Visitations

Chapter 5

At Your Back

"What did Castle do?" Johanna asked, popping in while Kate arranged flowers in a vase.

"Why?" Kate asked, confused.

"Usually flowers are an apology," Johanna replied.

Kate shook her head. "No, a Castle apology is more like an offer to buy me a pony. He usually gives me flowers to make me feel better about something. These are because one of my collars got bargained down to a misdemeanor and will be out in six months. The guy's a scuzz bag. I wanted to see him gone for at least five years and Castle knew it. So he bought me flowers."

"How long has this been going on?" Johanna inquired.

As Kate thought back, Johanna brought them to the moment.

Tears running down her face, Earlier Kate answered a knock on the door of her new apartment to see an unsure Castle bearing a bouquet. Castle seemed surprised to find her alone and asked where Josh was. "Who's Josh?" Johanna asked.

"He's a doctor," Kate explained. "He was my boyfriend at the time, but he was on a mercy mission to Africa. That's why I was alone."

"Obviously you weren't alone," Johanna observed. "Castle showed up - with flowers. Why were you so upset?"

"Oh wow," Kate exclaimed. "That is a huge story."

"Then let's start from the beginning," Johanna suggested.

Earlier Kate was knocking on Castle's door. "Can we talk?" she asked when he greeted her. Castle ushered her in. "I got a call from John Raglan," she explained.

"The detective who investigated your mother's murder?" Castle asked.

Earlier Kate nodded. "He said there's something I should know. He wants to meet at a coffee shop but he said not to bring any cops."

"Kate, isn't that when you bring lots of cops?" Castle wondered.

Earlier Kate shook her head. "I can't risk it. Castle, come with me."

"Whatever you need," Castle agreed.

"Johanna switched the location to the coffee shop as Castle and Earlier Kate slid into a booth opposite John Raglan, who protested that he'd said no cops.

"He's not a cop," Earlier Kate informed Raglan.

"Then who is he?"Raglan asked.

"Someone I trust." Earlier Kate replied.

"Quite a statement," Johanna commented.

"I guess it was," Kate agreed thoughtfully. "Solving your murder was the driving force in my life and the one person I wanted with me was Castle. I'd never realized what that meant before."

The shot came through the window, splattering Earlier Kate's sweater with blood and knocking John Raglan to the ground. Castle stared at the blood on Earlier Kate's chest horrified. "You're hit!"

"It's not my blood," Earlier Kate corrected quickly, allowing Castle to shake off his shock. He tried to staunch the cascade of blood from Raglan's chest while Earlier Kate called for back-up. Raglan died under Castle's hands.

Police arrived in force, including Captain Montgomery.

"You know," Kate mused to Johanna. "At the time it seemed like Roy Montgomery was concerned about me and about what he'd have to tell the media. When he tried to steer me away from your murder to stay on Raglan's shooting, I thought it was for my good. But he was probably scared to death that Raglan told me something that would have given him away. He was involved with what Raglan was doing."

"How about Castle?" Johanna asked. "Look at him wiping off his hands. He looks white as a sheet."

"Yeah, he does," Kate agreed. "At the time I thought it was because Raglan died in front of him."

"But it wasn't, was it?" Johanna pushed.

Kate shook her head. "No. It was because he thought I'd been shot. I didn't really get it."

"You probably didn't want to," Johanna offered.

Kate nodded, slowly and silently.

"So what about this brought Castle to your door?" Johanna asked.

"Still a long story," Kate explained, pulling herself out of her thoughts. "We brought in Raglan's old partner, McAllister for questioning. But he was in on the whole dirty operation and pointed us toward someone who was a red herring at the time, a drug dealer named Vulcan Simmons. I thought Simmons was behind your murder because of the campaign you'd been pursuing in Washington Heights. I almost put him through a mirror, which gave Montgomery a perfect excuse to take me off the case. That's why I was home when Castle knocked."

"Going back to your place a little later," Johanna announced.

Castle knocked on the door again. This time instead of flowers, he brought a file. "You told him to go home," Johanna observed. "Why?"

"Things were getting dangerous and I didn't really understand why he kept sticking with it," Kate explained. "It looks like he's explaining that to you. So he's your partner. Wasn't that obvious? Sounds like he's leaving something out, like his feelings for you."

"I don't think either of us was ready for that, or for what happened later," Kate mused.

"What happened later?" Johanna asked. "Never mind, we'll take a look."

Earlier Kate and Castle sat in car observing a guard on a building.

"What's going on?" Johanna queried.

"Lockwood, the guy who shot Raglan, was holding Ryan and Esposito, the two cops who work with me, prisoner. Castle and I were trying to figure out how to take the guard out without alerting Lockwood and getting Ryan and Esposito killed. I was out of ideas, but Castle had one."

Johanna and Kate watched as Earlier Kate and Castle put on their drunk act. When it was obvious that it wasn't working and Earlier Kate was about to pull her gun, Castle grabbed her and kissed her.

"Not what you expected, was it?" Johanna commented as Earlier Kate and Castle starred in each other in wonderment at the intensity of feelings flooding through them. They came together again, passion almost obscuring purpose, but Earlier Kate was able to keep some wits about her and take out an amused but convinced guard. "You didn't really believe Castle when he said that what was amazing was your taking out the guard. You knew it was the kiss, right?" Johanna questioned. "You two looked like you were about to burn through the pavement."

"I wanted to believe him," Kate countered. "That way I didn't have to think about it and could get on with the job. Besides, if I had admitted that it meant something, then I would have been cheating on Josh. I wasn't going down that road."

"Your capacity to ignore your feelings continues to amaze me," Johanna admitted, "but it looks like your ruse worked. Let's follow them inside."

Earlier Kate, gun in hand, followed by an unarmed Castle, approached a room of armed men. She was able to take out a couple of his men, but Lockwood got her in his cross hairs. Lockwood was squeezing the trigger when Castle fell on him from above and rained punches on his face, leaving Lockwood bloodied and unconscious.

"I never realized how close that was!" Kate exclaimed. "Another fraction of a second and I would have been dead. Castle went after a trained killer with nothing, and took him out to save me."

"It looks like Castle beat the bloody hell out of him in the process," Johanna noted.

"He beat the bloody hell out of his hand too," Kate added. "I came to see him in the ambulance after a paramedic tried to patch him up."

"Let's watch," Johanna offered. "He's unwinding the bandage."

"Yeah, he said his hand was excruciating," Kate recalled. "I thought he just meant the bandage was too tight and was being dramatic, but he was probably being accurate. I'm surprised he didn't break it."

"You re-bandaged it for him" Johanna noted.

"Mmm hmm, and I was thanking him for having my back. I don't think I realized just how much he risked to protect me. Lockwood could have killed him, easily."

"Listen," Johanna urged. "He said 'always.' Do you think he meant he'll always have your back?"

"Yes," Kate affirmed. "But" she murmured, half to herself, "even then he meant much more."

A/N The conversation at the loft is based on a deleted scene from Knockdown.