My darling BA! I hope this is to your standards for a birthday fic! (for those playing at home, our birthday girl wanted to see something to do with Castle and his school days) I'm sorry it's late!
Many thanks to my girls, the lovely Tadpole24 and AnnieXMuller, for the encouragement and for the beta-ing!
I own nothing. NOTHING. Happy New Year!
She watched him as he preened in front of the mirror. He carefully held up a selection of ties, trying to decide which would best match his freshly pressed charcoal shirt. Deciding on one, he looped it around his neck. He fiddled with at least four different kinds of knots (had he and Ryan been swapping notes?) before she intervened.
"Give it here, stud." She stepped up to Castle, deftly weaving a Windsor knot into the deep blue tie he'd settled on. "You trying to impress somebody?" she teased. She observed the subtle shift in his body language. She should have known.
"C'mon, Castle. High school reunions are made for people like you," she murmured. She'd been shocked when Castle had informed her that he wanted to attend Edgewyck's twenty-year reunion, but she'd dutifully rearranged her shifts to suit the evening and found herself an appropriately glamorous yet demure dress for the occasion.
She'd expected the school's funniest kid to come out and play, figuring she'd spend her evening reigning him in as he told larger than life tales of the escapades he'd gotten up to with the NYPD. She hadn't considered that he'd shut down, that the homesick little boy she'd heard about but rarely saw would accompany her for the evening.
"What's going on, Castle? Talk to me." She ran her fingers through his carefully mussed hair.
"I'm so nervous and I have no idea why," he muttered.
"High school was awful. But it was awful for everyone,"" Kate soothed him gently.
"I was a weird gawky kid. I don't think there was ever a time my hands weren't covered in ink stains. I stuck out like a sore thumb. I overcompensated by being the class clown. Figured it was better to have people laughing at me instead of being ignored. There was no dare too stupid, no move I wouldn't make to impress my peers." Castle recounted, sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling Kate down to sit next to him. "The only time I ever really felt like myself was when I was writing. When I had Damian Westlake in my ear telling me I was actually good at something." Kate didn't say a word. She reached out and twined her fingers with his.
"When I went to college, I never wanted to feel like that again. Especially after Kyra. It only got worse after that, especially when I hit it big," he gave Kate a rueful grin, "I was a conceited jackass." He paused, unsure how to express the churning in his gut.
"Now you're going back with all those people and you know you don't want to be the loner or the jackass, but you don't know how else to behave?" Kate suggested.
Castle nodded, grateful that she could summarise his thoughts so succinctly.
"I feel like everyone there is going to remember who I was twenty years ago, and everything that has happened to me since then is going to count for nothing because I'll regress back into Ricky Rodgers, the wise cracking punching bag."
Kate knew she had to tread gently. "You can do this, Castle. I give it ten minutes before you have the whole room eating out of the palm of your hand," she nudged his cheekbone with her nose. "Besides, you could always lead in with the fact that you knocked up Nikki Heat," she suggested, tugging his hand and resting it on her swollen belly. She placed a hand on his face, drawing him in for a kiss. "C'mon Mr. Best Selling Mystery Novelist. We're going to be late."
Castle's body language had gradually stiffened throughout the town car ride over to the Plaza. Kate knew there was little point in trying to talk him down, so she ran her fingers across his back, trying desperately to offer him some comfort.
They stepped into the elegant ballroom, which had been tastefully decorated in Edgewycks's colours. A slideshow of old photographs from the graduating class they were celebrating were being projected above their heads.
Kate looked at Castle apologetically. "I'm so sorry, Castle, but the minion has been playing with my bladder for the last fifteen minutes."
"I'm a big boy Kate. I'm sure I can find our table while you go powder your nose."
She shot him a grateful grin, before making a beeline to the bathroom. At six months pregnant, she had yet to give up her beloved high heels and if you looked at her from behind, you'd never guess she was expecting. Her growing bump was so perfectly rounded that Esposito had accused her of stuffing a basketball underneath her shirt (she'd given him paperwork for a week).
Castle sat down at their table, content to people watch, mentally filling in the stories of his classmates over the last two decades. He was struck with a sick sense of pleasure at seeing how the years had treated some of his classmates, whilst he politely nodded to others.
"Dicky Rodgers," A voice boomed.
Castle stiffened. "Actually, it's Rick Castle these days," he corrected, turning to face the leader of his merry band of high school tormentors. "How are you, Chris?"
"Eh, you know, doing what I can, when I can, however I can get it," Chris answered, giving Castle a shove as he let out an obnoxious laugh.
Castle fought the urge to roll his eyes at the antics of his former classmate.
"Looks like there might be some tail worth chasing at this thing after all," Chris leered, making no secret of the fact that he was checking out the ass of the brunette at the bar wearing a striking purple dress.
Castle couldn't help the smirk on his face when the woman turned around. Chris's shock was audible when he saw the baby bump. Approaching the two men, the woman deftly analysed the situation, before placing the glasses she held on the table.
"Single malt scotch, right baby?" Kate grazed a kiss across Castle's cheekbone, the diminutive nickname (one she rarely used) and possessive hand curled on his shoulder a clear stamping of her territory; a move that she hoped would bolster Castle's confidence. Leaving her left hand (where her rather impressive engagement ring twinkled under the lights of the room) on his shoulder, she extended her right. "I don't believe we've been introduced. I'm Katherine Castle," she introduced herself politely, her territorial instincts triggered as she stood next to her husband.
"Chris Rochester," he replied. Kate suppressed the urge to shudder as he grasped her hand.
"So, Ricky, you still jerking off under the covers and swearing it was just you writing?" Chris jeered.
Kate stiffened. Castle's reaction was barely perceptible, but she knew that this guy was doing his very best to unsettle her husband. She'd always been protective of her writer and her crazy baby-incubating hormones were only exacerbating her defensive instincts. "I'm sorry, Chris, I didn't catch what you said you did for a living," she changed the subject from between slightly gritted teeth.
"I'm between ventures right now," Chris replied.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but there was a Chris Rochester that was making news for singlehandedly responsible for bankrupting an entire mineral importing company," Kate paused, watching as Chris blanched, "But I'm sure it's a common name," she added.
"Is that Jimmy Harris? Excuse me guys."
Castle couldn't hide his relief when the former boxer (who really hadn't taken much care of himself over the years) skulked away to hit on a woman who was clearly not his wife.
"That guy is an asshole," Kate declared.
"I agree," Castle murmured, his hand settling on her lower back. "You ironed his face."
Kate raised an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?"
"Well, Nikki did," Castle amended. "I based Pochenko on him." He stood, and pulled Kate's chair out for her. "And for the record, I was writing."
Kate patted his cheek. "Of course you were, stud."
"I was! I'd never lie to you, baby," he argued, dragging out the syllables of the nickname.
"You're mine. Nobody gets to give you a hard time but me."
The night was going well. Kate was drinking her body weight in cranberry juice (her latest craving) and with his hand gently trailing back and forward across her shoulder, occasionally twisting into her curls, Castle was charming the table like Kate always knew he could.
The table dissolved into laughter as Castle finished telling the story of the zombie case to the table. Kate couldn't help but notice that a few details of the story had been glossed over in a very interesting fashion. "But you should all keep in mind that for the entirety of this case, he really did believe there were zombies on the loose," Kate pointed out teasingly.
"How do you know that?" one of Castle's old classmates asked.
"Because I was there," Kate answered. Nobody had picked up on it. "I'm a homicide detective."
"Gentlemen, you're having dinner with Nikki Heat," Castle introduced her.
"Bout time you got the girl, Ricky," someone piped up.
There had been a very awkward conversation, where one of Castle's old teachers lavished praise on him for a solid ten minutes before Castle created an elaborate excuse to escape.
"He hated me," Castle told Kate as he steered her onto the dance floor. "Always told me I'd never amount to anything. The school has me listed as esteemed alumni on their website. Funny how he changed his tune."
"I notice that he looks an awful lot like the vic in In A Hail Of Bullets," Kate commented.
"A good writer always writes what he knows," Castle shrugged. "I've always used the people around me to enrich my characters. Which is why Nikki has so much depth."
"You're a sap," Kate teased.
"Yeah, but you love it," Castle replied.
"Is it weird, being back?" Kate asked. Martha had taught her son well; Castle was an extraordinary partner on the dance floor.
He twirled her effortlessly. "Makes me appreciate what I've got," he answered. "My life now, it's good. It's really good. My daughter is perfect; I'm doing a job I love. I've gotten to choose the people I have in my life, and I don't have to be a conceited jackass to gain their friendship."
"And a hot wife who's carrying your offspring? She just an added bonus?" Kate queried.
Castle stopped dancing, moving his arms to Kate's shoulders. "She's the one that makes all this worth it."
Happy birthday!