UCSBdad
Disclaimer: Luke, I am your….No, wait. That's wrong. I'm not Castle's father. Rating: K Time: An AU story beginning at what would be the end of season one.
The next morning as Kate was getting ready to walk out of her bedroom to go to work, she smelled bacon and other wonderful smells.
"Rick. What are you doing?"
"Making us breakfast." Was the reply. "You've heard of breakfast?"
She walked into the breakfast bar. "I usually just have a bear claw…."
"And a grande skim latte with two pumps of sugar free vanilla." He held out a cup. "You mentioned the coffee yesterday when you were on the phone. And I made a travel mug for you."
"Rick, you really don't have to…."
Again, he cut her off. "Of course I do. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I made bacon and scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausages, a couple of pancakes, toast and orange juice. Now sit down and eat, Detective Beckett." He said the last in a faux stern voice.
She ate.
After Kate left, Rick went to find his clothes that he'd left in the loft. He was surprised at how important it suddenly was for him to make a good impression on Kate's friends. He finally decided on a dark blue suit with a wine colored shirt and no tie.
He sat nervously in Remy's waiting for Kate and her friends. Then he saw her coming towards him, trailed by a stern looking African-American man, a lovely woman who must be Dr. Parish, and two men who had to be Esposito and Ryan, her two detectives.
To his surprise, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a real kiss. Her tongue ran along his lips and he opened his mouth and explored her tongue for just a second until she pulled away.
"Hi, babe." She whispered.
"I missed you."
She laughed. "I was only gone for a few hours."
"You were gone. I missed you."
She turned around and introduced him to everyone. Montgomery looked on with almost fatherly concern, Dr. Parish looked at him appraisingly, Esposito challengingly, while Ryan had a friendly smile.
Once they were all seated, Captain Montgomery began the interrogation.
"So, Mr. Rodgers, tell is about yourself."
"If we're going to be formal, Captain, it's Sergeant Rodgers,"
"Hey, "Esposito interrupted, "I thought Sorenson said he wasn't a cop."
"I'm not. Richard Rodgers, Staff Sergeant, Infantry, US Army."
That caught Esposito's attention. "Yeah? Where you assigned?"
"Ranger Reconnaissance Company, Fort Benning."
"You're not joking, are you?"
"Espo!" Kate said angrily. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Just checking. There are more people out there who claim to be ex-Special Forces or Navy SEALS, or whatever, than ever served."
Rick pulled out his wallet and handed his ID card over. "I have a couple of copies of my orders as well." He handed a sheet of paper to Esposito.
The Hispanic detective nodded. "Ranger Recon all right. But your assigned temporarily to the VA hospital out in the Bronx. What happened?"
Rick nodded. "I got blown up by and IED just past the Salang Tunnel, headed for Bagram. Traumatic brain injury."
That got Lanie's attention. "Are you okay, Sergeant Rodgers?"
"It's Rick, and right now I'm just fine. But last night I woke up feeling nauseous."
"Why didn't you wake me?" Kate asked, taking his hand.
"And tell you what? I feel nauseous but I promise I won't throw up in bed? I sat up and in about ten minutes I felt better and went back to sleep."
"Next time, tell me." Kate said, the concern clear in her voice.
"So how did you meet Beckett?" Ryan asked.
Rick looked over at Kate and smiled. She smiled back. "The day I met Kate was the worst day of my life."
"You'd better have a good explanation for that, Soldier Boy." Lanie said, her eyes narrowing.
"And it was the best day of my life. We met here in Manhattan on September 11, 2001."
There was silence for a moment. Everyone at the table remembered the day.
"Kate may not have told you that I used to write under the name Richard Castle."
"Sweetie, he was your favorite author."
Kate just smiled. "He is my favorite author."
"Anyway, I was in the offices of my publisher, Black Pawn, just bouncing some story ideas off of my editor when we heard the secretaries in the outer office screaming. We both ran out and the secretaries were pointing out the window. One of the World Trade Center towers was on fire. The secretaries said a plane had hit it. We turned on the TV, hoping that it was some sort of mistake, a publicity stunt or something. It wasn't."
"I ran out of the office and grabbed a cab. My mother and my daughter were in a restaurant at the top of the tower. I can't remember when, but the cab had to stop. The police were only letting emergency vehicles go. I got out and ran."
Kate could see tears form in Rick's eyes. She slid under his arm and hugged him.
"As I was running. I heard this unbelievably loud noise and saw a grey wall coming towards me. It was dust, soot and debris from the collapse of the tower. I was knocked down, but as soon as the dust cleared, I began running again."
Rick looked down at Kate. "And then the most beautiful woman in the world stopped me."
"Rick! I was covered in soot and dust. You'd have been lucky to tell I was a woman."
"Like I said, I was stopped by the most beautiful woman in the world. I tried to push past her, babbling about my mother and my daughter. She kept telling me that all I'd do was get in the way of the professionals trying to help. Finally, she put my arm behind my back and frog marched me about a block away. She told me if I moved from there, she'd handcuff me to a street light."
"You don't mess with Beckett." Esposito said with a smile.
"I sat there and after a while I noticed she was working, trying to get debris off of a vehicle. I went over to help her. It was an FDNY pickup. The passenger was dead, but the driver was still alive. Between the two of us, we managed to get him out and to an ambulance. Kate thanked me, but told me I'd have to leave. But I did find out her first name when another cop called to her."
Captain Montgomery frowned. "Okay, but how did you two get from 9/11 to living together?"
"In time, Captain."
"It's Roy."
"I went back to my loft. I couldn't believe my mother and my daughter Alexis were gone. But they were. Some years later I was told they'd found a few pieces of bone that DNA had identified as from my mother and Alexis. I intend to have them buried with me."
Rick shook his head and a tear fell.
"I just sat there. I didn't eat, drink, shower or do anything. Some of my friends came by and got me to eat and clean up. They kept coming around, taking care of me and trying to snap me out of my funk. Then one day the TV news was on. It showed pictures of US soldiers in Afghanistan chasing something called Al Qaeda. The news said they were responsible for the attacks. That got me out of my funk."
"You enlisted?" Espo asked.
"The next day. The recruiting sergeant wasn't too thrilled with a thirty-something playboy showing up to enlist, but I talked him into it. Before I knew I, I was off to Fort Benning, Georgia to become an infantryman."
"I did that at nineteen. I can't imagine doing it in my thirties." Espo said, shaking his head.
"My DI was quite a motivator. And I got help from the platoon. But I made it. That and airborne school. Just after I got my jump wings, some colonel called me into his office and asked if the rumors were true? That I was a wealthy author whose family had been killed on 9/11. When I told him it was true, he told me he could get me on a plane to A-Stan as a replacement. I ended up with the 101st Airborne Division."
"That still doesn't explain how you and Kate got together." Montgomery chided gently.
"I'm getting to that. After my enlistment was up, I reenlisted. I had no desire to go back to writing or do anything other than be a soldier. I went back to Afghanistan and to Iraq. Eventually, I became a Ranger. About a year and a half ago I was on leave in New York, intending to see a friend of mine who'd lost a leg. When I got to his home, his wife told me he was in the hospital and couldn't have visitors. I was kind of at a loss, but I decided I'd go get a real first class meal. But, for that I decided I'd need a suit. When I leased my loft, I left all the furnishing and everything, including my clothes. When I got to the loft, Kate was there. I had a hell of a time convincing her I wasn't some nut case, but I described my loft in great detail and even had her get one of my books so she could see my photo on the back cover. She told me my clothes were in the spare bedroom and let me go upstairs. I did notice she kept her hand on her sidearm the whole time, though."
"I did not." Kate said. "I took my hand off Glock after about ten minutes."
"I apologize." Rick said, winking at her. "I guess she felt bad about how she'd treated me and asked if I'd like some coffee. I accepted and we started talking. She wanted to know how a successful author ended up a soldier. I explained about how I'd lost my mother and daughter on 9/11 and how I'd run to the site but was stopped. All at once, we realized we'd met before. I asked her out to dinner and she accepted. We talked and we saw each other again, and when I had to leave, I asked if she'd mind if I wrote to her. She said she'd be happy if I did. So, we wrote, e-mailed and Skyped for the last year and a half."
"Sweetie, why didn't you tell us you were with Rick?" Lanie asked.
"Because I wasn't "with" Rick. And I was afraid of being teased for going all fangirl over my favorite author."
"We never would have…."Esposito began, only to be stopped by a kick under the table from Lanie. "Yes, we would have." He grinned. "Oh, would you have heard about it."
"When I came back to New York, I headed for the loft. I guess seeing each other in person showed each of us how much we'd grown to care for each other. It was like we'd been together in person for the last year and a half. She asked me to stay at the loft and I offered to sleep in the spare room."
Both Rick and Kate blushed.
"So where do you sleep now?" Espo asked, getting kicks from both Lanie and Kate.
"That's none of your concern, Espo." Kate said, but with a smile that told everyone where Rick slept.
The rest of the evening went well. Espo and Rick traded war stories and found they knew some people in common. Everyone seemed to like Rick and he liked Kate's colleagues.
When the dinner was almost over, Kate managed to get Espo alone for a second.
"Javi, you seem awfully impressed with Rick. What is a Ranger Reconnaissance Company?"
"Beckett, I was Special Forces. Special Forces are what they call second tier units. Us, Navy Seals, Marine Special Ops, the Ranger Regiment and a few others. First tier units are the Army's Delta Force, the Navy SEAL's DEVGRU and the Ranger Recon Company. The first two are mainly direct action units, like taking down that warlord in Somalia in '91. Ranger Recon goes to places no one else goes to. They're supposed to have been in Iran, North Korea, China, places like that. Rick is really hard core. Didn't he tell you all of this?"
Kate shook her head.
"He probably didn't want you to worry."
"And now I'm worried." She muttered.
When they got home, Rick smiled at her.
"So, how did your fake boyfriend do?"
"You did just fine. You can be my fake boyfriend anytime."
"And you can be my fake girlfriend anytime, too." He countered.
She leaned over and gently brushed her lips across his. Then she winked at him.
"Good night, Rick." She turned and headed for her bedroom as Rick went upstairs. From the stairs until he was in bed, Rick wondered what the kiss and the wink meant. Did the wink mean the kiss didn't mean anything? Or did the kiss mean something?
Meanwhile, Kate lay in bed, wondering if Rick would come to her bed. She was both pleased and disappointed when he didn't.
The next morning, Kate hadn't been gone for five minutes when she came back into the loft.
"Rick, I need to use your phone. Somehow both my car battery and phone battery are dead. I'll need to call the police garage and call for a cab."
"Why don't I drive you?"
She frowned. "In what?"
"Duh! A car."
"You keep a car here?"
"Doesn't everyone?'" Seeing her glare, he continued. "I have a car in the underground garage. Jerry has some kid take it out once a week, check the oil, tires, and whatever. I'm sure it's in great shape."
Once in the garage, he led Kate to bright red Ferrari.
Kate was amazed. "You keep an expensive sports car just garaged in New York? Why?"
He shrugged. "Suppose one of New York's finest needs a ride to a crime scene? How would she get there?"
Kate decided she had no answer to that one.
They pulled up outside the Candela's home just as Captain Montgomery walked by.
"Did you get a new ride out of the department, Kate? If so, tell me your secret."
Kate blushed slightly. "It's Rick's car."
"What time did you want me to pick you up? And where?" Rick asked.
Montgomery spoke before Kate could tell him that that wasn't necessary.
"Why don't you come in and look around. Your job is finding things out that people don't want known. Maybe you can be a help."
Rick looked at Kate for permission. "Okay?"
She nodded. "Why not."
As soon as he saw Rick, Will Sorenson headed towards him, Montgomery and Kate.
"You're bringing some cook to a crime scene? Forget about it, Beckett. He's out of here." He began to push Rick, but Rick didn't move.
"Special Agent Sorenson." Montgomery said coldly. "Sergeant Rodgers is a US Army Ranger and a reconnaissance expert. The NYPD thinks his abilities would be an asset to this investigation."
"This investigation is a Federal investigation. He goes. Now."
"You asked for the cooperation of the NYPD. We decide who's part of our team. Not you. He stays."
Sorenson got in Montgomery's face. "He goes. I'll call the Special Agent in Charge if I have to."
"And I'm sure he'll be fascinated to learn you're having a jurisdictional dispute with the NYPD instead of working full time on the kidnapping. And I can call the Chief of Police. And as I recall, he wasn't too pleased last year when the FBI took credit for taking down the Wilburn brothers when there wasn't an FBI agent within blocks of the bust."'
The two men glared at each other. Sorenson looked away first. "Fine. But he's your responsibility."
Rick hung around for hours but found nothing of any use. However, he was present for the argument between Sorenson and Alfred Candela about who would deliver the ransom. Alfred insisted that no police be involved, and Sorenson, and Kate, felt that Alfred was too emotionally close to the case to handle the drop.
"No problem. I'll handle it."
"You?" Both Kate and Sorenson said together.
"You both look too much like cops to make the drop. Sorry, Kate, but you move like a cop and nothing could keep Sorenson from looking exactly like an FBI agent. That leaves me. I don't look like a cop and I'm good at getting into and out of places."
No one exactly liked the idea, but no one had a better idea. And so, Rick Rodgers found himself carrying a backpack full of cash and following text messages that led him to a train station. He put the bag down and headed for the exit. That's when all hell broke loose.
Both Ryan and Esposito jumped men carrying the backpack, only to find no money. Rick looked around to see dozens of identical backpacks being carried away. The police managed to stop most of them, but not the one with the cash.
Once back at the Candela's they settled in to wait developments. The only advantage they had was that Rick had put the cell phone he'd given in the backpack with the GPS on.
"The GPS on the phone is gone." An FBI tech reported to Sorenson after about an hour.
The agent just shrugged. "Checking to see the cash was there and that there was nothing that could trace them is the first thing the kidnappers would do. It was a nice try, but it didn't work. Now we wait."
Rick pulled Kate aside. "He almost said that I had a good idea. Is he okay?" He whispered.
"He's upset." She whispered back. "We're both remembering the case we worked on before. Where the child was dead by the time we caught the kidnapper. And like he said, now we wait."
Later that night, Kate woke up to find Rick going through the stuffed animals on Angela's bed.
"What are you doing?"
"Go back to sleep, Kate."
"Rick? What are you doing?"
"I noticed that in every photo of Angela, she's holding this stuffed bunny. Alexis had a stuffed animal she just couldn't live without called Monkey Bunkey. In fact, Monkey Bunkey is still in her old room."
"So?"
"The rabbit isn't here. I've looked all over. The kidnapper took it."
She shrugged. "And?"
"The kidnapper knew Angela well enough to know to take the bunny. Someone knew her really well."
"We've checked the babysitters, the cleaning lady, the neighbors…."
"What about family?"
"We'd better wake Sorenson up and tell him about this."
Much later, Rick and Kate got back to the loft.
"We got Angela back, but everything turned to shit from there on in." Rick said, tiredly.
"I hope it isn't as bad as we think it is."
Rick snorted. "Her mom and her aunt will be in prison until Angela's an adult and that leaves her dad to take care of her. I can't see Alfred doing the nine to five to support Angela. He'll go through the money he has and then he'll start to resent the amount of time and money that Angela takes up. He'll dump her on some relative or give her over to the system and look for some other sucker to support his painting. I do not see a happy life for Angela Candela."
She nodded. "You're probably right, but I'm too tired and too upset to want to think about it. I just want to get some sleep." She headed for her bedroom, then turned back to Rick.
"Thanks for the help. We wouldn't have solved this without you."
"Thanks, but you're the detective here. You'd have figured it out."
She gave him a smile. "Goodnight."
"Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow is more hopeful. I guess it's the writer still in me."
"I'm a cop. I'll just say goodnight."