Castle pt 4

RC®©

They sped through traffic, barely making red lights, skittering through the city, heading to Beckett and Kenzi. A full contingency of officers were behind Castle and the Captain.

Castle sat stoically in the passenger's seat, the captain was driving. The city grew grimmer as they drove. Castle's mind drifted. He had a plethora of wonderful women in his life, how lucky a man was he? And now it was going to blow up in his face, his fortune was going to….He was struck with a thought and rapidly dialed his home phone number.

"Alex!" said Castle.

"Dad is every…."

"No, time now, listen to me, I want you to go up to my room, there is an old box of my stories there. I need you to find a short story. It was called Black Rose along with that is another story called Roses for Death. I need you to tell me what the ending of the second one is like?"

He heard Alex rushing up the stairs; the phone was put down as she rummaged in the box. Lot of swearing, which make Castle smile, she forgot that she shouldn't swear. She was, after all, his daughter. Pages flipping, a grunt.

"Dad?" Her tone scared him. He tried to keep his voice calm.

"Yes?"

"The killer dies in an explosion. Oh my god, Dad? Is this guy going to blow up Kate and Kenzi?"

"Don't worry, they will be fine. Fine, I promise."

"Dad. You need to be fine too, please, please be careful."

"Always, I love you."

"I love you to, Dad."

Castle hung up the phone and looked at the Captain, "He's planning on blowing them up."

"Call in the bomb squad," said the Captain.

"Really?"

"Yeah, doesn't Beckett let you use the radio?"

"No, never, ever, ever." Castle's eyes lit up, reaching across the vast expanse of the Crown Vic's cab, he snatched the mic up and called in for the bomb squad.

RC®©

"Look at the mess of wires," said Kate. Her hands shook. Her knees were knocking, god, she didn't want to die. She rubbed her hands through her hair.

"No cell. No way to contact anyone. No… knife…," said Kenzi. She coughed, spitting the blood off to the side. It hurt, it hurt so badly that she wanted to pass out. "I need to find the ground…."

"What color?" asked Kate.

"That's not always the case. Some bomb builders like to confuse…," whispered Kenzi. "Hell, I read about a color blind bomber once whose wires were all green. When the bomb squad got there all they did was stare. Had to haul the bomb off into a lake or something…."

"Kenzi, are you okay?" said Kate.

"Light headed," whispered Kenzi. "And I ramble sometimes, nervous habit, I guess."

"You're bleeding a lot." Kate pushed back Kenzi's hair from her sweaty face. For the first time in a long time, Kate's fingers were shaky.

"I don't clot real well."

"Why?" asked Kate, looking around the room.

"Leukemia when I was a kid," said Kenzi.

"Really?"

"Why I never seem to be able to grow my hair out. I hate it long, never want to see if fall out again," muttered Kenzi.

Kenzi knelt next to the mechanism, pulling away from Kate. A large amount of clay looking material was attached to two electrodes. And a cornucopia of wires were massed around a timer.

"It's not running," said Kate. "Thank god, it's not running."

"No, triggered by them opening the door it seems. They come to save us, we all get blown into little bits and Kate, and Kenzi are no more."

"He would have sat back and watched," said Kate.

"Look at the door, and be careful not to trip on anything. If you can follow the bundle of wires from the connection to the door, I might be able to find the ground and then, well, we can open the door. We can leave and we might not die. Dying would be bad."

"We're not dying," snapped Kate. She moved to the door and painstakingly followed the mass of wires to the timer box. "Twelve wires, 4 blue, 4 black, 3 green and 1 white."

"White… no they'd be black."

"Why?"

"Story. Roses were black. Four black ones, four…four…"

"You hear that?" asked Kate. She felt a shiver rush into her. Kenzi looked awful, her breathing was labored, but she was trudging on.

"Calvary has arrived. Get in that window and wave them off from the door!"

Kate moved to the small window with the grace of a dancer, she looked down to see that there was another jumble of wires there. "Kenzi, the window is wired too. He had his bases covered, didn't he?

"Not surprised."

"What does surprise you?" asked Kate, she turned towards Kenzi.

"You," smiled Kenzi.

Kate arched an eyebrow and said nothing, a fiery blush rose to her cheeks. She saw her crew of friends, of her family, racing towards them. Waving frantically, she got, of course, Castle's attention.

He skidded to a stop at the window, his eyes filled with terror and thankfulness. "You two alright? Where is Kenzi?"

"No, Kenzi is hurt. He's locked up in the room we were locked up in. There is a bomb."

"We know," said Castle. "He is a writer…"

"The story. Kenzi told me. Where is the bomb squad?" Kate looked around over Rick's shoulder. She saw nothing.

"Fifteen minutes away, they were on a practice run across town."

"We don't have fifteen minutes, we have five," said Kenzi loudly. "The timer just started."

RC®©

Esposito dashed towards one side of the building, and Ryan off the other way. Looking for another exit, or another way in to help with the bomb defusing.

"Kenzi?" yelled Castle through the grime-covered window. "Don't you touch that! It's a bomb, Kenzi. Kenzi!"

"Rick, get out of here, please, get outta here. Go home, tell the kitten I love her."

"I'm not leaving you two. No. It's not going to happen, Knight."

There was a frenzy of activity outside but Kate's eyes were locked on Rick's.

"Listen, Rook…" said Kenzi, struggling to her feet. She paused. "That's it."

"What is?" asked Kate.

"Black and white, on a chess board," said Kenzi. She dropped to her knees again, feeling fresh blood oozing from the wound. She had a hard time to breathe. Her fingers, covered with grime and blood shook as she followed the wires again. A black and a white were intertwined together, a flow of twists and turns. "Black and white together."

"Are you sure?" asked Kate. "Kenzi are you sure?"

Kenzi looked up, pale and in pain. "No."

"Bomb squad won't make it in time, Castle, get to cover, get everyone to cover," Ordered Kate. "Kenzi."

"NO! Kenzi, don't you dare. I'm not going, Kate, please… Stop her."

He put his hand onto the window. Kate covered it with her own. "It was – it was a pleasure, Rick."

"NO!"

Kenzi yanked hard on the two wires.

RC®©

"…if that thing had blown, I'd have killed the both of you," said Castle, shaking his head hard from side to side.

"Castle, the blast would have done that," said Beckett rolling her eyes.

"Right."

"You two are an old married couple," groaned Kenzi. Kenzi was holding her side but the pain had subsided considerably. The reason being the copious amount of drugs that the doctor had seen fit to give her.

"You're lung collapsed," said Rick.

"My brain collapsed," groaned Kenzi.

Kate smiled. Kenzi smiled back at her. Her eyes then moved from Kate's to Rick's. Rick was looking at Kate intently.

They were in a very crowded hospital room. Kenzi was lying in a white bed, looking mildly better than she had hours before.

Alexis kissed Kenzi on the cheek. "You scared us."

"Mmmmm…."

"Mmmm?" asked Kate.

"Didja tell him?"

Kate cocked an eyebrow. "That is a discussion for another time."

"Tsk, tsk," said Kenzi. "I need a vacation. Beach. Sun. Culture."

"You deserve one," said Kate.

"Where do you want to go?" asked Kenzi. Her eyes opened and met Kate's. "I heard you were on vacation for a week. Want to run away with me to some nice beach? Or how about Paris?"

Rick looked at Beckett, who was blushing brightly. "I think I have a mountain of paper work…"

"It would wait," said Martha. I think we should let Kenzi rest, don't you all think that would be a wonderful idea?"

"Mmmmm," Groaned Kenzi.

"Drugs," said Kate and Rick in unison.

"Jinx," said Kate. "I do have a few quick questions, for my report."

Alexis kissed Kenzi's cheek again. Rick took Kenzi's hand and promised he'd return. Martha ushered them both out of the room. Kate moved to the door, closing it gently.

"What on earth do you want to ask me?" asked Kenzi.

"I want to ask you to not push this, between Castle and I," said Kate, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Why? Can't you see that you're got genuine chemistry?" asked Kenzi.

Kate swallowed hard. "I do see that, I see that we have a very fruitful working relationship. I like Rick, but I don't think me liking him in a romantic way would work out for us. We are from different worlds, Mackenzie."

"Bullshit," grumbled Kenzi. She tried to sit up but the stitches tugged and the pain made her stop.

Kate rushed to her side. "No extraneous movements."

"Guess that leaves out sex."

Kate and Mackenzie's gazes met. "Is your safe word apple too?"

"Nope."

"Ah," chuckled Kate.

"Bananas."

Kate laughed. Kenzi reached out and placed her hand on Kate's cheek. "I want him happy, Kate. I think you could do that for him. You already do that for him. I worry for him, I worry about him."

Kate didn't pull away from the intimate touch. "He – he's Castle."

"He's Rick to you, sometimes, though, isn't he?"

Kate couldn't argue with her on that point. Instead, she stayed silent.

Kenzi cleared her throat and took her hand away from Kate's inviting skin. "I really should rest."

"You really should."

"You should, too."

"I should."

"But you won't."

"I won't."

"You are on vacation," reminded Kenzi.

"It will have to wait."

"Life doesn't always wait, Kate, sometimes it passes you by. Seize it while you can."

Kate was about to say something but Kenzi's eyes were already shut. She opened the door softly and closed it without sound. Leaning on the door, Kate reflected on the insanity of the day. It had genuinely made her think. She looked down the hallway and there was no one at either end. She turned to the right, heading for the elevator.

Down the hallway to the left, Castle peeked around the corner and watched her walk away, smiling only because she was still alive.