"You know, this is really becoming a bad habit," Lanie says to Kate. The hospital kept her overnight and is just now releasing her. Her cuts aren't deep but lab reports reveal she is anemic, thus the fainting. Capt. Gates is forcing her to take a week of injury leave to recoup and "eat something, dammit. I can't have my detectives fainting on the job."
"Well, I wasn't really thrilled to back here either, you know." Kate says. "Even though I was hoping to score a lot more flowers this time."
Lanie rolls her eyes and throws a pillow at her. "Remember what the doctor said. Just take it easy for the next few days. Don't investigate anything."
"Me, relax? Who do you think you're talking to?" Kate laughs but she is secretly a little worried. Relaxing isn't something she does easily.
"Well, I'm sure that if you call up Castle he will find many, many ways to help you relax." Lanie grins at her.
It's on the tip of her tongue to confess to Lanie that she and Castle were supposed to be on a date last night "relaxing" until the suspect slashed Kate's arms. If the date had gone as planned, she'd probably be in his kitchen eating "thank you so much for last night" pancakes.
"I can imagine what Castle will plan for my R & R if I let him," Kate comments. She's going to keep the shift in their relationship to herself for awhile.
"Oh, I'm sure you have," Lanie teases her. "How you can resist that sizzling hot man is beyond me."
"Yeah, well," Kate grumbles. Now that she's had a taste of Castle loving, she can't understand that either. She looks at her bandaged arms with irritation. "I can't believe I have to wait for a nurse to wheel me out of here. I wish they'd hurry up. I could kill for some pizza."
It's been two days and Kate has given up on relaxing. She and Castle postponed their date until this weekend, but now she's not so sure about it. She's had time to reflect (and has been away from Castle's stimulating physical presence) for a few days, so she's thinking maybe she and Castle getting together right now is not a good idea. She just cleared a case that's been kicking her ass—hell, the whole precinct's ass—for months, and now she has time to breathe and take a fresh look at her mother's murder and her shooting. Kate has her notes spread all over the kitchen table. What she really needs is a murder board at home. She re-reads her interview notes. Who would have enough power to pull all these strings? Then she remembers something Roy said to her before Castle picked her up and bodily removed her from the hangar. He said that somehow the man in charge had found out what he, McCallister and Raglan had done, how they had shot the undercover agent and blamed Pulgotti for it. He used that knowledge "to become what he is today." This mysterious "he" would have been involved in law enforcement somewhere. He must have been in the hierarchy of power…police commissioner? D.A.? And since he is willing to murder several people, including police officers, to keep this information hidden, he has to be in an even higher position of power, someone who is vulnerable to exposure. Kate feels an inkling of hope. Maybe the answer is as simple as that: make a list of men who held positions of authority in the city's police department and justice system nineteen, twenty years ago and see where those same people are today—follow their career paths. Kate sweeps all her notes into an untidy pile and looks around for her phone. She knows who to call, someone who will be just as excited as she is to explore this theory: Castle.
When Kate showed up at his door, grinning and waving a folder she had clenched her fist, Castle was not thrilled. Alexis and Martha were in the living room talking celebrity fashion ("Darling, did you see what she had on? It was the red carpet, not a trip to the dentist. What was her stylist thinking?"), so he pulled Kate into his study. Now he's staring down at her head as she reads her notes to him. He's irritated and frustrated because the theory she is now excitedly explaining to him is the same idea he hit upon a few weeks ago and is in the process of investigating.
"…so I think we need to investigate local politicians. I mean, who has cash? Politicians. Who would have the power to cover this up? A politician. Who has a lot to lose? A politician." Kate looks up at him, her eyes shining. "Tell me I'm wrong."
"Kate…" Castle sighs. He knew this day would come, when she would pick up the investigation again and he would have to sidetrack her or come clean with what he knows. "You're supposed to be resting. Look at your arms. You still look like you're wearing mummy wrappings." Kate looks at her arms, bare except for the thick white bandages wrapped around them.
"So what? It doesn't hurt my arms to use my brain."
"And we have a date Saturday." He cups her face in his hands and pulls her to him. She goes to him willingly, even though a tiny crease is forming between her brows. He kisses her gently until she bites his bottom lip and he groans, his hands moving from her face to her waist and sliding around until he is grasping her jeans-encased ass.
There's a knock on the door and Alexis sticks her head around the corner.
"Hey, Dad, can I—oh, gross!" Alexis makes a gagging sound and shuts the door quickly. Kate breaks off the kiss and takes a step away from him, her heart pounding. As always, his kisses make every nerve in her body jump and shout, but something's not right.
"Funny, I didn't think that was gross, did you?" Castle is smiling at her, his hands around her waist.
"Rick." She's not smiling. "Why are you trying to distract me?"
Shit. Castle knew it wouldn't work, but he figured he'd try. If he confesses what he knows, she may never speak to him again. Either way, he's going to lose this battle. He pulls her towards him and tries to kiss her again. She breaks free and steps around his desk until it's between them.
"You don't want me to check into this, do you? I mean, this is a perfectly good theory and you don't want me to follow it up."
"It is a good theory. I just thought that you were going to let it alone for awhile. Heal up. Tackle it when you are ready."
Kate can't believe this. "I have left it alone. For months! Meanwhile, the man who shot me is still on the loose. The man who paid to have my mother killed—and paid to have me killed—is still out there. How long should I let this go? Until he decides to come after me again because I'm a loose thread? I can't live with that. And I won't live with the idea of that bastard thinking he's won, that's he's gonna get away scot-free. I can't!" She walks around the desk and takes his hands in hers and looks into his eyes. "Why can't you see this? Why don't you want to help me? I've told you that I can't get on with my life until I've settled this, and I do want to move on, I want to be with you." She can't believe she said that, but she means it. She repeats it again, still surprised. "I want to have a life with you."
Castle grasps her hands tightly. "Kate, if you pursue this, we won't have a life together. I'll be alive and you'll be dead and I'll be miserable. Please, just stop."
"How do you know that? You can't know that. We could find him first, punish him, and then I'll never be in danger from him again."
"Goddammit, Kate. I know. I know. If you pursue this, you're dead. If you let it go, you'll live. That's the agreement." As soon as Castle utters those words, he knows it's over. Kate looks into his eyes, shocked. She pulls her hands from his and takes a step back.
"Agreement? What agreement? What the hell are you talking about?"
Castle takes a deep breath. "A man called me about a month after you'd been shot. Said he was friend of Montgomery's, that he owes his life to him. Before his death, Montgomery mailed him…certain information. This information was used to keep Montgomery and his family safe. Now that he's dead, the information is being used as a guarantee of your safety."
"What man? What information?" She is stunned to hear this.
"Kate, I don't know. He wasn't exactly chatty. He said that he had contacted the necessary…people…and that as long as you stopped investigating, you'd be safe. But if you persisted…" Castle let his sentence trail off into silence.
Kate looks past Castle and finishes the thought for him. "I'm dead."
Castle just looks at her.
She's angry now. "So I'm supposed to roll over and play dead to avoid being dead."
"No. I've been investigating on my own. That theory you came to me with? I'm already working on it. If I find anything, I'll tell you."
"I don't believe you," Kate says. Her hazel eyes are hard and bitter. "You kept the phone call from me. You kept this agreement from me. You're investigating on your own. Don't you think I want to help? What, were you just going to serve the bad guys up to me on a platter?"
Castle is silent. She's not going to listen to anything he says now. He feels as if they are back to square one, back before Montgomery was shot, back before she was shot. She's still just as obsessed as she had always been. And here he thought he could sway her. What a fool he was to think that.
"Nothing to say? You know, Castle, it's not like they have a personal vendetta against me. They will kill anyone who stirs up the dirt. Anyone. That includes you. So why is it okay for you to risk your life, but not for me to decide to risk my own?"
"They expect you to check into it. Not me. I can be more detached, look at the information with a cooler head—"
"Oh, so now you're the better detective? You, the mystery writer." Kate laughs meanly. "Well, thank you, Mr. Richard Castle, for taking over and directing my life for me. I've been waiting for someone to do that and now here you are!"
"Kate." Castle takes a few quick steps towards her and grabs her by the shoulders. "Stop it. I care about you. I only want to help. If you'd stop being so damn pig-headed and calm down and listen to me—"
She pulls away from him. "Don't touch me." She wipes a hand across her eyes and Castle sees she is crying. "I need to think about this." Kate stops. "I don't know how to feel about this. Or us." She picks up the folder. "I need to not see you for a few days. I'll call you when I'm ready to talk."
"Come on, Kate, don't leave like this. Don't do this again," Castle says. He stands in front of the study door and blocks her. "Let's go out Saturday, have a nice evening, and see where things are then."
"Get the hell out of my way."
He knows by the look on her face she won't listen to reason so he moves.
She storms out of the loft, ignoring greetings by Alexis and his mother.
"Well." Martha looks at her son. "That took a turn for the worse."
"She is the most goddamn difficult woman—" Castle slams the study door behind him.
Martha looks at Alexis. "Remember this Alexis: love is not always a smooth and shiny path."
"Oh, I already know that." Alexis laughs. "And he thought Mom was a pain in the ass. He spends way more time being pissed at Beckett than he did her."
"Well, dear, your lovely mother is just crazy. Beckett is challenging on a whole other level."
"I'll say."