Close Encounters 17

The NSA made it clear that she and Castle were to leave the US for the duration of Maine's trial; they wanted the man to feel there was no hope for him. The inquiry into Senator Bracken was now under their control - which meant they were going to cover up their own part in their dealings with him, but it also meant that they could offer Kate immunity for the senator's death.

Maine was being set up as the fall guy - the orchestrator of both Bracken's death in the woods at the hands of the Westies and also Beckett's kidnapping from federal custody. Under Denver, the NSA had been conducting an investigation into former Agent-in-Charge John Black - but it had been at the behest of Senator Bracken, who had foiled Black's every attempt to climb the political ladder inside the CIA.

Apparently the rivalry between them was well-known.

Agent Denver thought Maine would roll on his boss when he was faced with the full weight of the charges against him. He was looking at conspiracy and murder and possibly seditious acts violations. Kate didn't necessarily feel sorry for him, but she didn't like the way this was being arranged with no regard for true justice.

There was no truth in this. Bracken would be made out to be a martyr, a man crusading for accountability within the clandestine services and effectively assassinated for it.

But there was nothing they could do; Kate had not recourse, not when she had to think about more than just herself.

So they packed. The flashdrive with the Congo files was tucked into Sasha's collar along with the sonogram photo, and her ruff of fur hid the bulky belted collar without a problem. The NSA agents oversaw their evacuation of the cover apartment, but Mitchell met them at the back of the property with his Charger.

Castle was giving the man dark looks, but Espo and Reynolds had left to salvage what they could at the Office, since they could be trusted. So Kate slid behind the wheel and adjusted the mirrors, watching Castle carefully as he sat in the back of the two-door with Mitch. Sasha got the front seat with the window cracked, but the wolf in her seemed entirely too attuned to the tension in the car. Neither man could be that comfortable in the cramped backseat, but Kate knew that despite their wish to trust Mitch, they couldn't. Not yet.

She drove them home - home - the excitement curling in her blood, stretching and reclaiming. She wondered if the baby would feel like this, this same sensation - a sense of other, of home, of anticipation.

Shit, her ribs still ached when she had to sit like this.

"Don't take Fifth," Mitchell spoke up from the back. "There's a four-car wreck. You'll have to-"

"Let Kate do the driving," Castle said. His voice wasn't cold, but it wasn't warm either.

"I believe you," Kate told Mitchell, aiming her voicing for the backseat, checking his face in the rear view mirror. He looked grim. No wonder.

"Let me at least lay out my defense," he said then. "You can't - it can't stand up, whatever you have on me." That his plea was entirely without cursing or desperation spoke loudest, and it made Castle pay attention, she could see.

"So, lay it out."

"I don't know what I need to defend against. Tell me what you have and I'll - something has to be wrong. Fabricated evidence can't withstand careful scrutiny. We all know that."

"The requests for gas fill-up for the chopper," Castle said immediately. "You told me you would look for her."

"I did. I looked - every means available. The chopper I came on to get you both from the steppe - I'd taken it out before, when I went looking while you were knocked unconscious, Castle. But that's not the bird Black used when he went back."

"Do you know for sure he went up?" Kate interrupted. She doubted it. She couldn't imagine Black going back for her.

"I... no. No, I don't know for sure. He told me he had when I got there. But it took me two days to extricate myself from that situation in Cairo and get to you in Turkey. Black and I both escorted you, Castle, from Turkey to Germany, but I went back at least twice looking for Beckett."

"On the chopper?"

"No. On a cargo plane. No airspace incursions were allowed. That shit blew up in our faces, Rick. You remember. It was their own damn nuclear lab. So what I was allowed to do was very limited. And see, I was still under the impression that Black had gone back immediately to the site to look for you, Kate. There was no reason for me to doubt that. None of us knew what he was really doing, so I took it at face value when he said he'd gone back to look."

"I doubt he did," Castle growled. "So the fuel requests for the chopper - why are there none?"

"Because I didn't use the damn chopper. Not the SAR chopper; I couldn't. I just told you that."

"So? You used a chopper. Fuel requests-"

"Fuck you, lay off me and listen when I explain. The Chinook - the Search and Rescue choppers - those are the only choppers on Ramstein that you send fuel requests for. Government shit - trying to keep track of how many non-personnel usages or whatever. The French have four Gazelles at Ramstein that we use for observation and those were the choppers I had to use."

"But Lighthouse."

"What about it?" Mitch said with exasperation.

"We found communication requests to Tunisia from Lighthouse."

Mitch swore darkly. "How the hell... how many of us get called Lighthouse, Castle? Seriously. It only means you're Agent in Charge of the op. There are probably five at any one time. And even if they had my encrypted ID - well, fuck. People can steal that shit. I didn't call Tunisia until I called looking for you."

Kate released her grip on the steering wheel as relief flooded through her. She believe him; she believed it. She had to bite back the urge to cry; stupid baby hormones.

"It wasn't you," Castle said roughly from the back.

"Wasn't me. I didn't fucking sell you out."

There was a grunt from the backseat and Kate knew without looking that Castle had just gripped Mitchell by the back of his neck and pulled him close. Maybe not quite a hug - Castle didn't hug his CIA guys - but it was something.

It wasn't Mitch. It couldn't be Mitch.

"Fuck, get off me," Mitchell muttered. "What I want to know is - who the fuck set me up?"

Home was a relief, short-lived though it had to be.

Mitch had dropped them off with the promise to meet up with Espo and Reynolds and go through whatever was left at the Office. He wanted to clear his name for good, though Castle believed him.

Maybe he shouldn't, but he did.

Castle left the suitcase at the foot of the stairs and took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of lemon floor polish and laundry detergent and honeysuckle - the unique flavors of their home together.

Kate was reaching back for his hand, but he snagged her first and dragged her in against him, their hips crashing together.

"Whoa," she laughed, staring at him with that breathless little hitch.

"Remember that promise I made?"

"What?" she said. Her eyes were bright, that brim of relief touching the love in her irises.

"I'm keeping my promise not to waste a single second, now that I've finally gotten you home."

Her lips parted, that sentiment in her eyes disappearing in favor of lust. "Oh, yes, I like that promise. Lay it on me."

He grinned and dropped his mouth to hers, a consuming kiss, letting the urgency overwhelm him. She was hot against him, her tongue completely wicked, her moan the kind of thing he usually heard when they used handcuffs.

He had to cradle her face and put her away before he dragged her upstairs. Or right here in the foyer on the hard wood floor, and she deserved better than that. She deserved dinner first, at least. Shit.

Kate was smirking at him when she caught his hand, tugging him with her; he followed as she led him through the living room and into the kitchen.

She opened the back door for Sasha and the dog bounded out into the meager yard, eager for her own space again. He and Kate stood in the open doorway and watched the dog roll in the grass, sliding her muzzle and all the way down her neck against the patchy lawn.

"Well, she's glad to be back," he laughed.

"Not for long," Kate sighed. "I wish we could take her with us."

"She'll haunt the trees on your dad's property," he answered. "They'll keep each other company, those two lone wolves."

"You're right," she smiled finally. Castle nudged her back from the open door and closed it, guiding her towards the kitchen counter. "What do you want for dinner? I'll make something to celebrate being home. Though we only have a night."

"Pork tenderloin," she said immediately. Her hand pressed low over her abs and she grinned. "Hm, I think that's a craving."

"Yeah? Pork tenderloin is a craving?" he laughed.

"I love that cranberry glaze," she moaned. It might be a little put on; she was probably teasing him. But it worked.

"Yeah, I can do that. I actually bought a couple of pork tenderloins when they went on sale before Christmas and I froze them. So I don't even have to leave the house for ingredients."

"Was this fit of domesticity before or after you nearly died of a super bug?" she said pointedly, lifting an eyebrow at him.

Castle barked a laugh, surprised at how easily she'd said that. "Point taken. Before. When we went up to your dad's cabin that week, I'd bought it then, thinking I'd make something for you."

"Fate intervened," she murmured, sighing again. He ignored that and moved for the freezer, pulling out the bag of pork tenderloin and dropping it on the counter. He had everything for glaze as well, since it was unfortunately canned cranberry sauce with a dash of white wine.

He turned around to look for a bowl, found her watching him with such love in her eyes. She was trailing her fingers over her stomach, her gaze on him. "Castle, we're going to have a baby."

He grinned, his heart tripping in his chest before hurrying up again. Abandoning dinner preparations, he reached out and cupped her elbows, pulled her in against him. "Yeah, we are."

"Sometimes it doesn't feel real at all, and then sometimes it's so here."

"I know," he said. He did; he knew exactly what she meant. He nudged between them and pulled the ultrasound photo out of his pocket once more. They'd gotten it past the NSA agents without a hitch, but he'd rescued it from the dog when they'd gotten to the car.

Kate was watching as he unfolded it; he studied the gray smudges, the more distinct shape of the baby's head, the rounded curl of the body like a semicolon. Such a small thing still, safe inside his wife, but one day it would be here, boy or girl, their child to love and raise and teach right and wrong, numbers and letters, languages and books and cultures. How to be good, how to have dignity, how to be a friend, how to love.

It was an impossible job - it would take a lifetime - but already it filled him up to think about Kate teaching their son to be gentle with the dog or how to whistle for Sasha, helping the kid write his or her name, bending over the tub to get a bath.

He'd do anything to keep that dream, the spark of almost here. He'd do anything for her.

"Put it on the fridge," she said then, "with the other one. Put them together. We'll leave it here, where it belongs."

He rubbed his thumb over the sharp corner of the ultrasound photo, turning towards their refrigerator. The first one was up, front and center, held there with a magnet.

She laughed. "Pizza delivery?"

"A joke," he smiled, glad she'd caught it. They never ordered pizza to be delivered.

"You're a goofball," she murmured, but she slid her arm around his waist and stood before the fridge with him, surveying what magnets were available to hang the photo.

"I'll use the watermelon one for the new picture." It was more of a question.

"Watermelon?" she said. She had a funny sound to her voice that he didn't understand. "You saying something about this pregnancy?"

"Oh, ha. No, not like that." Right, one of those damn videos they'd watched online had mentioned giving birth to a watermelon. Shit. "No, I thought a watermelon seed. I don't know. Maybe too much of a stretch."

"Oh," she said softly. "I like that. A seed." She turned her head to him and gave him a look he couldn't read. "Actually, more like a grape."

"A grape?"

"About that big now." She took the watermelon magnet and closed it in her hand; she didn't move to do anything more with it. She just held it in her hand.

"Come on," he said finally, still using a finger to keep the picture there. "Put it up, Kate. And then you can help me make dinner." Give her something to do, rather than think about how everything could still go wrong.

She quickly let the magnet thud against the fridge, holding the sonogram in place. Keeping it safe until they could get back.

Kate's heart beat fast when she drove their Rover past the city line and went north towards upstate New York. Her father had been at the cabin for the last few weeks, avoiding the press who'd camped out at his apartment in the Upper East Side. His law office had allowed him a temporary position, mostly doing reviews from home, but Kate knew she'd upset his normal routines with her arrest.

And now she was coming to him free. All charges dropped in a very public press conference this morning; she and Castle had attended, receiving an official apology from the Director of the FBI and a commendation from the NYPD for her work undercover. Maine had been charged and his alleged crimes listed to those in attendance, and even though the link to Bracken's death had been unspoken, everyone understood that had been the reason for his arrest - pending further investigation.

Afterwards, as if they needed reminding, she and Castle had been told in no uncertain terms that they should be out of the country come Monday morning, or else public opinion would be turned viciously against them.

By the time Kate pulled onto the gravel drive, crunching through an inch of freak snowfall, her palms were damp with nervous tension.

She didn't know how to explain this to her father; she was running away.

Bracken was dead, but the world had no idea what kind of man he'd been, what he'd done to her mother, the organized crime syndicate he'd been running for decades. Senator Bracken had died a hero of his nation.

If she thought about it too long, it made her sick at heart.

"Kate?"

She turned off the engine at the prompt of his voice, glanced over at her husband. "Yeah."

"I'm right here," he said quietly. He was studying her, his palm open on the center console for hers; she wasn't alone.

"I know," she said, reaching out to take his hand.

He squeezed and then let go, opened the car door to get out. Sasha barked from the backseat, relief evident in her wagging tail as Castle let her out. Kate followed on her side, and then grabbed her bag from the back, sliding it on over her shoulders. They'd spend the weekend and then leave for Cyprus Sunday night from the little airstrip near her father's land.

She took in a deep breath of clean air, reveling in the sheer space.

The trees were crisp and lightly dusted with snow, but the late morning sun caused the branches and spring grass to rustle with melted runoff. The trickle of water came down over them in showers as they headed for the cabin, Sasha already rushing towards the lake and the crowded line of evergreens at the shore.

"We won't see her for the rest of the day," Castle chuckled.

"No, probably not. Good idea to leave her here with my Dad. I think she loves Carrie, but Bo gets on her nerves after too long."

Castle reached out and took her hand, their fingers lacing as they stepped up onto the porch. After too long. Because they didn't know how long they'd have to be away, didn't know what the NSA's plans were for Maine - for Black either - and their future was liminal. Of course, in twenty-eight weeks, there was definitely one certainty - the little wolf would join them.

But join them where, no one could say.

She knocked on the door and it was opened immediately, her father standing there with his arms already coming around her in a choking embrace.

"Oh, Katie," he whispered.

She closed her eyes and squeezed him back, felt herself being pulled through the doorway and into the front room. "Hey, Dad."

"I saw the news conference. They've been running it all day since. You're truly free to go?"

"Mostly," she hedged, letting him go and stepping back. She swiped at her eyes and laughed when Castle wriggled his eyebrows at her. She shoved him down the hall towards their room. "Unpack. Let me talk to my dad."

"Do you need-"

"In a minute," she murmured, letting him know.

He nodded and carried their bags back down the hallway. Kate took her father's hand in both of hers and squeezed. "Dad."

"Well, that doesn't sound as relieved as I'd expected," he said, sounding falsely cheerful. His smile was brittle. "What's happened?"

"Castle and I have been asked to leave."

"Asked to... leave? Leave what?"

"The country," she cracked.

"What?" Jim's voice was hoarse and he shook his head, gripped her hand harder. "You have to leave the country."

"The NSA has custody of Maine, as you saw on the news. They want to focus on putting together a quick trial. As soon as the trial is over, we should be safe to come back."

"Should be?" he echoed. "This is ridiculous. Kate, you're a US citizen in service to your country. They can't do this."

"Dad, there's something else," she said tightly, the guilt twisting in her chest.

"What else?" he said, looking at her horrified. "The baby-"

"No, no," she said hurriedly. "Not that. He's fine. It's all fine."

"He?"

She flushed and shook her head. "No, I don't know. Just better than 'it' all the time."

"He, then," her father said, his smile warming.

Kate chewed on her lower lip and tried to put it together, everything that had to be said. He was distracting her with this. "Dad, listen for a second."

"I'm listening."

Castle came back into the room and she turned to look at him - for inspiration or help, she didn't know - and then she just said it.

"Senator Bracken is never going to be held responsible for mom's death."

"Kate-"

"No one will know. The grand jury has been dismissed. He dies a senator, and he - he's going to be buried in the national cemetery. With colors and a Special Honor Guard."

Her father looked struck.

"I'm sorry," she rasped. "I'm so sorry."

"Kate," her husband said softly. She shook her head to keep him away, her eyes on her father. Jim rubbed a hand down his face and his eyes opened on hers.

"You make it back here before he's born," he said roughly.

"Dad. Mom's killer is being buried-"

"I don't care," he said. His voice was harsh, overly loud. "I don't care. You two come back safely with my grandson, and all is well."

He grabbed for her shoulders and tugged her in against him, wrapping her up in a bear of a hug, the same embrace from her childhood when she'd come home frustrated or unhappy with school, as if the force of his strength could squeeze out everything else.

"Dad."

"I don't care, Kate. You listen to me. Your mom's been gone for a long time. When I quit drinking, I had to come to terms with that. I'm not sure you ever did - at least, not until that man watching over you. Rick, come here, son."

Kate huffed but stepped away from her father, let Jim crush Castle into a back-slapping hug. She got a chance to wipe the tears pushing into her eyes, making them disappear before they'd ever started, and she smiled through Castle's low thank you, Jim.

"You take care of each other," her father said, releasing Castle but squeezing hard on his shoulder. "And Sasha and I will do the same."

"We're flying out to Cyprus on Sunday night," Castle said. "Spend the weekend with you and then go on from here."

"Of course. Of course," her father said gruffly. "Really, you two, I'm just so relieved that Kate's not being prosecuted for this. Clearly a case of self-defense and yet our government - I don't know sometimes. Everything that's happened - to Johanna, to you, it just - it makes me wonder."

"Ah - and more has happened. Kate didn't tell you about everything," Castle went on.

"What did I miss?" she said sharply, frowning at him.

"Rick?" Jim asked.

"Castle. What are you-"

"My father is the reason for all of this," Castle said gravely. "He put Bracken onto the work we were doing against him, trying to set up Kate. It was his plan."

She reached out for him, gripping his forearm. "No, Rick-"

He turned his head, his eyes bleak on hers. "Don't deny it, Kate. It's all because of him. And now the NSA - who were in Bracken's pocket - have the chance to run down Black like a dog. And I hope they do."

Sometimes, she could shake him, her stubborn, blind husband. He didn't get it. He never got it.

"Katie?"

She worked her jaw and turned to look at her father, sighing. "It's - mostly true. Speculation on our part, but it makes sense that Black would, since he was the only one with the specific information to set me up, and Castle was left out of it quite conspicuously."

"Also," Castle added, "the NSA's investigation into Black started because of Bracken. So they're going to protect his reputation, they're going to fight for it - which is why they're kicking us out of the country. They don't want Kate or me to start making noise about what kind of person Bracken really was; they'll lose their authority for having been his lackeys all this time."

Her father rubbed his chin. "It was the NSA who were following you around - who were bugging your apartment a few years ago, right Katie?"

She nodded, tangling her fingers with Castle's to keep him from moving away. He had the tendency to punish himself over this - this one thing - by closing himself off from her and her father, as if he wasn't good enough for family.

No more. And not for this, for Black. She wasn't going to let that man claim any more of their time.

"Well," Jim said quietly, "I don't think that information changes anything, son. Your father has always been - ah, not ideal - and we know what to expect. Let the NSA find him, maybe they'll be able to serve justice."

"But for mom," Kate started.

Her father interrupted. "No more, Katie. The man who killed her, Dick Coonan, Rick killed him to save you both. And the one who ordered her murder - you had to shoot him to save yourself and the baby. There's been enough of death. It's done. Death can't be reversed. I'm grateful you two - three - have survived."

Kate wrapped her free arm around her father's neck and pressed in close, tugging Castle in with her. Her husband cleared his throat, but she felt him in the hug as well, strong against her side.

"Enough of this," her father said roughly. "Enough. Let's walk out and find Sasha before she hunts out the baby foxes."

"Foxes?" Kate laughed, releasing the two. "You have foxed out here."

"Well, I did - wild red foxes, totally bewildered by the crazy snowdust we got here. We'll see if I still have any left after Sasha ferrets out their hole."

Jim was smiling back at them and pulling her along towards the kitchen door; she went after him and tucked her arm in his.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, honey?"

"I don't know what the next few months look like, but we'll get back. I want him here with you and Sasha. As much as possible. I want him to have this, the woods and your lake, the foxes and the dog, and - all the things you taught me here and in the city. I want him to be - a strong kid."

Her father brought his hand up to cup her cheek, kissed her forehead. "He will be already. But I'll do my best by him. Sasha and I will keep him outdoors."

Castle came up at her other side, evidently allowing her and her father that moment, and he caught her eyes with his own. His smile was hopeful, all those dreams in his eyes.

She didn't know what they'd do after their so-called vacation in Cyprus, but eventually, given time, they'd be back here at her father's cabin, carrying their child out to face the softly-falling snow, giving him his first look at the winter trees.

When they got to the foxes' den, Sasha had already found one out of its hole. Their wolf had laid down on her belly to nudge the petrified fox with her nuzzle, sniffing at it. The baby fox squeaked, high-pitched and pitiful.

Castle called the dog softly, and Sasha's ears perked, but her whine was confused. As if to say, what's wrong with it?

Castle came to both their rescues, scooping up the baby fox and depositing it a few yards away.

"Sasha, with me," he said. And even as the dog came to their side, the baby fox bounded away, free and relieved, and Kate couldn't help feeling the same.

A caught-out fox - but running.

Close Encounters 17: On the Secret Service

end transmission

Stay Tuned for Close Encounters 18: License to Kill

Due to real-life time constraints, starting May 29th I will post on a non-regular basis until I return from vacation on June 11th. CE 18 posting will continue, but posts will not be on any set schedule.

Thanks for reading!