It was irritating sitting in the back seat next to Castle who seemed so comfortable with the whole situation. This situation uncomfortable nature had been increased because the two cops had handcuffed them. Why was this necessary? They'd done nothing wrong and the officer had not explained what was happening. So Kate couldn't help but wonder whether she'd made a mistake getting out of the car and coming with these cops. Philadelphia was not a good place to be in trouble, luck seemed to be on her side for once because the cops pulled up to a building that seemed to be a precinct.
The car stopped as the officer placed his foot on the brake of the cruiser and then turned off the ignition. He stepped out of the car and opened the door for her to get out. Another cop came up to him and then walked around and opened the door for Castle. Kate could not be certain but she felt generally at ease in think that she heard the words drug trafficking and gun, used in the same sentence before the cop grasped her arm and helped her out.
"Pardon me, sir but why are we here?" she asked impatiently as they got inside.
"Ma'am, your car and license plate number match the description given to us by witness who earlier saw some people selling drugs to some teens up the interstate," the officer replied.
Kate looked over at Castle who looked back at her all his amusement at the situation gone.
"Sir, I can assure you we've done nothing. We're currently investigating a case involving drugs. We picked a guy up that lived a little way southwest of here and were on our way to tell his wife that he is no longer facing a murder charge," she contradicted.
"I admire your creativity," the cop was unlocking a door now and the worst part of it all was she knew where the door would lead, "Most drug dealers just say I didn't do nothin' over and over again until they finally get tired of saying it. Then they ask for a lawyer."
"I know that I've worked too many drug related homicides not to," she replied.
"That's your story and you're sticking to it."
Kate heard the pins in the lock fall into place and the door swung open. The cop took the handcuffs first off of her and then off of Castle. Inside the room, there was a cell. And inside that cell there was a bench. The cop unlocked the cuffs and pushed the both of them into the cell together. Kate glared at the cop's back as he left and then pulled out her cell phone. This cop really didn't follow protocol very well. Castle watched as she opened the phone and realized she had no service.
"Damn it all to hell!" she swore out of absolute frustration.
"Hey Esposito," she heard from behind her and turned.
Castle was sitting on the bench his phone to his ear. He was also very clearly getting access.
"Put it on speaker Castle,"
Castle pressed a button and Esposito's voice came out of the phone.
"Hello Esposito," Kate called.
"That you Beckett?"
"Who else would it be?" she snapped back.
"Where are you? You left three hours ago." Esposito asked.
"We're in Philadelphia," She replied but was cut off by Castle.
"Kate pissed because we got arrested,"
"How the hell did you get arrested?!"
"Beckett got arrested?" they heard Ryan's voice very quietly in the background.
"The cop decided our car matched the description someone had given him of a drug dealer's car," Kate replied annoyed.
"And she was speeding," Castle added.
"The point is, we need someone to prove that we're here for no nefarious reasons,"
"Why don't you just show them your badge?" Esposito suggested.
She grasped the badge and looked at it. Why hadn't she thought of that? She heard footsteps and indicated that Castle should hang up his phone. Castle pressed the button and cut off the call and then slipped the phone back into his pocket. The cop opened the door to the cell and Beckett held up her badge for him to see.
"I'm Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD. This is Richard Castle…"
"You're Richard Castle?" the cop interrupted her and she realized her was not the same cop that had picked them up.
"Yes I am," Castle stood up and walked over to stand beside Kate.
She sighed. Why did this always happen?
"Richard Castle, it's an honor to meet you. Most of us in the precinct love your books,"
"Do you suppose we could go, I'm really in a hurry," Castle was negotiating now and Kate glared at him.
"You wouldn't mind sighing all of our books would you; before we let you go?"
Now she could tell that this cop was not very old, probably barely out of high school.
"Actually we're…" again Castle cut her off.
"I would be delighted," Castle replied.
Kate groaned and followed the two men out of the cell and into the main body of the precinct.
It was somewhat similar to their own though she could tell it was smaller and was more of a localized precinct than a headquarters.
"So, Mr. Castle, how is it that I find you in a cell in Philadelphia. I thought you lived in New York City,"
The man that had asked this was who she assumed was the police chief.
"Well actually, Kate and I were following up on a homicide investigation. We arrested a man that lived in a Suburban neighborhood about thirty minutes out of Philly and we were coming to tell his wife he was no longer facing murder charges as well as ask some questions about other suspects they may have had contact with." Castle commented.
"So, you perform police work as well as write your novels. Very ambitious of you,"
"Kate is actually my muse. I'm basing my next character off of her,"
"I'm not your muse Castle!" she turned to the police chief, "We really need to be on our way, sir. I have urgent matters that must be dealt with and very little time to complete them."
"I'm sure informing this woman about her husband can wait for a little while," the Chief seemed adamant upon monopolizing Castle for as long as possible.
"I'll sign anybodies' books that want them signed," Castle commented.
Kate sat down in a chair and waited for Castle to be done with his impromptu book signing. She looked down at her lap and she felt, with her exhaustion, sadness reopen what she thought was a healing wound. Tears were in her eyes and falling before she could stop them.
(Later)
Kate was sitting in the car her hands on the steering wheel waiting for Castle to make his way in. It was already ten thirty and the hour kept ticking by. Castle finally sat down in the seat and closed the door. She looked over at him for a moment and then looked as at the steering wheel. She leaned forward without saying a word and slipped the key into the ignition. She could feel Castle watching her and knew that he was entirely aware that she was not happy with his delay.
They pulled out of the precinct parking lot and onto the road, making their way back toward the interstate. Where they had originally been headed was another freeway near the interstate so they could use it to get to the suburb they needed. Kate looked up from her driving and saw Castle quickly look away proving her theory that he had been watching her throughout the drive.
"That's not how we do things Castle, sometimes we have to take our cases seriously. It's going to be very late by the time we get back to New York again and I had other facts I wanted to go through before we went home," she looked down at her lap aware there were tears in her eyes again and she was not coming off quite as annoyed as she really was. God, I hate emotions, she thought.
"Kate, when has my way not worked?"
"Do… I…" she stammered trying to find a comeback but her voice broke and she stumbled over the words.
The road was shimmering from the rain that had recently fallen and the people around them were driving very slowly because of the low temperature. Kate brushed a few tears out of her eye, angry at her lack of self control. She saw the road and turned off onto the exit and down into the suburban neighborhood. She looked at the clock; it was seven past eleven. Sighing she parked the car along the road in front of the house and got out.
The grass crunched under Kate's feet as she made her way across the yard on onto the walk that lead from the driveway to the small front porch. She knocked on the door and waited patiently, Castle behind her, as usual, for the woman to open the door. No one came so she knocked again. Yet again no one answered. The lights in the house were on and the TV was on the news but no one was watching it. Kate walked to the garage and saw it was open and the car was inside it very clearly undisturbed. Something wasn't right. Call it a sixth sense but the chilly night air seemed to have an ominous feeling about it. Kate stepped into the garage and she heard Castle's heavier footfalls mimic hers. Her hand traveled round her back to where she kept her gun in its holster. She saw a dull flash of something catching the light of a streetlamp and grabbed Castle's arm. Her save turned out just in time. A bullet smashed into the wall just where their bodies had so recently been. Castle was on top of her pressing her into the concrete floor of the garage but for once she was not angry. Because of her trapped nature, she'd seen not only a woman's angry and almost insane face, but the gas line hanging down from underneath the car and the woman's hand as it lit a match.
"Castle, run now!" Kate screamed for once not embarrassed to show her fear.
The man lying on top of her seemed to notice the urgency. He leapt to his feet and half stumbled, half ran from the enclosed garage. A few bullets peppered the plaster wall and showered Kate with the rough pieces of cay that fell, but none of that mattered. Kate rolled up onto her feet and followed Castle.
She felt the sound before she heard it. The heat of the resulting fire hit the back of her neck and something she thought might have once been a glass figurine bit its edge deeply into her upper arm another piece slicing viciously across her cheek. She threw herself to the ground and covered her head with her hands. She heard someone cry out in terror, someone young and innocent but there was nothing she could do. No matter who had been in that house there was no getting to them now. It had been a trap and she'd played right into it. Her father's murder, the woman, she assumed, had called in the drug report to buy herself the time to reach the house before they did. Then she'd cut the fuel line on the car and waited for them to get there. Not only would she be killing her adversaries but also their source of information about her. The story made so much sense. As everyone always says, hindsight is 20/20.
"Kate," it was Castle's voice and he sounded near panic, "Kate!"
He seemed to notice her in the grass as she rolled over onto her back. He crawled over to her and grabbed her upper left arm. She winced and he pulled his hand away. She could feel the fire burning hotter and suddenly wondered what could be in the house. Kate knew in her mind that not only did they have to get away from the house but they would have to do it fast. She heard another cry and pushed herself to her feet refusing to let Castle help her. She squinted at the blaze and saw, with a thrill of absolute terror that a little child was standing on the front porch of the house appearing to be holding something. Kate was afraid of fires. She'd always avoided them but now there was no way she was going to be able to let that child stand there on that porch and be burned to death.
Kate knew it was insane and knew she would not done it if she'd been more awake, however after everything that had happened in the last three days nothing seemed to operate on a normal level. She ran forward and grabbed the child. Castle was right at her back seeming to not want to leave her, and she was fine with that. The little girl clung helplessly to a tiny stuffed cat, the tears on her small face glistening in the orange firelight. Kate handed her to Castle as she reached the sidewalk again and collapsed onto the concrete.
People had begun to gather about the house and it seemed as though to them this was nothing more than an accidental fire. And, Kate thought as she contemplated the scene in her semi-conscious state, that that really was all it appeared to be. Somehow a reporter had already managed to get there, along with the fire department, and was interviewing people on what had happened.
"Kate, come on get up," Castle reached down and grabbed her left arm again.
He pulled her up this time and she felt something running over her hand. She looked down and saw that it was reed with blood, her own blood. She also felt her cheek bleeding as well.
"Ma'am, would you mind giving me a statement on what happened here. A few people told me that you were the first on the scene," the reporter was standing before her but she was having trouble focusing on what she saw before her.
I've lost a lot of blood. She thought.
"Kate, you're bleeding," Castle commented.
"I know that, Castle," she snapped and turned to him.
"You should see someone about that," Castle commented and again she was painfully aware of how odd responsible Castle was, "Come with me."
Kate was about to reply with a few choice curses but then noticed that Castle was holding the little child, a girl she now saw, over his hip. Castle took her hand and led her over to the firemen.
"Do you have a paramedic and possibly a policeman around here?" Castle asked.
Kate rolled her eyes wishing that she felt as wonderful as she was letting on. The deep cut had begun to ache and didn't seem to have slowed in blood flow yet. She could also see that some blood from the cut on her cheek had somehow reached her eyelashes and clotted there. Castle was towing her away from the fireman and over to an ambulance. Kate heard her phone ring.
"Beckett," she answered trying her best not to sound like she felt.
"Hey, what's taking you so long?" Esposito's voice spoke out of the phone which she had put on speaker because the paramedic was examining her arm, "Why do I hear sirens in the background?"
"you didn't get yourselves arrested again did you?" and that was Ryan's quiet voice.
"No Ryan, we've not been arrested though that probably would have been preferable to this."
"What happened Beckett?" Esposito asked with worry.
"There's at least one other vic… To add to our case. Mrs. Fiona Whitting," Kate replied.
"What happened?"
"The drug call was a fake. It was form my father's killer to buy her time to set up a trap for Castle and me," Kate paused for a moment remembering the terror of the explosion before she continued, "Castle and I got to the house and knocked on the door no one answered so we knocked again. When no one answered the second time I got suspicious because the lights and TV were on. We went around the front to the garage and went in. The car was there. Then someone started shooting at us. I pulled Castle down behind the car and saw a woman holding a match. The car's gas line had been cut and gasoline spilled all over the concrete. She dropped the match and I told Castle to run because he hadn't seen what I had. We ran out into the front yard and dropped down…"
"Ma'am," the EMT was talking to her.
"Give me a moment Esposito," she commented and covered the phone.
"Ma'am, we need to take you to the hospital and see how deep that cut really is," the EMT informed her, "You've lost a lot of blood so we'll need to keep you overnight for observation."
"I'm fine, sir," Kate replied annoyed at the mention of a hospital stay but in reality she wasn't really sure how fine she was, "Just stitch me up, and let me be on my way."
"Don't listen to her," Castle interjected.
"Ma'am there is no way I'm going to allow you to leave. Get in the ambulance we'll stitch you up at the hospital."
Kate was shocked as Castle, who had since given the kid back to her parents, picked her up and climbed into the ambulance.
"Castle!" she yelled though with less annoyance in her voice than she wished she'd had, "Castle, put me down!"
"Kate, you're being ridiculous if you think that I'm going to let you drive my car all the way back to New York City with that cut and your lack of blood,"
Kate almost laughed at his humor.
"Beckett, are you still there?" a voice yelled out of her phone and she realized she had not yet hung up.
"Sorry, Esposito," Kate replied, "Put me down Castle; I can walk on my own, thank you."
"Sorry Kate," Castle replied but still refused to put her down.
"Castle…"
"Do I want to know what's happening? Should I just hang up the phone?"
"Castle is just being a Jack-ass," she reached up and grabbed Castle's nose.
The author immediately let go of her yelling "apples."
"Thank you, Castle," she commented as she landed on her back on the floor of the ambulance. The phone in her hand went skittering across the metal floor and under the gurney.
"Beckett, where are you?"
"I'm in an ambulance going to some hospital because Castle here seems to think that I might die," she quipped.
"Hey it's perfectly possible, you're still bleeding. That EMT may have bandaged you arm but that didn't stop it," Castle commented.
"I'm fine Castle!"
"Why are you bleeding Beckett?" Esposito asked.
"I got cut by a piece of glass. It's really nothing to worry about," she commented.
"Alright, Beckett, just take care of yourself. I'm going home so I'll see you."
"Esposito…"
"Don't, Beckett,"
Esposito hung up. Kate pressed the button to end the call and closed her phone. She slipped it back into it holder on her belt and sat down on one of the benches inside the ambulance. Castle sat down beside her and they both stared at the other metal wall. Castle shifted and Kate felt his arm drape around her shoulders. She stiffened unsure of what he was doing. The contact and closeness was not something she welcomed.
"Castle?"
"Sorry,"
Castle returned his arm to his side and resumed a silent thoughtful position. This was that mature side of Castle again, the side that was entirely strange to her. She wasn't sure what to make of it so she said nothing. Kate was not fond, of change and she was beginning to miss the old Castle with his sexual innuendos and wise-ass comments. She was beginning to think about her father again too and couldn't seem to piece things together in her mind. It was a painful situation and she thought about the case now to keep her mind off the fact that she and Castle had almost been killed.
Castle's phone began to ring with a loud and obnoxious ringtone.
"Hello?" he answered it.
His phone was so loud Kate could hear the voice on the other side of the line.
"Dad, where are you, it's almost one in the morning. You never work cases this late. What happened?" it was Alexis.
"Alexis, I'm sorry! I should have called. I'm not going to be home tonight okay, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon. A lot has happed," Castle replied
"Richard Castle, what on earth are you doing still at work? I swear to God someday you are going to give me a heart attack!" that was Martha
"Is that what it's going to take to get you out of my house?" Castle joked.
"Dad this is serious. We just want know you're okay and where you are." Alexis' practically voice cut across his playful one.
"I'm fine, Alexis. I'm in the back of an ambulance on my way to Philadelphia,"
"You're not hitchhiking again dear, are you because really, the best way to get from place to place is to drive that car of yours," Martha commented.
"Why are you in an ambulance, Dad?"
"Beckett, got herself hurt,"
"I… Castle," Kate commented then realized she had nothing to scold him for because he hadn't used her first name.
"What were you doing that would merit a trip to the hospital?" Alexis asked.
"We were going to see a suspect's wife. We had some more questions for her and we wanted to tell her that her husband was no longer wanted for murder. It was all a trap though. Somebody blew up the car and Beckett and I were there. I was down on the ground before the explosion but Kate was still running when it happened. Something sharp cut her arm pretty deeply," Castle replied.
"Someone tried to blow you up," Alexis' voice seemed as filled with fear as it was annoyance, "Dad you really have to be careful. I can't be the one to let you go out and get yourself killed. This is the worst case you've taken yet as far as risks. Please, please be careful."
"Don't worry, Pumpkin, I'll be fine. It will take a lot more than an exploding car to knock me down, figuratively speaking of course," Castle replied and Kate rolled her eyes at his cocky attitude. Only Castle would be so nonchalant after nearly getting killed.
"Fine, Dad, I'll let you off the hook this time," Alexis replied playing at some humor before becoming serious again, "But Dad?"
"Yeah Pumpkin?"
"If something happened to you I don't know what I would do." Alexis commented, "Goodnight Dad, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Night, Star Baby," Castle close the phone and slid it back into his pocket.
"Nice ringtone, Castle," Kate commented trying to seize some humor for the moment.
"You like it?"
"Sure I do…about as much as I like you Castle" Kate replied without realizing that what she said could be interpreted in many ways.
"That could either be good or bad," Castle laughed though there was a part of his face that, to Kate, didn't seem fully into the joke.
"So why aren't you going to be home until tomorrow afternoon?" She asked.
"Well someone has to be here to drive you home don't they?" Castle replied.
"I'll just make my way home the old fashioned way," She contradicted, "I'll take the bus."
"What and miss all the fun and torment of a ride home with me," Castle asked in mocking charm.
"Oh, however will I live?" She smiled in reply enjoying that he was finally making light of the situation.
"No, I'm driving you home, whether I have to throw you in the back of my car or not," Castle replied.
"Castle, is that a threat?" Kate laughed and then extended her comment, "It's too bad you would be dead if you even tried."
"We'll see," Castle commented, "My muse."
He added the comment to the end of his statement and Kate punched him.
(Later)
Kate was lying in the hospital bed only because she had been extremely tired when they'd arrived and the ER had been logged with cold victims. She and Castle had sat in the waiting room for hours and then she'd finally been admitted. The doctor had stitched her skin back together and then the doctor had insisted that, because of her loss of blood, she should be kept overnight for observation. Much to her irritation Castle had insisted upon staying so she couldn't even be alone.
"You know Castle, one of these days I really am going to hurt you," she commented after he'd spent fifteen minutes whining about the state of hospital food.
"What, it's not like the food has to be like this,"
"Most sick people don't care about what their food tastes like," Kate replied.
"Well their company does,"
"You don't have to stay Castle," Kate commented dryly, "I never asked you to. Go find some decent restaurant to put down."
"You react so much better to the complaints though,"
Kate groaned and leaned her head back against the pillow waiting for the doctor to discharge her.
"Alright, Miss Beckett, you are free to go," the doctor handed her the papers and a bottle of a painkiller which she dumped into a garbage can on her way out the door.
a/n- alright that's it for this chapter. I swear this chapter wrote itself. Sorry it took so long. I was waiting for my mom to leave me alone for an extended period of time. I have to go sing in a concert so wish me luck. Broadway Show Tunes. Always fun. My favorites are in "Les Miserables".
Tabitha
P.S. Please review if you read this. I don't like to beg but I feel I must so, please review. I'm sacrificing all of my pride and dignity asking this. Oh and the Kentucky Derby runs tonight. Can't wait to see the outcomes!!
