Chapter Three.
Kate was exhausted.
She thought she knew what exhaustion felt like after pulling a twenty-four hour shift running on nothing but the caffeine she would ingest like water- but this, this was complete and utter exhaustion like nothing she had ever experienced.
Noah had decided that he was going scream for three hours straight starting at one am. It came after he had whimpered himself into a slumber (finally!) at eleven, she managed to grab just under two hours of sleep before he turned into the devil child. He was fed, clean and dry but nothing aside from the continual bouncing motion of being in his mother's arms could soothe him. Just after four am, as the sun was starting to peak through the darkness of night he dropped into a solid sleep and Kate was able to crawl into bed.
Castle had come in sometime during the screaming match but she had sent him away, determined to settle him. He came back an hour later and she handed Noah over, with tears in her eyes, feeling like a complete failure as a mother. She tried to get some sleep- but hearing her son wail from his nursery was too much and she couldn't even sneak in ten minutes of shut eye.
She flipped her pillow over, trying to calm down and get comfortable.
"Is he finally out?" A voice whispered from the other side of the bed.
"Yes, thank god." She sounded exhausted.
He rolled over and pulled her into his chest. Her breathing immediately slowed and she fell into a deep sleep.
Then at five am, Noah wanted to be fed. This how Kate discovered her new definition of exhaustion.
Unlike pulling a twenty four hour shift after which she could sleep straight for the next twenty four, after this twenty four hour shift she had to get up and do it all over again.
"I'll go get him, you stay here." Castle groaned as he pulled himself out of bed.
Kate didn't think she could love Castle any more until he uttered those words. He returned ten minutes later with Noah, who was much too bright eyed for a six week old who had been up all night.
"Maybe it's time to start expressing so he can get used to taking the bottle before you go back to work." He mumbled as he handed Noah over to Kate who was already sitting propped up in the bed ready to feed him.
"Castle, are we really having this conversation now?" Her voice growing with agitation. She closed her eyes and leant back against the headboard of the bed as Noah began to suckle.
"I just thought that if we had the bottles, then on mornings like this- or even during nights like that, then I could at least feed him and you can get some sleep. Especially if you have to work the next day." He had crawled back into bed beside her.
"I'm sorry for snapping, I'm just so tired, but you're right. As much as I love feeding him, right now I would much prefer to be sleeping." She still had her eyes closed.
"Did Ryan send through the backgrounds for the three nannies we shortlisted?" Her voice was soft and her words slightly mumbled. It sounded like she had had a few too many glasses of wine.
"Yeah, I looked over them when you were wrestling to get Noah to sleep around ten last night." He rolled onto his side to watch her feed their son.
"And? Anything of concern, worry or a complete red flag?"
"Louise's record was spotless, one traffic ticket violation that she fought in court because she was taking her grandmother to the hospital after a medical emergency. But nothing else of note. Her academic records are outstanding for reference sake. Justine's had a couple of things but there was a juvenile sealed case there- which is concerning I guess. Also a few traffic infringements for speeding. It's this sealed Juvie thing that gets me though."
Kate sighed and switched Noah around so he could continue to feed- she knew where this was headed.
"I mean what if she was involved in some drug ring at her school, or she was a member of the teenage mafia or she murdered her babysitter and now that's why she has become a nanny."
"I dunno Castle, somehow I doubt that any of those theories are true. Like many you have come up with before."
She opened her eyes and smirked down at him. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, with a grin on his face.
"Yeah, yeah, you say that now. But when it comes out that our nanny has a secret background you will be cursing me and my theories."
Kate feigned another sigh.
"Come on Castle, I know that you really liked Justine, but Louise was just...different. And Noah really seemed to like her. She was the only one that didn't come across as terribly fake and doing everything in their power to seem perfect. We know that it is those sort of people that you have to worry about."
"Okay- so decision is made, even after you have been awake more in the last forty-eight hours than asleep?" He ran his hand up her arm that was cradling Noah until he could gently stroke the tufts of hair on his head. He now appeared to be having the best sleep of his very short life.
"Yes, I am happy to make the decision without sleep, or coffee or sugar or a NYPD style interrogation. Louise is going to be our Nanny. And at the moment all I can wonder is if she could start today so I could get some sleep!" She lifted Noah to her shoulder and gently rubbed his back to try to relieve the gas pain she knew was about to wake him up. He let out a tiny burp and promptly fell back asleep on his mothers shoulder.
"Do you want me to take him so that you can go back to sleep?" Castle sat up and held out his arms.
"Yes...and no. This is my favourite time, when he just sleeps curled up on me, but I do need some sleep of my own." She reluctantly handed Noah over to Castle, who curled the tiny baby into his chest.
"Okay- maybe this is my favourite time, watching you hold him like that." She said sleepily as she slid back down under the covers.
"Wake me when he needs to be fed again...kay?" And she fell into a deep sleep.
Castle swung his legs out of the bed and carefully walked through his office into the living room. The clock on the mantle now read five forty-two. He decided that a maybe an hour of father and son sleep time was on the agenda.
"Rocking chair in the nursery it is buddy. Kinda like an amusement ride for the baby years." He spoke gently to his son as he climbed the stairs to the Nursery.
She stood on the steps of the New York Public library in what would hopefully be the last snowy day for the season, with a copy of the New York Times in her gloved hands, reading the latest about the series of murders that was currently plaguing the city. She figured that if she was going to get this job that she needed to be fully up to date about exactly what case Detective Kate Beckett of the NYPD would be working on.
It had been two days since the interview and she still hadn't heard from them. She was officially starting to worry that all the plans strategically put in place may just start to unravel.
The sound of her cell phone ringing startled her and she was deep in thought. She grabbed it out of her backpack and looked at the caller ID. She groaned as she removed her gloves to swipe the screen.
"Hi Alex." She snapped.
'Hello Sarah, no need to be so brash- I just wanted an update on how things are coming along?' He sounded sincere she thought to herself.
"It's only been two days since the interview, if I haven't heard anything by this evening then, and only then, will I start to worry. For now, I still think it's in the bag. Did you get any hits on my backgrounds?" She folded up the paper and jammed it in her backpack.
'One hit on yourself, one on a Justine Jackson and another on Truong Pheam. So I'm guessing it is between you three. But based on the changes we made, I don't think they will have much of choice. Just let me know when you hear something.'
She stood up and started walking back towards downtown.
"I will, I know what is at stake here remember. I'll talk to you later."
'Be careful Sarah. Goodbye.'
She pocketed the phone in her coat and continued walking.
Most people seemed to forget that she had a vested interest in getting this position too, this wasn't just another job for her. She may have fit the profile perfectly for this particular task and that may have been why they assigned this to her, but this was more personal than any other she had taken on before. The rest of her group always managed to act like they forgot that fact.
Especially Alex.
He was rather single minded when it came to Kate Beckett and Richard Castle, and now that they had a child together, he was even more determined than ever to make sure that this job was done properly.
It all boiled down to the fact that she needed to get this job, or her real job maybe on the line.
Her phone started to ring again.
"I swear if he calls me one more time in the next fifteen minutes I will show him how pissed off I can get!" She spoke to herself as she wrestled with her gloved hand to retrieve the phone.
When she looked at the caller ID her heart leapt- this was it.
"Hello, this is Louise." She spoke calmly into the phone.
"Hi Louise, this is Richard Castle. I hope I'm not calling at a bad time?"
She ducked into the nearest coffee shop to get out of biting cold wind.
"No, no. Just wandering around this wonderful but chilly city." She made certain to round her vowels a little more to add to the accent.
"Good. Look, Kate and I have been talking and we feel that you would be great fit with us and with Noah of course. So we would like to officially offer you the job."
She grinned. Of course they would.
"Oh really, that's so wonderful to hear Mr Castle. Thank you so much." She really hoped she wasn't overdoing it.
"Well, we should be thanking you. After the night we just had we are definitely looking forward to your help in the future. We were wondering if you were available in the next few days to come over and we will get all the formalities out of the way."
She looked at her watch, peeked out the window and made a quick decision.
"Well, I am actually in the city today- and I know you probably have a million things to do and get organised but I could come by this afternoon?"
"Uh, well let me talk to Kate and see how she feels and I can give you a call back. Is that alright?"
"Yeah, that's fine by me. I hope to hear from you soon."
"You will, have a good rest of the morning Louise. Bye."
"Goodbye."
She clicked off to end the call.
She was in.
The easy part was over- now came the hard part of the job. Pretending to be the perfect Louise Daley for these people twenty-four hours a day, for the next however many weeks.
She took a deep breath in and dialled the number of her team leader. He answered on the first ring.
"Hey, it's me. I just wanted to let you know that Richard Castle just called and officially offered me the job."
'Like there was ever any doubt, but congratulations Sarah. I will make sure that the equipment is delivered to your apartment by tomorrow evening so you can get set up and started right away.'
"I'm hopefully going to meet with them this afternoon to sort out all the logistics and legalities of it all. I will give you another update when I am done there."
'Excellent Sarah, and I hope I don't need to remind you again of exactly what is at stake here.'
"I know precisely what is at stake here Alex, you don't need to keep reminding me. I will talk to you this afternoon. Goodbye."
With that she walked up to the counter of the coffee shop and waited in line to place her order. She needed some time to piece her thoughts together and lay out the official course of action. There was no doubt that when Alex sent over the equipment there would be a full briefing and outline of the timeframe for the job completion included- but she still needed to get into the character of Louise and begin to actually become her.
As she sat at a table and pulled out the paper her phone once again rang. It was Richard Castle.
"Hello."
"Hi Louise, I just spoke with Kate and both agreed that if you could come by our place around two we could get this all sorted and you could be ready to start ASAP. How does that sound?"
She smiled.
"That sound fabulous Mr Castle. I shall see you then."
"Looking forward to it Louise, see you soon. Bye."
"Goodbye."
She clicked off the phone and took a sip of her coffee.
And now operation infiltration officially begins.
A/N: Thanks again everyone for the reviews/alerts for this fic. Sorry for the longer time frame to get this one out to you, but I spent the weekend in New York City and if you have ever been there before you know that time disappears! Thank you all for sticking with this so far- plenty more to come.