231. Chapter 231

After After the Storm, Yet Again.

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I had no idea… that anyone thought I owned Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

Kate Beckett felt herself coming awake and felt the sun warming her face. Sleepily, she put out her hand, but found nothing but her bed. "Castle?" She sat up, and a voice beside her said, "Kate?"

She turned around to see her lover next to her in bed. "What are you doing way over there?"

"Way over here? We're like two feet apart. We must have rolled over in the night, rolling away from each other."

"Don't do that, Castle. I've spent far too long pushing you away." She reached out and grabbed him, pulling herself to him. "I want you as close as possible to me from now on."

He brushed his lips across hers and smiled at her. "Works for me." Castle hugged her fiercely. "I've waited a long time for this."

"Too long, Castle. I'm sorry. If I'd just followed my heart, we would have been together a long time ago. I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I plan on making it up to you, though."

Castle moved back slightly to look Kate in the eye. "Listen, Missy, do you want to know whose fault it is? I'll tell you. It's William H. Bracken's fault and I expect we'll make him pay for it. All of the problems you had with your walls are because of him. So, I never want to hear you say that the time it took for us to get together is anyone's fault but his, okay?"

Kate smiled and kissed him. He pulled her close and began to slide his hands under her tee shirt.

"Wait." She said, looking serious.

"What?" he asked, resignedly.

"What you said about Bracken. He isn't going to keep my deal with him for one second longer than he has to. I'm sure he has more than just killers on call. He has lawyers, private eyes, surveillance experts, and god knows who else. We can't assume that we have all the time in the world."

Castle nodded. "I hate it, Detective Beckett, but you're right." He slid his hand out from under her tee.

"The question is, what do we do?" Kate asked, turning onto her back and looking at her ceiling.

Castle joined her in staring at the ceiling. After a while, he smiled. "Detective Slaughter!"

"How is Slaughter going to help us? We aren't exactly his favorite people."

Castle shook his head. "No. It's something I got from Slaughter. Do you remember when we rolled into that auto salvage yard and confronted those Mexican drug dealers?"

"Yes. And if you ever do anything like that again, I'll handcuff you to my wrist."

"Promises, promises." Castle said with a smirk.

"I'm serious. When Ryan and Esposito told me what Slaughter had gotten you into, I wanted to…"Kate stopped for a few seconds. "I wanted to do a lot of things. One of which would have gotten you into my bed a bit sooner."

Castle smiled at the woman he loved. "Okay, but Slaughter went there to identify the weak link in Vales' operation. And he found this kid, remember?"

Kate nodded. "So we look into Bracken's people. He can't be doing this all by himself. All we need to do is find one who is willing to roll over on Bracken. The weak link."

"Anyone we find, Bracken will try to kill."

"And if we play our cards right, we can convince our weak link that Bracken will kill anyone who we find, whether they've helped us or not. I'll bet Bracken has had a lot of people killed. People will be afraid of him. But if we can convince our weak link that Bracken will kill him just for talking to us…"

Castle nodded slowly. "You're right. And, Bracken must have made a lot of enemies. People who wouldn't mind seeing the last of Bracken."

"But how do we find these people?"

"You're a cop on suspension, so you have contacts with the NYPD, and plenty of time. While I have lots of time, money, and I know lots and lots of guys."

"Do you want to start now?"

Castle slid his hand back under her shirt. "No. Not now."

Kate giggled, something she rarely did before she met Castle. "You're right.

Lanie Parish glared hard at Javier Esposito, who was standing on the other side of an autopsy table in the morgue. "You got suspended and Beckett resigned? What the hell did you do, Javi?"

Espo stared down her glare. There's no way I'm getting Lanie involved in this. She'll want to help her best friend and too many people have died to take a chance of her getting hurt. He smiled at her. "Why do you think I did something? And Beckett's back, remember?"

Lanie's glare intensified, but it did no good. "Every stupid thing that Kate has done has been because of her mom's murder. That's what this is all about, isn't it?"

Javi shrugged. "You'll have to ask Beckett. It's her mother's murder and her life. If you want to know, ask her."

"I will. Don't you think I won't, Javier Esposito. Now you get out of here. If Gates find you here, you'll be in even more trouble than you are. And you're in enough trouble with me right now."

Esposito smiled at her, but quickly left.

Lanie shook her head. Sweetie, what the hell are you getting into? And I know you'll need some help. If only Writer Boy would make his move. I guess it's up to me, then.

Jenny Ryan put breakfast in front of her husband. "Kev, will you please tell me why Javi was suspended and why Kate Beckett quit? I've heard you talk about Espo, and yes, I know he's your partner, and your friend, but I know he doesn't always want to obey the rules. I'd kind of expect that he'd get in trouble, but Kate Beckett? She's not the type to break the rules and she's certainly not the type to resign. What happened? Are you in trouble, too? They're your friends, are you involved with something with them? Are they going to need your help?"

Kevin Ryan shook his head. He had a very smart wife, he knew. "Jen, everything is going to be okay. Espo probably did go too far on something, but I can't talk about it, okay? And I heard that Kate Beckett will come back to the precinct when she's served her suspension."

"There's something you're not telling me, Kev."

Ryan shook his head, lying to his wife. I do not need to involve you in this. "Honey, everything's okay. And I have to go to work." Ryan gulped down the last of his coffee and headed for the door.

Jenny stared at the door for a long time after her husband had left.

"Senator! What happened to your face?" His chief of staff asked, pointing to the band-aid on his face.

"Nothing." Bracken growled. "That bitch has the files. I knew that bastard Smith would have made multiple copies of everything. We need more information on her. And everyone associated with her. Especially that writer and those two detectives of hers. They're all up to their necks in this. And I want to know all about her family, friends, co-workers, anyone who might know something. And find out everything you can about Smith as well. He might have copies of those files anywhere out there. We need to find them. All of them. Get busy."

When his chief of staff left, Bracken ran his finger along the band-aid. I will think of you, bitch. And I'll be thinking of you when they bury you.

Author's note: Writing Castle fanfic is very addictive, isn't it?