CH75
Kate made it home that evening expecting to find a whole lot of new and hopefully useful information on their latest vic when she got into work in the morning.
She found Castle in the kitchen cooking dinner. "You're going to need to start cooking light Castle, you're going to make us all fat. " Kate teases. "Where's Alexis?"
"Last I saw she was in her room. She's been in there since she got home from school." Castle explains.
"Did something happen at school?" Kate was now worried.
"She didn't mention anything. Though come to think of it she didn't talk much at all on the way home." Castle points out now getting concerned.
"I'll go find her." Kate tells him.
"Kate?" Castle calls after here. Getting Kate to poke her head back around the corner. "You don't suppose this has something to do with a certain four legged furry friend?"
"We haven't gotten her a dog yet." As Kate slaps her forehead. "So much has been going on lately. Have you got time this weekend to take her puppy looking?" Kate has work.
"Yup, I don't have a book meeting till next week. … I don't suppose I could convince you to come with me and bring your gun?" Castle really would like for Gina to get stuffed.
"Don't tempt me Castle, don't tempt me. I'm going to go find Alexis." And Kate is off up the stairs.
Kate and what appeared to be a much happier Alexis came down for dinner. When they were done. "I have something to show you pumpkin, I think you're going to like it."
And takes her to the door leading out to the pool and flips a switch to turn on the lights of the new play set out near the tennis court and gazebo.
"WOW!" Come from both Kate and Alexis at the same time. Kate was expecting a play set alright, just not one this huge.
Alexis opened the door and ran for it. She was out there till bedtime using everything and trying to do everything all at the same time.
She came back inside huffing and puffing and all sweaty. "I take it you like it?" Rick asks her.
"It's great dad! … Thanks." And gives him a hug.
"Eewww, you're a mess. Go take a shower before bed." Rick tells her.
"Sorry." Alexis cringes a little.
"It's ok pumpkin, I'm just glad you like it. I love you." Rick tells her and hugs her back.
"I love you too dad." And Alexis heads for her room and that shower.
"You did good Castle." Kate tells him and gives him a quick kiss.
"There is something on TV that you two should view." Jack interrupts them.
They both hurry for the TV and turn it on. Seems a certain New York Senator would be attending a local fund raising event tomorrow as part of his initial run for President.
"Well nice of him to make himself accessible." Castle points out.
"Yea surrounded by guards and a few hundred guests willing to fork over money to the devil himself." Kate points out.
"Oh I don't plan on taking him, I just want to get close enough to mess with him a little." Castle points out.
"You want to get inside his head and maybe force him to do something stupid." Kate comments getting a grin from Castle. "You are an evil man Richard Castle." Kate smiles back at him. "And I love you."
"Well I'm sure as hell not letting him become my new boss." Castle points out.
"I second the motion." Jack comments.
"Count me in." Jill adds.
"I take you three have a plan?" Kate asks.
"We need a laptop." Castle points out. And they are soon sitting in front of Kate's.
"Jack we need a floor plan where this event is taking place." Castle tells him.
And a couple of moments later one shows on the screen. "He is likely to be in here working the crowd. Making goo goo eyes at all the rich people. Maybe if we're lucky he'll have a glass of champagne with him." Castle points out.
"Renal failure?" Kate asks.
"Well if I get the chance I'll try it, but what I want to do is get in close and inject him with a mic/homing device. Problem is, doing this will cause him pain and make his suspicious.
After he recovers he's likely to send his goons after me. Which is where you come in.
I want you to put bike locks on this door here, …. And this door here, …. And wait for me at this door here. Jack will tell Jill what is going on so you can be ready.
After I exit this door here put another bike lock on it. After I'm thru the door and it is locked we throw the switch that will ignite the explosives under the trunk of his car that will be waiting for him.
That will give his men guarding him something to do." Castle tells her. Getting a look of concern from Kate.
"Not to worry It'll be a little one. Think of it as something between a cherry bomb and an M80." Castle offers.
"I want you to wear that corset of yours only this time I want you to put tasers in it in place of Glocks. And put a couple more, for me to use in your purse. We may need them on the way out and maybe a spare or two to reload with.
They'll be looking for me so you will be driving, and wear your gloves. No need to give them prints to follow." Castle points out.
"What about security cameras? They will see me." Kate worries about being seen.
"Leave those to me." Jill tells her.
"Just like Richard doesn't have to worry about them either." Jack adds.
"That new gem of yours." Kate catches on.
"We can't work together in the shadows if there are no shadows." Jill explains. "And I'd rather get dropped at the bottom of the East River before I was turned into an assassin." Jill tells her honestly.
And Kate can remember that threat from when she first met Jill all those years ago, and starts laughing lightly.
Kate turns to see a puzzled look on Castle's face. "Inside joke." Kate tells him and leans in for a quick kiss.
"You're going to need to wear something that will blend in with the other donors to his campaign." Castle warns her.
"I think I can manage that." Kate tells him thinking over her closet.
Castle decides to change the topic. "Anything on the mic Roy is wearing?"
"So far he has not been pressured. His present location places him just coming home from picking up dinner." Jack tells him.
"Great! I just turned my best friend into the old version of you." Castle teases her.
"Take-out isn't that bad." Kate defends her old self.
"Only if you are a mad scientist trying to create a new creature using mold and fungus cultures." Castle counters still teasing. Which earns him a swat to his chest.
"Speaking of food, we have a lunch date with my father tomorrow." Kate reminds him.
"I'll pick you up at work and we can go together." Castle agrees.
"Castle can I ask a question? … Yes I know I just asked one." Kate beats him to the punch.
Castle chuckles. "I need some new material. Sure ask away."
"Tell me about your family. Brothers, sisters, father?" Kate asks.
"Well you know my mother, there are no brothers or sisters. And as for my father, I don't have one. …. I know you can't have children without one, but I don't have a father.
Mother met someone who swept her off her feet when she was young and never saw him again. She found out weeks later that she was pregnant. She was an actress and we moved around a lot for where she found work.
Mother did her best but it was hard on us early on. We lived in some real dives. I had my own cockroach races in our kitchen.
However things got better when she got more attention. She did a lot of short stints on a lot of daytime soaps. I got to spend a lot of time behind the scenes.
It was a little tuff in school when other kids would talk about their dads, however I got to use my imagination. One day my dad was a firefighter saving kids from burning buildings. Next week he was a spy with the CIA.
He was another Batman fighting crime and couldn't have children in his life. Anything I could dream up he was." Castle explains not sounding sad.
"But you grew up without a father figure. No one to play catch with. No one to teach you about how to fix cars or build things. No one to call daddy. It sounds sad Castle." And Kate was hurting for him.
"You can't really miss something you never had. It's not like I could see and then went blind and knew what I was missing." Castle still isn't sad. "It's like this one dog I met when I was young. They had a cocker spaniel, it was born blind. It didn't know you were supposed to be able to see but it adapted. It got around just fine not seeing where it was going. It was a little funny at first, lifting its front legs up high. Sort of high stepping everywhere it went.
But it was happy, it greeted everyone with enthusiasm and wanted to get petted. … Like him I adapted to not having a father. It's just the way life was and I didn't let it get to me." Castle tells her.
"Well we're going to break that cycle Castle, because our kids are going to grow up with both." Kate tells him smiling, and then stands dragging him up with her. "Come on Castle, it's time for baby making practice." Kate tells him still smiling while leading him to the stairs.
Castle had a more normal breakfast this time along with her coffee and a nice deep 'I want you' kiss. And Kate dropped Alexis off at school reminding her that Castle was going to take her looking for puppies this Saturday.
The financials and phone records she had asked for were waiting for her when she go to her desk.
Sure enough there was a withdrawal of 90,000 pounds from his bank account. And the phone records showed a lot of calls between Sylvia and Jasper.
When Espo and Ryan got in they looked up the address for one Mr. Saxby and headed to his home. Kate already knew he was dead and arriving a few hours later wasn't going to change anything.
They found the bottle of cognac just as Kate knew they would along with the bottle of poison that Lanie would be testing. What she wanted was the proof on who had killed them all.
CSU search of Jasper's home and car gave them the address of where they would find Sylvia. Also dead from poison. But they would need Lanie to confirm it.
In the meantime Kate had CSU going over both places. It didn't take much convincing to get Espo and Ryan to see it as a triple homicide. Now came the hard work to get the guy who had done it. He was good alright and it wasn't going to be easy.
Kate was sitting at her desk looking on her computer for any other murders using this kind of poison, when someone started nuzzling her neck and biting her earlobe. "Hmmmm, hi Castle."
"And how do you know it was me?" Castle is put off just a little.
"Because everyone knows if they had done it I would shoot them." Kate teases back. "Time for lunch?" Kate guesses.
"Yup, and I brought the tablet with our pictures on it just as you asked." Castle tells her.
"Good, let's go get my dad and have lunch. Does it have pictures of the house too?" Kate wants him to see everything.
"I've got those too plus dinner invites that we can give him. Along with your boys, Lanie and Roy. They would likely all want to see the house." Castle tells her.
"Thanks Castle, that's sweet." And Castle hands over the ones for her while he goes to Roy's office to give him his.
Castle waits out front while Kate gives the invite to Lanie. As soon as Kate shows up Castle gives her a quick kiss. "I've also got some research on locations to re-new our vows for you to look at when you get home. See if we are both thinking the same thing."
Kate stops them. "I love you Castle. I still don't know how you got into my heart but I'm glad you did. And I'd marry you any day of the week." And Kate gives him a quick kiss.
They needed to take a taxi to get to her father's apartment, and Rick went up with Kate this time. He had already seen Jim sober so seeing him drunk wouldn't affect what he thought of him.
Jim answered the door. "Katie, Rick, it's good to see you, come on in." Jim appeared to be sober.
"How you doing dad?" Kate hopes he had not gone backwards any.
"I'm doing fine so far. I gained a couple of clients the other day so I have enough work to keep me busy." Jim tells them happily.
"That's great dad. It's good to see you more like your old self." Kate is happy hoping it stays that way.
"Where's Alexis?" Jim notices she is missing.
"She has school today so you are stuck with us this time." Rick answers him. "We did however bring you a lot of pictures this time." As Rick pulls out the tablet and turns it on to start showing them all.
Wedding was first, where he got to see pictures of Martha too.
"You're very lovely Katie, It'll be good to see you in it next time." Jim is dying to walk her down the aisle.
Next came pictures of London, followed by Paris and Rome. Then the river cruise with pictures of the ship and all of their stops.
Next Rick pulled out a framed picture out of his bag of Rick and Kate getting married and handed it to Jim. This was a shock to Kate since she didn't know he had packed one, but she couldn't resist kissing him for it.
Then came pictures of the house, including the play set out back. Then Kate pulled out his dinner invitation at the house. And was told that Javi, Ryan, Jenny, Lanie, Roy and of course Martha and Alexis would be attending with him.
He was going to get to meet everyone important in their lives all in one night. No pressure.
Lunch was at Jim's choice this time and unlike last time this lunch was filled with talking, laughing and smiling.
Jim was reminded to come for dinner tomorrow night. If he needed a ride all he had to do was call and either Rick or Kate would be happy to come get him and then take him back home.
After they were gone Jim was alone with his thoughts. Katie seemed soooo happy. He was drunk through most of the last few years, but even drunk he couldn't remember her smiling like she is now.
Richard Castle seemed to be just what she needed. "You should see her now Johanna." Jim talks to himself. Then suddenly he felt the urge for a drink.
Remembering his smiling daughter snapped him out of it. At least for now. "Katie has a family, and if I want to be a part of it I need to act like her father again." Jim tells himself, and walks over to where he has the remains of a bottle and dumps it down the drain.
"I hope I have the strength for this Johanna." Jim leans up against the sink for a moment then dropping the bottle in the trash.
What he doesn't see is the drapes at the window flap from an unseen gust of wind, and then settle back into place.