Playing Hard to Get
Chapter 25
"What's his name?" Kate questioned him.
"He's called Rathborne," Johnny told them nervously. "You want to find him, you'll need to ask Dick Coonan."
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Rick walked up and wrapped his arms around her from behind. They were alone in the Observation Room, so no one was watching them. "You okay?"
"Ten years since we came home and found that detective waiting for us. Ten long years. Every time I cross that yellow tape, I think of her. Ten years… What if I let her down, Rick?" What if she failed?
"Do you know why I chose you for my inspiration for Nikki Heat?" Rick asked her.
"No. Why?" They hadn't ever talked about that.
"Because you're tall. Now go in there, talk to Coonan and do your job," Rick told her, and he let go of her so she could do just that.
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"One hundred grand. It's just money, Kate. We're talking about your mother's killer here. I would pay five times that amount to get him," Rick said to her, and Kate smiled at him. He was being so kind and helpful. So why was she really waiting?
Then it hit her. Kate stared at him, "A hundred grand to catch her killer. HER killer, Castle."
Rick was catching up with what she was thinking. "You never told him anything about it being your mother and why you wanted Rathborne. So how did he know?"
Kate and Rick confronted Coonan, who was signing papers with an officer. "There was no Rathborne. That was just a cover. It was all you."
Coonan gave her credit. "Clever girl," and in a flash, the cop was on the floor with a broken windpipe. A heartbeat later, Coonan had Castle with his arm bent behind his back. He had the cop's weapon with the safety already off shoved into the writer's back. At that point, Kate had only just reached for her gun.
"Here's what's going to happen. We're going to take a nice leisurely stroll over to the elevator," Coonan told them both.
"That will never happen," Kate told him, and she still had only just reached her own weapon.
"Yes, it will. Or I will put a round in this man's liver, and little by little, he will die in considerable pain. Now, move. Slowly," Coonan ordered both of them.
"You knew you were killing my mother," Kate whispered.
"It was nothing personal," Coonan said flatly. "It was just another job."
Her eyes blazing, Kate asked, "Who hired you to kill her?"
Coonan gave a little laugh. "Forget it. You'll never touch him. He has far more power than your entire precinct has. You're so far in over your head."
Roy showed up with a weapon. "Sir, don't! I need him alive." Roy nodded and slowly lowered his gun.
All this time, Rick was tilting his head down. He suddenly jerked it back hard and hit Dick right in the nose.
Coonan staggered backward from the blow, but he recovered fast and began to raise his weapon to shoot someone. At that moment, Lilly came running and jumped at him, clamping her teeth into his arm, which had him screaming from the sudden pain. Lilly had every intention to rip his arm clean off. No one hurt her people, and Rick and Kate were the leaders of her pack!
"LILLY!" Kate had been terrified for Rick, and now she was scared shitless for Lilly. Except calling her name got her to let go of his arm. Her pack leader was calling her off, so she did just that.
But that allowed Coonan to raise his weapon again, and suddenly a shot rang out. Coonan stood there in shock. Someone actually shot him! HIM!
He was dead by the time he hit the floor. Kate quickly put her weapon away and was instantly down on the floor, doing CPR to revive him. He knew who had ordered her mother's death. She needed that bastard alive so he could talk. He had to tell her who. He had to!
It took Rick to pull her off him. Even with bloody hands, she ended up in Rick's arms, crying hard enough that her body shook, and sobbing openly. She had won and lost all at the same time. How was that even possible?
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"Montgomery's post-incident evaluation," Kate explained when Rick showed up at her desk. She had changed clothes, gotten cleaned up, and had Lilly sitting next to her, watching every move her human made.
"He makes it sound like you came off as Steven Seagal," Kate told him.
Rick raised an eyebrow at that. "Should I be flattered or insulted?"
Kate smiled wide. "Both."
Rick emptied his bag onto her desk. "I didn't know what you felt like, so I got Sushi, Italian, a little Thai, and some hot sauce."
"I shouldn't be shadowing you. If it wasn't for me..." Rick felt responsible somehow. It was all his fault, even if he didn't know what he'd done.
"If it wasn't for you, Castle, I would never have found my mother's killer. And someday soon, I'll find the sons of bitches that hired him to kill her. I need you, Rick, and I want you around when I do. I don't want to lose you." Kate was trying her best to drop some of her walls and let him in.
"I'm not going anywhere then," Rick told her. "Did you catch what Lilly did?" Rick took the focus off himself since he was uncomfortable about it.
Kate beamed and reached out to pet her rather large puppy. "She was amazing! She stepped in to try and save my life. He might have killed her. He might have killed you. I would never survive that, Rick. I'm in too deep." Kate kept petting her and then leaned down to kiss her head. Her puppy had risked her life to save hers and maybe even Rick's.
"Now she has something to tell Dahlia. Dogs do talk to each other, right?" Rick tried to make her laugh, and he succeeded. Kate kissed her puppy a few more times.
"I do know one thing, though," Rick mentioned and watched Kate sit back up and look at him. "We're buying the biggest and best piece of meat we can find on the way home. Lilly deserves something special for what she did. She loves you, Kate."
That had Kate smiling even broader, and she bent down to kiss her head again. "T-bone? Dogs love bones." It would keep her busy for hours.
"We're definitely going to need two," Rick said. "Dahlia's going to be jealous." Finally, he really had Kate laughing.
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Roy had ordered Kate to take the next two days off. He didn't want to see her back in the Precinct for two days straight, or he would have her thrown out if she did. So while Rick went home with Lilly, she went home and packed a bag. She had every intention to spend the whole two days with Castle and his family. Plus, it would make Lilly happy. She would get to play with her sister.
Kate found herself with Martha on one side and Alexis on the other and had to explain what had happened while Rick was cooking two of the biggest T-bone steaks he could find, with money not being an object.
Rick kept taking peeks at Kate while she talked and was comforted that his daughter and mother kept hugging her. He also definitely had the attention of both dogs. He was cooking beef on the grill that was part of his range top, so the smell was going everywhere.
"You two want steaks?" Rick crooned, and Dahlia licked her chops, but Lilly barked at him. "I thought so. ALEXIS! When these two finish these, they'll need to go outside." He was betting something this rich would go through them like crap through a goose.
"I KNOW, DAD!" Alexis yelled. She wasn't stupid. She just hoped one or both didn't spend the night throwing up all over the place.
Their dinner wasn't nearly as rich, and they finished eating while the dogs were still working on the bones. Rick wasn't sure, but he thought they were racing to see who could finish first. Still, they looked happy.
"You think Lilly has explained what she did to Dahlia yet?" Rick asked Kate while they were eating, and that had Kate laughing hard again.
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Not really doing much of anything, Rick and Kate sat side by side on the sofa. Their day had been exciting enough already. They didn't need to talk about it.
Then the door opened, and Lilly and Dahlia ran in, followed by Alexis. "Don't ask, just don't ask." Alexis had cleaned up some of the biggest and runniest poops that she had ever seen. "And I'm lighting a candle in my room tonight," Alexis added and made a beeline for the stairs.
"Oh, yeah. These two will probably have to go back outside in a few hours. I don't recommend feeding them T-bones again no matter whose life they saved." And with that, Alexis hurried up to her room.
"THANK YOU, ALEXIS!" Kate yelled and watched her enter her bedroom. "No more T-bones for you, huh?" Kate petted Lilly since she had her head right in her lap. "You were such a good puppy. Except I can't say puppy much longer, can I?" She was a dog, not a puppy, or would be really soon.
Rick corrected her. "She'll always be your puppy, just like Alexis will be my little girl."
"You did really well with her, Castle. Alexis is amazing." Kate turned her head and kissed his cheek. That was followed by leaning into him while still petting her savior. Kate could feel her heart reaching out to wrap itself around Lilly. As she sat there, she could feel all those walls she had built up to protect her heart crumbling fast.
"I'd like to take all the credit, but Alexis did most of the work herself. Have you never asked her why she doesn't even drink wine? I couldn't even get her to drink Champagne at my book launch party for Storm Fall," Rick told her.
"The day you entered my life. All because someone started killing people based on your books." Kate pressed her nose into him so she could breathe his scent.
"And you arrested me!" Rick hadn't forgotten about that yet.
Kate sat up and looked at him. "You stole something off of my desk. You were being a jackass! Remember, it took Montgomery to get me to drop the charges."
"I was still right," Rick maintained.
"You're lucky you're not being right from prison, Castle," Kate countered, "and being someone's girlfriend."
He suddenly had a vision of himself bent over somewhere, like in the showers, and some big burly guy behind was him with a hard-on. "Seriously, Kate!? That was not a picture I needed."
"Come on. I'll make it up to you." Kate got up and pulled him up with her.
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Kate had already had two orgasms, and while Castle was still inside her body, she was lying on him, trying to catch her breath. She counted herself lucky that they had remembered to put on a condom. He actually had some. Now she was on his chest, trying to bury her face into his neck. She felt like hiding.
"Are you crying? Did I hurt you?" He couldn't believe that he had done anything that had hurt her. They'd had sex before and done about everything he could think of, except for anal sex since he wasn't sure either of them was ready for that yet, if ever.
"No," Kate managed to tell him. However, that didn't help Rick much. No, she wasn't crying when she clearly was, or no he hadn't hurt her, or no to something he hadn't asked.
He was still inside her, but she could feel him getting softer. She needed to tell him, and she needed to find the strength to do it. This case had shown her something. It proved to her that Castle was special.
Kate sat up and looked down at him. The fact that while still soft, he actually went a little deeper inside her wasn't the point. Kate wiped away some of her tears.
To Rick, she looked so beautiful even through the tears that she supposedly wasn't crying to create them. Rick reached up and used a thumb to wipe away the tears on the other side of her face.
"I need you to ask me, Rick. Ask me." She had an answer if she could manage to get the word out. That one word was almost as hard as the other three words she needed to tell him.
"Ask you?" Rick was in the dark. He had no idea what she was talking about. "Do I get a clue here?" He needed something more from her.
Kate opened her mouth but couldn't make the words come out. Why did she have to be such a goddamn coward? So Kate tried to give him a clue without saying anything at all. She raised her left hand so they could both see the ring she was still wearing and had no intention of ever taking off. So what if she ripped a few latex gloves along the way? It was a small price to pay.
Rick concentrated on the ring on her finger. She was still wearing the ring he had given her. Then his eyes opened wide, and Kate could see his mouth drop open in shock. He wasn't the only one in shock here. She was still working up all of her courage.
Rick suddenly sat up, forcing her to sit on his legs. He slipped out of her, not that either of them cared. "Ask you? You mean like ask you to marry me?" Rick was sure his heart had stopped beating. All he could do was watch her face and gaze at her beauty. Yes, part of that beauty had to do with her most recent orgasm, but she didn't need that to look beautiful to him.
Instead of saying anything, she nodded and kept crying, letting the tears fall down her cheeks.
Rick cupped her face with both hands and looked at her. "Marry me, Kate. Make me the happiest man on the planet. I swear I will do everything I can to make you happy."
Kate nodded and opened her mouth, but all that came out was a squeak. Kate growled to clear her throat. "Yes." Kate's tears just kept flowing. She had never felt like this in her life. She had thought she loved any number of things or even people.
Coffee, her dad, her mom. Lilly, even Alexis and Martha, and Lanie, of course. But she had never felt like this about anyone but Castle.
"I... Love... You." One word at a time, admittedly, but she had said them. Maybe after saying them once, she would be able to easily tell him again. At least, she hoped so. Suddenly she was being kissed, and this kiss was one of those kisses. A soul-searching, sensual kiss that seemed to affect every portion of her body, let alone her soul.
Rick still had his hands on her face, caressing her as he kissed her. When he finally broke from the kiss, he looked at her, and she was still crying. He hated seeing her cry, so his thumbs wiped away her tears. "I love you, Kate. I fell in love with you days, weeks ago. Maybe during our vacation even. Do you truly want to get married? To me?" Rick watched as she nodded her head. Rick wiped away more tears. "Can you at least stop crying for me? I hate seeing you cry." He wiped away still more.
Kate shook her head. She really didn't think she could do that. "You want to tell me that you love me again?" Rick asked her and watched her smile through her tears. Though she didn't say anything, she didn't shake her head either.
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Rick woke up finally and realized Kate was gone. Reaching across the sheets told him she'd been gone for long enough for the sheets to cool. He missed her immediately. But instead of looking for her, he headed for the bathroom, used the toilet, and hopped into the shower.
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Kate had found some fruit to munch on, bread was in the toaster, and the coffee maker was brewing the coffee she needed...badly. The butter and jam were on the counter. She hadn't found a bagel, so toast it was.
Alexis opened the refrigerator and nearly had Kate jumping out of her skin. She lived alone except for Lilly, who was around here somewhere. "Hi, Kate. Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." She had seen Kate almost literally jump to hit the ceiling.
"I guess I'm not used to living with anyone. I'll adjust." She had little choice since she remembered what she had done and said last night.
"Good. You need to…adjust?" Alexis closed the refrigerator door slowly and looked at Kate.
Kate started smiling. She still couldn't say it and hated herself for it. However, she lifted her left hand and gave her a clue. "This means something now."
"Your ring means… DAD PROPOSED!?" Alexis yelled, and Kate suddenly found herself enveloped by a very happy Alexis.
Alexis finally let go of her. "Dad proposed, and you said yes?" Alexis watched Kate nod her head, and Alexis hugged her yet again.
Alexis let go of her. "I'll finally have a real stepmother." She didn't count Gina as being anything other than her dad's editor. "I'll help plan the wedding. I swear." Alexis squealed again, and Kate ended up getting hugged even more.
Her toast was ready, but Kate didn't care since she was in the midst of hugging a happy, extremely enthusiastic Alexis. It felt good that someone in this family was happy, besides herself and Castle.
Alexis let go of her again. "So when's the wedding?" The sooner they were married, the happier Alexis would be.
"I have no idea or even where really," Kate admitted. Getting married might be up to a year or even more away. There was still so much to plan and do.
"I'll help, I promise, Kate! Lilly, they're getting married." Alexis reached out to pet her. "Who else knows?" She needed to know who she could and couldn't tell yet.
"Just you, so far," Kate told her. "We only did this last night."
Alexis' jaw dropped. "I'm first? I'm never first for anything!" Kate found herself being hugged yet again and started giggling. Alexis sounded happy, so maybe Martha and her dad would be too. She had little doubt that Lanie would be thrilled.
Then something else came to mind, something that worried her profoundly. What was Captain Montgomery going to say about this? Dating was one thing. Being engaged and eventually married was another. It was a valid fear in her mind. She didn't want to lose Castle from work. She needed him there.
Rick was clean, fresh-shaven, and dressed for the day. Kate had today and tomorrow off, which meant so did he. "Hugs?" He found Alexis and Kate kind of wrapped around each other.
"DAD!" Alexis left Kate and Rick huffed out a breath since Alexis slammed into him, and she was hugging him for all she was worth. Now he liked hugs, especially the ones his daughter gave him, but what was this hug for? So he was looking at Kate for an explanation.
Kate just held up her left hand and wiggled her fingers at him. She saw him mouth the word, "Ohhhh." Now he understood.
"Kate told you." Rick knew she had since Kate had just told him, and he watched Alexis grin at him and Kate.
"I'm the first to know, Dad." Alexis was still over the moon. "So when's the wedding and where? I promised Kate that I would help. This Christmas is going to be EPIC!" Alexis yelled that last word.
"Where's Grams? I have to tell someone before I explode!" Alexis let go of her dad and began looking for her grandmother but didn't see her, so she ran for the stairs to knock on her door.
"You screw this up, Dad, and I'll kill you," Alexis called over her shoulder and headed for Martha's door.
"Why does she think I'll screw this up?" Rick didn't understand and looked at Kate.
"She knows you, Castle. Like father like daughter." Kate took out her toast finally and tried to spread butter on it but her toast was cold.
"So where does Kate Beckett want to get married? What is your ultimate destination?" He would take her anywhere. Even the moon if he could arrange it.
"There is one place, but I don't know where it is." Kate hadn't seen the picture since she was a teenager, so it might not even exist anymore.
Rick stepped up next to her and stole a piece of the cantaloupe that she had taken out and ate it. "Get your own, Castle." Kate moved her bowl so he couldn't sneak another one.
"It was this big place. Not a church, I don't think, unlike Jenny's wedding. It had lots of chandeliers and glass chairs. Of course, the chairs weren't really glass, but they looked like it. It had a wall of windows that showed a night sky, and flowers were hanging everywhere. I have no idea where it was. Anything will do, really." Kate was betting it didn't exist any longer anyway.
"Anything will do? Au contraire, Kate, not just any place will do. If it exists, I'll find it or something close to it. Just leave it to me. Now, we have two days off, so what do we do with it?" Rick asked her. "Besides Christmas shopping."
Kate broke it to him. "I don't celebrate Christmas, Rick. I haven't since Mom died."
"Not celebrate Christmas? That will not do. You, Katherine Beckett, will be celebrating Christmas this year. Wait till you see what we do around the Castle Castle," Rick said and smiled at her, excitement gleaming in his eyes.
Kate was sure she had just gotten herself into trouble and wondered just how much.