Truth

Chapter 10

One week later

"You look to be feeling better." Rick was in the kitchen wondering what to make for lunch. Thanks to Kate he had to limit his use of processed meats and he still had to stay away from red meat.

"It doesn't hurt nearly as much unless I twist the wrong way and pull on my wound." Kate put her hand on her side where that wound existed. She also gazed at the almost brand new coffee maker.

Rick took a peek at her and saw where she was looking. "Not yet, Kate, not yet. It's your heart." Both of them had already learned what happened to her if her heart rate was elevated too high.

Kate chose to lean up against him and wish. She felt his arm go around her. "We're getting there, Kate. Give it a little more time." Rick kissed her head and went back to trying to decide what to eat for lunch.

She stayed right where she was. "Have you heard anything?" She might be getting better but her ability to stay awake late into the day just wasn't happening.

"Not a word. Nothing to worry about. They both have a lot of work to do before they have anything to tell us. If you mean Jordan and her investigation, that might take her as much as a year or even more," Rick reminded her.

"I know about Jordan. I meant everything else." Kate knew Jordan was going to need time. Especially if she was forced to do it when she had free time to hide what she was doing.

"We've chosen a house. They're just getting Henry out of the decision making process to protect us while everyone packs." It meant what was happening they didn't need to be involved.

"Chicken wraps." Rick made a decision and just needed to begin slicing his chicken into thin slices since it was already cooked from yesterday.

###V##][##V###

It had basically been a boring day as far as Kate was concerned. She wasn't interested in a movie and while Rick had bought her a couple of books she couldn't get in the mood to read either of them.

"Castle?" She was sitting in the living room and bored. She watched him walk out of her bedroom with her bed sheets in hand.

"Be right there. Just want to start a load of laundry." Rick walked to the washing machine.

"What's up?" Rick sat next to her. He wasn't quite as bored as she was. When he had free time and finally stopped procrastinating, he was writing and actually getting somewhere. His plan was to actually finish and send all of it at one time to Gina when he figured out how to send it to her without anyone finding out how he did it.

Rick watched as Kate unbuttoned her top, exposed part of her chest then ran a finger over the bullet wound. "No more bandage."

Rick replaced her finger with his own. He hadn't been re-bandaging it for days. All he felt was the roughness of the skin.

This time Kate took his hand and placed it on her breast. "Please touch me, Rick." Kate so wanted to get past her reluctance to let Castle into her heart. Lanie was right, she couldn't afford to lose him so she had to either let him in or let him go and she couldn't let him go.

Rick moaned from the feel of her breast in his hand. "We've been over this, Kate. I don't have the willpower for this and your heart still can't take that much."

"Please, Rick." Kate was ready to admit it. "I want to be able to love you back. I've been in therapy for months. Dr. Burke has been helping me get ready for you." Kate held his hand in place.

"Therapy? You've never told me that." Rick was shocked.

"I've been trying to put in the time. I'm a mess and I know it. You deserve someone better than me. Someone not as messed up as me." Kate still felt like she was a walking disaster. She just couldn't seem to fix herself.

"You don't have to be perfect, Kate. No one is. Even I have faults as you've pointed out. You just have to be you. I didn't fall in love with the perfect you. I love you as you are." Rick wasn't sure he had the willpower for this but he leaned down to her.

Kate saw his lips getting closer and closer and she even reached up to meet him part way and kissed him back. She even felt Castle's hand on her breast close a little and add more pressure. Between the kiss and him finally touching her, Kate moaned into the kiss. It was a kiss just like the one that had almost overtaken her when Castle had suddenly kissed her when Lockwood had Kevin and Javi. She had kissed him back hard because that kiss had been amazing and she had wanted more.

"We need to stop, Kate, while I still have willpower and you don't have a heart attack." But Rick couldn't remove his hand from her breast. It was like it was glued there. That was when he finally noticed that Kate's hand was still holding his in place.

"I'm sorry, Rick, so very sorry. I want to be better. I need to be better. Please touch me." Kate pressed his hand even harder into her breast. Her chest was getting better, it was her side that still hurt.

###V##][##V###

That night Kate willingly took her top off so Castle could investigate her wounds, clean the one on her side, and give her her medication. She moaned when suddenly he put his hand on her breast. He was touching her on his own.

"Kiss me," Kate asked him. She kissed him back and even grabbed his head to hold it in place so she could kiss him again.

"Get some sleep." Rick helped her down into bed, tucked her in, and gave her a quick kiss before leaving her.

Rick fell onto the sofa and willed his own heart to slow down. If his was beating fast Kate's had to be racing. He knew too many more of those and his willpower was going to melt away. "We need to stop. I'm not hurting her."

Rick heard the phone and ran to it. "Hi Dad, I have news."

"Hang on a moment." He had only just left Kate so he went to her room and found her still awake. So he had her sit up as he got into bed with her.

"Okay, I have Kate," Rick told her.

"First, Jordan's gone and she talked to Javi, Kevin, and Lanie in a safe location. I don't know what she learned from them.

"Henry has found four homes in Ecuador and four in Brazil. He's just waiting for me to tell him which one so he can go out and buy it for us. I'm not going to tell you about them since we've made our choice.

"Jordan has had all your money moved to a bank in the Caymans. Credit cards will be sent to her at a PO Box in Chicago used by the FBI. She in turn will send them to us when she gets them. We'll be using all cash for the move which I presently have, save for the money from the sale of the loft since it isn't sold yet.

"I need to know when you want to start the move so I can make reservations for the cruise for five. We'll need three rooms and since it's going to be all cash I'm getting us the cheapest rooms possible. And I need to know when you want to leave Montreal so I can purchase airline tickets to Miami.

"Oh and Jordan got us prepaid credit cards to purchase some of this with using an alias, just not our new names selected by Jordan. Kinda like my other name better but oh well." Alexis paused to let them talk.

"It's September now, just barely, so what are the cruise dates available to us?" Rick asked her.

"Let's see.…" Alexis chose one. "There's one on November 20 and it lasts into December. Panama's about half way into the cruise."

"Sounds good. So we need flights from Montreal early in the day and to have everyone meet in Montreal the day before. We'll need a hotel room close to the airport for everyone," Rick suggested and Kate said nothing.

"Got it. And Kate, I talked to your dad. He's willing to do this so long as it means you stay safe. He sounded really tired of having to deal with his wife's case." She was betting he meant he had wished Kate had dropped it long ago but she hadn't.

"Thanks, Alexis." Kate wiped away a tear that escaped.

"Jordan has an idea as to how to get all our stuff to the new house. It may take as much as three months but it will arrive eventually. We're all putting it into a single POD that will be shipped to an address selected by Jordan. From there it gets shipped to an address provided by Jordan in Hawaii where it will sit in a container before being put on a boat again, shipped to Costa Rica, then trucked to us.

"She's going to have other things shipped to Hawaii with ours then it gets lost until it reaches us. Sounds like a lot of work just to ship stuff but if she says so," Alexis shrugged. She was thinking it was overkill but Jordan was now in charge and Alexis was actually happy about that.

"So long as we have our clothes we'll survive. Anything on how to get from the Panama Canal to our place yet?" Rick questioned.

"A few. One is to fly; that will take about 5 hours. Another is by a bus that's direct and will take us over 18 hours. Or we purchase a car or two in Panama City and drive which will take almost 13 hours. A rental car is not an option. Rental cars are not allowed to cross international borders," Alexis explained.

"Fly in our new names or bus in our new names?" Rick really didn't know.

"We're all going to have a lot of bags, Dad. At least two per person and at least one carry-on," Alexis reminded him.

"So which might be safer? I'm guessing plane. A bus might just have bandits stop it. It is Panama, after all. We just have to keep paying the excess baggage fees for everyone. Book us the flights, pumpkin. You know the dates and find us a simple hotel in Montreal close to the airport for everyone." Rick looked at Kate who didn't raise an objection.

"We're all in your hands again, Alexis, and I'm thankful for your help," Rick told her.

"Actually it's a little fun. I get to spend your money." Alexis was all smiles and it wasn't just a little money. It was a lot of money.

Rick's eyebrows almost touched his hairline. "Don't let it go to your head."

"Too late!" Alexis's smile grew wider. Not that either of them could see it. "I'll call and tell you which hotel in Montreal to meet us all at when I have it. Stay safe, Dad." Alexis ended the call and made sure she had her notes all straight before going home with her laptop and phone.

"Since I have the phone and it's late, do you want to call Lanie and tell her how you're doing?" Rick held out the phone to her.

"Thanks, Castle." Kate took the phone and leaned across to kiss him. She knew kisses were all she was ready for, but one day that would change.

Kate pressed send and waited and waited.

"Castle! How's our girl?" She was so happy that he had called her. It was just that she feared since he was calling something had gone wrong with Kate and she was going to have to diagnose what was wrong from long distance.

"Hi, Lanie." Hearing her voice reminded Kate just how much she missed her. It was only going to get worse when they moved to Costa Rica and had no contact at all.

"GIRLFRIEND! How are you feeling? How's Castle still treating you?" Lanie would settle for a little information but she could hope for a lot more.

"I'm getting around a lot better and Castle's fine. My chest is about healed and my side still hurts but not as much," Kate told her.

"Castle's fine? Just how fine is fine?" Was Kate ready to talk? Had she finally done something?

"I kissed him," Kate said softly and placed fingers to her lips.

"Get out of town! It's about damn time, Kate. That man has the hots for you and all you did was ignore him and even try to send him away. So what else? Details, girl, I need details." Kate was finally waking up to the truth and coming out of her shell.

"I got him to touch me. He refuses to do anything more but touch me and kiss me. I think he's afraid it will hurt my heart and he's probably right." Kate could still remember when her heart had hurt so bad for a lot less.

"He's probably right. You were shot in the heart. It needs to heal before you do much more. So how does this make you feel?" Lanie questioned her.

"Scared, excited. Mostly scared. I can't help but wonder what happens if he tires of me? Is tired of my broken and damaged body. Finds someone younger than me. It's in my nature and I know it.

"He has a playboy image, Lanie. What if he misses that?" Kate couldn't help herself.

"You are so lucky I don't know where you are or I'd smack you. That man has had bimbos with big tits hanging on his arms and only too willing to take him to bed and he chose you instead of them.

"Though if you feel like you need advice… Try to look sexy all the time. Don't fall into the habit of wearing sweats simply because they're comfortable. Give him a taste of what you're hiding under that shirt and shorts or just shirt and panties. Tease the man, Kate. I'm sure you know how to do that."

Problem with her advice was that Kate knew something she didn't. They were moving out of the country where she, her dad, Alexis, Castle, and Martha were all going to be living in the same house. She couldn't walk around wearing nearly nothing.

"Nothing." Kate let the word escape and it was only after Lanie said something that she noticed.

"Naked would certainly get his attention. Just teasing him would be better," Lanie suggested.

"What about living in a bikini with a wrap that's part see-through?" Suddenly she was aware she didn't have anything like that. She did know the house had a pool but hadn't actually seen it.

"That will work till it gets cold outside," Lanie told her and was happy Kate was actually thinking of this.

Kate didn't know anything about the weather in Costa Rica. However, if it was warm enough all year long she could maybe live in a bikini all year long.

"Just be careful, Kate. Rick is right to worry about your heart. Sex can put a great strain on it. That doesn't mean you can't do something for him," Lanie reminded her.

Kate's eyes opened wide. Why in the world had she not thought of that? There was nothing wrong with her mouth or tongue. She even knew a trick involving ice. "Ice." Once again her filter stopped working.

"What does ice have to do with anything?" Lanie wasn't following.

"Nothing," Kate deflected.

"I'm happy for you, Kate. You finally found someone and it isn't Demming or Doctor motorcycle boy. I was starting to worry that if you waited too long he would grow tired and find someone else." Lanie just wanted her to be happy.

"So does your dad know? Never mind, probably not given that you two are in hiding. Which reminds me… We all had a really long conversation with a Jordan Shaw of the FBI. Is this your doing?" Had she finally put her mother's case aside and decided to live her life?

"Actually it was Castle's. He talked me into admitting that we had no leads and that someone wants me dead. As Castle put it, snipers don't come cheap. I have no idea why now. Montgomery's dead and he was involved in it somehow but what does his death have to do with anything?" Kate was missing something and she knew it.

"Just remember, Kate, if you step one foot in this city and you're dead. At least until Jordan finds out who's behind your shooting. Bullet, another bomb, poison, and it might not even be quick. That guy Lockwood wanted information. They may decide to do the same thing to you. Find out what you know and who you told," Lanie warned her.

"Yeah." Kate knew she was at a disadvantage. He, whoever he was, knew about her and she knew nothing about him. Her chances of staying alive long enough to find out who it was were not good. "So how are the guys?" Javi and Kevin were two people she could call friends.

"Gates! I am so glad I don't work under her. Listening to those two makes the wicked witch of the west sound like a saint. They've both put in to take the sergeants exam. If they pass they both plan to put in for a transfer and sending them straight to 1PP, avoiding Gates entirely," Lanie informed her.

"She's that bad?" They made her captain of a precinct. Surely she couldn't be that bad.

"Thankfully I don't know. Javi tells me that she'll insult them directly. Question how they even got this job or why they still have it. Listening to him…it's bad, Kate, really bad." Lanie was even tired of listening to Javi complain about her. "He's even thinking of going back to the 54th."

"Good grief." Kate wasn't there so she didn't know. She knew Javi tended to overreact to almost everything but this sounded bad.

"Just stay where you are, Kate. At least for now. Gates hasn't replaced you yet. You're still officially on medical leave after being shot." Now what happened after her leave was up was a question that could be decided when the time came.

Kate knew she wasn't going back, though. She was moving to Costa Rica to avoid her or her family or Castle's family from getting hurt or worse. Her career wasn't officially over but it was being delayed by at least a year or longer.

"I'm tired, Lanie. I'll call later." The day was catching up to her. She still had a lot of strength to get back before she was 100%.

"Call me later, girl, and do what Castle tells you; don't push yourself. You'll delay your recovery by weeks if you do. Stay safe, girl." Lanie ended the call.

Kate put the phone on the bed and got down under the covers. She began dreaming up ways to give Castle a blow job. She might not be ready but Castle certainly could be.