CH4
Kate still had every intention of only staying here long enough to placate Rikki and then call a cab and go home. Rikki may be young and the most beautiful woman Kate has ever seen, and she and her dog may have saved her life, but there was no way in hell she was spending the night here. That just wasn't going to happen.
Rikki and Kate were standing just out the front door of her townhouse. It looked like a really nice place, probably somewhere between $3 and $6 million, way more that Kate could afford.
Rikki was looking at Kate. Had she seen what I was thinking on my face? Already worked out that I'm not spending the night here?
If Rikki did it didn't show. "You ready?" Rikki asks Kate. "Likely Elka is already just on the other side of this door and has just as likely worked out that I've brought company home with me."
"Eighty pounds huh?" Kate offers up working up the courage for this.
"Eighty pounds of nothing but muscle. I probably had half the block laughing at me as they watched me walking Elka down the street. … More like being dragged down the street." Rikki started laughing at herself.
It was a sound that Kate found to be music. "She's still just a puppy, you'll be fine." Rikki turns to the door and unlocks it followed by opening the door revealing Elka just on the other side.
Rikki steps inside. "Hi girl, we have company so you be nice." Rikki didn't fear that Elka wouldn't be, but it didn't hurt to remind her.
"Elka this is Detective Kate Beckett. … Detective Beckett this is Elka." Rikki provides introduction.
Elka slowly moves over to Kate and sticks her nose and sniffs almost every part of Kate, including some places that get Kate to push Elka's head away.
Then Elka turns and heads for the kitchen. "You're in." Rikki starts grinning. "Come on I'll show you you're room for the night." Rikki takes Kate upstairs.
"This one is yours, mine is upstairs. Take a look around, I'm going to go change into something more comfortable. I'll bring you some clothes you can change in to. … I think I'm a little taller than you, but they should fit you well enough." Rikki heads upstairs. "Leave yours just outside the door and I'll throw them in the wash."
This left Kate to look around. It was a bedroom without a bathroom attached. It was twice the size of her bedroom and Kate decided to test out the bed and jumped into it, and sank straight away. "OH GOD, I like this bed!"
Kate was sure if she stayed in it long enough it would envelope her and put her to sleep straight away.
Kate was just lying there sinking just a little further when her hand was suddenly wet. It got Kate to sit up quickly only to find Elka standing there sniffing her hand. "Hi." Kate flicked her hand a little getting Elka to play with it a bit.
"How's the bed?" Rikki suddenly showed up.
Had I gone to sleep for a moment that easily?
"It's heavenly, where did you get it?" Kate would kill to have one of these.
"I find that I like my beds to be soft and fold in around me. If I imagine hard enough I can feel like a little girl again, held in the warm embrace of my mother." Kate can see a far off look on Rikki's face.
She's lost her mother too! Is that what I see when I look at her?
"Here try these." Rikki hands Kate a set of clothes. "They're likely not a perfect fit, but should do the trick for now. … I'll be down in the kitchen starting dinner when you're ready. …. Come on girl." Rikki heads for the stairs with Elka right behind her.
Kate sat on the end of the bed after Rikki was gone. Kate noticed that she had changed into what looked like yoga pants and a big baggy t-shirt that was covered in drawings of trees and sneakers. The t-shirt had fallen off one shoulder and had shown that Rikki still wasn't wearing a bra.
What am I doing? … This woman is so out of my league. However she got me out of the hospital. And she's nice with a bed that is to die for. … Not staying, not staying.
Kate stripped and changed into the clothes left looking at herself in the mirror as she changed. Rikki was perfect, Kate examined her flaws. A scar here from a knife wound that had slipped past her vest.
A bullet wound that had grazed her, leaving a nice long trail. Even now she had a bruise from where she had landed badly from the latest attack. Yet she was alive because Rikki and her dog had shown up. Let alone the bump she still had on her head.
Kate did find however that she lost her balance a couple of times as she tries to put the yoga pants Rikki had left on. Like what Rikki was wearing Kate had a big baggy t-shirt that fell off of one shoulder.
Kate had screwed up, she shouldn't have chased after him without first calling for backup. She shouldn't have let him get the drop on her. Kate still had to solve her mother's murder and it almost ended.
Kate found a pair of panties with the clothes, but not a bra so she dressed leaving hers off.
Why am I feeling so brave? I can't begin to compete with her.
Kate walked back downstairs marveling at all the wood that was in this house. Wood floors, wood trim on all the doors and windows. There were even wood columns.
Kate made it to the living room where there was an old fashioned looking fireplace with the entire wall it was on being exposed brick. It left Kate wondering if it was functional. The place had an old world feel that Kate was liking.
There was however something on the mantel of the fireplace that had her attention.
It was about the size of a bowling ball, just didn't have any holes. It was an interesting pale blue color and Kate couldn't resist running a finger over the edge of it. As she did she saw a trail of orange that quickly turned green before fading back to a light blueish green, like the rest of it.
It soon had Kate running her hand over all of it getting the same reaction, mesmerized by how it worked. Kate could almost swear that now she could see clouds circling inside it.
"Like it?" Rikki asks. Kate turns quickly to see Rikki standing in an opening between two rooms. It also got Kate to yank her hand away.
"It's one of the very few items I still have that was my mothers. It's called The Orb of the Dragon, or just Dragon Orb if you prefer." Rikki explains.
"Dragons?" Kate was curious now. "Like medieval fantasy dragons?"
"There is a story dating back to the creation of everything. It is said that God created everything." Rikki states.
"And God said let there be light." Kate whispers out.
"Yes, it's said that this God had a brother and together they created everything. Except that he wanted to live forever, so he created another Universe and encased it within a time dilation field.
However it also trapped him inside it. Prophesy states that two lives with broken hearts will recite the incantation releasing the brother from his own imprisonment and in so doing those two broken hearts will receive what their hearts most desire, healing and binding their hearts together." Rikki explains the Orb.
"Sounds like magic." Kate scoffs.
"And you don't believe in magic do you?" Rikki asks. … "How will you ever find magic if you don't believe in it?" Rikki questions.
"How do you find something that doesn't exist?" Kate counters.
"Oooo, challenge accepted Detective Beckett." Rikki smiles back at here. "Come on we can talk while I cook." Rikki invites Kate to the kitchen area.
The kitchen turned out to be a thin galley style kitchen with white cabinets that had a door leading outside. "I hope you like Chinese." Rikki asks.
"I love Chinese. … Who's making it?" Meaning what restaurant was it coming from?
"I am. I make all my own meals. I even make all of Elka's meals. …. Right girl?" Rikki scratches her head. Kate was impressed now.
"Where did your mother get the orb?" Kate was curious.
"I don't know, my parents were killed in an explosion when I was five. I was raised by her friends." Rikki comments while putting the vegetables she was cutting up in a pot on the range top that already had a broth in it.
"I'm sorry. …. Where are they now? These friends of your parents?" Kate asks, watching Rikki stop everything for moment.
They're gone. It's just her and her dog.
Kate could almost swear that she thought she saw the start of a tear in Rikki's eyes.
"They're, …. scattered to the four winds." Kate thought she sounded lost for a moment.
Then Elka came back into the kitchen with something in her mouth that she was squeezing to make squeak, and came right up to Kate. "She wants you to play with her. You're supposed to play tug of war with her toy and then throw it after you win."
Kate reaches out and grabs hold of what little wasn't in Elka's mouth and starts pulling. "Shake as hard as you can, not just pull. … Oh and show your teeth and growl. Show her that you mean it. That you are interested in playing with her, not just placating her." Rikki tells her.
Kate takes what Rikki has told her and starts shaking, only to find Elka shake her head even harder and rip the toy right out of Kate's hand.
I lost! This dog is strong!
Kate reaches out quickly to grab hold of the toy and starts shaking it for all she's worth, listening to Elka growl. "Now drag her across the floor a little." Rikki offers.
Kate doesn't see how that is possible, however trying it Kate finds that because of the slick hardwood floors, Elka doesn't have any traction.
Eventually Kate wins and Elka starts barking and jumping for the toy Kate holds high and throws through the door, and watches Elka scramble on the slick floor to chase after her toy.
"Elka will entertain herself with her toy for a time before she comes back for more." Rikki informs Kate.
"I think I see why you said she is all muscle." Kate comments.
"Don't be surprised if you find her in your room all night long." Rikki warns Kate that she might have a roommate tonight. "You're new and a guest so she will likely be in your room protecting you from the monsters that live under your bed."
Elka was back and offered her toy to Kate, who reached out and grabbed it and started shaking and pulling her toy, finally winning and throwing the toy.
"Monsters?" Kate was now convinced she wasn't spending the night.
"One of her tennis balls went in under that bed and she could never get it back out. I think she's convinced there is a monster under that bed that ate her tennis ball. You wait and see. She'll stick her nose under that bed to check for monsters before you get in it to go to sleep." Rikki explains.
That's sweet! … I'm not staying, …. Not staying.
Kate watched Rikki dish out some of the soup that Rikki was making in one of two very large bowls. "Here's yours and a spoon. …. You can take it outside, there is a small table with a couple of chairs. …. Water or something else?"
"Water will be fine, thanks." Kate takes her bowl that is warming up fast and goes outside.
Rikki soon arrives with two glasses of water and then comes back out with her bowl and sits down and waits for Kate to start eating.
After three spoon full's. "This is good!" Kate was liking it a lot.
Rikki starts eating. "Thanks, …. I don't get to cook for more than one anymore these days. Nice to know I haven't lost my touch."
"Husband?" Kate asks curious.
Rikki shakes her head. "I've never been married. … Didn't really have any interest in being married. … You?"
Kate shakes her head. "Most guys I meet run when they find out I carry a gun. Plus my hours are long and not exactly uniform. Don't really have time to meet anyone."
"What is Animal Consultants International?" Kate was curious; remembering what was on the card Rikki had given her.
"Mostly I'm a behavior analyst for animals, Zoo's mostly. They have a problem with one of their animals that their vet can understand or fix, they call me.
I had a Bengal Tiger once that had stopped wandering around in his lovely enclosure. Stopped eating, stopped drinking and wasn't sick. Most male tigers are solitary except in the mating season. … He was bored and lonely." Rikki shrugged her shoulders.
It got Kate to partially spit out her soup. "I petted and cuddled with him, promised to get him some new toys to play with and talked to the Zoo administrator about either shipping him out to a female for a short time or having her come to him." Rikki was smiling since she knew what it sounded like.
Rikki was a madam for a male tiger!
Kate was almost done and was just scooping out the remaining broth. "What was in this, it was delicious."
"A little chicken, beef, Tofu, spring peas, carrots, chicken broth, noodles of course and a few other things." Rikki smiles.
"Code for it's a secret ingredient." Kate smiles back.
"All good meals have a secret ingredient, that's what makes them memorable." Rikki answers back.
After dinner and cleaning up and then loading the dishwasher. "Come on I'll give you the tour.
You've seen the kitchen and back patio, along with the living room. … Should I ever have over enough guests, that's the dining room tucked away in that corner over there.
You've seen your bedroom. …. And I turned this room into a library." Rikki takes her into the room.
Three of the four walls were lined with bookshelves, the other wall had a window, with a big comfy looking chair sitting in front of it. "If you want something to read, please help yourself." Rikki offers and stands in the doorway as Kate looks around.
Rikki couldn't help it and started smiling and working hard at keeping the blush forming on her neck from reaching her face as Kate reached a certain section.
Kate had been just running her fingers along the spins glancing at the titles, when she stopped and pulled one of two books down quickly to look at it. "You wrote this." Kate turns to stare at Rikki with her mouth hanging open.
Rikki started nodding her head. "My passion in life is nature and what we will lose if we knock it all down or plow it all under to make room for more Condo's, shopping centers, parking lots.
There was a time when I fought against everything that had anything to do with technology and expansion of cities out into the wilderness.
I think I've mellowed some as I get older. People need jobs and someplace to live. It's just that does it have to be inside giant structures of concrete and steel? Why can't you make it fit into the landscape seamlessly?
And what happens to all the animals if you poison the planet. Pump gases into the atmosphere because burning coal is cheaper. Sacrifice your future and the future of your children so you can have it easier today.
Cover up one landfill only to open another for all the metric tons of trash that is created each day. Sure some of it gets recycled, and a number of companies have figured out that they can make money and create jobs doing just that. But they only see a fraction of what they could.
Trees and plants breathe in the bad stuff and pump out oxygen. What do people plan on breathing if the trees are gone?
I write books, attend speaking engagements while some companies can only see their profits and call me a "Tree hugger" and condemn me for what I preach.
I just don't want one day for them to find out what they have done in the name of profit. The day when everyone else finally wishes they had listened before it was too late.
Have your cars, make your cars, and just make them so they don't pollute or at the very least pollute less. Humans don't own this planet and they aren't above nature." Rikki hangs her head low, she had been preaching to Kate. Rambling on about what she sees that is wrong with this Earth.
"Sorry, I get carried away sometimes. I don't mean to insinuate that you are part of the problem. It's not that I want everyone to go back to wearing loin clothes made from animal hides. … Though the thought of seeing that much skin has a certain appeal." Rikki was smiling and watching Kate do the same.
"Just there has to be a happy middle somewhere. Just where that is, is what I fight for. The alternative, …" Rikki trails off, remembering only too well just what not enough nature can get you.
Kate was smiling while she thumbs through the book, and kept the book she had pulled down while she kept looking.
Then Kate reached a section that had an author that meant a lot to her. There were actually a number of books by the author on the bookshelf.
Richard Castle.
Flowers for your Grave, Hail of Bullets. Kate ran her fingers across each of them till she got to the most recent one out there. The Derek Storm book.
Kate had loved it when she read it. It's just that it was so different from his first books, a real departure from his first books.
Wait! Rikki has two different Derek Storm books!
Kate set the book she had pulled down that Rikki had written and pulled down this new Derek Storm book. "How did you get this? It's not even out yet. It's not due out for another almost 2 months. I've already got mine on order and I'm dying for it to come out so I can read it." Kate turns to look at Rikki.
Answer my question Rikki!
Rikki however has lost her smile and actually looks like she is in big trouble now.
OH GOD! Detective Beckett is a fan. Now what do I do?
