A/N1: Hello people and WELCOME to the twentieth Chapter of Absolution titled 'Getting Somewhere' First off...HOW AWESOME was Always? Without ass kissing MilMar or the rest of the Castle writing team that was the BEST-FUCKING-EPISODE-EVER! I could guarantee all of you Caskett shippers out there would not have guessed hot the episode would have turned out! That scene was totally perfect and a million types of beautiful. My favourite part of the whole episode was the part where Rick drops a lingering open mouthed kiss on Kate's scar! That two seconds was the most sensual, erotic romantic and simply perfect moment I have EVER seen on t.v Seriously MilMar should write every chappie of Castle, though I suspect if they did we'd all be spoiled and never be able to watch any other T.V show ever again ha ha.
Anyway enough of my fangirling...on with the show!
The fifth Friday of investigations came around and Rick once again met Ryan and Esposito at the Old Haunt.
"Gates not here yet?" he inquired of the two detectives in a low tone.
"Not that we've seen but we've only been here five minutes," Esposito replied. "Another Disney movie night on at the loft?"
"Nah the girls have moved onto Pixar now," Rick replied, sliding into the booth to join his friends. "Cars one and two and Wall-E."
"Have they asked you to join them?" Ryan asked.
"No and I wouldn't, Friday night is Alexis and Kate's night, sometimes Lanie's joined them. It's a guy free zone," Rick said with a slight smile. "Friday night is my 'manly poker night' with you two, according to Alexis."
"Hey, heads up." Esposito mumbled jerking his head and urging Rick to look over his shoulder. He did and saw Victoria Gates striding through the bar, dressed down, her long hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. He got up to greet her.
"Glad you could come," he said as Ryan and Esposito rose from their seats. "Follow us downstairs."
Gate gave a small nod and made her way onto the staircase downstairs as soon as Rick unlocked the door. Ryan and Esposito followed and then the Writer himself, locking he door with his key then punching in the code that activated a motion sensor at the top of the steps. Rick then turned and made his way down into his office where Ryan, Esposito and Gates were already seated around the table Gates with an expectant look upon her face.
"Thank you for coming," he said to the older woman as he shifted aside the book case that hid the safe where he kept the investigation's entire paperwork safe. "How long can you stay?"
"I didn't give my husband a time frame," Gates answered. "I said I'd been invited to a poker night at a bar and could be all night."
Ryan and Esposito snorted loudly but quickly covered their amusement, only their eyes revealing their amusement at their boss's statement.
"Well I gathered with your revelation at the precinct, there is a possibility I'll be here all night," Gates said dryly as Rick retrieved the satchel containing all the paperwork related to their investigation from within the safe. "Is that likely?"
"It's possible," Rick replied, lacing the satchel on the table and sitting down on his favorite chair. "We generally stay til Kate, Jenny or Lanie ring and ask where we are. Kate's usually the one who rings. And when she rings its end game, I don't want to take any chances her discovering what we're up to."
"Makes sense," Gates responded as Rick began distributing the paperwork. "Alright, there are...rules..." he added nodding at Ryan.
"Number one what we discover stays within this room and this room only," the Irish detective said looking at Gates. "Nothing is to be mentioned at your home, the precinct or at any of our homes or even on the street. If anything gets out Kate is a dead woman walking."
"Rule number two," Esposito said. "In this room there are no ranks or superiority. Everyone is referred by their first names only. No Sir, Detective or Mr. Everyone is on equal footing. Respect is paramount but no one pulls rank."
"And third we have to be a hundred percent sure of a lead before we go inspecting it," Rick said, placing the empty satchel on the ground. "If we're wrong, word spreads and Kate is dead. If we do our jobs properly we nail one and I think possibly two sons of bitches. Understand?"
"I do," Gates replied, reaching into her handbag and pulling out her reading glasses. "Okay, what do you three have so far?"
"Lots of little bits of information but we need to find a tangible thread to go forward," Ryan said. "Last week I looked into the Jersey warehouse fire where a lot of the files connected to Johanna Beckett's murder were stored. The fire Captain listed Rod Halstead in the NYPD report it says the attending FDNY investigator was a Nic Warrington. Now we know from that visit Rick and Kate had to the fire station, Rod Halstead was listed as the attending chief. We need to find out where Nic Warrington is now and what happened for his name to be wiped off the official FDNY report. There's definitely something dodgy going on, why would Rod Halstead be listed as the attending investigator, when he clearly wasn't anywhere near the scene at the time?"
Gate's eyebrows rose a little as Ryan handed her his papers that were covered in highlighting text scribbled and several post it notes.
"Interesting," she muttered as her eyes flew over the notes. "This is very thorough."
"It's the only way we're going to get Johanna's killer," the Irish Detective said in a serious tone. "We're all doing this for Kate and Jim, they both need justice."
"Are any names on those papers, familiar?" Rick asked hopefully.
"Nnnnnnnnot at first sight but if you've got a laptop I can access the NYPD IA database and enter the details." The older woman replied.
"Can you still access the IA database?" Rick asked curiously.
"I can," Gates replied "in most cases anyone that used to work in IA can unless they've been stripped of their badge or are on leave of any sort. If worst comes to worst I'll hack into the system. It shouldn't be too hard."
Rick who had just poured himself a glass of water form the jug and was sipping it choked on he liquid and sprayed it all down his front.
"Excuse me?" he yelped his facial expression matching those of Ryan and Esposito.
"Oh come on Mr Castl-Rick you've copied official NYPD and FDNY files that's enough to get your ass handed to you in a super max prison if we're going to be sneaky and as covert as possible without attracting attention in this investigation we have to go the whole hog. We're likely to have to hack into computer systems at some point. I can do that for you. If we're going to be sneaky at some point we have to look into the NYPD data base and I have the ability to do it without anyone getting suspicious. I did use to work in IA after all and that's how Internal Affairs work."
"I-I'm aware of that, I just never exp-" the Writer began.
"Never expected your boss to have a sneaky side?" Gates said, in a faint tone of amusement. "Yeah well not everyone is as they appear at first impression. We're all capable of doing things people on the outside least expect us to do. Besides from where I stand, it seems you're going to need my, Kevin and Javier's expertise to make up a legally believable story for when we arrest Johanna Beckett's killer and Kate's shooter for how files that have previously been thought of as having gone missing have suddenly turned up again. If it gets out you as a civilian copied and kept official files, you'd be in Sing Sing before your handcuffs are secure."
"I know," Rick said in a pained voice. "Well, start thinking up some legit believable stories now because if my gut feeling is anything to go by, we're not far off busting this case wide open."
"Keep reading Kevin's papers then have a look at what Javi's discovered," Rick told the older woman. "Then you'll realize how big this whole mess is."
"So how can I tell whose notes are whose?" Gates asked several minutes later as she flipped over a page. "Everything is only highlighted."
"Go by the highlighter colours," Esposito told her. "Kevin uses yellow, I used orange and Rick uses blue."
"And yours is pink, cliché I know." Rick said holding out a bright pink highlighter texta to the woman. "And here's a writing pad and a pen for you to make any notes of your own. Be really, really specific where you're bookmarking. Specificity is going to help us in the long run."
"You know once all this is over, you really ought to give serious consideration to taking up commissioner Kelly's offer to join the force," Gates said another several minutes later. "I haven't ever seen this much detail into an investigation in my whole career and I've been around cops since I was born."
"Yeah well I'm seriously considering it," Rick answered truthfully. "I'll still write of course but financially I don't have to write for a living anymore. I haven't had to do it for years. I'd like to have it as my recreation and to be able to do something that is more obvious in doing good for the community."
"Well I know an entire homicide department that would recommend you for the job," Gates told him in a slightly distracted tone as she continued to read Ryan's notes. "Jesus, it's not just the warehouse fire in Jersey that Nic Warrington was listed as attending inspector is it? October '01 was the Jersey fire then in March, August and December '02, three apartment buildings, two of which a child died and he's listed as investigator in each one. That is not normal. If this is a cover up, there's three counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and two of murder one, or murder two at the very least. I don't know of a DA's department in the entire country that would not push for a count of murder one where two children died."
"I don't think Nic Warrington has anything to do with Johanna Beckett's murder personally," Rick confessed. "I think the one to be concerned about is Rod Halstead. I think he's been paid off by a higher power to be listed at the chief investigating warden to cover up something bigger most likely a drug ring, because Johanna was organizing a protest against the drug scene in Washington Heights when she was killed. I think whoever he's covering for knows who ordered the hit."
"Entirely possible," Gates responded thoughtfully. "I'm starting to connect the dots and I definitely think we should question this Nic Warrington."
"We've just got to figure out how to do it without then next in the chain of command finding out," Rick groaned. "I just can't see how we're going to do this without inadvertently letting the wrong people know what we're up to."
The Writer dropped his head into his hands.
"Well if we're going to be as furtive as possible I think a little covert monitoring of his daily routine for a week or so then an ever so gentle persuasion to come with us might help matters." Gates suggested.
Rick, Ryan and Esposito's jaws fell open.
"Abducting?" Esposito yelped.
"No not Abducting definitely not Abducting," Gates replied. "Gentle persuasion, I'm sure once we let Mr Warrington know he could be at risk of being jailed for perverting the course of justice he can be convinced to let us know what he knows."
"So this gentle persuasion," Rick ventured. "Are we going to need handcuffs, blindfolds and somewhere secret we can question Warrington?"
Gates just raised an eyebrow as if to say. "What do you think?"
"Handcuffs and blindfolds, we can do its finding somewhere to question him without being detected that's going to trip us up." Ryan said with a sigh.
"Did you not go through the academy and get your badge in a box of Cheerios?" Esposito asked in exasperation. "We can find somewhere secluded."
"Alright, so what's next?" Gates asked.
"Javier was the next to find something odd," Rick revealed.
"I'm not entirely sure of the significance of it, but it's definitely fishy." Esposito spoke up. "I was looking at the Laura Cambridge case again and there's something fishy about his lawyer Timothy Miller, since the Laura Cambridge case he's been disbarred and jailed for possession of a trafficable amount of cocaine. He's in Sing Sing now."
"Isn't that the jail his former client, Jordan Norris is in?" Gates asked, peering at the paperwork Esposito handed her
"Yeah, it is." The Latino detective replied. "We discussed this last week and we think it's worth pulling Jordan Norris in, maybe under the illusion of questioning him for another case, then hitting him with what we know. But it's going to be tricky. We know we can get some valuable information out of him but it's going to be keeping him out of harm's way that's gonna be a problem. Whoever ordered the hit on Johanna Beckett has the power to transfer any prisoner out of protective custody and if Jordan Norris is put into general population, he's going to get the shit kicked out of him or worse in an effort to shut him up. Hal Lockwood got transferred out of the isolation block and we all know how that ended up."
"I can think of only maybe three-four people tops that have the authority to do that," Gates mused as she furiously read the papers in her hands. "As difficult as it may be, if we work as a team, there are ways to avoid the danger and keep everyone alive."
"Something else is curious," Esposito said, sorting his own papers and giving hem to Gates. "One thing keeps on popping up."
"Something big by the looks on your faces." Gates stated, looking around the table at the three men.
"Have a read and you'll notice one name that keeps cropping up."
A few minutes later and she found the connection.
"The Govenor?" Gates exclaimed incredulously. "Shit."
"There are rumors he's going to nominate for the presidential race," Ryan said. "My father in law follows the political scene and reckons he's the best chance the Republican Party has had of getting into the White House in years."
"Hmm, my husband thinks the same," Gates said, reading the information in front of her vociferously. "Met him a couple of times at various functions, polite enough but a bit of an ass kisser."
"Aren't all Republicans like that?" Esposito joked with a snort.
"He went to school with Timothy Miller and they both attended Harvard Law School," Rick explained, pointing to the information. "And they in turn worked at the same law firm as Hargreaves before the latter left law to join the force and now ended up as…"
"The deputy commissioner!" Gates exclaimed.
"Exactly," the boys chorused.
"So we've got to find out where Nic Warrington, Tim Miller Hargraves and Robinson are connected and theoretically doing that will reveal who murdered Johanna and shot Kate." Gates theorized after several minutes of studying the many papers in front of her.
"Yes and if helps I'll ring my people at the FBI and go about rejoining their service," Rick told the older woman. "They told me when Alexis was small that any time I wanted to come back they would take me. I told my boss it would take one very extraordinary case for me to have to come back."
"Well after listening to your story and studying the evidence of your investigation I would say doing that would not be a totally stupid idea," Gates told to the Writer. "I would get onto them first thing Monday morning and tell your old boss you have an extraordinary case that warrants you rejoining. I'll take some personal time and go with you if you think it'll help."
"I'd want you all to come," Rick said immediately. "We can take all the paperwork with us and show the people I trust what the situation is. I'm due to go back and re-qualify for my gun license anyway. I can go and do it when Kate's on call."
"I'm cool to go with you but how are we…" Ryan said indicating to himself and Esposito. "Going to get away with coming with you? We're two thirds of Kate's team."
"I can assign her to work with Karpowski, Stegner and Jacques for when you head to Quantico," Gates said to Rick. "You two take some 'personal' days," she suggested to Ryan and Esposito. "Go on a weekend under the guise of a poker or golf weekend. That's what my husband used to tell people when he worked covert operations."
"I think we'd have more chance of getting away with it if I told Lanie and Jenny I wanted to take you two to Quantico and give you a tour of the FBI facilities," Rick piped up as he fell back in his chair. "It's not a total lie and I doubt Lanie or Jenny would ask much about it. And if you do come, I can give you a tour of the facilities."
"Sounds legit" Esposito said with a short nod.
"I'll go with that." Ryan added.
"I'll ring my people on Monday and organize something," Rick announced. "God, I don't want to get my hopes up but can I say it seems like we're getting somewhere."
"Seems so Bro," Esposito agreed. "And if this goes like I think it's going to, you better join the NYPD. You'd totally rock a dress uniform."
"He'd look better in his than you do in yours," Ryan joked as he got up from his chair and went over to the small refrigerator in the corner to fetch himself a can of soda. "Sodas all 'round?"
"Shut up bro."
"We've got a good solid plan in place," Gates said, leaning back in her chair as Ryan distributed the cans of soda. "I found when I first started in the force and worked in narcotics then IA, the key to a good take down in meticulous and solid planning. You've got that and you have a solid list of people to question once we put the plan into place."
"Hmm," Rick replied in a distracted tone as he popped his can of soda and took a swig. "I would like to find Nic Warrington before we head to Quantico though. Is it too soon to start up that surveillance of him before we head off to Virginia?"
"We've got to find out where he is first, bro," Esposito piped up. "And if he's still in the service because after two thousand nine I can't find any record with his name on it. He might have moved out of state, died or left the job. If he's out of state, that's going to complicate matters. If we find him, I'd track him for a week before we make a move. Head to Quantico, do what you have to do to rejoin the feds then we move."
"God, if this wasn't so serious I'd say it was a moment out of the movies," Rick groaned, rubbing his face. "And the one thing that scares me more than finding the sons of bitches that shot her and ordered the hit on her Mom, is Kate finding out. She's going to hate me for lying to her I know that."
"Not if we tell her in a controlled environment and stress to her that if we had told her she would have gone out there a head full of steam and gotten herself killed," Ryan shared. "She knows these people are dangerous she knows someone out there wants her dead."
"Yeah, but she doesn't know how much." Rick replied in a pained voice. "And the thing that sucks is we can't tell her how much because she will get shot and this time they won't miss."
"Bro, don't get worked up over something that hasn't happened yet,' Esposito told his friend. "We'll deal with things as they happen."
"I'm being stupid," Rick said sheepishly. "I have to admit I'd rather have Kate alive and mad at me than dead and six foot under."
"All I can say is rely on your team," Gates said. "You won't fail in your goal if you do that."
"Yeah, trust us dude. We've got your back," Ryan assured his friend. "Til the wheels fall off."
"You look pre-occupied," Kate said to Rick two days later as they sat on the sofa her head in his lap both sipping wine.
The Writer looked down, smiling as Kate looked up at him.
"I am a little," he admitted, placing his glass on the side table and reaching down to stroke her hair, which was splayed out over his legs like a halo. "Frozen Heat comes out in a couple of months and things are really starting to ramp up. I'm going to have to go to several meetings in the next week or two, and then I have to go to Quantico to re-qualify for my gun license and I promised Kevin and Javier I would take them with me when I did it... I have to do that in the next ten days. I'd rather spend all my time at the precinct with you, but stuff is happening that's going to make that difficult."
"Ah it won't kill us being apart for a bit, absence makes the heart grow fonder, y'know," Kate replied with a soft smile. "If I get totally desperate, I can ring you."
Rick chuckled heartily. "Desperate for what?" he teased. "Case help or phone sex?"
Kate giggled. "Case help Castle, keep your mind out of the gutter," she said dryly. "I am not engaging in phone sex with you of all people at work. The bullpen is not an appropriate place to get all hot and bothered."
"How about some dirty texting then?" Rick suggested with a snort of laughter. "From tomorrow whenever we're bored, we can exchange lascivious material through text. Then when we get home we can put into action what we've texted during the day."
Kate's green/brown eyes darkened with desire. "Sounds good," she answered, getting up and scooting closer to the writer. "When's the launch party being held?"
Rick put an arm around Kate's shoulders and drew her near, resting his chin on her head.
"We haven't got an exact date yet but I'm thinking the middle or end of September," he replied, his heart swelling as the female detective snuggled even closer, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder her lips only an inch from his neck. "It's a big deal being the last Nikki Heat launch party. Paula's in negotiations now to get the ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria."
"So a black tie event?" Kate enquired.
"Yeah, looks like it. When we've got a definite date I'll give you my card and you can go and get something, something really fancy to wear."
"What's wrong with the black dress you got me to wear to Weldon's New Year's Eve party?" Kate asked. "It's a perfectly functioning black tie appropriate dress. In fact I haven't worn it since that party."
Rick smiled his mind filled with images of seeing Kate in that dress. "I loved seeing you wear it," he confessed, running his fingers through her hair idly. "You were the most beautiful I'd ever seen you that night and I'd love to see you wear it again. In fact if you put it on again I'm not entirely sure I'd want you to take it off."
Kate blushed. "You did that night," she teased, gently poking the Writer in the abdomen. "Figuratively speaking of course. If I had let you lay your hands on it I am sure it would be a pile of ripped rags because of you ripping it from my body."
"I ought you buy you something you wouldn't have any problem with me ripping off," Rick said in amusement, shifting his position and lowering his lips to the porcelain skin of her neck. "All your clothes, outerwear and lingerie are works of art. Especially that little black thong and bra set with the pink roses over it, I know you wear that to the precinct all the time with the sole purpose of driving me nuts."
Kate shivered as the Writer slipped a hand into her trousers and sucked on her earlobe.
"Damn, I thought I was being subtle with my underwear choice," she breathed as his hand slipped further into her knickers. "Really Rick, the living room?"
"Why not?" Rick murmured, teasing the female detective with his fingers and chuckled as she shivered at his touch. "Alexis went to bed two hours ago and would have gone to sleep almost straight away, there hasn't been a peep out of her for ages. Do you not want to get a little..."
Rick let the question hang in the hair. Kate jerked and let out a long drawn out moan of desire as she felt his fingers press against her nub, sending tickles up and down her legs and a thrill of anticipation up her spine.
"B-bedroom," she groaned as he kissed her hard. "Once we start, I don't want to stop. And I feel like being loud. Even you have to admit we can't do that if we stay on the couch."
"Sometimes you're far too reasonable," Rick groused good naturedly as Kate got to her feet her eyes coloured with desire. "But it's a turn on, so I'll go with the flow."
Kate grasped his hand and beckoned with a singular finger.
"Come one Writer Man," she purred. "Time to go to bed."
"Yes Ma'am."
Kate rose early the following morning and began getting ready for her day as Rick remained in bed, watching her morning routine gloriously naked.
"Oh don't look so smug," Kate grumbled, the hint of a smile upon her lips as the Writer watched her apply her makeup in the dresser mirror. "It's not a good look on you."
"HmmMmm, I beg to differ," the Writer replied cockily, raking his eyes over her trouser clad backside. "Whenever I make you scream my name, I deserve to be smug."
Kate just rolled her eyes. "You're the most arrogant man I've ever met," she said in amusement, capping her mascara and looking into the mirror to asses her appearance. "How do I look?"
"Are you asking for an unbiased opinion?" Rick asked in amusement, looking the female detective up and down as she turned around. "Because I may not be the right person to ask."
The writer laughed heartily as Kate rolled her eyes and smacked him on the arm.
"You look beautiful as always, darling girl," he continued as she sat on his side of the bed to pull on her favourite boots. "But as I was alluding to earlier, you'd look good in a chaff bag."
"Maybe this coming Halloween I'll get some chaff bags and make a costume," Kate joked, standing up to pocket her badge and holster her gun. "Alright I'm going to head off, you coming to see me off?"
Rick sat up and lazily scratched his scalp. "You going to make it worth my while?" he murmured against her neck.
Kate shivered as his lips travelled over her porcelain skin. "Maaaaaaaybe," she replied. "Lunch on me."
"Do I get a kiss at the door?" Rick asked, sweeping aside her hair and kissing the sensitive spot behind her ear.
"Yeah alright but only because you won't get one at the precinct," Kate replied with a smile patting his leg. "Come on, get decent and see me off."
Rick swung his legs over the edge of the bed and reached for his boxers that Kate had thrown over her shoulder onto the floor the previous night. He pulled them on, and then pulled on his dressing gown, yawning widely.
"You're scruffy," Kate teased then reaching for her iPhone and snapping a picture of him. "Great there's your new caller I.D picture."
"Excuse me, it's not scruff its sex hair," Rick retorted as they left the bedroom and made their way through the still quiet loft. "there's a difference. Scruff is not sexy."
"Eh, on you it is," Kate teased playfully, tweaking the Writer's ear. "You're the only man I've ever been with that I like facial hair on, though I do like it when you're smooth as a baby's bum."
Rick wrapped his arms around Kate's slender waist holding her slim frame to his muscular one.
"I'll shave for you then," he murmured, pressing his lips to hers. "See you at the precinct at twelfth?"
Kate moaned breathily as the Writer plundered her mouth with his tongue and cupped her backside in his large hands.
"Mm-mmf at tw-wefth," she breathed. "Rick I really have to go, tons of paperwork to do."
The Writer ignored the female detective's words and kissed her even more enthusiastically.
"Mm-I-don't-care." he murmured, peppering her lips, then forehead then eyelids with dozens of feather light kisses.
Kate gave in to the Writer's ministrations for a moment before snapping herself back to reality.
"RICK!" she exclaimed. "Seriously I have to go, you can kiss me at lunch time."
"I thought you said no kissing at the precinct?" the Writer replied cockily. "Ah ha, got you there."
"Hey, I never said I'd kiss you at the precinct," she replied dryly, reaching into her handbag and inspecting her face in a compact mirror she pulled form within. "Oh for gods sake, you've smudged my lipstick. Are you determined to make me late?"
"If I answer that honestly you'll smack me," Rick replied with a chuckle, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'll see you at the precinct at twelve alright? I'll try and come in earlier if possible. Drive safe."
"See you then. Rick, I love you."
"Love you too, darling girl."
As soon as Kate left the loft Rick closed the door behind her, returning to the bedroom and picking up his iPhone. He punched in a familiar number and put the device to his ear, trepidation pooling in his stomach. It rang half a dozen times before the line picked up and a familiar name filtered down the line.
"Grasman."
"Hey pal, it's Rick Rodgers." Rick said.
"Holy fuck, you're the last person I ever imagined to hear from!" the elder FBI agent exclaimed incredulously. "What's doing Writer Boy?"
"Remember I said I would only come back if the right case cropped up?"
"Yeah, remember those words better than my wedding vows man."
"Well I have the right one," Rick revealed. "I want back in."
A/N2: Well people what did you think? Reviews tell me you love me ya know!...