Chapter 49
Tuesday, May 7
Castle had just ended his call to Sutton. It was a factual conversation asking him in general terms if he could dedicate some time to aid in the investigation. He agreed and was on his way.
Kate had put her hand on his leg during the conversation in subtle support. Afterwards, he closed his eyes and tilted back in the chair. "I think it's time that I have a talk with my daughter." He blew out a breath and looked at his wife. He was weary. "This feels like the calm before the storm, and she deserves answers as much as you did when you were nineteen."
Kate blinked quickly, completing his line of thought in her head, 'in case he doesn't have another chance.' Rather than denying the danger, she nodded and suggested, "We can rig a secure video link from here to the computer there. At least you'd be face to face."
He brought his hand behind her neck and squeezed, "I'd appreciate that." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. The guys seemed to ignore the subtle exchange, accepting that affection in the precinct was a sign of foreboding. They did, however excuse themselves to give Castle privacy for the difficult conversation ahead.
"I need to call Jenny." Ryan walked down the hall, his brow lined and the usual brightness in his eyes gone. "Castle's right, calm before the storm and all. I just wish I could hug her and hold Kelly tonight, you know?"
Esposito clapped a hand on his shoulder, "Yeah, Bro . . . I know. I'll be back up in a bit." Ryan gave him a half-smile, knowing exactly where his partner was heading.
Lanie was leaning on the autopsy table with her elbows locked and her head hung low. Esposito quietly entered and leaned against the wall, arms crossed, just taking in the beautifully tragic sight. Only a subtle sniff interrupted the eerie calm. That one sound propelled him forward. He stepped as quietly as possible as not to interrupt the moment.
He placed a hand on her back and quietly said, "Hey now, it's gonna be okay."
She turned into him and his strong arms pulled her the rest of the way, crashing her solidly against him. That was all it took for her to lose control of her grief. She trembled, gripped his shirt and cried into him as she remembered riding on that gurney with Kate's blood gushing through her fingers as she tried to stem the tide of death. Through the sobs she managed to utter, "I can't do this again, Javi . . . I can't."
"Shhh, I know . . . "
He kissed her hair then she angled her head to look into his eyes, his passionate, gentle eyes; a version that he seemed to reserve just for her. She leaned on her toes and he met her lips half way while bracing both sides of her face and thumbing away her tears. They both hungered for this connection and fought to feel as much of each other as possible. With his fervent affection came the message that he understood her fears, that he would be her rock no matter what, and that he would do all he could to spare her pain.
Lanie felt so overwhelmed with sorrow and longing. She soaked in the feel of his steady hands on her face, then their constant migration to her back, her arms, her sides, as though he were trying to shield all of her at once. For this one moment, despite the turmoil surrounding them, she felt secure. He wasn't promising that there would be no tragedy, only that he would be her solid ground, and that was exactly what she needed to feel.
Rick was alone in the room, seeing his little girl for the first time in days, which seemed more like months.
"Oh, Dad, you look awful." He had wanted so badly to see Alexis that he hadn't considered if his appearance would upset her. He sighed, knowing that how he looked would soon be the least of her concerns.
"We'll get to me in a minute, Pumpkin. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, Dad, I'm fine."
"And the others?"
Alexis felt that she needed to keep things lighter for her dad as well as everyone else. "Pa has nine stitches, but he's not complaining, must be the Beckett stiff upper lip. Gram is fine, but pining for a Cosmopolitan after all the excitement. Have you noticed that she gets a bit twitchy when she misses cocktail hour?"
He laughed, "Yeah, it's probably good for her to have to abstain for a while, but I'd never actually tell her that."
"Smart move. The security guards that were out front had temporary hearing loss and some cuts. Patrick took shrapnel to his back. The medics patched him up since he refused to go to the emergency room, but they probably didn't get it all the shards of debris out so he needs to see a doctor as soon as this is over. He's in pain but refusing anything stronger than Ibuprofen. His hearing is better, but still muffled." She gave him the report as though she were at a crime scene with Lanie. He smiled his pride at how level-headed she was in the midst of a crisis.
"What?" She was smiling coyly at his admiration.
"I'm just proud of you."
"Well, you wouldn't have been when Pa had to restrain me, but since then I've tried to, you know, stay calm and carry on."
"How did you get to be so sensible?"
"Must be a recessive gene that skips at least two generations."
"Must be. Hey, Sweetie, can I talk to O'Riley?"
"That depends. Will you be nice?"
"I'm always nice."
"Fine, but remember he's wounded."
Alexis stepped away and Patrick entered the screen moving very stiffly. She handed him headphones and seemed to be blasting the volume so Patrick could hear through them without Rick having to yell. She kissed his cheek and the boy smiled at her adoringly. Rick saw his daughter slip out of the room then O'Riley addressed him "Mr. Castle?"
"O'Riley, What's the security situation?"
He reported with utmost professionalism. "The Hampton PD is making regular sweeps of the area and they've alerted neighbors to report anything suspicious. I have twice the guards outside and an extra guy making rounds inside since my hearing is a bit iffy still." He added with determination, "I am still keeping tabs on everything, Sir. I just want to make sure there's an extra pair of eyes and especially ears."
Rick had seen him often at the twelfth, but he had never interacted with him on a case. He knew O'Riley was the right choice for protective detail not only because he was smitten with Alexis, but because he had an exemplary record in his, albeit short, career. Now he looked at Patrick's serious expression, his jaw set with resolve, and the young man seemed to morph from being a nice, morally upstanding boy afflicted with puppy love to being a selfless protector, a rock in a crisis and (his gut wrenched as he realized) . . . a man . . . who could easily be THE man . . .
The sentimental thoughts were coming too quickly so Castle tried to stifle them by speaking, "O'Riley, I know you're doing everything you can and I appreciate it. I understand you took some shrapnel to your back? Are you alright?"
"Yes, Sir. I have some stitches, but nothing that will impair my abilities to protect your daughter. I may be sleeping on my stomach for the next week, but that shouldn't affect Alexis." He seemed to realize that he had mentioned 'sleeping' and 'Alexis' in the same sentence to her dad no less, so he started blushing and backpedaling, "Her safety, I mean. Of course I'm sleeping on the bottom bunk, not anywhere near Alexis. Well, I mean I'm near her since she's sleeping on top of me – " Castle couldn't imagine that the young man could have gotten any redder. "I mean on the top bunk, of course." Patrick ran a hand down his face, mortified.
And there was the smitten, nervous boy again. Rick pressed his lips together to keep from smiling at the poor guy's ability to dig himself into verbal holes. Then his thoughts lingered to Alexis. She would need this sort of sweetness mixed with strength, especially if she were to marry a cop . . . GAH! He really needed to stop thinking and O'Riley really needed an out. "O'Riley, just stop."
"Yes, Sir."
"Thank you for making the arrangements for additional security. As long as you have a man on the inside, I want you to just stay with Alexis. Your mission, Patrick, is to be her boyfriend, not her bodyguard."
That was the first time Castle had called him Patrick. "Yes, Sir. I'll stay with her, maybe I can be a little bit of both."
"I appreciate that." Castle hesitated then continued. "Listen, I know you're hurt and they offered you stronger pain meds. I just wanted to thank you for choosing to stay alert." Throughout their conversation, Rick had seen the pain etched across O'Riley's face despite his efforts to hide it. Castle wished he could tell him to go ahead and take something to make himself more comfortable, but both men knew that wasn't the best tactical move. O'Riley was sacrificing his comfort for Alexis, and Rick needed him to continue to do it.
"My hearing is impaired as it is. I wouldn't risk dulling my other senses, Sir."
"Patrick, you can drop the 'Sir.'"
"Yes, Sir, I mean Mr. Castle."
"Just 'Castle' is fine."
"Wow. Okay, thanks."
"Try to take it easy, Patrick. Can you get Alexis?"
"Sure."
His daughter helped her boyfriend into a rigid stance and she held his arm as he walked out of the library. As he watched their backs Rick wondered if he really would have to watch them walk arm-in-arm off into the sunset one day.
Alexis returned, adjusted the volume, removed the headphones then asked, completely unaware of her father's train of thought. "Dad, were you nice?"
"I relieved him of duty. I told him his job was to hang out with you. I think I'm getting soft."
"Thank you, Daddy. Can we talk about you now?" He felt relived that he was still 'Daddy'. Then he realized that the last time she called him that was after the bomb at the bank over a year ago, so it was probably more of a subconscious fear reflex, but he would take it.
"Yeah, I think we probably should." He ran his fingers through his hair and said, "You're an adult now and there are things that you deserve to know."
He touched the screen even though Alexis couldn't see his hand. Her brow furrowed in dread of what he was going to say.
"I met my father on Sunday."
Her eyebrows shot up, not expecting it to be that. "You did! Dad, that's . . . How did it go? Who is he?"
"His name is Daniel Sutton, and he's CIA. After a very brief relationship with Gram he was off on undercover missions. He did what he could to support us without us even knowing it, but with his job he thought it would be better for me not to have a father than to have one who had a good chance of being killed, or at least being gone all the time."
"Oh, Dad. I'm not sure what's worse, you having that gaping hole or me having mom come and go on a whim, leaving me over and over." Rick was ashamed that he hadn't realized that his daughter, out of everyone, would understand the most what he had been going through the past few days.
"I think it's fair to say that we both got the short end of the stick."
Alexis gave him a smile with a twinkle in her eye and touched her father's face on her screen. "The difference is that I've always had you, no matter what. You distracted me when mom would leave, you'd tell me stories that made it seem not so bad. I know Gram loves you so much, but your childhood was, shall we say, less consistent than mine?"
He laughed a little, "Yeah, I'd say that's fair. But, Alexis, I have you. I couldn't imagine having a child and not having been there for all the big events, or the little ones. I missed having a dad and I could be resentful, but I look at Sutton, and he has nothing. He never married or had more kids."
"So, I have no long-lost aunts or uncles?"
"Sorry. We're just a string of only children."
"So, dad, is Sutton the reason we're in danger? Oh, he's not a rogue agent or anything is he?"
"No, like I said, a straightforward CIA agent."
"Then why was there a bomb a few days after he showed up?"
Rick sighed. Now for the hard part, "Honey, I know you remember when Kate was . . . shot." He blinked hard when he said the word. Alexis nodded, paling. "Well, we think the sniper is the one who set the bomb."
Her eyes started watering. "No, Daddy, please no. Is Kate okay? Are you okay? No wonder you look terrible."
"Kate's eager to get this solved, but she's okay, we both are. Worried about you and the others, of course, but Sutton brought us a lead that may actually solve this once and for all."
She swiped at her face and looked conflicted, "How in the world would your father have a lead to Kate's mom's murder? That seems rather . . . convenient. Not that I want to accuse him of anything, it just seems odd."
He smirked, "You're telling me. Someone made the connection between Sutton and me. He blackmailed Sutton to keep Kate safe until a few weeks ago. There's more to it, of course, but I can't go into everything now."
"So, you said you have a lead? Do you really think this will get resolved?" She stopped herself before adding, 'before someone else gets shot.'
"It looks promising. My biggest concern right now is your safety. Since that place is swarming with cops and security, you should be safe, although come morning we may want to move you guys to another location, one that wouldn't be as easily connected with me. That is part of the reason I wanted to talk with you now. Sutton is coming here to help. I want to do nothing more than rush there and hug my little girl, but I can't go to you myself because that would attract too much attention and there might be another incident. Honey, I trust Sutton, but more than that, I know he would go over and above the call of duty to protect you. If you need to be transferred, I want him there, but only if you and Gram are okay with it."
Her eyebrows crinkled, "Well, it's not like anything else in our family is conventional. I guess meeting my long-lost grandfather as he ushers us to a safe house is about par for the course." He was thankful for her levity.
"You know you can be honest with me."
"I know, Dad. It will be weird, but you're a good judge of character and if you trust him, we'll go along with the plan."
"Gram knows some of what I've told you, and Kate's talking to Jim now. You can tell Patrick anything you want. He's a good man, Alexis. I just wanted you to know that I think he's good for you." Alexis smiled so sweetly. Her dad was finally letting go of his reservations about her loving another man. "I'm so sorry for putting you through this. I love you, Honey. I promise we're being careful and everything we do is with backup. I hope nothing will happen, but I would never pass up a chance to tell you how much I love you and how proud I am of the woman you've become."
At this Alexis' resolve slipped and tears started rolling down her cheeks. She sniffed and wiped them away. "Please, Daddy, tell me in person when this is all done."
He smiled at his baby girl, "I plan on it."
Meanwhile, Kate had called her father and spoke with him for the first time since the explosion.
"Dad, I hear you were hit, are you okay?"
"It's barely a scratch, just a few stitches."
"Thanks for looking after Alexis. You came off sounding like Chuck Norris."
"It was just instict, I was just thankful she was okay."
There was silence where they both took time to think through the next part of their conversation.
"Katie, I need to hear it from you. I'm already thinking the worst."
Kate rubbed her forehead with her thumb and forefinger and closed her eyes as she confessed, "It is mom's case. It found us this time, but we had a head's up and we have some leads."
Jim had known as much and had prepared himself to react as calmly as he could. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, Dad, I'm not running off trying to solve this on my own."
"And this bomb?"
"It seems it was a diversion, a very effective one. We followed up on a lead then you were hurt to distract us and buy them some time."
"By whom?"
There was a pause before Kate spoke. "Most likely, the bomb was set by the sniper."
Jim had not been prepared for that answer. "Your sniper? Oh Katie."
Kate tried to remain steady but it was hard hearing the anguish in those words.
"Dad, they are getting careless and we're close. This isn't me wanting to avenge Mom, this is me speaking as a detective."
"How's Rick doing with all this?"
Kate thought back to his breakdown and how much extra stress he was under dealing with Sutton on top of their life-threatening situation. "He's been better."
"And his father?"
"I see Martha's been keeping you informed. I guess I can't blame the two of you for running theory. Sutton has been helpful. It's not an ideal situation for them to meet, but we owe him for fending this off as long as he did. He's coming in now to help us figure out our next steps."
"Is Rick telling Alexis all of this?"
"Yes."
"Well, it will be a relief to be able to talk in the open, but that will be a lot for her to handle." Kate closed her eyes as her dad voiced both their thoughts. "Katie, I look at her and it brings back memories. You're personalities are different, but how you see Alexis is how I saw you fourteen years ago, so young and idealistic. Then you had to grow up way too fast and figure out how to pull not only your own life together, but mine as well. You were so young, Katie."
Fighting the urge to give into sadness for things long forgiven, she replied, "Dad, what matters is right now. My hope is that Alexis will come away from this with no more than a few nightmares of what could have been. That is our goal."
"My goal is that you walk away without any nightmares. Be careful, Katie and stick close to that husband of yours."
"I will, on both accounts. Love you, Dad."
"Love you too, Katie Bug."
Kate walked in the room in time to hear Alexis say, "Tell Kate to be careful. It's not just you that I'm worried about you know." Kate felt pricks in the back of her eyes.
Rick shifted his eyes towards her and replied, "You can tell her yourself."
He turned the monitor and Kate smiled and waved, scooting a chair right next to Rick's so the girl could see them both. "Hey, Alexis."
"Hi, Kate. Dad told me everything." She rubbed her lips together and then added, "Life's too short to worry about what to say when. I love you, Kate. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that." Kate held it together through the whole conversation with Jim, but this tipped her over the edge. Alexis saw Kate bite her quivering lip and her father looked between his daughter and wife with such depth of emotion. He wrapped an arm around Kate and Alexis wished so much that she could teleport to be with them.
"I love you too, Alexis. I promise we'll have each other's backs and we'll stay close to Esposito and Ryan."
"Okay."
Kate added, "Now go take care of Officer O'Riley." Kate twitched up an eyebrow, reminding Alexis of the day she had met Patrick and Kate witnessed their flirting. "We'll make sure we get this wrapped up as soon as we can so we can all fuss over his heroics."
Alexis laughed, "He's trying so hard to be tough, but I think he'd like to curl up in a ball and sleep for a week." Rick was so thankful that Kate ended the conversation on a lighter note.
"Well, your dad is Gate's favorite so maybe he can get him some time off when this is done."
"Gate's favorite, huh? So, Dad's still having delusions of grandeur? At least some things haven't changed in the past 48 hours. I'll let you guys get back to catching the bad guys. Bye Dad, Kate. Love you both."
"Love you, too." Both Rick and Kate replied then they ended the call.
Rick looked at the ceiling, still trying to fend off the moisture. Kate waited patiently for him to formulate the right words. "I look at her and still see pink flowered dresses and princess tiaras . . . but somehow she's turned into this woman who can bear the weight of so much uncertainty, and she's looking at this other man like he's everything . . . " He blinked then swiped at his eyes.
Kate scraped her fingers through his hair and rested her hand on his arm. "I would guess that's the hardest part of being a parent . . . seeing everything you've wanted for her coming true, while knowing that means she's grown to be independent . . . or maybe even dependent on someone else."
Rick moaned flatly, "He's in pain and valiantly refusing medication for her." Kate knew this was the watershed moment when Rick realized what she had seen for a while now. It was not just a crush, a relationship with training wheels, and he was finally beginning to accept it. "Next thing I know they'll be playing laser tag and they'll be going to Halloween parties as Princess Leia and Han Solo."
Kate kissed his cheek then assured him, "But she'll always want you to braid her hair."
