CH51

"Yea that was the main reason for the visit today. Castle and I got married a few days ago. Well, closer to a week or more now actually." Kate tells him reaching across with her left hand to Castle who reaches to her with his left hand and they meet in the middle.

"You married Richard Castle, your mother's favorite author?" Jim is shocked.

"I love him dad. I couldn't let him get away. Actually I love him and his daughter. Who is now your granddaughter, sort of." Kate tells him. Praying this goes well.

"I didn't even know you knew him. … But then there are probably a lot of things I don't know about now." Jim says sadly.

"Dad, it's not your fault."

"Yes it is. I reacted badly when your mother died. I drowned myself at the bottom of a bottle and left you to fend for yourself. I suppose I should be grateful you even still talk to me." Jim is falling down hill fast.

"Dad please." Kate doesn't want to see him go back into it. Not now.

"Your daughter has done wonderful things Mr. Beckett. From my point of view, you and Johanna did a wonderful job with her growing up." Rick speaks up for the first time.

Jim smiles at the attempt. "You weren't there for some of the years. She was a hard headed impossible teenager. I think trouble was her middle name. Now I don't even know my own daughter. She had to grow up without both her parents." Jim is still headed down hill.

Rick was about to counter, but Alexis stands up on her seat and reaches across the table to grab Jim's arm. "We found mom's magic, we can find yours." Alexis tell him. Looking very serious for a 6 year old.

Jim turns his head to look at Kate. "MOM?" Is his question.

Kate turns a brilliant shade of red. "A lot has happened lately." Kate tells him as her defense.

"So it would appear. Married and with a daughter that calls you mom. What happened to her mother?" Jim asks. Not knowing he just brought up a sore point for Kate.

"My other mommy doesn't want me. Kate loves me." Alexis tells him in her defense.

"My first wife just doesn't, …." And Rick is interrupted by Kate.

"Meredith treats Alexis like, …. I don't know what. Maybe that's the point. She ignores her very existence unless it suits her or she wants something. It broke my heart to see Alexis treated that way. …." And is interrupted by Alexis.

"My mom isn't nice. She yells a lot. She yells at dad and at grams. She's mean. But Kate loves me. Her and dad got married and she's my mom now. …. And I love her." Alexis adds quietly as she sits back down.

Rick knew Alexis loved Kate but not enough to go this far. Even Kate was taken aback by the outburst, as tears start to form for what Alexis just did to support her.

Jim sat there smiling. Kate was going to have her hands full with the red headed fireball. What goes around comes around. "You love Katie a lot don't you?" Jim looks directly at Alexis.

Alexis nods her head. "She's the best. Kate is the greatest mommy ever." Alexis says with conviction. Watching Kate wipe a tear away.

What Kate wants to do is hug her and kiss her, but she's trapped on the other side of the booth up against the wall with her father on the outside.

Jim however seems maybe to have figured that out. "Why don't you come around here Alexis and sit here for a moment." Jim offers and pats his lap.

Alexis slowly gets down and slowly makes it over to Jim. Not so sure about this. But allows Jim to pick her up and sit her in his lap.

Kate wastes no time and kisses her cheek. "I love you too sweetie." Kate tells her.

Now Alexis sees an opening and reaches out to Kate who instantly takes her from Jim and holds her in her lap squeezing tight. Then kisses the back of her head and squeezes her again.

The server picks this time to show up with their food. Kate instantly felt lost. Alexis was effectively trapped with her and had to go back through her father to get back to her seat.

"I'll just sit over here." Jim tells them as he moves around to the other side. Giving Kate someplace to sit Alexis back down.

Kate and Alexis share her plate.

"I'm sorry I missed your wedding Katie. It would have been nice t have walked you down the aisle." Jim tells her while eating.

"Actually you still can dad." Kate tells him.

"We were married quickly in Vegas. Too fast to create our own personal wedding vows, so after we create them we are going to schedule another wedding closer to home. You can walk her down the aisle that time." Rick explains.

"This way all our family and friends will be there. So you won't have missed much dad." Kate agrees.

"And maybe have a few of those friends and family over to the house for a little post second wedding reception." Rick adds as a thought.

"Oh that reminds me. We have got to show you the house we are buying. It's gorgeous dad. Simply gorgeous." Kate tells him beaming about what is coming.

"Wedding, house. When's the honeymoon?" Jim asks.

"Actually we leave for that in two days. Three days in London. Then three days in Paris. Then three days in Rome. Then a river boat tour from Vienna to Amsterdam in 14 days. I'm so excited. Then two days after we get back we close on the house and can move in.

It's so exciting dad. It's like living a dream or something. I keep waiting to see if I wake up." Kate's tone of voice and the smile on her face tells Jim almost all he wanted to know.

"I haven't seen anything in the papers about your getting married. I would have thought they would be dogging your every move by now." Jim wonders.

"That reminds me. I forgot to tell you we have a meeting with my publicist the day after we get back. Before or after we sign the papers on the house. She wants to make an announcement about our being married. She thinks it will help keep the paparazzi away. But we can decide what to do or say or not do or say at the meeting." Rick tells her.

Kate was about to give her 2 cents on the topic when Castle's phone rings. Kate holds her thought while Castle looks at his phone. "It's my publisher. I should probably take this. Excuse me Jim." As Rick would like to get out of the booth.

Jim gets up to let Rick out and Rick steps outside.

"Does his publisher do that often?" Jim asks.

Kate shakes her head. "He finished his latest book a few days ago. It should take her/them weeks to review and edit it." Kate doesn't know either.

Kate has her head turned to watch Castle and his phone conversation. Kate thought he looked mad. His arms were flying everywhere.

Then she caught the word "Marry". Followed soon by Castle yelling into the phone. "Why the hell would you think I would marry you? I'll marry who I damn well please Gina!" And she watches Castle hang up the phone and then look like he just threw the phone as far as he could. Then start pacing while talking.

"Can you move sweetie, I want to get up." Once Kate is up. "You stay right here with my father sweetie. You understand, don't move. I'll be right back." And Kate goes outside.

From Jim and Alexis's point of view since Alexis joined him on his side of the table looking out. They could see Rick waving his hands and telling Kate something. Followed by Kate doing something similar just not as exaggerated.

Soon Rick has Kate wrapped up in his arms with Kate burying her head on his shoulder. Then Rick pushes her out from him a little and then kisses her. Only breaking from the kiss when they need to stop for air. Then Kate has her head on his shoulder again.

They can see Rick talking but since Kate has her head turned away from them they don't know what or if she is talking. Rick turns his head to look back inside the restaurant and Kate steps back from Castle and then lean in to kiss him quickly.

Then they both come back inside, hand in hand. Sitting down side by side opposite Jim and Alexis.

"Sorry, my publicist seems to have lost her ever loving mind!" Rick's voice rises as he talks and gets madder with each word.

Kate places a hand on his arm. "Sorry. She just, …" Rick softens his tone.

"We'll deal with it later Castle." Kate tells him.

"Only if you promise to bring your gun with you." Rick tells her.

"Castle?" Kate questions him. Not that she didn't think it wasn't a good idea. She did want to shoot her.

"It was just a thought." Rick relents and starts to relax.

Jim loved the interaction between these two. If he had reservations about Kate marrying too fast they were disappearing fast.

"I don't suppose you have pictures of the wedding?" Jim asks.

Kate suddenly looks guilty. "I'm sorry dad, I didn't even think to bring them. We'll bring them next time." Kate is forced to tell him.

Jim however noticed his daughter said we, and not I will bring them.

After they were done eating Rick and Alexis stayed downstairs while Kate went with her father upstairs to say goodbye.

"I can see you love him Katie but does he make you happy?" Jim wants to know.

"They both make me happy dad. More happy than I thought I ever would be." Kate tells him leaving off the 'after mom died'. But Jim heard it all the same.

"Your mom would be proud of you Katie." Jim was happy that she was happy again.

This hit Kate hard, she so wanted to tell him she had talked to her. But she knew she couldn't. "I know she is dad, I know she is."

Back downstairs headed for home. "I need a new cell phone." Rick is forced to tell her.

"We'll stop and cancel your old one and buy you a new one along the way Castle." Kate told him. Then added 'and shoot Gina' to herself. She hasn't been married to him for a month yet and she already has to fight other women off him. This better not get to be a habit.

Rick was not in the least a little happy. His old phone was dead and he had his new phone. Now he had to go through the process of making sure it had all the apps he wanted that the old phone had. Pain in the ass. Now he was mad at Gina all over again.

Kate's arm was feeling much better so when they got home from lunch with her father they went down to the pool to have some fun. Kate was dying to tease Castle with her bikini and was dying to see his shoulders and arms dripping wet with pool water.

Kate also found that the pool could be used to hide wandering hands that went places that made her wish they weren't in a pool any more.

Kate put a little extra swing in her hips on their way back up to their apartment.

Kate's and Rick continued the wayward hands while they changed from their swim suits into something more comfortable. Kate was dying and she could see that Castle was bursting at the seams. However they were forced to go make dinner for themselves and Alexis. They also needed to get more items boxed tonight.

Rick was cooking what would be their last meal out of this kitchen. Tomorrow would need to be take-out.

After tucking Alexis in for the night they barely made it past the bedroom door before starting to rip each other's clothes off.

Come morning Kate showered and found her final bagel with cream cheese, coffee to-go mug and the kiss that had her moaning for more before leaving.

It was Kate's final day at work. Tomorrow they would be flying out for their first day of their honeymoon. She was still bared from going out to site. So when they got a body drop Kate had to stay behind.

It wasn't until she knew that the body was downstairs with Lanie that she got involved.

"Hey Lanie." Kate greets her friend.

"Hey girl, are you excited?" Lanie knows Kate leaves tomorrow.

"I'm dying here Lanie. I can't wait to start." Kate tells her.

"Better rest up while you can girlfriend, endless sex takes energy." Lanie teases.

"We did that last night. We teased each other almost all day long. I was about willing to take him on the lobby floor." Kate is laughing.

"Practice makes perfect girl."

"So what have we got here?" Kate goes over to the table.

"Picked her up this morning. Just wasn't the same without you there." Lanie tells her.

"Tell me about it. Your replacement while in the hospital had me wanting to shoot him." Kate admits.

"So I heard. You're not the first to tell me. Female, single, early 30's, multiple stab wounds." Lanie lifts the sheet.

"Sounds like a crime of passion. Someone wanted her dead and probably suffer." Kate comments. "They seem to be all in the chest. Why so little blood?" Kate questions as she moves the sheet to expose more her hand brushes up against her.

Martha grumbled as the alarm went off signaling her to wake up. She opened her eyes angrily and looked for the alarm clock she had bought yesterday. The only reason Martha had was because she had finally gotten a job but she had little chances for mistakes. Martha didn't want to get fired on the first day for being late. She finally stopped it and slowly sat up on her bed. She tried wiping the sleep from her eyes but it didn't really work. Martha thanked herself for setting the alarm on her clock a hour before she had to really get up to take a shower. Martha tiredly got up and walked towards the bathroom and quickly as she could while tired got undressed. She turned on the water and let it go full blast and then stepped in. Martha then remembered about her enemies that were surrounding her. Her father who didn't like how she had led her life, her ex boyfriend who she had embarrassed at a party on accident, and her old boss who she had stole 31 dollars from before when times had been tough. Martha thought she heard a door shut but it was probably from the neighbors next door. She suddenly felt a tiny feeling of panic and started to wash her hair of the soap in it. She then saw a shadow cover the shower curtain and she swung it open. She recognized him and was about to scream his name but a kitchen knife plunged into her heart. She was stabbed 31 times and left with the water still running while washing her blood away.

MURDER IN APARTMENT ON FIFTH AVENUE 9:23pm
The body had been found by a neighbor who became concerned when she heard the shower run all night and the next day. When police examined the body they found that she had been stabbed 31 times and left in the shower while it still was running.

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Who do you think killed her?