3. The First Sighting
It was the smell of coffee that somehow permeated Kate's dreams. As she unwillingly awoke, all she could remember was that in her dream, she had been surrounded by no less than six young redheaded children all wearing laser tag gear as they ran throughout the great room downstairs. Kate didn't really want to open her eyes, knowing that the childrens' faces would vanish as soon as she did so. "Castle babies. . . , she muttered, more asleep than awake. However, the coffee smelled so tempting. . . Kate glanced at her father's watch that she had placed on the small antique table by the side of the bed that also held the mug of now very cold tea. It was precisely 6:00 A.M. As she realized that her dream children and their noise had faded, she pushed back the covers and stood up. All at once she heard the sound of the waves breaking gently on the beach, and she walked over to the French doors.
Last night, Beckett had had no idea of how close the "cottage" was to the shore. This morning she realized that the back yard of the building was less than 300 feet from the high tide water mark. She started to move more quickly; it was time to go exploring.
The sun was just starting to illuminate the sky over the water as Detective Beckett wrapped a large knitted sweater around her as protection from the cold ocean air and made her way from her room toward the kitchen. She paused at the top of the landing, looked to the left and the right for any open doors, and listened. No other voices, no movements heard from any of the rooms. However, unlike her empty apartment back in the City, the house felt occupied, and only temporarily silent. Beckett made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen.
Well, she thought, someone must have been up. There was a full pot of coffee on the counter with a choice of heavy mugs sitting next to it, neither of which she remembered seeing last night. She poured herself a full mug, added some half and half from the refrigerator, and looked around at the great room. It was close to her dream, but despite the three fire places, it seemed larger without the swarm of active children running through it. The Detective decided to begin her exploration outside and walked through the nearest set of doors that were level with the raised wooden deck that led directly to the beach.
Kate Beckett sat on the large raised wooden patio deck overlooking the ocean. Although Manhattan was an island, most New Yorkers paid little, if any, attention to that fact. Here, where the sky was still grey with only a hint of pink at this early hour, Beckett was confronted with nature. Yeah, she thought, I could get used to this real quickly. It was nice to experience how the other half lived, even if it was only for 48 hours, less the commute. Instead of car horns, the only sounds Kate Beckett heard were those of the breaking waves and a few half-hearted fights between seagulls checking out the tidbits that had been washed onto the beach overnight.
After a few minutes, Kate was joined by Alexis. "Good morning, Detective. You are an early riser."
"Good morning, Alexis. I just wanted to enjoy the peaceful morning. And, to see the ocean. It is beautiful, isn't it?"
Alexis nodded. "I love coming to the cottage; I wish Dad would spend more time here, too, but he craves the hectic pace of the City more than the soothing sound of the breaking surf. . ."
Her voice trailed off as something caught her eye. Beckett followed her line of sight, and was rewarded with the vision of a barely clad, extraordinary well toned male body, stretching where the surf was folding over at his feet. Beckett took a good look: his back was to them, but even at that distance, she could easily make out the well developed shoulders, the clearly defined large biceps, a discernable waist line, his narrow hips, and a very shapely set of buns sitting atop two well developed legs. "Here's to Mother Nature," remarked Beckett, who raised her mug of coffee in salute to the view.
Alexis looked at the man being saluted, and then at Beckett, and then back at the man as a slight smile came over her face. She looked at Beckett's expression out of the corner of her eye and how their house guest was concentrating on the very masculine figure at the end of the beach. This could be interesting, she thought, as only a sixteen year old teenager could think, and remained silent as Beckett continued watching the nominally clad male in the tight attire as he continued his physical routine.
It was over five minutes of delightful uninterrupted viewing of the man before Beckett became aware that a dinner bell had been ringing for several seconds, then a few seconds of silence, and then it rang again. The figure on the beach either disregarded or failed to hear the sound. As it rang again, Beckett's concentration was broken, and she turned to see Martha standing behind them, dressed in a full length fur coat and holding two large mugs of hot coffee, while pulling on a chain attached to the large iron bell mounted to the side of the cottage. Martha seemed to be trying to get the attention of the man exercising on the beach. Was he being warned about trespassing? Becket has no idea what Martha was trying to do. However, after final pull of the bell, she walked the fifteen feet to join them on the edge of the deck. All three of the women were now looking at the lone male on the beach who was continuing with his workout, his back still to them as he looked out across the ocean.
Finally, Martha had had enough. "Alexis, will you go and get your Dad? I've been calling, but he's either out of earshot or just ignoring me. Here, take his coffee to him, and try not to spill it all before he has a chance to take a sip."
"Sure, Gram," replied the redhead, and she took the mug, smiled very smugly at Kate, and began to jog to the figure who still had their back to them.
Kate's expression, which had been clearly viewed by Alexis, was that of total amazement. "Your . . . Dad?" It was more than a sputter than a statement.
It was now Martha's turn to see the look on Kate's face, and then glanced at Castle as he continued his workout, unaware that his daughter was approaching. "Detective, you honestly didn't recognize my Richard?" Martha was equally amazed. "After almost two years, you didn't realize that. . . you haven't, have you . . . well, you know. . ." At that moment, Alexis set down the mug of coffee into a sand dune, and jumped onto her father's back. Beckett could see his immediate reaction of surprise, then delight, and how he effortlessly managed to flip his daughter up, turn his body, and catch her in his arms as he gently placed her feet back on the sand. Beckett watched the pantomime as Alexis gestured to where the Detective and her grandmother were standing, and then reached down and handed her father the coffee. Alexis ran ahead with Castle taking the rear as he sipped from the mug and wrapped a towel around those broad shoulders as he walked up the path through the scrub brush to the house.
Martha was getting worried. After almost two years of working together in close proximity, Kate still had no idea as to what was actually contained under those dark blue and bright purple custom-made button down shirts that Richard Castle so favored? Actually, those shirts that had to be custom-made in order to accommodate his upper body musculature? This was not good. In fact, it was downright pathetic, in so far as she was concerned. And, Martha came to the realization that she needed to do something about it, and she had only a 24 hour window to accomplish her aim.
