Once Lost Now Found

Chapter 1 - A Night To Forget

Kate Beckett was preparing for a night out on the town. She wanted to forget tonight about all the troubles and tensions of her life that had happened in the last year. A year ago on this date, she had lost her mother thru murder. Kate had been home from Stanford for Christmas break. Her dad had made a dinner appointment for them at their favorite restaurant and were to meet her mother there.

Her mother never showed, so when they got back home, there was a Patrol Car parked outside their townhouse, that's when they found out about her murder. They had to identify the body so they could get it released for burial. A quickly put together funeral was done when they retrieved the body, it was the saddest event Kate had ever attended. A week or so after the funeral, Kate returned to Stanford to finish out her sophomore year. She then transferred to NYU to be near her father, who had taken her mother's murder quite hard. He had lapsed into alcoholism because of it.

So just shy of 2l yrs old, Kate found herself head of household. Her father had lost his job due to his drinking so there was no income to maintain the home her dad had inherited from her paternal grandparents. Her mother's death had left her a small trust fund good enough to pay her tuition at NYU and provide for some spending money. But there were household expenses and bills to be paid. So Kate did part time waitressing working the odd shifts to allow her to continue her college courses and bring in some income for the house. Although her father had lost his lawyer job at the firm, the firm paid for his alcohol rehab program, hoping once sober he would return to his job. Still she could not keep up with the expenses if it were not for the insurance money they received for her mother's death.

That had been how her past year had happened and tonight she wanted to party and forget about this last year and all her troubles. Her BFF, Maddy Queller, had convinced her to go clubbing tonight. Maddy had said maybe she would find someone tonight who could make her forget and feel better, if only for the evening. They went to their favorite club and were immediately hit upon by all the single men buying them drinks and trying to score that evening. Maddy had left her alone having found a date, and told Kate to make it back on her own to Maddy's apartment. Only one thing wrong with that, if Maddy brought her new found date to her apartment, Kate did not want to barge in on them if they were 'doing' it. This meant she had to go home to her family townhouse where her father would be and she did not know what condition he would be in. He had fallen off the wagon twice and kept restarting his rehab program. This last week her dad had been particularly melancholy and she dreaded the thought of coming home to find him passed out on the couch in a drunken stupor once again.

Then tonight there is this one obnoxious guy who kept hitting on her and buying her drinks. She had tried to reject him and sent him packing but he was being aggressive and she was getting frustrated. She worried that if she left the bar, he would follow her out. Finally, a tall and handsome man who had her heard her trying to fend off her would be suitor/stalker, spoke up for her.

"I think the lady wants you to leave her alone", he says to the man.

"Listen buddy, she and I are having a private talk, so butt out before you regret it."

"Really", he answers to Kate's would be pursuer, unbuttoning his sport coat revealing a Law Enforcement Badge on his belt, "look man, I am on my own time here if you catch my drift."

The man has seen the badge, so backs off, "Well yes, I was just saying good bye to the lady and trying to give her my number should she want to hook up in the future."

"Why don't you finish your drink and then be off."

The man chugs what's left of his drink and leaves, but places his business card next to Kate's drink.

"Thank you for that, I did not know what to do, the guy was very aggressive", she tells the man who came to her assistance while ripping up the business card left to her.

Her knight in shining armor nods in acknowledgement.

"Are you really a cop?"

"No, I just wear the badge to places like this as it can defuse a situation like the one you found yourself in."

"Really, how did you know it would work?"

"I've only done it twice before and it worked."

"So you have rescued two other women before you came to my aid, is this a pick-up scheme?"

"You give me too much credit for being so devious, but, no, the other times were to break up a fight before it began. Drinking men can tend to get rowdy from the alcohol, so telling the guys to take it outside while showing the badge has worked for me."

"Well then I won't tell anyone that you are impersonating an officer."

"I never told the guy I was police, he just assumed I was."

"I am sure flashing a badge might qualify as impersonating, but then, thank you again."

"You can thank me by sharing a drink."

Kate was sure the man was hitting on her. For all she knew, the guy who was being aggressive with her might have been his wingman, setting up the rescue of this man now in front of her to become her knight in shining armor. Still, he was handsome and very cordial. So Kate nods yes.

"What are you drinking?"

"I'm shooting tequila."

"Name's Rick, by the way."

"Kate."

"So what brings you here Kate? What are you celebrating? I saw you come in with a girlfriend, where is she now?"

"She found a date and took off. Told me to get back on my own."

"Kind of puts a damper on the celebration."

"It is not so much a celebration as an attempt to forget."

"May I ask what you are trying to forget."

"My mother was murdered a year ago today."

Rick sees the pain and sorrow in Kate's eyes when she spoke of the murder and it hits him in the heart, "I'm sorry, please, forget that I asked."

"So what are you celebrating", says Kate trying to get off the subject of her mom's murder.

"You were honest with me, so I'll be honest with you. My divorce became final today."

"Oh, now I am the one who is sorry for asking."

"Don't be, she cheated on me."

There is an awkward silence. They both finish the round in front of them. Rick then orders another round.

"Look at the two of us. Two lost souls trying to forget their sorrows", Rick commiserates.

The bar tender puts a new round in front of them. Rick grabs his and raises it for a toast.

"To a night of forgetting regrets."

Kate raises her drink and they toast.

"Kate, what say we leave this place. There's a nice 24 hour burger place down the street called Remy's that has the best burgers, fries, and milkshakes in all of NYC."

"That sounds so good."

"Grab your purse then so we can take off."

They leave the bar heading for Remy's.

At Remy's

Rick orders the combo with coffee as his drink and Kate orders it with a strawberry shake. As they wait for their meal, they talk some more.

"So Rick, any children from the divorce."

"No, none."

"Well that is one less concern, is it not?"

"I guess, but she cheated on me! She is an actress and cheated on me with her producer for a part, that is how little she thought of the marriage. Then she justified it by saying that's how it's done in the Entertainment Industry. That I should know this as my mother is a Broadway actress and had me out of wedlock. I told her that was different as my biological father was not in the industry and mom did not do it for a part. It was a romantic encounter that lasted one night, but my mother did not forget it. She tried to find him for many years after that, but had so little to go on."

Now it is Kate's turn to feel saddened by Rick's story. She sees how much his ex's betrayal has hurt him, has damaged him. She enters his space and gives him a kiss trying to make him feel better. Rick returns the kiss with much passion, and before they know it, they are making out madly in their booth. They stop when the waitress comes in with their receipt, which Rick quickly looks at then pull out a $50 bill and places it on the tray. He grabs Kate's hand and leads her out of Remy's. They take a cab ride to Rick's apartment loft where they make passionate love.

She wakes that morning and Rick is still asleep. She needs to leave before he wakes. She quickly looks for her clothes and sees the path of discarded items from living room to bedroom. She quickly grabs her clothes and dresses. Looking for her purse, she sees she left it on the dining room table. As she retrieves it, she notices a book, it is a Derrick Storm novel by Rick Castle. Rick Castle, could it be? He was her mother's favorite crime author and she had left Kate a collection of Castle novels. She was never interested in reading those books when her mother was alive, and had not read any of the books she inherited from her mother since her death. She turns to the back cover of the book, and there it is, a picture of Rick Castle, the man she had just slept with!

When Rick awakes, Kate is gone. It had been one sensual night of love making. It had not just been sex, they had connected. Rick knew what had happened with Kate went way beyond the physical. He was drawn to her spirit, her soul, as it were. He felt a need in her, one he want to fill and make her suffering and hurt vanish. He is disappointed Kate had not stayed until he awoke. Maybe she had not felt the connection like he had. Rick had planned to cook her breakfast that morning after. A breakfast that said 'thank you so much for last night'. But now she is gone and he may never see her again, although he wanted to.

Just then, he hears his door being opened.

'Is it Kate?', he thinks.

Before he can get to the door, his mother enters. She had been doing an off Broadway play and was to have returned later this evening. She is early.

Martha Rodger's enters her son's loft. He had invited her to stay with him when her last boyfriend had spent her savings and left her destitute. That was months ago, and Martha sensed that a part of the invitation to stay at his loft was because her son did not want to be alone after his divorce from Meredith, his ex. Martha sees the trail of Rick's clothings from the living room to her son's bedroom and knows instantly what has happened.

"Is your lady friend gone?"

"Yes, she did not even stay to see me wake up. I did not even get a good bye", and then he tells his mother about that night. He tells his mother about the connection he had felt with Kate.

"Mother, I never believed you when you talked about that one and only night you had with my father. You said it was a life time of loving in one brief moment. I think I experienced that last night."

"What are you going to do about it Richard? Will you try and find her?"

"I want to, but what if I am wrong? What if she did not feel that connection? I know so little about her. How can I find her?"

"Richard, you know more about her in one night than most men know after years of being with a woman. You have means. You are a wealthy author. Use it to find her. Now a days there are computers and the internet. or you can hire a PI. I never had that capability when I looked for your father. All I could do was use the phone, contact friends who could help me find information, or talk to agencies that might help me in my quest. All I knew about him was he had a job that took him around the world. A job connected to the government. His name was Jackson. That is all I knew, and my resources back then were very few. I never had what you have today. Richard, you need to do this or all you will have are those wonderful memories of this one night. That's all I had of your father, the memory of our one night together. It still haunts me even after all these years. You owe it to yourself and her to make the attempt."

"You're right mother, even if I never find her, I need to make an attempt. It will give me hope and maybe I will get lucky in my quest. Either way I needed to find closure."