FLIGHT 1203
DISCLAIMER: ALL CASTLE CHARACTERS DELONG TO ANDREW MARLOWE AND ABC.
THIS STORY IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT ONLY
Prologue: Waiting
Author's Note: Just a short story based on an Everly Brothers song from the late 50's. if you're interested call it up on you tube. Title: Ebony Eyes. I've reversed the character genders in the song. Set in season six. I haven't decided whether to end the story as the song ends or change it. Your responses will let me know. Swordwriter.
Kate Beckett was pacing the waiting area at New York's JFK airport. Rick Castle was coming home from a two week long book tour on flight 1203 from San Francisco. Rick's mother and daughter were waiting in the loft, allowing the two of them to have a little time together.
Kate was missing her fiancé terribly. It had been a long two weeks without him. She was also feeling guilty about the fight they'd had just before he left. She'd yelled at him about using this book tour to avoid helping her plan their wedding. He'd yelled right back that the book tour wasn't his choice. It was forced on him by his publisher for the release of the latest Nikki Heat book. As it was he'd demanded that it be shortened from four weeks to two.
She'd stormed off to the precinct and he'd had the car service take him to the airport. He hadn't been gone more than an hour when she cooled off and regretted her words. She called him as soon as she figured that he'd arrived at his hotel in Los Angeles. She'd apologized profusely and told him how much she loved him. He forgave her and said they'd talk it out when he got home. She'd promised him some hot make up sex.
Kate looked at her watch. The flight was overdue by half an hour, with no new information on the arrival board. She decided to go get a snack and a cup of coffee. She got a cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin and went back to the arrival area to munch and wait.
She finished her snack and tried to find something to occupy her mind. She walked over to a news stand and spotted a copy of New York Today. The cover had a photo of Rick and her on the cover, with the bold caption: Do You Believe in Magic? Kate smiled and bought a copy. She was pleasantly surprised to find a very nice article detailing their story, an absolute rarity in this kind of magazine.
She was startled out of her reading by an announcement over the public address system. Will all persons awaiting United Airlines flight 1203 out of San Francisco please report to the terminal conference room. Kate's heart skipped a beat and a terrible fear clutched at her mind. She looked at her watch as she heard the announcement. Flight 1203 was an hour overdue.
There were about one hundred very nervous people assembled in the conference room when a United Airlines spokeswoman entered. She looked at the assembled group and took a deep breath before stepping up to a small podium. She leaned forward and said, "Attention, everyone, may I please have your attention." All eyes turned toward her, and it was as though the group was holding its collective breath. "Air traffic control has informed us that due to heavy storms and high altitude turbulence in the Midwest, all radar and radio contact has been lost with flight 1203." Needless to say, pandemonium ensued. And in the midst of it all, Kate Beckett stood still as a statue, hearing over and over in her head those fateful words: "All contact has been lost."