CH36
Kate made it to work ahead of everyone else. Turning on her computer she checked the status of their latest case.
They were nowhere. They couldn't find where she had gone to. What house was it and where?
Kate decided to do a field trip back out to where they found the body. Maybe something would pop.
Leaving a message with the boys about her plans she went back downstairs to her car.
Kate was still a ways away from the site and she had her head on a swivel. There was no traffic when suddenly there was a woman standing in the middle of the dirt road.
Kate slammed on the brakes and looked for her. But didn't see her. Damn it she must have run her down.
Kate got out of the car leaving her door open. Looking at the front of the car she didn't see her so Kate bent down to look under the car. Nothing! Damn it I know I saw her.
Kate stands back up and she's standing right in front of her. She looked injured. She had a head injury and there was dried blood on her face.
"Are you alright? I thought sure I had hit you." Kate tells her.
"Can you help me? It's my son. He needs help." The woman tells her.
"Your son?" Kate questions her.
"He needs help. Can you help him?"
The look on her face told Kate she was in shock which accounted for her speech. "Yea, is he down the road? Come on I'll take you." And Kate opens the passenger door and closes it after she gets in.
Kate gets back behind the wheel and closes her door and starts driving. "Are you alright?" Kate turns to look at her while driving.
"It's my son, he needs help."
Kate keeps driving but doesn't see anything.
Then the woman points. "He's there."
Kate slams on the brakes and gets out of the car and goes over to the edge. Down in the distance she can see a car that had gone over the side and down into the ditch below.
"I found him." Kate calls out. She pulls out her cell phone and calls for an ambulance and EMT support.
"Wait here I'm going down." Kate calls over her shoulder to the woman.
Kate starts her way down. It was difficult going. It was steep and she had already slipped a couple of times. Afraid she was going to tumble all the way down.
Finally Kate reaches the car and starts looking.
"It's my son, he needs help."
Kate jerks up and sees the woman standing on the other side of the car looking in the back seat. How, … How the hell did she get down here so fast?
Kate moved to the other rear door and looked inside. There was a baby seat inside, and it had a baby in it! Kate started trying to open the rear door. Locked!
Kate looked for something to break the window open with. Kate could hear sirens in the distance, growing closer. Finding a small rock Kate picked it up and hit the window with it. Nothing! So she hit it again only harder this time.
It shattered into hundreds of little pieces. Kate reached in and unlocked the door and tried to open the door. It only gave a little. She tried again, she had to get that baby.
Just as she got it open enough to get threw, the sirens were just above her and the closest stopped.
Kate climbed inside the car. Looking forward she saw that the car wasn't going anywhere it had hit a tree that was holding it in place. Most of the windshield was missing. She didn't see any air bags.
Kate turned to look at the baby. He was just lying there with his eyes open, grinning.
"Hi sweetie, aren't you the quietest thing?" Kate talks to him. "Him" since he was dressed in mostly blue. Kate put her hand on his face. He didn't appear to have a temperature. "I'll bet you're hungry aren't you?" Kate coos at him.
"Let's get you out of here." As Kate starts to try and unhook him from the carrier. Finally getting him unhooked Kate works at getting her hands under him to lift him out. "Come on little guy, let's get you out of here."
As soon as Kate lifts him. "Eeeww, someone needs his diaper changed doesn't he?" Kate coos at him again. Getting a smile an arm wave and a little "Gaaah" out of him.
Holding him close Kate backs her way back out of the car. Once outside, Kate stands. "I got him Ma'am." Kate calls out. Looking to the other side of the car. But doesn't see her.
"Detective Beckett?" A voice up top calls out.
"Down here! I found the baby!" Kate yells back up. "I've got you. You are a cutie aren't you?" Kate rubs his nose. Getting a smile from him as he tries to grab her finger for her trouble.
"Stay where you are. We are coming down to get you." The same voice yells down.
Soon Kate can see a fireman in his suit making his way down using a climbing line. Then she spots two more right behind him.
He is soon standing next to her. "Give me the baby and take this." He hands her a line that he brought down with him.
"His mother is down here somewhere. I saw her just a minute ago." Kate tells him.
"We'll find her. We need to get you two up top." And he hooks Kate up to the line he brought.
"First two up." The fireman now with the baby yells up. And soon him and Kate start getting pulled up. Kate slips a couple of time and soon has torn her pants and shirt and now has a number of scrapes and cuts to show for it.
Once up top, Kate finds one ambulance, two fire trucks, one EMT van and two police cruisers.
Kate is taken over to the EMT van while the baby is taken to the ambulance. A lady comes over from the ambulance. "Let's take a look at you." And starts cutting away Kate's shirt and pants to get to her injuries.
Once almost done. "You'll be fine. It's just a few scrapes and some minor cuts. I've cleaned you up. You'll need to change these tomorrow morning. Try to keep from getting them wet." Kate just nods.
"How is the baby?" Kate asks her.
"He looked a little dehydrated but otherwise he's in good shape. They'll change his diaper here and then feed him when he gets to the hospital. He's fine." The EMT tells her. "There, you're good to go detective."
"Thanks." Then goes looking for a fireman. "Did you find his mother?" Kate asks recognizing the fireman she came up with.
"Yea we did. Her body was found almost at the bottom of the ravine." He tells her.
"Wait! Body?" Kate asks confused.
"Yea, it looks like she wasn't using her seat belt and when the car hit the tree she was launched out the windshield. She probably died almost instantly." He explains what he knows.
"She's dead? But I was just talking to her. She brought me straight here. Told me all about her son needing help." Kate tells him.
"I don't see how detective. She's been down there for at least 12 hours. If you were talking to someone, you were talking to her ghost." He tells her. "Excuse me." And he walks over to another fireman who just finished getting brought back up from below.
"12 hours? Dead?" Kate goes and sits on the bumper of the fire truck.
"Thank you!" Kate looks up and sees the injured woman that she saw earlier. Kate can see her turn her head away from her. "I need to go. Thank you for saving my son. He's all I had." Then watches her turn and walk away and slowly fade away.
Kate just sits there with her mouth hanging open. It takes a few minutes, but finally. "Jill did you see that?"
"Yes Kate, I did. I believe that was the baby's mother." Jill tells her.
"But she's dead at the bottom of the ravine." Kate counters.
"Her body is still presently at the bottom of the ravine. Still, that was her." Jill advises her.
"You mean I saw and talked to a ghost?" Kate can barely get out the words.
"The word ghost implies a soul that is lost and trapped here and doesn't know what or where to go. She obviously had some where to go. So what you saw and talked to was her soul before she moved on." Jill explains.
"That was you wasn't it? You're the reason I saw and talked to her?" Kate asks Jill.
"Yes Kate, it is part of the new gem that Richard attached. It appears to be a variation of what you can see with the other gem when it was attached." Jill explains.
"So now I can see and talk to dead people. …. Oh great, now I'm a real life ghost whisperer." Kate groans and puts her head in her hands.
Kate still has her head in her hands. "I see dead people." Like that kid in that movie. "I'm sooo screwed." Kate sits there like that for a little while.
Suddenly her head jerks up. "MOM?" Kate stands and starts pacing around the front of the fire truck. "MOM? …. Come on if I can talk to her I can talk to you. … Please mom!" Kate stands still and waits.
"How does this work? …. Jill?" Kate finally asks.
"I am still accessing the gem slowly as advised." Jill tells her.
"Well speed it up this time." Kate goes back to pacing. "Come on mom, talk to me. PLEASE!" Kate starts crying.
"Jack!" And Kate runs for her car. She was trapped. There was a fire truck blocking her. "Can someone move this truck? I need to get out of here." Kate yells out.
It takes a little while but finally the guy with the keys shows up and moves the fire truck. Kate gets in her car and races down the road headed for home.
Kate finally gets there and runs inside and presses the elevator button countless times until one finally shows up. Then runs down the hallway and unlocks the front door. Closing it. "CASTLE!" Kate yells out for him.
Checks the living room and finds it empty. Then heads down the hall for his bedroom. Stepping inside. "CASTLE!" Kate yells again. Back out to the hallway and down to the guest room. Then back out to the hallway and down to Alexis's room. "CASTLE!" Kate yells again.
Nothing. Kate drags herself back out to the living room. "Where are you Castle? I need you." Kate starts crying again. She's so close. She can feel it.
Kate pulls out her cell phone and scrolls until she gets what she wants, then presses send.
"Richard Castle." Is the answer Kate gets.
"Castle! Where are you?" Kate is still crying.
"Kate! What's wrong?" Rick can hear her crying.
"I need you Castle, where are you?"
"I'm heading back into town now. Then I was going to go pick up Alexis from school. What do you need?" Rick asks.
"Out of town." Kate deflates.
"Kate talk to me, what's wrong?" Now Rick is getting scared.
"I need to talk to you and Jack. Please hurry Castle. Please." Kate can barely get the words out.
"I'll try and get there are fast as I can. Are you home?"
"Yes."
"If you can pick up Alexis from school I can come straight there. That should cut at least an hour off my time." Rick tells her.
"I don't have the authority to take her out of school." Kate remembers what Lisa the Principal told her last time.
"You do now. I added you. You have all the legal authority you'll ever need for anything."
Kate's heart did a flip. Castle! Another reason to love him.
"I'll go get Alexis. Please hurry Castle." Kate starts to calm down.
"I'll be there as fast as I can. Now go get Alexis. I'll meet you at home." And Rick ends the call.
"Come on mom, talk to me. PLEASE!" Kate calls out then heads for the front door and down to her car.
She makes it to the school in no time and steps into the office. "Hi I'm detective Kate Beckett and I need to take Alexis out of school for the day." Kate tells the lady up front.
"Give me a minute and look you up." And she disappears and comes back a few minutes later.
"Well your paperwork says you are authorized to take Alexis out of school. Let me take you to her class and you can be on your way." She tells Kate and they start walking.
"Is there a problem?" The lady asks.
"We have a family emergency." Kate tells Ms. Snoopy.
"That's too bad. I hope everything works out. Her teacher loves Alexis. …. Here we are. If you'll wait here I'll bring her back out."
"Thank you." Kate tells her.
A moment later she is back with Alexis in tow. "Kate!" As Alexis walks into her and hugs her.
Kate kneels down and picks her up. "Hi sweetie. You need to come with me."
"Is there something wrong?" Alexis asks since this is unusual.
"Thank you." Kate tells the lady.
"Good luck Ms. Beckett."
"We need to be home so I can talk to your father." Kate tells her.
"Did something happen to dad?" Alexis sounds scared.
"No sweetie, nothing is wrong with Castle. He's fine. I just need to talk to him and we're going to meet him at home." Kate tries to explain.
"Are you mad at dad? Did he do something wrong. I'm sure he didn't mean to." Alexis tries again.
"No sweetie he hasn't done anything wrong. I still love him, and you. There is something important I want to talk to him about." Kate tries again easing her fears.
They make it to home without any trouble. "Sweetie you want to see if your grandmother is home. It seems only fair she is involved too." Kate asks her.
"Ok." And Alexis stops at Grams door and knocks.
Kate continues home leaving the door unlocked.
Not long after Alexis shows up with Martha right behind her.
"Katherine dear, did you get off work early?" Martha asks and comes up to Kate. "Oh dear you've hurt yourself." Martha notices the edge of the bandages.
This is when Alexis notices. "Mom, you're hurt." Alexis sounds concerned.