Chapter 7

The hotel was in line with the fireworks display that would happen at midnight, the caterers had outdone themselves, the music was eclectic enough to make everyone happy at one time or another, and the party was well underway when Captain Victoria Gates showed up around eleven. Martha was thoroughly enjoying playing hostess and training Alexis in that endeavor, and they both greeted Gates as if they hadn't heard so much as one of the unflattering stories Castle constantly told about the captain. Gates wouldn't have bothered to come; but she was an ambitious woman, and an evening where she could rub elbows with the mayor, the police chief, a few judges, and probably a celebrity or two before the evening was over, was too good to pass up. Before she arrived, she had decided on her response to the inevitable question about how much Castle actually contributes to the precinct and was prepared to put it to use.

Castle looked up to see who the next guest was, and bumped Kate's arm to get her attention. "I guess I have to go make her feel welcome."

"Good luck."

"You're not coming with me?"

"I'm not hosting this party. Don't have to."

Castle turned and put on his hosting smile before walking toward the door. "Captain, I'm happy you came. Come in and enjoy the party. Would you like a drink?"

"I can take care of that myself, Mr. Castle," she said in her usual fashion.

Turning to the man at his left, Castle introduced the captain to the mayor. "This is the man responsible for your misery, I'm afraid." He then introduced her to two other men and their wives before being called away by a member of his hired staff to consult on a minor emergency.

Kate caught up with him as he returned from his distraction. "Where's the captain?"

"I palmed her off on the mayor and some of his friends," he answered with a grin. "She'll be fine. I have no doubt she can handle herself. Mother will keep her out of our hair as much as she can."

"Bless your mother."

"Yes, indeed. Would you like to dance?"

"With the captain here?"

"I'll behave. We'll leave space between us and everything."

"Hmmmm. Kinda spoils the fun, but why not?"

"That's the spirit. We won't let her ruin our evening."

Castle alternated mingling with guests and dancing or sharing a few minutes with Kate. Near midnight, the guests began to migrate toward the large windows to view the fireworks, but after starting in that direction, Kate lagged behind. Just before the countdown, Castle offered a toast, and then, at midnight, wrapped his arm around Kate's shoulders and gave her a respectable but lingering kiss. "To our own new year," he said and lightly tapped his champagne glass against hers.

At the first sound of the fireworks, Kate jumped…knowing it was coming, but caught off guard all the same. They already stood behind the crowd of people who were oooing and aaaahing at the windows, so they didn't feel on display. Castle's arm never left her shoulders as he put their glasses on the table beside them. She was all right at first, but as the explosions went on one after another, Kate gradually tensed and eventually rested her forehead on his shoulder, grasping the lapels of his jacket and feeling herself wanting to hide from the sounds. Her breathing was shallow, and she was gripping his lapels with white knuckles. He brought his other arm around her and whispered soothing words as he rubbed his hand up and down her back.

The captain watched from within the crowd, her suspicions about them confirmed in her mind.

Alexis came to them and took over stroking Kate's shoulder as Castle put an arm around Alexis, too. She kissed his cheek, and he kissed the top of her head, and the three of them stood, helping Kate hold herself together. Martha made her way there, too, smoothing a hand briefly over Kate's hair, and before moving on, planting a kiss there much like the one Castle had given his daughter.

As she heard what seemed to be the finale of the fireworks show, Kate straightened and determinedly started to pull her outward self together before the wall of humanity at the window could notice the little family gathering behind them. She didn't want to embarrass Castle at his own party. Martha moved back toward the window to give them as much time as she could away from the guests. Kate took Alexis' hand and gave it a squeeze, along with a smile and a thank you; and Alexis went to join Martha.

"Are you all right? Castle asked Kate.

"I'm getting there."

"I'll be right here as long as you need me."

"I know."

"Why don't we sit down before they all come back? Over here." He led her to a corner where there were only a few chairs and they wouldn't be surrounded when everyone returned.

At the end of the fireworks show, the music started again, and some of the guests returned to the dance floor. Others dispersed to various parts of the room for drinks, food, or conversation. It wasn't long before people started coming to find Castle to say goodnight, and he was pulled away from Kate to handle his hosting duties again. She assured him that she was all right, but he asked his mother and Alexis to keep an eye on her anyway.

She felt a presence and was surprised when she looked up to find Captain Gates sitting down beside her.

"You okay?" Gates asked.

"I'm fine."

"The hell you are. I was in the service before I was on the force. I've seen PTSD before. I caught wind of you fighting it during the sniper case. The fireworks tonight…the shooting?"

"I don't…"

"A lot of people don't have the kind of family you do to support them. Don't give up."

"I don't have a family...just my dad."

"I'm not blind. They may not be legally yours; but they obviously consider themselves yours. The man giving the party is the act he puts on, right? Your partner isn't what the press pictures him to be, is he?"

"No," Kate answered, looking down, wondering where this conversation was going.

"Are you getting help for the PTSD?"

"Yes, sir." She looked up, facing Gates with a determined look.

"Good. It's a real bear."

"It is."

"You need to have the good sense to turn over the reins if you're losing control."

Kate nodded, knowing she couldn't hide it from the captain any longer.

Gates leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath. "A couple of years after I joined the force, I married my partner. We were happy. We didn't have a lot of time together, but I wouldn't give up any of it to avoid the pain. He died in the line of duty six months after the wedding."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. Were you there when it happened?"

"You mean was he distracted, trying to take care of me?"

"No. I didn't mean…"

"Hell, no. They'd split us up. Policy…no choice. It was the first bad situation with his new partner. If I'd had his back, he'd have come out alive."

Kate looked at her in surprise. What was she trying to say?

Inclining her head toward Castle, Gates leaned toward Kate and stated, "That man isn't going to let anything happen to you if he can help it, and you aren't going to let anything happen to him. I can see that now. He's a civilian. No policy to cover that. Don't worry. I won't take your writer away from you. I might order him to get some training, but I won't take him away."

Kate was literally speechless as Gates stood.

"I think I need to say my good-byes," Gates said as she started to walk away, then she turned back. "And, detective, if you don't reach out and hold on to people who love you as much as they do, you are a class A fool…and we don't harbor fools at the twelfth, do we?"

"No, we don't." Kate gave her a small, appreciative smile.

Pointing a finger in Kate's direction, Gates told her sternly, "This conversation never happened." She paused briefly and added, "Happy New Year, detective."

"To you, too, Captain. Thank you."

With that, Gates found her way through the dwindling crowd and left the room. And Kate sat wondering if she might be hallucinating again.

When the guests were gone, the Castles and Kate retired to the large suite Rick had booked for the night. He announced to his family that Kate needed to feel safe tonight, and therefore she would be staying with him…clothed and door ajar if either of them needed him…but Kate would be with him.

She told him about Gates' nonexistent conversation as they were snuggled together talking before contentedly drifting off to sleep.

xxxxx

The following morning, Castle came to the precinct with flowers, taking them to the captain's office and saying, "These came for you," for the benefit of anyone listening. "And this came with them." He handed her the flowers and took a card from his pocket. "Thank you for what you did for Kate. The conversation doesn't exist beyond the three of us. I just…I needed you to know…."

"Take care of my detective, Castle. And the two of you had better keep it out of the precinct. That's all I need."

He nodded, placed the card on her desk and said, "Understood. I intend to show both of you that respect." Then he left, moving back to Beckett's desk, sitting down and discreetly putting his hand over hers with one of their signature eye contacts.

Esposito knocked on the door frame before going into Gates' office with information she had asked for, breaking her concentration on the card she was reading. She held her hand out and accepted the folder, pointed it in the direction of Beckett's desk, and asked pointedly, "There's a pool on those two, isn't there?"

Esposito was shocked into silence, didn't know how to answer.

"Come on, detective, there's always a pool on this kind of thing."

"Uh…yeah. More than one, actually."

"So what's the big one right now?"

"That he'll pop the question on Valentine's Day."

Gates looked at Kate and Rick briefly, turned and stared at Esposito just long enough to make him want to fidget; then, never looking up as she sat down and pulled herself to her desk to open the file, said in her perfunctory manner, "Put me down for fifty that he won't last that long."