Charlie III
Chapter 11
It is now 2 months later
They had pretty much settled into a routine of sorts. Rick was growing like a weed and slept with Alexis at first before going downstairs to sleep with Kate. Neither one of them actually slept with him, though neither of them threw him off the bed. Rick had actually hoped to at least be hugged but neither of them did that. However, he was at least close to them.
"So what's your plan for today since you don't have school?" Kate asked Alexis after she fed Charlie his breakfast. He may be her husband but he looked like a dog.
"Library. How's the morning sickness?" Alexis questioned her right back.
"Mostly gone, thank you." Kate wasn't sure if it was due to time or the stuff Alexis had her eating and drinking but she felt better.
"Are you taking Charlie into work with you?"
"I'm not sure I have a choice." Kate looked down at Charlie who was just finishing wolfing down his breakfast before looking up at both of them.
"You don't." Bark. It's my job to protect you and that's what I'm going to do, Kate. That had Kate and Alexis looking down at him.
"At least know we know why he barks. I think he just answered you," Alexis told Kate. "Well, I have class. You two have fun in the precinct. Just remember your promise." Alexis kissed Kate's cheek, petted Charlie, and hurried out the door.
Kate placed her hand on her now prominent baby bump. There were two in there and she was getting bigger and bigger every week, she was certain. Castle might be back as a dog but these were still going to be her only children and while being chained to her desk did grate on her since she was out of the action. It was just she had never had so much to lose before.
Kate was willing to admit that she had never really thought about having her own children but now that she was pregnant, she wanted children. She already loved these two and couldn't wait for what came next.
There were a few things she wasn't looking forward to. "Dirty diapers, no sleep, babies crying in stereo. You better be ready to have your ears yanked off, Charlie." Kate looked down at him.
They had all tried to learn to call him Charlie instead of Castle or even Richard in Martha's case. None of them needed the potential problems with calling the dog Castle. If Gates caught her doing it she might send her to a psychiatrist for an evaluation.
"It'll be great!" Bark! There will be kids everywhere. This is going to be so much fun!
ooOoo
Kate didn't even bother with his leash as they rode up the elevator. The doors slid open and she watched Charlie head for her desk while she put his food in the refrigerator and got him a bowl of water like she did every day.
They had both since learned that he was now too big for his chair so he had to sit or lie on the floor. Though he usually wandered around the 4th floor visiting everyone. As a result almost everyone in the building knew who Charlie was and who he belonged to.
Because of this Kate wasn't surprised when she looked down and found him missing. "Just stay out of Gates' office. You're starting to lose those puppy dog eyes of yours," Kate told anyone within earshot of her, though not loud enough for Gates to hear her.
They were presently between cases and even the boys were still here. Or at least they were until Ryan answered his phone. "We got a body." Ryan waved his Post-it Note for all to see.
"Don't worry, we'll take good notes for you," Ryan assured Kate on the way out.
"You better," Kate said, knowing that even if she hadn't voluntarily chained herself to her desk she would be by now anyway. So their notes and pictures were all she was going to have to work with.
Kate watched as Charlie worked his way to sit down next to her. "My mistake, what we need to work with." Kate still wasn't so sure just how but Charlie still managed to input his theories into their cases. It was still a little weird to her.
ooOoo
Kate had rolled her chair up next to the white board so she could study it and make little notes in places. So far most of their best bets on who had killed him all had alibis, so that ruled them out. "Okay, time for a wild theory." Kate looked down at Charlie and waited for it. Of course it was all going to come out as barks and not end up at all useful, but if it made him feel better she would let him.
"Just remember, no barking or Gates will kick you out," Kate reminded him.
"Being a dog is really beginning to suck!" Whimper, whimper. I can't even help you on cases that much. Unless… "What's that smell?" Bark.
"Detective Beckett. I'm Mike Williams, attorney at law. You are holding Ray Harper, my client." Mike walked over to Kate since he knew her or more accurately knew of her.
"He's in holding. If you're willing to wait I'll have someone bring him out and put him in an interrogation room for you," Kate offered since that was the best she could do.
"You can't do it yourself?" Mike just took a couple of stars off his board for her.
Kate turned around and faced him, placing a hand on her belly. "No, I can't."
"Oh!" Only now did he notice that she was pregnant. "HEY!" He used a hand to swat at the dog that was sniffing his pants. Charlie, however, was undeterred and kept sniffing even if Mike did turn away to get away from the dog.
"Charlie!?" Kate had no idea just what he was up to though he was clearly interested in this guy.
"What is that smell?" Bark.
"No barking!" Gates yelled from her office.
Espo was now up out of his chair while Ryan just kept watching.
"It's in this pocket, whatever it is, and it's not food!" Bark, bark!
"Somebody get this dog off of me!" Mike swatted at Charlie to get the dog's face away from him.
"What, Charlie?" Kate didn't understand. He hadn't done anything like this with anyone else that came up here. So what made this guy so special?
"Let's see what you've got in the pocket, buddy boy!" Bark, bark, bark. Instead of sniffing Charlie reached up and out to sink his teeth into the pocket and pulled really hard. Lots of things happened with this action.
First, Mike yelled as the dog ripped open his pants pocket. Enough that it exposed his underwear that he was wearing.
Second it got Gates up and out of her office since something was going on and if Charlie was involved in this she was going to kick him out of her precinct. He had so far not served any useful purpose that she could see. Puppy dog eyes or no.
Third, three small bags with a white powder fell to the floor. "CHARLIE!" Kate reached out to grab him and pulled Charlie away from Mike.
"What's going on out here?" Gates had had enough and didn't need this distraction.
"Your dog attacked me." Mike showed everyone his ripped pants while at the same time showing off his underwear.
"What do we have here?" Kate let go of Charlie who looked down and saw three dime bags filled with cocaine on the floor.
"So that's what that stuff smells like." Bark, bark. That had Charlie eyeing Mike and growled at him.
Kate bent down and used the tips of her fingernails to lift up one of the three bags. "Cocaine, counselor?" Kate questioned him.
"I don't know what that stuff is and I've never seen it before in my life. And even if they were in my pocket that was an illegal search and not admissible as evidence," Mike argued.
"Except Charlie here is a drug sniffing dog in training and that gives us all we need to search you," Espo countered.
Kate looked at Mike, her eyebrow arched. "I wonder if we'll find your fingerprints on any of these bags?"
Mike knew it was possible and needed to destroy that part of the evidence. The rest could be settled in court. He lifted his foot with the intent of smashing it down on the two bags on the floor and rubbing them into the floor to destroy evidence.
"Don't you dare move!" Bark, Growl! It was enough to get Mike to put his foot back down softly and gently.
ooOoo
Mike was in holding, the cocaine bags had been picked up, tagged, and sent down to Lanie to ID the substance and maybe get fingerprints.
"Drug sniffing dog?" Gates looked at the lot of them, not believing it for a moment. Charlie was just a stupid dog that shouldn't even be here. She was getting soft.
"We started last night, actually. He's still in training." Kate was telling a huge white lie. Since the only scent training Charlie had done last night was sniffing out that she had used her fingers to satisfy herself last night. She had left Charlie outside her door whimpering to be let in. Her pregnancy hormones were in full swing and she had needed sexual release really bad last night.
"That's me!" Bark.
Gates tried to think this over. "You better make sure he really does start drug training or they'll throw this case out so fast it'll make all of your heads spin." Gates retreated to her office to think this over.
"Nice work, Charlie!" Espo patted his head and went back to his desk.
"I had no idea cocaine could smell like that." Bark, bark.
"I hope you know what you've done, Charlie. Now I have to arrange for training to make our charges stick so you better be able to duplicate that or he walks," Kate warned him.
"Hey, maybe I can work airports or something." Bark, bark.
"NO BARKING!" Gates yelled from her office.
"I catch a doped up lawyer and this is the thanks I get." Whimper, whimper.
ooOoo
Alexis was doing something she thought maybe she shouldn't be given the time of day, but there she was, doing it anyway. Then the front door opened and she jumped nervously since now she had been caught red-handed.
She had barely recovered when Charlie was trying to put his front legs in her lap.
"HEY! Is that ice cream? Can I have some?" Bark, bark, bark.
"What's gotten into him?" Alexis half tried to hide her bowl of ice cream from Kate's view.
"He's proud of himself today. He sniffed out an attorney for a suspect we had in holding. Caught him with three dime bags of cocaine on him. Now he's in holding right next to his client while Lanie does a drug test on him," Kate explained and went over to the refrigerator to find what was for dinner tonight.
"I didn't know Dad knew how to sniff out cocaine." Alexis petted him for that but didn't even offer him any of her ice cream.
"Alexis!?" Kate cautioned her since they'd talked about this. They needed to get used to calling the dog Charlie or get caught calling him Castle or Dad.
"I know the difference between being at home and calling him Dad and calling him Charlie everywhere else," Alexis said defensively. "Coke, huh?" Alexis petted him again.
"What are you eating?" Kate had finally spotted her bowl of ice cream. "What happened?" Kate knew by now that the Castle family ate ice cream when they were depressed so something must have happened lately involving Alexis.
"Nothing," Alexis deflected and Kate glared at her. The petite redhead looked at Charlie instead only now he was looking at her with those eyes of his. Alexis groaned. "Grams told me that since her play is doing so well she thinks she can afford to move out. Make room for the twins," Alexis finally told both of them.
"It's about time." Bark! That got Charlie getting shoved off of Alexis's lap and onto the floor.
"Well if Martha thinks it's right for her…" Kate's voice trailed off. She wasn't sure just how she felt about Martha moving out. Having Martha around had been fun and a blessing so far. However, if she actually did move out there went one of her babysitters after she gave birth to her twins.
"Don't say that. We need to talk Grams out of this. This is her home, too." Alexis didn't like Kate's reaction. It was why she was eating ice cream. It was all so depressing to her. First her dad died, came back as a dog, and died again. Only to come back as yet another dog and now Grams wanted to move out.
"Alexis, she's a grown woman who raised a son all by herself. She's perfectly capable of making her own decisions. Actually I'm trying to figure out how to raise twins all alone. You're technically in college though I'm still working on why you left the dorms and moved back here," Kate mentioned.
"Hey, what am I? Chopped liver? I can help." Bark, bark, bark.
"You don't count, Charlie. You're a dog. Can you change diapers? Take them to the doctor when they catch something? Help me feed them?" Kate had a whole list of things Charlie couldn't help her with.
"I still say I can help!" Bark!
"We'll think of something, I guess. Would you feed him after you finish your ice cream? I'll start making dinner then you can take Charlie outside so he can do his business. We can discuss Martha again when you get back." Kate was betting Alexis wasn't going to let go of that so easily.
ooOoo
"Come on, Dad, I've got your leash, poop bag, keys, and my ID, so let's go." Alexis held out the leash and waited for Charlie to come to her instead of chasing him down.
"Just be careful out there," Kate called out just before Alexis closed the door.
Alexis looked elsewhere while Charlie lifted his leg against a pole and watered it and the sidewalk down a little before moving on.
"I thought Grams liked it here. Why does she want to move so badly?" Alexis was mostly talking to herself since Charlie could only answer yes or no questions and she hadn't asked him one of those.
Charlie, however, suddenly smelled something and he was thinking it was trouble so he stopped and sniffed. His sniffing was soon rewarded with the sight of two pit bulls coming around a corner. He growled; he needed to protect Alexis even if it cost him his life. …Again.
ooOoo
Dinner was ready and Kate had already called Alexis twice but got her voice mail. Now she was starting to get concerned. However, she had to remind herself that Alexis was a very smart and capable young woman.
Then there was a knock at the door that had her hustling to open it. Alexis had a key so it couldn't be her.
Opening it she found a uniformed officer at the door. "Kate Beckett?" he inquired.
"Yes." Now she was more than worried, bordering on being very frightened.
"You know an Alexis Castle?"
"My daughter. What happened? Where is she?" Okay, now she was really was frightened.
"There's been an incident a couple of blocks from here. I need you to come with me, please."
"OH GOD!" She knew, she just knew it. "My keys, my ID, my badge, my weapon." All of that was in the bedroom. She ran to the room, leaving the front door open and the officer standing there.
The officer watched her return with a Glock that she was checking to make sure it was loaded. "I'm afraid I can't allow you to carry that, Ms. Beckett."
Kate, however, wasn't in the mood to talk and held up her badge for him to see. She closed the door behind her and waited for him in the elevator since he knew where to go.
ooOoo
Actually it turned out seeing just where to go was easy enough. There were three patrol cars with their lights on along with an ambulance that had its lights on. Kate broke into a run and left the officer behind.
"Alexis!" Kate saw that she was on a gurney that they were preparing to load into the ambulance. She could also see that her left arm was heavily bandaged.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" Alexis looked to have been crying and now she started back up again. Between the injury and her crying Kate wasn't sure just how much more she could take.
"What happened?" Kate looked at one of the EMTs that were helping to load her into the ambulance.
"Her arm has been mauled by a pit bull. We won't know how badly until we get her to the emergency room," he said to Kate.
"I tried. I really tried to get them off Dad. I'm so sorry." Now the crying was turning into sobs. She had watched as two pit bulls ripped Charlie to pieces right in front of her. It was a memory she was never going to forget no matter how long she lived.
"Charlie!?" If she had heard right it meant Charlie was around here somewhere. Kate watched as Alexis was loaded into the ambulance and was told where they would be taking her.
It was only after the ambulance was out of sight that Kate went looking for Charlie and soon found him. What was left of him.
"OH GOD!"Kate dropped to her knees, looked Charlie over, and actually saw that his eyes were open. Next to him were two dead pit bulls that looked like they'd been shot, maybe.
"I had to." Whimper.
"NO, CASTLE! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!" Kate felt her own tears starting. This wasn't right. This wasn't how life was supposed to go. It shouldn't be filled with this much pain.
ooOoo
Rick looked around and realized he was sitting in a train car yet again. "Not again!" How many times was he supposed to die anyway?
"No, I don't want anything to eat, just some ice water, please." He wasn't even remotely hungry. Rick told the conductor or waiter or whatever he was exactly that when he came by to take his order after handing out a card telling him what today's selections were.
ooOoo
Getting out of the train was just like all the other times. He ignored the people that had to ask questions and made his way to the large double doors to find out what happened now.
The room he ended up in all alone looked just like the same room from the previous two times. "My life's story all over again." Rick hung his head.
"Mr. Castle. You've led an interesting life. Stole a police horse while naked. Worked closely with a homicide detective helping to solve homicides, I see. Then you married her." His reviewer had shown up.
"And you are?" Rick didn't recognize him from the last two times.
"My name is Luis Garavito and I'm here to go over your life history so we can decide what happens to you next."
"Luis Garavito, Luis Garavito. …Columbia, Ecuador and Venezuela also known as La Bestia. Or the Beast in English. Known to have killed 138 children. Believed to have killed over 300. Between 1992 and 1999." Rick rolled his eyes. Why in the name of God were all of the reviewers serial killers? Or was it just his luck?
"Interesting, most people have never heard of me." He was actually impressed a little. "I see here that this is your third time with us. It says here that you sacrificed your own life on three separate occasions. Very interesting."
"I think we can dispense with the picture show. Follow me, please," Luis instructed Rick who eventually followed him since he knew his luck at getting another dog sucked.
"Through this door, Mr. Castle. …You're going to need this." His pad printed out a ticket for him to use which Rick found to be different. "It will tell you which train to board, Mr. Castle. Just down that way," Luis pointed and let the door close.
Rick suddenly found himself back in the main station where there were a number of tracks with about half having a train sitting there waiting.
"But I don't have a card! Where's the tree?" How was he supposed to get back to Kate and his family without a card telling him what he was going to be now? They had skipped a step this time. He was so screwed!
Rick saw someone that looked like he worked here. "Excuse me."
"Ticket?" Rick watched as he snatched it out of his hand. "Track number eleven is down there on your left. You have 30 minutes so you will need to hurry." He handed it back to Rick and began looking around for someone else that was lost.
ooOoo
Finding and getting on the train was easy as was finding his seat since all that was on his ticket.
Like the previous two times they served two selections of delicious meals. Complete with coffee and that very same bottle of Scotch that was seriously expensive. Rick decided on the Filet Mignon this time.
"Where's this train going?" Rick asked the man who poured his glass of Scotch.
"Earth, of course. We don't usually get that many passengers so this is a small train. Do you require anything else, sir?" He would get him whatever he asked for so long as it was actually on the train.
Rick drank his Scotch in one swallow and held out his glass for a refill. "I'm good, thanks," Rick said after getting his glass refilled with Scotch. He might as well kill the pain that he was betting was ahead of him.