Hunting Grounds

Chapter 17

Roy knew how to read orders and these orders came from a person far above his pay scale. He may not understand the reason behind it but he had his orders. "Welcome to the 12th, Captain Rodgers." Roy held out his hand and Rick shook it.

"Thank you, Captain. Please let me assure you that I'm not here to interfere with your command. My orders are to be a liaison between the NYPD and the Navy. I am to generate a report on what I see. And if a naval officer or even a shipmate is arrested in the City, I'm supposed to be a liaison between the NYPD and the Navy Jag officer who is assigned to his or her case.

"In-between those times I'm Kate's partner. I have my service weapon as assigned by the Navy and a permit to carry it everywhere. I have no authority to arrest anyone. That's where Detective Beckett comes in. My job is to help her. Feel free to issue orders and I will follow them so long as they do not conflict with my naval orders.

"Do we understand each other, sir? I'm not here to make your life hell. I'm supposed to help you," Rick asked him.

"Perfectly clear. Beckett, show your new partner around and introduce him to your team. When you get a new case, take him with you." Roy sat back down so he could get back to work. He would reread these orders yet again after these two were gone.

Kate was still in shock but managed to take him to her desk where she sat down and watched him plant himself in the chair next to her desk. "Partner?" She was ready for answers.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Rick was all smiles. "I could bend you over your desk and take you if that's a fantasy of yours," he whispered and grinned at her.

"Jackass." Kate was not amused, yet there was something about it that intrigued her. She was suddenly itching for today to be over with so she could take him home and fuck his brains out.

"That's my name." Rick smiled a huge smile at her. "So what are we doing first?"

"I'm doing paperwork from yesterday's case that we closed. Speaking of which." Kate got up and hoped Rick was following her.

Kate introduced him to her team as she was ordered to do. "Rick Rodgers, this is Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan. Guys, this is Rick Rodgers, my new partner."

"Partner!" Espo looked him over. He was handsome, armed, and looked decent enough. "Is this the same Rick Rodgers you were found with?" Espo was a little slow.

"Captain Richard Rodgers of the United States Navy."

Ryan was happy for Kate, and also relieved. He and Espo had been watching Kate and she looked to be hurting. Right now, though, she was almost glowing.

"I'm a Navy SEAL who happens not to be assigned to a team now. My job is to watch you guys and assist you where I can. Send a report to Naval Intelligence about what the NYPD is doing. The two of you and Kate are still in charge."

"SEAL! I was a sniper in the Gulf War." Espo stood up to shake his hand. At last, he had someone he could relate to and relate to him.

"A pleasure. We wouldn't have met there. All I got to do was investigate those beaches for a possible landing site that never happened. I was there and gone in weeks. Never saw any action there. We'll have to trade stories later." Rick was interested in what Espo had done.

"Deal. Over drinks one night." Espo was ready. "Just don't try to outdrink Beckett. She can take you."

"Can she now?" Rick looked at Kate and smiled since this was something new he didn't know.

"Okay, that's enough." Espo was having too much fun. Kate took Rick by the hand and dragged him back to her desk, ignoring the smiling Espo and Ryan because instead of doing paperwork, they were watching her.

"Rick, what are you doing?" She was really glad to see him, but what was he doing here?

"Following orders, Kate." Rick watched her glare at him. "Alright, fine. After weeks of questioning and even a polygraph test to see if I was lying, I lost my team to my second-in-command and can't get it back.

"I'm a SEAL with no team. So I offered to be a liaison between the NYPD and the Navy. Thankfully I have a friend in Naval Intelligence who put his command behind the idea, so here I am. I'm your partner at work." He was also hoping to be her partner while not at work.

"You're not happy to see me? I might be able to get my orders changed to something else." Rick was having trouble reading her.

"NO! I mean I am happy to see you. You just caught me by surprise, is all. So partner, huh?" Kate finally smiled. He was here. She could see him, she had kissed him, and it looked like she was going to get to keep him close.

"What do you know about being a homicide detective?" Was he going to be a problem when she went out to pick up possible suspects?

"Nothing, but I am a Navy SEAL. I do know how to shoot." Rick leaned in close to her and said quietly, "As you well know."

Yeah, she knew he knew how to shoot. He even saved her life. She would be dead without him. "Crash course it is then." Kate would teach him. "Right now I have paperwork to do."

"Is there coffee?" Rick asked her.

"Breakroom." Kate pointed to it and got back to work on her paperwork. She barely noticed that Rick was back. At least not until…

"MY GOD! You call this coffee? How do you drink this crap?" Rick wanted to spit it out but didn't have anywhere to spit it.

"It's what we have." Kate knew it was pretty awful, but she had gotten used to it.

"This is not coffee. I don't know what it is, but this is not coffee." Rick taste-tested it again to make sure and spat it back into his cup since what was left was going down the drain. "Good God but this is wretched." Rick got up and went back into the breakroom to get rid of it.

He was back at her desk. "Where's the closest decent coffee shop?"

"Out the front door and down the street to the right." She gave him her order. "Sugar-free, two pumps of vanilla, please."

"Got it, be right back." Rick headed to the elevator.

[_] /\ [_]

Kate was still writing when suddenly this large, tall, coffee cup with a cardboard sleeve showed up next to her keyboard. "Thanks." She immediately stopped, took a sip, and moaned at the taste. It was so much better than the coffee in the breakroom.

"I bought one for the Desk Sergeant to make sure I could get back in again," Rick told her as he sat down and drank his coffee.

That caused Kate to grin. She was right. He was handsome, built, good in bed, and an overall nice guy. It was now that she came up with a plan for later.

"So what is it exactly that you need to write up? For my report later this week," Rick inquired.

"If there's a court case after the case is closed and I'm no longer working here, then the detective needs to know exactly everything that I did so he can defend the NYPD. It's so that no one can get off on a technicality," Kate explained.

"Good to know." Rick understood that. "I suppose you had to write a report for when you were gone." He knew he'd had to write up everything. And he was positive everything had been recorded. Now it was in writing with his signature on it.

"Yes, it took me hours to do that." She gave him the short version. "I had to have a psychiatrist certify that I was fit for duty. And then fill out forms because I lost my service weapon and prove that I still knew how to shoot."

Rick nodded. "That all sounds familiar. I lost both of my weapons. They weren't happy about that."

"Neither was CSI. So far as they're concerned, my service weapon is out there somewhere in the hands of a criminal." She knew it wasn't, but she couldn't tell them that.

Kate couldn't wait any longer. She needed to know. "Rick, where are you staying? With your mother?"

He smiled at her. "Ah, yes, you visited my mother."

"She told you, didn't she? I was trying to find you. I don't have a landline and I have a new cell phone with a new number. Which reminds me, how did you find me?" They hadn't talked all that much.

"Oh, that was easy. I looked for Homicide Detective Kate Beckett in the 12th Precinct working for the New York Police Department. Finding you was simple. Naval Intelligence." Lance wasn't stupid and had been very helpful.

Kate couldn't keep from smiling. "Good." She wasn't able to find him. However, this also meant he wanted to locate her, so that was great.

[_] /\ [_]

Kate knocked first and then walked in. "My paperwork, sir." It was finally finished. She had done it in record time since she had the inspiration to get it done early.

"Excellent. You're done for the day. Go home and take Rodgers with you. Come back very early tomorrow and bring him with you. He's now your responsibility." Roy was going to make sure Kate was in charge of him.

"Yes, sir." Kate wasn't sure just what to make of that. Was he suggesting that Rick was going to be living with her now? She did have every intention of making sure that happened but didn't want for everyone to know about it.

"We can go," Kate told Rick and gathered up her stuff so she could leave. "See you two tomorrow," she told Ryan and Espo.

Espo razzed her. "Taking Rodgers with you?"

"I can make you do my paperwork next time if you keep this up, Espo," Kate threatened and made sure Rick was right behind her.

"HA! Like that would ever happen." Espo wasn't that stupid. He didn't know everything Kate had done.

"So where's your stuff?" Kate asked Rick in the elevator.

"My motel room."

"Good. Take me there so we can gather up everything of yours. You're moving in with me. You're my new roommate." Kate could feel her heart rate speeding up. The last time she had had a roommate was college. This roommate was a man, someone she cared about, so she wasn't sure how this would work out.

[_] /\ [_]

Kate saw his large, heavy-looking duffle bag and wasn't willing to help him carry it. It looked like it weighed a ton.

"This is me," she pointed. "Third floor right on the corner."

Rick realized it was a walk-up. With his duffle bag, it was a small challenge for him.

He watched her unlock the door and go inside. "This is home." She was sure it was clean. Thankfully she wasn't a messy person.

Rick dropped his bag and looked the place over. "It's bigger than I thought. I was thinking a place in Manhattan would be the size of a closet. Grew up in the City, you know," he reminded her.

She knew that now since Martha had told her. "The bedroom is this way." Kate led him into her room. "Bathroom is that way. Try to ignore the bras." She knew she had more than one hanging in the bathroom.

"I'll do my best. So where can I put my clothes?" All he saw was the one dresser, and he was betting a tiny closet filled with her clothes.

"About that. I'll think of something. Unpack a little onto the bed, and I'll find space for some of it." Kate tried to think about what to do.

"Do you cook, or do we go back out to find something?" Rick inquired as he went back to get his bag.

"Mom taught me but I eat out mostly. Since this is NYC, I get nearly everything delivered. Menus are in the kitchen drawer."

Kate left him to unpack and headed for her table.

Rick had a few things on the bed while everything else was still in his bag. When he came back out, he found her sitting in front of her laptop. "What are you up to?" He was curious.

"Checking my email." She wanted to see if Rosie had sent her anything yet. "What are you doing?" He was walking around with this small box when she saw him hold up a finger to his lips to keep her quiet.

Rick carried the small box around her entire apartment. He looked satisfied and finally sat down next to her. "You're clean for now. I got this from a friend. It scans for listening devices. I don't know about you, but the Navy didn't take my answers very well."

"Neither did my boss or 1PP. Not having the answers they demanded wasn't what they wanted. You honestly think they'd bug us?" Kate automatically included him in this.

"I wouldn't put it past them. I need to check your car if you have one and your desk tomorrow. What's for dinner?" Rick was hungry. He had spent most of it traveling and sitting and watching Kate write her report.

"Pizza. I got half Hawaiian for me, and half meat lovers for you."

"That should work. New York pizza. So what did my mother tell you? She probably lied, so you know." He didn't need Kate listening to his mother's stories.

"She didn't! Really?" Kate took exception to being lied to by his mother. "How did the Navy treat you?"

"I'll tell you right after you tell me if you're in contact with Rosie." He wanted to know if she was still safe and hidden.

"Every night. She sends me an email that I respond to and sets up these multiple VPNs to route it through so that no one can read it or trace it back to where she is. I was checking when you asked, but she hasn't sent anything yet.

"She's started looking for places for sale in Maine that we can buy and where we can hide the ship." Kate picked up the pile of papers and handed them to him. "I gave her a cost of 500k to 600k tops. I hope that's not too much." She didn't know how much money he had. She didn't think either of them was rich.

"That'll work. I'm not overly rich, and it will stretch me a bit, but I can make that work. Is there one you like more than the others?" He wanted to look at that one first.

"Yes, the one in Hartford, Maine. I know we were talking about a cabin with lots of land but this house is wonderful, Rick. It's a larger house, about 2,600 square feet, and it's set on 27 acres; the land is almost all woods. The house is set back on the property but has access to a two-lane paved road. There are lots of solar panels along with well water, and a rainwater catchment system. It's a little pricey, but I was thinking of helping. I'm not rich, but neither am I broke," Kate told him as they waited for the pizza delivery person.

"Let's see, 220 Bryant Drive in Hartford, Maine, wherever that is." He knew next to nothing about cities in Maine besides Portland. "Any neighbors?" Rick began looking at it and was immediately impressed by what Rosie had found and what Kate liked.

"Just two that are a few acres away through the woods. One's west of us and the other is to the south." Kate began clicking on the pictures. "The house is on a hill where the solar panels are located."

"Four big banks of panels no less. Love the interior. Look at all that wood! Exposed wood beams, wood floors." Rick noticed something he wasn't expecting. "Is that a gas stove in the kitchen?"

"It's a propane stove so a truck has to come out and fill a large tank. The house is heated with it but it's augmented with solar power and wood. We just need to go see the property and see if we can hide the ship there somewhere," she told him.

"I have an idea about that. Land the ship and buy camouflage netting. Then try and get it to go over the ship, and stake it down to hold it in place. Probably three very long sections. After that, attempt to sew them together so one can't just blow off.

"Do you own a car?" They needed a way to reach it.

She shook her head. "No, I use public transportation or taxis. Dad has a car, but I don't."

"Neither do I. I guess we need to fix that," Rick said. "I'm thinking about an old truck. Something an EMP can't take out and render useless."

Kate wasn't following him. "EMP?"

"Electromagnetic Pulse. It's meant to fry electronics. A very old truck doesn't have any computers to help someone drive it. Maybe not even power steering. Think a piece of junk truck."

Kate didn't see why but Rick was in charge, and she didn't have a problem with that. She was a little surprised. Though, she had acquiesced and let him lead when they were on that alien planet, so she was willing to let him decide.

"What are these other buildings?" Rick saw two more buildings.

"One's a garage, and the other is a barn," Kate told him just as there was a knock announcing the pizza delivery person with their dinner.

"The barn has a workroom. This is cool, Kate. I like it. We need to find a truck and drive out to see it when you have a day off. How far is it from here?" Did they have to spend the night somewhere to get there and back?

"Approximately seven hours each way. Around 360 miles, but it's mostly Interstate." Kate had looked it up.

"So we might need a hotel in Portland, for example. Either that or I drive out, and you drive back while we take turns sleeping along the way," Rick suggested.

"I don't always get two straight days off. One yes, but on the second I'm usually on call." Kate was thinking drive out and drive back. "How old of a truck?"

"We could get a Duce and a Half." Rick was testing her to see if she knew what one of those was.

"Isn't that a World War II supply truck? Tell me, Rick, where do you plan to park that monster?" He was Navy, so maybe he knew where to get one.

Kate saw him grinning at her, which told her he was yanking her chain, so she glared at him to see if that worked.

"Anything pre-1980s will work and still be fine for a daily driver. We don't have to go nuts like trying to find that Duce and a Half or maybe a Sand Rail or Dune Buggy," Rick told her.

"Please, not either of those." Kate knew what those last two were.

"I might be able to manage to work on something that old," Rick said, thinking something that old would be easier to fix. No computers to foul things up. Just simple motors.

"When Rosie contacts me, I can ask her to look for one in the area," Kate offered.