A/N1: Hello peoples and WELCOME to the 21st Chapter of Revelations titled 'Post Op' I do apologise for all the new chapter notifications the past couple of days but I had a problem I now have forgotten about and I just HAD to edit it but because I deleted the wrong document and got the rest mixed up I ended up deleting them all and re-uploading. I'm pretty sure I have whatever the problem was fixed now and hope you will still continue on wth our favourite crime fighting duo!
Thank you for your patience!
Martha bought them all a coffee, making her way up to the seventh floor with Alexis and Kate.
"You two wait in here, I'll go to the nurses station and let them know we're waiting," Kate told Martha as they arrived at the waiting room. "Won't be long."
Alexis and Martha entered the waiting room and Kate continued down the hallway to the nurse's station.
"Can I help you doll?" a young nurse asked, her in a heavy Southern accent.
Kate flashed her badge. "I'm Kate Beckett and detective with the NYPD's 12th precinct. My partner, Rick Castle has just been brought up for surgery. Can you let me know when he's out of the OR?" she asked. "I'll be waiting in the waiting room with his Mom and Daughter."
"Sure thing, I'll let the operating surgeon know you're waiting," the nurse said, amiably. "If you need to go anywhere leave your cell number with us so we can give you a ring alright?"
"I'll do that, thanks."
Kate turned and walked back down the hall to the waiting room. Alexis was leaning into a one armed hug from her Grandmother, a worried expression on her young face.
"He'll be alright, you know." Kate told her, sitting down next to the teen. "Your Dad is incredibly tough."
Alexis sat up and engulfed Kate in a strong hug that belied her slim stature.
"I'm just worried about him Kate," she said worriedly, resting her head on the detective's shoulder.
"I know you are sweetie, but know this. Your Dad knew what he was doing. Kevin, Javi and I have taught him well. And those trips to the academy we've had? He's soaked up every minute of information there. Your Dad is a sponge. He takes everything in and never misses anything. I was so proud of him today. He was truly awesome."
Alexis sniffed. "R-really?' she said, uncertainly.
"Yeah, I was-still am. Come on, you've known your Dad longer than I have and you know it takes more than a broken and dislocated shoulder to keep him down. Don't you?"
Alexis smiled and chuckled. "Yeah I do," she said truthfully. "I just worry that one day he's going to get a worse injury than a broken shoulder. I mean what if he gets shot? Or hit by a car or-"
"Alexis your Dad knows full well the risks of shadowing me. He wouldn't have signed on to do it if he didn't." Kate said, reassuring the worried teen "He knows he runs the risk of being shot or being hit by a car. In fact he said to me recently 'I live in Manhattan, I run the risk of being shot or hit by a car anyway'. That didn't totally put me at ease but I know your Dad never does anything stupid when he's out in the field with me. He follows all the protocols the official NYPD ones and the ones Javi, Kevin and Captain Gate set out for him. He's not stupid."
"Yeah, I know," Alexis replied with a sigh. "Actually I'm kinda proud of him too, my Dad has a rebel side of him not many people get to see and I'm glad that helped you out."
"I was glad to have him with me today, there's no way, Javi, Kevin or I would've caught the suspect otherwise."
An hour and a half later, Kate was jolted from her light snooze on one of the sofas by her iPhone ringing shrilly. Sleepily, she pulled it out of her pocket (Not bothering to check the caller I.D) and put it to her ear.
"Beckett," she answered, sleepily.
"Hey, it's Espo. How's our boy?" Esposito's voice came down the line.
"He's still in surgery," Kate told the Latino detective. "He was wheeled from the ER to the OR an hour and a half ago and the surgeon said he'd be in for two or three hours. I'm waiting with Alexis and Martha now. How's our case going?"
"Well CSU and done a full sweep of Gooding's apartment and collected tons of forensic evidence. We found four pounds of high grade Columbian coke and enough pseudoephedrine to medicate a small country," Esposito returned. "And there's dozens of pieces of jewellery here that definitely ain't his, so now Robbery and Narcotics are on our case."
Kate groaned. "Great, now it's going to be a race to see who gets to court first," she complained.
"Well, you know Gates. She wants homicide to get there first, so Ryan and I have been busting our balls all afternoon to make the case for doing over Fergus McAllister. She's just told us to pack it in for the night, so we're about to hit the road and come to the hospital to see you and Writer Boy."
"Javi, you don't have to do that. You must me exhausted!" Kate protested, weakly.
"That doesn't matter. Castle's our boy and one of the team, we don't leave one of the team when they're down," Esposito said, firmly. "Now where in Lennox Hill are you?"
"Level seven, the Orthopaedic department." Kate informed her friend. "I'm in the waiting room, opposite the Coke machine and just down from the elevator bay."
"Alright, we'll see you soon."
"Thanks Javi."
The line disconnected and Kate pocketed her phone.
"Detective Esposito's coming to visit?" Alexis asked.
"Yeah he is, along with Kevin," Kate replied, sitting up and doing a few stretches to ease the dull pain in her shoulders and neck. "He's one of the team and they want to make sure he's alright before packing it in for the night."
"Would you girls like another coffee?" Martha asked, getting to her feet. "I can head down to the cafeteria to get one if you like.
"Oh Martha, would you mind?" Kate exclaimed, gratefully. "Same as before, nice and strong."
"No problem kiddo."
Martha returned with coffee, fifteen minutes later and half an hour after that Ryan, Esposito, Janie and Gates arrived.
"Sir?" Kate exclaimed in surprise upon seeing her superior stride into the waiting room. "I wasn't expecting to see you."
"Castle's one of the team detective and as Esposito told you on the phone, when one of the team is down. We don't abandon them," the older woman told her.
"Any news?" Ryan asked.
"No, not yet, but I think we'd be due some. It's been a bit over three hours since he was wheeled into surgery," Kate replied, dropping down into her chair with a sigh. "It's the waiting that's getting to us."
"D'you want me to go and check?" Lanie asked, sitting down beside her friend and laying a hand on her arm.
"Nah, I'm alright Lanes. He's probably still in surgery and the surgeon can't just down tools and come out to tell me what's happening. I'll wait, I'm okay." Kate assured her friend
Half an hour later Nam Nguyen, the surgeon who had assessed Rick in the ER, appeared in the door taking a surgical cap off his head as he entered the room.
"Family of Richard Castle?" he inquired.
"Family," Kate said, pointing to Alexis and Martha. "And work colleagues". She added pointing to Gates, Ryan Esposito, Lanie and herself. "Detective's Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan, Captain Victoria Gates and Doctor Lanie Parish."
"And girlfriend," Lanie added, giving her friend a little nudge.
"Good to meet you all," Nguyen said, after shaking Ryan, Esposito, Gates and Lanie's hand.
"So what's the news?' Kate asked, worriedly.
"Well, Mr Castle came through the operation with flying colours half an hour ago and has just started waking up in recovery now," Nguyen informed the group. "His blood pressure got a bit low during surgery but not dangerously so. I expect him to be in hospital for three maybe four days but after that, he'll be fine to go home. He's made of tough stuff."
"We knew that," Esposito said as Alexis exclaimed. "Oh thank God!"
"Can we see him?" Martha asked.
"Of course, but family only for the time being," Nguyen told them. "I can take you there now if you like."
"Stick around?" Kate asked Lanie, Ryan, Esposito and Gates.
"No, you go and visit him first. We'll come in tomorrow," Lanie told her friend, embracing her hard. "We're just glad he's alright."
"Thanks for coming by everyone, I-we really appreciate it.' Kate said gratefully, after embracing her friends.
"Come in tomorrow after visiting Mr Castle, detective. There's an incident report to be filled out,' Gates told her detective in a softer than usual tone. "I know incident reports aren't the best part of the job but seeing as Mr Castle isn't a sworn in officer, it has to be done."
Kate made a face.
"Alright, I'll come in after morning visiting hours," she informed her superior. "Thanks for coming in Sir, you didn't have to."
"As I said detective, Castle is one of the team. We look after our own, you know."
Ryan, Esposito, Gates and Lanie left and Nguyen escorted Kate, Martha and Alexis down the hall to the other side of the orthopaedic department to the post operative recovery room. Rick was sitting up slightly in one gurney, an oxygen mask on his face and his shoulder heavily wrapped and held fast against his muscular chest.
"Mr Castle, your family is here," Doctor Nguyen told him, placing a hand on Rick's arm and shaking it firmly. "Can you wake up for me?"
Ever so slowly, Rick opened his eyes and glanced blearily at Kate, Alexis and Martha.
"H-heeeeeeey," he croaked.
"Ten minutes only, he needs to rest." Nguyen said, firmly.
"Thank you." Alexis replied.
Doctor Nguyen left and Kate, Martha and Alexis moved closer to the gurney.
"Hey Dad, how are you feeling?" Alexis asked worriedly, grasping her father's hand.
"Sch-sore," the Writer slurred, groggily.
"Hey leave that on," Martha told her son as he made to remove his oxygen mask. "You've only just come out of surgery, Richard."
The Writer made a face as Martha secured the mask on his face.
"Lanie, Kevin, Javi and Gates were here." Kate told Rick gently, stroking his cheek with the tips of her fingers. "They're all concerned about you."
Rick smiled and wearily covered her hand with his own.
"I-I'm f-ine," he mumbled. "Bit s-sore. Y-ou gon-na kiss all m-my ow-wies b-better?"
Kate laughed. "Tomorrow morning when I come and visit you," she replied, dropping a kiss on his forehead. "And only if I've heard you've been behaving yourself and not giving the doctors and nurses hell. Because you know, I can arrest you and don't think I wouldn't."
Rick laughed, groggily. "I want to be f-fully 'wake if y-you d-do that," he mumbled. "Can y-you do it in s-some-thin' l-lacy?"
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Alexis groaned, making a face.
"He's full of drugs. He doesn't know what he's talking about,' Kate muttered, going bright red. "Behave!' she added with a hiss.
Kate, Alexis and Martha spent twenty minutes with Rick, before a nurse bustled over.
"I'm really sorry but Mr Castle has to rest," she said, apologetically. "You can come back in the morning when he's on the ward."
"Can you make sure this goes with him?" Alexis asked, giving the nurse a tote bag. "There's a change of clothes, some shoes and some toiletries."
"Of course, I'll put it with his bag of valuables." The nurse assured the teenager.
"W-wish y-you c-could schtay." Rick mumbled as Martha then Alexis hugged him. "See you tomorrow Phump-kin."
"Look after yourself Dad, do everything the nurses tell you." Alexis told her father as the nurse removed his oxygen mask.
Alexis stood back and Kate stepped forward.
"I'm not going to tell you what to do," she softly told him, running her fingers through his mussed up hair. "I'll come in tomorrow morning before I go to the precinct okay?"
Rick smiled groggily
"Okay," he replied, dopily. "Do I g-get a k-hiss g'bye?"
Kate bent down a little further and kissed the Writer on the lips. "I love you," she whispered. "See you tomorrow morning, okay?"
Rick returned the kiss enthusiastically.
"I luff you too, beautiful." He said, touching her lips with his fingertips. "See you t'morrow."
Kate kissed him once more then with a little wave left the recovery room.
"You're coming back to the loft, aren't you?" Alexis asked the female detective as they headed toward the elevator bay.
"Yeah, I have to pick up my suitcase," Kate replied. "But I'll head back to my place afterward though."
"Oh no please stay!" Alexis pleaded. "The loft is closer to the hospital than your apartment is. Dad would want you to stay...please?"
"Well if you don't mind-" Kate began, hesitated.
"Kate, sweetheart, we consider you family." Martha began "And so does Richard and I know he'd want you to come back to the loft. I'll be staying tonight because I live all the way in the middle of midtown now. We can all go to the hospital tomorrow."
"Alright, if you insist," Kate relented with a smile. "I have to admit, it would be nice to have some company."
"It's settled then," Alexis said, slinging her arm through Kate's. "How about we find somewhere for dinner? I'm starving."
"Sounds good."
The following morning Kate, Alexis and Martha rose early and headed to Lennox Hill hospital.
"You go up and see Dad first, I'm sure you two wouldn't mind some privacy." Alexis told the detective as they called into the Starbucks across the road from the hospital. "Grams and I will sit here and have our coffee. We know you need to get to the precinct. Take his laptop, I know he'll go nuts without it."
"Thanks Alexis."
Kate got her usual cup of Joe for herself and added Rick's order and a bear claw before taking the order and making her way across the road to the hospital and patient information in the lobby.
"Can you tell me what ward Richard Castle is in?" she asked the young lad behind the desk.
"Ahh lemme see," the young man said as he began tapping away at his keyboard. "Richard Castle, room fourteen in the Orthopaedic Department, that's on the seventh floor," he replied, cheerfully.
"Thanks a lot."
Kate made her way to the elevator bay and got into the first lift that arrived travelling up to the seventh floor. She was instantly recognized by the nurse who had been at the nursing station the previous evening.
"Hi Detective, you here to visit Mr Castle?" she asked, brightly.
"I am," Kate replied, with a grin. "How is my boy? Is he behaving?"
"Oh yeah, he's been the perfect patient, something about having a girlfriend that threatened to arrest him if he played up."
Kate snorted. "I'm surprised he remembers that," she replied in amusement. "How did he go overnight?"
"Brilliantly, the anaesthetic left his system remarkably quickly and he had a sound night's sleep," the nurse replied. "He had two servings of bacon and eggs for breakfast and has been trying to bribe the nurses all morning to get him Chinese or a pizza."
Kate rolled her eyes. Her man was such a guy!
"I'll have a word to him and tell him to behave himself," she said, dryly. "Thanks for looking after him."
"No problem detective."
Kate moved off down the hall, counting off the room numbers til she came to room fourteen. She pushed the door open with her hip and made her way into the private room where Rick was currently watching CNN.
The Writer looked over to see who his visitor was and immediately his whole face lit up.
"Hey!" he exclaimed happily, as she strode over, setting their coffees and the bear claw on the side table. "You're just the thing to make an injured writer get better. How's my girl?"
Kate leaned down and carefully avoiding his injured shoulder, pressing her lips to his. She pressed her tongue to his lips and he opened his mouth deepening their kiss immediately.
"Hmmm, too many of them and I'll start tenting the sheets," Rick murmured as Kate kissed him over and over. "Are you going to answer my question?"
Kate pressed her forehead against his.
"I'm fine," she told him, rubbing her nose against his. "Just relieved you're okay."
"I'm great, full of all these wonderful drugs," the Writer replied with a laconic grin.
"If you weren't injured, I would so hit you right now," Kate said dryly. "I brought you coffee."
Rick lit up. "Oh you did?" he exclaimed. "Oh I so love you. Only ninety nine to go now"
"Pardon?"
"Remember that time I told you, you owed me a hundred coffees? Well this is the first one, so only ninety nine to go."
"Ha ha."
Kate handed Rick his sixteen ounce double shot skinny hazelnut latté and chuckled as he sipped it and laid back, a look of total bliss drifting across his face as the hot liquid slid down his throat.
"Oh that is a culinary orgasm!" he declared, momentarily closing his eyes. "Thanks so much, Tulip."
Kate kissed the top of his head.
"Anytime," she replied, bending down and picking up his laptop bag. "Alexis packed your laptop bag, she said you'd go nuts without it."
The author lit up. "Oh that's great!" he declared as Kate began setting the device up. "Is she and Mother coming in today?"
"Yeah they're downstairs in the Starbucks across the road," Kate replied, plugging the mains cord into the nearest power point. "Alexis told me to go ahead and come up first so we could have time alone together."
Rick smiled.
"She's a good kid," he said, softly. "I wonder all the time where I went right with that girl. I mean so many single parent kids are so screwed up."
"She's not screwed up because you've always been there for her," Kate stated, plugging the cord into the back of the laptop. "Not once has your career ever taken priority over her. You gave up a well paid career in profiling to be her Daddy. You go laser tag and go-kart with her and have gone to all her violin recitals and school functions and parent teacher meetings. She's a good kid because you're a good person."
Rick reached up with his good hand and lightly brushed it across her breasts.
"Thanks," he said softly. "You make me a better person, you know."
Kate opened the laptop before hoisting herself up on the bed.
"I'm glad you've got a private room, because if you were in a ward. I wouldn't be able to do this," she whispered in his ear, running a hand down his chest and abdomen and cupping his junk. "I would have to draw the curtains and you'd have to be quiet and you know you can't be quiet."
"Pot kettle black, Tulip," Rick murmured as she captured his lips with her own. "God, I'm too sore to really appreciate this."
Kate pulled back.
"Did I hurt you?" she asked in alarm.
"No, I'm just sore in general," the Writer complained, shifting under her uncomfortably. "Not that I don't enjoy you amusing yourself with my junk, but I can't fully get into it when one I'm still sore from the operation and two my arm has been stuck to my chest."
"Have you had any pain relief?" Kate asked in concern.
"Yeah, but I'm not due for another hour."
"Are you allowed to get up for a shower?" Kate asked.
"Yeah, the nurse who administered my first lot of pain meds this morning said she would come in before lunch and help me get into the bathroom."
"D'you want to do it now, while I'm here?" Kate volunteered. "Alexis packed your tote bag for you and said your razor and soap and the rest of your toiletries are in there."
A look of relief flooded Rick's face.
"Would you mind?" he asked. "I can walk on my own, I just need help getting off the bed and taking the gown off."
Kate grinned as she slid of the bed. "Well I don't have any problems with getting the gown off you," she said, reaching for the tote bag Alexis had packed the previous day. "I'll even help you change."
"Oh you just want to check me out," Rick joked, putting his good arm around Kate's shoulders and sliding off the bed with a wince. "You're a pervert Katherine Beckett."
"Hey, I can leave you on your own now and you can wait til your mother and daughter get here," Kate retorted, the tiniest of smiles upon her face. "Tell me, out of the three of us. Which one would you prefer to see you in the buff?"
"Yeah alright, you've got me there," the Writer conceded as he walked into the small ensuite bathroom. "It's a bonus having you here, you can help me dry off."
Kate rolled her eyes.
"You know if you want me to feel you up, you only have to ask," she told him, carefully undoing the button snaps of his hospital gown and sliding it off his muscular frame. "D'you want me to turn the water on for you?"
"No, I can manage."
Rick turned on the shower and waited til it was the right temperature before stepping into the recess. Carefully avoiding getting the heavy cloth bandage brace holding his left arm against his body, he cleaned his body washing away the previous twenty-four hour's worth of sweat and grime.
"Is that better?" Kate asked, ten minutes later, wrapping a thick towel around his body as he stepped out of the shower.
"Heaps better, I felt foul." The writer responded, wincing slightly as she dried him. "Can you come in tomorrow and do that too?"
Kate laughed.
"If I hear you've been a good boy when I come back after work," she replied, playfully pinching his backside. "But you have to behave, am I clear?"
Rick scrunched his eyes shut and swallowed hard as Kate dried his groin.
"C-crystal," he choked out. "Shit Kate, you're killing me here."
"How can drying you off, kill you?" the female detective asked, innocently.
"Oh come on, you know full well what I mean," Rick groaned as she dropped to her knees and took him in her hands. "You do know I've just come out of surgery, don't you?"
"Uh huh I do," she murmured, taking his half hard length into her mouth.
"Jesus!"
Kate worked quickly and efficiently, within a minute, Rick was hard as a rock and a minute after that. The Writer started to feel the slow burn of climax, ignite in his groin.
"You're killing me, Kate!" Rick groaned, leaning on the vanity with his good hand as she increased the pace of her ministrations. "Uuuuughhh!"
Kate took him into her mouth once more and massaged stroked and laved at his length, til with a guttural grunt the Writer peaked, spilling himself inside her mouth.
"Shiiiiiiit!" he hissed as she consumed him, greedily. "Oh that's some post op medication I could get used to!"
"Like that huh?" Kate purred, getting to her feet and kissing him hungrily.
"You know I did, de-"
A knock came on the bathroom door. "Dad you in there?" came Alexis's voice.
Kate swore.
"Y-eah I am Pumpkin, I've just stepped out the shower-" Rick called back, grinning as Kate buried her face in his chest.
"Is Kate in there? Grams and I didn't see her outside."
"Yeah, she's here. I can't get dressed without her," the Writer called back, biting the inside of his cheek in an effort to suppress his laughter. "We'll be out in a sec-"
"Okay then!"
"Glad we finished before they got here." Kate hissed as she started helping Rick get dressed. "D'you think they'll guess?"
"Probably but be glad it's not Lanie, Espo or Kevin, all three of them wouldn't hesitate to tease us for being in a bathroom at the same time," Rick said, wincing slightly as Kate pulled a t-shirt over his head.
Kate dabbed some cologne on his pulse points then washed her hands.
"You go out there first," she told him. "It'll look far less suspicious if we go out separately."
The Writer kissed her sweetly on the lips. "You're beautiful." He said.
Two hours after arriving at the hospital, Kate made to leave.
"I better head to the twelfth," she told him, leaning down and kissing Rick on the lips. "I promised Gates I would be in by midday to fill out the incident report."
"You coming back?" the writer asked, cupping her face in his hand.
"Of course, I'll return with pizza or Chinese. I hear you've been trying to bribe the nursing staff to get them to get you some," Kate replied in amusement as she put her jacket on. "What would you like? Kung Pao, Sweet and sour pork?"
"I'm not fussed, I trust you to pick something I'm not going to have to pick half the ingredients out of." Rick replied with a grin. "Oh before I forget, here are the keys to the prancing horse. You can use it to get around til you head home alright?"
Kate took the keys and leaned in to give him another kiss.
"Thanks," she said. "I'll bring, Javi, Ryan and Lanie by too, they love that car as much as I do, and I know they're worried about you. Even Gates is, she came here last night and waited with us last night too."
This particular piece of information shocked Rick.
"Really?" he exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah, she looked really concerned Dad," Alexis piped up. "Doctor Parish, and Detectives Ryan and Esposito did too."
"Oh that's nice. I'll have to thank them for calling by," Rick replied. "Tell everyone I say hi, won't you?"
"I will, see you tonight." Kate told him.
Forty five minutes later, Kate arrived at the 12th Precinct. She paid the taxi driver and got out of the vehicle before making her way into the elevator and up to the fourth floor. The moment she stepped out of the elevator, she was immediately bombarded with questions concerning her partner.
"So how's our boy?" Esposito asked.
"Sore and whinging about being so," Kate replied in amusement as she headed toward her desk. "I spent a couple of hours there this morning and one of the nurses told me he tried to bribe her into getting him a pizza or Chinese for breakfast."
Esposito sniggered.
"That sounds like Castle," he responded with a grin. "You in for the day or just coming in to fill out the incident report?"
"Both," Kate replied, sitting down at her desk and turning on her computer. "Have you brought Gooding in for questioning or is he still in the watch house?"
"He's in the watch house, but I'm just going to lodge some paperwork with Gates before I round up Ryan to go downtown and get him."
"Good, when you get back I want in," Kate told the Latino detective. "I want to make the son of a bitch squirm."
"D'you want anyone in with you?"
"Nah, I think I'll start on my own," Kate said with a grin. "You know how I like to make them sweat."
"Talking about Castle boss?" Ryan quipped with a grin as he left the break room thermal mug in hand. "You like to make him sweat."
Kate blushed a magnificent shade of scarlet. Ryan had no idea. "Shut up," she muttered. "Surely your mother taught you eavesdropping was rude? Go away don't you have any work to do?"
Ryan snorted gleefully.
"Yeah but it can't wait a minute," he said with a knowing grin. "How's Castle?"
"He's fine, very sore and whinging about it, but he's on good pain meds and the surgeon called by when I was there and said he might be able to home Wednesday," Kate replied. "He's lending me the prancing horse all week to get to and from the precinct, so if you and Espo want to go visit him at the end of shift there's a seat for you."
"Awesome, I'm in." Esposito chimed in.
"Yeah I'm in too," Ryan agreed.
"Well I plan on pulling the plug no later than six, then I'm calling by the Happy Dragon take out for dinner, Espo if Lanie wants a ride, there's a seat for her too."
"I'll text her now."
"You know word has spread about Castle flooring Gooding yesterday,' Ryan went on, sitting on the edge of Kate's desk. "The hard nuts in narcotics are suddenly the Rick Castle fan club, Dan wants to know if you'll be president."
Kate rolled her eyes as Esposito roared with laughter.
"He said nothing of the sort," the female detective, retorted. "Dan Pilkington is a hard ass narcotics cop and not a fan girl. You made that up Kevin Patrick Ryan and you ought to be ashamed of yourself."
Esposito's laughter had progressed into a volley of snorts.
"Give it up Espo or you'll start hyperventilating!"
A moment later Gates' office door opened. "Detective a moment please?" she said to Kate.
Kate got to her feet and followed her superior into the office, shutting the door behind her.
"Sir?" she inquired, sitting down.
"I won't keep you long, detective," the Captain, informed her detective. "How is Mr Castle?"
Kate lit up. "He's great," she replied. "Very sore and whining, a bit about it but medically he's fine. Doctor Nguyen came by when I was there this morning and said he ought to be able to go home by Wednesday. I plan on visiting him every morning on the way here til he gets out, if you don't mind me coming into the precinct a little later than I usually do."
"Detective, you're always here earlier than is required. So no I don't mind," Gates replied. "So is Mr Castle okay to receive outside visitors?"
"Oh yes, I plan on taking Ryan, Esposito and Doctor Parish with me tonight when I knock off," Kate told her superior. "After I question James Gooding, Ryan and Espo are going to fetch him from then watch house."
A proud look drifted across Gates face.
"Well you strut your stuff Detective, work your magic." She said. "Bury the bastard before Robbery and Narcotics get their claws into him huh?"
"I plan on doing that Sir."
Gates shuffled some papers on the desk in front of her before pulling a sheaf out of a leather binder and handing them to Kate.
"These are the papers for the incident report," she informed her. "They have to be done today so get started now and you ought to be finished before Ryan and Esposito return with Gooding."
"I'm on it," Kate said, getting to her feet. "The top brass aren't too pissed, are they?"
"No, actually most of them are admiring of you and Mr Castle's ability to think on your feet," Gates replied. "I made sure the brass knew that the arrest was made under NYPD regulations and by code of conduct. When my team do good I like to let everyone know detective."
"Thank you Sir."
An hour later, Ryan and Esposito returned from the city watch house with James Gooding who had his right arm in a fibreglass wrist cast. The murder suspect's gaze fell upon Kate and he lunged for the female detective.
"Your fucking partner broke my wrist!" he snarled. "Where is the fucking son of a bitch?"
"Hey how about you shut up?" Esposito suggested, pushing the older man toward the interrogation room.
"Yeah you're not exactly in a position to complain about things," Ryan countered opening the interrogation room door. "Get in."
"Go strut your stuff, detective." Gates told Kate as she left her office and headed toward the observation room.
"Yes Sir."
Kate gathered up the two case file folders for the McAllister case, one of which help the crime scene photos and progressed to the interrogation room her shoulder back and head high. Ryan flashed her a double thumbs up and she flashed him and ever so small smile before twisting the door knob of the interrogation room and striding in.
"Seriously that was awesome," Ryan told Kate half an hour later as a pair of Narcotics detectives escorted James Gooding downstairs to the Narcotics Department. "A full confession on half an hour? That's gotta be a record."
"You ought to teach your secrets to the rookies at the academy," Esposito added.
Kate grinned as she shared a group Feed the Birds with her two colleagues. "It's up to robbery and narcotics to nail the coffin shut now," she told them.
"Good work detectives, all three of you did very well." Gates told her detectives.
"Thank you Sir." Came the collective reply.
"Alright, I'm going to get on the paperwork then find McAllister's wife to let her know what's going on," Kate told her colleagues. "Once that's done, I'm going to head down to the gym before heading to Lennox Hill to visit Rick. Be ready to head off by six alright?"
"Got it."
Kate quickly and efficiently completed all the paperwork for the McAllister paperwork then rang Leanne McAllister to let her know the case was closed. She made her way down to the basement gym and for two solid hours worked out in the gym. She went hard on the treadmill, boxing bags, weights and even sparred with a rookie detective from the Sex Crimes Department who had come down to the gym to blow off steam after a particularly hard case. She then showered and changed and made her way back up to the homicide bullpen.
"You convinced a rookie from Sex Crimes to spar," Esposito said as Kate dropped her gym bag on her desk.
"How the hell did you find that out?" Kate exclaimed as she unlocked her desk draw and took out her gun and holster belt. "I spent two hours in the gym."
"I know, but you know what the grape vine is like, Eggerstom was coming up from archives and overheard Suleau telling some uniform you're a sadist."
Kate rolled her eyes.
"Wimp," she said dryly. "You know Rick is the only one that will spar with me now."
"Ah that's not entirely true," Ryan said with a grin. "Espo and I will, we just never have the time."
"Well I'll give you that one," Kate conceded, buckling her holster belt and beginning to shut down her computer. "You two ready to go and visit Castle?"
"Yup just give me a sec."
Ryan and Esposito shut down their computers then left the bullpen with Kate following her down to the basement parking garage where Rick's gleaning red Ferrari was still parked.
"Are we swinging by the morgue to pick up Lanie?" Kate asked Esposito as she slid into the driver's seat.
"Yeah, park on the curb I'll go in and get her." The Latino detective replied fastening his seatbelt.
"Alright let's hit the road"
Fifteen minutes later Kate pulled up in front of the Coroner's Office where Lanie worked. Esposito got out and disappeared into the building while Kate and Ryan remained on the curb the engine of the Ferrari running.
"Have Robbery and Narcotics come back with any info on the fifty first and Lex drop?" Kate asked her friend as she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel.
"Not yet. But I rang Dan this morning and he and his team had a video link up meeting with his counterpart in the LAPD narc and homicide departments. They're going to flesh out a plan so they can find the people who run the operation in L.A, which will give him the link to the people who run the New York operation who I think killed Melanie Burns. But seeing as that case is a dead end, I don't think we're going to get Melanie Burn's killer anytime soon."
"So we've got to sit back."
"Yup I know it sucks but Dan is the best narc cop on the beat, he'll make sure his team will do what they have to flush out our killer."
"Good because I hate being idle," Kate complained. "It's the only active case on our books now."
"Kate, we live and work in Manhattan, people get murdered every day and we'll probably have a fresh case to go to tomorrow." Ryan said. "Hey now, I'm the one sounding like the hardass cop? You're usually the one giving the pep talk."
Kate laughed and gave her friend a half hearted dead arm.
"You are a hardass cop, Kevin. I'm just impatient and like being occupied. You and Javi close a case and play Angry Birds. I can't do that. God, you know me. I always have to have a case occupying my mind."
"Castle's changed that for you though," the male detective said, perceptively. "You're far less of a workaholic now than you were when you first met him, and even less so since you two hooked up."
Kate blushed. "Well it's amazing what being in love does to you," she confessed. "As I recall, you were a workaholic before you met Jenny. As was Javi before he and Lanie hooked up."
"We are fam-ily!" Ryan began singing.
Kate rolled her eyes. "Yeah well I think we are," she said with a smile. "You know before I came to the twelfth and Roy put you me and Javi together, the only time I socialised with people from work outside a precinct was at the NYPD's annual picnic or the Policeman's Ball. And you know essentially those functions are just opportunity for the top brass to get together and be jerk offs."
Ryan let out a great snort of laughter.
"Aw I dunno about that," he said as Esplanie emerged from the morgue building, hand in hand. "The picnic is great fun. Three legged races, egg and spoon races, come on you've got to admit that's a whole lotta fun no matter how old you are."
"You are such a child Kevin," Kate told her friend, dryly. "Hey Lanes."
"Hey girl, Writer Monkey's loaned you this magnificent beast, I hear." The ME said, getting into the back passenger seat.
"He has, for the time being anyway and I'm loving ever minute of it, so far." Kate replied with a grin. "If they didn't cost so much I would so get one myself."
"And the personalised number plate would be what?" Kevin began. "D-T-B-D-A-S-S?"
It took a second for Kate to catch on but when she did, she rolled her eyes and gave her friend a dead arm.
"Never will I ever have a personalised number plate that says Detective Bad Ass!" she declared shrilly, checking her mirrors before pulling away form the curb. "Your personalised number would be D-T-P-I-T-A, short for Detective Pain in the Ass!"
That comment made Esplanie roar with laughter.
"Alright, alright, I'll give you that one, feed the birds." Ryan conceded.
An hour later after making a short stop at the Happy Dragon Chinese takeout, Kate, Ryan and Esplanie arrived at Lennox Hill Hospital to visit Rick. They arrived on the seventh floor and made their way down to room fourteen where they found the Writer watching a news bulletin on CBS.
"I hope we're more interesting than the news," Kate said, striding over to her man. "How you doing?"
The Writer it up like a Christmas tree.
"I'm great, better now you're here," he replied, kissing her languidly. "Esplanie, Kevin, hey thanks for coming in."
"We come bringing gifts," Kevin said, holding up one bag of food. "You hungry?"
"We've got everything from Kung Pao, Honey Chicken..." Kate began.
"Everything on the damn menu," Lanie told him, leaning down to embrace Rick. "How you doin' Writer Monkey?"
"Bit sore but I'll live, thanks for asking," Rick replied, crossing his legs so Kate could sit on the end of the bed.
"We wrapped up the McAllister case today," Kate began, once all the food was unpacked and cutlery had been given out.
"Really?" Rick exclaimed in surprise as he dug into some fried rice and honey chicken.
"Yeah, she got a confession out of Gooding within ten minutes and a full written one in half an hour," Esposito revealed, admiringly. "Bro, the dude crumbled it was awesome to watch. We were impressed. Gates was impressed. Everyone in the bullpen was impressed"
Kate blushed.
"But the search of his apartment uncovered four pounds of Columbian coke, some pseudoephedrine and some stolen property most of which is jewellery. So I had to get him to confess and wrap up our case so Robbery and Narcotics didn't get their claws in first," she revealed, steering the conversation away from Esposito's praise. "Once I'd finished with him, I handed him off to Narcotics. I expect they're fighting over him with Robbery now."
"Four pounds of coke?" Rick exclaimed. "Jesus that's thirty years in a federal penitentiary alone."
"Yup, for once homicide had a straightforward case. It's time for someone else to have shitloads of paperwork." Ryan declared, waving a chunk of spicy beef in the air. "That's one thing I don't mind about not being in Narcotics anymore, there's less paperwork in homicide, most of the time anyway."
"So what, now we have a clear slate?" Rick asked.
"Save for the fifty-first and Lex case but we're waiting on Narcotics from here and Narcotics and homicide from the LAPD to liaise before we can do anything," Kate replied. "We don't even have a suspect. Narcotics here and in the LAPD have to crack that PCP ring before we even get a clue of what direction to go in. And that could take weeks, months even."
"Well I'm pretty awesome with paperwork if you need me to do anything while I've got this-" Rick began, indicating to his arm, which was still strapped to his chest with a thick gauze bandage. "Let me know, it's not like I can do anything remotely physical for eight to twelve weeks."
Lanie's eyes widened in shock. "Your injury was that bad?" she exclaimed.
"Yeah, apparently I snapped my clavicle and coracoid process bones in two like a stick," Rick replied, making a face as Lanie inspected his chart hanging off the end of his bed with professional interest. "I have to have my arm strapped to my chest like this for four weeks, and then I can go into a normal sling after that. I can't type one handed it's a tedious pain in the ass, and that means I can't write anything and I'm not going back to writing long hand. All I can do is flip pages and make notes, like I do when I trawl through files helping the guys out."
"Don't worry when you're discharged and given the go ahead to be a pen pusher, I'll find you plenty of page flipping and note taking to do," Kate replied with a grin, leaning forward to run her fingers through his hair affectionately. "Or we could send you up to Cold Case. They could always deal with a page flipper."
"No thanks, I'll stick to homicide and annoy you."
"And do you really want to inflict an injured, whining nine year old on a sugar rush on Cold Case?" Esposito piped up. "That's not fair. They don't deserve that."
"Bam said the lady, Tulip!" Rick declared with a grin.
Kate rolled her eyes. "Shut up." She retorted.
Kate, Lanie, Esposito and Ryan visited with Rick for two hours til the visiting hours ended and a nurse came to kick them out.
"I'm really sorry but visiting hours have ended and Mr Castle is due for his evening pain relief," she said, apologetically. "And that sort of medication makes holding a conversation near on impossible."
"Oh awesome more drugs!" the Writer joked.
Lanie, Esposito and Ryan sniggered and Kate just rolled her eyes.
"Look after yourself and I'll be back tomorrow morning," Kate told him, leaning down and kissing him languidly. "See you then."
Rick returned the kiss enthusiastically. "Til tomorrow Tulip."