Chapter Three
Richard Castle stood before the three most important people in his life. All he could think was how much he wished he could be somewhere else for just a few more minutes, but a man has to do what a man has to do.
"Okay lets all go inside, I have an awful lot to tell you all." Rick says. Pumkin could you get me a glass of icewater, I am going to need some ice to help keep down the swelling. While Alexis heads to the kitchen with a look of worry on her face, he faces the other two women. One has a pained look of confusion and worry, the other a look of exasperation and… well… anger.
Alexis makes her way back with a glass of icewater and Rick takes a sip, wincing and starts to explain. "First off I am fine, but the explanation of what happened to my face has a story attached to it. Mother, Alexis, I know I have been hiding a lot from you over these last two months. So this will hopefully fill in some of those gaps."
Each of the ladies watches him as he spins his tale. Each with their own take on events. He explains the case of the dead cabbie that turned into so much more. Of Syrian ambassadors, of homeland security douchbags, of a family trapped and rent forever asunder by the misguided rage of warriors who felt abandoned by the lies of politicians.
For Kate who lived through it, it was an unbelievable tale, for Martha and especially Alexis, it was all of their fears come to life.
Castle covered the reasons leading to the freezer and some of what happened inside. Kate got to hear about what he thought of the events in that frozen hell. She got the hear about his fears of never seeing Alexis grow older, and her heart ached when she realized just how much his voice broke at that, then the ache turned into real pain as he described her, in his arms stopping her final declaration and falling into what he thought was her last few breaths. Her heart wanted to stop when she heard that his voice was as broken recounting his thought of her dying in his arms, as when he would never see Alexis again.
She closed her eyes to hold back emotions that she did not want to address; she once again took a deep breath to center herself, to focus on the fact, that they were okay. The cold was gone, warmth was still in them, that her heart beat still strong as ever, even if it was going a little pitter patter at the knowledge that maybe just maybe she might be wrong about the authors playboy persona.
Rick continued his story, after the two of them both gave a little shiver and met eyes for just a second. The word, the feeling of Always, a declaration they have both used, floating between them, tying them together. A promise and a gift all in one.
Rick glossed past the parking lot after the boys had come and rescued them. Quickly driving past what Kate now knew had hurt him deeply. Of her going to Josh for comfort while he spoke with Fallon. Her declaration of a chance, when just a short time before she was dying in Rick's arms.
Kate watched and listened as Rick told the rest of the story, she watched as Alexis shifted closer to him, both giving and receiving comfort in an almost equal measure.
He built up to the car chase, through the interrogation of the traitor, he related the terror of the I'm sorry's through the phone from Fallon.
Rick grimaced when he related the last few seconds. " Then I did what I had to do, with 1 second left and with little hope that it might at least stop the bomb, I held Kate's hand, made peace with my fate, and yanked every gorram wire out of the timer."
Both of the redheads looked to Kate with horror and fear etched on their faces to see if it was true. To see if the story could possibly be a joke. Their answer was plain on the brunettes face. The echo of one step to oblivion was there. Along with a small measure of pride directed towards the man in the room.
"Richard, why have we not heard about this on the news? Martha asked, "You would think in this day and age there would be things up on youtube, and everywhere else."
"Well mother, that leads into the next part of the story. There was pardon the expression, some fallout from this that Kate has not been privy to."
"Bob, wanted to give Kate and I a medal. But the Department of Homeland Security intervened. No-one was supposed to know. Somehow there was no-one in the immediate vicinity that had taped the events. I guess folks thought it was a traffic stop and the street was quiet where we were. But someone must have leaked it."
"There is some camera footage that a reporter got wind of from several security cameras around the area, and the story has been tied up in court for almost a month, but it will be coming out tomorrow. Video and all."
"All of our lives are about to change. Ours not so much, But Kate, I am so sorry Kate. Your 15 minutes is here, and it looks pissed."