The delivery boy from the boutique knocks loudly but not so loudly that he wakes the entire floor. He pulls his cell phone from its holder to check the time. 11:43 pm. He wants to knock again but just before he does he thinks he hears footsteps coming towards the door so he waits.
Rick turns to his bedmate who is out cold when he hears the noise. He heard a loud knocking and then it hit him. Lauryn's package is here. He bolts from the bed carefully, not jostling it that much as not to wake Kate up. On the way to the front door, he throws on his robe to cover his nakedness.
The knocking starts again and Rick calls out in a low tone,
"I'm coming. Just a sec."
He pulls the door open and sees a young man with blond hair wearing a hoodie with the hood over his head.
"This is from Lauryn. She said that this is the best she could do on such short notice." The kid holds out a very large rectangular box for Rick to take. And after he does his hand goes flat expecting it to be greased.
Rick stares at the kid's hand knowing that he promised a hefty tip but the kid is acting as if he demands it. Rick takes the one hundred dollar bill from his hand and slaps it into the kid's hand.
"Have a good night!" the kid replies as he turns and heads for the elevator just shoving the bill into his pocket not caring about what has just happened.
He'll never be able to figure out today's youth. They always want something for nothing.
He closes the front door and takes his purchase back into the bedroom. He leaves the box on the dresser near Kate's side of the bed. He wants to be surprised at what Lauryn picked out and he did want to rummage through whatever she came up with but he doesn't. Instead, he'll be just as surprised as she will be when she opens it in the morning. He hopes.
The sun has not yet risen and an annoying sound coming from the nightstand on Kate's side wakes the both of them up. It isn't until after Kate reaches for her phone on the nightstand that he understands it's her cell phone making the annoying noise.
"Beckett." She answers in a sleep laden voice.
The next sound he hears is her saying "okay" and then she ends the call.
"Rick I know this is not what you had planned on because knowing you I believe that you wanted to have breakfast in bed or maybe in the kitchen." She said slyly.
"But that was the precinct and I have to go into work now. I'm going to head over to my apartment to pick out something to wear because I know you don't have anything here for me."
"On the contrary, Miss Beckett. I had a visit from someone I trust while you were in la-la land. She sent over something that I think will fit your needs."
Kate raises her eyebrows to almost her hairline. She never heard him get out of bed last night so either she was that out of it or he wore her out.
She watches as he gets out of bed and walks over to the dresser, nude of course, and she can't get that sight out of her mind. He picks up a large box and walks over to her side of the bed.
"This is from the manager at the boutique in the fashion district. She said that this was the best she could do on such short notice. I hope this is your style."
Rick holds out the box for her to take and she gets up out of the bed. He can't get the vision of her naked body out of his mind. She's better than Aphrodite; she is a goddess in her own right.
Kate takes the box and walks into the bathroom. Rick being curious as to what Lauren picked out follows her.
Kate pulls aside the tissue paper that's covering the clothes, stares at what's inside. What she takes out of the box is an Anne Klein women's three-piece work pantsuit.
The color is a deep shade of blue that almost looks black. Kate stands there staring at everything that is in the box. She can't believe that he did this for her. This outfit is worth more than her weekly take-home pay.
"So what do you think? " He asks hopefully.
She recovers the clothes with the tissue paper and says,
"Rick, this is too much. I mean I love it but this must have cost you a fortune."
"Kate, let's get one thing straight right here and right now. Money is no object to me if it makes the people I care about happy. I will spend it until I have no more left. If I can't do this for you or anyone else I care about what's the sense in being rich?"
Kate puts the lid back on the box, then turns, and pulls him in for a close hug. The fact that she's naked doesn't bother her but she can tell that Rick is loving every minute of her body being pressed against his. So much so that his manhood responds to the closeness that they are sharing. All bets are off and Rick is gently guiding her back to the bed for round four.
Xx
Crime organizations in the city rely on many things to operate in order to make cash. Some sell drugs, some rob banks, and some do it from the comfort of a very small office.
The amount of money that can be had is staggering if you know how to get it. Which is why he is doing this. The European conglomerate that started this in Germany, knew that what they beginning was to be something that would make a lot of cash for their cause.
At first, he knew nothing of how they were going to extract money from any city they wanted. But he was the next to be in charge and they weren't going to put him in the position he was in without giving him an extensive session in how to branch out into the United States. Sure he was handy with a gun but computers were not his thing.
Right before he was ordered to eliminate the boss who was in charge in New York, he was flown to Berlin Germany, and stayed there for a month. He was trained how to circumvent every level of security that any city, company, or personal server had in place. By the time he leaves Berlin he is very proficient in his ability to cripple any system he pleases.
The Germans in their infinite wisdom and the way they strive for perfection and precision with everything they make, have spared no expense here. There is a timetable that he must follow and he is fearful that if he doesn't follow it he will end up like his predecessor.
The first strike will be an attack on New York City itself. Of course, it's only meant to get the attention of a select few but it will cause chaos for those who do know what will happen. He is told by the Germans that every major hostage in their plan will bow to their requests. If they don't pay up there will be widespread attacks on just about every system they can get their hands on. And the city would not be able to do a damn thing about it. He just needs the go-ahead to implement his plan. He knows that within ten days of the initial strike the city will be begging him to give them back their precious information and systems.
He looks out at the den that serves as his minion's playground. It has all the amenities anybody could ever ask for in a workplace environment. There's the coffee machine that costs in excess of two thousand dollars (German of course) there is a chef on call who will prepare anything that you could request at a moment's notice, and there's also a storage facility that keeps everything they need if they are told that they cannot leave until their ransom is met. There is even a relaxation room complete with women and men on call to satisfy the needs of the men and women who work for him in any way they want. Where they sit is basically is a large table in a soundproof room that his associates can gather at when they disabled every system the city has to offer. When that's done all they do is sit back and wait for the cash to roll in.
Xx
By the time they finish round four, Rick was generous enough to wash her back in the shower saying that she needed to be really clean before she went to work. She just thinks it's an excuse for him to be with her in the shower but she doesn't mind him helping her one bit.
She sits at her desk and thinks back to the night she just spent with him. He had brought her to new heights when he made love to her. He was compassionate, sensitive, and very, very gentle with her. She now realizes that she loves him. What she feels with him is a deep all-in type of love that she doesn't think she will ever fall out of.
Xx
The crime scene that she had responded to earlier after she left him in the shower turned out to be what she hoped was an open and shut case. She's just waiting on some pertinent information on the husband to make sure that her theory is correct. She has seen it all too often. Most couples don't know how to deal with their feelings and keep it bottled up inside of them for so long that it just erupts. This case, as always, was over their financial status. The husband used their rent money to gamble with and when he tried to cover it up she just simply pulled out a gun and shot him. The wife placed the weapon on the living room end table, picked up the phone, and called 911 to report a murder. By the time Kate arrive there wasn't much to take care of because Esposito and Ryan had secured the scene and made the appropriate call to the corner. Now she sits at her desk typing up the report to turn into the district attorney for charges and thinking about last night with Rick.
Xx
Elsewhere in the city, he is giving last minute instructions to his minions on what will happen once they invoke chaos into the city's support system for …
A/N: Without the help of DKfan this chapter would have not been possible. So thanks!