CH44
It got cold here yesterday, really cold. I'm in an apartment complex and the fire sprinkler pipe in the attic space in the apartment above burst. It all but destroyed the apartment above me. Well all the water had to go somewhere. It wend down into my apartment and flooded it. I'm displaced into an extended stay hotel room. I rescued my laptop and the flash drive this story is on.
Fortunately I just started chapter 72 just as my ceiling collapsed on me and then had a water fall inside. However my ability to continue writing may be affected. My beta reader has finished chapter 60 so you shouldn't feel the affects.
Thank god for renters insurance!
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Rick is at home after Kate had left. Alexis didn't have school and a child cooped up inside an apartment all day is an unhappy child. A child that is likely to take her sour mood out on her parents. And since only Rick was home, ….
"Hey pumpkin how about a bike ride down to the park and stay for a little while then ride back?" Rick offers.
He gets an enthusiastic nod from Alexis who rushes down to her room to retrieve her bike.
They pull Rick's bike out of storage and start riding for the closest park. They do a once around the park when they take a break and sit on the grass next to their bikes.
Alexis jumps up suddenly and starts walking. "Uh-oh!" Rick notices where she is going.
"Hi can I pet your dog?" Alexis asks the owner before getting too close.
"Of course she loves getting petted. I think she lives for it actually." The owner tells her.
Alexis steps right up and holds out her hand for the dog to smell and then starts petting. "What's its name?"
"Her name is Lizzy." Alexis is told.
Alexis has been petting Lizzy for a minute while the dog just seems to soak it all up.
"She's pretty and she's soft." Alexis tells him.
Rick steps up. "It's a Collie, right?"
"Yea, she's just a little over 2 years old. Your daughter is lovely. I'm not sure I've ever seen natural hair color like that before."
"Thanks, her mother's side of the family is where she gets it from." Rick answers.
"Can we get a dog dad?" Alexis asks.
Rick knew this was coming. They had gone down this road before. "Our building doesn't accept pets pumpkin, you know that."
Alexis looks sad but doesn't say anything. Just continues to pet Lizzy.
"Come on pumpkin it's about time we went home. Say goodbye to Lizzy and let's go." Rick tells her.
"Bye Lizzy." Alexis tells her while stepping away.
"Thanks." Rick directs it at Lizzie's owner.
"Not a problem. Good luck." He figured Rick was going to need it. That little girl obviously wanted a dog as a pet.
"Come on pumpkin let's go home." Rick suggests.
"O-Kay." Alexis talks to the sidewalk with her head hung low.
'Great, just what I needed. A new problem. Well actually an old problem re-visited.'
Once inside. "What would you like to do now pumpkin?" Rick needed to get her mind off of the dog.
Alexis however just shrugged her shoulder and took her bike to her room and didn't come back out till Kate got home.
When she didn't come right back out Rick knew he was in trouble. Last time he had gotten her mind off of it relatively easily. This time however she was older. Maybe it was time for plan B.
Rick pulled out his cell phone and scrolled until he got the person he wanted and pressed send.
"Beckett."
"Kate there is something I need for you to think about before you get home tonight." Rick tells her.
"Castle? I'm at a site Castle, not really a good place to talk." Kate is forced to tell him.
"Sorry, but Alexis and I ran across a Collie in the park today that was all about getting petted. Now Alexis is in her room sulking that she can't get a dog." Rick pushes on.
Kate had sometimes wanted a dog, but with her job she would never be home for it. So it wouldn't be fair to the dog. "So get her a dog Castle. I've kinda wanted one in the past."
"This building doesn't take pets Kate." Rick is forced to tell her.
"Oh! Can we get her a gold fish? … Not what she wants probably. I don't know what to tell you Castle." Kate really is at a loss but then she is standing in front of a dead body.
"I have an idea about that and I wanted to talk with you about it when you got home."
"That'll be perfect Castle, there is something I want to talk to you about too."
"I guess I better go shopping for ice cream then." Rick tells her.
"Ice cream?" Rick has lost her.
"All conversations go better with ice cream Kate." Rick explains.
"OH! …. I'll take peppermint if you please." Kate tells him. If she's going to eat ice cream it might as well be one she wants.
"Got it. I'll see you tonight. I love you." Rick tells her.
Suddenly Kate feels much better after what happened last night and this morning. "I love you too Castle."
Kate looks down at Lanie who is looking up at Kate with a grin that un-nerves her. "Deal with it Lanie!"
"I didn't say anything girlfriend." Lanie however keeps her grin.
"If you had not said anything louder my ear drums would burst." Kate counters, glaring back at her. Not that it seems to affect Lanie in any way.
Rick ends his call with Kate. He would like to go downstairs and get some exercise in, but his mother is gone for the next three days and he doubt's Alexis is willing to even leave her room.
"Maybe I can get some research done before Kate gets home." And Rick heads for his laptop.
Kate had made it home a little early. They had solved one case and they needed Lanie to get anywhere on their new one. Which sounded like it was going to be real bear of one.
After opening the door and re-locking it. "Castle?" Kate called out.
Rick shows up coming from the Library/Office. "Hi Kate." And walks over and kisses her. Feeling the tension. "Bad day?" Rick asks while still holding onto her.
"Bad last night, bad morning, bad day. …. Just hold me." Kate wants Rick to make it all go away.
Kate had never been needy before. She was bad ass, kick ass Kate Beckett. Now she was bad ass, kick ass, married to Richard Castle and had a daughter and was in love.
Rick just holds her for a time. "You wanted to talk to me about something?" Rick starts.
Kate doesn't move and just chooses to talk into his shoulder. "I've got a case I'm hoping you can help me with."
"I'd be glad to help. What can I do?" Rick isn't a cop.
"I'm hitting a brick wall. I think I may have found the guy, thing that killed Ray." Kate tells his shoulder.
Now she had his undivided attention. "You found the guy that killed Ray. What do you mean thing?"
"It was for a different case. We ran across this guy, thing that had this big sword. A uniform and I put 48 rounds into him, it, and he, it , kept coming. Until Ryan emptied his weapon into its head.
But the FBI swooped down and took everything. Including the guy, thing with the sword. We call him Frankenstein's monster. He was huge Castle. You should have seen him."
"And how can I help?"
Kate pulls away but is still in his arms. "I was hoping you could make a call and have the FBI hand him over to Lanie so she can examine him, it."
"You're sure this thing killed Ray?" Rick needs to be sure.
"Pretty sure. Lanie found Ray's DNA on the sword it was carrying. And Ray did lose his head." Kate tells him.
"Frankenstein's monster? What does the FBI call the case?" Rick needs details or he doesn't know what to say.
"The guys in our office were always referring to it as Salem Witch Trials. Since they were burning women at the stake." Kate tells him.
"Jesus Christ! Were they alive?" Rick asks afraid of the answer.
Kate only nods her head.
Rick stands there with his mouth hanging open. "Jack call the operator." Rick didn't want to dwell of women being burned alive.
Rick places a finger on Kate's mouth and makes a slashing motion with his other hand across his neck, then puts both hands down. Kate nods in understanding.
"Dialing."
"Operator."
"This is operative Jess Carson, code Operation 28 West Alpha Zeta 1244 Bottoms Up."
"ID and code confirmed. How may I help you?"
"I need a transfer from the FBI to one Lanie Parrish, ME with the 12th Precint, New York City." Rick tells her. Well it sounded like a her.
"Description of transfer?"
"It is tagged as Frankenstein's monster as part of FBI operation Salem Witch Trials."
"Date of recovery?" This puts Kate and Rick in a panic. Kate can't talk. She runs for Rick's library.
"Hold one." Rick tells her.
Kate comes back writing while she walks. And Rick gives the date she has written.
"Order for transfer will take place in, ….. one hour." And the call ends.
Rick deflates. "Geez."
Kate however throws her pad and pen up in the air and grabs Rick's face between her hands and starts kissing him between each. "Thank You!"
Rick grabs her and holds her tight. "Just don't let it go to your head." Rick cautions her.
Kate shakes her head and then kisses him. Soon her tongue is asking for entrance and they are soon lost to the rest of the world in their kiss.
Breaking from the kiss to get some air. "You said you wanted to talk to me?" Kate ventures. Please don't let it be about last night again.
Rick keeps his arms around her while he tells her of their ride in the park and Alexis's reaction to not being able to get a dog.
"I don't see what we can do Castle. We can't sneak a dog in here. They'll notice and force us to get rid of him, her. That'll break her heart." Kate looks into his eyes and sees something. He's up to something.
"We can't get her a dog if we continue to live here. But we can if we move to someplace where we can."
"You want to move?"
"I want to know if you would like to buy a house. Maybe just outside of the city so the commute isn't so bad. Someplace that has at least a little back yard. It'll be ours." Rick tells her looking down into her eyes.
And Kate's eyes are wide open in shock at the moment. "You want to buy a house for us?" Kate can feel her heart beating trying mightily to get out of her chest. He wants to buy her a house.
"Kate no matter how we remodel this place it is only going to be just so big. We add one more person and it'll be too small for us. There will be no place to put a nursery, …." And Rick has to stop talking since Kate is kissing him with all the love she can place behind it.
Breaking from the kiss. "You want to buy a house?" Trying to show how much she loves him in her eyes.
"We would need to do it together since it'll be yours too. You just need time off work so we can go looking." Rick explains.
"I have to work tomorrow but then I have the next two days off. Is that too soon?" Kate questions. She knows they need to sell this place. And what about Martha?
"What about Martha, Castle?" Kate isn't going to abandon her.
"We'll have to talk with her, but if the place is big enough she can come with us. It'll probably make Alexis happy."
Kate in a soft voice barely more than a whisper. "We're going to buy a house." Then in a stronger voice. "We're going to buy a house!
Just how much house can we afford Castle?" Knowing they haven't talked about money yet. Knowing she doesn't begin to make the kind of money Castle makes.
"Let's just find one we like first then decide if we can afford it." Rick offers.
"We need to go to a bank or something first to see how big of a loan we can get, …." And gets interrupted by Rick.
"No mortgage, It'll be all cash." Rick tells her.
Kate's eyes bug out. "CASH? As in real money cash?"
Rick just nods his head.
"Castle, just how much money do you have?" Kate is now almost afraid of the answer.
Rick takes her to the Library/Office and has her sit down. Then spins his laptop to him and starts typing to open the heavily encrypted section of his laptop. Then spins it back around for Kate to start reading.
Kissing her head Rick soon leaves her while she is reading while she is barely breathing and heads for the kitchen.
Rick is soon back with two filled shot glasses and places them on the table and leaves her alone to read.
Kate is part way done when she picks up the first shot glass and drinks it down.
Kate has finished reading when she drinks down the second one. "He's rich! …. CASTLE!" Kate yells out.