Hunting Grounds

Chapter 41

The movers were late, but thankfully her dad was on time. "Not to worry, Katie. If you two have to leave, I'll take over and make sure everything is loaded on the truck."

"Thanks, Dad." Kate hugged him. They all watched the three men pick up box, after box, after box, and load it all into a double-parked moving van. They didn't need one of those fifty-three-foot moving vans. It was all going into storage here in New York City. So they would have to plan ahead for them to load the truck and drive it south to them.

By the time they reached her bedroom set, Kate and Rick had to get going. They still had to get to the airport, go through security, and wait for their plane. And probably pay extra for their luggage since Kate had two suitcases while Rick was still using his large duffle bag. Plus Kate's carry-on and purse.

"We have to go, Dad. You have the keys?" Kate made sure and watched him dangle them for her to see.

"Take good care of yourself, Katie. I know it's a new city and a new job, but it's still the same job." He worried and would continue to do so until something changed.

"I'll be fine." Kate hugged him tight and closed her eyes for a moment. She was going to miss him terribly. "Love you, Dad."

"I love you too, sweetheart. Safe journey." Jim sighed and then turned to Rick. "Son." He shook Rick's hand. "Take good care of my little girl."

"I haven't let anything happen to her yet, and I don't plan to start now." Rick hugged him and slapped his back.

Their bags in the trunk, Jim watched them drive off to a new life in a different city that was far away. He knew he would be down there eventually. Yes, he was going to miss her. "She's finally starting to live her life, Jo," Jim told the invisible person that he somehow knew was standing right beside him. He would never really know, but he believed. It made him feel better. He hadn't told Kate that this was what had gotten him clean. He had accepted that the love of his life was dead but not gone.

[_] /\ [_]

Like her previous flight to New Orleans, they were sitting on the wing, just not in an exit aisle for more leg room. Her carry-on bag was in the overhead, and her purse was under the seat next to her. She felt Rick take her hand into his. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand. "We need a rental car first and then we need to get our apartment. We can go shopping for a car tomorrow. Are you sure we did the right thing?" Kate couldn't think of a better idea, so she had let Rick do it.

"Rosie will be fine. She's all locked up in the back of the truck, which is on a car carrier. It will show up in about a week. We couldn't risk bringing her as carry-on. Who knows what they would find when they x-rayed her. And you used up all the suitcase space with clothes and shoes. We couldn't pack her up and ship her UPS. God only knows what those guys would do to that box. She'll be fine." He picked up her hand and kissed it.

"I know, I just worry." Rosie had saved them, they couldn't lose her now. "I wonder if Royal is there yet." She didn't know when the US Customs was going to ship him. She was hoping not till the day she started work, but he might get there before her.

"We're going to need a doggie door and we'll have to teach him how to use it," Rick mentioned.

"There was a door leading out to the covered back patio area. We could put it in that. We're going to need a lot of doggie stuff," Kate said.

"It all goes in our car or my truck. He's going to be the most pampered pooch on the planet." Rick was sure of that if Kate had her way.

"Captain Campbell agreed to try it at least." If it didn't work at the precinct, Royal would become a pet at home instead of drug-sniffing dog.

[_] /\ [_]

They were hoping they only needed a rental car for one entire day, so they got a standard size with four doors and left immediately using their brand new GPS unit, driving off to get their apartment.

DH Holmes Apartments

Unit 321 was 558 Square feet and cost them $1,715 a month, furnished. It turned out to be a lot smaller than they thought. The unit was long and narrow. Even Kate's old bedroom was larger than the bedroom in the apartment. The bathroom was even smaller. The kitchen was a bit bigger, and the dining room table took up half the space. It had one little love seat and no chairs, but it at least had a TV.

The kitchen had everything, but only four each of the glasses, the coffee cups, place settings, and silverware. Every time they ate, they were going to have to use the dishwasher.

"Our cupboards are bare, babe." Kate had searched the cabinets while Rick had opened the refrigerator and freezer.

"Nothing in here but ice cubes." Rick closed it. "We can get prepared dinners or TV dinners at a grocery store. We need everything."

"Yeah." Kate looked around. "Not a lot of space for Royal, either. I know I selected this for the garage, but maybe I made a mistake. This place is tiny."

"So we'll take him for lots of walks. He's going into work with you anyway. Hey, when do you want to use the burner phone?" They had one but hadn't used it to call the number Lance had given them.

"Tomorrow, after we find a car for me. I need to think about what I want to ask him. He was a friend, but I need to understand just what he was thinking." She still felt betrayed by him.

"Let's go shopping. We need some wine. Anything harder will be a different trip." Rick was ready to get moving.

GPS showed they had a choice: Winn-Dixie or Rouses Market. Winn-Dixie won out.

They found something in the Deli for dinner instead of TV dinners. Up and down each aisle they went, grabbing things. They needed everything! So in went toilet paper, paper towels, select spices, bread, bagels, lots and lots of coffee, and many other things.

Their cart was looking almost full. The paper towels and toilet paper were under the cart to make space for everything else.

Kate experienced first hand why she had selected this place. On the way home, it had begun to rain buckets so they got to unload their groceries out of the car in the garage and up the stairs.

"Coffee!" Kate looked for it, took out a filter, and turned on the cheap coffee machine that came with this place. It came with two tiny bags of ground coffee, but Kate had never heard of it and didn't want to use it. She stood there and breathed in the intoxicating vapors while the coffee brewed.

Kate was sitting on their little loveseat next to Rick sipping her coffee while Rick was drinking one of his Heineken beers. "Two weeks." She started work two weeks from today.

"We made it." Rick raised his beer to salute their achievement.

"We did. This is the last time I ever want to say her name. What the hell did Gates think she was doing?" She had left, and Kevin was going to be gone soon. Javi was going to transfer. She knew Anne Hastings was going to transfer, and she knew of others that had put in for transfers. Kate didn't know how the NYPD was going to handle all of them. There were only so many precincts.

"The only thing I could think of sounds kind of weak, but I'm coming up with is control freak. You told me once that you beat her to detective by six weeks. Maybe she hated you for it and wanted to see you fail." It was all Rick had.

"She did say that, but I didn't care then and don't care now. That's not why I became a detective as fast as I could. Though my new boss did mention it in my interview. I still don't see it as that important." Kate thought what she did was more important.

"My bars and my medal show people that I have accomplished something. If you had the same, maybe you would feel different," Rick suggested.

"I saw your medal, but what are all those bars on your chest?" Kate was ready to learn.

"Well, let's see." Rick needed to think since he didn't have them in front of him. "National Defense Service, Navy Unit Commendation, Combat Action Ribbon, Bronze Star, Distinguished Service. Others are mostly location. Like Iraq during that war and others. Without looking, that's all I can think of."

"The Bronze Star." Kate leaned her head against him. She was proud of him and happy to be married to him. "I heard Lance say you should be ready to be deployed." She had heard that even though what he said was meant for only Rick to hear. She knew it was possible and might happen but was Lance warning him that it would happen soon?

"It is going to happen, Kate. I warned you about that."

"I know, and I'll survive. I'll just worry. What you do is more dangerous than what I do." That was the difference between their jobs.

"I need to start using the exercise equipment in the clubhouse. I've kind of let myself go while working with you. If I'm going to be deployed, I don't need to find out that I've lost something and gotten soft." Something like that could get him or a team member killed.

"I can join you till I start work. I can get to see just what you can do." Kate grinned as she thought of it. "Maybe without a shirt?" Watching him lift weights without a shirt sounded exciting.

Rick chuckled. "I think that can be arranged. I'll even wear some shorts." He heard Kate say, "Oooo!"

"More muscles are good." Kate slipped a hand down his thigh and moved it around and felt him flex his leg muscle. She did like that he was in good shape.

[_] /\ [_]

The bathroom had two sinks so they could be in there at the same time. Unfortunately, the combination tub shower didn't allow them to shower together.

"Let's go see if they still have my convertible." Kate did have her heart set on that car, she just didn't tell Rick that.

"Coffee?" Rick knew she needed coffee first.

"Starbucks." Kate wanted to get going. They could stop for coffee later.

Car City Autoplex was who had that car, and they still had it. So Rick waited inside while Kate went for a test drive with the salesman. It was a 2009 Infiniti G37 Convertible, white outside with white seats and black dash. Four-speed automatic. It even came with a navigation system, so their GPS might end up in his truck.

Kate left with the top up but came back with the top down, and Rick thought he saw a slight grin on her face. They were buying the car.

[_] /\ [_]

Rick saw her waiting for him at the curb of the airport. He had to go into the airport to return their rental car, and after he got in, found out that this was Kate's third pass.

"Sorry about that. They had customers. Here's our GPS." He showed it to her so she knew he hadn't left it in the car. "What's first for today?" She was driving so it was her choice.

"Home and then drive to work. I want to see what the traffic's like. Then back home so you can call the real estate agent about the house, while I call Roy." Kate pulled out into traffic for the ride home according to the car's GPS. It was different than theirs, but it worked fine.

Kate got to see what it was like to go from the apartment to her new work location. It wasn't rush hour, but it didn't look all that difficult. It took her about fifteen minutes, so she was betting it would be a little longer during her morning commute. She planned to get into work early like always. It would make Captain Campbell happy, and she would avoid the traffic.

[_] /\ [_]

Rick had talked to the real estate agent while sitting on the loveseat. At the same time, Kate had called Roy from their bedroom.

Rick watched her walk over and plop down next to him. Her body language told him she wasn't happy. So he put an arm around her and pulled her close to him. "And?" Was she ready to talk?

Kate was beyond pissed. "The FBI told him not to tell me who, so I still don't know."

"He must be still making his deal with them. And?"

"He said he had been doing his best to protect me from him. He's still trying to convince me that the man behind it is a very dangerous person, and that he still has hired killers that would kill me. So long as I don't investigate him, I'm safe. I have to wait for the FBI to get him."

"You already knew all that. What about his family?" Rick inquired.

"Evelyn is pissed as hell at him, but she still loves him. The girls don't really understand what's going on. They're being homeschooled instead of going to a school, and no, he couldn't tell me where he was. I didn't even get a clue. Like if it's cold there or hot?

"He said he was sorry. He was just doing what he thought was right," Kate told him. "He has no idea what his deal with the FBI will be or what will happen. They're still questioning him based on what they learn."

"So we keep waiting." Rick rubbed her shoulders.

"I don't do well with waiting."

"NO! Really?" Rick teased her and that earned him a punch, but she was chuckling softly and didn't mean it.

"So now what?" Kate rattled off a bunch of things. "We made it to New Orleans. We have a place to live. Your truck won't arrive for a few days. We have my car. I know where I'm working. We have food."

"You need to call your dad and Lanie while I call Mother."

"LANIE!" Kate groaned. "She's going to kill me! I should have called her yesterday." Kate turned her head so she could bury her face against his body.

"You're a homicide detective. Go and face the music. She lives too far away to kill you."

"You don't know what Lanie is capable of. She's almost as dangerous as Gage." Kate chuckled again since she was exaggerating.

"Good thing I know a little about medical things. We just need a first aid kit," Rick joked with her.

Kate raised an eyebrow. "How about hearing aids?" And now Rick was outright laughing.

[_] /\ [_]

Rick had finished talking with his mother, and she was still happy for them both. Now he was watching as Kate walked back to him and plopped down next to him.

"Emergency room?" Rick questioned and listened to her chuckle.

"Dad is still happy, and Lanie was a little put-out but still happy. I had to remind them when my new job starts. Lanie knew Kevin was still there and that Jenny was in her planning phase. They're looking at houses instead of apartments. Javi has put in his transfer request, and he said I haven't been replaced yet, so they're down a man." Kate shrugged. "That's pretty much everything."

"So nothing has changed. It will, I can feel it. Something is going on there. The 54th and 101st don't have the same problems." Rick just wasn't sure what was going to happen.

[_] /\ [_]

Just as they were getting used to being with each other twenty-four hours a day and learning how to get to Winn-Dixie and Petco, Kate got up one morning and got dressed to go into work. It wasn't too early for Rick, but felt a little more normal for her.

Rick wasn't in bed when she got out of the bathroom and got dressed. She found him in the kitchen holding a to-go mug full of coffee and a baggie that held a bagel with cream cheese on it.

Kate slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly. "Thanks, babe. Are you going to be okay?" He was going to be alone all day while she was at work. She had planned to talk to the captain about trying to get him to let Rick help them. That he had done it in New York City and since he wasn't hired by them, they didn't have to pay him, or give him any benefits. An unpaid consultant, as it were.

"I'll be fine. Four hours in the exercise room should keep me busy for a while. And after that I want to go for a run," Rick told her. "I'll start with four or five miles since I've been slacking off. Maybe in a week or two, I'll be up to eight to ten miles or so."

"Just don't talk to any strange good-looking women." Kate didn't want to have to fight them off him. He was hers, and she was keeping it that way.

Rick showed her the ring she had bought him; he actually liked it. It wasn't a simple gold band, bland and boring. She had clearly thought about his ring enough to get him something more unique. "Not going to happen, Kate. Now go to work and say hello to Royal. Just don't forget to bring him home with you. The two of us can do a lot of walking and playing and bonding if you don't take him into work with you each and every day."

"Royal! I had forgotten about him." Suddenly she had something else to look forward to. "No promises, babe." She had planned to take him into work with her every day. But she might be talked out of it with a little sex. "But I'll let you try and talk me out of it once in a while." Kate smiled at him.

"You mean like tying you to the bed since this bed does have legs?" Rick smiled back.

Kate felt her heart rate increase dramatically. They still needed to talk about that. So far, it was all teasing, but could it be more?

"Go, I'll be here when you both get home. We have dog food, doggie door, leashes, flea stuff, and even two doggie beds, water and food bowls, and lots of toys," Rick reminded her.

Kate smiled wide. She already had a water and food bowl along with one of the doggie beds in her car just for Royal. Even one of the leashes and poop bags.

"Bye, babe." Kate kissed him and headed for her new work. She needed to get used to the new people.

[_] /\ [_]

Kate was only allowed to go up to the 4th floor after the desk sergeant called up. She didn't have her badge yet, so she couldn't just go up there.

Kate went to his office. "ROYAL!" He was in Captain Seth Campbell's office. Kate got down on her knees, petted him, hugged him, and let him kiss her. "Have you been a good boy? Of course you have." Kate hadn't felt this happy for a few weeks. Being here definitely felt better.

Then she heard the captain clear his throat, and she immediately got to her feet. "Katherine Rodgers reporting, sir." Kate stood up straight and flexed her fingers at Royal.

"I noticed the name change. It's not Beckett any longer, it's Rodgers." Campbell had a slight smile on his face.

"Yes, sir. I got married just before coming here. It helped convince the Navy to station my husband at the Naval Air Base just outside of town. Being married meant he could live off base," Kate explained.

"Congratulations," Campbell said. "Here's your badge. I know you showed me your shooting range target signed by your range commander, which was impressive, by the way. But our range commander wants to see you first. So you have a lot of paperwork to fill out. You'll need to take some of it home with you to read over. After that, head for the basement and check in with the range commander. He passes you, and you can have your weapon.

"I know you've already been introduced to your team members, but let's do that again now." Campbell got up to take her to her team members.

"How has Royal been?" Kate was naturally curious.

"I'll admit I was a bit skeptical, but I'm finding that having a mascot around here has improved morale greatly. So when you take him home tonight, don't forget to bring him back!" Campbell grinned at her. "He already has a water bowl, doggie bed, and poop bags. The team has been taking turns taking him outside. Compliments of the station," Campbell explained. "Just be ready for your team to complain that they don't get to take him home instead of you." He chuckled a little. Royal had made himself right at home around here.

"Thank you, sir, I'll do that." It sounded like she got to take her water bowl, doggie bed, and poop bags back home. That was okay, they could put it in storage above the car for now.