CH80
Castle had given Kate a bagel with cream cheese, coffee to-go mug and a soul searching kiss before she left. Kate had also made sure that Alexis had taken her puppy outside so he would do his business outside and learn where to do this.
"How do you like Sparky?" Kate asks her on the drive to her school.
"He's great mom, thanks." Alexis tells her smiling.
"You just remember sweetie, you treat him nice. No yanking on his tail or pulling of his ears and no hitting." Kate reminds her of the treatment she expects.
"I know mom, I'm being nice. I promise." Alexis confirms, silently adding 'Please don't take him away.'
Kate knows Alexis wouldn't but still she felt the need to remind her. "Did you feed him this morning?"
Alexis slaps her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry mom." Alexis knows she is in trouble and doubles her prayers 'Please don't take him away.'
"Not to worry sweetie, I know you didn't mean to. Jill?" Kate asks.
"I'm on it. Jack will tell Richard and have him check his water. …. Richard is reminding you to think about what Halloween costume you two want to wear this year." Jill tells them.
Kate is forced to giggle. Holidays were important to Castle. Ever since her mother had been killed and her father disappeared into a bottle holidays were just another day to Kate.
Turning holidays into something important wasn't going to be easy for her.
"You know what you want to be this year sweetie?" Maybe Alexis could give her an idea.
"Indian Princess" Alexis offers up. "High Seas Buccaneer Girl." Alexis offers up.
"Princess or a Pirate? I think I can work with that." Kate comments mostly to herself.
Alexis however is grinning wide. Her mom wants to wear something that matches hers.
Kate dropped her off at school and Alexis leaned across and did her best to hug Kate and kiss her. "I love you mom." And takes off running for school.
"I love you too." Kate yells after her. "What did I do to earn that?" Kate talks to herself.
Kate was still trying to figure it out as she turned on her computer at her desk.
"Richard the FBI SUV is moving out of the tow facility storage area." Jack tells him.
"So I wonder what they had to do or say to get it back?" Rick talks to himself.
Rick heads off for his laptop to start work on his next book using some of the notes he has typed up already.
"RICHARD!" Jack yells at him. "Bracken has found out who Kate married and that she now has a daughter. He has ordered the FBI men to find her and detain her to apply pressure on Roy with." Jack tells her.
Rick doesn't even bother to save his work and opens his safe in his office and grabs 2 tasers. "Jack tell Jill, have Kate get units over there as fast as she can." As Rick runs for his car.
Rick was glad he has a Maserati since he broke every speed limit there was on his way to his daughter's school.
By the time he got there he found two units already parked in the parking lot.
"Kate, break room, NOW!" Jill whispers.
Kate makes it to the break room which is empty. "Jack has found out that Bracken has found out that you are married and have a child now. He has ordered those two FBI men to find and pick up Alexis to apply pressure on Roy with." Jill tells her. "Richard is already on his way to the school."
"NO!" Kate runs out of the break room and gets her weapon and badge and runs for the stairs, finding Espo just stepping off the elevator.
Kate runs into him, literally mostly by accident. "Espo get units to Greenway Elementary, Alexis is in trouble. Tell them they can't allow anyone to take her from school." And Kate runs for the stairs. "Please Espo!" Kate yells behind her halfway down the stairs.
Kate turned on her lights and siren and drove faster than even police are allowed. "Please no, please no." Kate repeated all the way.
By the time Kate got there she found two units already in the parking lot with their lights still on.
Kate went charging into the office area with her weapon drawn. What she found were 3 uniforms standing around. "Where's Alexis?"
Lisa the principle answered. "One of the secretaries is getting Alexis out of her class right now."
Kate points to the uniforms. "Find her, NOW! If you don't find her don't bother to come back." Kate yells at them. Kate turns to Lisa. "Take us there, NOW!" Kate yells at Lisa, still holding her gun.
Lisa leads them out of the office and down the hall. Just as they reach Alexis's room a woman with Alexis in tow comes out. Kate wastes no time in putting her weapon away and scooping up Alexis and squeezing her tight.
Only now does Kate allow the tears to start to flow. "Mom?" Alexis is confused.
Kate however can only stand there holding her, scared but slowly calming down.
"Mrs. Castle?" Lisa is also confused.
Bad ass Beckett clicks into place now that Alexis is safe. "You, take point back to the office. You cover our six and you are with us." Kate gives the uniforms orders and they start back for the office.
Rick has reached the school and finds two cruisers and Kate's car parked out front. Tucking the two tasers behind him he runs for the office.
Opening the door of the office he finds three uniforms with weapons pointed at him. "CASTLE!" Kate's voice comes from Lisa's office and Kate with Alexis in her arms walks out.
Kate gets the uniforms to lower their weapons. This is followed by a group hug of Kate, Alexis and Rick.
"She's fine Castle." Kate whispers out still with tears in her eyes.
"Dad?" Alexis is confused.
"Any sign of them?" Castle asks her. Getting Kate to shake her head.
"This has to stop Kate. He's gone too far. If they haven't shown up perhaps they still will. Have the uniforms move their cars out of sight and we'll wait for them." Castle suggests.
Kate just looks at him like he has lost his mind. Till Castle pulls out two tasers he had brought with him.
Kate suddenly gets it and smiles at him.
It only took a few minutes for the uniforms to move their cruisers and Kate's car for her while Kate and Castle with Alexis between them sat on the floor behind the counter of the office, waiting.
The secretaries as well as Lisa were scared of this plan at first, but as time wore on they calmed down. Which was a good thing since two hours later two men in suits stepped into the office.
One of them pulled out his ID. "We need to speak with one of your students, an Alexis Castle."
"One moment while I get the principal." The woman who is now scared again steps thru a side door to get Lisa.
As Lisa opens the door leading to the lobby it gets the attention of the two FBI men allowing Kate and Castle to pop up from behind the counter.
Kate shoots the one on her side while Castle shoots the one on his side. Both of the FBI men stand there shaking while Kate and Castle allow the full charge to be expended and watch them fall to the ground.
Kate and Castle come around the side and take their weapons, ID and car keys, then zip ties their hands behind them and then zip tie their ankles together.
Kate goes and gets the uniforms to help them load them into the SUV. Kate tells them she will handle this and they can go.
Castle comes back from his car and injects something into both of them after the uniforms are gone. "That should keep them out for the next couple of hours." Castle tells Kate.
Kate thanks Lisa for her help and takes Alexis out of school and puts her in her car. While Castle hops into the SUV and takes them to a drop off point. Where Kate helps him carry them inside one at a time and lock them up.
"Jack dial the operator for me."
"Dialing."
"Operator." And Castle gives her his code name and code.
"Name and code confirmed. How may I help you?"
"I have a pick up and holding for 2 at location #3 Manhattan." Castle tells her.
"Pickup scheduled in 2 hours time." And the call ends.
"Follow me Kate, I need to get rid of this SUV." Castle asks her. Getting Kate to nod her head.
Castle drives it down to a deserted dock area and drives it into the drink and watches it sink to the bottom. "They want their SUV back they can come get it." Castle punches the open air and walks to Kate's car who'd followed him.
Castle pulls out the cell phones they had on them. "Jack?"
"Scanning, … Scan complete, cloning complete." Jack tells her. Then Castle takes one of them apart and throws it into the river right behind their SUV while Kate follows with the other phone.
"Take me back to the school so I can pick up my car." Castle offers.
Once at Castle's car, Kate is standing with Castle at his car after they put Alexis in his car. "This has to stop Castle. He's after my baby." Kate pleads her case.
"I'm sorry Kate, I really didn't think he would sink this low, or that there were FBI men that would sink this low with him." Castle wraps his arms around her.
"Alexis and I will meet you at the precinct for lunch with your father. Then we'll talk about what to do next when you get home tonight. Jack will keep his ears open concerning Bracken in the meantime." Castle tells her.
Kate leans in and kisses Castle hard. "That kiss was part yours Jack, thank you." Kate tells both of them.
"He hurts my family over my burnt out processors." Jack comments back. Getting Kate to giggle.
"You going to have any trouble with those uniforms?" Castle asks.
Kate just shakes her head. "NYPD is family Castle. We protect our own from bad people all the time. I'll owe them and Espo a favor now but since I get to keep Alexis, I'll pay it gladly." Kate tells him.
"Espo?" Castle doesn't see how he fits into this.
"I ran into him at the elevators, he's the one who called for uniforms to meet me at the school." Kate explains.
"Remind me to invite your friends to dinner again some time." Castle wants to thank them for this.
"I'll see you at the precinct for lunch." And Kate kisses him again and gets in her car and drives off. While Rick heads home with Alexis.
Rick didn't get to stay home long before it was time to drive and pick up Kate for their lunch. This time Jim had asked to have lunch at his place, he had wanted to cook.
"Where are we going dad?" Alexis was curious. She was supposed to be in school after all.
"We're going to pick up Kate and then go to her father's apartment for lunch." Rick tells her.
"We're going to have lunch with mom's dad? Cool!" Alexis was happy. Rick just hoped he had stayed sober.
"Everything OK Beckett?" Espo asks when Kate gets back.
Kate looks at him and then at Ryan. They are both staring at her waiting for an explanation. They had both met Alexis and knew how much Beckett cared for her.
Kate looked in Roy's office and noticed he was gone. "The Captain is downstairs with Robbery." Espo notes where she was looking.
Kate is conflicted, they are two of her best friends and if things turn ugly she might need their help. "Observation room, now." And Kate strides for the door.
Once they are all inside with the door closed. "This conversation doesn't leave this room, understand?"
"We've got your back Beckett, always." Espo tells her getting a nod from Ryan.
Kate tells a white lie and explains that she has been investigating her mom's case and has evidence to suggest but not yet convict the guy who ordered her mother murdered.
And that Kate thinks he has found out what she has been doing and that she got wind that Alexis was going to be picked up to make her pay for her investigation. Then Kate lowers the bomb on them.
"Bracken, William Bracken, Senator Bracken, Presidential hopeful Bracken? You sure Beckett?" Ryan is the only one of the two who can talk. Espo has taken what she has said as being the gospel and is too shocked to talk.
"He hired a killer to do it to hide his secrets so he can be President. Even if no one can prove what I know the press would crucify him. And he would be ruined but not in prison leaving Alexis, Castle and I on his hit list for retribution." Kate explains by twisting the truth, just twisting it a little.
"He would never leave you alone until he got revenge." Ryan agrees.
"How can we help Beckett, because if you think we're going to let you do this alone, …." Espo trails off and doesn't finish.
"Can you two come to dinner tomorrow at our house, maybe together we can get something on Bracken so he can't get to us?" Kate wants it to end. Castle is devious but Bracken is after her baby now and that has to stop.
"We'll be there Beckett." Espo tells her.
"Do we need help? We have friends." Ryan asks. He knew that they could call in favors.
"I've already taken care of that, they'll be at the dinner also." Kate tells them.
The guys exit the room leaving Kate behind for a moment. "Jill inform Castle of this, no secrets."
Jill responds. "Richard will make sure Roy is there also. He did not sound surprised you had talked to the guys." Jill adds.
Kate grins. "He does seem to know me pretty well, but Bracken gets to my baby over my dead body Jill."
Kate and the boys spent the morning looking for the guy who kills using poison. They still had three murders to solve still.
"You know it is possible that he has done this outside of our jurisdiction." Ryan points out.
"Yea, and if we go that way the FBI will swoop in and take our case away from us thinking we can't handle it since they are sooooo much smarter than we are." Espo counters.
Ryan was forced to agree so he kept silent.
"MOM!" Kate hears just in time to turn her chair and have Alexis in her chair with her hugging Kate. Allowing Kate to hug her back. "I get to go to lunch with you." Alexis is smiling.
Suddenly getting Kate to panic a little. Kate hadn't had time to alert her dad that Alexis would be coming with them. She prayed he was still sober.
Castle meanwhile went over to the guys. "We will see you two at our place for dinner tomorrow, 7:00 PM, don't be late." Castle whispers to them.
"We'll be there Castle." Espo confirms.
On the elevator trip down. "You're not mad I told the guys something." Kate knows he does things slowly, deviously. While she is more direct.
Castle shakes his head. "I figured that they and Roy would need to get involved sometime. I just had hoped it would be our idea, not have Bracken force it on us."
"Maybe we can force a location on him." Kate counters.
"Jack and I will get started on a location when we get home after lunch. Something that Espo and I can use to our advantage." Castle suggests.
This got Kate to kiss him. He was trusting her about Espo's ability without seeing it for himself.
Knocking on the front door gets Jim to answer. "Hi dad."
"Katie, Rick. …. And Alexis, what a surprise." Jim greets them sounding happy and sober.
"Hi Grandpa Jim." Alexis tells him. Kate immediately notices him soften and tears start.
"Come on in. Lunch is almost more dinner actually and will be done soon." Jim tells them and steps aside to let them in.
Jim had actually cooked an entire chicken that he then cut into slices to turn into sandwiches along with some fruit cut up into pieces. He didn't have milk but he wasn't expecting Alexis.
"How have you been dad?" Kate wonders since she saw him a week ago.
"I'm doing better. I finished one project and gained another new client, so work is going well.
And I bought a bicycle so I can get some exercise in when it is warm, which isn't going to last much longer." Jim tells them.
"You have a bike Gramps." Alexis was interested.
"You want to go biking with me?" Jim asks her.
Alexis turns to Rick. "Can we dad?"
"Of course, Jim just has to tell us when he has time and we can load the bikes into the Range Rover and bike with him." Rick is willing. "Have you got time in a couple of days?"
"I've got a meeting tomorrow so the day after should work." Jim offers.
"Then the two of us will be here, won't we pumpkin?" Castle smiles at Alexis.
"We can do it Gramps." Alexis sounds happy and is hopping a little.
Kate notices something about her father she has never seen before, just doesn't know what it is.
Jim spent part of the time embarrassing his daughter with stories of her youth as well the horrors of her teenage years. "You should have seen this one guy she brought by, I swear I think she did it just to get a reaction out of us. Jo was ready to have a heart attack and I was ready to kill him and then toss his useless ass off the balcony."
"What was his name?" Castle asks.
"I never asked, neither of them stayed long enough to get past the hello phase." Jim responds.
Castle turns to stare at Kate. 'What was his name?' written all over his silence.
"I don't remember his name." Kate finally tells them.
"You mean you never did learn his name." Castle challenges her.
Kate's response is to place her forehead down on the table, embarrassed. Castle understands her maybe just a little too well.
When Kate lifts her head back up all three of them are grinning at her, however Jim's face has a touch of shock on it. He had just learned something.
"Ok enough embarrassing little Katie Beckett." Kate pleads. Getting Jim and Castle to laugh a little.
The rest of lunch was more light hearted, and Kate noticed her father was more involved in the conversation then she could remember since before her mom died.
They were all at his front door. "Alexis and I will be over the day after tomorrow right about 4:00 pm for that bike ride." Castle reminds him.
"I'm looking forward to it." Jim really was interested. These two had his daughter's heart and he wanted to learn all he could.
"By Gramps." Alexis tells him as she leaves with her father,
Kate is last. "You ok dad?" Kate knows she sees something just can't place it.
"I'm fine Katie, you have a beautiful family. You're a lucky grown up woman." Jim tells her.
Kate now thinks she has a lead. "Lucky, yea. Castle and Alexis have been the best thing to happen in my life. Those two have changed me a lot."
"You're happy Katie and they clearly love you, it's all I could ask for."
"We'll see you next week for another lunch dad." As Kate kisses his cheek.
After Jim has closed the door behind her he leans his back up against it. "She called me Grandpa, Jo. You should be here to see this. Our little Katie has a beautiful family and they've included me in it even after all I've done the last few years.
You really should see this Jo." As the only tear he would let out streaked down his face.