CH81
Kate, Castle and Alexis all went upstairs to her desk. Kate made sure Espo and Ryan would be at their house tomorrow for dinner for a very serious conversation.
Rick left Alexis with Kate while he went into Roy's office to talk to him.
"Rick, what do I owe the pleasure?" Roy notices his entrance.
"I think the time has come. Bracken is running out of people to do his dirty work and he is starting to make mistakes. I've got Kate inviting Ryan and Espo to our house for dinner tomorrow evening for a discussion. I need for you to attend as well." Rick explains, hoping his friend has the time.
"Just the three of us?" Roy questions.
"Bracken has mentioned having a mole that he can count on. At first I thought it was you he was talking about. Now I'm not so sure, so yea just the three of you along with Kate and I." Rick explains.
"You know what we are up against?" Roy asks.
"I'm guessing a couple of heavy hitters along with some young guns that he can pay out of his own pocket. Something we will discuss tomorrow night." Rick informs him.
"I'll be there. I'll put in for some vacation time for a few days following the day we select." Roy tells him.
"And I'll have your transportation all ready for you." Rick tells him.
Castle walks over to Kate to pick up Alexis for the trip home. "I'll have dinner waiting for you when you get home." Kate kisses him before he leaves.
Kate gets up and with one of her coffee bags Castle gave her and walks into the break room. Espo and Ryan follow.
"I suppose I have to give you some of my coffee?" Kate teases them. Getting nods and grins from the two.
"Should we add some uniforms to this meeting?" Espo would like some more firepower.
Kate shakes her head. "Bracken didn't get this far without having ears everywhere. We take this to anyone past just us and he'll be waiting for us." Kate shakes her head again. "There is just too much at stake guys, besides I trust you." As Kate starts the coffee machine.
"Firepower?" Ryan asks?
"Just you two plus one other and just to talk. We'll discuss who has or brings what at dinner tomorrow." Kate takes her coffee and heads back to her desk.
"I hope this ends it for her, she needs closure." Ryan tells his partner.
"She's got us bro, we've had her back before and we're going to do this time too." Espo gets and nod from Ryan and takes his coffee to his desk.
They didn't get a body drop that afternoon so they all went home at a decent time.
Kate found Castle in the kitchen cooking after she put her weapon away at the front door and dropped her keys and re-set the alarm.
"Castle can we afford to send Alexis back to school come Monday?" Kate asks.
Castle stops cooking and sighs. "We can't afford for her to fall behind, she's brilliant in school but at what point does it start hurting her? …. Jack, what does Bracken know?"
"He knows her name and the school that she attends, his recent attempts to contact his FBI friends have gone un-answered." Jack tells them.
"So he could just send someone again until we get him." Kate notes.
"Guess that answers our question for now." Castle resigns himself to having Alexis stay home from school maybe past Monday.
'How long does she stay home from school?" Kate worries.
"Something we discuss at dinner tomorrow or immediately after. After Alexis is in bed tonight I want to go over locations we can try and lure Bracken and his friends to. It needs to benefit us but look attractive to him and whoever he has left or they won't go for it." Castle tells her.
"We need to end this soon Castle. I know you like to do things differently, but he's threatening our daughter. Being after me when it was just me was one thing, but this has to stop Castle." Kate wants him to see her point.
"I know Kate, I get it, I do. But all of my games have forced him to this point. All of it was to force him to do something stupid. And he actually has done a number of stupid things lately, …." Castle is interrupted by Jack.
"Bracken has failed to make his flight tonight, and was forced to take a taxi to get to the airport. He is being informed that the next flight is not until morning. Bracken is complaining that he had a reservation and that he needs to be in DC tonight.
They are apologizing but he has no reservation for this evening, they can get him a reservation for tomorrow morning. He has refused. … He is now making a phone call. …. He is trying to get someone in DC to find him a dialysis machine in New York for tomorrow. …. He is calling for a car service to take him back to his hotel." Jack tells them.
"Our dinner for planning is tomorrow, we need to get him to stay for another day or two past that." Castle points out. "Keep track of him Jack. After he is done with dialysis make sure his car service is canceled again and cancel his plane reservation again if he makes one. People who are mad tend to make mistakes. Hopefully we can put his mistakes to use." Castle hopes. "Oh and don't forget, …." But is interrupted by Jack again.
"That the press is waiting for him outside the hospital about his paying his way to the top of the transplant list." Jack tells him.
"My apologies Jack, I should have known better." Castle tells him. "You want to go find Alexis and my mother, dinner is almost ready." Castle tells Kate.
Easy Paella (Spain)2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons dried oregano
salt and black pepper to taste
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 cups uncooked short-grain white rice
1 pinch saffron threads
1 bay leaf
1/2 bunch Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 quart chicken stock
2 lemons, zested
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 Spanish onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 pound chorizo sausage, casings removed and crumbled
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
Alexis came bounding down the stairs. Ever since her dad had found his inspiration for cooking by using different countries she never knew what he was going to make. And a lot of it was pretty good.
"Pizza?" Alexis is surprised.
"It's called Paella, it's kinda like a Spanish pizza is you like. Just not the Italian pizza you are thinking about." Rick corrects her.
Without the pizza dough it was more like a casserole than pizza, but it disappeared fast so everyone must have liked it.
Even Sparky had made it down the stairs and was sitting next to them waiting for someone to drop something. His nose was working overtime.
"Don't forget to feed Sparky and take him outside. And remember to turn off the alarm before you take him outside pumpkin." Castle reminds her.
"I know dad, come on Sparky let's go outside." And Alexis is off and running with Sparky hot on her heels.
"You two have done well, Alexis adores that dog." Martha tells them.
Castle picks up the empty plates and takes them into the kitchen.
"Is everything alright Katherine?" Martha is interested in something.
"I'm fine Martha, honest. Things are great between me and Castle." Kate tells her wondering what has her asking.
"Are you sure dear?" Martha doesn't really want to have to spell it out.
"I'm positive Martha. I love Castle and Alexis."
"Then why do you call Richard by his last name and Alexis by her first? Are you holding the door open with your foot dear?" Martha spells it out for her.
This had caught Kate by complete surprise. And she just sat there with nothing to say.
"You just think about it dear, I have faith that you'll know what to do." As Martha pats her arm and heads for her room.
Kate was lost, completely lost. She had been calling him Castle for so long now, was it just habit? Or was she unwilling to call him Rick or Richard? Rickey was out, she had to admit that was just a little too cartoonish.
Was she waiting for something to go wrong and leave her an out so her heart wasn't destroyed?
Castle, Rick hadn't complained about be called by his last name. Was she being just a little too impersonal? She after all was the one to ask him to marry her, not the other way around like normal.
But then nothing about their lives was normal. They had Jack and Jill, they were fighting real live aliens that didn't actually die, they worked for the President, and they were chasing down who killed her mother.
Why did she still call him Castle instead of Rick? After all she was a Castle now too. She had actually changed her legal name to Castle. It was only Beckett at work. Did she need to think about that too?
Kate didn't know how long she had still been sitting at the dining room table. When she suddenly noticed that Castle/Rick was sitting across from her resting his head on his hands, staring at her. With a glass of wine sitting in front of her and one in front of him.
"What are you staring at?"
"I'm just enjoying the show." Rick tells her.
Kate just sits there with a 'what are you talking about?' look on her face.
"I'm just watching the wheels in your mind spin madly. Whatever it was that had your attention it must be important." Rick tells her.
It isn't until now that Kate notices that the table is empty except for the wine glasses. Everything was gone and the table had been wiped clean.
"I'd offer a penny for your thoughts, but I have a feeling whatever they were is worth a lot more than just a penny." Rick notes.
"I have something I need to work out." Kate tells him and goes upstairs to change, leaving her glass of wine behind.
Rick looked in on her from time to time. Kate was either running a mile a minute on the treadmill or was beating the crap out of the punching bag.
Rick meanwhile was sitting on the swings petting Sparky while Alexis played. When a stray thought hit him. Maybe they needed a second punching bag? They both seemed to spend a lot of time pounding the crap out of it.
Rick had already showered and gone to bed when Kate came in out of breath and hit the shower. Eventually she came out dressed for bed and slid in next to Rick and wrapped her arms around him, only to have Rick twist around to face her and pull her in close.
"Feeling better?" Rick asks wondering what had gotten her so, so, …
"I'm sorry Rick, really, really sorry." Kate snuggles in close. She is not yet ready to look into his eyes.
"Sorry about what? What could you have possibly done to think you need to apologize?" Rick was a little lost, as he thinks back.
"I asked you to marry me because I love you, and I had my name changed, but I think I've still been thinking single all this time. I've been calling you Castle when Castle is also my name now.
I should be calling you Rick instead of using your last name all the time. I'm your wife and I should be all in or all out, not somewhere stuck in-between.
PP1 knows my last name change, I mean my checks show up as Castle and not Beckett.
I'm going to have the guys at work start calling me Castle instead of Beckett. I'm a Castle now and I want our children to know I'm a Castle too. They don't need to not understand why mom has a different name." Kate confides with her head tucked away pressed up against him.
"Is this your way of telling me you're pregnant?" Rick asks.
Kate shakes her head. "I had my period yesterday, so I'm not pregnant. I'm sorry." As if Kate thought somehow not being pregnant was all her fault.
"Why would you think you should be sorry for not being pregnant?" Rick was lost.
"You have Alexis so we know it's not you." Kate's tears are starting.
"Oh Kate, just because you didn't get pregnant instantly doesn't mean there is something wrong. There are couples that take months if not years for the timing to be right. It's not your fault. You'll be pregnant when you're ready to be pregnant.
And I don't mean mentally or wishing that you were. Besides I like practicing with you." Rick tells her honestly.
Kate grins into his chest where she is hiding her face from him. "More practice will have to wait a couple of days."
"Ok now we have a problem. I'm not sure I can keep my hands off you that long." Rick teases. Earning him a light swat to his chest to go with a giggle.
"Don't forget your bike ride with dad tomorrow, then we have dinner with everyone later." Kate reminds him.
"I haven't forgotten, we'll be there. I've also got a couple of locations to try and get Bracken and whoever he has left to show up at. I'm hoping Espo likes this location. It's going to be hard on him." Rick was going to get him up high, really high. Which meant a lot of climbing on his part.
Come morning Kate left with just a bagel with cream cheese, coffee to-go and her kiss.
Kate and the guys went back to work on trying to find the killer who likes to use poison, however he was proving to be elusive. They were beginning to think they were going to have to hand it over to the FBI. Anyone this good isn't just local.
Rick and Alexis however had shown up at Jim's apartment with their bikes in hand all ready for him. And back down the elevator they went and took off riding with no real destination in mind.
They did however end up in a park eventually were they stopped at a street vendor to have lunch.
"You're pretty good for a beginner Gramps." Alexis had noticed he was keeping up pretty good.
"I hadn't ridden a bike in a long time; it feels good to get out. Plus I like the company." Jim was being honest with her.
"It is however going to get cold soon so I'll have to stop till Spring." Jim tells her.
"You can come to the pool with us when we go next. It's not bike riding but swimming is fun too." Alexis offers.
"I've never been much for swimming." Jim has to tell her.
"That's ok, you can just float like dad does." Alexis teases.
"Hey, I know how to swim." Rick is insulted.
"Maybe you can teach dad how to swim Gramps." Alexis can't stop teasing him.
"Ok little miss smarty pants, back to bike riding. …. Can't swim, honestly." Getting Alexis to giggle and Jim to smile at her.
Jim was beginning to see a little better what his daughter saw in these two. Katie was so serious all the time and these two were anything but.