CHAPTER FOUR
They decided that Castle's family should know first, after all he had a daughter, and it could probably get a little difficult for her to accept and Kate was going to talk with Alexis after their revelation.
When Kate and Castle got to his loft, Martha and Alexis were apparently waiting for them.
"Mother, Alexis. Is everything ok?" – Rick asked.
"Yeah, everything is fine. Why?" – Alexis replied.
"Because Kate and I have something to tell you"
"OK, bring it".
"Kate and I… Well, we are together now" – Rick was excited and curious.
"Yeah, and we wanted you two to know first" – Kate said.
"Oh my God! That's great!" – Exclaimed Martha and gave Kate a super hug.
Kate was really happy; she looked at Alexis hoping she wouldn't reject her, and gave her a hug too.
"Is that ok for you Alexis?" – Kate said.
"Well, yes" – She replied.
"Then, why do you have this look on your face?" – Kate gently asked.
"It's just that, my Dad has been struggling so hard to find the right person for him since he broke up with my mother…"
"That you are afraid I might leave him or break his heart?" – Kate completed.
"Kind of…"
Rick and Martha went to the couch, to talk about Rick's new relationship and Rick started to tell his mother how Kate was the one and how he always wanted this to happen to him. How he always wanted her and now he had her. While they talked, Kate helped Alexis in the kitchen.
"Listen, Alexis. Your father told me you're having some problems with your boyfriend. This must be still on your head and makes you doubt of everything around you, even if it's a small thing." – Kate said. "But the thing is whatever happened between you and your boyfriend, if you really love each other, you both will trespass this in the right time. You just have to give him some space and have yours too. This will give you the chance to pounder about where you are in this relationship and also where you think you both are in this one".
"Thank you so much Kate. You don't have any idea of how much your words are making me feel more free and relaxed. I was hoping to call him today. But I'll wait a little longer."
"Now, about your dad and I… I can't promise you Rick and I won't have any issues in our relationship. Just like you and your boyfriend I'm sure there will be those times when our ideas get to a conflict and we will argue. But that doesn't mean we will never talk to each other again. It will just be a normal thing that happens to real couples". Kate paused and thought about what she had just said; "Real couples". Her gaze fell at Rick, who was sitting on the couch next his mother and, with her gaze fixed on him, she continued. "I know you must have helped your father through this time that I wasn't with him, but I wanted you to know that I was denying him for a good reason. I wasn't ready for a relationship because I was to focus on my mother and if I had gotten into a relationship with him before then I would've hurt him, but the truth is your father gave me a light to shine my way out. And it was with him. That's when I realized how much I love him"
Alexis looked at her with a thankful look.
"We can't promise happy ever after like in fairy tales, because we don't know what the future holds for us. But we do know that we can promise one thing: We will love and respect each other deeply and this will drive us into the road called life". Kate finished.
"Thank you Kate".
Rick and Kate finally finished and were leaving his loft to go to the Precinct. At the door, Martha said:
"Welcome Kate. Welcome to our family"
"Thank you Martha"
"Ah Dad, before you go…" Alexis said. "You're a lucky guy".
Rick smiled at Alexis and then looked at Kate. She was showing that smile that she only wears when she is with him, which had no other meaning than love. They both left Rick's loft and were driving downtown to the Precinct when Kate's phone rang, it was Ryan.
"Beckett, we have a victim"
"Ok, give me the address" She wrote down in the piece of paper she found on Rick's car and turned to him.
"Ready for work honey?"
They got up and entered in Castle's car.
"Who do you think would find out about us first? Gates doesn't count" – asked Rick.
"I'm sure Lanie would do, if we decided not to tell anymore, she would definitely find out first"
"I think Ryan and Esposito would"
"Not so sure Castle"
"What? Wanna bet?"
"Yeah. 10 bucks Lanie will figure first"
"10 bucks it is. We give them one more week. If they don't find out we tell them"
"Deal… You're so loosing it"
They walked through the crime scene, getting out of the car together. They got weird looks from Ryan and Esposito as they walked, and Rick whispered:
"See, they are already suspecting".
"Sure they are. This is a murder investigation, they have to be suspecting…" Kate replied and gave him a little smile.
"Just for that, I'm raising the bet. 20 bucks"
"Fine"
"Hey!" – Esposito yelled "You're here. I was wondering what was holding you back".
"I was helping Alexis with a boyfriend problem. What do we have?" Kate promptly answered and asked for news on the case.
"John Doe, mid twenties, bruises on the body indicating he had a fight with the killer, Lanie is analyzing him to state COD" – said Ryan.
"Uniforms are canvassing the area looking for any surveillance cameras, wallet… Anything that could help us to identify the victim or to show us what was going on the last couple of days" – completed Esposito.
"Great job you guys. Even look like real Detectives" – she said and smile.
"Yeah" they used they favorite touch to indicate they did a great job.
"We can find out anything you want".
Rick gave Kate a winner look and she ignored him, going after Lanie.
"So, what do we have?"
"It's too soon to state anything right now. He has bruises in his body and apparently died from this gunshot right here. I think it's a 9mm but I have to take him to the lab to run tests to see if the gunshot killed him or something else. Then I'll be able to give you an accurate COD. But I'm sure I can give you his time of death; it would be around 4 and 6 am last night".
"Thanks Lanie"
"Hey Ryan" - She yelled - "Just to clear my mind, have CSU looking for prints in this piece of wood in here, may be nothing but we can get something. One more thing, ask Esposito to run his picture in our database, maybe we can find and ID there."
"On it. Oh and there's a surveillance camera right at the end of the alley, probably we won't get any image, but it must have recorded the audio."
"Go ahead."
Ryan left to find the owner of the camera and to ask CSU to run for the prints. Kate was leaving Lanie to go talk to Rick to feed him up on the info of the case.
"Just for the record Katie, you smell like writer" – Lanie kept looking at the victim.
Kate stopped and looked at Lanie, but Lanie was with her back turned to her; then she continued.
"So… Anything?" – Rick asked.
"Not much, no ID, no wallet, and apparently we will only have COD when Lanie get the corpse to the morgue. Ryan is checking the surveillance cameras around and I asked CSU to look for prints in that piece of wood back there… I also asked Esposito to run his picture on our database to see if we can ID him."
"Hey!" – Esposito yelled. "Police freeze!"
Rick and Kate immediately turned to see the suspect, but the suspect raised his gun and shot. Rick ran in front of Kate and pulled her to the ground with him.
"Son of a bitch!" – Yelled Ryan.
"We have a partner down!" – Esposito said and ran after the suspect.
Lanie ran toward Castle and Beckett, but stopped beside Kate.
"C'mon! Don't leave me! C'mon! Not like this! No! Rick! Rick!" – Kate desperately yelled, her face was red like fire and she couldn't breathe because she was crying very hard, she started the CPR. Lanie put her hand on Kate's shoulder and whispered:
"The ambulance is coming, he'll be fine!"
"No no no no no..." Kate couldn't stoplooking at him. She didn't even notice Lanie was there.
"Hey" – Rick moaned very softly.
"Can you hear me? Please don't leave. Please" – She yelled.