Chapter Eight:
Kate was surprised to see on the caller ID of her phone that Martha would be calling her. She hadn't spoken to her in a couple of months and immediately she assumes that something bad has happened to Rick. "Hello Martha. How are you?"
"Hello Katherine. I'm doing fine... I was wondering if you had plans for Thanksgiving?..."
To say that Kate was stunned by Martha's invitation would be an understatement. Before she could speak, Martha continues. "I've already invited your father and he's agreed to come if you do..."
Effectively taking away her only excuse for turning down the offer, she sighs and reluctantly agrees, asking if there's anything that she needs to bring. "Just yourself. I'm having the dinner catered as my cooking skills have been questioned by some..." She replies with what sounds like a pout.
Kate stifles a giggle at the thought of Martha cooking. She'd seen first hand just how inept the senior redhead was in the kitchen and was secretly grateful that Martha wasn't cooking. "Is anyone else going to be there?" Kate asks, hoping against hope that Rick may appear.
"Besides us, your father, Lanie and Hayley... Is there someone you want to bring?" Martha inquires.
"No, just me." She replies sadly hearing that Rick wasn't going to be there.
The call ends and Kate just sits there wondering why Martha invites her to dinner like she has. Her thoughts drifted back to the time during Rick's abduction. How worried she was for him, not knowing if he was alive, but confident that he would do anything to get back to her.
The present situation was so much worse. Knowing that he was alive, but willing to give up his friends and family just to avoid her hurt so much more. But her conscience then reminds her that she was the one who left him, that she was the one that wanted him to give her space. "I didn't mean forever." She whispers out loud to herself as she takes another sip from her glass as she looks around the lonely loft.
Kate arrives at Martha's apartment which was only a block away from her acting school. Despite her age, Martha was as vibrant as ever and greets her with a hug as she opens the door. "Katherine darling, it's so good to see you. Everyone is here already." Martha gestures for her to enter and Kate can see her father, Lanie and Hayley standing around the table. The elder redhead takes Kate's coat and places it with the others on the chair by the door. "Come, sit down, dinner's ready." Martha gestures to the table.
They sit down and after Jim gives a prayer of thanks and start to eat. Martha has spared no expense and the layout has virtually anything that one would associate with a Thanksgiving dinner. The conversation flowed freely and everyone seemed to be in a good mood.
It was Jim who asks Lanie and Hayley about their recent trip to Florida. The four of them had decided that an intervention of sorts was needed. After Lanie and Hayley returned from Key West, they met with Martha to discuss what they saw. They knew that both Kate and Rick were miserable being apart, but agreed that unless Kate was ready to make a real commitment to him, things would only be worse if they met. Jim was recruited by Martha to help and he readily agrees,
"So, I hear you two went to Florida for a long weekend..." Jim inquires, earning a puzzled look from Kate and wry smile from Martha.
"Yes Mr Beckett. We spent a couple of days in Key West with a couple of doctors that I went to school with. We had a great time..." Lanie answers.
"Yeah, we went to this one bar that reminded me so much of The Olde Haunt, it was spooky..." Hayley adds.
"Did you meet anyone interesting?" Jim inquires, which makes Kate wonder why he would ask such a question in the first place.
"Yeah, there was this one guy... About six-two with shoulder length hair and a beard... A real hunk..." Hayley replies with a grin.
"Took us out on his sailboat, or should I say yacht. Boy's loaded I'd bet." Lanie adds with a smirk of her own. Her expression then softens. "I'd have tried to make a play for him, but it was obvious his heart was broken..."
"Do you have any pictures of this mystery man?" Martha then asks as she looks to see of Kate is listening to the conversation.
Kate is puzzled as to why her father or Martha would care about some guy that her friends met while in Florida. Hayley pulls out her cellphone and replies. "Of course I do Martha. Would you like to see?" The PI scrolls through her pictures to the ones that were taken with Rick, Lanie and herself. She gets up from the table and walks around the where Martha is sitting and hands her the phone. The elder redhead makes the appropriate oohs and aaas at the pictures.
Kate's curiosity is piqued at the actions of the two women and Lanie comments. "Let Kate see him. Maybe a hunk like that would perk her up..." She has to laugh out loud. "Come on Kate, you know you're curious..."
Kate sighs and sticks out her hand. "Fine. Let me see what has you two worked up like a couple of school girls..." Martha hands her the phone and Kate stares at the first picture, not sure if what she was seeing was real. It looked like Rick, sort of. Well if Rick had lost thirty pounds, let his hair and beard grow and dressed like a beach bum... She then scrolled though the other pictures that she had taken of him alone at the helm of his boat and nearly dropped the phone as the realization hit her. "It's really him, isn't it?" She asks in a small voice as she touches the screen lovingly. "How did you find him?"
Everyone at the table smiles at her reaction as Lanie begins to speak. "It was more like he found us... We were sitting in this bar that reminded us of The Olde Haunt with my friends. We started talking about the place and Rick. My friend is a huge fan of his and started asking questions about him... The next thing I know, he's standing by our table..."
"Why didn't you tell me that you found him?" Kate asks, the hurt apparent in her voice.
"Because I need to know that you're ready to make the type of commitment to my son that he deserves from you." Martha answers for the two women.
"Kate, he's miserable. He's living in one room of his beautiful beach house like a hermit. The only thing that he gets any enjoyment from is his sailboat... He still loves you..." Lanie quickly adds.
Kate then looks at her father. "You knew about this?" She was almost in tears now.
"Katie, until you can honestly admit that you'll always put Rick first in your life, you're wasting your time... And his... He needs a wife that can care for him as much as he cares for her... Can you say that?" Jim adds keeping his voice even and calming.
"I'm out of here. Don't you think Rick should be the one to decide?" Kate glares at the others at the table as she starts to stand.
"He's not there Katie." Jim tells her as the others nod their heads in agreement.
"Where is he then? Or is this some type of sick joke?" Kate growls at the group staring at her.
"And what exactly would you say to him? What will you do to convince him that you're serious?" Martha inquires.
"I, I'd tell him how much I love him and I'll do anything if he'll just give me the chance..."
"But you've said that before and then left him without a word as to why. What's different this time?" Martha counters.
"Johanna always said that actions speak louder than words Katie. What are you willing to do to prove that what you say is more than just words?" Jim adds.
Kate was stunned that her father would use one of her mother's favorite sayings against her, but knew there was more than a kernel of truth in what he was saying. She had always been a woman of action more than words. She needed a plan. She sighs and returns to her seat defeated. "I'll do anything..."
"If you're serious, we'll do everything we can to help." Lanie comments and everyone nods in agreement. "Flying down to Florida and ambushing him isn't the answer."
"And neither is expecting him to meet you here in New York..." Hayley adds.
"We need need someplace where neither of you can run from..." Martha comments.
"Did you say that Rick has a boat?" Jim asks.
"It's a forty foot yacht with a sail." Hayley corrects. "You could live in that thing..."
Jim smiles at the thought. "I always wanted a boat like that. Maybe I could talk Rick into taking a trip with me to the Caribbean or someplace like that?... The all we'd have to do is figure out a way for Katie to stowaway on the boat for the return trip..."
"Nah, it would never work out, Castle's heartbroken, not brain dead." Lanie replies.
The conspirators all nod their head in agreement that a plan like this would never work. There were too many things that had to happen and Jim contacting him out of the blue would certainly raise suspicions.
"What about Alexis? She's still planning on coming to the city during semester break isn't she?" Hayley asks and Martha nods.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Martha adds. "I'm not sure how she'd feel about being involved in any plan to trick her father into seeing Kate..." Martha gives Beckett an apologetic look. "She took the whole divorce thing pretty hard because she had defended you to him..."
"Well there you go Katie. The first thing that you need to do is make amends with Alexis." Jim states matter-of-factly.
Kate simply nods at her father's comment. She knew that she needed Alexis as an ally to have any chance of getting Castle back. But she also knew that it wouldn't be easy. Mere words would not be enough for her either as she was just like Rick.