Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Castle neither any of the characters, everything belongs to ABC.
Hey so I have been playing in my ins with this AU for a while now so I would seriously appreciate some feedback or just a review of what you think about the idea. Thanks and enjoy!
"…and with great pleasure, may I present to you, Richard Castle."
The crowd roared, as he approached the microphone in the middle of the stage, but his eyes were trained to the floor and his thoughts anywhere but in the moment, hands drenched with sweat. He had never been nervous, he didn't even have a real reason to be. But when Gina bumped his side reassuringly as she passed by after introducing him, walking down the small stairs and joining the crowd, he jumped with surprise but quickly covered it and continued walking nonchalantly.
Castle looked up and plastered his usual charming smirk to the crowd, playing his very own real-life character like he always does. "Thank you everyone for coming in here…". The flashes continued but more scattered, his eyes already used to the blinding white lights.
His gaze traveled around the small black blobs facing him, but his eyes were only trained in his soon to be ex. Gina threw a tight lipped smile at him, trying to look cool but he knew she wasn't. She shouldn't even be here, it wasn't good for neither of them. The throb in head increasing, the continuous thump sounding louder and louder, her words echoing in his mind.
Rick, I can't do this anymore.
"I-I.. I couldn't have done this without all of my fans, the support of my family a-and.." He cut himself off. What were they now? Exes? Friends? Co-workers? He couldn't decide, he couldn't think. His mind swirled. Richard Castle, the worldwide famous writer, didn't have any words. Was that even possible? A writer not having any words? His eyesight started clouding, and his balance failing.
I can't do this anymore.
I can't do this anymore.
I can't do this anymore.
Her words constantly repeating themselves in his mind and the last thing he saw, was the concerned look on Martha, his mother, and her body kneeling beside him on what looked like the stage's wooden floor, flashes going off everywhere and Gina on the phone but a worried look plastered on her face.
The sound of clicking heels on pavement in crime scenes was now a common occurrence, its sound now bonded to the announcement of the arrival of Detective Katherine Beckett, from the twelfth precinct. She strode through the street, the dark New York City night surrounding her, but when she was just halfway to the body and Lanie Parrish, her best friend and one of the medical examiners and forensics analysts for the NYPD, her phone in her back pocket rang.
"Beckett." She answered, but when the hospital answered back and mentioned her dad's name, her cold stare turned into a tired look. Every time her mother's death's anniversary would approach, her father would seek comfort in alcohol and end up in the hospital with an alcoholic overdose. "I'm on my way." Her concern for his safety was still present in her heart and mind, but the remorse she had been building through this years was stronger and it was a tiring routine.
She turned around and trotted back to her car, seeing her co-workers Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan making their way to the scene. "Cover for me, my father's at the hospital."
"Update us with his status!" Esposito shouted back at her but her ignition was already roaring and the car turning.
Parking in New York City was the worst. Finding any spots near a hospital in the city that never sleeps is impossible, so Kate was forced to leave her car 6 blocks away from the building. She turned the car key and just as she was taking it out, a drop fell on her windshield. She smiled, opened her door and felt the drizzle begin.
After being freed from his mother's smothering grasp, Castle managed to sleep half an hour before the first thunder woke him and everything, including his television, went dark. He pressed the button that was supposed to call a nurse but minutes passed and no one came around. Richard glanced around and soaked his surroundings but when he spotted the jug that was previously filled with water he sighed tiredly. "Seriously?"
His feet found the ground, his right hand molded onto the i.v stand whilst he used it as a cane. He headed outside his room, the hallway deserted. "Nurse?"
Everything was dark except for the lights from the streets and the lightening, guiding her through the empty hospital. She reached for a door but just when she was pulling it open, someone pushed it over her way, the door bumping hard against Kate's body.
"Ow! Watch it." She winced, the doorknob making contact with her stomach.
"I-I'm so sorry, are you okay?" He quickly extended his hand to cover hers on her stomach, but she pushed it away, her face still scrunched up in pain.
"Yes, yes I am." Beckett lied, her gut still throbbing, but when she looked up and was met with a man in a white robe she softened. "You- You're a patient. What are you doing out here? You should go back to your room and r-"
"Whilst I appreciate your concern, if someone else makes that suggestion to me today I might throw myself out of a window for a change." He interrupted, his sarcasm bubbling a surprising snort from the detective, surprising even herself. "I just want water."
She glanced to his i.v connected arm, her arms folded now and before she could reprimand how it wasn't possible for him to be thirsty he put his hand up silencing her. "I-I know it's not possible but I swear to you I'm thirsty. Look," He touched her arm but quickly retorted back when she flinched at the contact. "I know I'm a rude stranger who bumped and hurt your gut, but could you please get me a glass of water whilst I ruthlessly redact my complaint to this damned hospital."
A soft smile crept on her lips, the anger on his face looked as it didn't fit, uncommon to his features such as the crinkles in his eyes signalling a lot of smiling. Despite of herself, she found herself nodding slowly, her eyebrow raised. "Okay."
When she came back, he was no longer standing in the middle of the hallway, but sitting on a bench just next to a window, looking mindlessly through the it and too lost in his thoughts to notice her approaching. Kate finally sat beside him, and the man looked up surprised but with a gentle smirk playing on his lips.
He grabbed the glass from her hands. "Thanks," He drank a few sips before humming in appreciation. "I was starting to think you had abandoned me." She rolled her eyes and soaked in the clouded view, rain falling fiercely.
"Big fan of rain?" He asked sarcastically, his eyes glued to her exquisite profile. Her perfectly shaped jawline that looked like it could cut like a knife drawing his attention, but his interests shifted when he caught sight of her alluring plump lips, curved in a slight grin.
Kate nods. "Every time it rained, my mom would pick me up from school and we'd go watch an old movie to the Angelika Theatre." Her grin grew with the memory, but the ball in her throat as well. "And if we were lucky enough, it would still be raining after the movie and we'd walk back home and let the rain wash everything away."
She swallowed the ball and the watering that was starting to form in her eyes, her mind catching up to her words, surprised by the sudden revelation to a stranger but, after all, he was just a stranger. She looks back to the man, who's smiling sweetly at her but she cuts the moment before it becomes emotional with a cough and changes the subject.
"So what are you in for? You aren't crazy, right?" She ventures playfully and he rolls his eyes.
"I'm not but I'm sure my daughter would disagree," He starts and her smile broadens. "I fainted during my book premiere, stress induced I think, maybe too much thinking."
Her eyebrows shoot up. "Wow. A writer, anything I've read?"
Her not recognising him surprised him, but he nods. "Richard Castle." He extends his hands and she takes it with wide eyes and immediately connects the dots. She had read that tonight was going to take place his premiere.
"Huh, hadn't recognised you. A pleasure Mr. Castle." She acts naturally, but her inner fan still makes her eyes shine and his real smile fades and turns into the signature smirk she had seen multiple times in pictures. But his face quickly crumbles and her eyebrows knit. "I-I don't mean to pry but.. is something bugging you, Mr. Castle? Any mysteries in your life yet to solve?" She playfully asks, trying to lighten the mood and it clearly works when his original smile spreads once again but with a sadder tone.
"Upcoming divorce and writers block aren't much of a mystery." He sighed and combed his hair with the hand free from the plastic cup.
Her smile drops. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be, it's not your fault and it was doomed anyway. Has been doomed since the day I put a ring on her finger. Actually, if I think about it, we've been having problems since Alexis's 7th birthday. But with Derrick, everything was too easy, too predictable. Every mood, every- wow okay, I'm venting to a total stranger about my personal troubles I might be the most depressing person, ever. I'm sorry."
Wide eyes and both of her eyebrows hiked up to her hairline, Kate lets out a breath of understanding. "No, it's okay. You're clearly going through some things and feel the need to vent to someone."
He nods and drinks water, silence surrounding them but the sound of the rain hitting the concrete and ceiling.
Castle looks back at her before he speaks up. "Why does nothing turn out as we wanted as kids? I would always think, I'd meet someone, fall in love when I was young and that'd be it. Wouldn't you?"
Beckett takes a bit to respond, her eyebrows knitted, thinking of an answer. "I used to, I also used to think that everything would turn out as I wanted, but when I was younger I.. I lost someone very close to me. It changed what I used to think about life, how everything wasn't going to turn out how I wished it had. She would always tell me that life was kind of like a road trip, you know?" She looks at him and he is looking at her, soaking every word she says. "It isn't just about arriving at the destination, it's about enjoying all the way to it. Sometimes you get lost, you fight, you lose people, you take new roads, you learn new things along the way, you explore new places, you meet new people, and even if you're lucky you fall in love. But in the end, if you weren't enjoying the ride, what the hell were you doing?"
Castle breathes in, the words, her meaning and swallows it. He's not in a good place to be emotional so he lightens the mood. "I'm sorry, darling, I was just stopping for gas."
Her watery eyes brighten at the joke and she laughs, a sound so sweet and hypnotizing he is completely captivated by it. He smiles at her dreamily and she grins back, her laughter now dying. "What?"
He looks at her lips and back up quickly. "I don't even know your name and I want your number, maybe even go to dinner someday.."
Her heart skips a beat from his confession but it slowly wakes to reality when she remembers his tendencies before his marriage. He used to be a playboy, usually surrounded by blonde bimbos and drinking in parties, not her type. But the man she had barely met today was completely different to the man she originally imagined he was. But now, recently divorced, she knew it would only take a couple of weeks before he went back to his old habits. She smiled at him. "And what, Castle? Become one of your conquests?"
Castle smirks. "Or I become one of yours." He wiggles his eyebrows playfully, but his true intentions more than just a one night stand.
She shook her head slowly, rolling her eyes with a grin on her face. "You're not ready to date yet, Mr. Castle. But when you are, you'll find me. One way or the other."
He nods in defeat, but his smirk doesn't simmer, just softens into a sad one. "Too bad. It would've been great."
Kate bites her lower lip, a habit that draws Richard's gaze to her mouth. She stands up, plants a kiss to her cheek and leans in to his ear. "You have no idea." She whispers before walking away from him slowly, his eyes still trained on her as she heads to her father's room.
And then, as he watched her walk away, he knew she would be worth the wait.
Every. Single. Minute of it.
Review? Thoughts?