206. Chapter 206

After Pretty Dead, Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Duh! What would I be if I claimed to own Castle? Rating: T Time: See above.

"No, Castle! I'm not going to do it. Forget it!"

"Why not? It'll be fun."

"Hah! Fun for who? All you want to do is see me in a skimpy bikini."

Castle looked very serious. "You do recall that I see you in less than that every night?"

"Eew!" Alexis said. "Too much information."

"But Richard is right, Katherine. It is a lot of fun." Martha added.

"Fun for the people sitting in the audience watching the people on stage make fools of themselves."

"It's for a good cause." Castle added. "The proceeds go towards helping children with cancer." Castle looked at her with his puppy dog eyes. "Kids with cancer, Kate? How can you turn them down?"

"By making a donation." She snapped at him.

"It's not the same." Alexis said.

Kate had an idea. She smiled at Rick. "Okay. I'll do it. On one condition. Alexis and Martha enter with me. We'll make it a family thing."

"Wonderful." Martha enthused. "I'll get my bikini out."

"Me too." Alexis said with a smile.

"Wait!" Castle cried. "A bikini? You don't even have one of those!"

Alexis gave her father a pitying look. "Really? How are things in the nineteenth century, Dad?"

"But…" Castle began.

"It's for a good cause, Rick. Kids with cancer?" Kate batted her eyes at him. "How can you turn them down?"

"And, Katherine, the Lady of the Hamptons Beauty Pageant isn't one of those beauty contests like the Baron's thing you were involved in. The Hampton's Country Club does it strictly for charity and for a good time. Why, five years ago the winner was a twelve year old girl in a wheel chair. She's much better now, by the way. And three years ago Marge Keller won. She's sixty-something and played the best Jerry Lee Lewis covers I've ever heard. And last year's winner was Carol Hayes, who won not because she's a beautiful woman, which she is, but because she's a doctor at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute."

Kate laughed. "All right! I agreed, remember? I'll do it."

"We'll do it." Alexis said with a significant look at her father.

Three weeks later Rick and Kate were backstage at the pageant, getting ready for the swimsuit competition.

"You didn't wear the bikini?" He asked.

"Disappointed?" She teased.

"No. Just curious. I thought you liked that suit and you do look gorgeous in it."

Kate looked down at the white one piece suit she was wearing. It did push her boobs up like a Wonder Bra ™ and she did look gorgeous, as always. "I just thought this was a better suit to wear."

"I love you no matter what you wear. Although I prefer nothing."

"That is not an option until later." She whispered.

He laughed. "And that color does look good with the tan you've gotten in the last couple of weeks."

Kate blushed and looked away.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, suddenly concerned.

"Nothing." She said, still looking away.

"Kate, please! You know how much I hate it when…"

"The tan makes my surgical scar stand out. If I wore the bikini, everyone would see it."

Rick ran his hand gently over her chest and stomach where the scar she had gotten when the doctors had opened her up after she was shot was. "I didn't know it bothered you so much."

"Normally, it doesn't. It's just that in front of a bunch of strangers….I didn't want everyone to see. It's nothing, really."

Before Rick could say anything further, the announcer came on. "Our next contestant in the swimsuit competition is Mrs. Kate Castle, a New York Police Detective, and the living inspiration for her husband's famous Nikki Heat."

Kate stepped out to applause, cheers and whistles. She smiled when she realized that the loudest applause, cheering and whistles were coming from her husband, backstage.

Rick was determined to talk to Kate about the scar, but was distracted when Alexis was announced and he discovered her bikini was a bright red creation that would have made a nice pocket handkerchief. But before he could throw his jacket over his daughter, he had to assist Mrs. Nancy Campbell, who had somehow managed to stuff her very large eighty-one year old body into a bikini. Stuffed, at least until she had a wardrobe malfunction right in front of Rick.

By the time he got Mrs. Campbell presentable again, both Kate and Alexis were in the ladies dressing room where Rick was unable to follow them. He made a mental note to talk to Kate and Alexis at home.

Kate was standing nervously next to Rick, ready for the question and answer portion of the pageant. "Rick, they try to pick subjects the contestants don't know anything about?"

"Right. If you're a conservative Wall Street lawyer, you get questions about gangster rap music. If you're into gangster rap, you get asked questions about Renaissance art, or Byzantine iconography. If you're a physicist, you get asked about the occult."

"They didn't ask you about me, did they?"

He shook his head slowly. "As far as I know, no one asked about you. I guess they'll just stay away from cop questions."

Then Kate was announced and she walked out on stage. The MC smile at her and began. "As Mrs. Castle is new to us, we weren't sure what to ask her about, so we took a guess. Are you ready, Kate?"

Kate nodded nervously.

"On July 4th, 1939, in the Bronx, someone made a famous speech. Who was he?"

Kate breathe a sigh of relief. "Lou Gherig, of the New York Yankees."

The MC nodded. "Very good. A baseball fan, are you?"

Kate nodded again.

"So another Fourth of July and Yankees question. A New York Yankee pitched a no hitter on July fourth. Who was the pitcher, what was the year, who was the opponent, and when did he win his World Series rings after he left the Yankees?"

Kate smiled hugely. "The pitcher was Dave Righetti who pitched a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox on July Fourth, 1983. He won World Series rings as the San Francisco Giants pitching coach in 2010 and 2012."

The audience applauded and the MC smiled. "Our third and final question. By what names were the Yankees known before they were known as the Yankees?"

Kate breathed another sigh of relief. "They began as the Baltimore Orioles before moving to New York where they were called the Highlanders, then the Americans, and then the Yankees."

"Very good, Kate. You answered all the questions correctly."

In the spirit of things, the talent competition consisted of contestants being asked to perform things they, hopefully, had no knowledge of. Kate was asked to play the trombone, for which she proved she had no talent.

Getting ready for bed later that night, Rick went into the bathroom where Kate was removing her makeup, wearing only her panties. He put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "Are you that upset about the scar?"

She shook her head. "No." She took a breath. "Sometimes."

He ran his hand over the scar. "I know some reconstructive surgeons, we could go see them. I know they can reduce scars. It isn't that expensive and…"

"Are you sure you don't want me to get a boob job as well?" She asked seriously.

"A what? Of course not. I'd never suggest that. You know…" He saw her smile in the mirror. "Very funny. No, I don't want you to get a boob job." He reached up and cupped her boobs, gently tweaking her nipples with his thumbs and forefingers. "These are perfect."

She took on of his hands and ran it up and down her scar. "Do you know the rejection letter you have framed in your office back in the loft?"

"Yes."

"That's why I keep the scar. It reminds me of what I once was and what I have overcome. It reminds me that I once was afraid that the man that I loved would be a distraction in my hunt for my mom's killer and not my partner, my invaluable partner, in catching him. It reminds me that I once believed that Richard Castle would never love me, would break my heart, and would never be my one and done. It reminds me to follow my heart and I have. I followed it straight to you."

She turned and they kissed. "See you in bed?" He asked.

"Be right there." She said.

Once Rick had crawled into bed, she grabbed her purse and removed a piece of cloth and put it over her shoulder. She looked at herself in the mirror and read the sash. Lady of the Hamptons. Eat your heart out, Debbie.