517. Chapter 517

After Cloudy with a Chance of Murder

Episode 5.02

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: The five day forecast is that I don't own Castle for all five days. Rating: K+ Time: See above.

Heat at Eleven

By

Richard Castle

"This is the dumbest idea you've ever had." She grumped.

Rook shrugged. "One PP loved the idea."

"One PP sent us that idiot Captain Irons to run the precinct. Look at how well that turned out." She replied sarcastically.

"You have to admit that I do have good ideas, in fact I have brilliant ideas now and then."

"What? Hanging around backstage with Bono and the groupies constitutes having brilliant ideas?"

"No, marrying you constitutes a brilliant idea." He leaned over and kissed her as she stopped her Crown Vic in front of WHNY.

Nikki smiled. As they walked towards the station's door, Rook dropped her hand to her ass and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Rook! Not in public."

"No one can see us." Rook complained.

"Rook." She said dangerously.

Rook smiled and goosed her.

Nikki jumped forward, very surprised and turned on Rook with an angry look on her face. But, she was interrupted.

"Rookie!" Called a woman's voice. "Over here."

"Christy?" Rook said, walking towards the dark haired woman. "Christy Canterra? I didn't know you worked for WHNY."

"For almost a month. I've been so looking forward to seeing you again." Christy leaned forward and pushed her large boobs into Rook's chest.

Rook backed up a bit and pulled Nikki over. "Honey, this is Christy Canterra, an old friend. Christy, this is my wife, Captain Nikki Heat, NYPD."

Christy gave Nikki a challenging look. Nikki knew that Christy had no intention of leaving Rook alone just because he was married. Just for a second Nikki longed for those days when police brutality was the norm. But, she sighed and held out her hand. "Glad to meet you, Ms. Canterra."

"Likewise." Christy said, barely touching Nikki's hand. Then Christy pushed her way between Nikki and Rook and escorted them to the studio.

After makeup and a quick briefing, Nikki found herself and Rook sitting across from Nancy Ross, the host of the program at WHNY. "I'm really pleased to meet you, Captain Heat. I know a bit about your career, but I'd really like to hear what it's like to transition from being a detective to running a precinct. Maybe after the show?"

Nikki was impressed. Most women were far more interested in Rook than her and usually asked no more than what it was like to be married to a famous reporter. "Sure. I'd be glad to."

There was a brief flurry of activity and then Ross was smiling into the camera. "Good evening, I'm Nancy Ross and this is Manhattan at Midnight. Tonight my guests are Captain Nikki Heat, precinct captain of the 20th Precinct of the New York Police Department. With her is her husband, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Jameson Rook. Welcome to Manhattan at Midnight, Captain Heat, and Mr. Rook. The NYPD has developed some fascinating predictive software. Can you tell us about this?"

Nikki remembered to smile. "Please, call me Nikki. And what we have is not strictly predictive software, as it doesn't predict crimes." As Nikki spoke, she noticed that Christy Canterra was walking towards the set with a man beside her. Canterra looked upset. Actually, Nikki decided she looked frightened.

The two crossed into the line of sight of the TV camera. Nancy Ross looked over at them. "Christy, you and your friend are in the…"

Before she could finish, the man shoved Christy across the set, sending her head over heels across Ross' desk and onto Nikki's lap. It was then that Nikki saw that the man had a gun.

"Shut up and listen to me." He yelled. "Now you have to listen to me. I'm sick of you and what you're doing to me. I won't take it anymore and I will make you stop. You'll either stop or you'll all be dead." One of the crew started to back away out of the studio. The man pointed his pistol at him. "You take one more step and you're dead." He waved the gun around wildly. "Anyone takes any steps and I start shooting."

Nancy Ross smiled professionally. "Sir, if you could just tell us what you want, perhaps I can help. You are on TV and being watched by millions of people in the Greater New York Area. Would you care to sit by me and tell us your story?"

Nikki was both impressed and frightened by Ross' actions. By inviting the man to sit next to her, she was putting herself right in his line of fire if anything went wrong. And this had something going wrong written all over it.

However, the man didn't sit. "Sit with you? So you can tell more lies about me?" He turned to Nikki and Rook. "So she can use her computer to bug my apartment and tell my neighbors lies about me. So he can print those lies? "He looked around wildly. " I know what you're doing. And I'm going to make you stop."

He took a step towards Nikki which caused Rook to put an arm protectively around her and pull her close. Nikki appreciated the show of support, but not the physical hindrance if she had to move rapidly.

"You're a cop. Give me your gun." He screamed.

"I'm not armed." Nikki said as calmly as she could.

"Liar!" He pointed his pistol at her.

Nikki stood up and took off her suit jacket. "See, no sidearm." She turned around. "Nothing there." She pointed to her legs. She was glad she wore a skirt for the program. "No back up piece in an ankle holster. I'm not armed."

He turned on Rook. "Come over here."

Rook stood and walked over to him. Nikki prayed that Rook didn't do anything stupid. But, Rook just stood there calmly while the man searched him.

"Sir, would you care to sit down with me and tell us your story?" Ross said calmly.

"You! You're one of them. Give me your gun."

Ross stood up and did what Nikki had done. She showed the man that she was unarmed.

The gunman laughed. "You all think you're so smart. But I outsmarted you all. I did it! And now everyone's going to know it."

"Sir, if you sit down with me, the TV cameras will be able to see you better. That's what you want, isn't it? For people to see and hear you?"

The man nodded and very carefully approached the chair sitting next to Nancy Ross. He carefully examined the chair and then sat down. "Don't think I don't know about the chairs you people use. Everyone thinks they're just chairs, but they pick up your thoughts and broadcast them so that everyone knows what you're thinking."

"Sir, you might want to pull the desk microphone closer to you. I don't think you can be heard very well from where the mic is."

The man reached over and grabbed the mic. As soon as he did, Nikki saw a blue electrical spark by his hand, then his eyes bugged out and he began to shake uncontrollably. Nikki stood and rushed to the man. "Okay, turn it off." At once, the man slumped forward. Nikki grabbed his gun. The man stood shakily, but reached for his weapon. Nikki decked him with a solid haymaker to his chin. He collapsed.

"What did you do?" Nikki asked Ross.

"I like to learn as much about the behind the scenes of the studio as I can. I talk to the electricians. I stripped the wires to the mic and when he touched the mic, I pushed the wires on to the base of the mic that's under the desk. And down he went." Ross smiled. "I'll wonder what the ratings were like." She looked up at her producer. "We were live through all of this, right?" The producer nodded and smiled. "Every second."

The next morning, Nikki woke up to find that she was alone in the bed. She got up and reached the kitchen just as Rook came in with a handful of newspapers.

"Where have you been?" She asked.

"Out getting the morning editions. I especially like the front page of the Ledger. "Hero Cop Takes Down Crazed Gunman." There's a nice picture of you just as you clocked him. You can't see your face, but I'd recognize that ass anywhere."

"Speaking of asses…" She began, dropping her hand to his ass and squeezing.

"Did you miss it this morning?"

That's when she goosed him. Hard.

"You write the sweetest things, Castle." Kate said, putting his laptop down.

"You like it?" He said with a smile.

That's when she goosed him. Hard.