Greetings from Progreso. It's 88 and partly cloudy. We went to Chichen Itza yesterday and spent the night. You just can't appreciate the pyramids and the surroundings in one day. Tomorrow we're just going to recuperate and catch some sun. Friday's fishing off shore provided it doesn't rain.
This is just something to keep ya'll interested or give the haters something to B!tch about.
She Learned the Truth at 17
Chapter 24
Loft
Castle woke up and saw that Kate's side of the bed was empty. Running the palm of his hand across the smooth sheet told him that she'd been up and gone for some time. The sheet was cold but he could smell her scent on his palm. It was 8:30 and he had to get to the precinct and get his statement down and on the record before he could do much of anything else.
He started to stretch his arms above his head when his stitches tugged and physically reminded him of the previous day. Apparently he'd 'lost' the sling sometime during the night and between sleeping with his arm unsupported as he'd been instructed nottodo,and his unwitting stretching of damaged tissue and skin, Castle felt the need for a pain pill to start off his day.
He cleaned himself up enough to be presentable in public, pulled jeans on, one-handed, and carefully put on a white button-down dress shirt and drank his morning coffee (Bless you, Kate Beckett), pulled on a warm leather jacket and walked out the front door and down to the parking garage.
He got into his Ferrari, fully intending to surprise Kate and hand her the keys when he left to go to his meeting with Paula, and realized that he couldn't drive it one-handed wearing a sling. His desire to please his future wife weighed against the pain he'd incur but hell, her smile would take away any discomfort he might feel.
He parked in a reserved parking spot and put on the sling, figuring she'd give him hell if he showed up without it, and strolled into the precinct and greeted the desk sergeant with a smile and told him about his car and why it shouldn't be towed away.
"Sure thing, Castle. I'll let the day watch know. Beckett's going to be one pleasant detective to be around for the next few days." He grinned conspiratorially.
"Better be more than a few days, Marcus. It's a Ferrari, for God's sake, not a…Volkswagon!"
Kate was sitting at her desk trying not to laugh at Natalie Rhodes sprawling epic of the events of yesterday afternoon and didn't hear the 'ding' of the elevator or see Castle get off the elevator and walk into the break room.
Rick saw Kate standing at the coffee urn and since they were alone in the break room, 'Evil Ricky' surfaced.
He walked up behind her, put his good arm around her and nuzzled her neck and then placed a wet kiss at the one spot he knew she couldn't resist.
"Mmm, I don't know who you are, but if you don't stop that in an hour, I'm calling a cop."
It took less than a second for him to assimilate two things: her hair smelled like vanilla and unless she'd gotten a boob job since 2am – this was not Kate Beckett!
He leaped backwards and stumbled over a chair and landed, as fate would have it, on his injured arm and let out a groan. Natalie turned and started to laugh until she saw the pain etched on Castle's face and she rushed over to help him up.
"Not a word, Natalie. Not one damned word. You look like…like Nikki Heat and from behind, Kate. Not one word to her." His breathing seemed labored and Natalie wanted to get Beckett but waited until Castle seemed more in control.
"I'll get Kate for you, Rick. Just sit there. You know, I'm flattered that you think I'm Nikki Heat. I hope this outfit is Nikki. I think it is."
"Yeah, well, don't be surprised in the guys line up to ogle. Just don't give in to your baser instincts, Natalie. This is a police station and these guys are all horny cops. Stick close to Beckett. Remember the Immersion method we talked about?"
She was Nikki Heat as he'd written and envisioned her in his mind. Part of him was tickled but a larger part was wondering just how closely people would identify Nikki Heat, the movie character, with Kate Beckett, NYPD Homicide Detective?
"I'll go get Beckett for you. You just stay right where you are, Rick. I saw the look on your face. You probably tore some stitches or something."
"No! I'm fine. I just need to catch my breath. Do you know if Captain Montgomery is in today?" He wanted to nag at Kate about the Ferrari. He had this image in his mind of his girlfriend arriving at crime scenes and climbing out of it, her long legs and boots appearing first and…
"Castle, Natalie said you fell! Let me see your arm, sweetie. Help me take off your jacket." Kate had come running when Natalie interrupted her and said that 'Castle fell on his injured arm and…' and that was all she heard. He looked a little dazed sitting on the chair at the table.
"Did you hit your head, Rick? You look a little dazed." He hadn't responded when she first came into the break room. He was just staring at the coffee machine.
He blinked at her and a slow smile formed and he whispered, "I can't wait to see you pull up at a crime scene in the Ferrari, Kate. You'll look sooo good stepping out of it, your long legs…"
She had to smile although she would have been embarrassed if anyone else had heard the wistfulness in his voice. Sometimes he was just such a…guy.
"Well, if you want these long and silky smooth limbs anywhere near you, you'll take off the damned jacket and let me see what you've done to yourself now, Castle!"
"Aw, Beckett, it's nothing. I just slipped on Natalie's spilled coffee. It's no big deal, Kate. Quit smothering me, will ya? Let's go talk to Roy about the Ferrari. I got an endorsement issued so you're covered by insurance and the city's indemnified if you go all postal on some bad guy's ass in a hot pursuit."
"First, your arm, Castle, then your statement and then, if you haven't hurt yourself too badly and your statement makes sense, unlike Rhodes', then I'll talk to the Captain. I'm off the Coonan case but still in the loop. I need your help on the Models' case. It's dead in the water."
"Kate, they can't do that to you! That guy threw acid in your face and I'll bet my next two royalty checks that he knows more about this than you were told."
"Rick, we'll talk about it at home, not here." She cupped her ear and raised an eyebrow. Castle may have been in pain but his brain was whirling with the inference of her gesture. He rubbed his finger down the side of his nose like he'd seen once in a movie and Kate laughed and nodded and then helped him off with his jacket and then the sling.
"Oh, shit, Castle. Look what you've done to yourself now! You've torn some stitches and ruined your shirt. Bloodstains don't come out of oxford cloth shirts. I liked this shirt. It's just like the blue one under my pillow. Maybe Lanie can repair the damage without a trip to the ER again. We don't have time for this, Rick. You need to be more careful when you're not channeling Rick Rogers."
He wasn't listening. He was remembering Kate in just his shirt, buttons barely hanging on by a thread and her long naked legs hooked around the bar stool as she drank her coffee that wonderful morning.
She snapped her fingers in front of his face to get his attention and he looked up at her and smiled. "I like the blue one, too. Especially when you're in it and wearing absolutely nothing else like that…"
"Shh. That's between us. It's not for this place. Don't sully it with the shit that happens here, okay? Let's get you to Lanie. I think she can add a few stitches."
"No, it's okay, really. Um, morgues work with the dead and they don't need anesthetics, do they? No, I'll be fine. I've had worse. No, really, Kate…"
Lanie made soothing noises and sounds as she sewed up the incision the surgeon had made to remove the small bullet from Castle's arm. He'd torn all the stitches and Lanie knew that if Beckett hadn't been there holding his hand that he'd probably have just walked away and lived with it, not that she blamed him.
Castle had been right. They did not stock topical or IM anesthetics. The dead feel no pain although Lanie always treated them with respect even when stitching up the 'Y' incisions. It was the final humiliation and she strove to reduce it even if they'd never know about it.
"All done, Rick. Get Kate to buy you a sucker for being such a brave little boy."
"Thanks, Lanie. What do I owe ya?" He was joking, of course. Kate got a text and said, "Got to go talk to the captain. See you upstairs, Castle," and left.
Castle's eyes followed her out of the morgue but his attention focused on Lanie when she mentioned that there was something he could do for her.
"Well, there is something…", her dark brown eyes sought out his. He could see a pleading in them.
"Anything, Doc. You just name it."
"Find out why Esposito suddenly has this crying need to be anywhere I'm not? If I show up at a crime scene and he's there, he's suddenly off to do canvassing. If I'm there first, he either avoids me or sends Ryan for the particulars. He's…cool and professional around me and it's bugging the ever-lovin' crap outta me, Castle. I thought…"
"I'll nose around and see what I can find out for ya. Maybe it's nothing more than your imagination. Gimme a couple of days and I'll let you know. I'm sure it's nothing more than Esposito being professional when you two are on the clock."
"He won't return my calls at night. We're not on the clock at night. Something's up with him and he won't even talk to me about it. He just says 'it's nothing to worry about, chica' and either changes the subject or walks off."
"I'll talk to him, okay? I'm sure it's nothing more than the job getting to him. The Models' case is a bugger and then he got Coonan dumped on him…it's a lot to take on."
On the 4th floor, Kate knocked on the Captain's door. "You wanted to see me, Sir?" Esposito was sitting in the visitor's chair and was looking out the window. His badge and gun were on the Captain's desk.
Roy Montgomery stood up and laid a hand on Esposito's shoulder and said to Beckett, "See if you can talk some sense into Detective Esposito and get him to take back his badge and gun."