IMPORTANT! I need to say THANK YOU to all the wonderful people who reviewed last chapter. I thought it sucked honestly, especially the letter from Montgomery, so to know that you guys liked it was seriously just... awesome. Thanks especially to stevieLUVSalex, LittleLizzieZentara, Rick13, Amybf19, teeduo, Lor-mats, Widget, GenevaAthena, BlueTigress, SilverStella, castlecrazy, Guest, merry-merry-me, NCIS-Addict-4427, redheadednursey, phnxgrl, Beckett NYPD, xfcastle, imperceptibly, aolande1, knockoutXcaskett, and anyone else I accidently forgot. Thank you for reviewing the last chapter and saying it didn't suck. :) You're the best. All of you. Even the ones who didn't review. You're still badass.
Y'all make my day.
Update time.
Honestly, this should have been up last night, but then I came home from work, and the freaking thunderstorms rolled in! It was so bad, and I couldn't risk getting electrocuted just to get this chapter up. So here it is now.
As you'll see, I laced one or two of the events from Knockout into this chapter, so now this fic is becoming kind of an AU/post-finale fic. I like it.
I'm going to keep this short and just say this- I have the next chapter halfway done and will try to have it up as soon as possible. Next week, probably. I have the ACT on Saturday and am going to Kentucky on Sunday for a few days to visit all my horsey friends. Woot woot. (I'm a total horse/horse racing nerd, by the way.) (:
So anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it.
Part One: Sunday Punch
-
Chapter Five
-
Federal agent Jordan Shaw was sound asleep in her family's apartment in Chelsea, her husband's arms wrapped around her bare stomach in the sticky Manhattan heat. She was resting, a lulling calm veiling the entire neighborhood, it seemed, and it was a feeling welcomed by Shaw.
But being the workaholic that she was, Shaw kept her cell phone at her bedside, knowing she was on call if something terrible were to happen during the night.
Sometimes it did, and other times, it did not. And even after almost twenty years with the FBI, she never failed to be disappointed when her sleep was interrupted.
Because contrary to popular belief, Agent Shaw slept.
Unfortunately for her, crime did not.
So it didn't completely surprise her when the trill of her phone jarred both her and Jason from their slumber.
She sighed, reacting her husband's muffled order of "answer it" by wriggling out of his grasp and reaching over to pick up the device.
The first thing she noticed was the time. It was just after midnight. The second thing she noticed was the number. There was no caller ID.
"Hello," she answered, a hint of grogginess still in her voice.
"Agent Shaw," a male, Latin voice spoke on the other end. "This is Detective Javier Esposito from the 12th precinct."
At this, she sat straight up in the bed, reaching for the lamp on the desk beside her, turning it on. She had a feeling she wasn't going back to sleep.
"I remember you, Esposito," she answered evenly and then quipped, "What reason do you have for disturbing my beauty sleep?"
"Captain Montgomery has been in contact with you," he replied, and the added force in his voice did not go unnoticed by Shaw.
She was not the kind to be easily rattled, but the tone of his voice caused her to shift uncomfortably.
"He has."
"He informed us that we should call you in the event that something happened to him."
Her breath caught in her throat as Esposito elaborated, telling her what had happened to Montgomery.
She had known Esposito was going to call, and she had known that Montgomery was in grave danger, but part of her was had wanted to believe that the captain would make it out alright.
She told him to give her team an hour, and they would be there.
Jordan rose from the bed, much to Jason's dismay, and traveled to her closet in search of a business suit- even late at night, she had to make herself look presentable.
Like clockwork, Agents Shaw and Avery charged into the 12th with a cavalry of others from the FBI within the next hour.
She could already imagine the ruggedly handsome author fidgeting in his seat, another case of hero-worship for her setting in, sitting next to Detective- god, what was the little Irish one's name? Raley? Ryan?
But when she approached Esposito and Ryan, there was no Richard Castle- nor did she see a certain Detective Beckett- just a host of stern officers eager to please and impress the higher-ups.
"Agent Shaw," Esposito greeted as she walked up to him, offering her a handshake.
"Esposito," she nodded in response.
"We have a copy of the letter Montgomery sent," he said, handing it to her. "Basically, it tells us everything that you already know. I take it you guys will be wanting to set up the war room?"
He gestured to the agents carrying electronics and high-tech gadgets past them.
"We've already begun, if that's alright."
She pointed to a room where Agent Avery had already begun to dictate orders to set up smart boards and sort information.
"That's fine, yeah. What do you need from us?"
"Get a list of all the lawyers at Andrews and Hodgins. I want them all in my custody by tomorrow afternoon. Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am," Ryan and Esposito answered in unison.
"One more thing," she added before she turned to walk away.
"Yeah?"
With an amused smirk on her face, she asked, "Where's the dynamic duo?"
XxXxXxXxXxX
"You know what you need to do now, right?" Esposito asked him after placing the letter back into the envelope.
"What?"
The detective grimaced and handed the package back to Castle.
"Tell her."
Richard Castle was not easily flustered or made nervous, but there was one woman who could continually do so without fail.
He had been nervously pacing back and forth outside apartment 208 for the past three minutes, raising his hand to ring the doorbell, dropping it, sighing, pacing, repeating.
The mere thought of her reaction frightened him, and consequently, he had been trying to craft the strongest, most well-thought-out reason he could create as to why he had shown up at her apartment at midnight unannounced, and why the FBI would be camping out at the precinct for the next few days.
But the one reason that stuck out the most was telling her the truth.
Montgomery wanted to protect her. Castle wanted to protect her. Everybody wanted to protect each other.
He once more raised his finger to the doorbell but jumped back in surprise as her door suddenly swung open, and a stunned Kate Beckett stood before him.
"Beckett?" he squeaked.
"Castle?"
He stuttered for a moment before asking, "What are you doing?"
"I should ask you the same!"
"I was…," he faltered, debating whether he should be honest with her or whip up a sensationalized story in the next five seconds.
He decided on something in between.
"I was just coming to check up on you."
"I'm fine," she answered flatly.
His facial expression became stern and concerned at this.
"Clearly not if you were about to leave your place at midnight to go God-knows-where."
She scoffed. "Who said I was leaving? Maybe I just thought I heard pacing outside my apartment and thought some stalker was hanging outside my door."
He gave her a disapproving frown and gestured to her hand, resting at her side, something dangling from it.
"You're holding your keys."
She shifted her weight and crossed her arms defiantly.
"You don't have to hide from me like this, you know."
"Castle, I-"
"Where were you going?" he interjected, a tone of reproach pervading his voice.
Her gaze fell from his eyes to the ground.
"To the precinct," she mumbled.
Not a moment too soon, he thought, breathing a heavy sigh of relief.
She noticed this.
"What?"
He froze, opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, before plainly and simply informing her, "I need to tell you something."
Her front teeth found her lower lip and bit down slightly, waiting.
When he didn't move, only watched her for the next few moments, she figured this was something he did not want to discuss out in the hallway.
She sighed.
"Do you want to come in?"
He only nodded hesitantly, nervously, in response, and she led him inside, wheeling around to face him when she heard the door click shut.
She shrugged her shoulders and anxiously asked, "So what is it?"
He stalled. He almost stopped breathing. He began several times but could never articulate. Instead, he reached into his coat pocket, and with a slightly trembling hand, produced an envelope.
He handed it to her.
"What is this?"
Not meeting her eyes, he replied, "Montgomery sent it to me."
She grabbed it from him, eyeing him warily as she sat down on the couch and flipped open the already broken seal of the manila envelope.
He watched her the entire time she read until she peered up at him, signaling she had finished.
Her voice came out deep, even, eerily calm, as if she were on the brink of exploding.
"You called Agent Shaw, didn't you?"
He held out his hands submissively and began to explain.
"Evelyn dropped it off for me sometime tonight. I went home, my mother gave it to me, I read it. Then, I went to the precinct and showed Ryan and Esposito, and then I came straight here."
She leaned back against the couch, running a hand through her hair with more force than was necessary.
"Why didn't you come to me first?"
Exasperated now, he cried, "Did you read the letter?"
She rose from the couch. Her angry, narrowed eyes met his, and her voice came out much less calmly, almost shakily.
"Castle, this is my mother's case."
"And it's gotten out of hand. Otherwise, Montgomery would have wanted you to be the first to know about what he'd been doing. But he knew you wouldn't want the Feds involved."
She just placed her hands on her hips, unable to look at him.
He reached out for her, tried to walk toward her, but she turned her back to him and walked in the opposite direction.
He let out a frustrated sigh.
"You know, I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to make you angry. I would never want to h-"
"Castle," she interrupted him, whirling around to look at him from across the room. "Please leave. I'm too tired to argue."
"Kate, please-"
"Castle, I mean it. I can't deal with this right now," she stated firmly.
But he stood his ground and tried moving toward her again, distress wracking his voice.
"I don't want to see you like this, Kate. I just want to protect you. And I sure as hell don't want to see you get yourself killed, okay? I'm your partner. I'm your friend."
"Friends? Is that what we are, Castle?"
He straightened up, cocking his head to the side and taking in the sight of her- silently screaming for his help on the inside, yet so determined to push him away on the outside.
"You know what; I don't know what we are. We kiss, and then we never talk about it. We nearly die frozen in each others arms, but we never talk about it. So no, I got no clue what we are. I know I don't want to see you throw your life away."
He had closed the distance between them considerably as he spoke, the proximity of his large frame paralyzing her.
"Castle-" she croaked.
But she was cut off when her cell phone rang.
"Beckett," she greeted in her usual clipped tone.
The unintelligible voice on the other end did most of the talking, with Beckett giving simple responses of "okay" and "yeah, see you soon."
She dove away from Castle as she ended the call moments later, striding to the kitchen, where she had left her jacket and purse when she had let Castle in.
He took a few steps toward her again and called out, "Who was that?"
Annoyed, and yieldingly, as she knew he wouldn't stop pestering her, she replied.
"That was Ryan. They want me down at the precinct. And I swear to God, if you show up… Just don't, okay? I mean it, Castle. Besides, Martha and Alexis are probably worried sick about you."
She all but sprinted to the door, holding it open for him, ushering him out. He followed her as far as the door frame but would not step outside.
She continued to warn him, muttering, "Out, out, out" until he threw his voice over hers.
"But it's midnight! They're…"
She let go of the brass door knob, pressing her hands against his chest, catching him off guard with the action. She sent him stumbling backward, the door slamming in his face.
"…asleep," he muttered.
But he refused to leave, knocking on the door repeatedly, his muted cries of "Beckett!" audible from her spot just inside the apartment door as she leaned against it, huddled on the ground, knees grazing against her chin, hands covering her face as her emotions tore through her body in every which way.
He waited still, and she finally came out some minutes later.
"You're still here," she tried to sound surprised that he hadn't left, but in all honesty, she had known from the moment she saw him standing at her door fifteen minutes ago that he was not leaving without fully making himself heard.
"Kate, listen to me."
"Castle. Out," she ordered, her resolve beginning to crumble just the slightest bit.
"Kate," he pleaded.
They met each other's gaze, his eyes full of the most peculiar mix of supplication and affection. She'd seen it before- when she told him to go home during the Raglan case, and he brushed that aside, telling her he was her partner. She'd seen it after he kissed her, as if he were silently begging her not to kill him for crossing that line.
But there was also something in his voice made her stop dead in her tracks.
He continued.
"There is a sniper on the loose, and he's gunning for you. I am not going to just let you go off into the city on your own."
He was starting to break her.
"Castle, it's my life-"
"I can't watch you drown in this case. I can't let you do that to yourself.."
"Castle-"
"You could be happy, Kate. You deserve to be happy."
He stopped at that, and his eyes communicated it all.
I want to make you happy, Kate.
But she didn't let the heartfelt words break her walls. It was all too much.
"Please leave, Rick."
"Oh, you hate me a little bit right now, don't you?" - Castle
That's how I'll probably feel when you guys review, because I bet you guys hate me for the little angst this chapter gave you. I honestly didn't mean for this chapter to be so depressing! It just happened! But I PROMISE that this chapter and the next will be the darkest it gets, and it's honestly not even that bad. This is a dark case, and Kate still needs to sort things out, which you'll see in the next chapter. It'll all make sense and things will get better, and there will be fluff. A little bit of sadness, and then fluff. I promise. In fact, we're almost at the end of part one.
Oh, another thing. You'll get more Shaw in the next few chapters, too. :)
So... review? I'd really like to see this thing just go through the roof with reviews and make it be my most reviewed fic ever- by far. Reviews make people happy, so if you wish to opine, clicketh the review button. Thanks for all the awesome comments so far, guys. You make my day. Seriously. I hope you know that, and I think you guys are just wonderful.
One last thing- I take full responsibility for grammar and spelling mistakes and all that jazz. I'll fix all of that up eventually, if need be.