California Dreaming

Chapter 1

"Lily's bouncing in front of the door. Are you ready to go?" Rick calls to Kate.

"Just making a final check in with the 12th."

"Kate, you're off the clock," Rick reminds her. "The boys don't even have a new case. The precinct will survive without you, but I'm not sure our floor will survive any more anticipation from our daughter."

After rapidly confirming her lack of new texts, Kate shoves her phone in the pocket of her slacks. "I'm ready. Did you call Eduardo?"

"He's already on the way up with his faithful cart. And he informed me that our car to Teterboro is downstairs waiting."

Jim Curry, the pilot, nods to Rick and his family at the bottom of the wheeled stairs at the plane. "Mr. Castle, we have some weather between here and L.A. I'll be trying to go around it. But at some point, you may have to strap in tight. When we stowed your luggage, I noticed you have your own child seat, but we also have one onboard specially designed for use on the plane. I know kids get the wiggles. I have three of my own. So as long as we're not expecting turbulence, your little girl can move around a little. I'll let you know if we're approaching a potential rough patch."

Kate flashes a smile. "We appreciate that."

"Go potty," Lily announces.

Curry chuckles. "We have a lavatory on board, but as you can imagine, it's compact." He points toward a nearby building. "There are restrooms in there with full amenities. You might want to take advantage of them before we take off. My co-pilot, Stan Winger, and I will be ready to go anytime you are."

"Might as well all go potty," Rick considers. "I think it was Prince Charles who advised going whenever you can because you don't know when you'll get another chance."

Curry smiles as Lily pulls at Kate's hand. "Words to live by."

Lily looks out the airplane window in fascination at the retreat of buildings and cars as the craft rises. "Toys!"

"They're not toys," Kate explains. "They're real. They're just very far away."

Lily pushes out her lower lip. "Toys," she repeats.

"I think she wants some of the ones we brought," Rick interprets. "Park and Play Garage?" he inquires.

"Play cars," Lily agrees.

"All our stuff should be aft. I'll get the toy bag," Rick volunteers. "But we'd better go with one plaything at a time. Otherwise, by the time we land, this place will look like an annex of Lily's old corral. And if we get any turbulence, I'd hate to get hit in the head by a flying zebra or rhinoceros."

"Rinosrus," Lily echoes. "Zoo."

Rick rolls his eyes. "I should have kept my mouth shut."

Stan Winger walks the few feet back to the cabin to inform his passengers that there are bagels and cream cheese in the cooler. "No zoo! Bagel!" Lily proclaims.

Rick draws a relieved breath. "Saved by a healthy toddler appetite."

"At least for now," Kate agrees.

Sitting anywhere but the front table at roll call still feels strange to John Nolan, but he's with Lucy Chen and Jackson West. That's familiar enough."

"West, Chen, and Nolan," Sergeant Grey calls out, "today, Phineas Philpot is receiving his star on the Walk of Fame. Personally, I've never heard of him, but my daughter informed me that he's almost as big on T.V. as BTS – whoever that is – is in music. So it will be a big deal which means extra crowd control, and you three are elected. It will be your job to keep desperate, uh, Phineans, I believe they're called, from getting out of hand."

"What did we do to get punished this time?" Nolan whispers to Lucy.

"I heard that," Grey announces. "Even with the cooling down of hostilities, La Fiera's gang is still running rampant through the city. I can't spare more experienced officers for this duty. As our new P-2s, you three are still at the bottom of the food chain. But that aside, Nolan, Chen, your evaluations particularly cite your people skills."

"Tim, uh, Officer Bradford, said that about me?" Lucy wonders.

"I imagine he had a weak moment," Grey retorts. "You can ask him when he returns from vacation."

"Ready to take in the Walk of Fame?" Rick inquires of Kate.

"If the population there is anything like what it looked like in "Pretty Woman," is that a place we should take Lily?" Kate wonders. "There are some things I'm not ready to explain to her yet."

"Kate, it's broad daylight," Rick protests. "And I don't think the purveyors of pleasure will be interested in our little family grouping. They've got to make a living."

Kate shakes her head. "Not to mention making enough money to keep their…." Kate gazes across the room to where Lily is making pronouncements to her ever-present stuffed mandrill, Gamoee, before continuing her thought. "Um, men who send them out to work, from, um, physically expressing their anger."

"Sadly, that too," Rick agrees. "Still, I believe if we keep to the tourist path, we'll be fine. Anyway, the original Captain Kirk just got his star. No true Trekkie could visit L.A. without paying homage. I just can't figure out why the guy who played the captain in that Whedon thing never got one."

Kate sighs. "I don't know why Gabriel Winters never got one for playing Captain Max, either."

Rick suppresses a guffaw. "I guess we can consider both of those in Hollywood's 'To be done,' pile. Now, sunscreen at hand? We've got that shaded stroller and cool pack for Lily, but we should still get moving before it gets too hot."

"Right," Kate agrees, holding up a tube of SPF 50. "But if you're doing Star Trek, I'm doing Temptation Lane. I want to see Lance Hastings' star."

"Agreed."

"The Phineans seem pretty well behaved," Lucy observes.

"That's because it's too hot to expend the energy to cause a disturbance," Nolan offers. "I don't know how we survived for months in long-sleeved uniforms as rookies. And anyway, Philpot hasn't arrived yet."

"But when he does, that's going to be the perfect time for ripoffs," Jackson points out. "While the fans' attention is diverted, it won't be hard to lift wallets and snatch purses."

"An encouraging thought," John remarks. "It will be bad enough keeping the adoring public from getting too close to the superstar without having to chase down a thief." A roar goes up from the crowd. "Well, we'll see. Better take our positions. Philpot and his entourage are coming now."

"Do you hear that?" Rick asks Kate. He points east. "It's coming from that way. I wonder what's going on."

A chant of "Phineas, Phineas!" reaches his ears. "Oh, God! Are they giving Philpot a star? He couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. And have you heard him sing? Felicia sounded better when Lily accidentally stepped on her tail."

"He's no Gabriel Winters," Kate teases. "But it sounds like what's going on is at least three blocks away. And that's where most of the tourists will be, which will make it faster for us to see what we want to see and get ourselves out of the sun."

Rick points at a figure running toward them. "Apparently, someone else wants no part of Philpot."

"It looks like he's holding a woman's purse," Kate realizes. "Uh-huh! A cop is trying to chase him down."

"Do my eyes deceive me," Rick wonders, "or does that cop look a lot like me?"