Richard Castle was bored. So bored, that he even considered going home to actually work on his novel. That'd be a good use of time, right? Sure. But that would be the responsible thing to do, and he wasn't in a responsible mood. He was bored.
And he shouldn't be bored today.
Rick watched from the chair he occupied beside Detective Kate Beckett's desk. She had been just as bored as him and decided to go up to the gym to use up some energy. Sadly, she told him that if he dared come near her while she was working out, he would become the precinct's new punching bag.
Ryan and Esposito had taken off – somewhere. He assumed that they were getting lunch. You never did know exactly what those two were up to.
And the Captain was hunched over his desk, scanning a great many documents. Rick knew he had been a little on edge lately – the twelfth was due for review soon. And when Montgomery was focused, well, Rick couldn't think of the right analogy to describe how focused he was.
Here he was, Richard Castle, bored and alone, when he should be with his friends.
Just as an idea popped in his head, Kate Beckett skipped down the stairs in front of him. He never did understand how she had so much energy after a workout.
"Hey, Beckett?"
"Yea, Castle." There was the faint presence of exhaustion in her breath. Not enough to demand a nap, but enough to show that she had indeed had an intense workout. "What's up?"
"Do you mind if I run out for a bit? There's something I want to pick up."
Kate was shocked. He never asked for permission to do anything. Especially permission to leave. She didn't quite know what to make of it. Tilting her head, she tried to read him. And it really irritated her that she couldn't.
"Uh…yea. No problem. We're not busy right now anyway. Why don't you just go home for the day, enjoy your life outside the box."
"Nonsense!" He sprang from his chair as she plopped down into hers. "I'll be back later!"
Kate watched in confusion as he headed to the elevator. If she wasn't mistaken, and she hardly ever was, there was a spring of excitement in his step.
This couldn't possibly end well.
She sighed and turned into her desk, pulling her cell phone out to check her messages. Nothing. As she cooled off she took the towel from around her neck, and tossed it underneath her desk, making a mental note to take it home to wash it. Just as she reached a state of contentment the boys peered around the corner.
"Beckett," Esposito called, "we've got a body. You want in?"
"Just got to change. I'll meet you there." By now she was up and walking past them to the locker room. "Leave the address on my desk."
"You got it."
Two hours later the boys were back at their desks, puttering away. Their murder turned out to be a suicide – rookie officer flipped when he got to the scene and called Homicide - and as morbid as it sounded, Ryan and Esposito were bummed about it.
As soon as they got back to the precinct they, along with Beckett, updated their Captain on the screw up, which only frustrated him further. Then Beckett retreated to the safety of the morgue, where she could complain in the company of those that wouldn't complain back…except, of course, for Lanie Parish.
The two had taken to the time honored activity of surfing the internet when they saw Castle stroll in with a rather large box in his hands, and a shopping bag on his arm.
Not a word was spoken as the writer walked into the break room and shut the door behind him. They looked at each other in confusion as he then took out several large sheets of paper from the shopping bag, and taped them over the uncovered window on the door, and shut the remaining blinds.
Moments later Kate Beckett stepped off of the elevator, Lanie at her side, and found that the two men had pushed their chairs together and were staring at the closed break room door. The two women walked into the bullpen, the boys not even noticing their presence.
"What's going on here?" Kate asked, pointing between the two detectives and the door.
"You tell us." Ryan responded.
"Yea," Esposito added, "Castle came in a couple of minutes go with a box and a bag, went in, shut the door, and covered the windows.
Kate and Lanie stepped behind the two, all eyeing the door with various degrees of wonder and irritation.
They heard the click of a doorknob and jumped at the sound. All turned their heads and saw Captain Roy Montgomery exit his office, an empty NYPD mug in his hand. Without making so much as a peep they watched as he walked to the break room, only taking notice of the four of them for a second.
They all tensed up as his hand reached for the door – they had no idea what to expect when the door opened up. Except the door didn't open. Instead, the Captain jiggled the knob with growing anger.
"Why is this door locked?" He nearly lost control of his temper as he turned to his team behind him.
A combination of stuttering and incoherent sounds came from Ryan and Esposito. Lanie merely kept her mouth shut, for once. And Kate's mouth struggled to form the right words.
"Beckett." He interrupted, "what's going on in there?"
Before speaking Kate nervously shifted her weight from one foot to the other, twisting her face in uncertainty. Not many people could make Kate Beckett nervous, but Roy Montgomery was one of them.
"In all honesty sir, I have no idea. All I can say is that Castle's in there, doing…something."
The four watched in anticipation as their boss' face twitched.
"Well, who let him in there by himself? You all know that Castle-"
Just as he was about to finish his sentence, the door to the room popped open, ever so slightly. All five heads turned, and all five bodies leaned to the left, trying desperately to see inside without having to move.
"Oh, come on! This is ridiculous!" The once silent medical examiner had now lost her cool, and stormed over, cracking the door open further, only to be silenced again at the sight.
"Oh, now I know you've got brain damage."
At this Ryan and Esposito jumped up from their chairs to check it out, whereas Beckett and Montgomery stood side-by-side, still unsure of what to make of the scene.
The door to the break room was now wide open, revealing an explosion of colored streamers hanging from the ceiling, bottles of soda, an enormous cake on the table, and an obnoxiously metallic paper sign that read "Happy Birthday" hung across the window.
And, of course, Richard Castle stood behind the cake, a paper party hat perched on his head, hopelessly trying to blow up a balloon.
"Yo, Castle? What are ya' doing?" Esposito was the only one who could find his voice to speak.
"It's a birthday party my friends!" Anyone could see that Castle was just as excited as a nine-year-old would be at a birthday party.
"Castle," Beckett started, "it's nobody's birthday."
Rick walked behind the group, herding them inside. "Oh contraire my dear detective. It is indeed a birthday."
After closing the door for the second time he turned back to his five, very confused, guests.
"It's the birthday of when I finished the Derrick Storm series."
"So, let me get this straight," Ryan carefully leaned against the counter, raising his hands to animate his speech, "this is all for the anniversary of the day you killed a character."
"Ooh," Castle cringed, "don't use the word 'anniversary'. Reminds me too much of marriage. But yes, it's the birthday of the end of Derrick Storm. So I thought we should have a little party. I know it's been rough around here, so I figured the timing's perfect."
Rick watched as his friends continued to eye him quizitively.
"Look, I just thought it would be a nice change from sitting around waiting for someone to be killed. And it really is a reason to celebrate, because if I never killed Derrick Storm, I never would've met you all, and Nikki Heat wouldn't have been, excuse my word play," he raised his hands for air quotes, "born."
For a few minutes no one knew quite how to respond. The six simply watched each other out of the corners of their eyes.
"Well what are we standing around for?" Montgomery broke in with impatience. "Are we gonna cut into that cake or what? I could use a break from all that paperwork." He stepped over to Castle, who took to giving him a friendly pat on the back.
Lanie and Beckett gingerly stood up from the small couch to join Ryan and Esposito, who busied themselves with pouring drinks while Castle cut the cake, honoring the Captain with the first slice.
The group broke off into pleasant conversation, laughter flowing freely. And somehow they managed to eat half of the cake before the Captain insisted that he had to get back to work, thanking Castle for the distraction.
Lanie eventually remembered that she had ordered a set of tests on a body that had recently come in, and departed. But not without taking a hunk of cake down to the morgue with her.
The four remaining in the room took on a silence. All were full on cake and soda.
"Is today really the day you killed Derrick Storm, Castle?" Ryan asked from his slumped position in a chair.
"Not technically. It's the day I sent the final copy to my publisher. But all the same it's an important day."
"Kind of depressing don't you think?" Beckett inquired.
"Not at all," he stood up from his seat beside her and dumped his empty up in the trash, "like I told my publisher a year ago, it was Derrick's time. There was nothing else for him to do. Patterson and Cannel think I should've crippled him but I think that would've just been cruel."
"No kidding," Esposito finally spoke up, "that'd be like breaking my fingers so I couldn't play Madden anymore." The four laughed at the parallel. The funniest part was that it was actually accurate.
"So does this mean we're going to have another party for the birthday of when you started ticking Beckett off?" Ryan couldn't help but smile.
"Oh you know me," Castle said with a grin, "any excuse for a party."
Again the group shared a laugh, until the sound of her phone vibrating pulled Kate from her fun.
"Beckett. Is it for sure homicide? I don't want to drag my boys out for another mistake. Alright. We'll be there in ten." She stood and returned her phone to her pocket.
"Sorry, Castle, looks like we've got to cut this party short."
As the team began to gather themselves to head out into the field, Rick offered to clean up and catch up when they got back. He watched as Ryan and Esposito went back to their desks to get their coats and other belongings – only he and Kate were left.
Kate stepped toward the door, but stopped when she reached Castle's side. She knew he really enjoyed doing things like this for them, knew that he was really grateful for the time he spent with them…as a partner.
She carefully placed a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to look at her.
"Happy Birthday Castle."
He turned to respond but she cut him off.
"But you do know we met because of a killer, not because you killed Derrick Storm."
And before he could respond she was on her way out with the boys.
"Killjoy" he muttered.
But yes, he thought to himself as he packed the leftover cake, there would definitely be another birthday party in the near future.
For what? Well, he'd think of something.
Just a quick little one shot! Nothing to serious. Hope you enjoyed it! The wonderful characters you recognize belong to ABC.
And a very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to twinmomma78! This is her birthday present!
Tappin.
:-D