CH31

"There you are. Oh perfect I was wondering if you could spare Katherine for a few minutes?"

"Uhhmm, sure Martha." Kate answers and gets up.

Martha takes Kate to her apartment.

"Is there something I can help you with Martha?" Kate asks just inside the front door.

"How are you 3 getting along dear?"

"We are doing fine I think." Kate looks confused.

"I'm just curious dear. The last time I saw you, you were running down the hallway with tears in your eyes. You're sure there is nothing I can help you with?"

"Honestly I'm fine Martha. Alexis is terrific and Castle is doing just fine."

Martha hugs Kate. "You let me know if I can do anything for you dear. I'm a mother and we mothers are good listeners."

Kate hugs Martha back. It had been a long time since anyone had looked out for her and try to mother her. It felt good to know someone was there willing to help.

"I promise Martha, everything is fine."

"How long are you staying dear?" Martha isn't shy.

"I honestly don't know. Castle asked me to work with an architect to design the new apartment. But I never actually gave him an answer." And I've been staying with them ever since. Past my 5 days. Kate thinks to herself.

"You stay as long as it feels right for you dear. Don't you worry. Alexis and my son will take good care of you. It'll be nice to have someone else to talk to from time to time. Plus I get to squeeze information out of you."

"Information?"

"Yes! Like when is your birthday, what's your favorite color, what you want for Christmas. Things like that dear."

"Oh, well my birthday is November 17. My favorite color is blue or purple, I think. And I haven't celebrated Christmas in a long time."

"Oh my! Why not dear. It's supposed to be a fun and festive time."

"My mother died just before Christmas and my father and I just haven't, …"

"Oh my dear. You stick with us. We'll have you remembering Christmas's gone by in no time. Christmas isn't about remembering the bad times. It's about celebrating the good times you did have. And pray for more of the same in the future.

I'm sure you have plenty of good memories of your mother you would like to celebrate. We would all love to hear them. Plus I get to embarrass my son with all my stories."

This gets Kate to chuckle.

"Come on I'll take you back to Richard." And Martha walks her to Rick's door.

"Just remember dear. As long as you're here, you'll never be alone." Martha leaves Kate at the door after giving her a final hug.

'How do these 3 let me in so easily? And I am still here. And I keep coming back here after work every day. Instead of going home. But I've called this place home. I've thought of this place like home. I can't leave Alexis! I can't. That bitch might ruin my little girl if she comes back. And I want Castle to make love to me. I was even going to do him in the kitchen while making dinner.

What have these 3 done to me?

Kate wipes away some of the tears running down her face. "I don't want to leave." Kate tells herself.

Just then the front door opens. "There you are. I was wondering if mother was going to keep you for the night." Rick tells her. Then notices the tears.

"Did my mother say something?" Rick was all set to let his mother have a piece of his mind.

Kate just shakes her head and launches herself into his arms and wraps hers around his neck.

"Make love to me Castle." Kate whispers into his ear.

Rick guides her in thru the door and locks it. Then lifts her into his arms and carries her to his bedroom. And Kate doesn't leave it again until morning.

"Hi." Kate wakes to find Castle staring at her.

"Hi yourself." And Castle leans over and kisses her. "I have an errand to run that'll take me into Jersey. I won't be back until late in the day. You think you and Alexis can keep yourselves entertained until then?"

"I'm sure we can think of something Castle." Kate teases.

"I'm sure you can to. Just don't have too much fun without me. I'm going to miss having you around."

"I'm going to miss having you around too Castle." And then she notices that he has the beginnings of an erection. So she decides to do something about that before she goes and takes a shower.

Once done satisfying Castle's obvious needs, she went down to Alexis's bedroom to find her still lying in bed.

"You awake sweetie." Kate asks her.

"Kate." Alexis gets up a little and hugs Kate who is sitting on the side of the bed. "I thought you left. You weren't here last night."

"I never left sweetie. I just wasn't down here with you." Kate tries to explain.

"Did I do something wrong?" Alexis asks, looking sad.

"Of course not sweetie. I love you." Kate holds her tight. "It's just Castle is cuddly too."

"You cuddled with dad last night?" Alexis sounds and looks happy, much to Kate's relief.

"Is that ok with you?" Kate has been spending her nights with Alexis. She's not sure how she is going to react if she switches to Castle.

Alexis renews her hold on Kate. "You like dad, don't you." Alexis talks into Kate's ear.

"Yes I do sweetie." Kate keeps her hold on Alexis.

"Kate?" Alexis now sounds a little scared.

"Yes sweetie?" Wondering what Alexis is thinking now.

"Are you going to move in with us?" Alexis whispers, very afraid of the answer she is going to get.

Kate is taken back. Alexis is asking her to stay! But this was Castle's home. Yes she liked Castle and she loved having Castle make love to her. And not just F_ her. He actually made love to her. Made her feel special. She can't just move in because Alexis wants her to.

"I don't think that's up to me sweetie." Kate finally answers.

"We can ask dad, he'll say yes, I know he will. He likes you too."

"How about we take a shower and talk to your dad later?" Kate asked. Meaning like next week some time.

Alexis thought it over. To her later meant as soon as they got out of the shower. "Ok."

And off they went taking another shower together.

After getting dry Kate sat down and did make-up for both of them and then went looking for clean clothes. She knew she was in trouble in this department since she hadn't done laundry in about a week. Maybe more. And she didn't have that many clothes over here. Only to find everything was clean and put back in its place.

"Castle." Kate said amazed.

Kate got her bagel with cream cheese, coffee and a big long kiss at the front door and then floated down the hallway to the elevators on her way into work.

While Alexis is being driven to school. "Dad, can Kate move in with us?"

"Where did this come from? …. You love Kate, don't you?" Rick asks her already sure of the answer.

Alexis nods her head. "Don't you dad?" Alexis has seen them kissing.

Rick takes stock of just what he should say. "I'm , …. Getting there."

"You should ask her dad. I think she'll stay."

"I have to go to New Jersey with Jack today. I won't be back until late. Kate will pick you up from school and stay with you tonight." Rick tells her.

"I can ask her dad." Alexis offers.

"You sure you haven't already asked her?" Rick knows his daughter well.

Alexis looks guilty. "Kate said you had to say yes." Alexis tells a white lie.

"I'll let you ask her tonight. If she says yes you two can go to her place and pick up some more clothes. How's that?" Rick offers

"REALLY!" Alexis is practically jumping in the car.

"Yes really." After stopping at the school. "You have a good time at school, and remember Kate is going to come pick you up tonight."

Alexis hugs Rick. "I love you dad."

"I love you too pumpkin. Have a nice day at school and I will see you very late today."

"Bye dad!" All happy, Alexis slams the car door closed, and runs inside.

Kate spent the morning sitting at her desk with a smile a mile wide. Espo had teased her about it and she didn't care and just ignored him. Finally he just gave up and put his nose into his work.

Kate answered her phone. "Beckett."

Kate listens for a moment. "We got a new body drop. Grab Ryan and let's go." Kate told Espo.

They stopped on the side of the road. The area was taped off and found that a car had gone over the side. Inching their way down to the car, they found Lanie already down here.

"Hey Lanie, what have we got?" Kate asks her.

"Female, severe trauma to the head. Probably internal injuries." Lanie gives her a bit of information.

"Ok, she ran off the road. Why are we here?" Kate asks.

"See this injury here on the side of her head." As Lanie turns her head a little for Kate to get a better look. "This was done post mortem. Notice there is no bleeding from the wound." Lanie explains.

"Hey boss." Espo yells out. Kate moves to the back of the car to him.

"Looks like someone helped it off the road." Espo points out damage to the rear of the car.

Kate goes back to Lanie and touches the vic's head to see if there was damage to the front of her face as well. Even though the air bags did deploy.

Smoke. Darkness. Blood. Opening her drowsy eyes, these were the first things that came into Elizabeth's view. Her head felt as though it was being drilled into two; the continuous thump like a never-ending snare beat. Where was she? Desperately, she strained her memory back to discover what had happened, yet to no avail. Slowly, she turned her aching head to the left- absorbing her surroundings on the way. The sky was a menacing black, surrounding her view like a field of emptiness. Finally, she realized that she was in the driver's seat of her car; she recognised the sweet cinnamon aroma of her new car freshener, dangling unevenly from the rear-view mirror, and the comforting feel of the old, worn seat behind her, supporting her frail body like a strong stem to a delicate flower.

Suddenly, a dim dot of light appeared through the centre of her cracked wind-shield, bobbing around like bait luring a fish. What could it be? A chilling shiver ran down her spine as ideas of possible answers popped into her head; a wild animal, attracted to the smell of her blood; an escaped convict, searching for his next victim. Why these possibilities came into her mind she couldn't say, apart from they were the worst possible scenarios, and she was prone to imagining the worst. Glancing away from the disturbing light, she raised her struggling blue eyes to the crooked rear-view mirror, twisting it round to face her. Inspecting her pale face, she noticed a large, uneven cut in the middle of her fore-head, just below her messy, golden-brown hairline, from which blood trickled down like a stream of strawberry sauce running down her face. Her breath caught in her throat as she lifted her shaking hand to wipe the blood away- she unfortunately hadn't forgotten her hatred of blood.

As she averted her eyes from the trail of blood, she noticed a notebook lying open on the floor. It became clear- as she picked it up- that it was well-used as the corners were scuffed and the pages were beginning to rip. As she curiously wondered if it was her notebook- and if so, why was it so used? - A memory burst into her mind. She was in a dark, mysterious room, holding a tape recorder and the notebook with a perfectly sharpened pencil poised over it. In front of her, a deathly pale corpse lay on a metal slab, its eyes staring blankly into eternal nothingness. Out of nowhere, an official looking man came into view. He was wearing a thin surgical mask, a violet head cap and a long plastic apron over a pristine, white uniform. It appeared he had been talking to her as she had scribbled untidily over her notebook, and he was just lifting his mask over his mouth. This gave her the impression that she was a journalist, yet who for she couldn't yet recall. Her palms seemed to grow sweaty as she watched him pick up a knife from a beautifully arranged tray of tools. Knowing what was coming, she tried and tried to turn her head away or close her eyes so she couldn't see what was about to happen, yet she was powerless: it was as if her body was not her own. Expertly, the medical examiner inserted the knife into the corpse's chest, cutting a thin, straight line down to his stomach. Nausea took over Elizabeth's body as blood began pouring out of the incision, then blackness. She had fainted.

Abruptly, she found herself back in her car again, clutching the notebook to her as though it was food to a homeless man. She noticed the notebook had a stamp on the bottom right corner of each page, and inspecting it closer she realized it was from the daily mail newspaper. That took care of who she was a journalist for, yet what was it she was reporting that had taken her to that horrific place? Skimming desperately through the notebook, she read that a young woman had been brutally murdered, and that she believed that the authorities had covered up the details and had knowingly arrested an innocent man. Lifting her eyes away from the notebook, she noticed that the sky had subtle hints of lights peeking through the dreadful darkness- the beginnings of sunrise. As she admired the brightening sky, little pieces of her past started piecing themselves together; she had gone to interview the forensic pathologist that had examined the murdered woman, though she then had collapsed at the sight of blood. However, this was the limit to her memory for the moment, and noticing she was sweating as though she had just run a marathon, she forced her tired eyes to return to the curious light, only to discover that it had in fact grown to the size of a pinball and had changed from dim to medium light. Curiosity overwhelmed her, and she searched what she could make out of its surroundings, peering out the cracked wind-shield. All she managed to discover was the outline of tall, spiky branches sprouting from a city of forest trees, blowing wildly in the ominous wind while heavy stones of rain battered the destroyed frame of the car. It looked like a scene from a horror movie- why hadn't she noticed the weather before?

Listening to the continuous drill of the ominous rain, faint memories started to appear in Elizabeth's mind. The steady thump of the rain transported her to a long, narrow pathway, where her footsteps perfectly resembled the beat of the raindrops. The ceiling was so low that the woman in front of her had to lean forward in order to walk without banging her head. She was walking single file in a long line, and she could hear a strange clanging sound- as though metal was being repeatedly struck. Eventually, they emerged into a large white room, with policemen guarding the walls and what must have been prisoners sitting on the opposite side of a daunting glass wall, with old-fashioned phones hanging beside empty seats. It didn't take her long to realize she was in a prison, and that the unusual sound she had heard was probably the prisoners banging against the solid metal bars of their jail cell. She glanced at the leering white clock hanging on the back wall and noticed the time and date: 6pm, 9th November. As though she was being controlled, her legs walked to the furthest seat on the right and she sat down. Opposite to her sat a stout, scowling man with a crooked scar down one cheek and what seemed like a permanent frown. Once again she had her notebook and pencil, and she began furiously scribbling down what must have been vital information, with the cold, hard plastic of the phone wedged between her ear and shoulder. Desperately, she tried to read whatever breakthrough information she must have discovered, yet the harder she tried the blurrier her view became, until she suddenly realized she was staring at the rain-covered wind shield of her car again.

As she raised her eyes to the now sun-lit sky, the description of the memory formed itself in her mind. She had been visiting the prison where the innocent man was being held, interviewing him to help discover the truth behind the set-up. She slowly began to recall- with a little help from her notes- him telling her that from the moment the trial started the jury had been against him, though with a face like his no wonder he looked guilty, and that the trial had kept going further and further downhill as false witnesses were called upon that claimed to have seen him fleeing the scene and the court-appointed lawyer given to him by the judge to defend him- as the man had no money to afford his own- had been completely useless and couldn't care less. However, the worst was still to come. A detective the man claimed he believed was corrupt had used overwhelming evidence against him, which the defendant claimed to have been planted. Obviously no one had believed him, and he had been declared guilty by every member of the jury. Elizabeth didn't know why she believed this man when no one else did, yet staring into his pleading eyes she knew through gut feeling that he truly was innocent.

Shocked by what she had remembered, Elizabeth glanced once more at the mysterious light, only to be shocked again as it had grown even larger- to about the size of a cricket ball. However, it looked slightly different this time. It was much brighter, and had odd ridges around the edges of the light. All of a sudden, something moved out the bottom corner of her eye. Petrified, she whipped her head down, only to discover it had only been the clock on her radio. Relief flooded through her... until she saw the date- 11pm, 9th November. Her heart stood still, body paralyzed with fear. Surely it was too coincidental that the same night she discovered crucial information she had crashed her car? Well, she was right.

As she closed her aching eyes, she remembered that she had been driving down an old country lane on her way back from the prison. She had been heading straight for her office, desperate to type up her new findings and show them to her boss. Out of nowhere, a car had appeared directly behind her- its headlights switched off until it was too late. Annoyed, she had thought it was just an impatient driver trying to overtake her, yet she soon discovered she was wrong. The car had been bumping the back of her car and had gradually hit it harder and harder until, when they reached a sharp right turn, had blasted into the back of her car, violently forcing her off the road and down a steep hill, rolling and rolling until she had hit a tree and blacked out. Terrified, she realized now that someone must have been following her- knowing what she would discover- waiting for their chance to dispose of her. Panicking, she frantically tried to open her door, but it was jammed tight against a tree. She desperately banged against the windshield, staring out for some sign of help, yet all she could see was that blinding light gradually growing, coming closer and closer...