1025. Chapter 1025

After Under the Gun

Episode 3.3

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: As Yoda once said, "Own Castle I do not." Rating: K Time: See above and below.

Author's note: Sharp eyed readers will note that this takes place before Under the Gun.

It had been a miserable day and he was tired. That was why he was just a split second slow in noticing there was someone else in his apartment. He reached for his Glock, but a hand like a bar of steel grabbed his arm. He tried to kick whoever was behind him but he was spun around before he could. He was shocked to find warm, wet lips covering his own with a tongue demanding entrance to his mouth.

He looked into her face and pulled his head back.

"Jesus! Beckett! What do you think you're doing, kid?"

She stepped back, a sad pout on her face.

"Beckett? Oh, poor Simone. Her Mike has forgotten all about her. Now he just thinks of his partner. I am desolate."

"Simone? What are you doing here? I thought you said you wouldn't be coming back to New York."

She shrugged. "Poor Simone has more trouble with men. The people I do the business with are fools. I need to come to New York to straighten them out. And I say to myself, "Self, why not see your friend Mike Royce and have some fun?" But Mike doesn't even remember poor Simone. I'll leave now."

She had actually taken a step away from him before he grabbed her arm.

"I have never forgotten you. I could never forget you." How could I ever forget a real vampire? He thought to himself.

Simone's pout changed to a smile instantly. "Cher Mike. How wonderful that you still remember me. Shall we go out? There's a lovely place called Tommy's just off of Wall Street. I hear the drinks are excellent and the band is…very hot? Hot is correct?"

He had heard of Tommy's. Some techie billionaire had started it to have a place for him and his rich friends to play.

"Simone, it's not my kind of a place, Besides, I'm not dressed for it." He gestured to his Levis, Cubs tee shirt and black leather jacket.

Simone immediately took off for his bedroom. When he followed her, she found him pulling his one suit out of his closet.

"There. It's perfect, Mike. Get dressed and we'll go. I'll call a cab, non?"

"Simone, I can't possibly afford to take you to a place like that."

She laughed. "Which is why I'm taking you." Then he gave him a kiss that was better than any kiss he'd ever gotten. He knew he couldn't tell her no.

"People are trying to figure us out." He whispered, once they were at Tommy's.

"How?" Simone asked, not understanding.

"You're a beautiful woman. I should be some rich dude who's showing you off. But you're the one with the money, so I should be some handsome young stud that you want to show off."

"Ah. Obviously, you are my handsome older stud that I am showing off."

Simone insisted that Mike try the very best Scotch, the finest champagne, and the most expensive hors d'oeuvres.

"You're not eating or drinking." Mike said under his breath.

She shrugged. "Can you imagine if I asked for a nice bottle of AB negative blood?" She giggled. "Oh, Mike. I love this song. Unchained Melody. Dance with me."

She led him out on the dance floor and didn't so much as dance and make love to him, vertically and with their clothes on. They both knew they wanted to leave after than dance.

Mike woke up in his apartment the next morning by himself. A note from Simone was on his bedside table.

Cher Mike,

I had to leave, as you know me and sunshine. I'll return tonight and make dinner for you and then we can make love for the rest of the night.

Your Simone

Mike returned to his apartment that night to find the most glorious scents wafting from his kitchen and the most gorgeous woman working there.

"Do you like Italian food, cher?"

"I love it, but aren't you French?"

"I lived in Italy until that bastard Bonaparte invaded. That's when I came to the US."

Mike was curious. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Certainment."

"How did you get to the US. I mean being…allergic to sunshine."

"In a coffin, silly boy, How else?"

"How else indeed."

The food was excellent and the sex was even better. Mike lay in his bed with Simone wrapped comfortably around him.

"Mike, do you love this Kate Beckett?" She asked softly.

He had to think. Apparently, he took too long.

"Oh! You do love her. Pauvre Simone."

As she started to pull away, Mike pulled her back to him.

"That's not it, Simone. If I do love her it's the way I love my nieces and nephews. I want to make sure they're happy and safe. Nothing more. But Kate is having a real tough time right now. On top of the tough times she's had."

"What's wrong?"

Mike told her about the murder of Kate's mother and how she had left Stanford to go to the police academy. Then there was the matter of her father, who was now sober again, but who knew if it'd last.

"Right now Kate's at her wits end about her mom's case. She made a bootleg copy of the file, but it's useless. A trainee could have done a better job on it. We've visited the crime scene, tried to find witnesses, tried to find out why a lawyer would be in such a crummy neighborhood at night….We came up with nothing. Kate' gone over the file so many times, she can recite in backwards almost. There's nothing."

"Do you think the police were corrupt?"

Royce shook his head. "Raglan, the detective on the case, was just lazy. He was counting the days to his retirement and trying to pick the slowest horses in races the next day. He may have been bent, crooked, that is, but as far as that goes, it was small time."

"Perhaps I could have a chat with him. Jog his memory a bit?" Simone suggested.

Royce knew that was a very bad idea. Simone's strength as a vampire was superhuman, to put it mildly. She could tear Raglan apart.

"No way. He'd take one look at you and figure you were Beckett. That would end her career. Which may end anyway."

"Why?"

"Kate can't handle not being able to solve her mother's murder. She gave up her whole life to become a cop and do just that. Now she's saying she's a failure. She's useless as a cop, which is one hundred percent wrong. But she's falling apart mentally. She might resign and I can't seem to stop her."

Simone nodded and thought.

"I can see her point. Kate and I both want justice, or revenge. The monster who turned me into a vampire is out there and one day I will kill him. That's all I live for. But, sometimes, I think about just walking out into the sunshine and ending it all. Four hundred years is so long."

Royce felt a sudden wetness on his chest and saw that Simone was crying.

"What is it, Simone?"

She continued to cry for a few moments. "I have been in love with two men in my life. I was in love when I was turned into a vampire. I left him because I couldn't stand to have him see what I had become."

"Simone," Royce interrupted, "you're what you've always been. A good person."

She nodded. "Thank you. I try. But, I fell in love two hundred years after that. I had told other men what I was and they ran from me in horror. Claude didn't. He loved me as I loved him. But, he grew old and died and I stayed young. I could have turned him, but how could I do that to someone I love?"

"I can think of something you can do." Royce said, running his hand along her thigh.

When he woke up the next morning, Simone was gone. She had left a note that she had business to do the next night, but would see him the night after.

Simone often had to disguise herself. She would meet people that she had known thirty years earlier and she would look exactly the same while they'd be thirty years older. That was especially true of the very small number of financiers who handled the accounts of the very rich. And with four hundred years of investments, Simone was very rich. That was why Simone had to keep moving her investments. Wall Street bankers would become very suspicious of a client who hadn't aged at all. So, "old" Simone would have to liquidate her holdings and have "young" Simone invest elsewhere.

Once in her rented condo, she took out a very expensive blonde wig and some green contact lenses. That, and a bit of makeup sufficed for the night.

Once it was dark, Simone began watching Kate Beckett's apartment, the address of which she'd gotten from Mike Royce's phone when he was asleep. She had just about decided that Beckett had decided to get a good night's sleep when she saw the policewoman roar out of the building's garage on a motorcycle.

Vampires do not turn into bats and fly off into the night. Rather, they simply move from one place to another without going through the space in between. Simone had no trouble tracking Kate Beckett.

First, she went to a dance club. Simone followed her in. Beckett danced with a few men, but drank more. Then she left and went to a small quiet bar where Kate drank more. Next was a biker bar. Simone felt that Mike's partner had had way too much to drink, Simone followed her into the bar and quickly found Kate near the back, talking to a very large, tough looking biker.

"Wash it, buddy. "She slurred. "I'm a cop."

"That'll make it even more fun." The biker said, grabbing Kate and dragging her towards the back of the bar.

Simone grabbed his arm.

"My friend and I will be leaving now."

The biker ran his eyes over Simone.

"No, you'll both be coming with me."

Simone smiled and broke his arm. She liked the nice solid crack it made.

"You bitch! You broke my arm."

He reached in his pocket and pulled a switchblade knife. Before he had it opened, Simone had broken that arm, grabbed the knife and threw in into his foot. Then she looked at him.

"I do not like your face." She announced. Then she broke his nose.

She took Kate's arm.

"We're leaving. I suggest everyone move out of our way."

Everyone did. Very quickly.

Simone decided that Kate was in no condition to drive. She put Kate's helmet on her head and got Kate behind her. Halfway to Kate's apartment, while stopped for a red light, Kate leaned over and vomited. That and the fresh air sobered her up some.

Once back at Kate's apartment, Simone began making coffee.

"Coffee will not sober you up, little one, but it will make you more alert."

"Who are you?" Kate asked, slurring just a bit.

"You're fairy godmother. Who else would I be?"

Kate just giggled, but gratefully took the coffee.

"I believe we have some thing in common, Katherine Beckett. I had my world torn apart by a man some years ago. Since then I have been looking for justice, or perhaps just revenge. Either way, I want him punished for what he did to me, and to others. Your mother was murdered and that tore your world apart."

Simone was surprised that Kate began to cry. "I changed my whole life to get justice for my mom and I failed. I've tried and I've tried and I just keep failing. I just can't do this anymore."

Simone put her arm around the much younger woman. "I know the feeling. I may never find the man who ruined my life. Who knows? He may be dead and be forever beyond my reach. There are days when I say to myself, "Why keep trying? Why not give up?" But I don't."

"Why not?" Kate asked bitterly. "What could be worse than trying and trying and trying over and over again and failing?"

"Quitting. I may never catch the man I'm after, but I have helped people along the way. There are other evils out there and, in my own small way, I've set things right. That gives me comfort."

Kate sniffed. "I get that feeling when I arrest someone. Someone really bad. But it's so damned hard to keep going day after day, knowing I'll never get justice for my mom."

"You'll never get justice if you quit. Someday you may just find that one little scrap of evidence that'll lead you to her killer."

"It's too hard. My dad….He tries, but he has problems of his own. And my training officer tries, but he's at a dead end as well."

"Aha!" Simone said. "That's why you have a fairy godmother. To give you a hand when you need it."

Kate raised an eyebrow skeptically." Are you going to make a carriage out of a pumpkin?"

Simone laughed. "Not at all. You need professional help." She handed Kate a business card. "This is a wonderful psychiatrist. She can help you."

Kate looked at the card. "I can't afford something like that."

"Which is why I've paid for fifty-two weeks of therapy for you. We fighters against evil have to stick together, you know. Take the card, go see her and become the outstanding detective that we both know you can be. Help others with their grief and that will help your own grief. Who knows, you may even find your mother's killer one day."

Kate took the card. "I don't know how to thank you."

"No thanks are necessary. Now, I must be off before I turn into a pumpkin."

Simone left and once outside of Kate's sight, sent herself to her condo and settled in for a long day's rest.

The next night she was once again snuggled up against Mike Royce in his bed.

"Simone, I talked with Beckett today. She said she talked to some strange blonde last night who told her to go to a shrink. Even paid for it. She's going to go. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"Cher Michael, are you calling me strange? I am hurt."

"You're a lot of things, Simone, but strange is not one of them."

"Would you say sexy is one of them?" She asked, coquettishly.

Royce just laughed and pulled her to him.

Author's note: And now I'll get back to writing the further adventures of Sir Richard and Lady Katherine in Renaissance Italy.