Chapter 6

Sunday August 13 2017

Kate was in the kitchen busily getting ready for Rebecca's first birthday party, that afternoon, she decided that a coffee break was in order as she had making preparations nonstop since she had finished her breakfast just after 9.0'clock. She went to the Espresso machine and prepared one of her Skimmed Lattes with two pumps of sugar free vanilla, that Rick had eventually managed to teach her how to make without scalding her fingers.

As she drank the coffee she looked, with a smile on her face, across to the lounge area to where her two daughters were happily playing. She thought back to the same day the previous year when she had first met Rebecca after she had been born and the overwhelming love for her that she had felt in that moment. and still did. This had led her to decide as her maternity leave went on that she no longer wanted, nor needed to be an NYPD Detective. Her thoughts drifted forward over the year watching her daughter develop from a completely helpless and dependant new born baby to the stage she was at now. She remembered how her first smile had seemed like a ray of sunshine, and the laugh she had made along with the babbling noises as she talked to herself were like a stream running over pebbles. She remembered how she had scooted around the flat sat down, she had missed out on the crawling stage, as she had learned to go to pieces of furniture or usually Kate or Ricks legs to pull her self into a standing position. Her firsts attempts at walking had caused an afternoon of general hilarity as she had set off then flopped down on her bum, being of Beckett stock however, she had not let that beat her and eventually mastered the technique of toddling that afternoon. Kate also remembered the first coherent word she had said, not Mama or Dada, but Exis, she continued to use that as Alexis' name.

After enjoying her short break she went back to her preparations for the party just as Rick, whom she had sent out for last minute supplies such as fresh Strawberries, Blueberries and other soft fruit, walked in saying "How are my three favourite girls doing?" Two answered "Fine." Whilst the other one let out an excited scream and said "Dada."

The party that afternoon went with a swing. Martha and Jim were of course there and did what all doting Grandparents do, bring Rebecca more presents than was strictly necessary, neither Kate nor Rick felt that they could be called out for wanting to spoil their second grandchild however. Ryan and Jenny were also there with Sarah Jane who was now growing up and Patrick Louis their youngest who had been born about nine months before Rebecca. Javi also attended with Tori who had been his girlfriend from soon after his split from Lanie,

Lanie was noticeable by her absence having moved to Houston Texas in June to be with her fiancé Dr John Dryden who was a Paediatric surgeon in the city; She was now Houston's Assistant Chief M.E.

Jo Martinez and her husband Henry Morgan were in attendance. Jo had as expected been promoted to Captain in charge of the 12th precinct, when Kate had resigned from the NYPD, which in turn made Henry happy as he now knew she was not in the same danger as when she was out on the streets chasing criminals. Lanie's move had left a vacancy in the morgue which Henry had applied for and had been accepted for the post, much to Jo Martinez-Morgan's delight, She and Henry had got married in May that year, Henry had taken Jo to Paris for their honeymoon, to show her what he had meant when he told her the best thing to do in Paris, which he said was the most romantic city in the world, was to take a very special person and to come out of their hotel each morning and turn either left or right then to get lost for the day, Jo had loved every second of it. At the end of July they had announced that they also were going to be having a baby,

She now knew Henry had been cured of his immortally when he had been shot by the same pistol that had caused it in the first place. This remained, and would always be, their secret, so they were now able to behave, and enjoy life, like any normal family.

Jo was once again considered by Kate as her one of her best female friends, and they tried to meet up at least once a week in order not to loose touch with one another, as had happened when she had met and married Sean, they also spoke regularly on the phone. Kate knew she would never be stuck for a baby sitter as she knew she could always call on Jo if she was free, as she adored baby Rebecca.

The party ended around 7.0clock as people started to drift off home. Kate and Rick put a very sleepy Rebecca to bed and settled down on the couch with a bottle of wine and started to watch the Indiana Jones trilogy, within an hour they had both drifted off to sleep, when they awoke about quarter to ten they agreed that it was time for bed.

As she was drifting off to sleep Kate whispered in Ricks ear "I want us to look into having another baby" little did she know that these words were to be prophetic.

Thursday November 23 2017

The call came into Sully's phone at 10.13am to say that a murder had happened in Tribeca the address was sent by text to him. He called out to his team that they had a body drop. As he was leaving he popped his head round Jo's office door to let her know what was happening and as was protocol gave her the address where the murder had taken place, the team then set off for the crime scene.

On arrival they each started doing their own jobs as they had been taught over the last year or so.

Sully spotted the M. Henry Morgan crouching down next the body. He said "Hi Doc what have we got this time?"

Henry looked up and said "Hello Sully. Male Caucasian name Aaron Woodhead according to his driver's licence aged 36. COD Blunt Force Trauma to the back of the head, two blows either of which could have killed him instantly, TOD between 9.0clock and 10.0clock this morning. It appears that the motive could have been robbery as his wallet is empty of cash and credit cards. His watch and his cell phone, if he had them, are also missing. The woman also…."

Sully said "Wait what woman?"

Henry replied "She was still alive when the first responders arrived and has been transported to Presbyterian Hospital; she is pregnant and appears to be getting near term. I have her wallet here,"

They had a look through the wallet, which had also been emptied of any cash enforcing the case for a robbery gone wrong, and found that she was Sarah Woodhead wife of the deceased. While examining the wallet they found a laminated list of people who could be contacted in an emergency, whilst look at it, Henry spotted a very familiar name at the top of the list and immediately decided to phone his wife to come out to the scene. When she arrived he took her and Sully to one side and showed her the list. Jo's hand flew to her mouth and she said "Oh God no" when she saw the first name on the list was Katherine Beckett-Castle.

She said "I'm going to go to the Loft to see Kate." She asked "Henry have you finished here yet?"

He said "I'll be about five minutes finishing off." When he did Jo asked if he would go with her to see Kate and Rick.

Henry answered "Of course I'll come with you."

When they arrived at the Loft Jo gently knocked on the door and it was opened by Rick who said "Hi Jo, Hi Henry how are you both? Come in."

Jo said "Fine thanks. Is Kate in?".

Rick stepped aside and confirmed that she was in and was just putting Rebecca down for her afternoon nap.

At that moment Kate appeared at the top of the stairs and said "Hi Jo, Hi Henry, what are you two doing here at this time on a working afternoon?"

Jo looked up at her and said "Kate can you come down? We have something we have to tell you."

Kate made her way downstairs and asked them to come into the lounge area of the Loft, she asked whether they wanted anything to drink. Both said No thank you.

Kate said "Jo what has happened?" as she looked at their serious faces.

Jo replied "There is no easy way to tell you this Kate, can to confirm that you know someone called Sarah Woodhead who is married to an Aaron Woodhead?"

Kate's face blanched as she replied "Yes she is one of my cousins. Why?"

Jo replied "I am afraid I have some very bad news for you Kate, she and her husband have been murdered." She told them "When she was found she was still alive but suffered a brain aneurism on the way to hospital, however the medics got her on to a ventilator and managed to keep her oxygen levels up and blood circulating in order to save her baby."

Kate looked up quickly and said "What baby? I didn't know she was pregnant."

Jo said "She appeared to be nearing term and when she reached Hospital it was decided to try and save the baby by performing a . She has been taken to Presbyterian Hospital

Kate asked Jo and Henry if they could take them to the Hospital as she didn't think that either she or Rick were upto driving at that time.

Jo said "Of course we'll take you."

Jo phoned Sully and told him she would not be returning to the precinct that day and if they needed to contact her to ring her cell phone.

Meanwhile Rick was on the phone to Martha to ask her to come and babysit Rebecca for them.

They set off for the Hospital soon after Martha arrived at the Loft, having given her a brief resume of what had happened.

On the way Kate asked Jo how her pregnancy was going, Jo replied "Great apart from the cravings for stupid things like S'morlett's, Pizza's with Ice cream on, Ugh. And Brussels Sprouts with every meal. I don't know where that one came from as the very smell of them at Christmas makes me want to throw up."

Kate chuckled and said "My cravings were for Pineapple and anchovy with soured cream omelettes, aubergine and sweet potato salad with Garlic Mayo, to name but two."

When they arrived at the Hospital they went straight to the Reception Desk where Jo flashed her badge, this was the only thing that Kate missed about not being in the police force any longer, and said that they were there about Sarah and Aaron Woodhead.

The receptionist asked them to take a seat and then paged the doctor in charge of the case. He appeared at the reception desk after about fifteen minutes and was directed over to them. He said "I'm Dr Evans, please accept my apologies for keeping you waiting for so long but I was just in the middle of an examination of the twins."

Kate said "That's O… What twins?" as she realised what he had said.

He replied "As you know Mrs Woodhead was pregnant when she died, the EMT's managed to get her onto a ventilator to keep her breathing and her blood circulating to keep her babies alive, when she got here she was immediately operated on to deliver the twins and this was successful, they are now in ICU in incubators and will probably remain there for at least the next four to six weeks.

Kate said "How near term do you think they were, what sex are they and what was their birth weight?"

Dr Evans said "I would think they were about six weeks away from term but we can confirm that when we contact Mrs Woodhead's OBGYN. They are a boy and a girl and the boy weighed 4lb 2oz at birth and the girl was 4lb 7oz."

Kate asked "Could we go to see them?"

Dr Evans replied "Of course come with me and I'll take you to the maternity ICU.

As Kate and Rick rose to their feet Kate noticed that Jo and Henry had remained seated She turned to them and said "Aren't you coming with us?"

Jo said "We thought that you might want to do this by yourselves."

Kate said to her "On your feet both of you, why would you think we wouldn't want our best friends with us."

When they arrived at the ICU they were told that only two people at a time could go in to see the babies for a maximum of 15 minutes, Kate and Rick went in together, as she looked down at the two tiny infants her heart gave a huge flip and she knew that she wanted to be part of their lives, as they no longer had a mother and father .

After fifteen minutes gazing at them in wonder, with Rick by her side. She went out and invited Jo to go in with her to see them, About five minutes into the visit she turned to Jo and said "Aren't they adorable? As they don't have a family I want to try and adopt them, what do you think? Don't tell Rick what I am thinking."

Jo said "You are joking aren't you? He already knows."

Kate said "What do you mean?"

Jo replied "That guy has always been able to read you like one of his Nikki Heat books Kate, plus you two have, as Lanie used to say, this linked brain thing, it was painted all over his face, when you came out to get me, that he knew what you were thinking. Knowing Rick, I bet he has already got onto his lawyers to start looking into adoption."

When they got home and had had their evening meal they went to sit on the couch with a glass of wine each, as they snuggled up to one another Kate said "Rick we need to talk."

Rick said "Before you say anything, I know what you are going to say, you want us to take the twins, don't you?"

Kate smiled and replied "Jo was right you really can read me like a book, can't you?"

Rick said "After all this time together I should be able to, not only that but I swear sometimes I can almost hear what you are thinking."

Kate quipped "That could be embarrassing."

Rick said "If it was just up to me then I would have no hesitation in going for it straight away, but you have a larger family to consider and I think that we need to talk to them as well to get their views."

Kate said "I hadn't thought of that, how do you suggest we proceed?"

Rick said "I have made an appointment with my Attorney for Monday morning to go and discuss the best thing to do."

Kate said "Score another point for Martinez, she said when we were in looking at the twins that you would already be on to your Lawyers to get them looking into adoption, so what time is the appointment?"

...

Saturday November 25 2017

Although it wasn't one of his normal working days Henry went into the morgue to perform the autopsies on Aaron and Sarah Woodhead as he knew that the Homicide team at the twelfth would be wanting the results as quickly as possible, also Kate and Rick would be wanting the results and the release of the body to allow them to start making funeral arrangements. As he had predicted at the murder scene the cause of death in both cases was BFT with the TOD being approximately 9.30am. As he finished off his report he signed the forms to release the bodies the coming Friday, just in case anything was questioned about his autopsy.

Henry phoned Rick and Kate and confirmed the causes of death, and also that the bodies would be released the following Friday for burial.

Monday November 27 2017 (A.M.)

The weekend had passed quickly as Kate and Rick looked after Rebecca and visited the Hospital twice a day on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday to see the twins.

They had decided on the Friday to take Jo and Henry out to dinner on the Saturday evening to thank them for the help they had given in coping with the tragedy on the Thursday.

Kate had kept weighing the Pro's and Con's of adopting the twins most of Friday and Saturday, when she hadn't been taking care of Rebecca or visiting the twins, at the moment the Pro's were definitely outweighing the Con's.

Kate brought the subject up whilst they were out with Jo and Henry and explained the dilemma she had, obviously from a financial point of view there was no problem as Rick was a multi millionaire, she herself was also separately a millionaire from her share of the royalties of the Nikki Heat franchise. The home they lived in was at the present time large enough for their needs but as the family grew up they would probably need to relocate, this shouldn't be a problem. What it all came down to in the end was Kate's insecurity about whether she was a good mother.

All three of the others at the table scoffed at this idea, assuring her that she was in fact one of the best mothers they had ever seen, pointing out how she doted on both Rebecca and Alexis and they all said that she was one of the most loving and caring mothers anyone could wish for, any child coming into the family could consider themselves as having won the lottery of life. This helped to raise her spirits and they all enjoyed the rest of the dinner.

When they got to Rick's lawyers on the Monday morning they explained the position and said that they didn't want to put anyone's nose out of joint by going in for the adoption without consulting everyone first, Rick's lawyer agreed that this was a necessary step and suggested that it would be a good idea to get the meeting arranged for say after the funeral as the CPA would no doubt be stepping in very shortly, Luckily they would not be able to remove the twins for fostering for at least a month, as they would be in ICU for at least that length of time while they were putting on weight..

They asked the lawyer to prepare papers ready for the adoption application.

When they got home and relieved Martha of her duty as baby sitter to Rebecca, Kate went into the office to phone her relatives to notify them of the family meeting after the funeral which they were hoping to arrange for the following Tuesday. Most asked what the meeting was about but Kate managed to deflect most of the questions as she didn't want to have to answer them more than once if possible.

Aaron and Sarah's home had been released by the Police and Kate and Rick arranged a visit to look for a Will or the name of the deceased couples attorney, they were unable to find a Will but did find the name and address of the law firm who handled their affairs along with a letter addressed to the Lawyers authorising them to discuss all matters concerning their affairs, in the case of their death, with Katherine Houghton Castle and Richard Edgar Castle.

Rick knew that they would need a death certificate for the attorney before they would be able to get any information. They therefore went to see Henry to obtain a copy of the Death Certificate followed by a visit to City Hall to register the death once this had been done they made their way to see the Woodhead's Attorney.

...

Meanwhile at the precinct Jo had had a meeting with Sully, Anne Hastings and LT, the three Detectives, working on the case and asked what progress had been made.

Sully said that the crime scene had been very carefully checked over and but very little physical evidence had been found except for a blond hair which had been found sticking to Aaron's overcoat and this had been sent to the lab for testing for DNA the previous Friday, contrary to popular belief getting a DNA result took more than a couple of hours, and they were hoping for the report that afternoon, this may of course be a bust as a hair could have been picked up anywhere, but they had to test it anyway.

They had also done a canvass of all the properties in the immediate area but this had not produced any worthwhile results. There were a number of CCTV cameras around and they were still collecting recordings from the owners. Of those they had obtained and viewed so far nothing had popped but they weren't giving up hope as they still had some to collect from businesses that were not working at the weekend.

They had also looked through their records of past muggings and assaults in the area to see whether they could spot any similar incidents at the present time they had found three cases that they thought might be worth looking into further.

Jo thanked them for their work so far, and said that they all had a special interest in this case as it involved their former Captain Kate Castle and she asked them to inform her when the DNA result came in.

As the time had now got round to12.45pm and they hadn't yet had lunch, decided to take a break at that point, then start again in about one hour's time when they were fully refreshed they decided to go to Remy's for burgers and Milkshakes.

A/N This seems a good point to stop this week. For those people who have been wanting Henry to be brought into the story I hope this has been done in a satisfactory manner.

Finally once again I want to thank every one who has read, reviewed and favourited this story

Chapter 7 will be up next week and will deal with the afternoon of November 27 and onward.