CH14
It is now one month later: (August)
"Where's Rick?" Jim asks one day, having not seen him in days.
"Castle is writing, or to be more precise, re-writing." Kate tries to explain.
Kate sees the look her dad is giving her. "We've done this so many times that Castle has actually written three Nikki Heat books. Right now he is re-writing what he has already written more than once. Once he finishes those three again, he'll start on the fourth." Kate adds.
"Nikki Heat?" Jim had never heard of them and what happened to the Derek Storm books? His wife had gotten him hooked too. Plus he was jealous, … just a little.
"It's dad's new character for his books. He based the character off of mom." Alexis speaks up, getting Kate to cringe since she hasn't convinced Rick to change the name yet. Not that she hasn't given up just yet.
And the look Jim was giving her only made Kate sigh and hang her head down. That name had to go or she was going to die when people found out.
"Nikki Heat?" Jim tries again.
"She's based off of mom's life. She's a homicide detective with a civilian tag along that the two slowly fall in love with each other. They run around New York City solving crimes together." Alexis explains it a little.
"Rick is writing about you?" Jim tries to work this out in his head.
"It's not about me, just based off of me. Castle takes me and dreams up these different events for the two of them to get into. He's simply using me to get inspiration from." Kate tries to explain, using what Rick had told her countless numbers of events ago.
Jim remained quiet while he thought this through. "Nikki Heat?" Jim wasn't sure if he wanted to know where the name came from.
Kate simply sighed and squeezed her eyes closed. "I've tried to get him to change the name, he's just being stubborn." Kate opens her eyes again, only to see her dad grinning at her.
"And you know all about being stubborn." Jim comments knowing his daughter has her picture after the word in the dictionary. Jim knows she didn't invent the word, but oh how she has given it new meaning.
"I am not stubborn." Kate crosses her arms across her chest. "Tell him I'm not stubborn." Kate turns to look at Alexis who was sitting next to her on one of the bar stools.
"I'm going to go feed the chickens and gather some eggs for breakfast." Alexis hops down and starts walking for the patio door.
"ALEXIS HARPER CASTLE!, …. Stop right there. …. I am not stubborn, tell him." Please tell him, Kate tries to beam into Alexis's head using her ESP ability.
"Welllll, …. I'm going to go feed the chickens and gather some eggs." This time Alexis all but runs, leaving a stunned Kate in her wake.
It did however leave Jim and Martha who were sitting on the sofa, chuckling softly. They were both slowly learning how this family worked.
Alexis eventually came back and was using her wrap to hold the eggs since she had left in a hurry without a bowl to put them in. And Alexis could soon feel Kate throwing daggers into her back while she cooked breakfast for everyone. Eggs, bacon, toast and juice made fresh the day before using the fresh fruit on the island.
It had taken a number of trial and errors to use the proper blending of fruits to get a flavor the three of them liked. It wasn't orange juice, but it was still packed with vitamin C.
Rick was typing while Kate and Jim went out fishing for more catfish for tonight, leaving Martha and Alexis with each other.
"You three seem to get along pretty well." Martha comments.
That got Alexis to smile. "It took mom some time to come around, but it does feel like a family now." Alexis admits.
"Because Katherine is stubborn." Martha grinned from earlier.
"Mom had a lot of walls that she was hiding behind when we first met her. I guess you could call that stubborn. I think dad acting like a child too often wasn't helping at first.
It wasn't until mom's walls started failing her that her personality started to come out. Mom is still stubborn, just for a different reason now. She's great grams." Alexis knew she loved Kate a lot.
"Well I'm happy for you dear, lord knows you deserve to find someone besides your father who loves you." Martha hugged Alexis, getting Alexis to smile.
"And you've really been doing this over and over again." Martha wanted to hear it again, since it didn't seem any different to her.
"Nine months, repeated over and over. We still don't know why we're the only ones who can see it. And at first and maybe still is, just a number of Déjà vu moments that didn't feel real somehow. Now those moments are as if we actually lived them.
Why you and the others don't see them, … I don't know." Alexis didn't have an explanation, neither did her mom or dad.
"But your safe dear, that's what counts." Martha gives Alexis a quick hug. "I believe I'll go read dear until dinner. Call me if something comes up." And Martha retreats to her room.
Dinner turned out to be shark steaks that Rick grilled, plus fresh fruit, green beans and garlic bread, since they had the butter this time.
"Katie tells us you're writing a new book." Jim offers while they eat outside under the stars.
"Yup, a whole new series. I've got three of them all up here." Rick taps his head. "I just need the time to actually type them all out before I can start on the fourth." Rick tells him.
"Only to lose all that work when you repeat this again." Jim felt bad for him, not that he was catching on to what these three had been going through.
"There is that, but we're hoping that this will be the last time. … It needs to be the last time." Rick added softly, since Rick was tired of this. It did however get Kate to place a hand on his.
It was now that Kate's eyes opened wide. "Excuse me." And Kate headed for the master bedroom on-suite.
"I'll go." Alexis gets up and follows Kate.
Rick can see the look at Jim and Martha's face and shakes his head. He didn't know what that was about, he hadn't had time to think it through yet.
Alexis knocked on the bathroom door. "MOM?"
"I'll be right out honey." Kate calls back and so Alexis sits on the bed and waits.
It takes a few minutes and a lot worse for wear Kate comes out and sits next to Alexis. "I'm not pregnant." Kate tells her.
Realization suddenly hits Alexis. "Like just now?" Alexis watches Kate nod her head. "And you were worried?"
"I'm not losing another baby Alexis, …. I'm just not." Kate wraps her arms around Alexis soaking up some of her strength. It was something Kate had learned to do after avoiding this for so long. Let others be strong for her when she needed it.
"It wasn't your fault the first time mom. If this, … nightmare, hadn't repeated itself we'd have a baby in our lives. It's not your fault." Alexis hugged Kate back. "Guess that means I'll have mine tonight sometime." Alexis comments.
That was one of the funny things about women who are forced to be around each other for long periods of time. Their systems seem to talk to each other and their cycle times adjust so that they all have their periods at roughly the same time. Why that was ,...?
"Let me know if you need help for any reason." Kate kisses her head. "I love you. … Come on back to our dinner before your father comes charging in here trying to find out what happened to us." Kate stands up and offers her arms to pull Alexis up off the bed.
Kate kissed Rick's head as she sat down and smiled wide at him. Kate could read the look on his face. It had 'What?' written all over it.
Kate leaned in and whispered. "I love you, … period." Kate sat back and smiled while she watched her words play across his face as Rick thought about them.
'I love, period.' Rick thought about those words. Rick already knew they loved each other, and yes they told each other that they did constantly and they meant it when they said it.
He had disappeared into their bedroom to write before and knew that they still loved each other.
'Period' The way she used it made him think that she was going to forever love him and he should never think of anything different. Her love was final, and she had said yes to his proposal.
'Period' Did she mean her period? Was she trying to tell him that she was pregnant again? Rick almost literally moaned and squeezed his eyes closed. Losing another baby was going to be hell.
Rick snapped his eyes open and saw that Kate was smiling at him. Kate should be crying if she was pregnant, wouldn't she? Now Rick opened his eyes wide. Period could also mean that she had, had her period and wasn't pregnant and the pain of not getting to keep the baby had been taken away.
Rick took one of Kate's hands and brought it up and kissed it softly and kept a hold of it as he smiled back at Kate and turned his attention back to what everyone else was talking about.
It was a couple of weeks later and Kate and Alexis were floating around in the pool holding hands still. Kate had started it and Alexis found that she liked it. It gave her a connection that she hadn't had with a grown woman in years.
"Mind if I join you?" Jim asks standing at the ladder.
"Come on in dad. The sunscreen is on the table." Kate tells him knowing that the two of them had coated each other with sunscreen before getting in the pool.
"Already used my own, thanks." Jim comments as he climbs into the pool. He had no desire to get a sunburn either. "Not exactly a swimming kind of swimming pool." Jim mentions as he sinks down till the water is above his shoulders.
"We did look into a large in-ground pool while this place was in design and development. We found out real fast what it would take to get a team and all of their tools, equipment and supplies out here.
We were just glad that the giant cistern was still in good condition. It didn't need any work except to have it scrubbed clean. I don't know how the original owner got it installed.
Putting in an above ground pool was the only affordable and practical option left. This is one of the largest ones we could find." Alexis enlightens him of what they thought about and could do.
"Is there anything you two haven't thought about?" Jim questions.
"I hope not, but go ahead and ask." Alexis challenges him.
Jim actually thought about it. "I saw the gasoline tanks, how long will it last?"
"We had Sta-bil added to our gas so it should last roughly a year. The plan was have a boat come out and fill our tanks roughly every 6 months in the beginning as we adapted to how fast it got used up based on usage." Alexis answers his question.
"Propane?" Jim asks having seen those tanks also.
"The two tanks should last just over a year. The only items that use propane are the tankless water heaters, the refrigerator in the house, which is a combo electric/propane. We also have a fuel dispenser to fill small propane bottles. We can sell propane to guests that show up in their boat and need propane to keep going.
We thought about selling gasoline too, but for now, no." Alexis answers his question.
"Why tents?" Jim asks, knowing they are in hurricane country.
"We thought about block walls with doors and windows. It's just that, that would mean giving each building an air conditioning unit, and since we create our own electricity it made it difficult and costly.
The tent material is rip resistant and easily repairable if it does rip, and easily replaced if it does blow away in a hurricane. There are three tent flaps to guarantee a breeze and the tent actually reflects the heat beating down on it instead of concrete blocks that would trap it and keep the place hot even after the sun went down." Alexis answers his question.
"The staff has to stay in tents too?" Jim questioned. What if the staff didn't want to ruff it too?
"For the first year yes. We wanted time to adjust to what we needed. Dad and I have already looked into what it would take to move house boats down here for the staff to live in. Have their own kitchens, bathrooms, space to live and with A/C.
The staff that stayed with us past the first year would get first choice at the house boats. Whole families or dormitory for singles. We would keep up the boats while they paid for their own food. Fill their water tanks from our cistern. We still have to work out how to pump out the waste from each boat, but we had a year to work that out." Alexis explains.
2005 FANTASY 19 X 90-I
30' sun/moon deck, large hot tub, custom full octagon upper bar, dumb waiter, water purification system, V-8 engines, 20 kw gen, front and rear thruster, custom sunlounger flybridge, covered lower helm, 4 bedrooms and two full baths.
2000 FANTASY 17 X 82-C
4 bedroom, new back up camera, show deco package, 2 bath, V-6 with Bravo II drives, stern thruster, party top, bar and complete bridge.
1989 Sumerset 14X64-1
5.0 L VOLVO ENGINE
12.5KW GENERATOR
NEW CANOPY TOP
PWC DAVIT
FRONT ENCLOSURE
INVERTER
3 BEDROOM
1 FULL BATHS
WASHER / DRYER
2001 Starlite 6715
2001 67' X 15' Starlite, Twin Volvo 3.0L Engines, 12.5KW Westerbeke Generator, Central Air/Heat, 3 Bedrooms, 2 Full Bathrooms, Washer/Dryer, Dish Washer, Wet Bar, Fly Bridge, VHF Radio, Depth Finder, Front Screen Enclosure, Awning on Top, Hot Tub, New Furniture Inside & Out.
2006 Destination 55x16
TWIN 115hp FUEL EFFICIENT Honda Outboards. A new Hot Tub sits on the top deck. Upgraded 3 ton central air system that is efficient and keeps the boat as cold as you like. The twin hulls have bulk heads every 5 feet for safety. A new water heater was recently installed as well as new electronics and batteries. 20kw Westerbeke generator, surround sound system, entertainment center, two bedrooms, two heads, double sliding doors in master to aft deck, Queen size bed in master, stove, microwave, oven, full size fridge, queen guest room that doubles as an office, depth sounder, bar with wine fridge in the living room, leather sofa with recliners.
Jim was shown the pictures much later in the day. Jim had to admit that these two had really planned ahead. He still wasn't sure about staying in tents for a week, he enjoyed his creature comforts. Still he could see the appeal, since he used to do some camping years ago. Oh to be young again.
Jim spent his time in the pool relaxing while he watched his daughter float around the pool holding Alexis's hand the entire time. Until they had both had enough of the pool did they ever let go of the other. Jim however stayed.
"She has a family Jo and she dragged me out here to see it. If these three are right I'll be spending nine months out here watching and learning about her family.
Did she drag me out here to get my approval? Or did she drag me out here simply to show me? And am I still a member of her family? I screwed up Jo and I'm still not sure how to fix it.
Or maybe I've missed my time to fix us, now I'm just grandpa and watch our daughter grow, finally grow after we both lost you. Too bad you're not here to see this. Hopefully you had enough faith that Katie would get here." Jim was still trying to figure out his place in his daughter's life.
"Katie is all grown up and it's her life now. I just get to watch and lend support when I can.
Fifteen years and their not married or have children. Just how much can you do in nine months?" Jim really didn't know what could have happened living nine months over and over again.
Since Kate and Alexis were gone, Jim grabbed one of the mattresses and got on so he could float around dipping his hand into the water and push himself around lost in his thoughts.
Kate and Alexis were sitting at the breakfast bar watching Rick start working on dinner. "How goes the writing?" Kate asks him.
"Not bad, I think I'm changing a few words each time I re-write it. It's kinda hard to remember it word for word, and it feels funny writing from memory. Not really creative writing. It almost feels like I'm plagiarizing someone else's work since I'm not creating it, just writing it.
It'll feel good to finish and move on to the next book. Feel like I'm writing again instead of just typing." Rick tried to explain.
"So you're writing again dad?" Alexis wanted to hear him say it.
"Yeah, I like writing these books. I feel better about them than I did writing Derek Storm. Nikki is so much more a dynamic person, and has so much more of a future." Rick was smiling since he knew he was talking about Kate.
"Rick." Kate cooed with a soft voice.
"Her name is Nikki Heat, Kate." Rick turns his head from the stove to smile at her, long enough to watch Kate sit back into her seat and huff at him.
Getting Rick to smile wide and go back to his cooking preparations.
"You do know that I own a gun." Nothing else has worked, maybe a threat will.
"You own one and I own eight." Rick answers back.
"EIGHT? … How do you figure eight?" Kate didn't see how that was possible.
"Well let's count them. … Two Tommy guns, one sniper rifle, two SIG's and three super soakers." Rick smiles at Kate.
"The super soakers don't count." Kate argues back.
"Their guns and they hold ammunition, that just happens to be water instead of bullets, and they could be lethal." Rick points out.
"And how does shooting water make them lethal?" Kate wasn't following.
"Well water did melt the wicked witch of the west." Rick points out.
"OH, SO NOW I'M A WITCH AM I?" Kate got out of her chair and went down the hall to the master bedroom, striding with determination in each step.
"You are a dead man dad." Alexis points out. "You just compared mom to a witch." Alexis got up and moved to a chair that was further away from her father.
"I'll make it up to her later, and that's not what I meant." Rick offers up to his daughter.
"You are so dead dad, so very dead." Alexis knew Kate was going to get him for that.
Rick ignored her comment and went back to working on dinner, while he thought up things to do to make it up to Kate.
Right up until Rick screamed and arched his back since that part of him had just been attacked.
Rick turned to find Kate with two of the three super soakers in her hands and was blasting him as fast as she could pull the trigger.
First his back had gotten wet, now his chest and face were getting back, as Kate was smiling wide and letting him have it with both barrels. All the time listening to his daughter laugh her ass off.