"Castle, please, I'm fine. Stop worrying," Beckett said for the thousandth time to the man who would not stop helping her. They'd barely made it into the lobby of his building before he'd already been too kind to her. He'd help open her door every time she moved from or to the car, he'd held open the door for her to the building, he'd helped her up the three stairs between the sidewalk and his front entrance and he was now trying to convince her to allow him to help her just simply walk into the elevator. Yes, she was injured and yes, she felt a bit weak still, but the pain pills and coffee had done wonders for her energy issues. Plus, she hated feeling like she needed help and he knew it.
He looked at her and sighed to himself, telling her, "I know you're fine and that you don't need help, but it makes me feel better when you let me help." She looked at him and he then asked, "Was that selfish of me to say?"
"No," she laughed, "It's sweet. It's just not who I am. I've never been the kind of girl who wants a guy helping her every second of the day. It's nothing personal, Castle, it's just who I am." When she smiled up at him and he smiled at her, he couldn't stay mad at her. He simply stayed back and watched as she made her way into the elevator and then followed her in. Her thoughts wandered from Rick and she turned to him to ask, "How was Maddie today? Did she catch up on her school work? Will she be able to go back tomorrow to get some sense of normalcy?"
Rick looked at her and honestly answered, "Normalcy? It doesn't really matter when she goes back, Kate, she won't be going back with a sense of normalcy or familiarity ever again. I mean, she'll be wandering the halls with a reminder or Jess around every corner and his face plastered in every hallway. I don't know how she's ever going back." The air between the two went cold before the doors opened and Rick revealed, "She was working on school work all day though, and she talked about school like she was planning on going back. Maybe she'll be alright and she'll go back without boarding."
"What if she wants to board?" Kate asked as they started down the hall and she struggled to keep up with him. "What if she wants to go back to her normal life? I mean, I wouldn't be able to blame her really. We shouldn't stop her from going back it if she thinks she can handle it."
Rick then argued, "You really think she can handle it?"
"I don't know. I mean, I don't know her as well as you do, but I know she must be strong. I mean, after going through what she went through and not showing any sign of it to anyone, she has to be pretty strong, right?" They'd reached the door by now and Rick pulled out his key to unlock the door. When he pushed it in, he was stopped by the chain lock. He looked at his wife and she looked at him, confused and concerned.
He called inside, "Maddie? Alexis? Either of you there?" No one replied. This made him more concerned so he pulled out his phone and dialed Alexis' number. It rang twice before she declined his call. Again he called through to the other side, but no one replied. "Girls, this isn't funny. One of you needs to open this door right now!"
Rick's stern tone and harsh words finally coerced a soft reply, "Rick? Is that you?" The girl's sleepy tone came through and Castle could barely hear her, but she had caught Kate's attention.
"Yes, Maddie. It's us, Rick and I," Kate softly replied. This came with a slow shuffle of heavy footsteps and an unlocking of the door. Once it was completely opened, Kate took in the sight of the girl's weary smile and asked with a grin of her own, "Were you asleep?"
The teenager laughed and opened her arms with droopy hands, "It's been a long day. I was worried you wouldn't come back." When Maddie laced her arms around Beckett's body, Kate gladly took the girl into her arms and held her a moment. She was just tall enough that it was effortless for Kate to lay a soft kiss on her forehead as she held her. Finally they broke apart, relieving Kate of the pleasurable pain that had accompanied the tight squeeze. Maddie then asked with a slightly more awake voice, "Is everything alright? What happened? What did he do?"
This had been a topic her mind and heart had battled out. In her heart she couldn't imagine worrying Maddie with things like this. Maddie didn't need to be burdened by anyone else's pain but her own. Then again, her mind told her that she deserved to know and that it wasn't right to keep a victim from knowing that she wasn't alone. But finally she'd had to find a healthy medium and decided to put off telling her story until she'd come to terms with it on her own. And since Maddie was exhausted and Beckett didn't have it in her to admit anything aloud for a second time, she told the girl simply, "I'm fine and so are the twins and for right now that's all that matters, alright? But you look like you're exhausted. Why don't you go upstairs to bed. We can talk in the morning."
She hummed her answer and said okay before coming in and giving them both a hug. Her tired feet then dragged along the floor as she slowly made her way upstairs and out of the couple's sight. Once they heard her door close, Rick turned and shut the door behind them while Kate made it three steps inside with a smile before it felt her lips. She then quickly walked over to the couch, finding her gun laying beneath a pillow, half covered and half visible. When she pulled it out, she found that the safety was on, but there were bullets inside the chamber. What was more astonishing to her was the fact that this was her forty-five which she always kept in a safe. "Castle," she said with a gasping unease, "You let Maddie into our safe?"
"No!" he replied as he joined her, "I have no idea how that got out of there. I mean, you and I are the only two people who know the combination and I haven't opened it in months. You're the one who opens it every day."
"Yeah, because I don't want to leave my gun sitting and have you be able to reach for it like you did with Pi," Beckett replied. Castle didn't even attempt to argue this point, but even if he had, Beckett moved on too quickly for him to get a legitimate point out. "You know what, I don't care how she got this. My concern is why she had it in the first place."
Looking between his wife and her gun and thinking about the past, he replied, "She probably had it out for the same reason you slept with your glock for nearly fifteen years after your mother passed, and for the same reason I left the T.V on in the apartment all day and night for a month after your shooting. It probably just made her feel safe."
This hit Beckett in an odd way for some reason. It wasn't the thought of safety that struck her, but the thought of Maddie not feeling safe. She must have known that they'd do everything to keep her safe. They would do anything to make sure nothing bad ever happened to her again. Maddie must have known that they would give their lives to ensure that she would be alright. Why would she need to have a gun with her to feel safe?
Rick looked at Kate and somehow seemed to read her mind. "Kate, she was alone in a strange house and she didn't know when we were coming back. She didn't take the gun upstairs with her, so she must feel safe now that we are home. Don't worry about it, I'm sure she's fine." Beckett thought this over as he spoke and just simply took him at his words. The pain pills were starting to wear off a bit but hadn't worked their way out of her system enough to keep from slightly dulling her senses. She didn't think this through simply because she didn't feel she had the mental capacity. The sight of his crystal clear baby blue eyes gave her enough sense of comfort for her to just simply let the worry roll off her back and agree that Maddie would be alright. Castle then smiled at her and switched topics, "You know, Maddie is asleep though. And Alexis and my mother aren't home. There wouldn't be anything to disrupt if you-."
She cut him off, "Rick, I'm so not in the mood for sex tonight. Please try to understand what I went through today has left me a bit... unwilling to have sex for now."
"Sex?" he asked as though that word was confusing. "No, I was going to say there is nothing that could disrupt some quiet time if you wanted to go take a nice warm bath. I would never ask you to have sex after what happened today. Never."
Looking at him and thinking about the conversation she'd had with the boys in the break room a few days ago, she saw that he really wasn't like Esposito. He was much more mature and refined and caring and thoughtful and- everything she knew he was without anyone having to tell her. She left a smile wisp her lips upward and inspire her to lightly lay a kiss against his lips. She could feel it as he let her decide what kind of kiss this would be and she took it to grow in passion. He let her lead their mouths open and clasped her lips when he could. While she came closer to him, her body pressed against his chest and he slowly fell backward as she wanted. Soon she was on top of him, rising above him slightly. They both wondered where this would be going until a flash cut across Beckett's body and her ribs seared. She immediately stopped and sat up, pushing away from Rick for a moment, seeing the sight of the man and swallowing a deep breath hard into her lung. Her aching chest squealed.
He sat up and made sure he didn't come closer to her when he did. She'd not so much backed away from him as simply took the same spot on the couch, but it was obvious she suddenly needed space. Feeling a bit of guilt, he asked, "Kate, are you alright?"
She looked up from her lap and into his eyes and replied, "Yeah, Castle. I'm fine. I just-," saw the man who'd tormented me and raped me and felt the pain of his hand striking my side so hard I thought my ribs were broken. No, Beckett wasn't the type to admit something like that. Instead she told him, "I just need some sleep." He put two and two together pretty quick and knew what happened, but he didn't want to push.
Looking into her frightened gaze, he asked, "Do you want me to draw you a bath?"
"No," Kate hummed, still dazed a bit by the sudden appearance of the masked man. "I think I'm just going to change and get to bed. I'll have to wake up early tomorrow anyway since I'll want to eat and puke before I get to work." He looked at her with confusion a moment before she bluntly explained, "I'm accounting for my morning sickness. I've puked twice in the last two days instead of twice a week like it's been for the last two weeks."
More confused, Rick asked, "You puked twice a week for two weeks and never told me? And I never noticed?"
"I thought it was the extra sessions at the gym. I only ever seemed to throw up when I kind of over worked, so I never thought anything of it. But now that I'm thinking about it, I only ever threw up when I ate before going to work out. I guess by the time I was done, the twins had decided they needed food," Kate simply replied as though this weren't anything abnormal.
Clearly her opinion differed from her fiancé's. "You know you shouldn't be exercising quite as much and as vigorously when you're pregnant, right?"
Sarcastically she answered, "No, really? I would have never guessed." He looked at her like he'd been lightly scolded so she fixed her tone. "I know I shouldn't be working out to the extent I have been, Castle. You don't need to worry, alright? I'll cut back to just jogging and yoga."
Lightly and politely he replied, "Actually, jogging is considered high-impact and most doctors will recommend walking. Actually, when Meredith was pregnant, the doctor told her that if she couldn't easily talk to someone else while doing whatever it was she was doing, she should probably avoid it." Kate's eyes widened a bit. She'd been jogging, weightlifting, boxing and a lot of other things this entire time. The only thing she could really talk through aside from yoga was weightlifting, and the way she was doing it kept her from classifying most of that talking as easy. Between the coffee and exercise, she was petrified that she didn't know enough about this, and it showed on her face.
Rick tried to comfort her by saying, "But that's mostly for your health, Kate. It's more to make sure you're hydrated and not over heated and not over worked or strained. It's less about the twins than it is about you, sweetheart." His words really didn't help much though. She really just couldn't control the guilt at this point and simply let herself fall into him. He thought she might cry, but she didn't. She just let him hold her and let his soft touch on her back slowly calm her.
Once she was calmed down, she left the writer on the couch and moved into their bedroom to get ready for bed. Once she was stripped of her clothes that Lanie had picked up for her from her loft, she just simply stared at herself in the mirror. Her body was coated in bruises of various colors that seemed to engulf the entirety of her body. She knew this was only the start of the bruising since any deeper bruise wouldn't show for a few days, but she already knew where each bruise would lie. The worst part of all of it would be the looks of pity she got when everyone who hadn't already seen her saw the massive bruise under her eye where he'd struck her. Then again, she'd lived all of this before which could either enhance their pity or dull her senses to the looks. She'd have to wait to see when she got in.
Castle was still outside and putting away the computers he'd taken out. Once they were away, he pulled his phone back out and shot a text to his daughter. Sure, she was nineteen and should have been able to do what she wanted, but when she came home every now and again to crash, but spent two or three nights a week outside of the house, it was confusing. Every time she was late getting home or didn't come home at all, all he could imagine was the looks boys gave her and the thoughts they'd have when they looked at her. It sickened him to think she was out there in a world like that, but he was more disgusted by the fact that she was out there in a world like that without him there to beat the hell out of any man who crossed her. When she messaged him back telling him she'd been driving and couldn't take his call but that she was sitting at a stoplight ten minutes away from the loft, he was happy.
He took down his sheet-screen and put away the projector. The mugs of coffee were all empty, luckily, but he still rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher without starting it. They'd used his plastic plates that he'd bought when Alexis was young, so washing putting away the Veggie Tales and Sesame Street dishes was all done by hand. It made him think of the babies who'd soon be using them again and he wildly enjoyed the thought. Suddenly he was glad he'd never cleaned out the childish dishware or silverware from his drawers. He was also thrilled he'd paid for those no-slam drawers and cabinets.
When he finished in the kitchen, he went into his room to find that Kate had already climbed into bed, but was sitting up, reading Doctor Sleep. Rick smiled and commented softly, "You know that book isn't actually about a doctor who helps you sleep."
She glanced up at him and smiled. "It was the only thing you had in your drawer and I didn't want to make the effort to go to your office and grab something from the shelf." Her fatigue was evident in her voice and her heavily blinking eyes, but Rick knew better than to push her to go to sleep.
He replied lightly, "Ah, I see. So you wanted to read, but you were too lazy to get up and grab a book so you've done the only rational thing and picked up a horror novel." His smile kept hers on her lips as she gently closed the book and looked to him.
"You're the one with a horror novel next to your bed. I would read Of Mice and Men if you ever kept real literature on your nightstand."
His smile brightened, as he unbuttoned his shirt, "Where's the fun in that?" She rolled her eyes and went back to the story as he stripped away his polo and dress pants leaving only his navy boxers on and his black socks. He then ducked into their bathroom and began to brush his teeth, taking notice that she had actually left her clothes on the ground. That was new for her. Usually it was she who was telling him to get his clothes into that hamper since he left them at the foot of the bed nine out of ten times.
As he brushed, she spoke over the book and asked, "You think we'll have a precinct to get back to tomorrow? I mean, one that isn't trashed."
Rick popped his head out and removed his toothbrush from his foamy mouth, giving a muffled, "Maybe. I just hope Gates doesn't immediately put you on desk duty. I know you'd hate that."
"Well," Kate trailed, "Honestly, I'm so sore that I wouldn't mind at this point. I mean, let's assume I heal up in two weeks or so like the doctor said. At that point I will be eleven weeks pregnant with twins. According to the doctor, I could start showing by then. Granted, I should be able to hide it, but I don't think I'll want to hide it if everyone already knows. And working from my desk isn't that big of a deal. I can still work the cases and talk to the families and I can even work interrogations here."
While she'd been talking, he'd gone back into the bathroom and finished what he was doing. When he came back out, he sat on the side of the bed and began taking off his socks since he was finished in the restroom with the chilled wood floors. "You really wouldn't mind desk duty?" Rick asked in a bit of surprise.
She replied, "No. Not really. And like I said, when I start showing, I don't think I'll want to hide it. If I was going to be going around, chasing criminals on the street, I would feel like I have to for as long as I could."
He understood and laughed a bit. Leaning in to lay a kiss on her cheek, he smiled and said, "Good, because the clothes in your closet were not meant to hide anything about your stomach." Her lips tightened and pursed as she angrily pushed against him and forced him to sway slightly. He just let his smile shine and thrive in the sight of her amused expression. She let her book close lightly in her lap as she beamed in his direction.
She jokingly replied, "You're a jerk." Nothing about her gave any indication that she was at all serious.
He laughed and sarcastically quipped, "That's a great name to call the man who saved your life today."
"Well, let me remind that man if I weren't pregnant with his children, I wouldn't have been in danger in the first place," Kate said with a small smile.
He replied, "That's very true. But then again, you wouldn't be pregnant with our twins."
"True," she said with a wide smile. "So I guess it's worth it."
He laughed and leaned closer to her. "Good, I'd hope so." As she came closer to him, her tongue played with her open smile and retracted just before her lips met his. They shared a meaningful kiss, one that was delicate and kindly played, filling both with satisfaction and delight. When they split apart, Kate left her forehead against her love and smiled politely to him. Their eyes were both fixated on the same part of her body where his thumbs was circling as his hand held her side.
"Seven months," Beckett said softly, drawing her hands toward her stomach and pulling away from him a bit. His hand slid under hers and she held it there as he cooed the same time range back to her. She smiled into him the way he smiled at her before she finally gave in to her fatigue and laid back into the bed. Rick happily followed her lead and cuddled up beside her, watching her drift off as her just let his hand play at her stomach. When he decided it was late enough, he curled up beside her and she moved into his arms and he drifted asleep, holding her and breathing with her.
☆●☆●☆●☆●☆
At around two in the morning, Beckett's body thrashed around in the bed as she woke her snoozing fiancé. He wouldn't let her go on the way she was going, and for the second time that night, he shook her and called her name until she was revived. Her eyes shot open and she sat up instantly, panic filling her, heavy breaths replacing the panicked pain she'd been feeling. She searched the room, terrified of what she thought she might see, not noticing the tears that had slipped down her cheeks while she'd slept. He didn't make the mistake of touching her this time and simply let a gentle, "Kate, it's alright. It's alright, Kate. Don't worry. You're in the loft, okay? You're in your bed. You're safe."
When she found his face, her pale cheeks and glassy eyes breaking his heart completely, she steadied herself and tried to realize what was happening. Only when she was ready and needed it did he wrap his arms around her when she flew to him. Holding tightly to him, trying not to let herself be so weak as to cry again, she calmed herself in his arms and listened to his heartbeat as he lulled her fears with simply hushing sounds. Once she was completely calmed, she sat back on the bed and looked into his face. She asked, "Did I hit you?"
His left eye was now swollen in a way that somewhat resembled her own injury. He replied, "You just tossed your hand into my face. It was an accident, I know. Don't worry about it. Are you alright?"
"No." Beckett replied in a hushed seriousness. She knew better than to tell him she was fine when she knew she wasn't, because when she did, he only worried more. To calm his fears, however, she told him, "But you couldn't have honestly thought I'd be sleeping well tonight. I mean, we've been through this before, Castle. The very first couple of nights we spent together I didn't sleep well. In a few days, I will be fine and everything will get back to normal."
He laughed a bit and asked, "Really? You think things will get back to normal? Kate, you're pregnant. We have a teenager living with us for the time being and for Lord only knows how long. Things will never go back to the way they were." When he said this, she seemed a bit frightened so he fixed himself. "That's not a bad thing though. Changes like these aren't bad things. They are just changes. That's how life works and that's okay. I mean, before you know it, we'll have two little ones keeping us up at night and that will be our future. It's a good thing."
The tension in her face eased a bit as she nodded. She wanted to be close to him again, so she came back into his arms and held tightly to him, feeling all the more safe when she was in his arms. As always, just knowing that he was right there with her, holding her close, loving her with all of his heart, she felt safe in his arms again. Peace came over her and her disturbing memories settled as she clung to his and inhaled his enchanting scent. That peace, however, was disturbed by the sounds of a shrieking child upstairs.
They pulled apart the instant they heard it and looked in that direction. When they looked back at each other, this expressions had run cold as concern and heartbreak stole all color from their cheeks. Neither said a word before both flung up and rushed out of the door toward the rooms upstairs. They trekked through the house in the dark, Rick in front of Kate to lead her through the un-memorized part of the living room. He let her lead up the stairs and when they reached the door, Kate didn't take the time to knock. She simply rushed in without any thought to what she might be walking in to and came to the writhing teen's side.
Sitting on the side of her bed, Kate put her arms on Maddie's shoulder and jostled her lightly, loudly beckoning to her through the darkness. Castle followed behind his wife and watched as Maddie rejoined the conscious world. Her eyes cracked open as her dazed vision slowly revealed Beckett to her. When she was able, she mumbled, "Kate," with great effort in her rocky sound.
"Yes, baby girl, I'm here," Kate said to the girl who was slowly coming to. When she could, she worked herself into a sitting pose and looked at the couple before her.
Their faces seemed scared by something, so she asked, "What happened? What's wrong?"
Castle replied, "You were dreaming, sweetheart. Actually, you were screaming. It sounded like someone was killing you." In those words, he confused Maddie, but she believed him by the looks she was getting. Her belief only came full swing when the younger redhead came to the door with a similar look.
Alexis asked the group, "What's going on? Who was screaming?"
"I was," Maddie replied.
Alexis then stepped in a bit more and asked, "Again? Was it the same dream?" This earned her a double take from the detective and the writer.
"Again?!" Kate questioned, "You woke up once tonight already?"
"No, it was last night," Alexis answered for the girl whose face had turned to shame.
Rick looked at his daughter in awe. "You came home last night?"
"That is so not the point here," Alexis said when she turned to see Maddie had suddenly leaped into Kate's arms.
Holding the girl tight to her, ignoring the pain that radiated from her tight squeeze, Kate held the girl close with her hands on Maddie's upper back and the back of her head. "It's alright, sweetheart. It's okay," Beckett said before hushing the girl. Maddie didn't seem scared at all which told Kate that she might not have remembered her dream. As Maddie stayed glued to the detective, she honestly didn't know why she'd jumped into Kate's arms the way she did, she just felt as though she needed Kate to hold her and tell her everything was alright. She felt as though she needed to know both she and Kate were here and safe and was glad to know that Kate would rush up to her aid if she thought she was in trouble. When they split apart, Beckett avoided asking Maddie was the dream was about, but felt no reason to not ask her, "Do you want me to stay up here with you like we did two nights ago?"
Maddie looked between Kate and Rick and thought about telling her it was alright, but something wined at her and begged her to say yes. She nodded and pulled Kate back in for another hug. Castle then looked between the two who seemed alright without him and said, "Alright, I'll take the guest bedroom so I'll be right next door. If either of you needs anything, don't hesitate to wake me." They both nodded and thanked him before he crept out. Alexis met him in the hall and was wandering off to bed when he stopped her and yelled in a whisper, "Hey!" She turned around and he took his whisper to its normal calm level, "What's gotten you in so late for the last two days?"
She turned around and thought about telling him to just back off since she was nineteen and it was none of his business, but instead she told him. "I got a job. I'm bartending and closing time isn't until midnight. Yesterday they needed me right away in the morning because there was a bit of flooding and they wanted it cleaned up quickly so that they didn't have to close for the night. They paid me for the overtime and I didn't want to have to hear about me coming in late from you. But it's late and I'm tired. Can we please do this in the morning?" Castle rolled his eyes and let her go, but she stopped before she went in to her room and asked, "Would you please go put a shirt on at least, if not a pair of pants too."
He looked down at his toned body and boxers and understood why his daughter would have a problem with this. In a huff, he marched downstairs and pulled on a white T-shirt and a pair of beige plaid pants and then snuck back upstairs. Before he knew it, everyone in the house had drifted off to sleep.
☆●☆●☆●☆●☆
When Rick's phone went off at six thirty-five the next morning, he rose and lifted himself entirely from the bed. It was actually lucky Alexis had sent him to put clothes on because it had made him think to grab an alarm. It was warm enough in the loft that he didn't feel the need to wear the robe, so he got up and dragged himself into Maddie's room. When he slid inside, he saw that Kate and Maddie were cuddled up under the thinnest blanket, Kate holding Maddie with one arm while she let the other rest around her head. Maddie was facing away from Kate, but holding her hand close as she lie asleep. Both were exhausted, but neither was dreaming of the terrors they'd witnessed.
He moved closer to them, smiling at the image, and took a seat on the side of the bed. He slipped his hand onto Kate's shoulder and slowly beckoned her to reality, doing so in a way that allowed Maddie to remain asleep. Beckett lightly pulled away and looked over her shoulder at him, smiling as he looked at her and gave him a groggy, "Hey."
His voice had come to realize the day through the sight of the two of them and he whispered back, "Hey, beautiful. Sleep well?"
She mumbled, "Yeah, I guess. What time is it?"
"It's six forty. I figured you would want me to wake you up," he replied gently. She then took in a heavy breath and nodded, rolling over to look at Maddie before she slowly un-laced her hand from the child's and sat up, inching away from her and coming to meet Rick on the edge of the bed. He stood and helped her up, taking her into his arms and wrapping them around her waist in a way that let her watch Maddie. The teenager switched sides of her body and took the space where Kate had been, blissfully unaware that she was now alone in the bed. Rick kissed Kate's cheek as they stood there watching her and said, "She's very lucky to have you, Kate."
Beckett didn't answer, but simply gazed into the child's face. She stood there with Rick a while longer before speaking. "You think she'll be alright if she wakes up and we're gone?"
Castle replied, "Alexis is here. And since my mother hasn't stopped by since this place became a crime scene, I'm sure I could convince her to stop by and check on Maddie." When Kate still didn't look satisfied with that answer, Rick suggested, "We could also wake her before we go to let her know that we're leaving and then come back to check on her at lunch."
Kate let a smirk dance on her lips a moment and agreed before her face fell back to a casual no-feeling way. She turned in his arms and lightly said, "I have to go shower. Do me a favor and check my phone to see if Gates or the boys called." Beckett didn't ask when she said this and simply let these be the last words she said to him before she wandered off. He stayed another moment to watch Maddie rest peacefully. She looked so cute as she slept like an angel. The shower was still running downstairs, so he popped into Alexis' room to watch her sleep for a moment as well.
He came out just as he heard the water stop running and swept himself into the kitchen to start his wife's toast and decaf coffee. He poured her a glass and put it in a to-go cut with a lid and straw to keep the smell away. When she came out, he handed the toast to her and she finished what she could along with the coffee. She thanked him again and thought that perhaps this would be something she could hold down better than the normal foods, but that didn't happen. About twenty minutes later, she was in the restroom and he was holding her hair back for her. "I feel like I have the plague," Kate said as her nausea raged on and she leaned back against the wall beside her. Rick handed her a cup of water he'd brought in and she rinsed her mouth in the sink.
Castle told her softly, "At least it's almost over. By your second trimester your morning sickness should subside." She didn't respond. He was only trying to help, but all he was doing was making her upset that she still had a month left of this. Another wave came over her and he did his best to comfort her, but he'd always had a weak stomach with things like this. For her though, he fought against his gag reflex and held back her hair and gave her someone to lean on for support when she was finished.
Once she'd lost every bit of her breakfast, she found strength enough to change her shirt and decided to just pull her hair up into a neat ponytail. She did her makeup differently today since the lower part of her eye was swollen. She skipped the bottom eyeliner and just put on a very thin line on top of a neutral shade of glittery eyeshadow. Castle told her he couldn't tell the difference, but she could and it bothered her. When she was finally ready, she pulled her phone off her charger and the screen lit up. She had two new messages and had missed a call from the twelfth. "Castle! I thought I asked you to check if I had any messages!"
"You did?" Castle faked. His phony memory loss was not believable. "I don't remember that."
At this point she had already opened the text messages. One was from Lanie telling her that they needed to talk, which Beckett knew meant Lanie needed to reprimand her for being reckless and going to a dangerous crime scene and getting herself kidnapped while the M.E also got the chance to be silently thrilled that Kate was alive and well. The second was a message from Esposito asking Kate if she was coming in today. Both had been sent to her late in the evening the night before, so they couldn't have been urgent. However, the call from the Twelfth had been delivered early this morning and Gates had left a simple voicemail. "Detective Beckett, when you get in this morning, since you refuse to take a day off, I would greatly appreciate it if you'd stop into my office. I have a few things I need to discuss with you."
Beckett and Castle both already knew what this would be about before they got in. For the entire car ride in to the precinct the two discussed how long Kate planned on being on maternity leave and what they would be telling Gates about their plans. Obviously Rick had every intention of continuing his work at the precinct, he just might be taking a few more writing days and they'd be taking actual lunch breaks and going down to the precinct's nursery to visit the twins and play with them. Kate would probably continue to breast feed for as long as she felt she should until they moved to solid food. She had never liked the idea of bottle feeding when she had the choice to do what was more natural.
They also talked about her heart condition and ran over everything the doctor had told her so that she didn't have anything she would have to scramble for just to remember. He made sure she was ready for that discussion with her boss before making sure she was prepared to discuss her personal injuries during this case and what happened while she was with Gerick. He didn't ask her to tell him the stories, but made sure that she was okay with talking about it. If she hadn't been ready to give yet another statement as to what had happened, he would have politely asked that Gates read the statement instead of asking Kate because she was still a bit fragile. The Captain and the writer didn't get along well, but they both had a tendency to feel the need to watch out for Kate. If he told her that Beckett was too fragile to talk about something, she generally believed him and didn't ask if she didn't have to.
When they arrived at the precinct, everything was different. Kate's desk was bare and so was everyone else's. The room seemed empty, vacated. The smashed technology from the FBI was sitting in boxes in the break room. No one was there aside from Gates and the couple, which would have seemed odd most days when they arrived at the usual time. On this morning, however, Castle and Beckett got the feeling this wasn't a coincidence. Kate made her way to Gates' office and knocked on the door. Just like the bullpen, this room had been emptied of everything aside from the furniture. When the couple stepped in, Gates looked at them and said, "Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle, please, take your seats." They did as instructed and took to the two chairs in front of them, Beckett deliberately moving one hand to her stomach and using her fingers to place circles on her skin through her shirt. Gates looked at Kate, how was still a bit dazed from the newly administered pain medication she'd taken before they left which was just kicking in. When Gates saw Beckett's hand placed where it was, she said, "Relax, Detective. This isn't about your pregnancy. As much as we need to discuss that, there is something else we need to discuss more."
Kate was a bit confused until it dawned on her that this must be about her kidnapping. She wasn't expecting to hear, "I need to know if you are capable of continuing to work in the field during this case." When this crossed Gates' lips, both Beckett and Castle were suddenly confused. Gates then continued, "Everyone will understand if you say no, of course, and no one would blame you, but considering your path, I thought I would ask you if you were up for it."
Kate shook of the reference to her past and simply asked, "I'm sorry, sir, what case are we talking about? I thought Ryan said they caught Gerick."
"They did, detective. Unfortunately we just found another body this morning and there isn't a doubt to be had that it's Gerick's work," Gates cryptically replied.
Beckett then asked, "Why wasn't I called about this body?"
"Because One P.P put you on sick leave and told me you weren't to come back to work until you pass a psych evaluation, which is why I have you booked with Dr. Burke in an hour to take that test and pass it like you always do." Gates' confidence in Kate was a side to her that neither Castle nor Beckett had seen in this way before. It threw them off guard. Gates then followed this up by saying, "But this will only get you as far as getting back on the case. Your doctors have cleared you already, but they also said it might be best if we leave you on desk duty side there is so much stress on your body right now between your heart, your wounds and your pregnancy. They didn't say you had to stay behind the desk, but that it might be best if you do. So I'm leaving it up to you."
Kate honestly thought about this. She could feel Castle wanting her to stay on desk duty and like she said, she had no problem with that for the typical cases, but this was different. She had a link to the victims. She didn't want to admit it, but she was his victim, and she felt as though she owed them more than she owed the other victims of other crimes. Her head told her she should stay behind a desk, but she chose to listen to her heart. "For this case, I don't think field work is going to kill me. But honestly, sir, after this-."
"After this you don't have a choice, detective. Regulations state that if you're pregnant and I know about it, I have to put you on desk duty and that's what I'm going to do for your safety and the baby's safety."
"For our babies' safety," Castle corrected.
Gates then tried, "For your children's safety." Castle nodded and accepted this. Gates then looked at Kate and said, "I know this seems somewhat unusual for me to say when you're in the situation you're in, but congratulations to you both." Kate smiled and thanked her captain while Rick did the same. They then were dismissed and headed out toward the car.
☆●☆●☆●☆●☆
When Ryan saw Burns pull up outside of the crime scene, he rushed over to the tape to warn her the way he'd warned the others about the body. Granted, most of them could stomach a dead body, but this one was pretty gruesome for anyone who was just starting out. He'd had a bit of trouble stomaching it himself. Honestly, this was one corpse Ryan was glad Beckett was missing out on in her condition. Just like everyone else so far, Melissa told Kevin that she could handle it and they made their way toward the body.
Gerick had gotten a bit more creative with this one.
The young girl was about sixteen by Ryan's best guess. Her bright blue eyes were forced open and staring out in fear by the look of it. Her body hung upside down from the flagpole outside of the One Police Plaza by one leg. She wore an American Flag patterned string bikini top, black lace panties and a beige rope around her right ankle. Her pale skin had become ghostly without any blood in her body. She wasn't hanging high off the ground, just about three feet above the cement below. Her slit wrists dangles a mere foot and a half off the ground. All over her body written in black sharpie were the names of the seven detectives. With each name, one of the vowels was carved into the girl, but none of the cuts looked like they had bled at all so they were done postmortem. The beating she'd received was given to her before she died and clearly very painful.
After taking note of the area being so very open and covered in security cameras, Ryan looked to Lanie and asked, "Do we think she was sexually assaulted?"
The M.E looked at Ryan and replied, "He didn't wear a condom this time, if that stain on her panties is what I think it is."
"What are the odds that it's not what you think it is?" Ryan politely asked.
Lanie then bitterly answered, "After knowing what he did to those two other teenage girls and to Kate, the odds of this not being semen would make the odds of you winning the lottery look like a one in two chance."
Melissa then questioned, "Do we know if she was alive when he bled her dry?"
"Yeah, she was," Lanie replied with thorough disgust.
Ryan asked, "How long has she been dead?" hopelessly praying Lanie would say she's been dead for years so that he could tell a more prepared family. That sounded terrible, and he knew it, but he didn't want to have to tell the parents of a girl who just ran away that this was their daughter. Especially after the media circus out front got ahold of this story.
The medical examiner estimated, "About two days. I'd put time of death between eleven and three two days ago. I can get you a better estimate when I get back to the lab."
Just as she finished, Valgora and Esposito rushed up to the group holding a tablet up to show a picture of a young blonde girl. Javi ran down, "Vic's name is Sarah Drobney. She's seventeen, goes to Howel High. She was a scholarship baby from a working class family. Her dad's a male nurse and her mom's a career house wife. She went missing two days ago after she didn't show up for a tutoring session. And guess what elementary school she went to."
"Mine." Melissa stated.
Javi replied, "Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!"
"This doesn't make sense," Valgora stated, drawing everyone's eyes.
Espo then rudely joked, "What about this doesn't make sense? The same character traits of the murder or the fact that Burns is a winner?"
"The timing," Valgora replied. "There is no way he strung this girl up in the middle of the day, and we caught him before he would have been able to get the body here, so how is she here?"
"Yeah," Ryan agreed, "I was thinking the same thing. I also don't understand why her kidnap and kill another girl when he had Kate or why he'd take Kate when he had this girl."
"You know what has been bugging me?" Melissa rhetorically asked. "How did he send Castle that video of Beckett at the same time you guys were shooting at that car."
"You guys sound like you're dancing around the thought that he might have a partner," Lanie replied, instantly worried again.
Valgora tried to argue, "That doesn't fit his profile."
"But it kind of makes sense," Javi rebutted. "I mean, we can't find any evidence that he knew enough about computers to hack into the precinct's computer system. I mean, we aren't military grade or anything, but it takes skill to do what he's done."
"It would explain seemingly opposite personality traits, one driven by blood lust, the other driven by emotional purposes," Melissa replied.
"It also explains why, out of all the uses of the toxin on the girls, he didn't use it to knock Kate out and he didn't use it on this girl and he didn't use it in an overdose on Loyelle," Javi explained.
"But why kill Loyelle in the first place?" Valgora asked.
Ryan replied, "He had to have known something."
Burns then roughly said, "Let's go figure out what that was."