Chapter 2 Alexis's in Wonderland
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: My wife has told me that I don't own Castle. I believe her. Rating: M, in parts. Time: Shortly after the events in Four of a Kind.
Chapter Two: A Full House.
Metford left through another door. Rick and Rodgers went to the other opened door and looked inside. It was a small kitchen. They could see a glass fronted refrigerator with ready-made sandwiches and other less identifiable things and bottles of some sort. Other foods were out on shelves. The only furnishings were a round table and six chairs. There were six doors ranged around the room. The three women were right behind them, with one eyed Kate hanging back.
"May as well." Rick said. He walked inside, followed by the others. He found a Philly cheese steak sandwich and heated it in a microwave, and grabbed a container of potato salad. He found that the drinks were all non-alcoholic.
"They do have coffee." Kate said with a smile.
The other Kate went to the table, grabbed a chair and went to the far end of the room, where she sat facing away from everyone else.
Rick, Kate, Simone and Rodgers sat at the table.
"She's going to be a problem." Rodgers said, nodding towards the other Kate. "Whatever we're here for, we need to work as a team. That's not happening with her."
Rick looked around the table, swallowed what he was chewing and got up to talk to the other Kate.
"Kate. Neither one of us is the Rick Castle who you knew. Rodgers never met a Kate Beckett and I'm married to my Kate and I always will be. We need to work together for…whatever it is we're here for. Why don't you join us at the table?"
She made no response for the longest time. Rick almost walked away. Finally, "I don't know who you are and I don't care. All I know is that when I look at either of you two, I feel like I want to puke. So just get the fuck out of my life, okay?"
"Kate…"He began.
"Fuck you." She said coldly.
Rick walked back to the table, shaking his head. "She doesn't like either of us, Rodgers."
"Too bad. One pair and three of a kind. Would've made a good hand."
"A full house?" Rick smiled.
"We'll manage." Kate said.
"I figure since they dragged me here, a soldier, and two cops, they need something done that involves violence. You know about me. What about you, Beckett? What do you do exactly?"
"I was a homicide cop, now I'm a captain and I run a precinct. My husband has been my partner officially and unofficially for eight years now."
"You?" Rodgers looked at Simone.
"I own a restaurant in Nawlins. Before that I worked in a saloon on another Earth. I've can handle myself in a gunfight. They'll tell you." She looked at Rick and Kate who nodded.
"You ever kill anyone, Beckett?"
Kate nodded.
"How did you feel about it?"
"I was too busy at the time to feel anything, but later…I didn't like it at all."
Rick nodded. "Same for me."
"And me." Simone added.
Rodgers smiled. "Good enough."
"Good enough for what?" Rick asked.
Rodgers looked at them seriously. "From my experience, people feel three ways about killing. Some feel bad about it, and that's okay, because killing is a serious business. But, it can make you not kill when you should and get yourself or someone else killed. That's what you three are like. Me, I enjoy killing, at least if it's people I can connect to my family's deaths. That's bad because you take too many chances so you can keep killing, and get yourself or someone else killed. The best are the people who don't feel any emotions one way or another. Killing has no more emotional content for them than eating breakfast or scratching their ass." He looked across at where one eyed Kate sat. "I do wonder about her. She's killed, we know that. And I'll bet she damned well loved that one kill, Bracken. But any others…?"
Everyone's eyes followed Rodger's and looked over at the other Kate. She have no sign of having heard them.
"We'll find out more tomorrow." Simone said. "For now, I'm for bed."
Rodgers nodded. "Yeah. I could sleep for a week."
Rick and Kate walked through one door and found themselves in a bedroom. An open door in the back showed that they had a bathroom. "A shower before we go to bed?" Rick said, wiggling his eyebrows.
"You took the words right out of my mouth."
A quick shower followed by a long, slow toweling off, found them sprawled on the bed. As Rick ran his hands over Kate's boobs, she spoke.
"You love us all, don't you?"
He stopped and looked in her eyes. "What? Love who?"
"All Kate Becketts. All of us."
Rick shook his head. "I love you. My wife. I love Kathleen Houghton Beckett Castle."
Kate shook her head gently. "And you love the rest of us. You want badly to take poor, broken, one eyed Kate Beckett and take away all of the pain in her life and give her joy, don't you? Just like you did with me? And Kathleen?"
He nodded. "If helping other people in pain, especially other yous, is love, then I do love them."
She kissed him gently, "Which is one more reason that I love you. You can fix all of the broken Kate Becketts in all of the universes, but you only get to make love to one. Okay?"
Castle blushed remembering the time he had made love to mystery writer Kate Beckett in the presence of his wife. "Absolutely. I'm a one muse writer and a one woman husband."
"Just remember that."
Castle began nibbling on her nipples and ran his hand down her flat stomach and began stroking the inside of her thighs. She spread her legs to give him better access.
"Lover, now. I'm ready. I'm wet and ready for you."
Castle rolled onto his back and pulled Kate over on top of him. She got on her knees and straddled him. He reached up to stroke her boobs while she reached down to take his erection in her hand. She raised herself up slightly and he slid inside her.
"I need this so badly." She breathed.
"God! Kate, you're fantastic. So fucking wet and tight. I love you. I've always loved you."
She smiled down at him and began moving slowly up and down on him, gradually increasing the speed. She began to moan.
"I'd just as soon not let everyone hear us." He whispered and pulled her down so that he could close her mouth with his own. He could hear her moan into his mouth and he could also hear the slap of her flesh against his. He was ready and he knew she was, too. She ground herself down on him just as he felt himself come inside of her as her orgasm crashed over her. She moaned softly and collapsed on top of him.
"God, but I love you." He whispered.
"And I love you."
"I'd love to do this again and again, but we need to get some sleep."
She stuck her tongue out at him. "Spoil sport."
"We have no idea why we're here, but I'm sure it's not going to be for a fun time on the Moon. We need to be ready."
They went to sleep wrapped in each other's arms.
Kate woke the next morning to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. "Rick?" Reaching out, she found her husband next to her.
"Hmm?" He mumbled.
"Someone's made coffee. We need to get up." Kate jumped out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Rick busied himself picking their clothing up off of the floor.
Overnight the kitchen had been restocked for breakfast. There were scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, and hash brown potatoes as well as hot and cold cereals. Rodgers was already working on a large plate of food while Simone was browning waffles in an oversized toaster. The other Kate was nowhere to be seen.
When Rick and Kate came out and began loading their plates, Simone came over to them. "The partitions here are really thin." She told them in a whisper.
"Sorry." Rick said. "I hope we didn't keep you up too late."
Simone shook her head. "That's not what I heard that interested me. I'm right next to the other Kate. She was crying for a good hour last night before she finally got to sleep. Or at least I think she got to sleep."
Kate leaned in and kissed Rick. "It looks like broken Kate Beckett may be fixable after all." She said in his ear, softly.
"I hate to think of her crying herself to sleep." He whispered back. "She needs help, Kate."
"I know. I want to help her, too."
"Just be sure she wasn't crying because she didn't get a chance to kill both of the Castles who are here." Simone said.
Just then, the other Kate came out of her room, grabbed a plate of food and pulled a chair away from the table and ate facing the wall.
"Helping her may not be that easy."
"If anyone can, you can, Rick."
They ate in silence, but Rick noticed that Rodgers kept his eye on the other Kate. To Rick, it didn't look like Rodgers liked her much.
"Good morning all." Metford's voice surprised them all. "I've opened the door, so please come in so I can continue our briefing."
"I'd appreciate a brief briefing." Rick muttered. "Something like, "Sorry, we made a mistake. You can go home.", followed by the opportunity to punch Metford in the nose."
Metford was sitting behind his desk with a smile on his face. He now wore a dark blue polo shirt and tan slacks instead of his suit. "Did you sleep well?"
They all looked at him. Only one eyed Kate answered. "Fuck you."
Metford smiled at that. "I suppose I can continue my briefing. As I've told you before, we consider it paramount that we, and we alone, know the secret of travelling between alternate Earths. There are other Earths that have some theoretical knowledge of the possibility of other realities, but this is really all speculation at this point. However, there is one Earth that is much closer to proving the existence of alternate realities, although that still puts them a long way from being able to travel between realities."
"And we care about this because?" Rodgers said, clearly bored.
"Let us call our Earth, Earth Number One. The world where a lone genius is developing the mathematical proofs of other Earths is Earth Number Two."
"What number are our Earths?" Kate asked.
"Not really important." Metford replied.
"Like hell." Simone muttered.
"What is important is the person who is developing those proofs on Earth Two." Metford tapped his desk and a hologram appeared beside his desk.
"That's me." Both Rick and Rodgers said.
"That's a Richard Rodgers, but he is not either of you."
"Okay, but…"Rodgers began.
"There is an Earth Number Three. They have no Mr. Rodgers to prove the existence of other Earths. What they do have is the ancient extraterrestrial machine like the one that our Rick Castle used to begin this whole fiasco. When Mr. Castle used the one in his universe, their machine became active. The people on Earth Three have been able to move to a number of other Earths. Fortunately, they aren't able to use the machine to its full extent. But, worse luck, they have gotten people, just a few, to Earth Two and have discovered Mr. Rodgers and his work. With Rodgers' math and the machine, they could learn to travel between Earths in a few years. And, even worse, they know of our existence."
"I'm truly heartbroken that your little monopoly is broken." Rick said sarcastically. "Can we leave now?"
"Oh, we aren't done with the briefing, Mr. Castle. You might be interested to know who runs the economically, politically and militarily most powerful country on Earth Three." Metford tapped his desk again. Another hologram appeared.
The other Kate shot to her feet and screamed at the image. "No! I killed you, you motherfucker! You're dead! You're dead."
Rick was right after her. He put his arms around her and gently brought her back to the couch where his Kate and Simone were sitting. She was sobbing by the time he sat her down. He put an arm around her and Kate took one of her hands. The other Kate mumbled. "He's dead. He has to be dead. I killed him. I can't have gone through all of this for nothing."
"This is a different Bracken, Kate. Maybe he didn't kill your mother in his world. Maybe he had Pulgatti shanked or something."
"I'm afraid you're wrong, Mr. Castle." Metford broke in. "This Bracken did have his Earth's Johanna Beckett murdered."
"Crap." Castle muttered, glaring at Metford.
"And look carefully at who and what he is." The hologram was some sort of a news broadcast. Castle could read what was below the picture. "President Bracken attends the opening of the new Manhattan Job Center."
"President Bracken was elected in 2008."
"That means he's out of office in 2016." Kate said.
"I'm afraid not, Mrs. Castle. President Bracken has a thoroughly tame Congress and Supreme Court. He'll be the President, or at least in charge, for the rest of his life."
The other Kate had stopped crying and was staring at the image. "I'll kill him."
"No, you won't, Ms. Beckett. To begin with, we won't let you. And killing a Senator is one thing. Killing a sitting President with the full force of the US Government against you…You'd never have a chance. This isn't the US Government you know. It's one that President Bracken has been building for some seven years. It's a police state." Metford smiled. "But you can put a very large dent in his plans."
The other Kate just glared at Metford.
"Okay, so Bracken is the President…somewhere. So?" Rick asked.
"We can offer assistance to all of you. Our escaped prisoner needs help. Ms. Beckett, we can regrow the bone around your eye that was shot away. We can also begin a cloning of your good eye and implant it where your other eye used to be. We can repair your scarring and make you as good as new. Better, in fact. And we can resettle you on an Earth not dissimilar to your own and provide you with enough funds to live comfortably for the rest of your life. And it'll be an Earth with no William Bracken, no Richard Castle or Rodgers, and no other Kate Beckett."
"I'd rather kill him, but it's the only game in town, I suppose." One eyed Kate said dully.
Metford turned to Rodgers. "You do have severe PTSD, Mister Rodgers. Oddly enough your continuing military career has kept some of the symptoms at bay. Hypervigilance, for instance, is a useful trait to have in combat. And the people you deal with on a daily basis understand your problems. However, without treatment your PTSD will only worsen. Eventually, you'll be…incapable of anything. We have psychiatric treatments unknown on your Earth. We can cure you. Then we can send you to an Earth with no radical Islam where you can live in peace with enough money to live happily and comfortably." Metford smiled. "Or, if you prefer, we can send you to an Earth where you can fight jihadists to your heart's content."
Rodgers nodded. "Better than being in the Somali bush surrounded by al-Shabab. Why not?"
Metford turned to Castle, but Castle spoke first. "I don't need a new face or a new mind or a lot of money. You haven't got anything to offer me, or my wife and my friend.'
Metford chuckled. "Don't we?" He hit something on his desk. Another hologram appeared.
It was Alexis. She was dirty, and had a black eye and a bloody nose and she was obviously terrified. "Dad! Please help. I don't understand this. Just do what they want. They say they'll kill me if you don't." The hologram ended.
Castle shot to his feet. "Alexis is in trouble? I have to get back to her, damn you."
Metford shook his head. "That's not your Alexis, Mr. Castle. She's Alexis Rodgers, the daughter of the Richard Rodgers, the mathematical genius of Earth Two. And there's more."
"What more?" Rick demanded.
"I told you that Bracken's people know about us. Two of our people were captured and tortured. They told Bracken's people a lot about us. Not how we travel between the worlds. They didn't have that information. However they did tell them that we can track the movement of people from Earth to Earth by their DNA."
"So you know where she is. What do you need us for?"
"Bracken's people have grabbed a number of Alexis Castles or Rodgers' from various Earths, moved them around and scattered them over multiple Earths. We can tell that an Alexis is on a particular Earth, but the only way to tell it it's the right Alexis is to find her and rescue her."
"In that case, I need to go home to take care of my Alexis. She could be in danger." Castle snapped.
"I think your father is more capable of that than you are." Metford said quietly.
"My father?"
"He's more senior in the CIA's Special Activities Division than you might imagine. We found a William A. Bracken who hasn't been as successful as the one you know. In exchange for some money to buy alcohol, he wrote a letter detailing a very well-funded plot to grab your Alexis and force you and Captain Beckett to "confess" that you framed him. The letter is in Bracken's handwriting and has his fingerprints and DNA all over it. The letter was allowed to get to the authorities and your father was also informed. He used his position to protect Alexis. This plot, by the way, is the explanation for your absence."
"Yeah, but I'd feel better if…"
"The CIA has a compound at the headquarters of the US Army Special Operations Command. Alexis is there, guarded by both CIA and military personnel. And we've added a layer of protection. If Earth Three's Bracken's people try to drop into the CIA compound and grab Alexis, they'll find they can't get within a mile or so of that part of your Earth. They'll have to attack from off Fort Bragg. Considering how many soldiers are there, it would be suicidal."
Metford smiled coldly. "So, Mr. Castle, are you prepared to let a number of Alexis's suffer and perhaps die? Or will you help?"
Castle shook his head. "I'm in."
"We're in." Kate added, taking Rick's hand.
"Me, too." Simone added.
"I thought so." Metford said.