Playing Hard to Get
Chapter 4
Kate had spent the last two days just taking Lilly back and forth between home and work. She was learning fast that when Lilly ate something, she almost instantly needed to poop or would soon. The same basically applied to her needing to pee. But, her hitting the puppy pee pads was sorta more hit-and-miss that first day in each location. Kate had finally worked out that this was where Lilly wanted to do her business if Kate wasn't fast enough, so the pee pads got moved, and that seemed to be working.
"Hi, Lilly." Kate noticed that she got a lot of attention. Even Captain Montgomery was taking a detour to reach his office so he could pet Lilly. Lilly was clearly a big hit.
At the moment, Kate had Lilly on her desk and was busy nuzzling her nose into Lilly's who decided that she could gnaw on Kate's nose. That or lick it, whichever she felt like doing. Still, Kate was smiling and enjoying it.
Then she saw something that was supposed to be impossible. The Desk Sergeant had his orders, yet Castle was walking past her and giving her a grin as he walked toward Roy's office. Kate's smile changed to a scowl. Thankfully, he didn't stop at her desk. He knocked on his door and went inside.
Kate didn't care why he was there. He wasn't bothering her, so she returned to paying attention to Lilly. "Who's a good puppy? You're a good puppy." Kate was still playing with Lilly when someone suddenly sat down in her chair next to her desk.
Turning her head, she saw him. There he was, sitting there smiling at her. "What do you want, Castle?" She might as well get this over with, tell him the answer was still no, and get rid of him.
"How do you like your puppy?" She had at least kept the puppy. She hadn't kept the roses or the basketball tickets, so maybe the puppy was working.
"Lilly's fine. Captain Montgomery has made her the official Precinct mascot. She gets lots of attention. Why are you here?" If it was to talk to her Captain, he had done that and could leave now.
"I want to know what it will take to change your mind," Rick told her. So far, all of his tries had failed. Gifts, Mayor, or even Roy had all failed.
"Nothing is going to change my mind, Castle. I'm not going to allow you to follow me around. It isn't going to happen," Kate told him for what seemed like the umpteenth time.
"Please, Beckett. I made it to six chapters, but I'm stuck. I need inspiration from you to help me finish." Rick tried again. "She's going to be great. A smart, savvy, and powerful detective, just like you. Extraordinary."
"You really don't get it, do you?" Kate asked him. "You're a child who doesn't understand that his word matters to others, not just himself. But your word means nothing to you, so it means nothing to everyone else.
"I asked you to stay in the car, and you agreed. Less than five seconds later, you've broken your word. You're totally untrustworthy. You'll keep it only if it benefits you in some way. If you ignore it long enough, it'll just go away like something a child would do.
"You're going to get someone shot eventually. You, me, Espo, Ryan, someone else, or all of us just because you can't be trusted. So the answer is always going to be no."
"Please," Rick pleaded. "I promise to listen."
"And you just proved me right. You promise to listen, and then instantly you ignore what you were told. Listening and doing are two completely different things for you.
"Thanks for the puppy, Castle. Lilly's amazing, but the answer is still no." Kate spotted an officer passing by and called him over. "Officer! Mr. Castle is leaving. Please be so kind as to escort him to the front door. If he resists, arrest him for resisting arrest and place him in holding," Kate told the officer. "Maybe 24 hours in holding will change his tune."
"Beckett!?" She needed to agree to this. He had millions on the line. His future as a writer was on the line!
The officer motioned for him to come peacefully. "You need to leave now, Sir."
"Go home, Castle, and stay there this time. Lilly will be fine without you. Officer." It was time to force him to leave.
Kate watched him leave with the officer who had his hand wrapped around his upper arm. Kate was almost sorry that he didn't put up more of a fight. Knowing he was sitting in lock-up had a certain appeal.
Espo came back with Ryan since they had been out collecting some information on the case they had. "Was that Castle?"
"He was just leaving. You just missed him. But he left Lilly behind. Didn't he, Lilly!" Kate rubbed her nose against hers. "That better not be you wanting to pee on my desk." Kate thought she knew that look, so down on the puppy pee pad Lilly went. Sure enough, Lilly squatted and peed. "I thought so." That pad got picked up and put in the trash, and a new one got put down to replace it.
"What did you find?" Kate returned to work and was willing to let Lilly go where she wanted. Everyone on this floor knew she was here and totally approachable.
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Alexis was walking Dahlia when she saw her dad getting out of a taxi and watched him almost charge into the lobby of their building. "Uh-oh." Only one thing could make him act like that these days. "Beckett."
Alexis had never really liked Gina, and she wasn't sorry the witch was gone. But it didn't look like her dad even wanted to date Beckett. He just wanted to follow her around, and he was starting to get a bit testy the longer it took her to say yes.
She went up to the loft and found her dad in his study. He didn't look happy at all. "Can you watch Dahlia for about an hour, Dad? I have something I need to do." It was a weekend, so she didn't have school. Since she didn't have school, the deal was that she watched her all weekend long.
Rick hadn't been listening to her. "What?"
"Watch Dahlia for about an hour. I'll be out for an hour." Alexis didn't wait for him to say yes or no and she turned and left him there. Dahlia could take care of herself for an hour, hopefully. She had been outside and so didn't need to do her business.
Alexis went to her room, got her purse and cell phone, made sure she had the money for the taxi and took the stairs down to wave down a taxi. She was used to that even if she was just 15 years old. She felt she was old enough for it, so wasn't worried.
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Kate looked around and saw Lilly sleeping peacefully in her doggy bed, so she kept staring at her whiteboard, willing it to talk to her. Hearing her desk phone ring had her abandoning her board to answer it. "Beckett." Kate listened. "Who again?" At first, she didn't understand, but the last name was Castle.
"Describe her, please." Kate listened to him give a complete description. "Send her up." She had only met her once or maybe twice but only really talked to her one time.
She remembered her being young, fair-skinned and having very long orange hair. So she sat at her desk and waited for her.
Kate watched her exit the elevator, looking around until she caught sight of her and walked right over. Then Alexis sat in the chair next to her desk. "Detective Becket."
"What can I help you with, Alexis?" She could guess, but if Castle sent her, she would think even less of him, if that was possible.
Alexis got right to the point. "I need to have you reconsider and let Dad follow you around."
Kate got right to the point as well. "Did your father send you?"
Alexis blinked, surprised that she believed she'd would let her dad do that. "Oh, no! If Dad knew I was here, he would be so angry. I only told him that I needed to go somewhere. Please, you need to reconsider."
"The answer is still no, Alexis. I'm sorry, but I'm doing all of us a favor. You don't know what it feels like to lose a parent. Trust me when I tell you I know what it feels like."
"You lost a parent?" She didn't know that.
"My mother. I was just 19 years old at the time. She had become my best friend by then, and suddenly she was gone. You don't want to know what it feels like. The bottomless pain that that creates. It eats at your very soul. It changes who you are overnight."
"I see, but you don't know it will happen," Alexis countered.
"No, I don't. When Castle followed me around for that one case, I ordered him to stay in the car where it was safe. He promised. That promise lasted all of about five seconds, if that.
"He was arrested for stealing documents off my desk. But that didn't stop him from sticking his nose into that case, which was in violation of the deal that was reached to keep him out of jail. I'm sure you remember that day," Kate challenged her.
Alexis deflated. "I do." A father that was part child had been good and bad. That looked like the bad part was winning.
"I can't trust him, Alexis. I just can't. Out there, criminals are real. They use real weapons with real bullets. And they don't want to be caught and pay for what they've done. Police officers die daily all across the country or the very least, are injured by a suspect.
"I don't want your father hurt any more than I want me or my team to get hurt. I trust my team. I don't trust Castle." Then Kate showed her the problem she had with letting Castle follow her around. "What if I pay too much attention to Castle while trying to protect him, and someone gets hurt or even worse, killed? If I wasn't paying attention to Castle, I might have been able to prevent it, but my attention was split."
"I see." Unfortunately, she did see, and Kate had a point.
"I'm sorry, Alexis, but for everyone's safety, the answer is no."
Alexis changed the topic. She needed time to think of something. "How is Lilly working out?"
Kate smiled and turned to look at the sleeping puppy. "Lilly has become the Precinct mascot. Everyone on this floor adores her. Occasionally people find a reason to come up just to see her and pet her. She's one very pampered puppy."
"Dad got us a puppy too. Her name is Dahlia. I think he meant her for you, but I latched onto her and talked him into keeping her, so he went back to the same breeder to get another puppy. It's my job to watch after her all weekend and when I don't have a class.
"She's so sweet, and how can you resist those eyes?" Alexis knew she was in love, and she liked it.
"You don't." Kate looked at Lilly again. Kate had managed to keep all men out of her wounded heart, especially after Will left her. Yet she had willingly let Lilly in. Yes, she loved her already. She knew Lilly wasn't going to suddenly take a job in Boston, and leave her behind. Lilly was dedicated to her, and Kate to Lilly.
Alexis had thought of something, but she didn't know what Kate would think of it. "Can I offer an alternative to letting my dad follow you around?"
"I'm listening." Kate would listen to her idea before shooting it down because she didn't trust Castle any farther than she could throw him.
"What if you restricted Dad to this building? He couldn't ever leave it except to go home. He wouldn't leave here to help you track down a killer or suspect, as you call it. He wouldn't get into trouble, and you wouldn't have to worry about him getting in the way and distracting you." Alexis offered her option. "In fact, he couldn't even leave this floor."
Kate thought that over. It actually might even work. She and her team and Castle stayed safe, and at least Castle got a piece of what he wanted. However, suddenly Kate was aware of a problem and shook her head. She could see Alexis sink in defeat.
Kate shot down her idea. "Part of what we do is find an address for our possible killer. We then leave here to go pick him up. Castle is going to hear that address. What keeps him from racing down the stairs while we take the elevator down? We take cruisers while Castle takes a taxi.
"He gave his word not to do this, but he would because he can't stop himself. If he pays the taxi driver enough, he could very well beat us there."
"I see." Sadly Alexis could see her point.
"I know you're trying, Alexis, and for you, I would like to help. He's your father, and you love him, and maybe you trust him, but sadly I don't."
Just then, Kate heard Lilly. "Uh-oh, someone's awake. That means the first thing she'll want to do is..."
Alexis finished that sentence for her. "Pee and poop. Been there, done that. A lot, actually." Alexis smiled and watched Kate smile back at her.
Kate carried Lilly downstairs after attaching her leash, and now both of them were outside the Precinct, walking Lilly around while she decided where she would pee and poop this time.
"Darn it! I didn't bring any treats." She was supposed to reinforce Lilly doing her business outside.
Alexis rooted around in her pocket and then handed one over to her. "Here, take this. I carry a piece in every coat I own and even in my purse."
"Thank you." Kate was beginning to wish Castle was a lot more like Alexis. Alexis sounded and looked like she was trustworthy. The opposite of her father.
A new idea popped into Alexis' head. "Detective, I have a thought. Do you know about those house arrest bracelets worn around an ankle?"
"SCRAM house arrest device. What about it?" Castle wasn't under arrest, at least not yet.
"If I understand it correctly, it can be programmed and used to keep someone within a boundary. Like a house and is supposedly tamper-proof. What if Dad was wearing one that kept him confined..."
Kate finished her thought for her. "To the Precinct." Kate thought Alexis might have something. "Maybe it could be programmed for the Precinct. But I'd need to verify it first before I can say yes." Then Kate pointed out a flaw in her idea. "But when he leaves to go home, the device would go off."
"Maybe you can turn it off and then turn it on again when he returns to the Precinct. That or you unlock it, remove it and then put it back on when he's here. He steps too far outside the Precinct, and the device goes off and never stops until he's back inside the boundary," Alexis suggested.
"Can I put it around his neck?" Kate teased her and listened to Alexis snort out a laugh.
"I need a little time for some research and to ask my tech people what the limitations are, but Castle would never go for it. Locked up inside the Precinct and not be able to leave?" Kate didn't believe that would ever work.
"You leave getting Dad to agree to me."
"I'll do my end if you can get Castle to agree." Kate was on board with her idea. It solved her primary problem and got Roy, the mayor, and the commissioner off her back.
Alexis took out her cell phone, unlocked it, and handed it to Kate. "I need your contact information. I get him to agree, and I'll call you." Alexis watched Kate add her contact information and hand it back to her.
"Do you really think you can get him to agree to this?" Kate asked her.
"You don't understand. Dad's a writer, it's who he is. If he's not writing, he's not happy, and you don't want to be around him when he's like he is now. He's blocked and can't get out of it. Dad is… he's not happy.
"He killed Derek Storm because he said he knew exactly what Storm would do next. He had reached the end of what he could do with him, what he could write for him. Dad thinks his new character will surpass Derek Storm. For him to do that, he needs you. It won't be you, but he needs you for inspiration so he can write. I swear it won't be you, but he needs you to create her.
"He'll do it. I'm not planning to give him a choice. I'm my father's daughter. I don't take no for an answer well, either. Just find that device and get ready to use it. Dad will be here. Besides, you have Lilly. He can keep her occupied while you and the others are out of the office. Dad's a big softy if you know how, and trust me, I know how." Alexis smiled at her.
Kate headed upstairs with Lilly in hand after shaking Alexis' hand and watching her leave. They had a deal. She needed to talk to a tech, and Alexis needed to get her dad to agree.