Once Lost But Now Found

Chapter 15 – Testing the Waters

The Date

True to her word, Kristina Coterra, had camera rolling when Rick Castle came to her door for their Saturday Evening date. This really was going to be her Monday Morning Special, but Rick now knew to expect the unexpected. As dates go, it was a pretty good date. They dined at an upscale but intimate Italian restaurant that people normally waited weeks for a confirmed reservation. Coterra knew the owner so was able to get a reservation quicker than the usual wait time. Then after dinner they went for dancing and drinks at Studio where Coterra was all over him on the slow dances.

At the club Studio, Castle provides her with expensive champagne, at their table, on his treat. Cottera could not help but be impressed that he was treating her in high fashion. But then again Castle had always treated his dates in such a manner. They finished the bottle and then left the Club. They ended the date at her door after leaving Studio where they had done some dancing and took in the club crowd. At her door, Rick gave he a good nite kiss which she returned with lots of tongue. Then as suspected she sprung another bold seduction attempt on him. She took his hand and was pulling him forward in the direction of her yet to be unlocked door. He stopped short, refusing to budge.

"Kristina, it was a good date, let's leave it at that."

"Well, you can not fault a girl for trying!", she had replied and then they parted ways.

The following Sunday at breakfast, Rick told Kate about the date, but left out the part of Coterra trying to seduce him. He did not want to give Kate any more concerns about Coterra. He should have told Kate in the spirit of full disclosure but had not done so, thinking it best not to. Rick was to leave on his tour that Monday. He had an early morning flight, with a stopover in Chicago, then on to L. A. He would spend this day finishing his packing and tying up loose ends. So he had told Kate that he would be busy but wanted her not to think he was neglecting her.

She heard his words and wanted to do that talk with Rick. To begin openly to show him clearly how she truly felt about him. To ask him to modify their agreement of no carnal contact during their so called trial period. She wanted physically to be with him if the moment was right, and this part of their agreement prevented that. But she could not, the moment did not seem right. So, she had decided, after his book tour would be better. She would find some time to be alone with him, just the two of them. Then she would share her thoughts on their current situation.

Rick would leave before the Monday morning show of Kristina aired. Rick had an app on his cell that let him view the show. He purchase a internet connection for his phone on the plane so he could view the show. It was a good show and gave an upfront and personal view of the details of the date, with one exception, the end. The producers had cut out the part were Rick had refused to enter her apartment for a tryst.

Instead the show makers had edit it so the last thing shown was Kristina taking Rick's hand and leading him to her apartment door. They edited out the part where Rick refused to enter her apartment. A message appeared at the end of that doctored scene that said, "It was a great date and ended well". The way it had been edited seem to imply that Rick had indeed slept with Coterra, but left it up to the viewers' imagination to decide how the date had ended. A majority of viewers were certain to conclude that Rick had slept with Cottera. This was not good.

'No, that can't be! It gives the wrong impression that most of the fans who want to, will believe that they did sleep together after the date', Rick thinks to himself.

He text's Paula. Then waits for a reply.

"Rick, I saw the edited ending and she left it dubious and gave fans liberty to interpret that the date ended with the two of you sleeping together." She texted back to him.

"Can we ask for Cottera to tell what really happened and apologize for the ending that could be misconstrued", he responds back o Paula.

"I'm in contact now with the network executives. We'll get it straightened out, but I think you need to set it right with Kate. If you already haven't told her."

"Kate, God yes, in all this mess I forgot about what she might think after seeing that ending. Paula, we are on approach to O'Hare and the plane is shutting down internet access . I'll try and talk to her after we land. Maybe you could get hold of her and talk to her about how the show was edited to imply the ending."

"I'll try but it might be more convincing if you did the calling."

"Let her know I'm on approach to Chicago and will get with her when I land."

As he texted Paula the last part of his message, they lost internet. Once he landed he tried to call her but it went to voice mail several times. After his last attempt to call Kate, he left her a text message and hoped she would get it before she could jump to conclusions on the ending of Coterra's Morning Special.

On Patrol

Once again she finds herself defending Rick to Brent.

"Rick did not sleep with her. He was up early cooking breakfast that Sunday morning."

"How do you know he did not arrive earlier that morning in time to cook your breakfast while you slept. From what you tell me, Rick said the date went well, but he did not mention that he had slept with Cottera. From the ending of that morning show, Rick appears to be taking it seriously about your mutual agreement on dating others. You should do the same."

"The fact Rick did not tell me means it did not happen."

"Maybe not, you need to clarify that. Still all I am saying is that if one day Rick does meet someone that he falls for, are you in a position to move on from him? It could be easier to do that if you simply took Rick up on the agreement to see others."

"Brent, I will ask Rick about that ending of the show. For all we know it was scripted like that to draw publicity. That encourages book sales for Rick. As for Coterra, she needs good ratings for her show. Rick probably did not mention it to me as he knows I am aware that a lot of his so called 'playboy image' is for sales. I am also aware Coterra has been lagging on ratings of late and needs a ratings boost."

"Kate, all I am saying is, that if the ending did happen like it implied, let me have a chance with you. All I ask is you accept my invitations for dates and see where it leads. Rick wants you to date others and apparently he's starting to do that with this Coterra lady."

"Okay, let's just end this talk now. I know you want us to get back together. I read that loud and clear! If I decide to take you up on your invitations for dates, you will know, if... and when that should happen. Let's just leave it at that for now."

Thru all the excitement that the Coterra special had caused, Kate had not noticed she had missed calls on her cell. She had it on silent to not disrupt their patrol duties when it rang. She had placed the phone in the glove compartment of the patrol car, right next to Brent's phone. They normally did that when on patrol, so calls would not be a distraction. So Kate had not answered her cell. Now on checking it, she sees she had several missed calls. One from Paula, Rick's PR manager, and several from Rick. She tries to listen to the missed call messages left on her phone, but before she can, they get a call for backup from another patrol. As luck would have it, they are the closest to the caller and rush to respond. Kate once again returns her phone to the glove compartment of their patrol car as they head to back-up another unit.

First On The Scene

The call for back up had been for a bank robbery in progress. It was a bank on the boundary of jurisdiction between the 54th and 12th precinct. However, when such a high risk incident occurs, jurisdictional issues were ignored to provide with quickest backup for the requesting patrol. In such an incident, jurisdictional disputes are resolved later after the crime scene is secured and people are out of danger. So the closest patrols to the incident are called regardless of jurisdiction.

As Beckett and Edwards came on the scene, they noticed a 54th Patrol Car was parked, both doors open to shield the officers behind the doors from the returning fire of the Bank Robbers. Kate and Brent instantly knew the two officers, one was Espo, the other Demming.

"They are trying to make it to their get-away car, the brown van over on the left", Espo says on his radio.

Demming, now back behind the wheel once again, slowly maneuvers their car between the get-away car and the robbers. As Demming does so, Espo walks along side the patrol car, hiding behind his door which remains open to protect him from incoming rounds.

Upon arriving at the scene and placing their patrol car to provide cover fire, both Kate and Brent exit their doors using them also as shields from incoming rounds. They commence to provide protective fire for Espo and Demming. Over the radio they hear that other nearby patrols are coming to their aid, both from the 54th and the 12th precincts.

Now as the robbers flee the scene with bags of money and valuables, they try to outflank the 12th patrol by circling on Brent's left. The robbers focus all their fire on Brent, causing him to duck behind door for cover . Kate leap frogs to behind a large planter with a good sized palm tree outside the bank and positions herself to render a cross fire to Brent's cover fire. Kate fires a few rounds at the robbers as Brent does likewise. Their rounds hit the ground around the robbers. The robbers realize that they are caught in a pincher fire with no chance to escape alive. They immediately put their hands up, late flat on the ground, and toss their weapons. Kate and Brent go to secure the robbers with handcuffs as they lay flat. As they near the robbers, pistols still drawn, the unnoticed driver of the get-away vehicles emerges from it and aims for Edwards. He fires two rounds but misses Brent.

Kate, seeing the driver shoot and miss Brent, fires back, emptying her ammo clip which holds ten rounds. A couple of her shots hit the driver and he goes down. Kate draws her spare ammo clip and reloads her weapon as she approaches the driver now on the ground. Brent, upon seeing his assailant go down, continues to the other robbers now laying on the ground. Espo and Demming had already come from the other side of the bank robbers, keeping them at bay as they joined up with Brent. The three handcuff and secure the remaining robbers.

Adrenalin had taken over for all of them during the engagement, but now as their levels go down, the reality of the situation hits all of them. While cuffing the other robbers they recite to them their Miranda rights. Once done, Brent turns to Kate who is looking at the suspect she took down. He was hit on his upper leg, arm and shoulder, bleeding badly, but still alive. Kate had taken care of stopping the bleeding as she had taken out a handkerchief from her uniform blouse pocket to use on the robber's wounds.

As Edwards approaches Kate, she looks up from her kneeling position by the suspect. Seeing him approaching her position, she stands up to check if Brent is injured.

"Thanks Kate for having my back."

"God that was close, I don't know what would have happened if I'd lost you."

Realizing how close they both came to dying, they are caught up in the emotions of the moment. They give each other a passionate embrace and then as their lips almost meet for a kiss, both immediately stop, realizing they were about to do an unintentional PDA. Both are a little mortified by the show of their spontaneous raw emotions caused by the gun battle. The two do not know what to make of their reactions as to what had just happened.

Just then Espo and Demming come up to them. The arriving patrols were now taking the robbers to patrol cars to be transported for lockup. The wounded are being placed in an ambulance.

"You guys okay", Espo and Demming both say in sync, as they fist bump the two of them.

"We are now", reply Kate and Brent, but Kate is blushing, and Brent is trying to hide his reaction to Kate's blush.

"Thanks for the backup guys".

"Always", Kate and Brent respond, hoping that their two fellow police officers did not notice their embrace and almost kiss.

As the IA teams arrived to take statements from them (all part of the routine investigation IA does when a shooting incident occurs) Kate and Brent are looking at each other. There had been a true concern from each of them for the other after the shoot out. A show of feelings that went beyond what had been there before the incident. It was an epiphany for both, and the shooting event had uncovered some emotions that had no been there before; at least for Kate. Both were trying now to sort out what it meant for them, from a professional and personal perspective.

Brent was encouraged with what had just happened after the shoot-out. It confirmed to him that Kate may still have feelings for him that she was denying. For Kate, she is furthered puzzled by her reactions. If she had strong feelings for Rick, if he truly is her soulmate, why then had she hug and almost kissed Brent like she did? Had it just been the heat of the moment that caused her to do so?

Whatever it was, Kate was further perplexed by those feelings. Then her doubts came back again and she thinks maybe it was a good that she had not done the talk with Rick. Had fate again intervened to put a fork in the road to them becoming a true couple? Which path would she take on that journey and which path was the right one? She needed to talk to Rick on this. With him away on tour and Brent sowing doubt in her, she needed to get control of her feelings. Right now she was in a turmoil of emotions from all that had happened thus far. She needed to find out what it all meant!