Here is chapter 26, enjoy!

The following morning, Kate and Rick were awakened by someone pounding on the front door. Neither of them got up, hoping that it was a dream or that whoever it was would leave them alone. They had gone to bed rather late due to the number of calls they received after the news flashes that had aired on every channel. When the pounding started again, Kate groaned and tried to push Rick so that he would go and open the door.

"Come on Kate, it's your house." he said, trying a good excuse to stay in bed.

"Maybe, but you're closer to the door. Now go open it before they kick it down." she all but order.

Rick finally moved, rolled out of bed, grabbed his robe and put it on as he left the bedroom. Kate could hear him call "coming" as he got downstairs. She heard him open the door and sighed. The pounding was finally over, she could go back to sleep. Just as she was settling back comfortably on her pillow, Rick called her from downstairs. She was not moving. She wanted to stay in bed. However, when she heard unfamiliar footsteps go up the stairs, she hopped out of the covers and had just time to put her robe on before Victoria Gates entered the bedroom.

"Kate, I'm sorry to interrupt your vacation but we really need to talk." she said gently, almost with a motherly tone.

Kate nodded and followed downstairs. They found Rick in the kitchen cooking some breakfast and pouring two cup of coffee and a cup of tea. The three of them took a seat at the kitchen table. Kate kept her head low. She would not be the one to start talking.

"I … I assume you've seen the news." Gates started, both Rick and Kate nodding. "We have to talk about what is going to happen now."

"Is it really over?" Kate finally asked in a really low and shy voice.

"Yes, it is really over." Gates said, taking one of her hands in hers. "It's going to take some time but he's not getting out of it. He can hire the best lawyers in the whole world, he cannot escape. Not anymore."

"What happened?" Rick asked. "I mean we know he was arrested but how did to come that?"

"It was all the FBI's doing. Agent Shaw and her team took care of everything. She told me that Montgomery sent her some papers before he died.

At these words, Rick and Kate looked at each other with wide eyes.

"These documents were very precise and pointed namely to Senator Bracken and the people he employed to do his dirty work. I know that you know more than you say, both of you, and I totally respect your loyalty to Captain Montgomery but I have to warn you. You may have to testify in court when the trial starts. Depending on the circumstances, you may not have a choice."

Kate nodded but didn't trust her voice to talk.

"Sorry if I'm rude but why did you come all the way here when you could have just called?" Rick asked, looking at Gates suspiciously.

For a while, no one talked. Gates seemed to be gathering her thoughts. She had to explain it clearly and yet sensitively. She looked at Kate, both afraid of and happy about what she was about to say.

"It's about my mother, isn't it? Just say it. What is it? He won't be charged with her murder because there are too many people in-between? Is that it?" Kate asked, getting angry.

"It is about your mother. But don't worry, Bracken will be charged and declared guilty for every little thing he did wrong. You have my word." Gates promised. "Well, I don't see how I can sugar-coat it so I'll just say it. Your mother is not dead Kate. She was placed in Witness Protection and sent to Africa to work for a charity there. She has been contacted and told that it was all over a week ago and she's supposed to come back to New York at the end of next week. They couldn't find an earlier flight. Since we're already Thursday, it should be about a week."

Victoria Gates looked at her star detective and felt her heart break. Kate was deadly white, her hands clenched into fists. She was shaking and heavy tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"Kate, are you ok?" Rick asked, putting an hand on her forearm, clearly concerned.

"No. I'm gonna be sick." she said, before getting up and rushing to the bathroom.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O

Kate was sitting in the garden of her father's cabin, looking around, lost in her thoughts. She startled when Rick came and sit down next to her.

"Here." he said, handing her a cup of tea.

She took it and cuddled into his side, breathing him in. His smell and his touch had always had a calming effect on her. And she needed to be calm right now. After fourteen years, she had discovered that her mother was not dead. She had discovered that everything she had built herself on was a lie. Rick could see that she was more shaken by the revelation she just had, who wouldn't! Hell, he had been shaken by the news. But most of all, he was afraid. Afraid of what it will mean for Kate, of what it would mean for their baby, for Jim. He could only pray that Bracken's trial would be as quick and efficient as possible so that they could all move on with their lives.

"Could you imagine leaving us?" Kate asked.

"What?" Rick asked, not really understanding where she was going.

"Would you consider leaving us, me, the baby, Alexis and your mother?"

"Yes." he answered honestly.

"What?!" Kate exclaimed, tearing herself off from his arms, the disappointment clear in her eyes.

"Depending on the circumstances, I would not hesitate to leave all of you if that meant you'd be free and safe. Of course I will never have to make this decision because I'm not the kind of guy to get in trouble." he said in a serious tone.

"Yeah right!" Kate said, a genuine smile on her face and in her eyes. "I would do it too I think." she added, looking at him. "If it could keep you all safe. Even if it would probably kill me to do it."

"Me too. It took me four years to get you, I'm not letting you go without a very, very, very good reason!"

"Do you think that's why she did it?"

"I'm sure that's why she did it. I don't know her personally – yet – but from what I heard, Johanna Beckett would never abandon her family if she had a choice to do it some other way."

"Do you think it's what is in the letter?" Kate asked, taking the envelope that had been next to her.

Gates had given it to her. She didn't have time to say who it was from. Only one person had this handwriting, and that person was Johanna Beckett. She had written one to her husband and one to her daughter as soon as she knew it was over. That's what Gates had come to deliver, in person. Kate had taken it with shaky hands, as if it were a sacred object. Well, to her it was. She had taken it everywhere with her since but she had not opened it yet. She was scared that opening it would break the spell.

"Would you … uh … would you open it for me please?" Kate asked, almost shyly, handing him the envelope.

Rick simply nodded and took it. He opened it slowly, taking care not to tear off the paper. He unfolded the letter and gave it to Kate. She kissed him lovingly before letting her eyes fall on the familiar handwriting.

"Ok, let's do this!"