She felt him shift beside her and the movement caused her to snap out of the restless, light drowse she'd let herself indulge in. She'd been doing her best to stay alert, worried that he might not be as okay as she thought he was, worried that Morgan would make an appearance any second, worried that the mountain of snow above their heads would finally give away and fall on top of them. She'd spend the last twelve hours fighting to stay awake and watchful. It was only in the last few that she'd finally let her guard down and succumbed to the exhaustion that was weighing her down.
She hadn't slept in what felt like days. And between that and the cold that was being barely held at bay up the small stove in the front part of the cabin, she'd been unable to resist a nap, though, it was a nap taken with her hand on the gun she'd shoved under her pillow.
"Kate?" Castle's gruff, sleepy voice sounded out into the darkness and she blinked her eyes opened to find him staring at her in disbelief.
"Rick," she smiled back at him.
"What are you doing here? Where's Morgan? How did you find me?" he asked quickly as he sat up and tried to assess their situation.
"I don't know where Morgan is. I found you here alone. My guess is her mother tipped her off and she took off before I could get here." Kate told him, sitting up as well.
"She left me here to freeze to death?" he asked, still glancing rapidly around the room.
Kate nodded solemnly. "Looks like. But it's okay. We're fine. There's a storm outside. But we have food and firewood. We'll be okay until we can get out."
"You mean we're trapped here?" he said, spinning his head towards her.
"For the moment," she nodded.
"What about Morgan? She drugged me and brought me here. The last thing I remember, I was chained to that headboard. Then she injected me with something." He raised his arm and examined the tiny needle mark on the inside of his elbow.
"Scopolamine." Kate confirmed for him. "She's been drugging you for a while I think."
He ran a hand through his hair, rumbling it. "I don't remember anything. What the hell is Scopolamine?"
She shifted, leaning back against the headboard and giving him a second to join her. Once he was beside her, she settled into the crock of his shoulder and rested her head on his chest. "I'll tell you all about it," she assured him.
Rick shifted his head and blinked down at her in disbelief. "You've had her under surveillance?"
Kate nodded against his chest. "I was worried. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't think you'd listen to me and the surveillance was your mother's idea."
"My mother's idea? She knows about all this, too?"
Kate squirmed. "Yeah, everybody does."
"Everybody?" he asked, outrageously.
"I didn't mean for them to find out. I wanted to do this on my own, get enough proof that I could convince you she was bad news. But it just kind of snowballed after Gates figured it all out," she explained.
"Gates?" he huffed. "So the entire department and my family knows that this woman has been drugging me and manipulating me and Gods knows what else."
Kate turned and moved over him, settling herself in his lap. "It's okay. Everyone was worried about you. But it's all over now. All we have to do is find Morgan and we can arrest her for abducting you."
His eyes landed on something over her shoulder and he stared at it intently as his voice took on a distant quality. "She was trying to have a baby." He told her. "I remember her telling me she wasn't pregnant and she thought there might be something wrong with me."
Kate brought her hand up to the side of his face and dragged eyes back to her. "It's all over now," she repeated.
"Is it?" he asked as his gaze settled on hers. "She's still out there. She's crazy, Kate. What if she goes after the people I love now that she's been found out. What if she goes after Alexis?"
"Ryan and Esposito are keeping an eye on Alexis. You know they won't let anything happen to her. Besides, in this storm, there is no way Morgan can get to her. We'll have her picked up before she has a chance to leave Virginia," she assured him.
"We're in Virginia?" he asked, glancing around them again.
"Yeah, I tracked you all the way to Virginia. In the middle of a snowstorm, I might add. A little thank you for saving my ass wouldn't be unwarranted," she teased.
He gave her a chuckle and she felt the first signs of relaxation at hearing the sound. It was comforting, that familiar, easy smile spread across his face. "Thank you for saving my ass," he said before leaning forward and capturing her lips with his. "It's about time you got to return the favor. I'm always saving yours."
Her mouth flew open in indignation and she swatted his shoulder. "When have you ever had to save me like this? I don't have crazy fans running around kidnapping me."
He cleared his throat. "I believe this was actually an abduction, not a kidnapping since I'm an adult."
"I figured since it was you, it would qualify as either," she informed him.
He nodded and rolled his head. "Oh, yeah, because you think all I am is just an overgrown child."
She laughed out loud. "You are a nine-year-old on a sugar rush." But then she laid her head on his shoulder and kissed the bare skin there. "But you're my overgrown child and I wouldn't want you any other way," she assured him.
He laid a kiss to the top of her head. "Thank you for coming for me," he whispered as he slid his arms around her and pulled her in closer.
"Always," she smiled up at him before finding his lips with hers.
It was hours later before they stumbled out of bed and made their way to the kitchen. Rick went to the window and pulled the curtain aside to check the weather, then let it go with a dismal sigh.
"I've never seen snow like that," he admitted as moved over to where Kate was pawing through a pantry in nothing but her shirt. The hem of it raised enough to reveal her rounded bottom peaking seductively out at him from underneath as she raised her arms to reach for something.
He stood back and took in the sight of her for a moment before closing the distance and wrapping his arms around her waist. "I love you," he said into her hair as he gathered her into his still bare chest.
"I love you, too," she answered with a look over her shoulder at him.
"This isn't so bad, as far as vacations go," he said with a glance at their surroundings. "I mean normally, I'd prefer something more tropical, but I think we can make this work."
She nuzzled her head against his shoulder. "I can make anything work as long as you're with me," she said.
He spun her, bringing her around to face him. Her arms instinctively moved to circle his shoulders while his hands rested on the curve her hips. "I'm going to marry you someday." He told her, completely out of the blue.
She laughed. "Is that right?"
"Yeah, I think so." He smiled at her with sparkling eyes.
"Do I get a say in this?" she asked, trying to mask her amusement. Normally, this topic of conversation would have her running for the hills. Demming had mentioned the idea of marriage to her once and the very thought gave her a cold chill. But Rick was different. There was nothing scary about spending the rest of her life in his arms. She couldn't think of a better way to pass the time.
He looked hurt for a moment. "I just assumed you'd say yes," he answered.
"You know what they say about assuming..." she said with a sigh.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at her critically for a moment. "You're just messing me with me, right?"
"I don't know," she answered, taking care to not let him see how much she liked the idea. "I guess we'll find out when you ask me."
He let it go at that and pulled her into his chest while burying his face in her hair. "I'm sorry about Morgan. I'm sorry about all this." He told her earnestly.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. This wasn't your fault, Rick. It just happened. I'm as much to blame as you are," she assured him.
"How are you to blame?" he asked, pulling back again so he could see her better.
"If I hadn't strung you along like I did, if I'd just talked to you after I got shot, you wouldn't have felt like you needed to move on," she explained.
He shifted. "But if I would have just been patient, or maybe if I would have pushed harder, all this might not have happened."
She pulled out of his arms completely and took a few steps away from him. "You know what would have happened if you had pushed. I would have run away from you as fast I could." She paused as she tried to get her thoughts together and he let her have the moment without interrupting. "I needed to get her on my own, Rick, in my own time, on my own terms. There wasn't anything you could have done to make it happen any faster. I'm sorry I'm such a pain in the ass. It's just the way I'm made."
Rick chuckled as he closed the distance between them and took her in his arms again. "You are a pain in the ass," he said. "But you're my pain in the ass and I wouldn't want you any other way," he added, echoing her words from earlier.
They stood like for a while, wrapped in each others arms and simply enjoying the feel. Then Kate's stomach gave a loud growl in protest of it's emptiness and he let her go to resume her scavenging of the cabinets.
"You could help," she said with a look over her shoulder when he made no move to help her.
"Oh no," he informed her. "I'm enjoying the view entirely too much to leave it."
She flung a stale marshmallow at him in response, which he deftly caught in his mouth and chomped down on.
They spent the rest of the day and night that followed catching up on lost time, wrapped around each other as they tried to stay warm.
Kate was just blinking the morning drowsiness away when a knock on the cabin's front door brought her the rest the way from her slumber and she jumped out of bed and slid quickly into her clothes.
"Morning, Detective," the Ranger she'd talked to at the station said with a tip of his wide brimmed uniform hat. "We thought we might find you here."
"I take it you being here means the roads are clear enough for travel?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest against the cold.
"Yeah, looks that way. You'll have to take it slow. I checked out that rent-a-crap you came up here in. Found it parked out in front of the old Wilken's place. Guess you got a little turned around."
"Or misled, but either way, I found what I was looking for."
"Glad to hear it. You're braver than I thought. You don't even have chains on those tires."
Rick had sauntered up behind her and he stuck his head around the door to see who was there. "I just started a pot of coffee. Would you like to join us for a cup?" Rick asked politely.
"Nah, I should be getting back down. I just wanted to check and make sure you folks weathered the storm okay," he smiled.
"What about Morgan Daniels?" Kate asked. "Did you find her?"
The ranger shifted. "Didn't know we were looking for her."
"She abducted this man." Kate told him with a nodded over her shoulder.
"Is that right?"
Rick nodded. "Yeah, that's right."
He shifted again. "You mind telling how a little slip of a thing like that pulled that off?"
"She drugged me," Rick answered and held out his arm for the ranger's inspection.
"Alright, I'll put out a BOLO. I'm sure if she's in town, she's hold up at her Momma's place. You take it easy getting off the mountain, Detective. That vehicle's not fit for traveling around here this time of year."
They closed the door after he walked away and Kate leaned against it. "We need to get you back to New York."
"Okay," he nodded. "I'm ready any time you are. I want to get this whole Morgan mess taken care of. I don't want to think about her again."
It was a slow journey. The ranger was right. The rental car wasn't equipped for winter weather and it was light enough that it fishtailed around every corner and slid every chance it got. Kate's shoulders were tense and aching when they finally turned onto the much clearer main road that would lead them into town.
As soon as they hit the highway, Kate yanked her phone from her pocket and pushed Esposito on her speed dial. He answered on the first ring. "We were just about to send out the National Guard. Where have you been? Why didn't you call? Do you have him?"
"I've been in Virginia. There was a storm and I couldn't get a call out and yes, I've got him and he's fine," she answered.
"I've been ordered to tell you to put him on," he said.
"It's for you." She told Rick as she handed off the phone.
"Ah," he cooed into it when he placed it to his ear. "I've missed you to, Javi," he said, then stopped before going on and his playful expression melted away. "Hi Sweetheart," he replied after a quick pause.
He talked to Alexis for several minutes, assuring her that he was fine and would be home soon before he finally handed the phone back to Kate.
Esposito came back on the line shortly.
"I need you to talk to Gates about getting a search warrant for Morgan's place. I'm stopping here at the local hospital for a drug test. But in order for it to matter, I need those plants from her closet. Now we've got Rick's testimony for probable cause, a warrant shouldn't be that hard to manage. But get it done before she catches a flight back to New York and gets rid of them." She told him.
"We'll do. Ryan and I are going to execute that warrant ourselves. We'll give the place a proper once over, just to make sure we don't miss anything," he replied.
Kate understood his meaning and felt a brand new surge of gratitude towards him. They were going so they could take care of the illegal surveillance equipment they'd set up in Morgan's place.
"Thank you," she smiled with genuine warmth towards him. "We should be back in a couple of hours. I'll give you a call when we land."
When she signed off and hung up, Castle looked at her with a bit of surprise in his handsome features. "We aren't going to get her?"
"No, the locals can handle picking her up and we'll have her back in New York before she can blink."
"But we know she's at her mother's place or we're pretty sure anyway," he argued.
"I don't have a warrant to pick her up yet. I know getting one won't be a problem, but we need to tread easy here, Castle. We're navigating some pretty touchy waters. We want to do it right so everything will stick."
He sighed in disappointment. "I guess you're right. But I really wanted a chance to grab her myself."
"Because this is personal for both of us. And that's why we let someone deal with that part.
Kate paced in front of the coffee machine in the lounge of the local hospital while she waited for Rick. Knowing that Scopolamine worked its way out of the system very rapidly, she'd made haste getting him here to get the test done. Once it was taken, the lab here would overnight the sample to her testing lab in New York and they would run the toxicology. They were taking blood since it was a far more comprehensive way to test for irregularities.
The problem was that it was taking forever. Kate was on her third cup of coffee with still no sign of Rick and her patience was wearing thin.
By the time they get around to getting the sample, it'll be too late, she thought, bitterly. She knew it was a ridiculous exaggeration. It'd barely been forty-eight hours since he'd been injected. But the hospital seemed to be crawling along at a snail's pace and she'd never been one for bidding her time. Patience was not one of her virtues.
She pulled the nail she'd been biting out from between her teeth and stalked off towards the car more to have something to do than anything else. It was still so cold outside the impact from the difference in temperature stole her breath when she stepped outside.
Rick had been riding in this without a shirt because apparently during Morgan's escape she'd stolen his. Rick was being very quiet about the circumstances that found him without the article of clothing. And Kate wasn't asking too many questions. She was afraid she didn't really want to know. Besides, she told herself, firmly, he wasn't himself. He was drugged. None of it mattered.
A convenience store/ gift shop on the next street over caught her eye and she took off, hoping to replace the shirt and get back to the hospital before he noticed she was gone.
She gave a wave to the local sheriff who's car was sitting on the side of the street just down from the hospital. She'd met the man when she first arrived in town and they'd stopped by his office on their way to the hospital as well when they managed to get off the mountain. His office would be responsible for picking up Morgan if she was still in town and they would be the ones to bring her back to New York when they extradited her there to face the charges against her.
Kate's first impression of the middle-aged, slightly pudgy man with a good-ole-boy attitude, thick black mustache and cowboy boots wasn't necessarily what she'd call a good one. There had been a certain lackadaisical quality in him when she filled him in on everything she knew about Morgan Daniels and Kate felt that perhaps the situation wouldn't be placed very high on his priority list. But after she'd returned to town with Rick and he'd given him a statement, the sheriff seemed much more on the ball and she was confident he'd do what he could to bring in his suspect. She'd bristled at that inwardly, knowing full well it was the fact that she was a woman that made him appear less interested on her first attempt at getting his attention. But she'd pushed it aside because she knew she needed the man on his side and alienating him wouldn't do anyone any good.
He was studying a paper he had folded over the steering wheel of his cruiser and didn't wave back or indicate that he'd seen her so she moved along as she hurried about her task so she could get back to Rick before he noticed she was gone.
The streets of the small town were still more or less deserted with only the most diligent and determined braving the weather to go about their daily lives. It was odd to her, but then she'd spent precious little time outside of New York and weather wasn't something that normally kept New Yorkers indoors.
She approached the building from the back having to cross an empty lot that sat between it and the hospital parking lot and as the shadow cast by the large building swallowed her up, she felt a prickling of the skin on the back of her neck. Always one to air on the side of caution, her hand came to rest on her firearm which was holstered to her belt beside her badge. She barely felt the cold metal of the pistols butt under her palm when something caught her in the back of the head and she went down, falling to the snow-covered ground in a heap as nothingness overtook her.
