Bear and I II

Chapter 7

Kate was still horribly embarrassed by it all, but at least she was mostly covered when she needed to use the bathroom. She had to put up with the pain and allowing Castle to help her even reach the bathroom and then get back to bed.

That was until he came up with this brilliant idea. "How about a sponge bath? I'm still working out how to wash your hair for you." He didn't have any good ideas about that.

Kate knew she must stink by now. She hadn't had a shower in days. Worse was the fact that she couldn't even stand on her own to even think about taking a shower. Worse still was they couldn't allow her dressings or the wound on her leg to get wet.

"I can change your dressing and then give you a sponge bath." Rick hadn't even waited for her to say no. He had left her and was soon back with some soapy looking water and this big sponge that twice the size of even his hand.

Rick started with her leg and it allowed her to see her wound. It was horribly discolored which helped explain the pain. "You did the stitches?" No sooner than the words left her mouth that she regretted them. Of course he had done the stitches. Alexis certainly hadn't, let alone Shadow.

"Some of my best work. Nice and tight. Give it enough time and even you might never spot the scar." Rick smiled at her and listened to her hiss from the pain as he cleaned the wound and wrapped it back up.

Rick was betting it was the bones rubbing against each other. The two bones were simply set in place, not actually held in place. To do that meant surgery he wasn't capable of doing and didn't have the equipment for anyway.

"Let's get this t-shirt off. I'll get you a new one. Nice and clean," Rick offered and Kate actually let him lift her a bit so he could pull it off her.

Kate was reasoning that he'd already seen everything and if he actually sponged everywhere he was going to see a whole lot more.

Kate started out grinning as she watched him begin with her feet and he actually did more than clean. He was massaging them and damn if that didn't feel pretty good. Until he stopped and started working his way up her good leg.

He stayed on that side all the way up. Raised her arm up high and worked his way down it till he reached her chest and then he sponged everything right down to her belly button.

Then up went the other arm and he went down that side till he reached her bad leg. Then he began to push her legs apart. At first she resisted and saw the look he was giving her so she stopped. Kate closed her eyes and felt the sponge clean her core. He kept dunking it in the water, wringing it mostly dry, and kept on cleaning her.

Then he lifted her to a sitting position that had her hissing from the pain and he washed her back for her. Then he stopped and looked her over. "Castle?" Was he ogling her because she was naked?

"I'm trying to figure out how to wash your butt and not cause you too much pain. Rolling you over might be a really bad idea." He wanted to avoid giving her more morphine.

Kate groaned since she had an idea. "Spread my legs, lift me up, and be quick about it." She was exposing herself to him yet again. Men she'd had sex with had naturally seen everything but that was kind of the idea. However, the cheapest any of them had had to pay for this privilege was dinner.

Granted he was feeding her and taking care of her but somehow this and that were different. Still Kate let him spread her legs and she used her good leg to try and help him raise her butt off the bed and she gave him credit, he was quick.

While he was searching his dresser for another t-shirt she found herself grinning a little. Richard Castle, her most favorite author, had now seen damn near everything she had and he hadn't even kissed her or even tried to take advantage of her situation. She might not be totally helpless but it was close.

Rick turned around and held up a t-shirt for her to see. "How about this one?"

Kate actually put a hand over her mouth and giggled.

The Voice In My Head Kept

Telling Me To Go To Alaska

It had a mountain range and this image of a bear on it. Kate even raised her arms to help him put it on her. "Pain pill and antibiotic pill." Castle left her and came back with pills and that cup likely meant for Alexis to use from the bathroom. He held her up so she could swallow.

"What's in the safe?" He had this big safe in the bedroom.

"My guns. You don't actually think I would let Alexis anywhere near my weapons do you?" Rick questioned her because if she did she was nuts. Fruity as a bat.

"No." He had her there and she knew it.

"It weighs a ton too. I had to reinforce the floor to keep it from going through it." Rick didn't want to remember what it took to even get it in this room. It was here before even the walls went up. It got rained on something fierce and Rick was sure the thing was going to rust.

"So what's in it?" It was certainly big she gave him that.

"Rifle I use to hunt moose with. There is a Smith & Wesson 50—" Then Kate broke in.

".500 S&W Magnum. Jeez." Kate couldn't help but wonder what he needed that thing for.

Rick was impressed and then remembered she was a homicide detective for the NYPD.

"A Desert Eagle 50—" Kate broke in again, making Rick stop once more.

".50 action express. Are you planning to start a war or something?" Those were about two of the biggest handguns she knew about. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what else was in there.

"You forget where I live," Rick said though that wasn't the only reason. Part of what was in this safe was for if his father ever showed up. He wasn't hiding exactly. Gina had found him, after all. It was just his father didn't live anywhere near here. He would have to WANT to come here.

"Let's see, there's the Saint. It's an AR-15 and a Barrett 82A1— Rick stopped when Kate interrupted him again.

"You have a .50 caliber rifle? Like .50 caliber like in an automatic machine gun?" Now she knew he was pulling her leg.

"I suppose you need to see to believe." Rick went over to the safe and blocked her view so she couldn't see the combination. It clicked and then he opened it wide for her to see.

Kate whistled. She saw 3 rifles, 2 impressive hand guns, and box after box of ammunition. Now she knew he was trying to start a war.

Rick took out the Desert Eagle 50, made sure it didn't have a clip in it and the chamber was empty while showing Kate what he was doing, and walked over and handed it to her.

Kate quickly realized it weighed more than her Glock did. It was also a little too big for her hands but she knew how to handle it. "Okay, Castle, who do you hate so much that you need this much firepower?"

Kate listened to him laugh a little. He took the gun back and locked it back up.

"Go to sleep, homicide detective. You've had a long day already. Or do you need to use the bathroom first?" Rick inquired.

Kate glared at him but settled down into her bed. She was a little sleepy. She would let him keep his secret for now. But she would get it out of him eventually.

- :: - ::: - :: -

Kate should be sleeping and Alexis was down for her nap. So Rick sat down on the sectional, pulled his plugged in laptop into his lap and read the last couple of paragraphs so he knew where he left off. He was finally able to start typing. He still had to get another book out and sent to Gina for editing.

Since he usually got lost while writing he didn't notice that it had long since stopped snowing and he didn't hear the light knock on his front door. It wasn't until the knock turned into pounding that he noticed.

"Coming." Rick looked out the windows and didn't see much. Certainly no ATVs or anything like that. He opened the door and heard a voice. He could also feel that whoever it was they were a shifter. Most shifters could feel when another one was nearby.

"Close your eyes," he was told. "Close them." Rick closed them and put his hand over his eyes since he knew that voice. It was Jenny.

"I brought what you asked for along with a couple of other items you might need. Now as to my payment." Jenny didn't want his money. What he had asked for and she had gotten for him didn't cost all that much. But she did have a price for her service. She wasn't a delivery service.

"Vincent has gotten brave lately," Jenny began. "He's decided that I should be his girlfriend. I've already told him what I think of that idea."

"Vincent!" Rick knew that name as well and Vincent, if he really wanted to be, could be real trouble.

"Dad and I think he might have designs on the normal citizens of our little town let alone the rest of us. I want you to put the fear of God into him. Don't kill him, just make sure he knows who's boss and that I'm not his girlfriend. Got it?" Jenny asked him.

"Got it." Rick knew that Jenny was aware that he didn't kill. That he wouldn't unless he was forced to. He had no intention of being anything like his father. His daughter deserved so much better than what he got growing up.

"Good. Good luck with your girlfriend," Jenny poked fun at him and began running naked across his large covered front patio. She really liked his home and him. He was just a little too old for her or she might actually try to catch him.

That was the thing about shifters. Their clothes didn't shift with them. If they tried it either they got hurt or their clothes got destroyed depending on just what animal they were shifting into. So Jenny was naked as she ran.

Rick pulled his hand away and snapped his eyes open. "She's not my..." Rick squeezed his eyes closed again and put his hand back over his eyes. He'd just seen Jenny's naked butt. She ran and then leapt off his porch; she shifted into a Bald Eagle and flapped her wings to gain some altitude. Rick opened his eyes again and could just make out Jenny flying away.

He looked down and saw a bundle at his feet. It wasn't plastic and it wasn't paper. It looked more woven. Opening it he found individually wrapped tubes that said Tampax on the outside. The next thing he came across had him pulling one out. "Condoms. She got me condoms." Rick groaned as he remembered her jab at him. "She's not my girlfriend." Putting it back he searched it to see if there was anything else and found this little plastic bottle. "Douche. Well at least one of us will be happy." He still needed to have a talk with Jenny, though.

He closed the door and stood there as a thought hit him. If Jenny thought Kate was his girlfriend that might mean half the town did as well by now. "I'm in so much trouble."

He saw Kate was sleeping so he put all the tampons on the table along with the douche bottle and dumped the condoms in a drawer. Maybe he could somehow find a use for them.

Now he was back to writing. He would go teach Vincent a lesson tomorrow. However, he couldn't concentrate. Vincent was a werewolf. Granted part of the town were wolves but that was different. One didn't confuse the two. Shifters that were wolves were born that way. Just like he was as a bear. Like Alexis was.

Werewolf, though, was an affliction. A disease if you will. People got it by being bitten. They got bit and they were a werewolf for life. Last he knew there were only the two werewolves anywhere near here or the town thankfully. Now if Vincent had suddenly decided to be brave he could change half the town to werewolves. Certainly the normal humans anyway. He didn't know much about werewolves. Thankfully those two tended to stay alone. Very solitary.

But even a shifter could be bitten and given the disease. He could understand why Jenny the Bald Eagle didn't want to be a werewolf. Hell, he didn't want to be a werewolf.

He was going to need Kate and Alexis to be asleep for this. It was too late today. Alexis was due to get up soon. He needed the time to run to where Vincent lived and then get back before either of them woke up. His daughter knew he was a bear. Kate, though? She had no idea.

- :: - ::: - :: -

Castle had given up on writing anything and finally went to get Alexis up so she didn't sleep the day away. Then he took Shadow outside where he finally noticed that it wasn't snowing any longer. He had seen it but it didn't really register.

Once back inside he took the opportunity to clean the bathroom while Alexis kept herself busy. That was followed by going out to his greenhouse to see if there was anything he could use for dinner. Since he didn't find anything that sealed what dinner was going to be. Moose on the grill along with grilled vegetables from his refrigerator.

He checked to see where Alexis was before going out front to his grill. He found her playing with toys from her room that she'd brought into his bedroom close to Kate who was sleeping soundly right next to Shadow who was just lying there watching both of them.

He was amused that Alexis was so taken with Kate and went out front to start supper.

- :: - ::: - :: -

Kate blinked her eyes open and was fast losing her dream. Once she saw movement it was gone. "Hi." She saw Alexis on the floor surrounded by toys and not far away was Shadow.

"HI!" Alexis scrambled to get up so she could go to Kate and talk to her.

Kate was having a little trouble keeping up with her. She didn't speak 2-year-old very well and Alexis was using different words for certain words that Kate was having trouble with.

However, Kate saw a mountain of something that had her reaching for one. She smiled a wide grin. "Tampons. Did you leave these?" Kate showed Alexis the one she was holding and watched her shake her head. The little girl returned to explaining whatever it was that was so important to her.

Now Kate was confused. Castle had said he didn't have any and that they were trapped. So was he lying? Could someone come and get her out of here and into a town somewhere and then home after all? Maybe she was being held.

"Go find your daddy. I want to talk to him." Kate had questions for him.

Kate watched Alexis look at her like she thought she was an alien or something and then left. Eventually Rick and Alexis came back. Kate held up the tampon.

"I made a call to a friend using my CB radio. It's stopped snowing and not that much wind so I requested for someone to make a drop. It cost me but they sent those and this little thing." Rick picked up her douche bottle to show her. There was no way he was showing her the condoms Jenny had left behind as well.

"Airdrop." Kate remembered that he had told her they were surrounded by trees so a helicopter stood no chance of landing. But they could fly over and drop something and she had been sleeping. So she decided to believe him. "Thanks." Tampons solved a big problem she was going to have in the very near future.

"You're welcome. Dinner will be ready soon. We're having BBQ moose and grilled vegetables. But no ice cream for you. We're not going through that again," Rick told her and that had Kate grinning. She didn't want to have to suffer though the humiliation of diarrhea either.

"MOO!" Alexis loved the taste of moose and her daddy was a really good cook. Plus everything he gave her she could eat with her fingers. She might be trying to figure out why she had to use the toilet but she was resisting using silverware.

Kate was grinning again since Alexis seemed to like moose a lot and looked really happy.

Still it had Kate wondering why he would do such a thing and what it had cost him. Helicopters didn't come cheap. "Not snowing?" Kate questioned him.

"No, but don't start getting ideas. It means my dirt trail that's miles long is now melted snow turning the entire trail into one big mud puddle. I'm not even sure one of those eight wheeled Argo units could make it and this area also doesn't have a Snowcat let alone a Shaman." It was the best thing Rick could think of that would do the job.

"Shaman?" Kate had never heard of such a thing unless you meant a native witch doctor.

"It's Russian. Think of a big Range Rover with a big back end that's on eight really big wheels. Those things can go anywhere, mostly. A tracked vehicle would be better but it might make it. But I've only ever seen those things in pictures. I doubt there's even one of those outside of Russia," Rick said.

Then he sniffed. "MY MOOSE!" Rick was afraid he'd left it on the grill too long and ran for the front porch.

Kate soon found that BBQ moose was delicious. She enjoyed watching Alexis eating at this little table that looked like it was made of plastic and more toy meant just for her. Alexis eating just the moose was amusing till Rick coaxed her to eat at least some of her vegetables.

Then Kate really started grinning when she spotted Shadow beginning to crowd Alexis who was down at his level. He clearly liked moose too.