Chapter 31 – 16 Weeks
Kate woke up early so that she could go to her apartment to grab some things for their Hamptons trip. It was Fourth of July weekend and it was Castle and Alexis' tradition that they spent the holiday weekend there every year. When she got to her building she got her mail before heading to her apartment. She had only stayed at her apartment a few times in the last couple of months, but stopped by a few times week to check her mail and make sure everything was okay at her apartment.
She sat on the couch trashing junk mail and opening everything else. She came across an envelope addressed to her, with no return address. She ripped open the envelope, taking out the photographs inside. She felt the heat rise throughout her body when she saw that the pictures were very personal pictures of her being intimate with Rick. They were pictures that were had been taken on her phone, that she had never shown anyone. She picked the envelope back up, searching it for something else. There was no note, no message of any kind, just an envelope with personal pictures of her. Pictures that someone had stolen from her phone. Her mind began to race, had anyone had access to her phone? Opportunity to go through all of her pictures? They had been taken in the beginning of their relationship, and she had forgotten about them. You could only see Kate's face in one of the pictures, the rest were of her body, mostly the lower half, where she and Castle were joined.
As the shock wore off, the panic took over. She pulled her phone out of her purse and called Rick.
"Where are you, I woke up and you were gone."
The tears started to fall before she had a chance to respond.
"Kate, what's wrong, where are you?"
"Rick…" she paused, trying to control her breathing, "Those pictures you took of us on my phone."
"Yes…." She could hear the fear in his voice.
"Someone sent them to me, in the mail. They have the pictures."
"Who has the pictures?"
"I don't know. There is no letter, no return address. It was just the pictures."
"Can you see our faces, can you see who it is?"
"You can see my face, not yours. What if these get out, what if my parents see these."
"Kate, calm down."
"What do you mean, Calm down? Castle, someone has pictures of me, and you, having sex."
"They have to know you right, to have them?"
"I mean, I guess they do. Someone had to have gone back a ways on my phone to find these pictures."
"Unless they hacked your phone altogether. Do you have them on your icloud? Your computer?"
"Everything is saved on my icloud Castle, but no one has access to it but me.." she paused, "Josh."
"What about him? Does he have access to it?"
"I mean, I'm sure he knew my password, it has to be him. Why would he print these off and send them to me though? I haven't seen or spoken to him in 7 months or more."
"Would he do that kind of thing?"
"Honestly I don't know, maybe. I'm gonna call him, I'm gonna ask."
"Kate, you shouldn't, we should let someone else handle this."
"You want me to hand these pictures over to someone, voluntarily?"
"Well, not really, but we might have to."
"No. Absolutely not."
"Just get your things, come home, we will deal with this together."
She hung up the phone and immediately dialed Josh's number, she knew that she was going against what Rick wanted but she couldn't help it. After a few rings, Josh sent her to voicemail. She hung up, and called again, and he sent her to voicemail again.
She was on the verge of leaving a hateful message, but she didn't want Josh to have any evidence of their conversation. If it wasn't him, she didn't want him to have proof that such pictures existed.
She shoved the pictures into the bottom of her bag, and locked up her apartment.
If he was going to ignore her calls, she was going to go see him.
She got out of the cab in front of his building and immediately saw him walking out the door. He made eye contact with her and turned the other direction, taking off down the sidewalk. She ran after him, grabbing his arm and pulling him to a stop.
"Kate, what do you want." He turned around to look at her, his jaw nearly hitting the ground when he saw the condition she was in. "You're pregnant?"
She hadn't thought about that, about him not knowing already. She ran her hand over her swollen abdomen, "Yeah, four and a half months." A smile spread across her face.
His eyes began to roam her body, taking in every new curve.
"You didn't waste any time." He rolled his eyes.
"Josh, look."
"Why are you here."
"Did you send me a bunch of pictures?"
"What?" he drew back, "I haven't sent you anything."
"Josh, please, just tell me if it was you, I won't be mad."
"What are you talking about?"
"The pictures, Josh, of me and my boyfriend." She poked him in the chest.
"Hey, look, I didn't send you any pictures of you and your boyfriend. I didn't know you had one, or that you were pregnant."
She could hear the shock in his voice, and she didn't think that he was lying.
"If it wasn't you, then how …." She looked up, and right over his shoulder she could see a man, pointing a camera in their direction, "I, I have to go, the paparazzi."
"Paparazzi, why would you worry about them.." he grabbed her arm as she started to back away from him, holding her with a firm grip, "Kate, what is going on."
"Let go of me." She yanked her arm back towards her body, causing her to lose her balance and topple over on her bottom.
Josh immediately, bent over to help pull her back up. Pulling her in close to his body.
"Are you okay? Kate, why are paparazzi following you?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." she came to her feet, steadying herself. She took a step away, creating much needed distance between them. It felt odd to be so close to him and feel nothing.
"So paparazzi, a baby, what else is new, who is the boyfriend?"
"A writer."
"Are you happy."
She looked down at her growing belly, "I am happy, and excited about this baby."
He stood there quietly, not knowing what to say.
"Well, I should probably go, I'm sorry I bothered you."
She turned to hail a cab, noticing that the paparazzi was still there, taking pictures of her.
XX
When she made it back into the loft, Castle jumped from the couch, making his way to her.
"It wasn't Josh."
"How do you know."
"Because I went to see him."
"Wait, you did what? I asked you not to do that."
"Yeah, you did ask, but I don't have to do what you say. I needed to see his face when I asked him. He wasn't lying, he hasn't seen the pictures, he doesn't know anything about them or even our relationship."
"Kate, I can't believe you actually went to see him."
"I didn't go to 'see' him, Rick. It wasn't like that and you know it."
"I don't care, I don't want you around him."
"Stop being ridiculous. There are naked pictures out there that someone has access to and you're mad about me asking my ex if he is the one that has them?"
"I'm not mad."
"You seem mad." She widened her eyes, staring a hole through him.
"Not mad, I just don't want you around him."
"Well, get over it."
"Okay, let me take off to go see Gina, after you ask me not too."
"That's different."
"No. It's not different"
"Yeah, it is. Josh hasn't done anything to us. Gina, attacked me in public, and sent me to the hospital."
"So you fucking him, when we first started seeing each other is nothing."
"We weren't together, we had just met. Why are you bringing this up right now, like it's relevant. You're just trying to fight with me."
Rick let out a huff, before turning to walk away from her.
"Don't walk away from me Rick or I will walk out that door and you wont have to worry about seeing me ever again."
He whipped around and went back towards her until he was standing right in front of her.
"Do not threaten me. You aren't taking that child anywhere. I will fight you for custody. Who do you think the judge will side with. A wealthy 26 year old who can provide an amazing life for a child, or a 19 year old girl who has no money, no job, who lives off her boyfriend and cant provide for a baby by herself."
She poked her finger into his chest before standing on her tiptoes to get closer to his face.
"I never said I would keep your child from you, I said you wouldn't see me again. I am so happy to know how you really feel about me though, guess all that talk of you taking care of me was just an obligation to you. Well, you don't have to take care of me Rick."
She turned, picking her purse up from the chair and walking towards the door.
"KATE" he yelled after her, "What about this weekend."
"What about it Castle," she turned around staring back at him. "You want me to go to the Hamptons with you and stay in your big mansion and swim in your pool. Completely forget about everything you just said about me?"
"Kate, I'm sorry." He reached his hand up to cup her face, but she pushed his hand away.
"Don't touch me."
"Kate, don't do this, don't ruin this trip, for Alexis."
"Rick, I'm not going, I'm gonna pack my things, I think it's time for me to go home."
"NOOOOOO!" the little girl screamed from the top of the stairs. Kate and Rick both looking up to her, before she took off running towards her bedroom.
She must have been listening to them fight. Kate wondered how much she had heard as she took off up the stairs after her. Rick was right behind her, following her to the door where she knocked twice.
"Lex, can I come in."
"NO."
Kate opened the door anyway, looking back at Castle to signal for him to follow.
She lay flat across her stomach on her bed, face shoved in her face, body trembling from crying so hard.
Castle knelt down beside her bed, Kate took a seat right next to her on the bed. She began to rub circles on the little girls back, hoping it would gain her attention.
"Lex, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to hear any of that.
"You don't love me anymore, or my daddy, do you?"
"Of course I do, I love you and your daddy very much." She made eye contact with Rick, and he took hold of her free hand giving it a squeeze.
"You were leaving us, just like my mommy."
"I said some things Lex, things I didn't mean, I was just mad. Daddy and I shouldn't have been fighting where you could hear."
"So you aren't leaving?" The little girl poked her head up from her pillow.
"I am going to move back to my apartment, but I'll still make time for you. Maybe your daddy will let you come stay the night with me." Rick sighed, jerking his hand away from hers when she said she still planned on going back to her apartment.
"So you and daddy aren't going to be together anymore."
"Lex," Rick interrupted, "That's grown up stuff, and you're too little to worry about that."
"Your dad is right, Lex."
"What about the baby, will I ever get to see the baby?"
"Lex the baby wont be here for a while. We will work something out by the time the baby gets here."
"So you're not coming to see the fireworks."
"No, I think I'm gonna stay in the city."
"Daddy, why did you have to fight with her, now she is leaving. It's all your fault. I don't want to go to the Hamptons."
"Alexis Harper, don't talk to me like that."
She pouted her face and crossed her arms across her chest.
"Lex, baby, you're going to have so much fun in the Hamptons."
"Not without you. You have to come Kate, you just have to."
Kate looked down at Rick, and without saying a word she turned back to Alexis, "Okay, I'll go, for you."
"You will?"
Kate nodded, "I'm gonna go finish packing, and then we will head out."
Kate moved from the bed, making her way to the door. As she made it down the hallway, Rick placed his hand around her arm, stilling her.
"Kate, look, all of those things I said, I didn't mean them."
"Sure you did, and that's okay, you don't have to apologize, I'm not going for you. I'll sleep in the guest room."
"Don't be silly, you can have our room, I'll sleep in the guest room."
"It's not our bed Castle, it's your bed, remember, you bought it."
"Kate, please don't do this."
"Do what Rick?" She asked as they made their way down the stairs. Both trying to keep their voices down so Alexis didn't hear them.
"Fight with me. We can fix this, we are both freaking out over the pictures."
"This is clearly bigger than those pictures. I'm still moving back to my apartment full time. I think that maybe we rushed into this relationship because of the baby."
"Don't say that, neither of us are here just because of the baby. We love each other."
"Well I know I love you, but I'm not really sure I believe that you love me. I'm not sure I believe anything you've told me. Because we have talked about the money situation and you seemed completely against me working right now, but I have money in my savings and I can pay my bills while I look for a job."
"Kate, you're not working. You're already 4 months along. And what are you going to do when the baby comes. You aren't going to be able to work."
"People do it all the time Rick."
"Just let me pay your rent."
"You just called me a poor, free loader, and you want me to be okay with you paying my bills now? Do you know how embarrassing that is. To know the person I love thinks so little of me. Thinks that I'm going to fail as a parent, because I don't have as much money as him."
"Kate, I didn't mean that. I was mad, and I was just being defensive. I thought you were trying to leave me, and keep me from my child."
"After we get back from the Hamptons I think it's best if we don't see each other for a while. I need space. You can drop Alexis by whenever she wants, I'll watch her for you if you need me to. I want her to feel close to the baby, so she doesn't think she is losing me or her sibling."
"Are we done? Is this how it's all going to end?" he questioned.
She let out a deep breath, and nodded. "I don't know right now."
He was at a loss for words. How had a few naked pictures turned into them breaking up and Kate moving out of the loft. Kate saw the tears forming in his eyes and she couldn't watch him cry. She headed for the bedroom to finish packing, trying to force herself away from him when all she wanted to do was bury herself in his arms. He was the person she usually ran to when things went wrong and now he was the problem instead of the solution.
He followed her into the bedroom and sat on the bed while she finished packing.
Their relationship had been a whirlwind, and it was all playing back in his mind. He couldn't lose her, not like this, not when they needed each other most. They were suppose to be a family, he had promised to be her family, and he had let her down. Attacked her over something stupid, and then things had escalated.
"Kate, I can't do this. I can't be without you." he stood from the bed, making his way to her.
He dropped to his knees in front of her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his check to her stomach.
She ran her hand over the top of his head and down through the back of his hair.
"Rick, I know you love this baby, and I promise not to keep you from your child."
"Kate, I love you so much, please don't leave me, please. I will beg you, I will do anything you want, I can not lose you." he was crying now, and her heart was racing.
"Don't make this harder than it has to be."
"You're really done?" he backed away from her.
"I'm not saying that we cant work on things, I'm not giving up on us, but what you said, you cant take that back. It's embedded in my brain, and now I know it's a problem for you, I cant allow you to take care of me. If you had a problem with supporting me, why did you make it seem like you wanted to do it, that it was okay."
"It's not a problem for me. I don't know why I said that. I guess I knew it was the only way to hurt you, not that I want to hurt you. I was stupid." He slammed the palm of his hand into his forehead.
"I don't know what to believe Rick, I don't know." She shook her head back and forth, backing away from him.
"Can we just have this weekend together, and see how it goes. If you still want to move out on Monday, I will help you get your stuff back home."
"Okay," She agreed, trying to end the conversation. She was over everything and just wanted to get away from it all, especially him.
XX