251. Chapter 251

After The Fast and the Furriest, Again

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I know one fast way to attract ABC's attention. To claim I own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above

Kate swung the front door open and looked happily inside. Everything was just as she had left it several years before. She turned, put her arms around Rick and kissed him. Rick dropped their suitcases and kissed back.

"Thanks, babe, for agreeing to come up here this summer. You know I just love your place in the Hamptons, but this…"

"You love what?" Rick broke in, frowning.

"Your place in the Hamptons?" Kate sensed she had said something wrong, but didn't know what.

Rick nodded and smiled. "Oh! You mean our place in the Hamptons."

She grinned back at him. "Okay, technically it's our place, but really…."

"No. Not technically. The place in the Hamptons, the loft, everything inside them, the cars, the '94 Harley soft tail, the investments, everything, and I mean everything, is ours."

Kate blushed slightly. "I know. But the money means nothing to me, Rick. It never has and it never will."

"But it means something. As I have often told Alexis, quoting the great sage, Spiderman, "With great power comes great responsibility." Which is why we donate generously to the New York Public Library, to all the police charities, and many, many more. We want to use our money to do good, and to keep from funding con artists. Okay?"

"Okay." She kissed him again. "And thank you for taking me to Dad's cabin. I have so many good memories of this place. Of me, my mom and dad, and all the things…." Kate choked up and looked at the floor.

"I know." Rick said softly.

Kate also remembered the summer she had left Castle in the city to come here to heal. "There are some painful memories about the cabin as well. Which is why I want to do this. To make some new memories with you."

"Then we should get moved in."

They picked up their suitcases and unloaded the rest of their gear from the car. When they were done, Rick looked at his watch. "Close enough to dinner time for me to get started."

"Okay. I just want to take a quick look around. Okay?"

"Always the cop, aren't you?"

She laughed. "Aren't we both?"

"Not according to Gates."

Kate walked around the perimeter of the property, not really looking for anything, but she did find something. A set of extremely large footprints behind the cabin. She knelt to get a better look. "Castle!" She muttered. "If he thinks this is funny…" She stopped. Rick hadn't been out of her sight for more than a few seconds since they had arrived. In fact, in the past month or more, he hadn't been away from her long enough to come to the cabin. And, she remembered, there had been at least three summer thunderstorms during that month. Whatever the tracks were, Rick had nothing to do with them.

She completed her tour around the cabin and went back inside. "Need any help?" She called.

"Yeah. Could you check the hot water heater? I can't get any hot water."

She walked outside the cabin and examined the electric heater. She found a connection had come loose and quickly fixed it. As she stood up, she heard a quick rapping of wood on wood from somewhere behind her. She looked, but saw nothing.

Once back in the kitchen, she walked over to Rick. "Did you hear anything just now?"

"No. I had the blender on, making some sauce. What did you hear?"

"A sound like something tapping on a tree."

Rick shrugged. "Sounds like a woodpecker to me."

"You think so?"

"Well, I didn't hear it, but yeah."

Kate dismissed it from her mind. They enjoyed their dinner, watched a move and went to bed.

Kate woke up and automatically glanced at the bedside clock. 3:11 AM. What had awakened her? She slipped quietly out of bed and looked out the window. She stared for several minutes, but saw nothing. She was about to crawl back into bed when she saw something moving by the tree line. Just for a second she saw something very big and dark move and then it disappeared into the trees. She watch for more long minutes, but saw nothing more. She shrugged and went back to bed.

The next morning she told Rick about it over breakfast.

"What do you think it was?" He asked.

She hated to say what she thought it looked like, so she answered, "A bear?"

Rick nodded. "Could be. There are black bears all over the US. It could have been one. But you said it was walking upright."

Kate nodded.

"It could be a person then."

"A person?"

"Sure. There are people who live out in the woods and raid summer homes for food, clothing and shelter. There was some guy in Colorado or Wyoming, someplace like that, who did that for years and years before they caught him." Rick thought for a second. "Call the local sheriff up, see if there have been any reports of break-ins at summer homes."

Kate nodded and called the sheriff after they had eaten. When she was done, she talked to Rick. "There have been break-ins this summer, but from the empty booze bottles, drugs and drug paraphernalia, they figure it was kids."

Rick shrugged. "It could still be some homeless guy. Maybe he just arrived in the area. We'll make sure everything is locked up."

"And I'll start carrying a gun." Kate said.

After lunch, they decided to take a walk to the nearest lake and back. Several hours later, they came back to the cabin.

"I thought we agreed to be careful about locking up?" Rick said, pointing to the open back door.

"I did lock it." Kate said, drawing her sidearm and moving as quietly as she could towards the door. Once inside, she checked the kitchen. There was mud on the floor. They quickly checked the rest of the house and walked back to the kitchen.

"No!" Rick wailed. "My steaks! I left them here marinating! They're gone! Two prime filet mignons! This is too much. The only thing for a steak rustler is a tall tree and a short rope!"

"Take it easy, Sundance." Kate drawled.

"This is serious. My filet mignon, stolen!"

"We can have hamburgers tonight." Kate countered. "You can barbecue them. Okay?"

Rick grumped, but agreed.

Kate was in the kitchen making a salad when she heard Rick yelling from outside by the barbecue. "You thief! I see you! I'll get you!"

She ran outside, but saw nothing. Only Rick glaring at the trees. "What is it?"

"He's right over there, the thief! He's even wearing a mask, the rascal! I swear you'll pay for this!" Rick screamed.

Kate followed his eye line and began laughing. "Rick, that's a raccoon."

"Well, he's wearing a mask. He's a crook. A criminal. A low down, dirty steak-napper! Arrest him!"

Kate couldn't have arrested the raccoon since she was laughing too hard. "To begin with, Natty Bumpo, that's a she. See? She has her young with her. They're just hungry." She turned to go inside.

"Where are you going?" he demanded.

"There's a stale loaf of bread inside. I'm going to give it to momma. I know we shouldn't, but I hate to see anyone, or anything, go hungry."

Rick glared at her, but let her throw the stale bread to the momma. In fact, he joined her after a minute or two.

That night, Kate thought she heard something. She got up silently, and walked through the cabin, peering out each window, but saw nothing and heard nothing. She shrugged it off and went back to bed.

The next morning when she got up, Rick was already in the kitchen, making her a morning cup of coffee.

"Did you get up last night?" He asked.

"Yeah. I thought I heard something."

He nodded. "A masked bandit, come to clean out the pantry?"

Kate took a deep breath. "That first night, when I got up? What I saw looked like a…"She stopped, wondering if she should go on. "A Bigfoot."

Rick looked at her and smiled. "You actually believe in Bigfeet?"

"No. I don't believe in anything that I only got a glimpse of in the dark. I'm just saying what it looked like."

Rick walked over and kissed her. "I love you, Mrs. Castle."

She smiled. "I love you, too."

"Enough to take the garbage out?" He teased.

She nodded. "I love you that much."

She took the garbage from under the sink and headed for the back door. She opened the door and then stopped. "Rick. Look at this."

He walked over to stand behind her. On the back porch were two large trout.

"Are there fishermen around here?" He asked.

"I suppose so. But, none that I know."

They looked at each other. "Do you suppose…" He began.

"No." She said firmly.

For the rest of their vacation they watched their surroundings carefully, but no food mysteriously disappeared, and no food mysteriously appeared. They neither heard nor saw anything at all out of the ordinary.

Finally, their vacation was over and they loaded their car up for the long trip back to the city. Kate stood on the front porch as Rick put the last of their things in the car. Then, in the trees, she saw a huge, very furry, biped. It raised a giant paw and waved at her. She stood there in shock for a moment. "Rick. Look." She pointed to the trees, but when Rick turned, nothing was there.

"What was it?"

She shook her head. "Just my imagination."