A/N: So, this a post-finale story. Yeah, like the loads of others out there. But come on, people need some closure already! Because we all know that this summer's gonna be a long one…
−Chapter One−
Just For ShowThe elevator doors slid closed. Castle caught one last glimpse of his favorite detective before the only this he could see of the homicide department was the inside of the elevator. He sighed and his smile faltered slightly before he quickly regained himself. He glanced aside to Gina. It was true that they had really hit it off on the phone.
He knew he should be happy. After all, he was going off to the Hamptons for the summer with a beautiful women on his side. But yet, there was something that twisted in his gut every time he thought of that prospect. Even more so when he thought of the way he had seen Beckett smiling at Demming. And their kiss.
It was terrible to do so, but he still decided to hide away in the Hamptons. With his ex-wife nonetheless. Yes, they had hit it off, but still this was all just for show. Her showing up at the precinct, was sort of to show Kate he had moved on. He wanted her to be happy, even if it meant that he wasn't in the picture. Demming made her smile, even laugh sometimes. Things were better this way.
He kept hearing his mother's words in his mind. "In life you just have to accept the fact that not everything is gonna go your way."True, this might be the right this to do, letting her be with Demming. But doing the good thing still hurt like hell.
Kate Beckett had been rejected by guys. Not too often, but it happened. Sometimes it hurt, at other times it didn't, depending on how much she liked the guy. But never, ever had she felt like this. Okay, maybe it was close as to when Will left her. The thing was, this time she hadn't even been rejected yet. Because he hadn't even had to chance to do so. It shouldn't have bothered her this much, after all, this spared the humiliation factor of it all.
"The heart wants what the heart wants." That's what he had said. She could've sworn he was talking about them at that moment. But, now she thought that maybe she might have imagined it.
She glanced aside to see the three guys at the other side of the glass, quickly looking away, pretending not to have stared at her. Lanie still looked at her though, a sad smile on her face. Apologetic, even.
Kate blinked and looked away. No way was she going to cry. Not in front of them, nor when she was alone. It was a sign of weakness, she thought. With all the murders she dealt with on a daily basis, it didn't feel right to cry over something stupid like a guy.
Hurt, that was what she felt. Slightly disappointed too. After all this time of bickering and flirting, she had been ready for more. Apparently he wasn't. Or at least, not with her.
She tried to regain her posture and walked into the room where the rest was still sipping beer and eating pizza.
"Hey, I'm going home." She said, as she entered.
Lanie looked at her friend. "Kate, are you alright?"
"Yeah, fine. Just tired." She replied and smiled.
After a couple of 'goodbyes' from the boys, she grabbed her coat and walked away, the smile still on her face. The smile that was just for show. Because she wasn't really in the mood for smiling.
A/N: So, this was just a sort of 'prologue' for the rest of the story. Although this story will be mainly be about Castle and Beckett, I'll probably write about the summer of the others too. Alexis, Martha, Lanie, Ryan and Esposito come to mind.
I know this was short, but that's kind of the thing with prologues, isn't it? Anyway, I would love to hear you opinions on this, and any ideas are welcome as well. :D
