I'm sorry for this, really I am. There are at least a gazillion other things I should be doing today, but I had to get this out of my head. Hope you enjoy ;o)
Kate was running around her apartment gathering her belongings so she could head out for work. Just as she put her arm through the sleeve of her jacket and was about to leave she saw the sign that he had taped to her door, 'Did you feed the fish?' She smiled, rolled her eyes and rushed back to the counter to drop some food into the tank; making sure to say 'good morning' to each one. As she was placing the cover back on the small canister of food her phone slipped out of her hand and landed on the treasure chest at the bottom of the 'deep blue sea'. She stood there flummoxed. The front was cracked. It slid off the chest with a quiet kerplunk and the fish scattered away.
"Oh F…..ish!." She clenched her fists like a three year old and with gritted teeth she let out a loud "ARGGGGHHHH" She was already late for work. Now she would have to search through still unpacked boxes to see if she could locate an old phone.
She was sitting on the floor in front of her closet rummaging through a box of what could only be classified as useless crap, cursing the day Castle showed up with the tank and all the fish insisting she have something to keep her company, when there was a loud knock at her door.
Her first thought was Castle, but then she heard "Katie, Katie are you in there? Are you okay?" She jumped up and tripped over the box upending its contents all over the hall, then flung open the door. "Dad? What are you doin' here?"
He wrapped her in a hug and held her out at arm's length. "Are you okay?"
"Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"
"I had routine blood work done at the hospital this morning and thought I would stop in at the precinct to see you, and Esposito and Ryan said they hadn't seen you yet. When I tried calling again and again and didn't get an answer I got concerned."
Just then there was more banging on her door …..this time she knew it was Castle. She rolled her eyes and went back to her rummaging. Her father looked at her and then at the door and raised his eyebrows at her.
"Go ahead, and hurry up because he'll break it down and then I'll never hear the end of it."
Jim opened the door and a very surprised Castle stumbled in with a coffee carrier in one hand and his other still in a fist from knocking. "Uh…hi." He looked past her father and to Beckett on the floor in front of the upturned mess, his immediate thought was intruder, Kate saw the look on his face just as he pulled his fist back.
She jumped to her feet. "Castle, No don't, this is my dad."
Her father smiled and put out his hand to shake Castle's hand. Castle reached over too and said, "Rick Castle, nice to meet you, Sir..uh….coffee?"
Jim shook his hand "Jim Beckett. Thank you, don't mind if I do." Kate stood up and pulled hers out of the carrier and then handed the other one to her father. She then settled back down to the debris in front of her.
Castle looked at the mess on the floor and then back at Kate. "Kate, what's going on?"
"Seriously Castle? This is all your fault." She swept her hand around the mess.
"How? Never mind. How come you're not at work and why you didn't answer your phone?"
She pointed to the sign on the door and then to the fish tank. Both men followed her hand as she pointed to the phone at the bottom of the tank. Her father tried to stifle a laugh.
Castle on the other hand was a little more cautious. His eyes got wide and then he looked over at Jim laughing and Kate fuming. He peered into the tank, "Hey, you guys okay in there? No injuries? Did Mommy scare you? Um Beckett…you probably shoul…"
"Shut up, Castle."
"Right. I'll get you a new one. We can go now; I'll get you a better one. One that you can play all kinds of games on and that will remind you to feed the fish and …."
She reached to her side for her gun. Her father was still laughing silently. She glared at him. "Both of you get out of here now."
"I'm sorry Katie, it is pretty funny."
"Oh, it's just freakin' hilarious, do you have any idea how much of an inconvenience this is? Do you know how many phones I've gone through already this year?"
Castle slipped off his jacket and rolled up his sleeve and reached in and pulled the phone out of the tank. He opened the side and pulled out the memory card. "Come on let's go." He reached down with his dry hand to help her up and pulled her close, placing a quick peck on her lips and whispering into her ear. "I love it when you're all hot and bothered."
She rolled her eyes and grabbed her coffee and turned to leave. "Come on Dad, let's go phone shopping and then Castle here is going to buy us breakfast." She grabbed Castle's phone out of his pocket and sent a quick text to Esposito.
As Castle went out the door in front of them, her dad reached over and pulled her to his side and said "This one's a keeper, Katie."
She shook her head and smiled and hugged him back. "I know, Dad, I know."
Okay, so maybe I can get some real work done now that that is out of the way. (And by real work I mean knitting or reading…oh and maybe a little bit of laundry…very little bit…) Happy 'Castle' Monday to those of you who get to watch tonight. Hugs ;o)