Here's chapter 7! I'm sorry it took sooooo long to post this one! Well I hope you like it and everything!
"I'm Madison Queller, I own Q4, it's a restaurant in Manhattan. Detective Beckett and I have been friends since high school, we had French class together. We were those girls you went to if you wanted to have a good time. Every high school's got a couple of those. Becks and I got detention together, we got suspended together, once we almost got expelled together. She used to get in really big arguments with her mom, like when she came home with her motorcycle or Johanna's friend saw her working at this strip club when she was 18. They couldn't even get through dinner without a fight starting up. I know that must sound really bad, but it was a phase, like an image, you know? When it was just the two of us, though, she wasn't like that, she was real. The real Becks was this sweet, funny and ridiculously smart girl. First of all, Becks, even though she fought with her mom a lot, really looked up to her and loved her, she could not have killed her. Second of all, she spent every cent she had on that motorcycle."
Lanie opened Kate's front door, calling, "Hey." She turned and shut the door, swinging her purse down onto the small table to her right. The lights were off and the ME flicked them on, it was a habit with a five year old son who was afraid of the dark. "Kate?" Lanie asked, wondering why she had yet to answer. As she turned around, she saw her best friend, her head rested down on her crossed arms, with a pile of pictures underneath.
After a sigh and a shake of her head, Lanie walked closer to the counter and began to clean up, grouping the pieces of paper in a straight pile. Once that was done, Lanie set them beside Kate and moved to the sink. Beside the stainless steel sink, was an empty bottle of vodka and, on its side inside the sink with drips spilling out into the drain, was a nearly empty whiskey bottle. Letting the rest of the whiskey fall down the sink, figuring that's what Kate had been doing earlier, Lanie picked up the two bottles and carried them off towards the recycling bin. The walk made her pass the microwave and she glanced closer to it, suddenly remembering Kate's incident with the appliance less than half an hour before.
At the sight of each and every number shot out with a bullet, Lanie chuckled, "Damn."
Kate sat up, gasping, looking around. Once her eyes landed on Lanie, Kate sighed, closed her eyes and rubbed her eyelids with her finger pads. "Lanie, you scared me. Why didn't you knock?"
"We haven't knocked since we were in our twenties. Did you really do that to your microwave?" Lanie said, pointing over her shoulder at the white busted microwave. Kate shrugged, sleep still pulling at her eyes a little. "I didn't mean to wake you up. I can go if you want."
Shaking her head, Kate stood up, "No, no I'm fine. I haven't slept well the last few nights, is all. Oh, just to let you know, you took 20 minutes to get here, not 15."
"Accident." Lanie muttered and then she gestured to the pile of papers she'd just organized. "I thought you said no one could look into it anymore."
After a one shoulder shrug, Kate rolled her neck, stretching it as she said, "I couldn't really sleep and it seemed better than," her voice faded for a minute as she rethought her words, "option B."
"And that's when Samara called?" Lanie asked, leaning over the counter and setting out her forearms on the cold top.
Kate slowly nodded, "And that's when Samara called." A smile spread across Kate's face and tears leaped into her eyes, "She sounded so grown up. They're alive, Lanie. Castle and Samara are alive."
"What about Carson?" Lanie asked quietly. Kate's face fell and she shook her head, one tear sliding down her cheek. Extending an arm, Lanie set her hand over Kate's, "I'm sorry, sweetie."
Forcing a smile, Kate sat up straighter, brushing away the tears as though she were okay, "So. What do you think? Witness protection program?"
Lanie let out a loud laugh, "I think you've spent too much time with Castle." Kate's gaze fell into a glare angled at her best friend. "Okay. I'm sorry." Lanie cried, holding her hands up in defense, smiling in a teasing way and then set her hands on the counter top. "Yes, witness protection program is the most logical possibility."
"They could be hiding by themselves, Castle's got those kind of connections." Kate suggested, shrugging.
"Honey, please. This is Richard Castle we're talking about. Of course he went into the witness protection program." Lanie chuckled. "If Samara called you does that mean they're coming home soon?"
Once again Kate looked sorrowful and she took a long deep breath, "I don't think so. She said told me that I had to stop looking into my mom's case. But," Kate shook her head, "if I don't stop they could really die. And if I don't continue the person who backed them into this corner won't go away, so they'll never come home. What do I do?"
Opening her mouth, an answer on the tip of her tongue, Lanie changed her mind, knowing Kate wouldn't like what she had to say. Instead, the ME looked away from her best friend and towards the rest of the apartment. "I think it's time you put some stuff in here. Make it more at home, you know, photos on the walls, some lamps, some art, a couch might be nice, too."
...
Kate pushed open the coffee shop door, jerking her head off to the side to get her hair out of her face. She had on a black blazer, with the sleeves rolled and bunched up to about her elbow, a white blouse and black skinny jeans with her usual high heels. Slung over one shoulder was her favorite bag, holding her phone, one of Castle's books, her off-the-clock gun since it was a Saturday and anything she could possibly need.
At a table in the corner sat a woman with long, honey colored hair, her back to the door. Taking a deep breath, Kate walked closer to that particular table. As she came around the edge of the table and into the view of the woman, Kate smiled, "Hey, Agent Shaw."
Shaw looked up from her phone and, at the sight of the detective, stood up, holding out her hand, "Hey, detective."
"Thanks for meeting me for coffee." Kate said, shaking the Fed's hand before taking the seat across from the one Shaw was occupying.
With a shrug, Shaw sat back down, "It's the least I could do, I mean, you did help catch a serial killer. And it's Jordan."
Sliding her bangs behind her ear, Kate smiled and looked down at the tabletop, "Kate. So, how's your daughter? What's her name again?"
"Mia." Kate nodded in remembrance and Shaw continued, "She's doing pretty well. Off at med school in California, she wants to be a pediatrician. How's everyone at the precinct?"
"Good." Kate nodded.
Shaw tilted her head, "I'm sorry." Kate gave the agent a questioning look, confused. "I heard about everything. The marriage with Castle, the kids," Shaw's smile slipped, "the arrest, Castle and your kids being shot at the prison, being let out. I was friends with Seever."
"Was?" Kate asked.
After a beat, Shaw said, "He used to be a good agent. Did everything by the book, solved every case and got the real killer. And then he lost a high profile case, a dangerous man got sent out on the street. Something changed in him and he began to do everything to get a conviction of the person he thought was guilty. Planted evidence, paid off people to either disappear or make up some story."
A silence fell between them, the waiter came and dropped off two coffees, Shaw had ordered for Kate. They began to talk about work, life, whatever small talk topic popped into their minds. Finally, Shaw gave Kate a very 'Lanie' look and said, "Look, detective, not that this hasn't been nice, or anything, but why did you want to meet?"
"I need a favor." Kate rushed. Shaw nodded and leaned closer, folding her hands on the tabletop, letting Kate know she was game. "I got a call from my daughter a few days ago."
Shaw's eyebrows moved together, "The one that died 6 years ago?"
"Yeah. Only she didn't die." Kate said, "I think they're in the witness protection program."
Sitting up straight, Shaw shook her head, "Kate, I know where you're going with this. I'd really like to help you, but you've seen the movies. You must know the rules."
"I'm not asking you to tell me where they are or to get me in contact with them. I just want to know if they are." Kate said slowly, lowering her voice.
After a minute of quiet to think, Shaw answered, "I'll see what I can do, give me a minute." She picked her phone up off the table, searched through her contacts before selecting one and setting the phone to her ear. "Hey, it's Shaw. Good, listen I need a favor. Can you tell me if Richard Castle ad his daughter are in the program? I know it's not protocol, but it's for a case. Richard Castle. Thanks, I owe you." Hanging up, Shaw looked over at Kate.
"What did she say?" Kate asked, eagerly.
"You know how this works." Shaw said, seriously. Kate nodded and Shaw sighed, "Yes."
Ummm yep. Not the best chapter AT ALL. I know what you're all looking for and yes it will be here soon, I promise!
~XOXO Becksbiggestfan