My Grandmother was a Witch
Chapter 28
Jordan was done with her questions, not that Rick was sure they had helped her any. She had left first and Rick was slowly walking out the door. He was sure he was going to run into a furious Kate Beckett. Maybe angry enough to break up with him. Distancing herself and the baby from him even came to mind.
Stepping out the door he got crushed in a hug. It took him a moment to figure out that it was Kate and that she was crying. Why was she crying? Why wasn't she angry? He instinctively wrapped his arms around her to get her to stop crying. He hated it when women cried. He hated it even more when Kate was the one crying.
"Want to sit down?" Rick finally asked her.
"No," Kate sniffed. She really just wanted to stand here and hold him. She had learned so much listening to him answer Jordan's questions. She had even willed him to lie on some of them. But he obviously hadn't. Him and his stupid always tell the truth bit.
Rick tried another question, "Want a Popsicle?" and got what he was hoping for. She changed from crying to laughing.
"Yes." Stupid things were so deceptively addicting.
_/\_
Kate was sitting at her chair while Rick was right where he was supposed to be, sitting in his chair next to her desk. She was down to biting off pieces before the thing melted in her hand. It didn't matter. She knew she was going to have to wash them when she was done.
The entire precinct was still a hive of activity. What Kate couldn't work out was why Kevin, or even more to the point Javi, hadn't been over to question her. This was all because the CIA wanted Rick for something.
"You're thinking again," Rick pointed out.
"Talk to me about Rhaman. What do you remember? Why would he only talk to you if you two weren't close friends?" This was the part Kate was having the most trouble with.
"I hadn't even met Kyra yet let alone Meredith. It wasn't my first boarding school nor was it my last. It wasn't even the one where I put the cow on the roof. He was just another kid. Yes his name was different and he had an accent, but I don't remember anything special about him. He was rich. Well his dad was anyway. I know he never really did answer my question about why he was in this boarding school.
"He was smart enough. Not crazy smart or even Alexis smart. He seemed to have an aptitude and was drawn to biology. He loved dissecting things like that frog. Now that I think about it that was kinda creepy. But we were kids. It was what kids did. Kind of like buying a magnifying glass and frying grasshoppers or spiders using the power of the sun." Rick could remember when that was really fun.
"Seriously, Rick?" That sounded sick to her. Frying innocent bugs for the fun of it.
"You're a girl. You played with dolls. Boys, even older boys, played with knives and bows and arrows. If you couldn't burn things with with your magnifying glass you dissected them when you got older.
"He was also a skinny kid even with knowing all the really great places to eat. Not into athletics. No interest in baseball, basketball, or really any other team sport. Maybe that was what kept us close. He wasn't interested and I had two left feet or two right feet."
"Rick!" Kate reached out to get him to stop talking and look.
Rick twisted around to look. He identified them if Kate didn't already know. "Police Commissioner, Director of the FBI, and Director of the CIA. Didn't take those two long to get here."
They both watched them find Jordan and then into Montgomery's office they went and closed the door.
"Oh to be a fly on the wall," Rick lamented since he was betting that conversation was a doozie.
"Why is it I get the feeling we're both in big trouble?" Kate asked him.
"You've read too many of my books," Rick replied but kept his eyes on what was going on in the office. Mostly he was watching Roy's face, looking for clues.
"All of them actually, including the one you just finished writing. You did finish, right?" Kate took her eyes off of Roy's office and put them on Rick.
"Right before I came here. Still have to go through editing with whoever I'm assigned to." Rick was still watching Roy.
Then suddenly they all came out of the office and right away Kate got worried because they all headed straight for her and Rick.
"Follow us, Beckett. You too, Castle," Roy told them and followed the others into the conference room where blinds were being drawn.
The door was closed and locked. Roy, Kate, Rick, and Jordan were standing while the other three sat down. They just sat there. Kate knew this tactic. They were letting them stew in their own juices. And was it was working.
"You people have given us a problem," the Director of the CIA stated.
"Actually I was doing just fine driving down the road to my wedding when all this started," Rick pointed out.
"Castle!" Kate hissed.
The Police Commissioner went first. "Captain Roy Montgomery. Granted you were following FBI mandate by Special Agent Shaw, it is your precinct and you didn't need my official approval. Still you had to know shooting might be involved with innocent civilians being around and possibly in the line of fire.
"It's why you agreed to a heavy police presence at that fountain. Didn't even attempt to keep people from entering the area nor did you attempt to get people to leave the area.
"You leave me little choice. You are suspended without pay for one week and a letter regarding this will go into your official record. Starting tomorrow."
"Yes, sir." Roy had anticipated something like this. That quick meeting in his office was his first real clue.
"Captain Beckett, I mean Detective Beckett. I've got dead bodies in the morgue and three of them came from Castle's residence that you were directly involved with. At no time did you even call the local police department. The first incident is under the jurisdiction of the State Police. However, after the second you called your captain instead," he began.
"Sir, I can..." Kate started to defend herself. "Sir, I..."
"SILENCE! You didn't follow procedure. You involved an outside of its jurisdiction law enforcement and at no time even attempted to contact the local jurisdiction for assistance.
"Add to that I'm hearing that you and Mr. Castle here talked to a known mobster about the first incident. At his residence, no less." He paused to let them absorb all that.
"A letter of reprimand will go into your official folder. This will likely prevent you from ever making it above detective for the NYPD so long as it remains there. Further, after Captain Montgomery finishes his suspension you will start your two week suspension without pay. Is that understood?" he asked Kate.
"Yes, sir." She really had no plans to make it about detective anyway. She was here to solve her mother's murder, not make it to captain or anything else.
"As for you, Mr. Castle, your time shadowing Detective Beckett has just come to an end. If I ever find out that you're in this precinct again it had better be because you've been arrested for something. Or you will be. Am I clear?" he thundered.
"Yes sir." That sucked great big green donkey… Rick didn't really want to finish that thought.
The Director of the FBI went next. "Special Agent Jordan Shaw. You were called in by Detective Beckett because of your past association with her. All of this is under the jurisdiction of the FBI and not the CIA." He made a point at looking at the Director of the CIA.
"So far I can't find fault in any action you have taken to date. However, after your final report is placed on my desk by you personally, we may yet re-investigate that. You are officially ordered to complete your investigation, write up your report, and place it on my desk. This is the biggest mess I've ever..." He let that sentence trail off.
"Yes, sir." Jordan felt sorry for Captain Montgomery and Kate. They simply got caught up in something far too big for them and they were being made to suffer.
The Director of the CIA was last. "Mr. Castle, Ms. Beckett. My Section Chief did not inform me of any of his actions. When all this had finally been over he would have been heavily sanctioned by me. I allow my chiefs some free reign but he took it too far. As for Sophia Turner being brought in, I believe that was because you two have a history.
"What I have to say next never leaves this room. If it does all of you will find yourselves in a tight space in Poland for the rest of your lives. That includes everyone in this room. Do I make myself clear?" He meant everyone including the Director of the FBI.
He heard a lot of "You do, sir."
"Ever since Mr. Castle's involvement and information from a source, we have had Agent Turner under investigation. Quietly and without raising an alarm. We have reason to believe that she was a deep mole working for the old KGB," he informed all of them.
"HOLY SHIT!" That hit Rick hard. He had spent a lot of time with her and yes, he'd had sex with her.
"Watching her has led us to others outside of the CIA that we are watching very closely. Now as to who shot my Section Chief. That I can't divulge. Let's just say he's a very valuable asset who does amazing work. There may never be another person like him. Or her.
"As for you, Mr. Castle. This same asset believes that this Abdul Rhaman that wants to talk to you only is a ploy to get us to give up operatives by exposing them unintentionally. Possibly setting us back years if he's correct. Yes, we've lost two men trying to find out what he knows.
"Do we believe that there's an attempt for some group to strike a target in the United States? We always believe that. We wouldn't be doing our jobs correctly if we didn't believe that. What we do isn't for everyone. Far too many of us have no real home to go to, wives that can forgive what we do, and the secrets that we keep. It can take a special woman to put up with that. A number of us can call ourselves lucky.
"Special Agent Shaw may believe she has some of the greatest toys out there. She doesn't, I can assure you. What we see and hear on a daily basis would shock even her or Mr. Castle's imagination.
"You can go home, Mr. Castle. If I want you I will send someone to ask you and not kidnap you for your help. You will also find your two cars in perfect condition, waiting for you at your house in the Hamptons when you finally make it back there. Compliments of the United States Government and the taxpayers.
"Also on a personal note, when there's a second attempt at a wedding my wife and I would be honored to attend. We may even bring you two a wedding gift," he told both of them.
"I'll remind Alexis to put you on the list," Rick said. "Your office at Langley, I presume, for the invitation."
"We're done here," the Director of the CIA stated. Everyone began to file out while he stopped Rick and Kate and closed the door again.
.
"I won't apologize for my Section Chief. Let's just say he went about it the wrong way. As for your future, Ms. Beckett. If the NYPD doesn't want you, I do. Yes I know you're pregnant and expecting a baby that you and Mr. Castle will be taking care of.
"Not all of what we do is field work. Nor does it mean you'd have to move. Though that might be helpful. Think about it. …Boy or Girl?" he inquired.
"We haven't had a chance to find out together. Something always kept getting in the way," Kate replied.
"I will inform my wife to make the gift neutral then. She's much better at this than I am. I trust I will see you at your wedding next." He opened the door and left.
"Well that was unexpected." Rick meant the offer to join the CIA.
"Two weeks with no pay?" Kate was still stuck on that. Two weeks she could understand. She had made a few errors along the way. But no pay was going to hurt. She had bills to pay.
"You're going to be moving into the loft anyway. Now will you let me pay the penalty for breaking your lease and move you?" Rick asked her again.
Kate thought about it. "We'll talk when we get home. Alexis or Martha may have something to say about that."
"You mean besides scream for joy?" Rick responded.
_/\_
Kate knocked first and then entered. "Sir?" She had gotten an email telling her he wanted to see her which was a first for him. Though she was thinking maybe it was because this place was still all chaos.
"Sit down, Beckett, and close the door," Roy said.
"I'm not sorry I helped and I doubt with your record that letter will stay there forever. So don't worry too much about it. Unless you do something even more stupid then all bets are off," Roy started off with.
"Yes, sir." That was good to know but she still wanted Castle next to her. She needed him there. "What about Castle? He does help, sir. Even if some of his ideas are a little out there."
Roy shook his head. "That is now out of my hands, Beckett. Even a call to the mayor isn't going to fix that."
"I suppose not." Mayor versus commissioner. The mayor loses every time.
"As for my suspension, that starts tomorrow," Roy said. "When you get here tomorrow till a replacement for me shows up, you'll be in charge. Sit where I'm sitting and be captain. Maybe it will show you what you're missing out on."
"ME, SIR? I don't know anything about being captain." He was nuts!
"Castle was ordered not to follow you around as a detective. He didn't say anything about following you around as captain for a week. Best I can do, Beckett."
Kate sat up straighter. "Yes, sir." She even managed to put on a small smile.
"I'm throwing you into the lake here, Beckett. Hope you know how to swim. Dismissed and tell Ryan and Espo I want to talk to them on your way out."
"Yes, sir." Kate got up, walked over to those two, and then quickly over to her desk so she could tell Rick.
"Follow you around as captain? Count me in." He might get a new idea for Nikki Heat in his next book.
_/\_
"Well!?" Alexis intercepted both of them the second they entered the loft. She had been sitting here all day with no word and she couldn't take it any longer.
_/\_
"Two weeks with no pay? It's not even your fault!" Alexis was sitting next to Kate listening to what Kate had to say while her dad was in the kitchen cooking. "Stupid CIA! See what you've done, Dad?" Alexis yelled out that last part so he could hear her.
"And how is this my fault?" Rick yelled back at her.
"It's your CIA!" Alexis yelled at him.
"Have you even told her about the good part yet?" Rick asked Kate while he chopped and watched these two while his mother sat at the breakfast bar drinking a glass of wine, perfectly content to watch this new family dynamic that she was starting to really enjoy.
Alexis was sitting nice and close to Kate who was pregnant and almost married to her son. It was marvelous.
"There's a good part?" Alexis queried since so far she hadn't heard anything good yet.
"Captain Montgomery wants me to be captain while he serves his one week suspension." Kate rolled her eyes. "Like I know anything about being a captain."
"That's not the good part," Rick insisted.
"So what was the good part again?" Kate questioned him.
"That I get to follow you around while you're captain. Captain Nikki Heat, I can see it now. Capital Heat I'll call it. It'll be great," Rick said as he almost chopped off a fingertip.
Martha just smiled as Alexis and Kate at the very same time rolled their eyes over what her son had said. They were bonding and that was a good thing.
"And don't forget about the CIA job offer," Rick reminded her.
"The CIA wants to hire you? After all they've already done?" The CIA had started all this and now they want to hire Kate? This was some kind of messed up.
"Government Heat! …No, that doesn't sound right. Central Heat!" Rick tried and then threw what he had chopped onto the heat.
"The Director of the CIA pulled me aside and told me that if the NYPD didn't want me he could use me. Not all jobs are field work he said and yes, he knows I'm marrying Rick and that I'm pregnant.
"Does everyone know that I'm pregnant!?" Kate yelled at Rick since she was betting he had something to do with this.
"Well at least your morning sickness is over with," Alexis commented.
"Thank GOD!" Kate hugged Alexis. "So when am I marrying your father now?" Alexis had done a lot of the planning for her so she was betting Alexis was at it again.
"During your two week suspension it sounds like." Alexis had actually chosen a date and used her dad's credit card to purchase the invitations all over again. She still had to get a new cake, even if the old one was still in the Hamptons probably going bad on them. New flowers, new photographer, new minister, new everything.
"When's the honeymoon, Dad?" Alexis yelled at him.
"Oh crap!" He was in trouble he just knew it.
"DAD?"Alexis was going to kill him. She missed seeing Kate just sitting there smiling brightly. Alexis was amazing!