Doppelgänger 21
Her spell had worked to perfection. Roy had handed over his weapon. They'd met him at his car where Kate had given him his weapon back. They'd run to their car and were presently following him to his house.
Something was nagging at Rick. "Have you ever done that to me? Charmed me like you did him?" He didn't think that she had, but had she done it earlier when they first met?
"No babe, I would never." Kate looked at him. "I want what we have to be between us; I want it to be real. If I charm you it will only be real for you and I don't want that. Please believe me." She was telling the truth – she hadn't charmed him.
Hearing that, he relaxed until he remembered something else. "You've done something else, though, haven't you? I can almost feel it." Charming someone wasn't the only thing a succubus could do.
She was taking too long to answer; Rick glanced at her. "Kate… Snohbal?"
She hung her head; a tear escaped and traveled down her cheek. "I didn't want you to leave me for another woman," she wept. "A more beautiful woman. So I asked you if you would bind yourself to me. It means that you won't ever be involved with another woman. And I asked, I didn't command you." Kate could feel her heart pounding like a drum.
He was still free to reject her, after all. And commanding someone to do something was another of her innate powers. It was just harder for her to get that person to do what she commanded.
"Castle, Rick… talk to me. If it helps, I reversed it and bound myself to you. There's no other male that I want or can now have. You're it for me." Rick was hers and she was now his.
Rick began to squeeze the steering wheel harder and harder until his knuckles started to turn white. Then she said something that he only caught part of since he'd stopped listening after she'd said yes. "You bound yourself to me?" He turned his head back to look at her. What had she done?
More tears escaped but she felt her heart start to repair itself in the hope that he wasn't that angry with her. "I'm yours; I want to be only yours. I don't want anyone else but you. Remember where I came from… This is me, all of me." She'd handed over her life to him while at the same time trying to make sure she didn't lose him.
Rick parked in front of Roy's house; neither of them were watching him. Rick was staring out into space while Kate was staring at Rick. "Kate Beckett loved you. …Loves you. I love you, both of you." She meant Richard Castle and Richard Rodgers.
"Can you undo it?" He wasn't sure that was what he wanted, but he needed to know his options. Richard Castle was so deeply in love with Kate Beckett that it was impossible to ignore. He'd learned to love the new Kate Beckett who was actually a blend of Kate and Snohbal. But then he was a blend, as well, if he was being honest.
His question made her heart sink. He wanted out. He didn't love her. "Yes… if you want." She could release him even if her heart wouldn't let her release herself from him.
"Let's go inside; we need to see if there are clues as to who took his family and to where," Rick said abruptly then opened the car door.
"Castle!" Kate reached across to take hold of his arm. "Rick?" She didn't want to be left in limbo.
"I need to think. To process everything. I'm not saying no but I'm not saying yes, either."
Kate felt marginally better. He hadn't rejected her outright and she still held onto the hope that her spell binding them wouldn't let him cut ties with her. Still the fact that he was fighting against her spell even a little tore at her.
She wiped her face then followed Rick to the front door where Roy was waiting, though her mind and heart were no longer in this. What she wanted to do at the moment was grab him and either shake some sense into him or kiss him senseless. Or both. She'd willingly bound herself to him and thought that her spell had bound him to her. Now she wasn't so sure.
"Kate… Kate." Rick waved his hand in front of her face and saw her eyes snap to him. She only saw Rick and didn't see Roy. Had she been out of it that long?
"Kate… Snohbal, I'm not rejecting you… us. I just need some time to process what your spell means to me. I get what you've done to me and to yourself. I guess what hurts is that you didn't talk to me about it first. Didn't give me a chance to agree to it or reject it." Rick was thinking the latter was what hurt the most.
"I'm sorry, I just… I can't lose you. Neither of us can." Snohbal had no trouble feeling what Kate felt for him and how much it would hurt to lose him.
Rick stepped in and wrapped his arms around her, feeling her melt into him. "I'm not rejecting US. I just need time to decide if I want to be bound to anyone, including you." He kissed her forehead and pushed her back a step, just enough to look at her. "For the record I have no intention of cheating on you, now or in the future. There's no one more beautiful in my eyes than you. Well, save Alexis, maybe. My Alexis." He knew his Alexis still had him wrapped around her little finger and always would.
Kate smiled a watery smile. It helped her heart that he wasn't rejecting her, just the being bound part. It didn't change her willingness to be bound to him at all.
"Go find Roy and see what he has while I scan the house." Rick kissed her forehead again and got out another of his devices.
Kate found Roy sitting at his desk with a thick NYPD folder on his desk in front of him. He seemed to be staring at it like it either didn't exist or was his worst nightmare come true.
"What's this?" She spun it around so she could read it and began turning pages. Several heartbeats later, she exploded. "YOU KNEW? All this time and you knew," she accused him hotly and kept turning pages.
"You don't understand…"
Kate interrupted him, her voice cutting like a knife. "What don't I understand, Roy? You knew who killed my mother all this time. All these years and you said nothing. Looked right at me and lied." She kept turning pages and came to a single realization.
It didn't let Roy off the hook, but what he had done didn't sit well with her or Kate Beckett. "You've got almost nothing. Nothing that would get him convicted. Ruin his political career, yes, but there's nothing in here about him ordering anyone killed." Kate was still fuming but was starting to calm down.
"I thought it would protect my family… and you. So long as he thought what I had could ruin him he left both of us alone." Then a thought hit him. Kate was pointing a gun at his head. She was mad to be sure but not furious enough given the situation.
"How long have you known it was him?" Roy wasn't stupid; he had been years ago, maybe. But that was a different time and a different Roy Montgomery.
"Not long actually," Kate admitted since she and Rick had figured it out just a number of hours ago or was it days? "When did he take them? Before or after all the explosions that happened around him?" If it was after it meant he had a means to contact his killers that they didn't know about, which was likely.
"Before… You were involved in that." Roy wasn't questioning her, he was simply making a statement.
"No one was hurt, including him. We just wanted to make him afraid for his own life. He takes others' lives so easily; we wanted to see how he liked being on the other end for a change." Kate calmly defended their actions, even if what they'd done wasn't what Kate Beckett would've been a willing partner to.
"You don't know just how powerful he's gotten. I've been trying to protect you from him. He's ruthless and dangerous, Kate. Even more so now." He was far more powerful now than when her mother had gotten involved and a little too close.
"Well, he's short thirteen men now. The four you know about and another nine that you don't." Kate was reasonably certain she had the number right.
Roy looked at her shocked. "THIRTEEN!" His mind couldn't believe the number. He knew Kate was good, but she wasn't a killer. Even killing Bracken in cold blood was something he was sure she would never do.
"Who are you?" This person didn't behave like the Kate Beckett he knew. He even cut her a little slack because Bracken had sent some of his men after her already. But something was off.
"Wait, WE? Who's WE?" Roy finally caught on to what she'd been saying.
Kate collected all of the papers and picked up the folder. "Don't move." She pointed right at him and tried to sound menacing.
She found Rick still downstairs; he was walking around with a device in his hand. "Put this in one of your wristbands." Kate handed the file to him and watched it disappear. "I don't suppose you have another one or two of those, do you?" She was becoming envious of his gadgets.
Rick shook his head then brought her up to speed on what had happened to Roy's family. "Three of them came after the Montgomerys. It looks like two went upstairs, probably to get the girls while one stayed with the mother. I can't ID them since I have nothing to compare it with." He'd found a few things that they'd left behind.
"Looks like the wife was roughed up a little right here." Rick had found blood that matched what he had scanned on Roy earlier. "There's a tiny amount of blood here and here." He gestured to spots on the floor.
"Six people in total not including a possible driver unless one of them was the driver. A large truck or SUV maybe. Or a van," Kate suggested even if it didn't get them much. This city was crawling with vehicles of that size. "They could have taken them anywhere." She didn't think they had gained much.
"No, but we have him running scared, hopefully. Plus now we have a bargaining chip." Rick lifted up his left wristband that held those documents.
"An exchange? He'll never go for it. He'd want to see just how damaging they were before even starting to think about handing them over. Plus he would just as sooner kill everyone before he did that." Kate didn't see how that was going to work.
"Then we need to prove just how damaging what we have really is. Besides, how many killers can he have access to?" Rick didn't see how he could have that many. He was a politician who simply had contacts. And eventually all those killers would need to be killed to keep them from talking if he wanted any kind of future.
"Roy is scared of him," Kate cautioned, thinking that he might have access to more than Rick was giving him credit. "So what do we do next?" She didn't see where they had much.
Rick began smiling; it gave her the creeps. "We've played with him using explosives, so now we play with his mind using the files we just got." He raised his eyebrows a couple of times but what he said did nothing to alleviate Kate's worries.
"We send him one page then send two or three news organizations the very same page at the same time. One page at a time till he finds out who else is getting the pages and demands a stop to it and an exchange. We just need to work out what we're going to do at this exchange. That and be ready to offer an alternate location to his." Rick was sure he was going to suggest a location that benefited Bracken and not them. It was what he would do.
"There's one more thing." Kate knew she should share, just didn't know what to do about it. "Roy asked me who I was. Like he didn't think I was Kate." She had made it past Alexis and Martha so far. Thankfully she hadn't spent much time around her dad for him to notice anything.
"We can deal with that later, first we need…" Rick was interrupted when Kate's cell phone pinged.
She fished it out and looked at the text. "Another message from Lanie. She's been sending them for days. I ignored them when we were in the Hamptons. But we're here now. And our two week suspension ends soon." Kate wasn't looking forward to trying to hide who she really was from people that knew her well. Lanie was obviously one of these people.
Rick pointed out the irony. "Suspended by the guy in the other room who's a part of this."
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It had only been two days. Somehow Rick had found a way to send a copy of a single page of the information that Roy had to different news organizations, one page every hour on the hour.
It didn't take long for all of them to try and out scoop the others. Several had teams outside of Bracken's known homes and offices. They even had teams outside of the capitol building. Others had added teams to ask questions during the White House briefings.
Every night, every morning, and every afternoon there was new news about a certain Senator Bracken who was having his life picked apart, piece by piece by piece. From the house he was born in, where he went to school, the teachers that he'd had. How he got his start in politics. Everyone was finding out the life of William H. Bracken. Who he had dated, who had turned him down. There were even questions circulating that he might be gay.
Tonight's news was a person who had tracked down what church Bracken had attended years ago. The interview was boring and yet if you were listening it was also informative.
Neither Kate nor Rick had heard a thing from Bracken in the last two days. "He has to know it's us," Rick pointed out. Kate was sitting next to him on the sectional while they watched the evening news.
"It hasn't gotten us any closer to finding where Roy's family is." That was the part that was wearing on Kate's mind at the moment. Having his killers come after them was one thing, but he was holding people who didn't know anything.
"We wait." Rick looked at the clock. "I need to send another sheet soon." There was one thing about all of this. Roy had a great deal of information even if none of it was overly damaging or usable in court.
"We go back to work tomorrow. Our suspension is over," Kate reminded him.
"It won't slow down the sending of pages and our families are still safe. I'm almost amazed someone hasn't tried to bug his apartment, office, car or any place else he frequents." Rick had yet to see anyone try and enter any of his places.
"Maybe they can't. The paparazzi have him covered 24 hours a day," Kate commented. Then she had a concern. "If he can't talk to anyone, what happens to Roy's family? Just how long are they going to keep them?" Or would they kill them and leave their bodies to decompose?
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Rick had sent in the latest piece before they left. Together they were walking into the bullpen of the 12th precinct. "Worried?" he inquired.
"No, yes… maybe. Besides you, the people here know me the best. Know Kate Beckett the best. I screw up and I'm exposed. I'm not a cop… I'm a demon." Kate added the last part softly.
"I'm not a cop but I am a hunter. Together we can hunt your killers. Just act like you." Rick plopped down in the chair next to her desk like he was supposed to be there.
Kate reluctantly sat at her desk and turned on her computer. She gawked at what she saw. "334 unread messages." She was starting to rethink coming here and wondered if it really was such a good idea.
"COFFEE!" Rick jumped up and walked to the breakroom where he found a fancy coffee machine. "It's a coffee machine, how hard can it be?"
"BECKETT!" A man she knew as Espo came out of the elevator and stopped at her desk. "Glad to have you back. Where's Castle?" He expected to see him here as well. That was when he heard Castle's voice cry out in pain from the breakroom which was strange. Everyone knew Castle could work magic with that machine. "What happened during your two weeks? Do anything?" He wanted to know where she had spent it, but his desk phone was ringing. Espo answered it after a couple of rings.
"Welcome back, Beckett. Where have you been?" Ryan stepped up to her next. Kate was all set to try and give him an answer.
"It'll have to wait, we've got a body." Espo held up a Post-It note with the address.
"Body?" Rick poked his head out of the breakroom, grateful for the reprieve since it meant he didn't have go to war with the coffee maker.
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To the very loud strains of "Born This Way," a group of glittery contestants from Victor Baron's All-American Beauty Pageant rehearse on his hotel's stage. Things are going great until a lighting truss is lowered revealing the dead body of 21-year-old Miss Illinois, Amber Middleberry. Screaming, lots of screaming.
"Hey, Lanie." Kate and Rick found her already with the body.
"Don't you Hey, Lanie me. I was supposed to have the day off. Perlmutter was scheduled to be here, not me. BUT NO, he had to call in sick. Now I have to do his work and mine," she grumbled.
"AND YOU! You… I'm not talking to you. Two whole weeks, Kate. You were suspended for two whole weeks, and did I get even one phone call? No, I had to find out from these two." Lanie waved at Espo and Ryan who quickly turned away and tried to look busy.
"Lanie..." Kate attempted to put a stop to her friend's rant only to have Lanie raise her hand.
"I'll be over… over there." Rick left Kate with Lanie and didn't see her glare at him for abandoning her.
Lanie had Kate in front of her and wanted answers. "So where have you been for two whole weeks? If you tell me locked up in your apartment… An apartment for which YOU DIDN'T ANSWER YOUR DOORAT ALL, I am so going to hurt you."
"I…" Kate knew from her memories just what Lanie would want to hear and decided to give it to her. "I spent it with Castle." Kate was hoping that would be enough.
The look of shock on Lanie's face was priceless and seeing and listening to her choke was even better. "You spent it with Castle," she said flatly. There was a look of disbelief in her eyes. "Were you with him in the Hamptons?" Naturally Lanie had heard about the shooting that had taken place there. Along with the explosions on the interstate between New York and DC.
Kate tried to hide her grin and simply nodded.
Lanie had recovered and leaned in closer. "In whose bedroom?" Lanie knew what she wanted to hear, but had to wonder if Kate had finally come to her senses.
"His," Kate replied softly. Lanie squealed and hugged her so hard that she was afraid bones were starting to pop.
"I expect details, girlfriend; I want to hear every juicy bit. Tonight – over a glass of wine. Hell, over an entire bottle or two!" Lanie was positively beaming. "Where are you staying now?" They were back from the Hamptons after all.
"The loft," Kate answered just as softly as before.
Lanie clapped her hands over her mouth so that her squeal was muffled. "Have you moved in?" Lanie wanted that for her so very badly.
"Almost." Kate didn't want to be anywhere else. Yes, most of her clothes and her furnishings were still in her apartment, but they could fix that.
"What are you waiting for? I'll get Espo and Ryan over to your place with a truck tonight and we'll move everything we can." Lanie held up her hand when Kate started to speak.
"You can thank us later. Especially after you start having little Castle babies." Lanie hugged her again and began crying tears of happiness. Her friend had finally come out of her cocoon.
Actually Kate, well Snohbal, already had a thought about that. It was a demon thing, plus they'd been having sex – a lot of it – without protection of any kind that she knew of.