Finding the Fit Chapter 85
Comfortably stuffed with rare roast beef, savory side dishes, and tantalizing pastries, Kate gazes across the table at Rick. "The food, the castle, it's all wonderful. This is very special."
Rick reaches for her hand. "No, the food and the surroundings are only preparation." He digs into his pocket for a tiny box.
Kate shrinks back. "Oh, no, Castle. I told you I'm just not ready for any big moves yet."
"I know. I heard you." Rick flips open the box. "But you called the loft home. That was a step forward. This can be another one. It's a promise ring, but I'm not asking you for a promise. It's a symbol of my promise to you that you are the only woman I want, the yin to my yang I've been waiting for all my life. You can wear it on either hand or even on a chain around your neck. As long as you wear it, I don't care. It's my pledge to you that I'm here, and I'm waiting for the time you're ready to commit to a life together."
Rick takes the ring from the box and holds it out to Kate. "Will you accept my promise?"
Kate pulls the chain on which she wears her mother's ring from under her top. "Castle, until you came along, I'd almost lost hope there would ever be any justice for my mother. And without you, I don't know if it would have ever happened. But today, it seems that anything is possible no matter how long it takes." Kate takes Rick's ring and threads it onto the chain. "I'll wear your promise next to the symbol of that hope."
As Kate clasps her chain back around her neck, Rick leans over the table for a kiss. "Best date ever! Should I call George now?"
"Sure, Castle. Let's go home."
"Hey, Beckett, look at this," Rick calls, bringing in the morning Ledger. "The Witzenbergers are announcing a new foundation to facilitate matches of people with unusual types who need blood and organs. They will have branches worldwide, and Ossie will be in charge of the one in South Africa. They're also supporting the clinics he's working with now."
"That's amazing," Kate says. "Have you heard from them – other than that humongous thank you card Julia made for you?"
"Actually, I did while you were at the 12th working on paperwork yesterday. I was going to tell you last night, but we got, um, distracted."
Kate grins at him. "It was a pretty nice distraction."
Rick sticks out his lower lip. "Only pretty nice?"
"All right. Very nice. But what did the Witzenbergers say?"
"Actually, they sent us an invitation to Julia's birthday party."
"Some gala affair celebrating her homecoming?" Kate asks.
"I doubt that gala affair would be how they'd describe it. They've reserved Lots o' Joy for a whole day. All the attendees will get unlimited tokens to play the games. There will be all-you-can-eat pizza and, of course, cake."
"Sounds like a kids' party. Why would they invite us?"
"Not entirely a kids' party. There will also be some more adult refreshments. They told me they'd be announcing some of the nuts and bolts of their new project inspired by what happened to Julia. I guess they meant the foundation mentioned in the Ledger article. It should be quite an event. Bruno Mars will be playing, and they have invited a bunch of celebrities, including the Rock, and their kids. In that crowd, we'll be a mere blip on the radar. Now that I think about it, most of the guests they mentioned are multiracial and could have similar difficulties obtaining matches for loved ones as the Witzenbergers – and the Lesars – had. It should be fun, Beckett, and it should support a good cause. And Lots o' Joy has the Dwarven Swords Duel game."
"Your favorite?" Kate queries.
"All time, number one. It combines fencing and fantasy. What could be more fun than that?"
Kate grabs a handful of one of her favorite spots on Rick's body. "I can think of something. We have enough time before start of shift, and we wouldn't even need tokens."
Rick tugs Kate against his rapidly heating body. "Dwarven Swords Duel just dropped to number two."
Hunt regards the latest text on his satellite phone. As far as the Company is concerned, any chance of a disaster arising from Zaporizhzhia is under control, at least for the time being. They want him back in the States to deal with a new Russian cell planning cyber-attacks on the U.S. power grid. Hunt is not entirely sanguine about dropping his surveillance of the enormous nuclear power plant, but the company is ordering and not asking. An attack on the U.S. power grid could cause massive disruptions as well as a considerable death toll.
According to the message Hunt received, a breach had already been discovered at a power station. It was accomplished by relatively primitive means. An unfriendly dropped a thumb drive containing a worm in the parking lot of a power control station. Some idiot employee plugged it into a laptop. Fortunately, the program didn't propagate beyond that station. If it had, it could have shut down much of the Midwest. The employees were given stern warnings against unidentified thumb drives or equipment of any kind. Still, the vulnerability exists.
That kind of vulnerability worked to the world's advantage when Stuxnet substantially damaged Iran's nuclear program. Still, what goes around comes around, and what can make the world safer one day can seriously endanger it the next. That's when Hunt and others like him must act quickly.
The upside is that he may get to look in on Richard and possibly even Martha with his own eyes instead of an occasional peek via spy satellite and media coverage. Now that Rick and Martha are getting closer, Hunt wishes he could get into the act. That is, of course, impossible. He can only keep them safe if they have absolutely no ties with him. Still, keeping up with the events in their lives gives him a connection, however tenuous.
"You almost ready to go?" Kate asks Rick as he locates a shoe that landed in the corner of the bedroom.
He slips the errant footwear on and rakes a hand through his hair. "I think…."
"Damn!" Kate exclaims as her cell buzzes. Her breath quickens as she takes in the text on the screen. "Castle, the SDNYs Bracken trial has a start date."
Rick strides across the bedroom. "When?"
"In two weeks. And according to this, with the evidence from Bracken's journals and the flipped witnesses, it should go pretty fast, considering the extent of the charges, possibly eight weeks or less."
"I vote for less," Rick declares, "with the guilty verdict coming as fast as possible."
"I'm with you there," Kate agrees. "But we also have to get to the precinct as fast as possible. 1PP sent all the captains a letter about enforcing working hours. So he's coming down on anyone who straggles in after the bell."
"I've never heard a bell," Rick remarks.
Kate rolls her eyes. "There is no bell, but you know what I mean, Castle."
"A bell might be kind of cool," Rick muses as they head out the door, "a nice brass one like they have on ships. I'll have to look into that."
"Let's just get going, Castle," Kate urges. "You can look into shiny brass later."