CH58
Epilogue
It is now 10 years later: (September 11, 2011)
Kate had just exited the shower and was working on getting dressed, when she gave up trying. "CASTLE!" Kate yelled, not sure he could hear her. "Jill?" Kate left it to Jill to tell Jack who would tell Rick.
They had agreed to turn the first suite through the front door in their home on St. Lucia into their primary master bedroom suite. It came with its own small living room, kitchenette, plus the exercise room.
Kate yelling for Castle had at least gotten the attention of Jake who came running up the stairs and headed straight for Kate. "Hi Jake, how are you?" Kate cooed at him as she petted him and kissed his head.
Rick had finally talked Kate into getting a dog. Kate wanted a dog that was good with children and would be a family friend who barked at everyone when they showed up but was actually a push over if they were going to get one.
Since they didn't want to wall off the pool, the dog needed to be willing to swim. That kind of limited their options. It became a coin flip betweeen a black or chocolate Labrador or a Golden Retriever. Jake the Golden Retriever was born. They had gotten him as a puppy and he was just a week short of being 9 months old.
Kate could hear Castle at the stairs, Ellie however showed up first. "MOMMIE!" And their only child came rushing for Kate. "No, sweetie, no. You're all wet and mommy has somewhere to go." Kate held up her hands to stop her wet daughter from reaching her and causing her to have to change clothes.
"Ellie, don't get mommy wet," Rick called out as he reached the top of the stairs.
Ellie came up just short of Kate's outstretched hands. "Sorry mommy, daddy and me were swimming," Ellie explained. Kate had never been so happy to find out that their daughter was actually a fish so they didn't have to fence off the pool. They were putting their faith in Jack and Jake.
"Are you being good for daddy?" Kate asked, watching her daughter nod her head enthusiastically. "She's been great Kate. You about ready for your girls' night out?" Rick inquired as he walked up to Kate.
"Can you do my shoes?" She hated asking. It was only that she couldn't see her feet anymore. "And if you laugh Castle, I'll make you pay." Kate tried to intercept Rick at the laugh pass.
Rick swallowed down his chuckle and kneeled down to put her flats on her feet. "You're sure you're good to do this?" he wondered.
"I'm pregnant Castle, not an invalid and even I'm tired of sitting next to the pool or swimming in it. I want to do something else and Jill will inform you if anything happens. And I promise not to be gone too long and not to drink any alcohol. …Or coffee." Kate held up her hand.
"You were never a Girl Scout Kate," Rick pointed out which earned him a glare from Kate.
"I'll be fine Castle. I'm not alone and New York has lots of good hospitals if the time comes, along with lots of taxis," she replied as he put on her other shoe. "Help me up?" Kate held out her hands and allowed him to lift her out of the chair.
"Got everything? Purse, keys, ID, money, weapon, phone?" He checked off his mental list. "All set." She touched each item as he listed them. "You stay here with Jake, sweetie, daddy is going to take mommy to her friends and be right back." Rick looked at Ellie.
"Kay." Ellie looked sad that mommy was leaving. Actually she had gotten used to having Kate home all day since Kate was on maternity leave and didn't want mommy to leave.
"I'll only be gone a couple of hours, sweetie. Give me a kiss." Kate did her best to lean down to get her kiss. "Thank you, sweetie." Kate stood back up smiling down at her.
"You watch Ellie, Jake." Rick pointed at Jake and touched Kate and they were gone, showing up moments later in their living room in New York. "I'm going to go check the mail while I'm here." Rick told Kate and went to the mailbox while Kate walked into the kitchen to start work on the appetizers.
"Anything?" Kate asked as she watched Castle walk into the kitchen. "Mostly junk." Rick tossed them to the side. "Ooo, something from Papa Murphy's." Rick started opening the envelope, and read it to himself.
"What's it say babe?" Kate was seriously interested. Castle had killed Derek Storm years ago and hadn't found anything to take his place yet, though his latest try was in the hands of his new literary agent. Black Pawn was nothing but an ancient memory.
"It's a breakdown of our existing 23 restaurants." Rick kept reading leaving Kate to remember that they had opened 12 more restaurants in the Atlanta area after the 12 in Florida. However, they had closed the one in Daytona Beach after the first 3 year lease. Daytona Beach simply didn't have the sales the other locations did.
"The ones in Atlanta are actually doing better than the ones in Florida. Papa Murphy's wants to know if we are interested in opening more restaurants in a new location that they are willing to expand into," he told Kate.
"Are they suggesting where or leaving it to us?" Kate knew the only income they had were their FBI wages and the 23 Papa Murphy's along with residual sales of the Derek Storm books that were getting smaller year after year. Kate was hoping that Castle's new book really took off. They weren't poor by any stretch of the imagination, it was just that Kate liked it when Castle was writing. It seemed to help keep him calm.
"They want to know if we have interest in the states north of Vermont, like New York, Pennsylvania, Maine or Hawaii. Ooo, they are also thinking of expanding overseas starting in the UAE." Rick couldn't explain why he suddenly liked this idea.
"The United Arab Emirates? Isn't that in the Middle East, over next to Saudi Arabia?" Kate wasn't keen on putting their money there. Spending money in the Middle East sounded dangerous. "What are you thinking Castle?" Kate could see his wheels turning already.
"The UAE sounds interesting, I'm just not sure if there would be enough interest to have 12 restaurants there, I don't know much of anything about that country. Hawaii sounds just as interesting, except most of the people there are tourists who stay in hotel rooms with no ovens," Rick spoke his mind. "But maybe just three or four in the UAE would be enough." He really liked the idea.
"New York and New Jersey are out, Castle. We already have too many pizzerias and people aren't going to change to 'cook it yourself,'" Kate warned as Rick nodded his head.
"Maybe Pennsylvania, it has Philadelphia which is a big city," she suggested. "You need to leave Castle, we left Ellie all alone." Kate knew they couldn't talk about this now.
"Have fun with your friends, Kate." He leaned over and kissed Kate. "Don't forget I love you Mrs. Castle."
Kate placed her arms on Castle's shoulders. "I love you too Mr. Castle." Kate smiled and kissed him and then pushed him away so he could teleport back.
Rick kept the paper from Papa Murphy's. "Have fun." And teleported back to their bedroom where he had left Ellie and Jake. "ELLIE! …JAKE!" Rick yelled since he didn't see either one of them. He raced downstairs. They had a security system for the entire place with countless numbers of cameras. It allowed Jack to monitor both houses 24 hours a day and if Ellie had gone back into the pool without him or Kate watching, Jack would have told them. Rick would then teleport directly into the pool and scoop up his in trouble daughter.
"Ellie?" Rick found her standing next to the pool with Jake blocking her way. "Can I go in now daddy?" Ellie wanted back in the pool and her father was back. "Come over here and let me put more sunscreen on you and then you can get back in the pool." Kate would kill him if she came home to a sunburned daughter.
An all gooped up Ellie ran for the pool and jumped in with Jake right behind her. Rick retreated to the Pool Suite to sit in the shade while watching his daughter play with Jake. He also read the letter again and started asking Jack questions about the UAE and possible locations.
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Kate was just putting her first tray of appetizers in the oven when the doorbell rang. "Jack says it is your guests," Jill told Kate even though she stepped over to the video panel to look for herself.
They had the security system upgraded as new options came available over the years. They had new panels that you could use to see what each camera showed along with a tear gas canister that would spray the entrance area inside and out. "Let's see someone try and disable the system from the inside with tear gas in their eyes," Rick had said, chuckling while watching it being installed, earning him a kiss from Kate.
Kate opened the door. "HI! Come on in." Kate tried to get out of the way.
"Girlfriend!" Lanie did her best to hug Kate which wasn't easy anymore. "Hi Kate." Jenny did her best to hug Kate, too.
"I'm still working in the kitchen," she informed them as she closed and locked the door and reset the alarm. She followed behind them into the kitchen.
"We'll finish, you should sit down Kate." Jenny guided her out of her kitchen, sat her at the breakfast bar, and returned to help Lanie finish what Kate had started.
"Can you believe today is the 10 year anniversary?" Jenny said as she put the next batch together while Lanie watched what was already in the oven.
"It all happened while Castle and I were on our honeymoon. We didn't know a thing until we got home. We did our best to stay away from the larger cities and anchored in places most people didn't go to.
It still had some of the best scuba diving we had ever seen. We even found some completely empty beautiful beaches to visit." Kate started remembering those days.
"Well, I know you didn't get pregnant on those beaches since Ellie is only two," Jenny added as she finished the next batch and left them to Lanie.
"No, but I did get a really good tan that week." Kate hinted at what they had done on those beaches. "A tan you say. Like a full and complete tan?" Jenny teased. "I got a tan in places that hadn't seen the light of day in a long time if ever." Kate was smiling while feeling her cheeks get red. She saw no reason to tell them that she skinny dipped and laid nude by the pool constantly, though that had decreased a lot after Ellie was born. However once Ellie was old enough to understand Kate was thinking of returning to the practice after the baby was born and she had lost her baby fat again.
"That was an amazing wedding too, Kate. I couldn't help but cry while watching it all," Lanie added.
"I'm sorry we didn't know each other then, it sounds amazing." Jenny had heard about everything from Lanie and Kevin about the wedding. Montgomery and his family, Kevin and Javi, Lanie, Martha, Jim, Frazier and Hammond and their recent girlfriends, Jordan and her family were all the ones that attended. It wasn't large but Kate didn't care, she only person that really needed to be there was Rick.
"I can get out the wedding albums or even the video later," Kate offered.
"That would be great," Jenny replied since she hadn't seen any of them.
"How are you and Kevin doing?" Kate asked. "We're doing great, we even have an announcement to make soon," Jenny hinted.
Lanie slammed the oven door closed and looked at Jenny. "You're not?" Only to watch Jenny smile back.
"It's not official, I've only used one of those pregnancy sticks, but we have a doctor's appointment in a couple of days to confirm," Jenny told them, only to see both of them stare at her. Jenny sighed. "Okay, I'm pregnant," Jenny gave in. Lanie squealed and hugged Jenny while Kate got off her barstool and walked around into the kitchen to hug Jenny.
"What about you?" Kate turned on Lanie.
"What about me?" Lanie stepped backwards, only to watch the two of them glare at her. "Espo and I just aren't there yet." Lanie defended herself.
"LANIE! It's been 10 freaking years, just how long are you two going to dance with each other?" Kate demanded. "I don't understand you. You, of all people, should know how short life is. You work in a morgue for god's sake." Kate was exasperated with her best girlfriend.
"What's the problem, and don't give me any of that crap you've been giving me for the last I don't know how many years." Kate wanted an answer. "Is it because you don't love him?"
"I love Javi, most of the time." Lanie knew it wasn't that, at least not totally.
"So, is he not good in bed? Have you tried buying toys and playing games?" Kate tried another tact. She had finally gotten Rick out camping and had staked him out completely naked while she had her way with him, teasing him for hours, never letting him come, causing Rick to beg her constantly while crying. It was payback for all that Rick had done to her.
"Earth to Kate?" Jenny was asking while waving her hand in front of Kate's face for the second time. "What?" Kate blinked and looked at Jenny while she and Lanie were smiling.
"Are you speaking from experience here?" Jenny was teasing.
"Well I am almost two babies out in front of you and easily two babies out in front of you." Kate glared at Lanie.
Their appetizers were done and needed time to cool. "I think it's time for those wedding pictures, maybe it'll get little-miss-scared-of-commitment here ready." Jenny poked fun at Lanie. "I'll get them." Kate had to go downstairs to get the wedding albums while the video was up in the mezzanine.
"In my own defense Javi hasn't asked me." Lanie tried to justify herself.
"This is the 21st century, Lanie, you can ask Javi to marry you, you know." Jenny jumped all over Lanie as soon as Kate was gone. "I know you, you are not scared of speaking your mind, if you want him, ask him and stop screwing around," Jenny pled her case. "I don't mean stop having sex with him, i mean, ... UGH, you piss me off so much sometimes. I know you're not dating anyone else and I'm betting Javi isn't either and i know you two are together a lot." Jenny thought about it. "Wait, you've moved in with him haven't you? You two just won't ask the other." Jenny watched Lanie blush and knew she was right.
Kate had pulled out her wedding album which was going to be fun to go through again and also her phone. "Hi Castle, I need you to do me a favor," Kate said.
"You're having the baby!" Rick started off with knowing that Kate was a little late while Ellie had actually been 2 weeks early. Kate instantly heard Ellie in the background. "Mommy is having baby?"
"NO, I'm not having the baby. I need to you talk with Javi, Rick. Find out why he hasn't asked Lanie to marry him yet. Those two have been dancing around each other for 10 years." Kate had a task for him. "Oh, and Jenny is pregnant." There was no way Kate was keeping that secret.
"Jenny is pregnant!" was Rick's instant response. Kate could hear Ellie in the background. "Jen, say hi." Ellie sounded distant; she was likely in the pool, Kate guessed. "Castle, focus."
"Call Javi and find out what is wrong with him. Got it. Oh, my mother called and she wants to come for a visit. She didn't say why or for how long," Rick told her.
Kate thought about it. She liked Martha, she really did. While Ellie had an active mouth, no one was going to believe a 2 year old that her parents could teleport from one house to another. Castle's mother on the other hand, might be more of a problem. It meant staying in New York while she was with them. "It's fine Castle, we would probably need to move back to New York after the baby is born anyway. And maybe your mother can help us by babysitting." Kate didn't really want to leave St. Lucia especially since she knew Ellie was going to be all over them to go outside to the pool. "We'll make it work." The pool at their home in New York was just further away and it was communal instead of private like this one. Jake would have to give up swimming.
Kate went back upstairs and sat down with her wedding album in what was left of her lap with Lanie on one side of her and Jenny on the other. "You took a boat in?" Jenny saw Kate arriving by boat to a secluded beach. "And where did you get that wedding dress?" It wasn't anything like a wedding dress Jenny was used to seeing.
"You stayed there till after the sun set?" Jenny pointed out all of the Tiki torches that were everywhere lighting up the place in a soft glow.
"We gave Montgomery and his family our master suite while Castle and I took the Pool Suite. Martha took the Sunset Suite while Jordan and her family took the Bougainvillea Suite (it had bougainvillea plants outside of the back patio that looked out over the ocean). Their little girl was young enough to sleep in the day bed. We got everyone else a hotel room," Kate explained.
"Is this the yacht you two went out on for your honeymoon?" Jenny pointed at the large boat that was in the background behind Rick and Kate who posed in front of it.
"That boat was great, it had such a shallow draft for its size that we could go places the really big yachts couldn't go. It was so much fun scuba diving in all that crystal clear water." Kate had a blast on her honeymoon.
"Not to mention walking a beach naked," Jenny teased. "I plead the 5th," Kate stated, not getting these two to believe her.
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Rick was just getting ready to call Javi like his wife had asked when the phone rang. "Castle. Oh, hi Jim, I just got done talking with Kate."
"How is Katie doing, I haven't heard anything. Isn't she late?" Jim sounded like a worried grandfather. Rick smiled. Their interaction with Kate's father had gotten so much better than when he had first met the man.
"Kate is entertaining her girlfriends. Ellie and I were not invited, and yes, she is technically one day late," Rick admitted. "Gramps?" Jim could hear in the background.
"Get out of the pool and you can talk with him," Rick offered holding out the phone, which got Ellie scrambling out of the pool and running the short distance to Rick. "No running near the pool Ellie, what have I told you?" Rick chastised her for running.
"Sorry." Ellie looked sad and tried her puppy dog eyes look; it usually worked on her father, just not on her mother. "Dry your hands." Rick told her and handed over the phone to dry little hands.
"Hi gramps. Love you!" Ellie was happy to talk to him.
"Hi sweetheart, what are you doing? Are you ready to be a big sister?" The three of them had been working with Ellie so she knew that she was going to be a big sister and would still be loved even after the baby came.
"Yup, mommy is having baby, big sister." Ellie was excited about having a baby. She had seen her baby pictures and knew what to expect, at least they thought she did.
"You're going to be the best big sister ever." Jim was sure of it. His only wish was that Johanna was here to see this. Their baby girl was married to his wife's favorite author and was about to have her second child with him. "Can you put your daddy back on the phone?" Jim asked her.
"Okay gramps, love you." Ellie told Jim yet again. "I love you too, sweetie." Jim could feel his heart beating hard. He was so lucky to make it to this day after he had screwed up so badly earlier.
"Can you believe it's been 10 years?" Jim asked after Rick was back on the phone. Rick watched Ellie start to run for the pool and then suddenly simply walk fast before jumping in the pool again.
Jim's question took Rick back in time. It wasn't until they were in range of St. Lucia again that Jack informed them of everything he was learning about the twin towers. It had been a complete shock to both of them as well as the crew when they started hearing about it after they had turned on the TVs on the boat.
Rick and Kate had sat with the crew watching TV while the news covered what was happening at the time as they replayed the planes crashing into the towers over and over, including watching the towers collapse again and again. The crew was in tears, both the men and the women.
It also reminded Rick of the day Jack told them that Bracken had died in his Senate office from a massive stroke. His staff had found him on the floor with a cell phone in his hand. Jordan had later informed them that they had found Nuke in his system and that the cell phone was a burner phone that had only ever called another burner phone. They had even gotten their hands on some of the pictures that were taken, thanks to Jack. They could both clearly see a small pile of ash next to his off hand and guessed that the ash was the other unit since it looked exactly like the unit Sophia had.
Rick and Kate both guessed that he had been out of contact with Sophia for days and when his stroke had started he had tried to reach her/him in his last desperate attempt to get his next fix. The only Nuke Rick and Kate knew about that was still left were the doses that were locked up in their panic room.
Bracken had been succeeded in yet another emergency election for his replacement. That one however had cost everyone hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions of dollars just like normal. The man who won did so only by the skin of his teeth. And now that it was 10 years later, Nuke was out of the press.
Rick and Kate had used a lot of Bracken's money that Jack had taken from him to build a new apartment complex in the Atlanta area that was used to support battered women and their families. It provided them with security, schooling for any children, food from a cafeteria, help with training for a new job along with job placement after they completed their courses. It wasn't large and only had 32 units total. The rest of the money was used to make money and help them get donations from large companies and allow these companies to use the name of the place and what it did in their commercials. It took money to build it and money to keep it running and pay the staff. It had been operational for the last 7 years and they had several successes in that time that allowed the women to move out into a place of their own and get their lives back.
"That was one really insane day." Rick had to admit. Ten years later and the site was still mostly empty except for the anniversary that was taking place there.
"I'm glad you two were out on your honeymoon for that day. I can't imagine hearing that you two were at the site with what was going on down there." Jim actually meant all of the people with medical conditions from inhaling all of that dust.
"It would have been our job to be there had we been home. There are still a lot of arguments over what happened so long after that." Even Jack had done a lot of searching to try and find out if the government had gone too far.
Jim knew exactly what Rick was talking about. Jim knew if his wife was still alive she would have been up front fighting tooth and nail against the Patriot Act. It represented a lot of what she had spent her life fighting against. Since Jim was on his own now, he didn't know which side of the fence he was on, though he could hear his wife chastising him for even thinking of being in favor of it.
"I've got another call, I have to go Jim," Rick had to tell him since caller ID said it was Kate.
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"Hi sexy!" Rick tried to use his best bedroom voice.
"Good thing I'm a happily married woman, Rick." Jenny tried to keep from laughing. "Jenny! I thought… I mean caller ID…" Jenny interrupted him.
"Kate's water broke and Lanie has called a cab; we're headed for the hospital. You may need to hurry Rick, Lanie thinks this baby is going to come quick," Jenny warned him.
"We're on our way." Rick ended the call and phoned Jim. "It's time, Kate's water has broken."
"I'll be there Rick, drive carefully." Jim was gone and headed downstairs to find a taxi.
"Ellie, get out of the pool, mommy is having the baby!" Rick yelled.
Ellie scrambled out of the pool followed by Jake who shook himself dry, or at least less wet. "We have to get you changed and then go." Rick helped her get out of her wet swimsuit and into some clothes. "Come on Jake, time to go." Rick called the dog over and held onto both of them. They found themselves in the living room of their New York house. Rick could tell it had been sudden and they were all gone.
Rick hustled Ellie out to the garage and secured her in the back seat of their newest car. It was a 2011 Aston Martin Rapide. It had four doors and a place for Ellie to sit. It even had TV screens in the back of the front seat head rests. It had a large hatchback where they could put their camping equipment, though when they went camping with it, they only went to established campsites. It had a 6.0 litre, V12, 470 horse power engine.
Rick found a parking space and carried Ellie into the hospital since he was in too big of a hurry to let her walk. "I'm Richard Castle and my wife is here somewhere. Her water broke." Rick was soon headed in the direction he was told to go. "Jim!" Rick spotted him followed by Lanie and Jenny.
"Katie is through there, they said she was asking for you," Jim told him as he got Rick to hand him Ellie. "You stay with your grandfather Ellie, I'm going to go find mommy." And Rick went through the door and was soon at Kate's side finding that she was already breathing heavy and being told not to push just yet.
"Kate, I love you, sweetheart. You're doing wonderfully!" Rick took her hand and leaned down to kiss her forehead. Two hours later and Kate had a new baby girl in her arms. "She's beautiful Rick, simply gorgeous." Kate was in love all over again. There was a time when she wondered if she would ever love again. Now she knew nothing but love. "I think she got her hair color from your side of the family." Kate chuckled while thinking of Martha as she listened to Rick laugh.
"Have you finally chosen a name?" Rick asked her, knowing Kate had shot down all of his names so far.
She nodded her head while crying and kissing her new baby. "Alexis Harper Castle." Kate smiled and kissed the tiny red haired head again. "You think we'll ever know?" Kate changed subjects.
"No." Rick shook his head knowing just what Kate meant by her question. "I don't think even the children of our children will know. For all I know they will give our planet more than one test. The only question to ask yourself is, did we pass this one?"
Kate thought about everything they had gone through. "What if the test isn't over yet? We are both still alive and by default so are they." Kate meant Jack and Jill.
"That's easy Kate, we just keep doing what we can to the best of our abilities and try and make our planet better. For the future of all of us." Rick bent down to kiss Kate on the lips and then kissed his newest daughter on her forehead wondering what kind of personality this one would have. He smiled his love into Kate's eyes who returned her love as she looked back at him.
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I know some or most of you were expecting a wedding. I'm not sure I'm any good at writing those, it's also why I try and stay away from "M" rated material. Not sure I'm any good at writing that stuff either.
Any guesses on what Sophia was talking about? You do all remember that she was an old KGB mole in the CIA, yes? Rick fights for his country, what did Sophia try to do? Who did you think was the opposite of Rick?
The next story will not be out for several weeks. It is going to be something different and is going to stretch everyone's acceptance of Caskett. After that will be Baby 2, I think.
Sorry about the rant of Guests, just that if they are going to be critical they should sign in so that they have a voice otherwise they should keep silent and just read or not read. Reading here is free, and i'm betting that all of the writers on this site do it for fun and don't get paid. We're not all professionals at writing. now if they had spent $24 for a hard back...