Return To Maine Chapter 21
Tuesday morning came way too soon for Kate and Rick. After spending a glorious three day weekend in Maine and then coming back to her apartment to spend the very last few hours together before having to say goodbye again had been fantastic… until now.
It was 4:30 in the morning and they were standing just outside of the gate to American Airlines, waiting to hear his flight called. He had already checked his bag and obtained his boarding pass, now it was just playing the waiting game.
After checking his bag and getting his boarding pass, they strolled down the concourse until they found a 24 hour Starbucks a few yards down from Rick's gate.
He placed their coffee orders to the barista on duty and then they walked back to his gate wrapped in their own thoughts knowing that this would be their last coffee together for several days.
"It's only for a few more days." he stated glumly, trying to convince himself as much as reassure her.
"Right. You'll be back home before we know it." she agreed.
"Right. The time will pass quickly."
"Then why don't I want to let you go? Why does it seem an eternity?"
"I know. I don't want to go, either."
Surprisingly, air travel was light this time of morning, with most of all of the holiday travelers leaving yesterday. A handful of other travelers had arrived and taken seats by the time they got back to the gate, but they found a couple seats tucked into a corner with no one else around them and took them to wait until his boarding call announcement.
"We'll do something special when I get back." he promises.
"The only thing I want is you back safe and sound by my side."
"Good morning, passengers. This is the pre boarding announcement for flight 711 B to Dallas. We are now inviting passengers with small children and any passengers requiring special assistance to begin boarding at this time. Please have your boarding pass and identification ready. Regular boarding will begin in ten minutes time. Thank you." came the dreaded announcement from the young, pretty redhead from behind the counter.
"Maybe I should go now." Kate said.
"No. Not yet, please. Stay with me until I board. I want to be with you until the very last second."
"Okay." she nodded, her fingers squeezing his gently.
They watched as a young, very pregnant mother with a two year old toddler struggled to her feet and started down the jetway. They were the only two to board the plane early. Rick felt for the young mother as it is not easy to travel with a toddler and keep them occupied for any length of time, and although a 3 hour and 20 minute flight was not a long flight, it would definitely be a challenge. Perhaps, if they were seated near each other, he could help them somehow.
Several minutes later, the final boarding call was made and as the passengers began gathering their belongings, Kate and Rick stood facing each other.
"This is it." he said, pulling her into his arms.
"Call me when you land?" she queried, her lips brushing his ear.
"Yes, of course." he responded, brushing a soft kiss to the crown of her head,
"And I don't care how late it is, just call me every night." she muffled into his ear.
His arms tightened until she was flush against his body and she arched closer into him. "I will." he promised. "I have to go now."
"I know." she replied, reluctant to let him go, but after a passionate goodbye kiss was finally able to pull away from him. "I love you."
"I love you, too." And with that, he headed to the jetway, the last person to board.
She watched as he disappeared down the jetway then moved to the huge windows and waved at the plane until the jetway was pulled away from the plane and the plane pulled away and taxied into position and it could not be seen any longer.
With a heavy sigh, she swallowed past the lump in her throat, brushed away the tears away from her cheeks and turned to leave the terminal.
It was still early when she arrived at the precinct, but the boys would be in soon and shortly after that Captain Gates would arrive.
Seeing that nothing was on the murder board and assuming the boys had cleared any cases they might have had during her absence and between their noses trying to poke into her and Rick's private lives she went into the break room and started the coffee and once that was brewed, she sat down to munch on a cronut she had bought on her way in.
She was still in the break room nursing her second latte when the boys came waltzing in about 7:30.
"Hey Beckett. How was your extended weekend?" Ryan asked, drawing himself a cappuccino.
Really? So they were going to play so nonchalant. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep her tone even and controlled. She narrowed her eyes and glared at him before replying through gritted teeth, "Fine, Ryan. How was yours? DO anything interesting? I hope you boys stayed out of trouble."
Ryan visibly shrunk before her, "Trouble? Errr, no, no trouble. Wh… Why would you ask that?"
Oh, they were so guilty. Both of them. They may think they can play all innocent with her, but there was a reason she was on the higher pay grid than they were and it wasn't her seniority or rank either. At least, not entirely. She knew both of their tells regardless of them thinking they were so smooth they could pass anything by her. As if!
But now would not be the best time to call them out on it. That would wait until Rick came back and together they could implement a plan to bring them both down.
She shrugged. "No reason. Why? Did the two of you do something I should know about?
"No! Of course not! We just hung out at Ryan's and played some Madden. How could there be trouble in that, Beckett?" Espo chimed in trying to cover Ryan's obvious nervousness before he caved and gave the whole thing away.
While she was inclined to go easier on Ryan, knowing that Espo was the instigator in the whole bro ship thing they had between them and she normally respected that, not this time. He had known what they were doing was wrong and yet he had still had gone along with Javi. Nope. No sympathy from her.
Hmm. Maybe if she got some time alone today, she'd call Jenny for a friendly chat. They were long overdue one and she could wrangle the information she needed from Jenny without her being the wiser. Lanie, on the other hand would require much more finese. She would have to be very crafty dealing with Lanie as Lanie knew her so well and could usually see straight through her lies and excuses, knowing all of her tells, but maybe a chat with her was in order, too. But she dreaded dealing with her best friend. She would have to be on her toes for that chat, knowing how intuitive and relentless Lanie was.
"So what happened while I was away?" she asked, calmly as they followed her out of the break room back into the bullpen.
"What makes you think anything happened, Beckett?" a frustrated and anxious Ryan asked.
She turned to him as they approached her desk and smiled sweetly at him. "Calm down, Ryan. I get that the little brotherhood thing you two share is strictly private and personal and I totally respect that. The same way I want my personal life kept. Strictly private and personal. The thing I was asking about was the cases you two worked. That's all."
Ryan visibly winced. "Oh. Sorry, Beckett. Didn't mean to be so suspicious."
Sure, you didn't, Ryan. But she said nothing.
While the boys were finishing their paperwork from the weekend, what little they had done, she went to Records and brought out a box of unsolveds from 1997. There was nothing for them to do until / unless a body dropped so they may as well have a look through them.
At 8:30, Captain Gates came in and after a curt nod to the three of them and a muttered good morning, entered her office, closing the door behind her.
Glancing at her dad's watch, she noted the time and realized that Rick should be landing at any moment and he had promised to call when he landed and she wanted privacy when he called, so she picked up the box of files to take into the Conference Room since it wasn't in use at the moment.
With the box grasped in both hands, she spun on her heel to head for the Conference Room and ran right into Esposito, knocking the box from her hands and scattering files across the floor.
"Really, Espo? Really?" she huffed in exasperation.
"Sorry. I'll help you pick these up. So, where's the fire, Beckett?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, as she bent over to retrieve an errant file that had skittered halfway under her desk.
When she raised back up, Espo was gaping at her chest.
"Uhhh. Nice piece of jewelry, Beckett. Where'd you get it?"
Glancing down, she discovered that the twined white gold and diamond heart necklace that Rick had bought for her in Bar Harbor over the weekend had come out from the collar of her shirt.
Oh, hell! She had not taken it off since he had clasped it around her neck for their dinner at the Reading Room restaurant Saturday night and his words of how the way it looked and how he would think of the image of it hanging there would be the image that would get him through this separation until he got back floated through her memories and if she was totally honest, not only was it a beautiful piece of jewelry, it brought her a measure of comfort, too.
She shuddered involuntarily at the memory of his fingers as he toyed with her bra strap, pressing kisses down the side of her neck and chest as he whispered those words against her skin and the deliciously, sinful and naughty thing they did on the bathroom counter before dinner, as well as the time they spent together making love at her apartment kast night and the wee hours of this morning.
"You okay?" Espo asked, pulling her back from her thoughts.
"What?" she stammered.
"I asked if you're okay."
"Oh. I'm fine. Why did you ask?"
He shook his head. "You just seemed kinda far away and you shivered like you caught a chill or somethin'."
"Thanks for asking, but I'm fine, Espo."
"So where did you get it?" he asked, nodding to the necklace.
"Get what?"
"That necklace you're wearing. I've never noticed it before."
Oh, hell. Her mind scrambled for an answer and she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "My dad got it for me on his last trip to Pennsylvania."
"Your dad, huh? That's what you're going with?" He asked, grinning knowingly at her.
Gulping past the lump in her throat, she replied, "Yes! My dad! Do you have a problem with that, Espo?"
"Me? No. Just seems like something you'd give a girlfriend, not your daughter." he replied, cheekily, still wearing that shit eating grin of his.
Son of a... She loved her boys. She and Rick both loved them, and while she appreciated that they loved her like a sister and were so protective of her, it could also be very frustrating at times. Times like now. Initially, it had been her wish to keep their relationship on the down low, but now, they may have to reconsider that decision for their family and friends, but not just yet. It was surprising that they had managed it for this long. It was however, something she would discuss with Rick later on. It was only a matter of time before they slipped up and was caught, anyway. What then? Would their friends feel so betrayed that they would have any friends left?
She shoved the necklace back under the collar of her shirt and retorted, "As soon as you two clowns are finished, meet me in the Conference Room!"
She hurriedly grabbed the remaining files, snatched one out of Espo's grubby paws and retreated into the Conference Room, closing the door behind her.
No sooner had she closed the door than her phone rang. Checking the screen and seeing that it was from him, she answered somewhat breathlessly after her hasty retreat, "Hey lover. I guess you've landed safely."
"Yeah, I did. Are you okay? You sound like you're out of breath and the only time I like hearing that is when I have made you that way and am the cause of it." he teased.
She glanced out the glass window of the Conference Room door and saw Ryan and Espo's heads together, Ryan nodding at whatever Espo was telling him about and she's bet $10.00 that it had something to do about her necklace. She watched as Ryan removed his wallet from his pants pocket and handed what looked like a $20.00 bill and hand it to L.T. who had just joined them. Why, the little shits! And L.T. too? Why did they even care? "You make me breathless all the time. I wish you were here making me that way, too instead of the real reason I sound this way now. I miss you."
"I miss you, too. So, what are the boys up to?"
She told him of her run in with Espo and the flimsy answer she gave him.
"Do you think he bought it?" Rick asked.
Checking the window again she saw that the boys still had their heads together, her gaze narrowed and she replied, "No way in hell. Not with Espo acting all cocky and Ryan acting guilty as hell."
"Because they are?"
"Exactly. And I just saw Ryan fork over twenty bucks to L.T." she answered.
"They're betting on us and now they have involved L.T. Don't worry, honey. We'll get back at them."
Seeing Ryan coming her way, she replied, "Yeah, if I don't kill them first. I gotta go. Ryan is coming this way. Facetime me tonight?"
"Of course. And Kate? I love you."
"I love you, too."
"Yo, Beckett. We got a fresh one." Ryan announced, rapping on the glass.
"Okay. I'm coming." she replied, mashing the end call button on her phone.
A/N: I so wanted to get this posted for Christmas, but couldn't squeeze in the time to work on it. I want to thank you all so much for your last reviews and some of you left me with the best of ideas and I am trying to figure out how and where to use them.
I'd also like to thank P2P for his offer to help with the crimes, an offer I think I am going to take him up on.
Anyway, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanakah or however you celebrate, if you celebrate. Wishing you all a Bright, joyous New Year! Happy 2019!