Ch. 3 Alexis's in Wonderland
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: You may have noticed that I don't own Castle. Rating: M, in parts. Time: Shortly after Four of a Kind. Maybe in season eight. Maybe later.
Chapter 3. Off we go….
Something chimed on Metford's desk. "Ah! I see have other business to take care of. It will probably be tomorrow before we can try to send you after an Alexis."
"You don't seem to be in such a big rush all of a sudden." Castle snapped at him.
"Mr. Castle," Metford said with an infuriatingly superior smile. "I could bring one of our experts in and explain to you what traveling between the Earths entails, but you wouldn't understand it." Metford then left.
"Do you think he's telling the truth?" The other Kate asked.
"About needing us?" Castle asked. "I'm sure they do. They wouldn't go to all this trouble otherwise. About the other Rick Rodgers number three, and President for Life Bracken, yeah, probably. Whether they can fix you two, I don't know. But they can set up a base on the Moon which our Earth can't do. Can either of your Earths do that?"
Both the other Kate and Rodgers shook their heads.
"So, their science is pretty advanced. They do steal the technology from over a hundred Earths, so maybe they can do what they promised."
"But you don't know." Rodgers asked. "Do you trust them?"
Rick shrugged. "Do we have a choice? They could drop you back in Somalia and the other Kate in her prison jump suit in front of a police station. And they can dump the three of us back home. Who's going to believe Rick Castle, well known believer in the odd and the impossible, when he tells a tale of alternate Earths? Besides, it would bring too much attention to Simone. She's identical in fingerprints and DNA to Kate. That would prove something, but it could also get us sent to Area 51, or somewhere for the rest of our lives."
"So, we have no choice." Simone said softly.
"Rodgers, I meant to ask you something. When you said your wife was killed on 9/11, which one was it?"
Rodgers looked puzzled. "Which one? Meredith, of course. Who did you think?"
"I got served with divorce papers by Meredith after I found her in bed with a director. After her I married Gina Cowell."
Rodgers shook his head. "I always suspected Meredith wasn't one hundred per cent faithful to me, but I never had any proof. That's one of the things that bothered me. Meredith was dead and unable to defend herself and there I was wondering if she was with another man." He shook his head slowly. "And you married Gina Cowell? The blonde at Black Pawn?"
"Yeah. Big mistake as it turned out. She was a good publisher, but we never clicked as husband and wife."
"And now you're married to a cop?"
"The inspiration for Nikki Heat. My latest series of books."
"Nikki Heat?" The other Kate said, snarkily. "Sounds like a stripper, not a cop."
Kate laughed. "See? She is another me. It took me a long time to accept that Nikki Heat was a cop's name. What did your Castle call your character?"
"Alexander. Tatiana Alexander. She had been born in Russia and came to the US as an infant. Her mom married a guy named Alexander. "
"More and more, I don't like this guy. Tatiana Alexander? Really?" Rick said.
"One thing." Simone said. "We have two Ricks and two Kates. What should we call everyone?"
"You can call me Sarge or Rodgers. That's what everyone calls me anyway."
"Call me Becks then. That's what my friends called me. Back when I had friends, anyway."
"What happened?" Kate asked. "What about your friends?"
"All of my friends were cops. Javi Esposito, Kevin Ryan, Grant Sullivan, and the ME, Lanie Parish. But I was a rogue cop who'd gone off the deep end and shot a senator for no reason. They dropped me like that."
"Did you ever find the tape in our mom's elephants?"
Becks stared at Kate. "What tape?"
"There's a tape of Montgomery, Raglan and McCallister talking to Bracken when he was still an ADA. Bracken admitted to killing my mom, framing Pulgatti, and a lot of other stuff. That's how Rick and I were able to arrest him and get him sent to prison for the rest of his life. Do you still have those elephants?"
Becks shook her head. "I don't know. When I was convicted, I was fired from the NYPD. My personal stuff was boxed up. I have no idea what happened to it." She shook her head. "It wouldn't do any good now anyway. I'm a convicted murderer and an escaped prisoner. If I ever went back…."She stopped. "I'll never go back."
They discussed their lives and the Earths they had lived on. They found that there were very few differences between their Earths and those were all minor.
Castle checked his watch. "Lunch?"
No one disagreed and they headed for the kitchen. As Rick tried to decide between hoagie and burrito, he caught sight of Becks looking at her reflection in the glass of the refrigerator door. She ran one finger over her scarred face.
Castle grabbed the hoagie and went over to her. "You'll always be a beautiful woman to me, Becks. And I really think you'll get all fixed up."
She blushed. "I always thought that I'd always look….ugly."
Rick took her arm. "Come and sit with us. We're family now."
"Not really. We're…not clones. Not twins. I don't know what we are."
"Family." Rick said, guiding her to the table.
After lunch, Rodgers looked around the table. "Okay. We've got five people who can handle themselves in a tight spot, but if all we have to do is get several Alexis Castles or Rodgers's back, why don't they use their own people? They must have some people who can do this."
"I have an idea." Kate said. "According to Metford, Bracken's people can't send too many people into the other Earths. So, the five of us are probably enough. And Alexis Castle or Rodgers will be badly frightened. Seeing her dad, or two dads will calm her down. And some of the Alexis's may know a Kate Beckett. Hopefully that'll calm her or them down as well. If a bunch of strangers from this Earth showed up to rescue her, Alexis might run, or fight them."
"Makes sense." Rodgers admitted.
"Rick," Becks said, "can you tell me something about this Nikki Heat and the books you wrote? I admit I liked Tatiana Alexander until that…"She stopped and blushed. "Until the other Castle dumped me. After that I hated her and all his books. I'd love to read about Nikki. She's like Kate, right?"
"She's like Kate, but no matter how hard I try, Nikki Heat will never be as good as my wife is."
"Don't you believe him." Kate said. "Nikki is a lot better to her husband than I have been to Rick. Not that I've cheated on him or anything…it's….complicated. "
"But, since you asked, the first book is called Heat Wave. Nikki arrives at the murder scene. The deceased is a very wealthy developer and Nikki soon…." Rick began.
Rick kept Becks and Rodgers fascinated with the adventures of Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook. Even Kate and Simone were interested.
Metford's voice came out of nowhere. "I'd suggest you get a good night's sleep everyone. You'll be going out on an easy assignment tomorrow and perhaps a more difficult one after that."
"What kind of assignment?" Rodgers asked, but got no response. "Damn it. They're treating us alike a bunch of mushrooms."
"Mushrooms?" Rick and Kate said together.
Rodgers laughed. "You know how to grow mushrooms, don't you? You keep them in the dark and feed them on horseshit."
The others smiled at the joke, but no one was sure it was entirely a joke.
When Becks and Rodgers had headed off to their rooms, Rick pulled Kate and Simone to one side. "Kate, Simone, you don't have to do this. In fact, I don't want you to. I hate the idea of either of you risking your lives, and Alexis is my daughter…..
Kate put a finger over Rick's lips. "Do you remember what I told you after you went to Paris alone to get Alexis back? That you were never to do anything like that without me again. I meant every word of it. And Alexis is my daughter, maybe not by blood, but I love her as I love you. So, just forget it. I'm going with you."
Simone nodded. "Me too. You taught me what a family was about. We're family, you, me, Kate, Alexis, and all the other Kates, Ricks and Alexis's there are. I'm going too."
"I just want…"
"No!" Kate and Simone said together.
Rick knew when he was beaten.
After Rick and Kate had made love, they lay in each other's arms. "I'm going to have to keep an eye on you aren't I?" She said.
"No." Rick replied.
"Yes I am. A badly wounded, emotionally damaged Kate Beckett? You won't be able to stop trying to fix her. And who knows where that could lead?"
"It'll lead me to one place. To you. Yes, I want to fix poor broken Becks, just like I wanted to fix you. Like I wanted to fix Kathleen Beckett. And may I remind you that we have a broken Rick Rodgers with us? Will I have to watch you?"
"Yes, but I have a proven track record of pushing Ricks away. I've done it for years." Kate looked away from him. "I'm sorry. There's nothing I regret more than all the time I spent trying to convince myself that I didn't love you."
Rick kissed her and stroked her cheek. "We ended up in the right place. Although somehow I never thought that we'd end up in a bed on the Moon in an alternate universe."
Kate raised an eyebrow. "You didn't? You're slipping, Mr. Castle."
Rick sat up in bed. "Hey! Do you hear that?"
"What?"
"The sound of Becks not crying. Maybe it's working."
They woke the next morning to find that new clothing was awaiting them. Rick had grey slacks, a light blue shirt and a dark blue jacket. Kate had a nice skirt and jacket combination, in muted greys, with a frilly white blouse, but with her trademark four inch heels.
Castle checked his wallet. "About two hundred bucks. The money looks the same. The driver's license says I'm Richard Castle, address in Los Angeles. Credit cards and everything looks just like home."
"Congratulations, Mr. Castle. I'm apparently your wife. And, according to my business cards, I'm an event planner: Weddings, bar mitzvahs, birthdays, anniversaries, births, and promotions."
"Should we go see how everyone else fared?"
The first person they saw was Simone, dressed in a dark power suit, with her hair in a ponytail. She turned around like a model. "What do you think?"
"Very nice." Kate replied. "Who are you?"
She giggled. "Simone Renoir of New Orleans, of course, except I seem to manage a restaurant, not own one. How sad to have fallen so far." Simone gave an exaggerated sigh.
The next to come out was Rick Rodgers, dressed in ankle boots, tan cargo pants with a black tee shirt and a brown leather jacket. His beard had been slightly trimmed, but his hair was the same.
"Very nice." Kate said. "Who are you?"
He pulled out his wallet. "Dick Rodgers. I live in New York City and I'm an electrician. Which is lucky since I know a little bit about that."
It was several more minutes before Becks came out, which she did shyly, peering out of the door of her room before coming out. The biggest change was her hair, which was now a golden blonde. Makeup around her damaged eye had made the scars almost invisible, but not quite. A black patch covered her missing eye. She wore skinny jeans, a deep blue tee shirt and a fleece lined leather jacket. Her shoes were flats so she didn't look as tall as Kate or Simone.
"You're beautiful." Kate said.
"Almost." She replied.
"Your identification?" Rodgers asked.
She pulled out a wallet. "Kate Beckworth, New York City, paralegal. Makes sense, I do know about the law. And it'll make sense to call me Becks."
"The only question is, where are we going to?" Rick asked.
"A very good question, Mr. Castle." Metford's voice boomed. "Come into my office."
Metford was behind his desk, smiling when they came in and sat down. "Are you all ready for your first trip? You certainly look ready."
"We don't have any weapons." Rodgers said at once.
"You won't need any. We're sending you two Earth Number Two to see the mathematical genius Richard Rodgers."
"Why is he still there?" Castle asked. "Wouldn't it make more sense to bring him here to make sure he isn't grabbed by Bracken's thugs?"
"Alas, he won't leave his home. He wants to be there for his daughter, just in case. And, we'd like to avoid letting him see any more of the other Earths than we have to. We've provided round the clock security for him, and he's agreed to drop his researches into alternate universes if we can get his Alexis back."
"Not just his Alexis." Castle interrupted. "We need to get all of the Alexis's back."
Metford frowned. "We'll see what we can do, Mr. Castle."
"No, we'll get all of the Alexis's back."
"Of course." Metford said.
Castle didn't believe him for a second.
Something blinked on Metford's desk. "Ah! They're ready to send you to another Earth."
A worker in a dark blue, one piece suit led them into the hallway that led to the room they had initially been in. However, there was now another door that hadn't been there before. They walked through a series of corridors and came to a large room. On one side of the room were darkened floor to ceiling windows. Castle could just barely see people moving behind the glass. The only other thing they saw was a red square painted on the floor.
"Please stand completely within the red square." A voice said over a loudspeaker. "Someone will meet you on the other side."
They stood within the square. There was a flash of blue light and they were suddenly in what looked like a parking garage. In front of them was a cab.
"Mr. and Mrs. Castle? Ms. Renoir? Ms. Beckworth? Mr. Rodgers? Did you have a good trip?"
Castle opened the cab's door so that Kate, Simone, Becks and he could squeeze into the back, Rodgers sat in front.
They pulled out of the garage and into what looked exactly like New York City. Castle craned his neck around, trying to look everywhere at once.
"Looking for something, Mr. Castle?" The cabbie asked.
"I'm looking for something different. Maybe lots of brand new Studebaker cars, or dirigibles in the air. How about ads for the latest Beatles' album or Marilyn Monroe's latest film?"
The cabbie laughed. "This New York is a lot like about a hundred other New Yorks. The main difference is in medical technology. We don't get many visitors from other Earths, only a couple of dozen in all the years we've been at this. But, out of curiosity, I did look up some things that are different from your Earths. For one, William Shakespeare wrote two more plays than in your worlds."
"Can we stop at a good book store?" Castle asked.
"Sorry. That's not permitted. Oh, and Queen Marie Antoinette of France wasn't beheaded in the French Revolution. She made good her escape, but died in exile in England. The Napoleonic Wars went on pretty much as scheduled. Abraham Lincoln lived for about three days after being shot, but never regained consciousness. And if you're a baseball fan, the Cubs finally got back to the World Series in 1989. Lost in four games to Oakland."
"Glad I'm not a Cubs fan." Rodgers muttered.
"We're there." The cabbie announced, pulling up in front of a brownstone just off of Central Park. "You're expected."
"Apparently math pays well here." Kate said.
"Mr. Rodgers' mother married money." The cabbie said. "She died a couple of years ago."
They were let into the brownstone by a bulky butler who didn't even try to hide the pistol in a shoulder holster. They counted at least three other bodyguards, with protective vests and assault rifles. When they entered what must Rodger's office, he rose to greet them. He walked to them with the aid of two canes.
"I'm Richard Rodgers….And you are, too." He gave the two men a long look. "I really didn't quite believe it. But there are more of me out there. And women, too? Who are they?"
Kate, Simone and Becks introduced themselves and they explained who they were.
Rodgers shook his head. "A writer who married a policewoman, another cop, a soldier, and someone from a really alternate Earth. Thank you for going after my Lexi. I'd go with you, but…" He gestured to his canes.
"What happened?" Rick asked.
"I was a senior at Faircroft. Just before the prom, some friends and I decided to pull a little prank."
Castle nodded. "You put a cow on the roof of the school? I did that, too."
"The cow only went halfway up. She panicked and tried to go back down, then she rolled over on me, breaking the bannister and we both fell two stories. They tried to save my legs, but…" He lifted his pants leg. He had two prosthetic legs. "One above the knee amputation and one below the knee. It changed my life. But, at least I found my Meredith and we had Lexis."
"What happened to your wife?" Kate asked.
"Drunk driver. She died instantly, or so they told me. So you can see, my Lexi is all I have left. First Meredith, then my mom, I can't lose Lexi, I can't. I'll do whatever you want if you can get her back."
Both Castle and Rodgers nodded. "We'll get her back."
The cab ride back to the parking garage was somber. Castle took Kate's hand. "I'm awfully lucky. I have my health, my mom, my daughter and the best wife I could ever hope to have."
Kate leaned against his shoulder. "All things considered, I'm pretty lucky, too."
They noticed that Rodgers was looking straight ahead without speaking and Becks was crying quietly on Simone's shoulder.
"We need to bring some luck to them, too." Kate whispered.
Once again they found themselves standing on the red square on the Moon base. Metford was waiting for them. "Glad to see that you're back. Did everything go okay?"
Rodgers nodded. "We promised the other guy we'd get his daughter back for him."
"Splendid!" Metford cried. "We thought you'd like a brief look at the opposition. Tomorrow you'll go to Earth Number Three and see what President Bracken has done."