Love's Journey 2

by Castlefan6

Authors Note This is the continuation of Love's Journey, originally authored by The Muse of Apollo, chapters 1-7 all following are work of Castlefan6' IF you haven't read the original Love's Journey please do so before proceeding with this,

I don't own Castle, I only use the characters for amusement purposes only

Chapter 14

Previously

"so, if anyone wants to camp out here we have the extra room and I have a fully furnished two-bedroom apartment one floor below, might make it easier if we are all here." Jess suggests

Everyone agrees to meet Sunday night at Rick's Loft by 7:00 PM and they would arrange sleeping arrangements then, for now, Kate needs to get back to the precinct, and Mike has work he needs to get completed.

Beckett's Apartment

Sunday AM, 6:30

Kate awakes and goes through her morning run, showers, then dresses for a casual day at home then remembers, Damn, I'm sleeping at Castle's Loft tonight, and double damn, my choices are in the spare room of my ex-lover or downstairs in a separate bedroom from a good-looking friend of Rick's and co-worker. She's not sure which option Jess would be more comfortable with, but hey, they have talked, and Rick and her history is not a secret to Jess, maybe it would be best with the direct approach. She grabs her phone and texts Jess,

Hey there, hope you are still sleeping in, just got a question about tonight, call me when you get a minute, ALONE, Thanks XoXo Kate

She sits her phone back down and almost immediately it rings with Jess's ring tone. "Hey Jess, what up and why are you up so early on Sunday?"

"Good morning Kate, and let me guess you are freaking out about the sleeping arrangements over here tonight, Right?"

"Damn girl, you are getting too close to knowing my every thought, but yes, yes I am Jess" "I'm sorry I know it sounds stupid, but I'm just not comfortable spending a night in an apartment with a man I barely know, no matter how good a friend he is to Rick,"

"Rick said to prepare the guest room for you because there was no way you would go downstairs, so it's all made up for you, hey I understand, I really do"

"Yea but Jess, doesn't that cramp you and Rick in your own home, I mean having an ex spend the night is not the way I would envision starting a romantic night off" as they both laugh,

"First getting up at 4:30 AM to get ready doesn't leave a lot of night, and who said you are cramping anything Kate, remember, Martha and Lexi live here so we have become creative, Ooh is that too much information" Jess Asks,

Kate laughs, "No Jess, I didn't envision you with a chastity belt and I am sure Rick has not lost his love of physical touch, in fact he probably craves it even more now that he is truly in love, rather than just going through the physical motions"

There is an awkward moment of silence on both ends, and then Kate whines "You see what I mean Jess, I'm already upsetting the balance and I'm not even there yet,

"Kate that moment of silence was me checking on said male subject to be sure he wasn't sneaking around our girl's conversation. I know Rick had women before me, and one of those just happen to be you, BUT I also know that he loves me enough to never hurt me.

Even if he wanted to do something with you, I know you love me enough not to hurt me either. I'm not worried, well I would be if I came back to bed in the middle of the night and I caught you two spooning" as she and Kate both burst out in laughter.

"Just quit overthinking it and be here at 7:00 OK? We are good, aren't we Kate?

"I swear I don't know how you are as loving as you are, I hope to get near your level someday, and yes we are Good, we are more than good, We Rock," Kate smiles through the phone. "See you tonight"

Castle's Loft

6:45 PM

Rick and Jess had just emerged from a shower, well two one to actually get clean and were dressed in lounge clothes when they heard Kate's knock on the front door. Rick opened the door and greeted Kate with their usual greeting now a tight hug and her returning with a sweet kiss on the cheek.

"Let me take your bag, your room is next to Alexis, you remember end of the hall on the left OK?"

"That's great Rick, where is Jess?" she just gets out when out of the office Jess appears and heads to Kate, embracing her and whispering "it's gonna be fine, don't worry so only Kate could hear"

Rick asks "it's early care for a drink Kate, or have you eaten"

"Yea I ate a little while ago, thanks I'm fine"

"That means she ate yesterday, so Jess, you want to bring the pizza's out of the warmer, please? Mike can catch up when he gets here, and for all I know he may be on the latest health diet" as they all laugh and Kate blushes knowing that Rick knows her better than anyone.

"Wow these are great Rick, where did you get them from," Kate asks between bites,

"Well there's this new place we tried, and I really loved it, it's called Jess's Pizza" as Jess blushes and Rick grins, "she makes it all from scratch, even the sauce"

"You've gotta share this with me Jess, it's out of this world" as Kate reaches for her third piece,

The door chimes, "that would be Mike" Rick says as he looks at his watch, 7:10 "still arriving fashionably late", he laughs. He opens the door and Mike starts apologizing about being late, talking so fast he is barely understandable, something about changing the plugs in the beast but she's ready now.

"Ok Mike first Welcome, next What the hell did you just say" Rick asks with a smile

Kate and Jess had understood the gist, "I had to change the sparkplugs, then the coil wire was shorting so three trips to the Auto Parts store and the beast is running again." "I parked it underground in the garage as you said Rick"

"Great, you are taking the apartment downstairs to sleep Mike, there's pizza in the warmer, Beer in the fridge, and the bar is stocked but I suggest we all make an early night tonight, it could be a very long day tomorrow."

"We'll be your wakeup call, just be sure your phone is charged, I don't want a repeat of Guam, still have nightmares of those images" Rick laughs and Mike blushes full out for the first time.

"I'll get even Rick, remember the vault holds a lot of stories about you as well, he laughs. "I'm going to turn in, if everyone here is OK, been a day for me, and I want to check the cameras on the car to make sure they work, See you all in the morning, Nite"

Jess looks over at Rick, and asked, "He really is your brother by another mother, isn't he?

"In more ways than you know Love, he bailed me out a lot of times, when I thought it was a lost cause, he never quits, no matter how many times he gets knocked down.

"If someone wants to stop him from protecting those he loves, they would have to kill him to make him stop."

Kate is sitting quietly, and Jess draws her into the conversation, Kate and I were wondering, how he got so smart about electronics, what was that you said Kate,

"Oh, about his knowledge of advanced circuitry and how to bridge the standard flaws most companies install Jess?"

"Yes, that was it, Rick you don't have to say anything you don't want to, but it is apparent Mike went over and above what was required from him from a security point of view. I thought you were bringing him in for muscle, and oh by the way I met Shorty today as he was depositing a smart ass in the trash"

"You met Shorty, charming man isn't he" Rick is howling, as Jess explained the discrepancy in his nick name and the enormous size of the man to Kate drawing a huge smile.

"Like I said no one is going to bother any of us unless they can penetrate Mike, and not too many people have that skill"

Well Ladies I am turning in, see you in the morning as he reaches over and first kisses Kate on the cheek, surprising her a bit then kissed Jess, not embarrassing long, but long enough to know this was his woman.

Jess and Kate follow suit within the half hour and the house is quiet,

Castles Loft

4:30 AM

Jess is reaching out to turn the alarm off, just as Rick is reaching and they wind up in a good morning stretch bodies planted firmly against each other, finally Jess turns the clock off. Rick's phone pings, "Thanks for the wakeup call Rogers, I'm up" text from Mike. All had showered the night before so a quick trip to the facilities, teeth brushed, and hair combed, and they were heading down to meet Mike at his apartment right on schedule.

Mike heard the elevator and was already on his way to join them and in just a few minutes they were boarding "Steely Dan,"

Well Mike and Rick had told the truth, it didn't look like much, but Kate observed the thick armor panels and bullet proof, not resistant but proof glass same as put in Presidential car's she knew they were safe.

The drive to their location took about 40 minutes even at this hour of the day so Jess snuggled up against Rick, on one side, while Kate nodded off and fell into him from the other as Mike drove. Mike looked at Rick in the rear-view mirror, and Rick just shook his head to indicate later, guy talk.

Mike noticed an all-night doughnut shop as he was just preparing to enter the rough part of town, so he stopped and purchased coffees in To Go thermoses and a dozen doughnuts for later. The closer they got to the streets the louder the equipment became and true to promise as they rode past the entrance to Washington Heights, they heard and saw the houses, garages, building and structures fall and crash to the ground.

Pasco Construction had hired private police to patrol, Kate had two teams in strategic locations observing by camera, and Mike had the camera on top of the bus live feeding back to his crew about 4 blocks away in a remote satellite truck.

There was nary a sign of anyone, or anything and as Mike drove through and around the entire neighborhood the empty houses and structures had finally given up the ghost. The neighborhood once a stronghold on the Drugs and prostitution trades that Kate's mother and associates had given their lives to reclaim, was now in process of reformation.

The first step would last approximately two days, knocking everything down, and hauling all debris away, then the actual work could begin, to have the surveyors and engineers staking out key elements of the building as well as completely redoing the infrastructure of roads, sewers and wiring, all to be replaced with state-of-the-art replacements.

By 10:00 Am it was apparent no one was going to challenge the rebirth, so Mike suggested they continued to evaluate from the remote camera feed he had somehow managed to install back at the Loft. Everyone agreed so the Steely Dan 4 as they were nicknamed now made their way back to the loft.

Kate just noticed now that the daylight had filtered through the tinted windows that Mike was wearing and ear piece and giving commands softly as he drove. Once back at the loft Rick had the 6-camera feed split to show on the 72-inch TV in the family room so all could monitor the progress.

So far all was going smoother than anyone could have hoped, they were all holding their breath since they knew the stakes of what was beginning to transpire. Kate whispered something to Jess, and they disappeared for a minute, Kate had her bag and instead of going towards the front door, she headed for the shower off the Master Bath.

Jess politely opened the privacy shields over the bookshelves in the office assuring her of privacy as she showered and prepped to go into the Precinct. 25 minutes later Kate emerged completely different than she looked on the ride, ready to assume the Bad Ass Cop role. She said her goodbyes, shaking Mike's hand kissing Rick and Jess both on the cheeks and hugging then both tight. Jess pulled her into one quick hug and told her to call her later, and she would let her know if anything developed. Now it is official, today is the birthday of the Martha Rae Roger Building for Homeless, New York City.

A/N Again we will leave this here, we got to tear some things down, as promised Simmons is gone, and Bracken is off playing golf somewhere, this is about the Love's Journey, not just for two people but for all people, stay tuned, going to be fun. Liberties have been taken with Military protocol, and procedures, it's Fiction, live with it.