An Unexpected Return

Coming Home Party

There was a knock at her door. Startled and not expecting any visitors, Kate slowly rose from the stool at her counter, grasped her gun tightly behind her back and made her way to the front door. After her apartment was broken into a few weeks ago, she had been extra jumpy whenever she heard anyone at her door. Kate looked through her peephole, and an anxiously waiting Richard Castle stood on the other side of her door. She quickly unlocked the door and let the writer in.
"Rick, what are you doing here? I thought you were on a book tour?"
Rick sighed deeply, slowly shaking his head he stared into her gorgeous Hazel eyes and fighting back the tears that were coming. "I had to cancel the rest of my tour. Something happened" he said as a single tear rolled down his cheek.
Kate didn't know what was wrong but she knew, at that moment, she just needed to be there for him. She slowly took a step forward with her arms open. Rick tentatively took a step back, gently bumping into the door. He winced and made a quiet moan. He was in so much pain. Kate couldn't tell how much was physical or purely emotional, but she could see there was something terribly wrong.
"Castle, it's okay, I'm here for you. Whatever happened, you can tell me, always." Kate said as she took a step back to give him some space, but she held out her hand to him. He gently reached for her hand and at that moment, he understood exactly what Kate had meant. Just like he had been there for her after she shot Coonan, her only lead in her mothers case, she would be there for him.
"It's about my dad. Remember CIA agent gone rogue sort of thing? Well his past caught up with him and it soon came barreling onto my doorstep." Kate squeezed his hand to show her understanding; she turned and led him to the couch.
"You go sit down on the couch and I'll get you something to drink. And I want you to tell me about your trip. Okay?" Kate whispered into his ear with a clear sense of worry in her voice. Castle sat on the couch with a thud, showing how exhausted he was from his ordeal. He ran his hands over his face and through his hair to combat his wariness. Kate walked back to the couch with two glasses and the bottle of red wine she saved for special occasions, and to Kate, having Castle being able to open up with her about his father was a special occasion.
"Here," said Kate as she handed him the half-full glass of wine she had just poured. "I can see this has been tough on you; take as much time as you need, drink some wine, and take a deep breath." Kate folded one leg under herself so she could face Castle. She took his hand and squeezed it lightly for encouragement. Castle looked up into Kate's eyes and forced a closed-mouth smile.
"Thanks," he mumbled dropping his head again. He took a sip of his wine and put down his glass. Castle mirrored Kate, positioning himself towards her. "Gosh... Where do I even begin?"
"Try beginning with what you know; that's what helped me."
Castle looked deep into Kate's eyes and sighed, "Okay, well when I was on the train to Chicago, I got a call from a restricted number, I didn't think it was anything so I let it go to voicemail. And I think that's when everything went south, and quickly." He cleared his throat before taking another sip of his wine.
"Do you know who was calling? Do you have the number? I can have Ryan look it up. Do you know what the call was about?" Kate shot rapid fire questions at him. She wanted to help him as fast and as much as possible.
"Shhh. Kate it's okay. I'm okay." Rick could see how worried she was, he didn't see it often but he knew how to read Kate's emotions and pick up on little details so well. He scooted closer and placed his hand on top of hers. "It was a restricted number so I couldn't see it. But when I listened to the voicemail I knew nothing good was going to happen." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. "I saved the voicemail. It's the most recent one." His head sunk as he handed his phone to Kate.
"Do you want me to play it out loud?" Kate asked cautiously. Castle just shook his head.
She clicked on the recording and held the phone to her ear.
"Rick" pleaded an older man, who was clearly Rick's father. But he sounded different. Winded, maybe; drugged; possibly. There was a tire screech in the background. Then what sounded to be a car door shutting. "Rick, please pick up. They're after me." Rick's father was panting heavily. "This wasn't supposed to happen this way. I fucked up, Rick. I'm sorry." There was a gun shot. A scream ripped through the speaker. The phone on the other end of the line fell to the floor. There was a pause.
Someone had picked up the phone, breathing heavily the voice growled into the microphone "You're next."
Kate looked up and saw tears welling up in Castle's eyes. She brought her hand up to his face and wiped the tears away with her thumbs. "Hey," Castle looked up, "we're gonna find these sons of bitches that did this, okay?" But Castle just shook his head.
"You can't" he argued, "they got away." Tears began to roll down his cheek, but he wiped them away with the back of his hands. "That's why I'm here. I'll probably be dead soon and I can't bring myself to tell Alexis or Mother. I just need a friend and right now, you're my closest one."
Touched, yet slightly frazzled at Castle's claim of nearing death she asked him one of the several questions racing through her mind, "how do you know you'll be dead soon?"
"That's the next part of the story." Castle says in a shaky voice. He paused to look into Kate's eyes.
Kate saw the pain and terror in his eyes. She could only do one thing, right as he was about to begin his story she leaned forward, closed her eyes, and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. Kate slowly backed away while looking into Castle's deep blue eyes. She bit her lip and said, "if you're going to die soon, I needed to feel what that was like, at least once."
"Kate," Castle opened his arms and Kate crawled into them. They held each other for what seemed like an eternity. "When I was in Chicago, during my signing session, a man in sunglasses got to the front of the line without a book, only a folded piece of paper. He handed me the paper and whispered 'don't open this until you're on your way home.' He took a few steps threw his head over his shoulder and said 'you're next' just like in the call. Then he walked away. I was terrified. I still haven't opened the paper; will you open it with me?"
Kate nodded against his shoulder, forgetting she was still wrapped in his embrace. She scooted off his lap so he could get the paper out of his bag. Castle noticed by her stature that she was just as scared as he was.