Hey I'm fixing chapter 10 soon, when I get my lapto back I will.

When Kate got up the next day, she showered, got dressed, and went to make herself a cup of coffee. 'Thank goodness I have time for this today.' She thought to herself.. Then, dreading it, she checked the paper, and there it was. Two pictures of her with Daniels. One walking out of the restaurant, and the other was the kiss he gave her. But sadly, the real topper were the captions beneath them.
"Boy, she didn't wait long after finding out about the sex-tape. Or did this start even before that? Is she going to do her own sex-tape?"
When Kate read that, she was so ashamed. All the things she'd complained about Rick and how he appears in the media, and she did it herself. And all she wanted was a nice talk with a friendly ear to talk to. Oh, God.
When Rick became so successful, as a writer, he did a few book tours, and aside from the tours, and book readers, people weren't all the aware of him. He wasn't a celebrity. But around the time he got his 5th book out, he began to be on the media's radar. The fact that he was a young, ruggedly handsome, wealthy man was just what the media wanted. Black Pawn had been okay about it. They did play out his good looks, and his charm, but they didn't make him out to be a bed-hopping playboy. Things worked out pretty well. But even though Black Pawn didn't do it, the media always wants the stories as wild and sordid as they could get.

But Rick was pretty good at handling them. Being nice, friendly, and charming as needed, but not letting them cross the line of the vows he'd made to her when they were married. But Kate. She never really had to deal with the publicity of things. She went to crime scenes, and the only cameras taking pictures were the CSU people. It was never about her. And that suited her just fine. She had a job to do, she liked it, and she didn't want any kind of media people making her out to be a bimbette, or a celebutante.
She was just Kate Castle. Well, Kate Beckett, because she used her maiden name at work to avoid drawing unwanted attention. And that was fine. Unfortunately, the problem now is that she knew of how the media handles things, but she had no experience in the deep end of the pool. And now, she'd made a huge mess of things. How was it even possible to fix it?

However, that problem had to be shuffled to the bottom of the pile, because she just got a text from Lanie, saying she'd found something critical at the morgue. She took her coffee, topped it off, and headed out the door, saying goodbye to Joe and the girls. Plus, she took the celebrity Page 6 section with her, so that it wouldn't be sitting around the house. She'd throw it out somewhere else, where they couldn't see it.

As she was walking into the morgue, her boss was there too.
"Hey there, Anderson. I understand we found something good?"
"Mmm-hmm. I'm not sure what, but I guess we'll find out. By the way? How is Q1? I hear they have some excellent cuisine there, even if the prices are kind of high." He said to her, with a teasing tone in his voice.
Kate just blushed a bit, and said nothing. They both entered the morgue. "What've you got for us, Lanie?" Anderson started with.
"Well, I found something quite unusual here, and I'm hoping it might break the case for you. Beyond that, I think I need to have a *little talk* with my girl here, afterwards, if you don't mind." Lanie tossed back at them.
Kate groaned, and slightly shook her head. "So what's so unusual?" She asked.
"Look over here. You see this bullet hole?" She pointed at the hole in the middle of the victim's forehead. "I dug the bullet out, and I found it's an unusual type of ammunition."
"Really? How unusual?" Anderson asked her.
"It's probably easier if I just show you." Lanie led them to a nearby bench. She reached over, and picked up a small Petri dish, and it it was the bullet in question. "It's a .45 bullet, 250 grains. Notice anything?" She asked them.
Kate spoke first. "Either that's a very shiny, polished bullet, or…"
And Anderson finished. "Or that's made of silver, right?"
"That's right. Specifically, it's called Britainnia Silver, which is almost 96% pure silver. In this case, the remaining 4% is copper. I've never seen a bullet made of silver, let alone silver as pure as this. The only type more pure, is called Fine Silver, and it's 99.9% pure." I'm hoping that this can help narrow down who could have used this type ofammunition. Just one bullet would cost about $8 to $10 *each*. I've looked, and you cannot buy these in stores. This had to have been made from scratch. I'm hoping that this will lead you in the right direction."

"Wow! Thanks, Lanie. You did a great job. Could you please email us with the specifics of the bullet? We'll probably need that for matching to evidence." Anderson complimented her, and started to walk away.
Lanie gave Kate a stony look of "don't you dare leave!" It was so severe, that Kate called out. "I'll see you back at the Precinct, Anderson." He just grunted as the doors closed behind him.
"Girlfriend?!" Lanie asked, in a threatening tone. Then she puused. "What the hell did you think you were doing, getting in a picture with that guy? Are you crazy? What's gonna happen when Rick sees this?" Then, after a pregnant pause, Lanie asked. "You… didn't go home with him, did you?"
Kate groaned, again. "It was all innocent, Lanie. I'll admit that I didn't expect the kiss at the end, but the whole dinner was me bing able to talk to someone I can trust, about what my options are. I was crying as the cab drove away. And, NO! I didn't go home with him. It wasn't that kind of date!" Kate said, with a bit of whining in her tone.
"Heaven, help us! Lordy, girl. I just don't see what you thought you were going to accomplish with this. Why didn't you have him over at your loft. You could have had Joe with you to act as a chaperone if anybody asked. Hmm?"
"I'll admit that, the thought did cross my mind, but I really didn't want Joe there. He's Rick's brother. He'd take Rick's side. He's already told me he can't and won't believe that Rick did this. But have you seen that video, yet?"
"Yes, I have. I watched it all the way through, although it made me feel a bit 'squicky' to watch it. But I made it through, and I'll admit that it sure looks like him, not that I've seen him with his clothes off." When Kate gave her a look, Lanie continued. "I'm just saying! The situation still remains. What are you going to do about your little paparazzi media splash?"

"I'm not sure, Lanie. For as much as a media newby as I am, even I know I can't just call a press conference and say 'I did not kiss that man!'. It would just cause more crap. For the moment, I can only hope that if I ignore it, it will eventually fade away. Do you have any better ideas?"
"No, not really. I think the fade away option is probably best. But I think, just to try not to hide things, you should probably tell Rick."
"Ugh! That is going to severely be difficult. I'll see what I can do next time we talk."
"That's good, Kate. Talking is probably the best action you have right now. And for Rick, too."
"Okay. Well, I have to head back to the Precinct. I'll be in touch. Bye, Lanie."
"Bye, girlfriend!" And Lanie gave her a hug before she headed out the door.
#

At about that time, Rick was about to board a plane back to New York. He didn't want to jinx it, but he was feeling more confident that he could get this resolved between him and Kate. He had arrived at the airport two hours beforehand, and had to admit. It was nice not having Gina always on his case to do everything she needed for the book tour. He had a chance to pick up a copy of the NY Times and the NY Ledger. He passed the time waiting to board, by reading the Times. He felt a bit like he'd been living on another planet, and he was now getting back to the normal daily flow of things like, Massuchusetts legalizes gay marriage, and there were apparent admissions that the government *might* have overstated Iraq's capacity for Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Eventually, they called for bording his flight. He got onboard, and sat down in his seat. Whenever he was flying alone, he preferred to sit in an aisle seat, so that he could people-watch more easily. It's just that today, he kinda wished he'd gotten a window seat. That way he'd be out of people's view. It was far from universal, but he'd already gotten bad looks from about four or five people. They appeared to recognize him, and

immediately gave him a very bad look, like he'd been examined and found to be wanting.
Just before the flight took off, there was still no one sitting in the window seat, so he shifted over there, and pulled a light blanket and pillow out of the overhead bin, and, after buckling himself in, he closed the window shade and tried to get some shut-eye.
His ploy worked pretty well. Perhaps too well. Normally they'd ask even sleeping first class passengers if they wanted a meal, but he wasn't even bothered. At one point, he looked over at the stewardess for his section, and she could have killed him with the look, alone. He just kept quiet. Instead, he pulled out the NY Ledger, to see how badly he was doing today.

Aside from a remembrance commemorating the death of Marlon Brando, the only other pictues he saw were…
"Kate?!" Rick was momentarily stunned. There were two pictures of Kate. Exiting a restaurant, and another getting a kiss. Holy crap. What's going on? He knew Kate avoided publicity like the plague. How is it possible she's on Page 6? He stared at the first picture of them coming out of the restaurant, and realized which one it was. And he also realized who the owner of it was. He'd have to call Madison when he got into town.
But Kate was dressed up in one of her gorgeous dresses. It was short, showed off her body to it's maximum potential. What was she doing wearing that with some other schmuck! And for that matter, who WAS this other schmuck! He really needed to find this guy, and have a long talk with him, and tell him that, separation or not, Hands off! Goddamn it!"

At this point in the flight, there was only about 30 minutes left. He put the papers to the side, and just sat for the rest of the flight. Anger inside him building and building. In fact, when it came time to disembark from the plane, he was absolutely NOT the friendly, charming book writer. Instead, he was beginning to wonder if Kate would be the one to investigate the murder of the other bastard! When he got his suitcase, along with his laptop bag, he headed for a cab, and took it straight to his hotel.

When he got there, he found four big boxes in his hotel room. He looked them over, and his heart dropped. They contained all his clothes and things. Kate had packed them up the day he headed out, and here they were. It was hard to belive that all his stuff (other than his books) took up such a small space. The loft was so big, and yet everything else in it was family stuff. Things he'd bought for Kate, for the girls. Even some things for Joe. But these four boses. These were all that he, alone, owned. His entire life, over a quarter of a century, was reduced down to just this.

All his anger had faded away almost in an instant. Now, he was overwhelmed by the loss. If he couldn't resolve this, and if Kate didn't forgive him, he'd never again go to sleep next to her, or wake up next to her. He'd only have rare, scheduled chances to see the girls, not the spur of the moment times when he'd play a game with them, take them to the park, take them to DisneyWorld. His perception changed. The four boxes he had, altered from being all that he had left, to being his entire world. He knew he'd never find a woman to love as much as he loves Kate. No one could come close to her. He knew that he'd never marry anyone else.

His perception changed again. He saw himself 25, 50 years down the road. Being all by himself. Thinking of only the old days, when he had Kate, when he had the girls. He'd probably keep tabs on how the girls had aged, how they'd do at school, and at college. He'd never get the chance to scare their boyfriends, to make sure the girls were treated right. But then his mind thought of how bad things could go. Would Kate marry this other guy? Would he make her happy? Would he give her the next baby that she wanted to have? Would he become the father that the girls would look to when they had questions or problems? Would they stop talking to him? Would they forget about him?
Rick moped for a bit. As much as he'd done in the last few days, all of it relied on Kate, and how well he could prove to her how much he loved her, how well he could prove to her that he had always been true to their vows.

But he had to keep believing that he'd be able to do it. Otherwise, what was the point. He put the boxes in the bedroom closet, and unpacked his suitcase into the drawers of the small dresser. He looked out the window. Being on the sixth floor of a building in New York City wasn't very high. But it was a very inspring view. He could see the Atlantic Ocean, and the Statue of Liberty, and all the boats making there way back and forth to New Jersey. All those people.

He got his laptop out, and after he went online, he called the 12th Precinct, and asked for Captain Montgomery. He was in luck. The Captain was in, and had the time to talk.
"Roy? Sorry to bother you. How are Evelyn and the girls?"
"Not bad, Rick. My youngest just turned five, and she wants to spend time again at your place, with your daughers. What's up?"
"Have you heard about my latest trouble?"
"Yeah. Heard about it, but not seen it. Why?"
"I don't expect you to believe me… YET. But I'm trying to arrange a proof of innocence for Kate. Kind of like I'm proving my alibi. What I'd like from you is the chance. Can you help me?"
"If you didn't do it, and you can prove it to her, then I'm all for helping another fellow with marriage problems. What do you need me to do?"

"I'm trying to arrange for the guy who was actually *in* the movie to come out here. He won't know that I'm here, At least, not me here. I'm having him come out for a Richard Castle imposter get together. I'd like to have it up there, on the Homicide floor. If this works as I hope, you'll have him and me in one of the interrogation rooms."
"And who will be interrogating you?" Roy asked.
"Probably you, since I am the husband of one of your people, you'd want it all done aboveboard. Beforehand, I'm going to tell him that I am another imposter, and that we are going to pretend to have committed a minor, but embarrassing crime of some sort last week. I'm not sure yet what it will be, but it'll be harmless."
"Oh, I know, you could have either landed a hot air balloon in Central Park, or.. like, I don't know, stealing a police horse, and rode it across Central Park… naked." Roy said, trying to get into the mindset.
"Yeah! When you consider how people seem to be seeing me now, it should be totally believable. Then, I need you to make sure that Kate is among those in the observation room, watching this."
"Okay, what happens after that?"

"Part way through, I'll try to get him to admit that he was in that movie you've heard of me being in. If he will admit it,, that should prove to Kate that I didn't do it. After that, I need to find out from him, who is responsible for it. Can you help me?"
"Things up here have been pretty focused on quite a few mob hits that are going on. Every Detective has been focusing on it quite heavily. I suppose I could try to lighten up the mood for an hour. When would you need that hour?"
"I'm not 100% sure, but I'm thinking Thursday. Maybe around lunchtime? Either Thursday or Friday for sure."
"Alright, Rick. I can do this for you. But only on one condition." Roy sounded pretty serious.
"Um, okay. What condition?" He asked, tentatively.
"You need to write off that $200 bucks that I owe you for the poker games. The last two times we played, you kicked all our asses. Thank goodness Kate wasn't playing. I'd have owed three times that much!"
"Not a problem, Roy. Consider it waived. If you don't mind, I'll probably give you a call tomorrow to try to lock things in, is that alright?"
"Yep. I may even have Evelyn leave the kids with her mother, and show up here to watch this too."
"That's totally okay, Roy. The more people that Kate see's me proving myself to her, the more she'll know how much I love her. By the way, do you happen to know who was in the picture of Kate on Page 6, this morning?"
"Yeah, he's a detective up in Organized Crime. Daniels is his name." Roy paused for a thoughtful moment. "Are you thinking of committing a crime, Rick? A beating? Or a murder? I don't recommend it. He's one of our guy." Roy ended, with a stern sound to his voice.
"No, nothing like that. But I do intend to have a big talk with him. Listen, I have to go. Got more things to check on."
"Okay, Rick. Talk to you tomorrow."

That night, when Kate got home, She gave Alexis a hug, and had a hard time answering their questions.
Lacey was up in her room, and Alexis was looking through a couple Dr. Seuss books.
"Mommy? Where is Daddy? Is he coming back anytime soon?" Alexis whimpered.
"I'm sorry, honey. Daddy and I have been having an argument and I told him that… when he figures it ou, he'll talk to me."
"When he figures it out? What if he doesn't figure it out? Does Daddy come back then?"
"I don't know, sweetie. This is something that Mommy and Daddy are trying to work out between us. Daddy did something… and it made me very upset. But I want you to understand that it's nothing about you girls. Mommy and Daddy love you both very much."
By this point, Joe had headed upstairs and checked in on Lacey. He saw she was awake, but sitting in a corner of the room, one of Rick's photos. She wasn't looking at it, but she was hugging it to her chest. Joe stepped into the room to talk to her.
"Hey, cutie. You know your Mommy is home. You wanna go talk to her?"
"Is Daddy here, too?"
"No, cutie. Just Mommy. You want to go down stairs?"
"Yes!" And she got up, and ran out of the room. Joe could here her feet going down the stairs.

"Mommy! Are you throwing Daddy away?"
"Sweetheart? That's not what's happening. I was just telling your sister that Mommy and Daddy are trying to work things out. We're not sure what will happen yet."
Alexis had a question. "But Mommy, you said he has to figure something out. What does he have to figure out? Can we help him? We want Daddy here!" She said with a sob.
And Lacey joined in. "Yeah, I wanna help, too!"
"For now, I don't want you to be worried. Daddy will talk to you when he's ready. We just have to wait. Maybe things will work out."
"I miss Daddy." Lacey said. "I hope so." Alexis added. They both slowly headed back upstairs to go to bed. This was very strange, because their bedtime wasn't for two more hours. But they had no desire to be downstairs. Instead, they changed into their bed clothes, brushed their teeth, and went to bed.
"Lexi? Do you think that Daddy will come back?"
"I want him to, Lace. We need to help him some kind of way."
"But we don't know where he is to help him. We need to find him!"
"I know. I'll have to see what we can figger out. And then we'll go and find Daddy, and help him to come back. We can do it together, right?"
"You bet! We're coming Daddy, don't you worry."
With a bit of a lighter heart, the girls fell asleep, and mostly dreamt of things they had done with their father. But how could they find him?