CH. 4 - Opening Statements
A/N: We meet a blast from the canonical past, obviously tweaked.
Disclaimer: Not mine, 不是我, No la mía, nicht meins, pas le mien.
Sleeping that night for Kate was oddly satisfying, she dreamt of Rick that night, but strangely enough the dream wasn't sexual, lovey-dovey or had anything to do with them being a couple.
Instead they were in court, it is the first day of the DeLouise murder trial and Kate is giving her opening. She has conviction in her voice, facts on her side and Rick Castle looking and sounding helpless. By the time he gives his opening, Rick was no better then some shoddy public defense lawyer. Castle's opening made no sense and by day's end it seems a number of jury members have already made up their mind. As Kate, looks at dream Castle walking out of the courthouse he looks tired, ragged and a shell of a man. Kate sighed contently at the images playing through her mind and deepened herself into her pillow.
For Rick, sleep, when it did come was of them, since he was up thinking about the night they had, the goodnight kiss and just about her. Those long brown, luscious, wavy trestles; her sparkling green eyes; magnetic smile; infectious laugh; her long legs despite the jeans and her curves because of them. Oh, Rick had it bad. It is true what his mother says, with his money, power and looks he can have his pick of the single women of New York just with a smile and some sweet talk. But Kate, Kate is different, she isn't easily swayed by a boyish smile and a little sweet talk. She is a prosecutor for God sakes! Independent and driven. In fact, his next opponent, yet after just one night he can't get her out of his head. When he did finally crash around 2, he felt as if tonight he had met the woman of his dreams come alive. And as such his dream was every cheesy romantic movie scene come to life.
After the verdict in the DeLouise case, which he won, he asked her out to dinner. Kate having just lost her first homicide was less than enthusiastic, but he coerces her eventually and he and Kate stop in at Remy's. There they talk about work, family, life and after a little more coercing from Rick to let her hair down a little, she decides this would be the perfect place to reenact the "diner orgasm" scene from When Harry Met Sally. They share a laugh and a cab back to her place afterwards. Months later, Rick meets her parents, and Jim has to act overly protective of his daughter in the same vain as Robert DeNiro in Meet the Parents, but he his happily accepted after a quick polygraph. On the one year anniversary of their meeting in court, Castle proposes to Kate on top of the Empire State Building à la the "meeting scene" from Sleepless In Seattle. After getting caught without her cellphone and an umbrella during a freak rainstorm, Rick runs out to find Kate. He finds her running toward their building soaking wet, and they share one of the most romantic and amazing kisses of their marriage, very much in the way Finn and Estella embrace in Great Expectations. When it seemed like the movie clichés would never end, luckily or unluckily (depending on one's opinion of movie clichés) for Rick his alarm clock goes off. Glancing at it, 8:00 on a Saturday, he decides to ignore his alarm's advice and rolls over going back to sleep. He would get up to make breakfast for Alexis at 9:00, he decided.
(***)
For Kate, however, she was up and getting ready for her girls' day with Lanie. They planned to meet at Podunk at 10:00. Kate arrived at 9:50, spotting a rather anxious looking doctor already seated out front. Probably itching to grill her on her date with Castle no doubt. Kate rolls her eyes at the thought then smiles. Only Lanie...
Walking up Kate asks, "Hey, did you wait long?"
"No, just beat you by five minutes," Lanie responds with a grin.
As Kate sits down, the waiter comes out handing them the menu.
While looking over the menu, Lanie couldn't help but look over her menu over to the Navy-colored squad car parked just across the street.
"Kate, do your shadows have to be here watching us," Lanie asked "It's kinda creepy, even if Esposito is a cutie."
Kate smiled, "Oh so you think he's cute, huh?" She eggs.
Lanie blushes slightly, "Yes, but the bigger point is, do they have to follow you everywhere?"
Kate sighs, "Yeah, unfortunately."
"Is this really that dangerous?"
"Apparently." Kate didn't like giving short answers, but in this case the less Lanie knew the better.
It was Lanie's turn to sigh, "Fine, but I'll have you know the places we'll be going will not be pleasant for them."
Kate grinned.
In the squad car, Esposito and Ryan were looking over Beckett like two older brothers spying on a younger sister's date just to make sure the little jackass doesn't do anything. In the week or so, of being Beckett's security detail, the three had quickly developed that kind of rapport.
"So, you like Lanie, huh?" Ryan asks with a mischievous little grin.
"Dude, shut up," Esposito replies, avoiding eye contact.
"So, jury selection is next week and the trial is set for a month or so after that, you think Beckett is ready for it?" Ryan asks making a quick change of subject.
"Man, I hope so. But Castle is not going to be easy, even if they did go out on Friday," Esposito states.
"Twenty bucks says she whips his ass in the opening," Ryan bets.
"All right bro, you're on, but twenty bucks says he doesn't do the opening," Esposito bets back.
"Why wouldn't Castle do the opening?"
"Because I have a sneaking suspicion he's falling for her, so he won't want to hurt his chances."
"Ahh, good point."
They go back to watching Beckett and Lanie across the street.
Meanwhile, Lanie is busy trying to get as much detail from Beckett as possible about her night with Castle. Kate was surprised, she waited this long, that takes some will power. Especially for Lanie.
"So did you enjoy it?" Lanie asks right off the bat.
Kate thinking back on the events of the night: the theme restaurant, Coney Island and the kiss, just blushes. Lanie smiles, "See told ya," she takes a bite from her chocolate chip cookie.
"So, what did you and Lawyer Boy end up doing?"
Still reminiscing, Kate completely misses Lanie question until Lanie calls her, snapping her out of her reverie, "Kate!"
"Huh?" Was Kate's only response.
"Girl, what did he do to you to have you spacing out on me?"
Kate blushes again. "I just saw a completely different side of him, he was relaxed, funny, caring, and," Kate pauses thinking about the kiss.
"And?" Lanie motions for Kate to continue.
"Passionate," Kate finally blurts out.
"Passionate? You didn't sleep with him did you?"
"Huh, what? No," Kate denies adamantly. "It's just his goodnight kiss, just blew me away."
"Kiss? Was it really that good?"
"The best," Kate sighs contently.
"Wow, Lawyer Boy must have done an absolute number on you."
Kate just sighs again, "Yeah...," she says dreamily.
Lanie smiles, happy that her friend is so happy, she hadn't seen Kate this happy since she and Will decided to live together, before he decide to move to Boston. But she quickly reminded herself that the man Kate is obviously smitten with is her next opponent.
"Kate," Lanie looks over, she's gone again, "Kate!"
"Honey, I'm really happy for you but you have to remember first and foremost the Castle is your opposition."
Kate rolls her eyes, then smiles a little, "Lanie I know. I won't get so caught up that I won't be able to do my job. Outside the courtroom, I'm free to daydream and space out, inside though, Castle and I are professionals."
"Okay. Just making sure," Lanie acknowledges. "So, what do you say we get out of here and go and get lost in SoHo?"
Kate smiles, "That sounds like a great idea."
As they went and paid and a caught a cab, Esposito and Ryan tailed in the car until they reached SoHo and they started on foot. Keeping within ten feet at all times. After spending hours in SoHo window shopping and actual shopping, Kate buying a blouse and Lanie buying a pair of bell bottoms. They said their good-byes and went their separate ways home.
Once Kate was finally settled back in her apartment, in the squad car, both Ryan and Esposito let out a collective sigh, "Thank god it's over," Ryan says dropping his head on the headrest.
"Yep, man I never knew girls could go hours, not buy anything and then in the last 30 minutes finally do," Esposito expresses a similar sentiment.
"Yeah, I know."
They both sigh again.
(***)
On Tuesday morning, Kate was in court in Carmel, New York, this time for jury selection. And for once she was actually thankful for Ryan and Esposito being there because the minute she saw Rick, her mind drifted, only seeing Ryan and Esposito eye Castle with that "older brother protectiveness" did she finally settle into "lawyer-mode".
"Counselor, gentlemen," Castle greeted just for they took there seats for the interviews.
"Castle," Ryan and Esposito replied in turn. They didn't dislike Castle, it's just in here he was the enemy and they knew of his effect over Beckett ever since their date.
"Mr. Castle," Beckett greet as well, her tone depicting complete professionalism.
"Shall we?" Castle asked reminiscent of their date.
"Sure," Beckett said, "Bailiff, send in the first twelve."
As the bailiff left, Ryan and Esposito took their seat off to the side. The bailiff returned minutes later with a selection of six men and six women.
"Counselor, ladies first," Castle offered.
Kate let that one go since they were working and started questioning, "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm DDA Kate Beckett, I'm going to be asking you some questions to determine whether you can sit on this jury. Now then, by a show of hands how many of you have heard of this case?"
Of the twelve, seven raised their hands. Five men and two women.
"All right, of those you who raised your hands, can you tell me where you heard about it?"
The news was the collective answer.
"Did you do, any further research after hearing about it? Show of hands.
Three of the men raised their hands.
"How? Can you three tell me?"
"I did a Google search about the people I heard on the news," says the first man.
"I Wikipedia'd the Gambino Family," says the second.
"I looked online for coverage from other outlets," says the third.
"Thank you," said Kate. "Your cross, Counsel," she directed toward Castle.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Rick Castle, the defense attorney." He saw the all jurors sit up a bit straighter. Beckett noticed that too. Castle just smiled. He was used to it.
"Before I begin, can I ask the three gentlemen who researched further into the case to leave."
The bailiff, went over and escorted them out.
"Now, of the four remaining who have heard of the case, can you tell me your ages, occupations and where you work, please? Ladies first."
"Thirty, Executive Assistant at Madison Financial," says the first.
"Forty-five, I run my own bakery on Fine Street," says the second.
"Now gentlemen please."
"Fifty, construction worker for GMA Constructors," says number one.
"Twenty-five, grad student at NYU," says number two.
"Outstanding. Now, are you aware that if selected for this jury, you all have to sign and agree to a gag order?"
The nine remaining nod.
"Excellent, going back to the four who have heard of the case, what is your opinion of The Godfather?"
The two men loved it, the women, however, one didn't care for it and the other never watched it.
"Gentlemen, what is your opinion of murder?"
"Totally against it," says the construction worker.
"Against it, but I can see the justification for it sometimes," says the grad student.
"One last question: can you the four of you tell me your political affiliations?"
"Democrat," says the construction worker.
"Republican, says the woman who owns the bakery.
"Republican," says the executive assistant.
"Independent," says the grad student.
"Thank you, any peremptory challenges, Counselor?" Castle says to Kate.
"Yes, bailiff please excuse the graduate student," Kate ordered.
He did as she asked.
"Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen, you have been selected to serve on the DeLouise murder trial," Kate announced as if it was a prize giveaway. As the bailiff returned, she told him to escort these jurors over to Selection Approval and bring in the next twelve. He did as told.
They were lucky in Beckett's opinion to find eight right off the bat, and it was looking like the jury was in her favor, as she had dismissed the one who saw it as somewhat okay. The next batch of jurors were a complete reversal of the first, they ended up dismissing all but one. The next dozen, saw them dismissing the lot. In group four, they picked two. In group five they picked their last one.
After six hours, they finally had their jury, consisting of the first eight, the one they had left over from group two is a 45 year-old, Sales Manager for a local AT&T store. The two from group four, are a 24 year-old hair stylist and a 55 year-old Product Marketing Strategist for AWS Marketers LLC. The one from group five, is a 27 year-old HR Executive. It was a nice mixture of young and old, white and blue collar, and the ratio of men to women was pretty even five men and seven women.
(***)
After it was all said and done, Kate was tired, all she wanted was to go home, slip into a nice bubble bath and enjoy the latest adventures of Alex Cross. And thankfully, Rick had similar ideas, because he said goodnight to her, kissed her hand as a chivalrous valediction and flashed a smile then drove off. Unbeknown to him, that froze Kate a few extra seconds as she thought back to their date and felt the spot where his lips touched her hand still tingling. She smiled as the memories of last Friday flooded her mind. I think I'll skip the bubble bath and opt for a cold shower instead, Kate mused.
(***)
The next morning, Kate was back at the office, her Mom asking her how jury selection went and Montgomery asking her to select a another DDA to assist on prepping for trial. Kate's first thought was her Mom, but since that would be favoritism she chose Tom Demming, a recent hire who just moved from Boston. In many ways he is very much like Castle, only, difference is that he is a DDA and not private. He is tall, dark and handsome: dashing smile, green eyes, chiseled jaw. Most of the female staff have already started calling him Lawyer McHottie; good at his job, in Boston he was the lead prosecutor on a serial killer who kept trophies (read: body parts) of his victims, he put that bastard away for life with no chance at parole; and had a real passion for the law, a quality Kate admired.
However it wasn't his good looks that caused her to choose him, it was that she really could use his help on a homicide case since he's worked on one before.
(***)
For Rick, the morning was spent talking to Michael Nunzio, about his case. Nunzio posted bail two days ago, after the Court processed Nunzio's Recognizance. Castle knew where the bail money came from, the Gambinos, of course. How did he know? Let's just say the Gambinos wouldn't hesitate to drop $100,000 if it meant their best hit man could be freed.
Rick was the only one who dealt solely with main defendants, so while Scott Poe was also on the payroll for this case he dealt with secondary defendants and/or witnesses, i.e. Frank Herrington.
To the casual observer, Michael Nunzio did not fit the mob hit man profile. College-educated at NYU, NCAA wrestling champion, clean-shaven, but here he is, on trial for murder.
As the two sat in Rick office, Rick told him that for court he was to sit quietly, face forward and bear no expression before, during and after. That his court attire must be, navy or black solid and only with black or white solid colored tie. Black signifies mourning and white is a neutral color, Rick explained. He also told Nunzio, in case the prosecution calls him to the stand, he has given him a script that he wants Nunzio to read and memorize. Nunzio agreed without question, he trusts Rick, he trusts a defense lawyer that his bosses are paying $750/hour to keep him out of prison.
Over the next three hours, Castle and Nunzio discussed nearly every facet of his case that Castle thought pertinent and Castle answered all of Nunzio's questions.
(***)
As night fell on New York, Kate and Rick were deep in thought in their respective homes, each thinking about the same thing: the case, it was just on the horizon for them, and for each, there was something much bigger than the verdict. For Kate it was, proving herself against the toughest and the best, for Rick it was the possibility of losing Kate if he won the case. A loss for him, normally would be no big deal, high-profile or not. But when the woman he is slowly falling for — they both know there's is a spark there — is the prosecutor, is he willing to let pride and reputation get in the way of him and Kate's potential relationship?
E/N: As Lisa said in Season Six of 'The Simpsons', "Grade me...look at me...evaluate and rank me! Oh, I'm good, good, good, and oh so smart! Grade me!" do so by clicking the 'Review' link. I introduced Demming because in the coming chapters he and Castle will be fighting for Kate's attention, very much like in the show. Actual trial starts in CH. 5, and that will probably be out on Monday as scheduled, unless I have a sudden burst of inspiration. I've written 4 long chapters in about a week's time and I'm a little bit drained. But I could be wrong. Have been before. :P