CH15

It is still the same day: (Still early July)

Kate had retreated to the living room with the fireplace and chess set and dropped her bag. She sat down and started dreaming up everything that could go wrong with this trip.

Jack had told her everything contrary to what Castle had told him to do or in this case NOT to do. It also gave her time to remember that day and how she had gotten herself into this mess.

It was supposed to be just a little fun and it wasn't real. It wasn't her first time drinking, it was, however, her first time to drink that much. Kate didn't remember blacking out or anything, though some of that trip was still a little fuzzy. If she ever got her hands of Rogan O'Leary she was going to kill him.

It seemed to take forever until Kate heard a woman laughing as she came in through the front door with Castle in her arms holding onto his left arm for dear life, shoving her tits into his arm every chance she got.

It was time to put an end to her. Kate stood up quickly, strode over to Castle, and wrapped her arms around him getting the woman to back off and let go of his arm. "Castle thank god. I thought you would never show up." Which was the truth, it was one of many scenarios that Kate had conjured up in her imagination.

"KATE!?" Castle was clearly shocked. "What? …How?" Then it hit him, Jack had finked on him! He was going to give Jack a piece of his mind later.

"We really need to talk babe, because it's not what you think. I swear Castle I can explain." Kate tried to reach him.

"His name is Rick, and who are you?" Melody didn't like this turn of events, especially when this woman called him babe.

"You'll have to excuse us Melody." Rick didn't want to make a scene so he escorted Kate with her bag to his room.

"It looks nice Castle, I can see why you came here, and Evelyn is a nice lady." Kate dropped her bag on the bed.

"Yes she is. … You have one minute Kate so start talking before I throw your ass out of here." Rick wanted her and her husband's plan to come to an end so he could yell at Jack.

One minute, one lousing stinking minute. "I'm not married Castle, or at least I'm not supposed to be even if Jack did tell both of us that I am. I met Rogan my first semester at Stanford and we dated for a few weeks. I'm not sure what I saw in him, but he had a way about him.

Rogan talked me into going down to Vegas to have some fun. We gambled and drank, went to see a show then went to dinner where we drank some more. I had had a few beers before but this was more and I thought I was handling it relatively well. Then Rogan suggested going through one of those drive-thru wedding chapels.

We found a taxi, still with our drinks in hand, and the taxi driver found the closest one. It was little more than the size of an outhouse from what I can remember. It was a stupid drive thru, like where you get coffee. It wasn't real, or at least it wasn't supposed to be.

We laughed and joked our way straight through it listening to this guy give his speech and then we drove away and that was it.

Two weeks later I dumped him when I found out he was a degenerate, thief, and a liar. He was all fake. I think I even slapped him when he tried to get me back a few days later.

Then a few months later I was home for Christmas break and mom was killed and except for going back to get all my clothes I was never in Stanford again and I've never seen Rogan ever again. I have no idea where he is right now and frankly I don't care.

I know I'm going to kill him if I ever see him again. It wasn't a real wedding Castle. It was an outhouse with some guy talking through his little window. It seemed funny at the time just not so much anymore.

I'm sorry Castle, it was just supposed to be a fun little trip to Vegas. I didn't go down there with the intention of getting married and right now I hope I'm never in Vegas ever again.

Ask Jack, maybe he can show you some pictures of the place if it still exists." Kate ends her speech talking as fast as she could and hoping Castle got all of that.

Rick didn't really know what to think. "You are married Kate and did Jack, who is going to get it later, tell you about your husband?"

"He's not my husband Castle! Please stop calling him that. …And yeah, he did. He's a real piece of work Castle and it sounds like he hasn't changed much. He was always talking about some plan or deal that he had or was thinking of. Problem was he needed my money to get him started. It was right after I found out that he had taken money from me that I confronted him and dumped him. He was a jerk Castle, nothing like you." Kate was suddenly hopeful since Castle wasn't yelling at her.

Kate saw his laptop and opened it and turned it on and used Jill to get past his password. "Jack?" Kate asked for his help.

It had only been a few months so the place still existed and Jack found a few photos of the place to show Richard.

"I'm telling you Castle it was all supposed to be fake. I had no intention of marrying Rogan. I'm a one and done kind of girl. The man I marry is going to be someone I love and it's not going to be done at a drive-thru outhouse." Kate was still trying to reach him.

"I…I don't know what to believe. It all seemed to fit so well together. A husband and wife team running a scam to get people's money and this Rogan is just the kind of person to dream it up." Rick wanted to believe her, he really did. It's just that this Rogan fit so perfectly.

"I didn't dream up my mom being killed Castle. You've seen my dad in person and what he's done to himself. We're building a home Castle and I want that. Why would I want to join the police by going to their academy a year early since I can't be hired until I'm 21?" Kate tried another approach.

"And you flew out here to tell me all this…WHY?" Kate meant something to him even if it was still clouded even now.

Kate opened her mouth. It was time to get the words out or she was going to lose him, likely to that big titted blonde he came home with. "Because…Because I…love you." Kate all but whispered the last two words.

"You…" Rick didn't finish.

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU CASTLE!" Kate all but yelled just to get the words out passed her insecurities. Passed her belief that Castle was far too good for her and way out of her league. She was a 19 year old girl who still had no job. A broken 19 year old girl at that.

Those three words raised Rick's heart to a new height it had never been at before. Not by Kyra and certainly not by Meredith or any other woman that he had ever met.

"You…" Kate stepped up and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him as though she would never get to kiss him ever again. After breaking from the kiss Kate gave Rick a series of little kisses followed by deeply kissing him again. "I love you Castle, please believe me. I don't know how else to prove it to you. I'll gladly shoot Rogan if I ever see him again if that will help." Kate looked into his eyes and kissed him again.

After breaking from that kiss Kate melted into Castle's chest. She clutched his shirt in her fist to try and keep herself standing and to keep Castle close. "I love you too Just Kate." He got a giggle out of Kate at the use of her name.

Then Kate lifted up on her toes to kiss Castle quickly. He loved her and instead of just thinking he did after he said the word in passing, now she knew. "No more big titted blonde Castle." Kate tried to make it sound like an order but she feared it sounded more like a question.

"Melody is just the daughter of Evelyn who owns and runs this place. I haven't seen her in years. The last time I was here she was this flat chested little girl who was still in high school. Jail bait I think they call it. She offered to drive me around to places I hadn't been to before.

And no, no more big titted blonde." Rick smiled and gave Kate a quick kiss.

"How long are you here?" Rick asked since he suddenly had ideas.

"I fly out the day after tomorrow. I actually missed classes today to be here." Kate spoke into Castle's chest since that was where her head still was.

"Not anymore, now you are going home with me so we have two whole days here and I'm going to show you the City of Victoria that I know and love. You're staying here with me. I'll inform Evelyn that she has another guest and when we are leaving." Rick told Kate.

"I'd like that." Two days off in a new city with the man she loved and had finally gotten the courage to tell him.

"You don't want Melody anyway Richard." Jack makes his presence known.

"Oh, and besides Kate being far superior to her, why is that?" Rick questions, who also had Kate's attention.

"Melody works at Monty's Exotic Showroom on Pandora Street and lives with her husband." Jack informs them.

"Monty's Exotic, …?" Rick questioned since he had never heard of it.

"It's a stripper club in Victoria." Jack explains.

"MARRIED?" Kate had heard that part.

"Melody failed to mention those two things." Rick suddenly felt dirty and used. "I wonder if Evelyn knows about either of those." Rick liked Evelyn and it sounded like she was going to be hurt by her own daughter.

Kate felt more secure now after having straightened Castle out. She reached up and grabbed a hold of his ear and twisted it, hard.

Rick leaned his head to that side and gave up control of his own body. "OW, OW, OW!" Rick complained of his treatment by Kate.

"Don't ever do something like this again Castle. You scared the crap out of me. I thought the man I loved had up and left me. … Oh wait, HE DID!" Kate gave his ear another twist before letting go.

Rick was holding his ear in the belief that having him hold it would take the pain away. "I'm sorry Kate, really sorry. It's just that from my perspective it looked like the woman I loved had already left me." Rick was rubbing his ear.

Kate's eyes grew wide. "You love me?" Kate had never heard Rick really say it till now.

That had Rick letting go of his ear to take a hold of Kate. "Yes, I love you. More than I've ever loved anyone." He gave Kate a quick kiss.

"As a side note, how is your father?" Rick assumed he had been released by the hospital by now.

"My dad! Shit! After you left me I forgot all about him. I don't know where he is." Kate was forced to admit.

"Jack?" Rick called out.

"Scanning. …Jim Beckett is still checked into the hospital. He had another ultra-sound this morning and they have modified his prescriptions to deal with his kidney and liver damage and to keep him stable. They plan on keeping him overnight and if his blood tests work out they will release him sometime tomorrow."

"And he'll go right back to drinking. I need to be there Castle. This has to stop somehow. I can't lose another parent." Kate looked up at Castle and pleaded with her eyes.

"We can go see a REAL botanical gardens tomorrow morning and teleport around lunch and take your father home. We still need to clean the house." Rick reminded her.

Kate sighed. They should probably be spending the morning cleaning instead of spending it here, however she did want to spend time with Castle. Especially after nearly losing him because she did something stupid while at school.

"Jack, how do I get a divorce?" Kate didn't want to be married and certainly not to Rogan O'Leary.

"You already are, though technically with all their records of your marriage now missing, you were never married in the first place." Jack informs them.

"You can do that?" Kate was shocked. She was sure they were going to have to hunt him down and get him to sign some papers.

"You're welcome Katherine." Jack told her.

"Thanks Jack. How do you thank an AI unit anyway?" Kate couldn't hold him, kiss him or buy him something.

"You just did. I'm sorry, Richard. It's just Katherine is too good for you to let her just walk away and Jill can be persuasive." Jack apologized to Richard for not following his orders.

"I'm sorry too Kate. I let my writer's imagination run away with me. I don't know how I let that happen. Maybe I'm less Ranger and more writer now than I thought." Rick just wrapped his arms around Kate and held her close. "Plus I'm having my own internal conflict of being in love with a 19 year old girl." Rick let Kate see his problem.

"While the electronic history of your marriage is gone, there is likely a paper trail of it somewhere. Someday, preferably before you decide to marry someone else for real this time, it would be a good idea if you get Rogan to sign the divorce papers dissolving your marriage." Jack warned both of them.

"I'll keep that in mind for the future." Kate hoped she did anyway, praying Jill or Jack will remind her.

"There is just one thing Castle." Kate started working on the buttons of his shirt.

"And what is that?" Rick responded looking down at what Kate was doing.

"I've missed you babe." Kate had the buttons undone and pushed Rick's shirt off of him exposing the chest and arms that Kate loved so much.

What neither of them knew is that Melody was right outside their door listening to Kate and Rick as they made love to each other. It was only then that she finally decided that she needed help to get rid of Kate so she could latch her claws into Rick.

Come morning Kate found herself still wrapped up in Castle's arms. The only thing different about this time was that they now both knew that the other loved them.

Kate had no desire to escape from Castle's arms. She wanted to just lay there and relish being where she was. "You're awake aren't you?" Kate could just feel it somehow.

"I was just enjoying the moment and didn't want it to escape me." Rick told her. That made Kate smile, knowing that Castle felt the same.

"We should get up and get going. New York is a few hours ahead of us. Jack mentioned your father's release may take place a little after lunch. Meaning we should leave here no later than 10:00 am, and even that may be cutting it close." Rick mentioned.

"Share a shower?" Kate asked while running a finger over Castle's chest, watching the hairs stand up at her touch. She was pleased that her touch could still affect him.

"It's too small for both of it. It truly is a one person shower." Rick knew they wouldn't fit.

"Suddenly I don't like this place anymore." Kate pouted.

"You first love, then we can get going. We may have just enough time to tour most of the botanical gardens if we are quick before we leave." Rick told her. She moaned as Rick watched Kate and her naked derriere walk away.

They skipped breakfast since they didn't have time and arrived at The Butchart Gardens.

Over a century ago, Jennie Butchart began building what is now one of the world's premier floral show gardens.

There was a lookout area up high before you entered the sunken garden area which took Kate's breath away. "It's summer now so we missed the tulips that line the walkways here during spring when it is a little cooler.

Next was a grouping of hand-carved wooden animals and chariots. The highlight of this area are the two hand-carved totem poles. "I'm told each face holds a meaning, I just don't know enough to know what they mean. There may be books inside that could tell us.

Next was the rose garden with four different types of roses. Floribundas, ramblers, climbers, and hybrid tea roses. It had a frog fountain and wishing well. Kate didn't have any change on her so she looked at Castle silently asking.

Rick sported a smile as he dug into his pockets and produced a quarter. Kate took the coin and kissed Castle softly for it. Holding the coin over her heart Kate made her wish and tossed it in.

"What did you wish for?" Rick asked.

"You know I can't tell you that, it'll ruin my wish." Kate wanted this wish so very badly.

"I'll tickle it out of you later." Rick warned her.

"Still not telling Castle." Kate smiled and walked on knowing time was short. They were walking slowly.

A Torii gate marked the entrance to the Japanese garden. Soft poppies lined paths lead them pass streams, ponds and bridges. It was filled with Japanese maples and beech trees. There was even a boat tour of Tod inlet that they just didn't have time for.

Next was a star pond with a charming frog fountain in the center. Beyond were the two arched entrances to the Italian Garden.

After walking through a short tunnel they found themselves in the final garden, the Mediterranean Garden. It had a large bronze statue of Tacca, the boar. Thousands of visitors had affectionately rubbed Tacca for good luck, resulting in a finely burnished snout.

The last place to visit had air conditioning, not that Kate or even Rick had noticed the temperature outside until stepping inside. "We have about 30 minutes before teleporting to our room and teleporting for home if we want to see your dad home." Rick warned Kate.

Kate soon had a basket full of seeds for them to plant in their new garden back home, even if she had to get giant containers to plant them in. There was jewelry, clothing and artwork from talented artists living in Victoria.

Rick had found a massive metal sculpture of a colorful dragonfly that he was busy buying and working on arranging to have it shipped out to put in their garden at home when it was finished. It cost him a small fortune and wouldn't show up for close to three weeks, but they had time.

Kate found a sunflower clock that could go up in the mezzanine level where she would be most likely reading her books. Then she saw a pink rose clock and changed her mind.

It took all of their 30 minutes to select quickly and purchase before finding a secluded spot and teleporting to their room in the B&B. "You might want to close your eyes, this can be difficult since you will be one place and someplace else in less than a second." Rick warns her, however Kate only opens her eyes even wider while smiling.

"SHIT!" Kate had never experienced anything like it. It didn't cause her to vomit or generate nausea at all, however it did start to give her a headache.

"Evelyn already knows we are leaving today and she has been paid for the entire week that I was originally going to stay. Grab your bag and I'll grab mine and we can go." Rick told her.

Just a few minutes later they were both back in their 2 bedroom apartment in New York City, never knowing that Melody, along with her husband, was lurking outside the B&B waiting for Rick and Kate to come outside. Melodies' husband was going to lure Kate away while Melody worked on getting her claws into Rick.

Evelyn was about to find out that her daughter got married without her knowledge or consent and in time would find out that her daughter was working as a stripper in town. Neither Rick nor Kate ever saw Melody again.