. Especially, Castle thought, when you might need her help again one day to free your wife from FBI custody.
Never knew with Beckett.
He stepped onto the jet, hunching his shoulders reflexively, James attentive and thoughtful in his arms. He had a teething ring in his mouth - shaped like a hippo, because Beckett had a twisted sense of humor - but he was gnawing away on it happily, his eyes taking in the whole scene.
"All the way to the back," Kate said, nudging on him.
"We should've gotten first class," he groaned, eyeing the cramped aisle beyond the not that luxurious front rows. Damn, three by the window, four across, three more. Passengers were filling in behind them and also moving down the second aisle, and it was a full flight.
"Castle. Move your ass."
He grunted at her sharp jab, rather liking it anyway, but he got moving, inching his forearm up so he could brace James's head. Good thing, because an asshole stepped right out into him from his seat, turning and lifting his arms to the overhead compartment, and Castle just barely saved his kid from getting elbowed in the face.
"Watch it," he growled, feeling the snap in his chest.
The guy turned, a nasty look on his face, but he shut his mouth when he saw Castle, drew back into the narrow footwell in front of his seat. His quick movement smacked the back of his head against the low ceiling, and Castle moved on with a warm sense of glowering justice.
Kate's fingers came to the back of his arm, stroking, soothing, curling around his bicep. His shoulders didn't come down from his ears but the wolf in him seemed to sit back on his haunches, head cocked to listen for her command.
James peered around his shoulder and gave a squeak of surprise at seeing his mother, ducked his head into Castle's neck, flirting. Or shy. Though Castle had seen more often than not that the James's shyness was a cover for the intensity of his emotion.
He nudged his lips into the boy's head for a quick kiss, his eyes scanning the aisle numbers as he moved towards the very back.
"Here it is," Kate said softly. "Against the window, love."
He nodded, shifting into the tight quarters of the row marked 48, seats A and B. He felt sorry for C, whoever that was, though not too sorry, since Kate had the middle seat and they hoped to leave James in his lap for the duration.
He was hunched over, James clinging to him like a koala, trying to get situated, moving aside seat belt straps and crinkled blankets and a pillow, already uncomfortable. Kate had pulled the strap of the bag off over her head, and she was shifting to shove it into the overhead compartment, her t-shirt riding up on her hips and the taut, long line of her body stretched beside him.
Damn, what a beautiful woman.
James sucked on his teething ring and jerked it out of his mouth. "Mama."
Kate dropped back on her heels and lowered her arms, a soft smile on her face at being called by name. "Hey, wolf," she said softly. "Here, Rick, let me get that stuff." She was already sidling into the seats, moving the shit off the seat he couldn't get to, and he could finally sit down.
She had her hand cupped protectively over James's head until Castle had settled, and then she stepped back out to grab James's bag from the overnight. Castle shifted in the seat to attempt to get comfortable, putting James on one thigh so he could lift a hip and tug his phone from his back pocket.
Kate came back to them, took his phone from him and slid it into the outside pocket of James's travel bag. She folded easily into the seat and clicked her seatbelt on, the bag in her lap as she made faces at James.
Castle put on his own seatbelt, the soft click settling him, and then he sat James back against his chest, a hand up to keep the teething ring from falling to the floor.
"Well," Kate said, letting out a breath. "So far, so good."
Castle frowned fiercely at her. "Don't jinx us, woman."
She just laughed.
"Let's make a note of this, Jay," she stage-whispered. "Daddy does not enjoy coach."
Castle grumbled at them both, but he was leading the way off the plane with such damn relief that she couldn't keep teasing him. He'd been mostly miserable the whole flight long, cramped and yet trying to give her enough room for her own long legs in the center seat. At her other side had been a perfectly obliging but tall man who'd said not a word and had pointedly pulled out earbuds and an ipad and ignored them.
But it had left very little leg room.
James had made only a initial startled chuckle during takeoff, his eyes growing wide at the sensation of fighting gravity, but he'd stayed content and quiet in Castle's lap for the short flight.
However, James looked to be just as pleased to be leaving the plane as Castle. He was even clapping, sitting up tall in his father's arms, beaming at everyone as they waited in line to disembark. The flight attendants, who apparently hadn't even known James was there, were charmed by James's applause, and they cooed over him and tried to tickle his chin as they passed.
James gave his mother a what are they doing? kind of look, as if bewildered by their sugary-sweet, dramatic attention, and Kate winced for her forgetfulness.
She really needed to have Martha over more often; she needed to be purposeful about that relationship so that James wasn't astonished when confronted with grandmotherly, cooing behavior. Martha treated him the same way, a way unlike anyone else in the boy's life, and maybe every baby needed that, somehow. Needed someone who cooed and fussed over them.
She'd be better; she could do better.
Down the jetway once more, this time at Dulles International, and the throng and noise of people made James duck his head down to Castle's chest and stay there. Kate had found the carseat, bright orange tag around the strap, and she carried it herself, along with the bag, out of the crowd and towards a quiet spot along one wall.
Castle let out a relieved breath and she put down the seat, reached out to tug down James's jacket. Castle maneuvered the kid in his arms and fixed his clothes, lifting the boy to his face and sniffing.
"Whew, yeah. Okay, I'll change him if you wait right here," Castle said.
She lifted an eyebrow. "The men's restroom is hardly-"
"No, there's a family bathroom," he promised. "Just down from here. Right past the McDonald's. I saw the sign."
"Oh, well, I'll just go with you and help."
He winced and glanced down at the carseat. "I'd rather not carry all our crap in there, Kate. Just - wait for me?"
She sighed, waved her hand in dismissal. She didn't much want their bags touching the floor in there either. "Fine. Be quick. I'm starving and I'm not eating McDonalds for lunch."
He gave her a fast grin, taking the baby's bag from where she'd settled it on top of the overnight case. A kiss to her lips in good-bye, James's fingers tangling for a moment in her hair, and then Castle was striding away from her, making his way through the pedestrian foot traffic.
He was a tall man, but so were many. He was broad-shouldered, but there were others with that same athletic form.
But she still knew him from any distance, could keep her eyes easily on him in the crowd, and she didn't lose him at all until he disappeared inside the family bathroom.
She sighed and sank back to the carpeted wall to wait.
They snagged a cab outside the airport, Castle handing the driver their two bags while Kate slid inside and sat James on her lap. His eyes were heavy, though he was still awake and naptime was hours away, and she hoped to put him down after lunch.
Castle leaned into the back and ducked his head inside. "Hey, you want the carseat?"
"Isn't it law in Virginia?" she asked. It wasn't in New York, and she had assumed they'd use it for the longer drive to the hotel. "See if you can get it in here. Can you?"
"Yeah, shouldn't be that hard." Castle settled the carseat onto the middle space, a knee in the seat as he balanced, belting it in. James leaned his cheek against the side, and Kate chuckled, tugging him back so Castle could work.
"In a minute, wolf. Let Daddy get it secure."
James twisted in her arms and climbed to stand on her thighs, hanging on to her shoulders as he peered out the back window. He'd been singularly closed-mouthed for their whole flight, a solitary mama when she'd sat down and not a word since.
"You feeling overwhelmed, or do you just not have anything to say to all this new stuff?"
James turned his head only slightly, giving her a fast look before he stared out the window again. She thought he was watching the driver load their bags in the trunk, and sure enough, she felt it slam shut and then James craned his neck to follow the man's progress to the front.
"He's going to drive us to our hotel," she murmured in his ear. "We're in a taxi."
James didn't bother repeating any of her words, but he did turn his head back to her with a round, surprised face. She laughed and kissed his cheeks, catching his hand as he moved to put it in his mouth.
"Don't chew on your fingers. Castle, where's his chew toy?"
Castle grunted something and slapped a palm on the carseat. "It's ready. Hop in, James. Let me buckle you up and then I'll find your teething ring."
"Right, teething ring. Chew toy. Whatever," Kate laughed, helping James wriggle into the seat. He was a good climber, and she barely had to support his bottom as he got into place. Castle took over, digging out the straps and moving the harness down over his head. It clicked into place and he tugged, checking, and then he crawled in on the seat's other side.
He was woefully far from her. Kate put her hand on the carseat's padded shoulder harness and wriggled her fingers for Castle; he laughed and took her hand, leaning in to kiss her knuckles.
And then James leaned forward and copied his daddy, giving Kate an open-mouthed 'kiss' on the back of her hand.
"Oh, thank you, sweetheart," she laughed, releasing Castle to cup the side of James's face. She kissed him back, leaning in around the carseat to get him, and he squirmed with pleasure.
"Mama."
"Yeah, wolf. Thank you for my kiss. What love."
Castle leaned forward in the seat and tapped on the plastic divider. "We're all set back here," he told the man.
"You gave him the hotel address or are we heading straight for food?"
The taxi pulled away from the sidewalk, executing a CIA-worthy insert directly into traffic without missing a beat. Castle winked at her. "We'll check in first, drop our bags, and see what's available. Hopefully within walking distance."
She nodded and sat back herself, her view partially obscured by James's carseat. As the Virginia landscape flashed by outside her window, she realized she was excited.
She would be back on the job, officially, the moment they stopped into CIA Headquarters, and she couldn't wait.
Agent Beckett was back.
