She thinks of him in what she sees around her. What she smells nearby. What she feels with a simple touch. She's in love with him and she can't get him out of her system. She feels this way right until she entered the front lobby of the paper. There is a crowd in the lobby and she can see Claire at the center of what must be a press conference. She does not know what it's about or who it involves so she keeps walking to the elevators to go to the sports department. But it's Claire's voice that stopped her from getting to the on the elevator.
"That person right there is the person you should be talking to," Claire said as she pointed to Kate standing in front of the elevator.
All Kate could do was turn around and see a crowd of reporters quickly heading towards her. She had no idea what they were doing coming towards her because she had no idea what they were here for in the first place.
"Miss Beckett, Miss Beckett." One reporter yelled out.
"Miss Beckett, can you tell us what made you investigate The McMillan family for embezzlement, unfair business practices, and labor violations as well as possible murder charges?" A second reporter asks.
"I'm sorry I don't know why you're asking me these questions. My article was retracted months ago, and I was treated like I was a second-class reporter and shoved into a punishment I didn't deserve."
Kate looks over to Claire who is shaking her head violently to try to get her to stop talking. Because that's not what happened. She wanted to keep her as her star reporter but her hands were tied. And now it looks like Kate is going to exploit what happened to her in front of the whole press corps.
It's only then that Kate notices Claire trying to make her way through the crowd of reporters to get her to stop talking. She also sees the paper's owner Robert standing there off to the side of the podium with his head bowed down looking at the floor. She doesn't know what to make of it. What she is seeing is a man of his stature admitting defeat. She needs to decide how she wants to play this out.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the press corps please disregard what my reporter is saying. Yes, she is the one who wrote the article that was retracted but she was on to the truth long before any of the Macmillan's were accused of the crimes they allegedly committed." Clair says trying to save face.
Kate knows when someone is trying to cover their own ass and Claire's doing it right now. Before she knew it, she was pressing the button for the elevator to get out of there. Claire has a few words for her in front of everyone before the elevator arrives.
"Kate listen, about your assignment in the sports department, Robert has been thinking it over and he wants you to come back to The Lifestyle department and pick up where you left off. He's offering you a higher salary and perks that only seasoned reporters get here. So, what do you say Kate?"
Kate just stood there contemplating what she was going to say next. In her mind, she always wanted to go back to where she was from in the paper. But that was before she met Rick. And before she became enamored with the sports department and writing for her own column. She liked it where she was.
"Claire, go to hell!" The elevator doors opened and Kate stepped on without looking back.
Xx
Pete had planned Rick's training for the next month. There would be four separate disciplines each lasting one week. The first would be physical training in the cold. The second week would be a vigorous training regimen with someone special. The third week would be in the gym training with weights and old tried and true methods and the last week would be basically split between watching films of his opponent and strategies they needed to have in place before the fight. His diet would change drastically, Sy had a nutritionist flown in from Chicago who would prepare Rick's meals with specific guidelines for fat, sugar, and carbs. His meals would be lean and almost all protein. But on the day of the fight, Rick would be able to eat whatever he wanted for breakfast, have a light lunch and by the start of the fight he'd be just about finished digesting his lunch. It would be much easier for him to fight on an empty stomach than a full one.
Xx
Whoever thought of going to Schuyler Falls in the middle of winter was a good idea should have their head examined. The routine that they had set up for him this first week was mostly outside. He was working with primitive equipment. Yes, there was modern equipment set up in the gym, the very warm gym, but Pete had decided to work his lower body as well as is upper body. Which is why he finds himself hitched to an old fashion six-person sled. What he's trying to do is pull the sled which weighs about a good seven hundred pounds through the snow. He thought that this would be a mostly inside training schedule but boy was he ever wrong. Pete had the bright idea to have him take the place of a horse to try and move the sled to get his quads and his calf muscles stronger so he could move easily around the ring. He didn't see the mentality in it but if Pete wanted it done, he'd do it.
"Okay, Rick I think it's time for a break," Pete says as he holds out a power bar and a bottle of cold water.
"Pete tell me why I'm doing this again?" Rick asks.
"It's simple Rick. This sled pulling will build both your stamina and lower body strength. It will make you faster in the ring and it will give you an edge over Wladimir Klitschko. That's why."
"Pete, Klitschko announced that he was retiring from boxing last year and he did. What makes you think that he'll come out of retirement to fight me?"
"Rick, he wants a shot at defending his title the same way you want a shot to get it back. I'll bet he's in Siberia right now doing the same thing that we're doing, training our hearts out."
"But Schuyler Falls Pete? Why couldn't we be in someplace warm like Miami?"
"Rick, really? Do you think that you'd get any training done with the sight of women in skimpy bikinis everywhere?"
If you only knew Pete, if you only knew.
"Yeah, your right. So, what's next?" Rick said as he finished both his power bar and water.
"As you know, Klitschko ended his professional career with 64 wins in 69 fights, 53 by knockout, establishing three major records of the modern heavyweight era: the most wins in heavyweight title bouts, most wins in unified championship bouts, and most consecutive defenses of the unified title. It's my job to make sure that he won't make you another one of those statistics."
"Pete Klitschko has a deadly left hook. Something I can't get around. Do you have a plan for that?"
"I do. Starting tomorrow you be sparring with a man who knows his moves like the back of his hand."
Rick looked at Pete and he looked like he was guarding a national secret.
"Come on Pete out with it!" Risk demanded.
"Well since you've been a good boy…I am going to let you spar with…"
Rick was hanging on his every word waiting for the name Pete was going to say. But when he just kept staring at him, he knew he was messing with him.
"Come on Pete tell me!"
"Alright. It's Vitali Klitschko!"
Rick just stood there his empty water bottle falling from his hands. If the ground was not covered with snow he'd have fallen to his knees as well.
"Tell me your lying," Rick asks him in shock.
"No, I'm not. Sy went to a lot of trouble and expense to get him here to train with you. Rick, you can't blow this chance. Listen to everything the man has to tell you."
"Don't worry I will."
Xx
By the time Kate walked into the sports department, she saw John having a very heated conversation on the phone in his office. As she sat at her desk the receiver was slammed down back into the cradle. Then the swearing started. And she knew exactly what was going to happen next.
"BECKETT!"
She gets up and makes her way over to his office. She didn't do anything wrong so this has to do with the phone call he just received. She cautiously walks to the doorway and waits for him to ask her to come in.
He looks up and takes her in not knowing how to start this conversation.
"Beckett guess who I just got off the phone with?"
"I have no idea Mr. Nelson and personally I don't care."
"Well, you better start caring because apparently Robert the owner of the newspaper and the man who pays your salary seems that he might have made a mistake by making you move from the society pages to the sports department.
"John, listen, I don't care. Seriously I just don't give a shit. Claire stabbed me in the back all those months ago. And now that my article has just a little bit of truth to it, she is looking to be my savior. But what she's actually doing is just trying to save her own ass. I want nothing to do with it."
John is shocked, to say the least. He can't believe that she won't go back to her old boss and column. Maybe he did underestimate her power and her loyalties.
"Kate, what do you want?" John asks her.
"What I want is Rick by my side. What I want is to be able to write what I want when I want to. What I want is to be the one who brings down the McMillians. But you know what?"
"No what?" He asks.
"I can't have any of those things. Rick is off in seclusion training for his heavyweight fight against Klitschko. I write for you and you tell me when and what to write about. Did you ever think that I might have a brain and I can write good articles in the world of sports? And just because Robert wants to suck up to me by moving me back to the lifestyle department so he can save face too, someone else can bring down the McMillians because I just don't care anymore."
"Wait, you and Rick Castle?!"
"Yeah, John what about it?"
"I just didn't think that the two of you were that close, that's all."
"We are. And I am in love with him."
John just watches as she turns and leaves his office.
When Kate gets back to her desk, she has a decision to make. She loves to write, being the one who gets the facts for a story. Listening to everyday people who ride the subway, walk down the street, and whoever reads the paper talking about her work. She is proud of her contribution to the paper. But now it does not seem that this is what she wants anymore.
Xx
"Rick you need to get up," Pete said.
"Да, ты никогда не выиграешь бой, лежа на коврике." (Yes, You'll never win a fight by lying on the mat.)
"Pete, I need him to speak English. I am not fluent in Russian.
"Виталий, ты можешь говорить по-английски? Рик не может понять тебя." (Vitali, can you please speak English? Rick can't understand you.) Pete asked the fighter.
Vitali just nods his head.
"Rick, my brother is a powerhouse with all his punches. He can make you think that he's going to throw a punch that you're expecting. Then at the last second, he changes it up and throws a left hook or a straight right-handed punch. He's deadly with either if he connects."
For the next week, Rick and Vitali took turns at keeping each other on their toes when they sparred. Then there were times during the week where Rick felt that the repetitiveness was going to be the thing that killed him. But Vitali took it in stride and showed him new ways to avoid being hit by his brother in a way that would keep him alive to survive the round and hopefully the fight.
The second week was more footwork, jumping rope, speed bag workouts, and long bag workouts. What Vitali would do is steady the bag sometimes for Rick. When he swung and connected with the bag, Vitali was amazed at the force Rick executed that it almost knocked him over.
"Rick you have very strong arm. You need to direct your swing with more accuracy. If you're accurate with the power you put behind your punch you should be able to defeat my brother."
Rick thought about what Vitali said and started to see that there might be a way to possibly beat Wladimir. All he needed to do was stay clear if his hook. That shouldn't be so hard… right?
The next week Pete has Rick working with free weights with Vitali. Vitali is a powerhouse that's the best word Rick can come up with to describe the man. Rick can in no way keep up with Vitali but he can spot him when he squats 650 pounds. At best Rick can only get 4 reps of 565 pounds completed. After that is legs feel like jelly. But Vitali doesn't stop to take a break. The second that they finish with the leg swats they move on to dead weight lifts. This is where Rick has a slight advantage over Vitali. From a clean jerk, he can deadlift 525 pounds. Vitaly, on the other hand, has trouble with 450.
"Rick slow down this is not a race," Pete tells him.
By the time both men are finished lifting the free weights, it's just about time for dinner. His meal plan has been something that could be just a little bit better. To keep him healthy he's given what looks like green and tan baby poop. It's a paste filled with nutrition and protein but the flavor stripped out of it. What he really wants is meat and potatoes. A nice filet mignon with a side baked potato and green beans sounds good right about now.
Xx
She's undecided about what she wants now. What she needs is Rick's opinion. Even though they slept together and she's not seen him in three weeks she needs him like night follows day. There has been a lull in the way Claire had championed for her to return back to her department but she wanted no part of it. Which leads her to her next problem. Her current boss was on the fence about Claire reclaiming her star reporter.
She knew Claire and how far she'd go to have the best. She was early getting to the office on that Friday and that's when she caught them. John was putting up one hell of a fight, but Claire was playing dirty.
"John, if I want her then I'll have her! There's nothing you can do about it."
"Claire don't hold something over my head from years ago. That was then and this is now. It's a whole new ballgame and I'm not going to give her up. She likes it right where she is."
Claire snorted loudly at his last statement.
"John you can't be serious. There is no way in hell that Kate would stay here when I have so much more to offer her."
"Claire forget it. She's happy right where she is and you can't have her back."
Kate had heard about enough. She rose from her desk chair, walked over to John's office and stood there not being noticed by either of them due to the insults they were hurling at each other. She listened as they fought about who had the rights to her as a reporter. They thought that she was a piece of meat that they could carve up for their needs any way it suited them. Well, she was going to do something about it right now.
She put her index finger and thumb under her tongue pushing it up with her fingers resting on her lower lip, curled her tongue slightly, inhaled a breath and blew it out hard. The resulting whistle had Claire covering her ears and John sorta smirking at her knowing it was she who was making so much noise.
"Now that I have your attention, there's something that the both of you need to know," Kate said.
John and Claire just looked at her waiting for her to say something.
"I quit!"
With that said Kate turns and walks away from her former boss's office. She had her box sitting on the edge of her desk with her personal stuff and as she walks by, she snags it cradling it under her arm like a football.
"Kate! Wait!" Claire yells out.
"Beckett you can't leave! Who's going to write the story on Castle's fight this week?"
"John I'm sure that you can find someone else to fit the bill. But if I go to his fight, I might be persuaded to write a side piece to go along with the article."
"I'll take it. Good luck Kate."
"Wait, that's all you're going to do? You're about as smart as a box of rocks! John, she's leaving! Stop her! Claire demanded.
"Claire it's a free country and she's not breaking the law so who am I to stop her?"
"Idiot!"
Kate laughed inwardly when she heard Claire called John an idiot. Good serves her right. She watched as Claire tried to get to the elevator before the doors closed by running at her full steam. What she didn't see was the extension cord strung across her path. The toe of her shoe caught the extension cord and she face planted right onto the linoleum floor. Kate started to laugh hard. The doors closed and just before they did Claire started to get up. There was blood on her face from her apparent broken nose.
Xx
His last week was the worst. He had a combination of the prior weeks thrown into the last week. Monday was sparring until he could not keep his arms up to defend himself. Tuesday was used for pulling that damn old-fashioned sled, but this time there were six people in it weighing in at over twelve hundred pounds plus the weight of the sled. Wednesday was free weights again and working out with the speed bag, long bag, and the dreaded medicine ball. Thursday was, believe it or not, a yoga class combined with the steam room while watching past fights of his opponent. More and more he was hating what Pete would think up for his last day. He found out early when he was woken to a clanging garbage pail and lid the metal kind.
"Come on Rick up and at em!" Pete and Harry both yelled at the top of their lungs.
Rick rolled out of his bed and got ready for whatever Pete had in store for him. By the time he made it to the gym after eating his baby poop that was oddly the color of eggs today, he saw Vitali in blue trunks with a gold stripe down the sides.
Harry took Rick aside.
"Here kid, put this on and get into the ring. I'll help you lace up."
Rick looked a little puzzled. The trunks in his hand were red with black stripes his colors were blue with white stripes.
"Rick just do what Harry said," Pete tells him.
Rick heads back to the locker room to change and get his gloves. While he's in there he tapes up his fists knowing that he'll be using them soon. Then he heads back out to the gym.
"Rick, Vitali has the same moves as his brother. What you're going to do for twelve rounds is fight him. Learn what he can show you by avoid being hit. Counteract his punches by using his undefended side to strike your blows against. We'll score the fight like it is the real thing just to see how you might do on Saturday."
All Rick could do was nod and get into the ring facing his opponent. If this was going to be a real pretend fight, he needed to screw his head on straight.
Xx
Twelve rounds later Vitali and Rick were both about to drop. Each had scored pretty much the same for a TKO but Vitali had the edge or at least they thought. When the final bell rang both fighters fell onto their stools exhausted in each of their assigned corners.
"Harry, too close to call?" Pete asks him.
"I'd say so. How did they do on points?"
"Vitali was behind by one point. That last round should have been his but Rick came away with it." Pete told him.
"Harry, get them to the showers feed them and tuck them in. It's late and I need to drive down to the city to talk to Sy. Make sure you have Rick fed and out of this place by ten am tomorrow. The fight is set for eight tomorrow night.