668. Chapter 668

After Pandora

Episode 4.15

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: May I be thrown into the Hudson River if I claim to own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

Sophia Turner finished reading the most recent report on Castle, Beckett and Dr. Nelson Blakely. She was happy that Blakely was dead, he was one less problem to worry about. She was oddly happy that Rick Castle had survived the plunge into the Hudson River. I am still rather fond of Rick. I wonder if it would be possible to keep him alive after all of this? I know that he's stubborn. He'll never stop trying to find the story behind Pandora, but would it do him any good? Would it threaten Pandora in any way? Once the linchpin is removed and the dominoes start falling, things will happen with blinding speed. In a year or so, things will be so far gone that even if Castle figures out every little thing about Pandora, the Americans will be in no position to do anything about it.

She smiled and thought about her future. In less than a year, I'll finally be back in Russia. Oh, not the Soviet Union I remember. That's gone now, but Russia will be re-united and will be the super power it once was. And I'll be both wealthy and a hero. Life will be good for me. She began imagining her future life. An apartment in Moscow. Or should I go to St. Petersburg? I always felt St. Petersburg was a more cultured city than Moscow. And a dacha. Yes, a little place in the country. She laughed to herself. A little place? Yes, a little place about the size of Rick's place in the Hamptons. Russia is a good place for the very wealthy now.

She imagined Rick with her at her dacha. He really is a handsome and entertaining man. We could have fun and he'd be well out of the hell that would be the United States. She imagined a naked Rick sprawled on her bed.

Her eye lit on the photograph of Detective Kate Beckett attached to one of the reports. The cold professional took over, eliminating all thoughts of keeping Rick Castle alive for any reason. Rick needs to die I'm afraid. This is far too important to leave anything to chance. Anything at all. That bitch detective will have to die as well. She glanced at the most recent report detailing how Castle and Beckett had escaped from the river. She then evaluated Kate Beckett. A beautiful woman, just Rick's type physically but this one has a brain. That's unusual for Rick. And he's been with her for over three years and as far as I can tell, he's never slept with her. Why is that? She grinned. He's in love. He must be deeply in love with her. According to the police report we intercepted, her seat belt was jammed shut and he had to search for her sidearm to shoot the belt open. They both came close to dying, in fact, they both could very well have died but for a number of small occurrences. But Rick could have left her and saved himself. Now, that is love. Love can be a useful tool, although I don't see it to be of any utility now. Pandora is too close to fruition and Castle and Beckett will be dead very soon. But what of Beckett? I need to understand the people I deal with no matter what. Does she love Rick? She doesn't appear to. She must understand that he loves her, that's obvious. If she doesn't love him, she should tell him so that he can move on. Perhaps she doesn't care if she hurts him just so that she can have what appears to be a valuable partner and asset around? She shook her head ever so slightly. No. She has feelings for him. She's jealous of me, I can tell.

Before Sophia Turner could delve deeper into the mystery of Kate Beckett, she was called away by a new report on Thomas Gage's activities.

Captain Victoria Gates glared at the two detectives. "Neither one of them told you anything at all about this so- called "special assignment" they're on?"

Both Ryan and Esposito shook their heads. "Not a word." Ryan said.

"This sucks, sir. One PP shouldn't be keeping us in the dark on this. I've seen this happen in the military. People get so "need to know" that no one knows anything and bad things happen, sir. Bad things." Espo didn't bother to tell Gates that Beckett had let slip that this Nelson Blakely had apparently faked his own death. He was offended that Beckett and Castle had left him and Ryan out of the loop. Keeping Gates in the dark was practically second nature by now.

Gates stared at the two. She wasn't entirely sure that they didn't know something, but if the chief of detectives was happy with the special assignment, she had no reason to complain. At least not publicly. "If you do find out anything, let me know at once. Do you understand? At once."

The two agreed and left her office.

"Javi, what do you think is going on?" Ryan asked when they were back at their desks.

He shrugged. "No clue. But we should check on this Nelson Blakely."

Ryan frowned. "Why? He's been dead for years."

"Yeah, but Beckett was interested in him and he knew one of our vics, Tracey McGrath. And, we don't have any other leads. Unless you'd rather just sit on your butt and let Beckett and Castle do this on their own? "

Ryan nodded. "On it."

Kate stopped before they got to the elevator. "Castle, you don't need to do this. I'll be fine at my place."

Castle shook his head determinedly. "No way. Someone tried to kill us tonight. Your building is nowhere near as secure as the loft. You're either staying at the loft tonight or I'm sleeping on your doorstep all night. Take your pick."

Kate grumped, but gave in. When he opened the door to the loft, she quickly peeked inside.

"Expecting to see Gage?" He asked with a smile.

"I wouldn't be all that surprised. But, I'm checking for Martha and Alexis. I hate to get them involved in this."

"I'm way ahead of you. They'll both be gone for the next couple of days." Castle walked towards the kitchen. "I'll make us some dinner. Would you like some wine? It's in the cooler."

Kate poured some wine for the two of them and sat at the kitchen island while Castle cooked. "I'm sorry." She said suddenly.

He looked up with a quizzical expression on his face. "Sorry for what?"

"For saying that I'd probably have saved you if our positions had been reversed. That was a cruel and untruthful thing to say. I regret saying it and I apologize. Of course I would have done everything to save you or die trying."

Castle waved a wooden spoon around airily. "Think nothing of it. That's the sort of thing I expect from my partner. If you'd said anything else, I'd suspect the CIA had kidnaped the real Kate Beckett and replaced her with a killer cyborg."

Castle went back to cooking and didn't see how shocked and hurt Kate was. He expects me to insult him and act like he means nothing to me? After what we've been through together? Of course, I've been lying to him. I've gone out of my way to make him think I don't care. But, I can't let that pass. "Then that's all the more reason for me to apologize to you. You have no idea how much you mean to me, Castle."

"I do know that you're jealous of Sophia. For being my muse." He said with a coy smile.

"That's…." She began to say that that was absurd, but couldn't say it. "That's right." She whispered.

"There's no reason for you to be jealous. Neither Sophia nor Clara Strike is anything near to being Kate Beckett or Nikki Heat. You once told me you were a one writer girl. Well, I'm a one muse writer now. Sophia is important to me because what she's doing is important. Once she's gone, you and Nikki are the only women for me. Always."

They smiled at each other and almost said more, but the timer on the stove dinged announcing that dinner was ready and the moment passed.

Author's note: Blakely wasn't as good as he thought he was. He said that he predicted that a single act of civil disobedience would transform the Arab world. Pandora was shot in 2011 when the Arab Spring looked like it would work. But, in 2016, apart from Tunisia where that act of civil disobedience occurred, the Arab world is either at war; Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen or is a dictatorship; everyplace else. Then again, Blakely said the Arab world would be transformed. He didn't say how, or that it would be fun.