A Fly in the Garden: Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: None of these characters are mine, but they are memorable. Thank you, Mr. Marlowe.

Thursday, February 16, 2012 – 12:47 p.m. – At Richard Castle's Sausalito Home

Richard Castle sits on a bar stool in his kitchen, looking out through the massive bay windows through the living room at the bay area surroundings. He is deep in thought. Good thoughts. It was a nice evening last night.

Alexis has settled in well. She graduates in four short months. And she has met a boy. Justin. Seems nice enough. Not entirely harmless, because he is an eighteen year old senior in high school. But he's polite. He's got manners. He opens doors. He seems to treat Alexis nicely.

"It could be worse," he grumbles to himself, as he watches Kate sashay throughout his kitchen, going from cabinet to cabinet. He knows he should tell her where the small vegetable storage containers are, but right now the view – the show she is unknowingly giving him – is just far too good to interrupt.

"She's been here two months, she should know where it is," he justifies to himself with a smirk. No way is he going to interrupt this show.

It's these moments, these simple, innocent but seductive moments that thrill him, that surprise him, that leave him wanting more and more of this woman. They both knew it would be good. Hell, she told him as much four years ago. Then she made him wait four . . . long . . . years.

And these two months have been so, so worth it.

She turns to ask him where the containers are – finally – and catches him with a half-open mouth staring at her ass, which she has squeezed tightly into a pair of blue jeans.

"See something interesting?" she asks with a smile.

"Always," is his simple – and predictable – response. And now he allows his eyes to rise, meeting hers, and he holds her gaze just a second too long for her comfort – still.

"Castle – you know how –"

"Creepy that is," he finishes for her, smiling. "Yes, I know. You tell me every day. And every day – like today – I will tell you to get used to it. I love looking at you. I love looking at all of you. I love what your eyes do when they look at me. So no, it's not creepy, my lovely Beckett, P.I. It's unavoidable."

She throws the dish towel at his face, and he does nothing to avoid the impact. It lands just to the side of his head, and hangs there. He slowly removes it, giving her yet another smile, when she hops up on the counter top in front of him, and scoots back a couple of feet, placing her right foot in front of him.

"Two more to go, lover boy," she smiles with a purr. He chuckles as he reaches across the counter island and grabs the bottle of nail polish. It's Ogre the Top Blue, his favorite color on her, and he can't help but think again that this, too, is one of those moments he never saw coming. Kate Beckett not only allowing him to put nail polish on her toes, but actually enjoying it, actually looking forward to it. She seems to sense his thoughts.

"I know, Rick," she says softly, and his eyes catch hers once again. And once again, it's a second too long.

"Castle," she says as he finally breaks the gaze with a soft laugh, and begins brushing the blue polish on her last remaining toes. It takes about four minutes. Longer than it should, they both know. But they both know how insanely intimate these little moments are. They hold on to these moments. They fiercely treasure these moments . . .

. . . and, of course, his cell phone rings.

It's Wendy. Her ring tone is set to Bachman Turner Overdrive's You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet. Wendy Skylans is a throwback to the 1970's, stuck in that time period in almost every way possible. Everything from the clothes she wears to the music she listens to, to the slowly-being-refurbished 1974 Dodge Charger she drives harkens back to those days.

"What's up Wendy?" he asks jovially, answering her on the speakerphone.

"New guest just came in," Wendy replies. It is their first new guest in almost two weeks, which is a bit of a record for their new establishment. Both he and Kate will later admit to a small bit of guilt for the rush of excitement they both feel. A new guest means another woman battered who is getting away. That shouldn't cause excitement, but both figure it is something akin to what they used to feel in New York, when a body would drop.

It doesn't make sense, but it just kind of is what it is.

"Everything okay with it?" Kate asks, just to make sure there are no unusual problems.

"Everything is cool," the campus manager replies. "I just know that you want to know any time someone checks in, and it's been a while since we've had someone new."

Both Kate and Castle nod their heads.

"I'm just about finished up here," he whispers to the woman sitting atop his counter top, and she is already lifting herself off, putting up two fingers and then five fingers.

"We will be getting out of here in about twenty five minutes, Wendy," he tells Skylans. "Be there within the hour for certain."

"Gotcha, boss man," Wendy says as she signs off.

Exactly fifty-three minutes later, Castle and Kate pull up to the security gate at the Castles Complex, as Jeremy rings the gate open. Kate gives the man a friendly salute as Castle powers the sports car up to the administrative building. Seconds later, the two are walking into the building, into a lively exchange between Wendy and Colin Alexander.

"I'm telling you it's never nothing," Colin tells the woman. "Everything is interconnected here," he says as he glances at Castle and Kate walk through the door.

"What's up?" Castle offers as a friendly hello to two of his now new 'old' friends. It's only been a few months, yet everyone has finally settled in to this new makeshift work family, and the predictable squabbles – friendly enough – are a welcome sight.

"She's with Dr. Peraza now," Wendy replies, pointing to the hall down the left corridor of the administration building.

"Who is?" Kate asks.

"Her name is Pamela Hamilton," Wendy continues. "Checked in just under two hours ago. She is a nurse at San Francisco General."

"Dr. Sam will fill you in," Colin adds, now offering a wink to Wendy as he grabs his bottle of Sprite Zero and walks toward the door, fiddling with his on-grounds mobile unit which is now squawking at him incessantly, knowing that Dawn is calling. He always refers to Dr. Samantha Peraza simply as 'Dr. Sam'.

A moment later, Castle and his companion are standing behind the one-way window, watching and listening in to the admissions interview with one Pamela Hamilton. Samantha hasn't flipped the privacy switch which she uses at her discretion during these initial interviews, which tells them that she has no problems with them listening in at this point. Lindy Matthews is already in the room and glances over at them, nodding in satisfaction.

"That didn't take long," she muses to herself with a smile. She likes Kate. A lot. But of all of the team members here at the Castles, she is the one who wondered – worried – whether or not Kate Beckett's re-inclusion into Richard Castle's life would diminish his passion for this. Would he still make time for this with the same priority? She'd heard the stories from Alexis during their brief encounters, and, Mike Monroe's assurances aside, she still has had her doubts. These last four weeks have done much to alleviate her fears.

Kate is the first to speak.

"What's her story?" which brings a smile of pride to Castle's face. She has taught him well over the years, but it has been mutual. She has learned from him that there is always a story, and finding that story is usually the beginning of solving anything – if there is anything to be solved, that is.

Lindy speaks in a low volume, which only heightens her already deep voice. She doesn't want to miss anything important from the other room.

"Cliff notes version," she begins. "Pamela Hamilton, 43 years old, RN at San Francisco General for seventeen years. Married to Thomas Hamilton, local entrepreneur in technology. They've been married twenty-one years. No history of marital problems we can see. None that she has mentioned. The opposite in fact."

"Why is she here then?" Castle asks aloud.

"Getting there," Lindy whispers, glancing back at the window for a second, and then back to Castle to answer his question.

"They have an eighteen year old daughter named Grayson. Grayson went missing January 25th, almost four weeks ago. Since that time, it has been edgy at home, and edgy has turned violent in the past two weeks. Each of them blames the other for her disappearance. She had told him to pick their daughter up from the concert at the Fillmore. He was too tired from a long day of work, and she was headed to her night shift. Grayson ends up taking the bus home from the concert, but never came home. She had taken a couple of transfers but never made it home.

"How do you know about the transfers?" Kate asks, now immediately morphed into detective mode.

"Text messages from Grayson to Pamela," Lindy replies quickly. "The first couple of weeks were fine – as fine as they could be all things considered. But in the last ten or so days, things have turned violent at the house. They are fighting – literally. Pamela actually says she thinks she was probably the instigator. She started hitting Tom and things just finally escalated out of control. He apparently lost it last night."

"How did she get away?" Castle asks. "How'd she get here?"

"That's the interesting part," Lindy replies without looking at either. Her gaze is focused on the two women in the other room. "He brought her here. Last night. Asked us to take care of her."

Two pair of eyebrows rise at this news, and neither Kate nor Castle say another word, as Lindy grows silent. The three watch the remaining ten minutes of Dr. Samantha's initial interview to in-process Pamela Hamilton into the Castles.