Two Halves

"Hello, darling!"

Martha swoops into the loft as is her wont. Her bangles jangle around her wrists, her intensely patterned clothes brighten the room around her, and her projected voice echoes from the rafters. She claims the space as her own through her mere presence and it's as if she never moved out.

"Mother," Castle greets, pausing in stirring a sauce simmering in a pan a top the stove. Alexis is out so although he won't admit it aloud, he's grateful for Martha's impromptu arrival; he hopefully won't have to eat alone again. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Draping her turquoise coat over a chair back as she passes, she enters the kitchen area and presses a kiss to her son's cheek. "I came to see how you're doing."

He's silent a moment, as if assessing how he actually feels, while Martha wipes a smudge of red lipstick from his cheek, studying him in turn. "I'm doing okay, I think. In fact," and here he seems to brighten. "I think it's working. I think I'm starting to win Beckett back."

Oh, Richard.

She sighs, opening her mouth to respond but he hurries on, tripping over some of his words in his wound up state.

"We had a moment. With coffee. She more or less said that she still needs me. Then she got a phone call and I'm not sure whether it was work or something else, so I left. But she still needs me, Mother. I think I can get her back."

He looks so hopeful, his eyes shining for once, but Martha steps forward and places a gentle hand on his arm. "Richard, this scheme to Katherine back… It won't work." She raises a hand to silence him, despite his crestfallen expression. It pains her to destroy his hope, but she must stop this crusade he's on, if nothing else than because there is no need. "It won't work because she doesn't need winning back… I paid Katherine a visit today."

He startles. "What? Why?"

"I wanted to talk to her, hear her side of whatever is going on between the two of you."

"No!" Please don't let his mother have destroyed all his hard work. "Wh- What did you say?"

"Oh really, Richard. Don't look so scared," she admonishes. "I merely wanted to feel out the situation. And perhaps impart some of my wisdom."

The fear is not dispelled and he grimaces, to which she tuts. "Tell me everything."

"I know two things for sure. One, this isn't about you. You've done nothing to drive that girl away. And secondly, Katherine does not want this." She draws out the words in the final sentence, hoping to emphasise them in such a way that Rick might actually believe them. "Whatever is going on is something she feels she has to do, alone. She's as lost without you as you are without her."

His expression both lights up and then clouds, a peculiar mixture of relief at being told he has not driven away his wife (though he still doesn't fully accept this), and grief that Kate is evidently struggling alone with something, something she's hiding from him. "Did she say anything specific?"

"Not much. Although she was adamant that she doesn't want a divorce. Then I imparted my advice and she listened." At his anxious expression she takes pity on him. "I merely told her to be truthful to herself, and then be truthful to you."

"Okay…" He relaxes a little, returning to add some herbs to the concoction on the stove. Sometimes his mother does give sound advice, unsolicited though it may be. "And, so what happened then?"

"She was interrupted by her duties. But before I left, we hugged. And let me tell you, kiddo, that girl needed a hug."

He slumps and turns once more to Martha. "But she can always come to me. My arms are always open to her." He darkens further. "She's the one who left."

The actress heaves a long sigh, opening up her own arms and embracing her son. "I know, kiddo."

"How could you tell that was what she needed?"

She shrugs, recalling how Kate had sunk into the embrace. "Mother's instinct."

Castle is struck once again by Kate's loss. And really, who does she have to confide in, to just hug? Lanie seems not to know any details. The boys definitely don't; they were clueless when he pressed them, and besides they're rooting for their boss and the writer almost as much as Castle himself is. So that leaves her father. However, given her recent actions and secrecy, he highly doubts Kate has told Jim much, if anything at all.

He pulls back from Martha's embrace and squeezes her hands between his own. "Thank you, Mother."

"Whatever for?"

"For giving her the comfort of a parent. Now though," he abruptly hands the sauce-covered spoon to Martha and then strides towards the door, "I have somewhere I need to be."

When Castle steps out of the elevator and onto the homicide floor of the 12th Precinct, he is unsurprised to see the glow of lamplight emanating from the captain's open office door and across the mostly empty floor of the bullpen. Most of the cops left long ago, leaving only those working urgent leads on active cases.

When he arrives at the doorway, he takes a moment to run his eyes over Kate's form hunched over her desk. Her hair is lighter than she's had it before, complementing the pastel blue dress, which in turns stands out against her tanned skin. But despite how outwardly put together she seems, he can tell by the clench of her fist in her hair, and the tense set of her shoulders, that all is not well.

"Beckett."

She startles at his presence, hurried fingers shuffling papers and hiding documents. The actions only serve to increase the knot of worry building within him, but he'll ignore it, for now.

"Castle." She stands and paces to the front of her desk, putting a barrier between him and the papers.

"As a disclaimer," he starts, "I'm not expecting anything. And this is me still giving you space."

She is about to retort that she's not sure he ever complied with her request for space. But the words are silenced when he steps forward and she is enfolded against him.

There are mere seconds of resistance before he senses what his mother must have felt too; Kate sinks against him, surrendering herself to the comfort which she must have surely been lacking in recent weeks. She must have discarded her heels sometime earlier as she is barefoot. The height difference allows her head to tuck under his chin, and he bends back a little, taking the weight which she gives to him.

"Mother said you needed a hug," is the only thing he utters.

And, oh, it both hurts and warms her to hear. She grips him even tighter; this generous, loving man who has come all the way to embrace her, and expects nothing in return. But really, shouldn't she be the one providing the comfort?

Neither speak again, and it is too soon for them both when they make a silent, mutual decision to disentangle themselves. They step back and meet watery gazes, yet they both for the moment appear a little less haunted.

"I'll leave you to it." He takes a reluctant step towards the doorway. "But if you ever need another no-strings-attached hug, you know where I am."

"Rick," she calls out; she can't let him leave with nothing, not after his beautiful, selfless act. "I will come home. I promise. I just…"

"I know; time."

He smiles but it's entirely too soft and unconvincing. She has to curl her fingers into fists and stop herself from reaching out and dragging him into another hug. He steps out of her office and she purses her lips to stop herself from calling him back.

All she can do is watch him leave.

fin

I am in the UK so I have been unable to watch the full episode. I have only seen clips on YouTube, so if there are some parts of this fic which don't seem to fit with the episode or the series as a whole, that's probably why.

Thank you for reading!