CH7 (April)

"Beckett, my office." Roy calls out from his doorway.

Kate gets up from her desk and looks at the guys for a clue to what Roy wanted her for and quickly went over the open cases in her mind. They were still working all of them, they even had two white boards up.

Their closure rate hadn't dropped in a long time, certainly not since Kate took over. In fact the 12th had the highest closure rate in the city, it was something Kate was proud of. Roy's confidence in her wasn't something she took lightly.

"Sir?" Kate steps into his office.

"Close the door Beckett." Roy tells her from his seat behind his desk.

Kate was confused, this had happened already, Hadn't it? Kate even knew what Roy was going to say next.

"Sit down Beckett." Kate was sure what he was going to say next.

"I'm retiring Beckett, effective in two months. I want you to think about taking the captain's test and applying for my position. You've proven yourself over the years and I've taught you everything I know. You're the best detective this city has ever seen." Roy tells her, still sounding tired to her ears.

"You've been in overall command of the homicide floor as a lieutenant for over a year now. You'll have to learn about robbery, gangs and everything else that goes with running a precinct and I'll be here for the next two months helping you."

"I accept sir, so long as you'll help me." Kate pushed what Roy was going to say along a little faster.

Roy tried blinking back his surprise, he didn't expect Kate to agree so easily and quickly.

"1PP is already aware of my intention to retire. I've heard rumors that a Victoria Gates is my likely replacement if you decide not to take the test." Roy tried to apply a little pressure.

"Cast Iron Gates from Internal Affairs? …. She hates cops sir. She would turn this precinct into hell. There would be massive transfer requests. We'd go from the best precinct to the worst. This place would be filled with people that didn't want to even come into work, let alone do their jobs to the best of their abilities." Kate felt like she had said all that before, but when?

"Think about it Beckett, just don't think about it too long." Roy warned her.

"I'll do it sir, when do we start." Kate already knew she was going to do this.

Kate steps out of Roy's office and heads for her desk. "I'm going for coffee." Kate informs Ryan and Espo, and grabs her weapon, shield, cuffs and her jacket since it was still cool outside.

Kate was walking for the coffee shop when she suddenly knew who was just about to step out of the coffee shop and it got her to start running and opened the door just in time for Richard Castle to reach for the door. "CASTLE!" And Kate falls into his arms and kisses him soundly feeling Rick kiss her back, stroking her bottom lip with his tongue asking for entrance and Kate gives it to him gladly.

Kate finally broke from the kiss and rested her forehead against his. "It's starting again." Kate whispers out ignoring the looks they are getting from everyone as Rick still has the door to the coffee shop still open.

"Everything is already sold so it's not that." Rick points out.

"Montgomery is still retiring and wants me to take the captains exam and apply for his job, so it's not that." Kate answers.

"The infection has already taken place in South Korea, so our stopping it isn't likely, unless you know someone who can drop a few nukes on South and North Korea to stop it from spreading." Rick adds.

Kate moans and buries her head into Rick's chest. "What's the last thing you remember?" Rick asks Kate.

"Flying home from your island home. … We hadn't even been in the air long." Kate talks into his chest.

"So whatever it is happens between now and when we leave. Is it the invisibility shots? It would save a lot of lives." Rick points out.

"We've talked to the military several times already. Either they don't believe us or they're too focused on finding patient zero." Kate lifts her head to look up at him, which isn't all that far since she is wearing her heels.

"Maybe we need to find a different person to try and convince. CDC or WHO maybe instead of the military." Rick offers. "Does it feel like we've tried that?"

Kate shook her head. "I'll see what I can learn, maybe Sorenson knows someone." Kate offers.

"Your old FBI squeeze?" Rick questions.

"Jealous are we? It's sweet, but you have nothing to worry about. He's in my past." Kate tells him.

"I'll do some research when I get home, look up some names. Maybe there is someone I know that can help us. Coming to the loft after you're off work?" Rick asks.

"I need to stop at my place and gather up some clothes including all of my bikinis. Don't forget to pick up that second Tommy gun and a sniper rifle babe. If we keep changing things other things may start happening and I need to bring extra ammunition for my service weapon." Kate reaches up to give Rick a quick kiss.

"I'll see you at the loft tonight, Alexis is probably already expecting you." Rick smiles.

"I want to see Alexis too. I'll be there babe, have a good day." Kate kisses Rick soundly this time before going into the coffee shop to get her cup of coffee.

Rick runs his normal errands. Goes to see his bank and transfer money, however he also withdrawals another $60 thousand in cold hard cash, which isn't easy to accomplish since most banks don't actually keep all that much lying around.

Rick also goes to see his lawyer to finalize all the sales and purchases. Then he moves to a coffee shop and pulls his laptop out of the car and looks up where he might find that second Tommy gun just like last time and look for that sniper rifle that Kate wants.

At first Rick sees the Barrett that fires a .50 caliber round from up to a distance of 2 miles and likes the sound of it. It's just that after he makes a few inquiries he finds out just how hard it is to find enough ammunition to make it a viable purchase.

So he goes with a recommendation at one of the stores he goes to.

L115A3 AWM (British) since it fires either a .300 Winchester Magnum or a .338 Lapua Magnum.

Problem was Rick didn't know much about sniper rifles so he was relying on the owner of the store, who happened to have one in stock, so Rick bought it and all of the .300 and .338 ammunition that he had in stock. He would be back in 10 days to pick it up. The owner had even told him he might be able to get more ammunition in by that time too. So Rick told him he would take all he could supply. Then he went back to one of the other shops and bought out their supply of .300 and .338 that they had in stock.

Kate had her coffee and went back to the precinct and sat down next to Roy and worked with him to study to be a captain and learn how to run a precinct. All the while she is thinking 'You're involved with my mom's murder somehow and yet I trust you. You've been nothing but kind to me since I got here as just a lowly officer fresh out of the Academy.'

Kate was released for the day and knew that she usually went down to see Lanie, its just that if she went this time Lanie would see the giant smile on her face and throw a thousand questions at her. "Maybe another day." Kate tells herself and uses her desk computer to start digging into Roy Montgomery's past around the time her mother was killed.

Everything she found today got downloaded onto a flash drive and Kate turned off her computer and grabbed her stuff and went home.

Kate opened her door to her apartment and dropped her gun, badge, radiation detector and cuffs on the counter and went into her bedroom and pulled out a suitcase and dropped it on the bed. Next she started rifling through her drawers and started pulling out items to take with her.

Kate knew she was never coming back here again, so she needed clothes and shoes for the next two weeks. Well one week really since Rick had a washer and dryer. Plus 3 of her bikins and every sexy unmentionable that she owned.

It had Kate grinning wide knowing that for the next two weeks she was going to tease Castle by wearing them and let him strip them right back off of her so that they could make love to each other. Kate could already feel the need to be in Castle's arms.

Kate was way past the need to be running from Castle now, actually all she wanted to do now was run TO him and not away from him. "God I love that man." Kate talks to herself as a set of red bra and panties goes into her suitcase.

Satisfied with her choices, Kate picks up her suitcase, the stuff she had dropped on the counter and heads for her cruiser for the drive to the loft where she was going to spend the next 2 weeks before flying to Rick's islands with Alexis.

Except Kate had a thought as she was driving that she was going to bring up with Rick and Alexis. Would this change help or hurt? And how did they talk them into it?

Kate parked outside and pulled out her suitcase, only to be stopped by the doorman. Kate cursed at herself since she had forgotten to call ahead and have Castle add her to the list.

It only took a minute. "You can go up miss, have a nice night." He tells her.

Kate smiled since she had every intention of having a nice night, a really nice night!

Since Kate didn't as yet have a key it forced her to knock. Kate watched Castle open the door. "KATE!" And instantly found herself in Castle's arms and felt him kissing her as Kate kissed him back willingly.

"Come in, come in." Rick lets go of her and steps to one side and closes and locks the door. "Here, this is yours." Rick tells her and hands her a key to the loft.

"Thanks Castle." Kate smiles, takes the key and gives Rick a quick kiss.

"The bedroom for that bag is through there." Rick points, except Kate never makes it that far.

"MOM!" It got Kate to look up and see Alexis come flying down the stairs with her reddish/orange hair flying all over her head and face. Kate soon found herself in her daughter's arms as Kate held her close and neither of them tried to stop the tears.

"It's beginning again, isn't it?" Alexis asks without letting go of Kate.

"I'm afraid it is honey." Kate answers and kisses Alexis's head. They had done this so many times now that the three of them already knew most everything that was going to happen. "What is the last thing you remember?" Kate asks pulling back just far enough to look at Alexis without letting go of her.

Alexis looked at Kate and thought about it. "Flying. … I was talking to another navy pilot. He wanted to know where we were going, if we had, had our shots or if we had shots waiting for us." Alexis responds.

"Same as all the other times." Kate points out. "Montgomery is still retiring and Castle has completed all the sales and the purchases. Which makes the key to this somewhere in the middle." Kate comments.

"Have you had dinner?" Rick asks knowing that Alexis and himself haven't eaten yet, and watches Kate shake her head.

"Go unpack and I'll start dinner, we can talk while I cook." Rick offers, and kisses Kate's head as he walks for the kitchen.

"Good, because there is something I want to ask the two of you." Kate tells them, and lets go of Alexis, picks up her bag and goes into the master bedroom to unpack. It wasn't large as master bedrooms go, however it was nicely decorated. Kate noticed that, that blasted picture on the wall that Kate just knew was staring at her had to go again.

Kate joined Alexis at the breakfast bar to watch Rick cook and kissed Alexis's head as she sat down. "That picture has to go again Castle."

Rick turned and was all set to argue for his picture, but remembered that he had lost all the other times and was going to lose this time to. "Fine, I'll take it down when we go to bed."

"I'm sorry Castle, it's just I can feel that thing watching me, and I can't get to sleep with it watching my every move. It's like it's going to jump out of the frame and rip my throat open." It got Alexis to chuckle yet again, just like she had the previous few times.

"I wanted to talk to you two about how to get Martha and my dad to come with us this time when we fly out." Kate starts off with.

"That's a great idea mom. … Why didn't we think of this before?" Alexis had never liked leaving her grandmother behind. It's just that they were always rushed.

"You think that will change anything?" Rick asks.

"Probably not no. … It's just that it always sounds like the people staying in the precinct or the hospital that the 54th takes over have it hard, while we are relaxing out on the island. And the house has 4 bedrooms, more than enough to give them each a bedroom." Kate points out.

"Feeding 2 more people will empty our pantry that much faster." Rick points out.

"We have cargo capacity on the plane dad. We could take a few more cases of vegetables with us along with the coolers of frozen food that we've been taking the last few times." Alexis offers.

"Ok, so we have to go shopping anyway. I'll make a trip to pick up a few more cases of canned vegetables. Anything else?" Rick asks turning his back to his cooking.

"We could have more fresh vegetables if the greenhouse was bigger." Kate offers.

"I'll do some research and see if there is something we can take to increase capacity. We'll need pots, compost and seeds." Rick turns to look at the two of them. "All of this will take up space and add weight." Rick cautions.

"Five people means less cargo capacity due to weight restrictions. Remember mom there is no wind when we land. If we're too heavy, we don't stop in time so we can fly back out later. …. To do this all over again." Alexis moans.

Kate takes Alexis's hand in hers. "This is going to be the last time honey. I'm as tired of doing this over and over again as you are. I want my life back too." Kate assures her.

Kate was stepping out of the shower with Rick right behind her next morning. They were both soon standing next to each other while Kate was glowing after last night, this morning and just now in the shower.

Kate was had just finished blow drying her hair and was working on applying her make-up for the day.

"The weapons you asked for have been purchased and I can pick them up after the 10-day wait. I already have hundreds of rounds for the sniper rifle downstairs in the storage locker." Rick tells her. "Alexis and I are going to work out how much cargo we can safely handle and start loading the plane now while we have the time." Rick adds.

"We need information on Montgomery, the commissioner and the lead prosecutor, if in fact it is those three that are involved. As well as the senators. We need to know what they are doing." Kate wanted to figure this out and get her life back. Her life with Rick and Alexis in it.

"I'll make some phone calls and see where the senators are located and what they are doing. We need to all get together and brainstorm on how to figure out the hired killers that are military trained. We get too close and we might not even make it to the island." Rick was worried about that.

"We need to be discreet about all of it. They catch wind that we are on to them and it might get ugly." Kate agreed.

"We need that domino Kate, whoever that person is. We need something to start with or we're going to do this all over again." Rick points out.

Rick met Kate at the front door where she retrieved her service weapon. "I'll pick up some more ammunition for your weapon when I pick up the sniper rifle and the second Thompson." Rick tells her.

"You be careful babe. … I love you." And Kate kisses Rick.

"I love you too, have a good day at work." Rick closes and locks the door after Kate is in the elevator.

Alexis came down the stairs to find her dad in the kitchen working on making breakfast. "Mom gone already?" Alexis asks as she sits down.

"Just left, want some breakfast?" Rick asks her.

"Just some cereal and toast thanks." Alexis wasn't really all that hungry.

"Coming right up daughter of mine." Rick answered happily. "We have some shopping to take care of and pre-load the plane." Rick tells her.

"I need to work out just how much weight we can safely add with 2 extra people before we load too much into it." Alexis warns Rick.

"We need to go get the coolers and go get ready to purchase all the frozen food like last time." Rick adds.

"Going to be a busy next two weeks." Alexis agrees as she picks up her spoon to eat her bowl of cereal.

It is now one week later:

A lot of the news was about the rabies outbreak just like the three of them anticipated.

Rick, Kate and Alexis were sitting on the sofa watching the news. "My contact has indicated that the senators are all disappearing in small groups by helicopter." Rick tells them.

"They're going into hiding, meaning they know what is coming and are just going to let the rest of us die or suffer. Suck up all the necessary food for them to survive while the rest of us starve." Kate was mad. The idea of the founding fathers had been perverted into this.

"I was kinda hoping they were caught unprepared just like the rest of the planet. What makes their lives better than millions of others?" Kate crossed her arms across her chest.

"I've got another source that told me that the military was calling everyone in. All leaves are canceled, he even personally watched as ship after ship was loaded with supplies." Rick adds.

"How is all of this going un-noticed by the press?" Alexis asks. That kind of operation would be obvious.

"It has been." Kate points at the TV and reaches for the remote to turn up the volume.

The news announcer was talking about the military being tasked to transfer aid in the form of food and medicine to affected areas.

"Using aircraft carriers, destroyers and cruisers?" Alexis questions. "I thought they used cargo ships for that, they can hold more."

"They know too." Kate was getting madder and madder.

"The government and our own military are abandoning us." Alexis sat there with her mouth hanging open. "How can they do this?"

"It's called trickle down theory. If the super rich are doing well it trickles down to the rest of us. If the super rich survive what is coming, the country will recover faster. I wouldn't be surprised in one political party had better plans on surviving than the other. Turn what's left into a one party country." Rick was ready to laugh if it wasn't so sickening.

"If the major CEO's of big companies can't be found either than we know that the government likely knows and the public is being left in the dark. "I don't want to cause a panic". Kate uses her hands to make quote marks in the air.

That got Rick to pull out his cell phone. "Who are you calling?" Kate asks.

"One of the local news stations. If anyone can keep track of that many people, it's them." Rick explains and sees the look on Kate's face. "Don't worry I won't spill the beans. Besides if CEO's are suddenly unavailable, that's news, they'll jump at it." Rick was smiling.

Kate had to admit it made sense.