I will confess. I'm new to the magical world of Castle (this is my first fic in the fandom *bites lip*). As I (finally) caught up on the series on DVD, the nasty little plot bunny of this little sister of Kate's snuck into my head, and I could not dislodge it, no matter how hard I tried. She grew, and took form, and even got a name. It wasn't until one day chatting with Tadpole24 on Twitter that I became convinced that this would ever work as a story. So a MASSIVE thank you to Tad, for bouncing ideas with me, and holding my hand, being an awesome beta and for not slapping me and telling me to calm the eff down.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter (my account is on private, so just let me know your username so I can accept your follow request =D) and Tumblr... I'm Brookemopolitan on both. I will be tweeting pretty regularly about this fic, and I'll be using the hashtag #CassieBeckett when I do.
Disclaimer. I do not own Castle. I am nowhere near genius enough to come up with the visual perfection that was Always. I do not own any recognisable characters. Cassie is my only baby.
Kate slumped against the elevator wall. She fought to keep her eyes open as exhaustion seeped deep into her bones. They'd wrapped the case, Lynchberg was in custody, and Kate was looking forward to collapsing in the shower until the water ran cold. She barely restrained her yawn as she fumbled through her handbag for her keys. It wasn't until she had the door cracked open that she froze. She could hear something from within the apartment. She was certain she hadn't left her iPod dock playing that morning. Adrenaline flooded her system as she drew her weapon and slipped quietly through her front door.
She'd just convinced herself that it was possible that she forgot to switch off her stereo when she saw the figure move across the room. Years of policing instincts overtook her reaction as she levelled her service weapon and barked "NYPD. Hands where I can see them." She saw the hands shoot up into the air as the figure stilled. A chuckle echoed through the dim apartment.
"Jesus, Katie. Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" Kate froze. It couldn't be. Kate kept her gun trained on the figure as she leaned over to flip on a lamp.
"Cassie?" Kate shoved her gun back into its holster and crossed the living room in a single stride to pull her baby sister into a bone-crushing embrace. She pressed a kiss onto the crown of Cassie's head and breathed in the scent of the little sister she'd taken to JFK airport five years ago, dual passport in hand, and hadn't seen since.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Kate inquired, her voice rough and low. She felt Cassie's arms tighten around her mid-section.
"Baseball season?" Cassie suggested. Kate cleared her throat and waited for an explanation. Cassie took a step back from Kate and dropped a hand to her hip.
"My roommate was conducting a study on law enforcement agents being injured in the line of duty. He saw something in the New York Times about how an NYPD detective named Kate Beckett got shot. Naturally, this caught my attention because I have a sister named Kate Beckett who lives in the fair city of New York and works as a detective." Cassie began her story with a flourish, twisting a lock of lilac streaked hair around her finger. "Then I thought, surely, this must be some sort of coincidence. The names Kate and Beckett aren't exactly uncommon, and I'm sure that if my sister had been shot in the line of duty, she'd find a spare moment to send me a text message about it." Cassie paused for a moment, and Kate took the opportunity to pull Cassie over to sit on the couch. When Cassie continued, her voice was significantly huskier.
"I was wrong. I took a look at the picture that went along with the front-page article. Apparently the Kate Beckett that was shot in the line of duty at a funeral in New York was my big sister; and she hadn't found a spare moment to let me know that she was alive. So I packed my stuff, sold my car and endured almost thirty hours of flying and layover time to make sure that you weren't dead." Cassie finished her story quietly, and began to fidget with the silver ring on her index finger.
"Cassie, I am so sorry." Kate breathed. She reached over and squeezed her knee. Cassie nodded. Kate didn't miss her sniffle. "Didn't Dad call you?" Kate asked after several moments of silence. Cassie looked up, a wry grin twisting on her lips.
"Katie, I haven't spoken to Dad since before I left for England."
"I asked him to call you as soon as I came out of surgery." Kate pressed. Cassie bit her lip and shrugged.
"He might have called. I don't know. I answered a call a couple months ago and all I heard was someone crying. I assumed it was a prank and hung up. I never heard back." Cassie mused, running a hand through her hair.
Kate nudged Cassie's shoulder lightly before sliding an arm around her. "I cannot believe you are here." Kate whispered. "How did you get in here, anyway?" Kate asked.
"I picked the lock." Cassie replied nonchalantly. Kate raised her eyebrow. "I asked your super to let me in." Kate scoffed in frustration. Cassie frowned.
"It is ok that I'm here, right? It should only be for a couple of days. I'm sure I can find a hostel or something to crash at." Kate stopped Cassie mid-ramble.
"Don't be ridiculous. You are more than welcome here." Kate informed her. She punctuated her statement with a yawn. "Sorry kid, I am beat." Kate informed her. She gestured for Cassie to follow her through the apartment. "My couch is super comfortable, so I'll grab you linens now. Bathroom is to your right, and my bedroom is just up the stairs." Kate recited. She pulled sheets and blankets from the closet, and made her way back down to the couch, where she made quick work of making up a bed.
"You know I'm not your kid sister anymore, right?" Cassie asked. "Because I can do this myself. If you want to get to bed or whatever." She added hastily. Kate turned around, hands on her hips.
"Cassandra Viktoria. You are my kid sister, like it or not. You dragged your ass back to New York from wherever for me; so I'm going to at least make up a bed for you." Kate lectured her.
"Australia." Cassie mentioned quietly. Kate frowned. "I've been living in Australia the past two years or so." Cassie explained. Kate huffed before continuing her spiel.
"Take out menus are in the drawer by the phone, you're welcome to attack anything in the kitchen." Kate added. She paused, and then pulled her baby sister in for another embrace. "I'm really glad you're back." Kate mumbled into her hair. Cassie grinned into her shoulder.
"I'm really glad I'm here too." Kate gave her an extra squeeze before heading toward the bathroom.
"By the way… I already showered, and I used your shampoo. I hope that's ok!" Cassie called to her retreating figure.
Kate cracked an eyelid open and groaned when she heard her phone ring. She glanced over at her alarm clock. A 5.42am wakeup call could only mean one thing.
"Beckett." She groaned blearily into the phone. So much for not being on call.
"I know your team isn't on call, but all the other teams are tied up and I've got a pop and drop just waiting to be solved." The uniformed officer explained down the phone.
"No rest for the wicked." Kate yawned. She forced herself to sit up and grabbed the notepad she kept by her bed, quickly scrawling down the address. She nodded along with the overenthusiastic description the uni gave her.
"ETA twenty five minutes." She eventually cut in, before hanging up the phone. She sent a text off to Castle, figuring that he probably wouldn't be interested in such a quote "boring" unquote case, but would moan like a bear with a toothache if she didn't tell him about it. She quickly dressed and stumbled downstairs, her coffeepot the only destination she had in mind.
"Good morning, sunshine." A voice called out across the small apartment. Kate's instincts instantly went into overdrive, and she had to force herself to calm down.
"Cassie! You cannot do that to me! I nearly had a heart attack." She gasped. Cassie giggled.
"Still grumpy in the mornings, I take it?" Cassie teased lightly. Kate growled lightly as she slapped the coffee machine on.
"Why are you even awake?" Kate asked as she poured coffee into a travel mug and rummaging through her pantry for a power bar.
"Isn't that the $64 000 question?" Cassie mused. She gave Kate a grateful grin when a mug full of steaming coffee was plunked into her hands. "I've been up since just after four am. I've lost count of how many time zones I've crossed in the past two and a half days, and my body clock has gone into protest." Cassie elaborated. Kate gave her a sympathetic smile.
"I'm really sorry, Cass, but I have to go into work." Kate told her hesitantly. Cassie gave her a dismissive wave of her hand.
"All good, big sis. Catch a murderer. Make this fine city a better place to live."
"As soon as this case clears, I'm asking for a personal day. I want to know what you've been up to in the last five years."
"Sounds good to me. Now go before the perp can strike again or whatever." Cassie told her. Kate shot her a grin, and kissed her cheek before snagging her keys and handbag, and shooting out the door.
The case had been fairly straightforward. The victim was a woman going through a very messy divorce, and after a waiting for a few hours on ballistics results; they had the husband (who clearly had serious anger management issues) in custody. Paperwork was well on its way to being finished, all in time for a knock off time that was within normal working hours. Kate had her head studiously bent over her paperwork, determined to ignore Castle's squeaks of excitement as he unlocked a new level of Angry Birds.
"It was Miss. Scarlett, in the billiards room, with the candlestick, right?" Castle looked up as he heard Kate respond to the mystery voice, and barely registering Esposito and Ryan's responses. He suddenly didn't care about beating his record.
He observed the stranger with a writer's eye. Despite the purple that was artistically streaked through the mid lengths and ends of her dark hair (Alexis would call it ombre, and insist that it was very on trend), and the piercings and tattoos that scattered her body, the girl was all Beckett; from the angle of her cheekbones, right down to the high heeled boots that covered her toes.
"Castle." He abruptly broke out of his daydream to see Kate giving him an amused look.
"I'm sorry, I could have sworn your long lost twin just walked in here." He apologised quickly. Kate chuckled.
"Not quite. Castle, this is my little sister, Cassie. Cassie, meet Rick Castle. He consults with us on cases." Cassie stuck her hand out.
"Hey, how ya doin?" She asked with a cheerful smile. Castle took her hand with narrowed eyes and shook it, still quietly reeling over this new revelation.
His suspicious gaze wandered between his partner and Cassie for a moment before he finally turned to Kate. "How do I not know about this?"
But before Beckett can answer, her sister is speaking again.
"This could totally be the jetlag talking, but I feel like I know you from somewhere. Or like I should know you. Or something. I don't know. Maybe Katie mentioned you in one of her emails. Now you think I'm a blithering idiot. I'll shut up." Cassie rambled.
"He's a writer, Cass." Kate supplied, not even looking up from her paperwork. Cassie's jaw dropped.
"No." She gasped. "You're the writer that Katie…"
"Zakonchitʹ etu frazu , i vy budete spatʹ na ulitse nochʹyu." (Finish that sentence and you'll be sleeping on the streets tonight) Kate interjected swiftly in Russian. Cassie put her hands up innocently.
"Khorosho, khorosho. Vam nuzhno otdokhnutʹ. Vash sekretnyĭ eto bezopasno so mnoĭ." (Alright, alright. You need to relax. Your secret's safe with me).
"Is it ok if I ask that we speak English, for those playing along at home?" Castle questioned, eyes alight with amusement as he watched the two sisters interact. He almost wanted to record the two conversing (purely as character research, of course), but he valued his unbroken fingers more than he wanted the video footage. Cassie perched herself at the edge of Kate's desk.
"Explain this to me. If you're a writer, what exactly do you consult on?" Cassie asked.
"I write a series based on a New York homicide detective. Your sister is the inspiration." Castle explained easily. Cassie's eyebrows shot up, and she looked over at her sister.
"You're Nikki Heat?" She asked incredulously. Kate looked up from her paperwork and shrugged.
"Did I forget to tell you that?"
"So much to catch up on." Cassie muttered. Kate put her signature onto the last page with a flourish. She stood up and crossed to Esposito's desk and swapped files with him.
"What have you been up to today, anyway?" Kate asked as she began to flip through the forms. The details had all been filled in by Espo, but she had to put her own signature on the paperwork before it could be filed away.
"Eh, not a whole lot. Unpacked my stuff. Realised what a crappy packing job I did. Contacted my friends back in Sydney about shipping the rest of my stuff over. Laundry." Cassie ran her finger over the line of elephants Kate kept on her desk, inspecting the detail of the largest ornament.
"I cleaned out your refrigerator. Threw out all that crap in Styrofoam containers you call food." Kate looked up at her, aghast. Cassie stared her down.
"How you haven't ended up hospitalised for food poisoning, I'll never know. Your body is a temple Katie, and you need to respect that." Cassie teased lightly. Kate fixed her with the Beckett stare that was usually reserved for Castle.
"Just so you know, that stare normally means you're in trouble." Castle stage whispered helpfully.
"She learnt that stare from my mother. I'm pretty familiar with it. But thanks." Cassie whispered back. She gave Kate a charming smile.
"I was fairly certain that my cleaning job was going to be given a reception like that. So I went and did some grocery shopping when I set up my new phone number. Then I made these." Cassie reached into her oversize handbag and pulled out a large Tupperware container. Kate eyed the box, and hesitantly lifted the lid to peer inside. Her face cracked into a grin.
"You made oladi?" Kate asked.
"With fresh tykva, just like Babushka taught me." Cassie chuckled as Kate helped herself.
"Oladi are kind of like pancakes. They're made with pumpkin." Cassie explained. Kate looked over at Castle.
"I haven't had these in years. Please, help yourself." She gestured over to Ryan and Esposito as well. Ryan walked over via the photocopier, holding a stack of paper with a triumphant look on his face.
"Autopsy report and results from ballistics. Case officially closed, at 5.37pm. We are homicide gods." Ryan announced around a mouthful of food, dumping the forms on Kate's desk and fist bumping with Esposito.
"We should celebrate with a drink." Castle said decisively.
"Because you worked so hard on the case, right Castle?" Beckett teased. He shrugged.
"I worked hard not to irritate you. Or we could have a drink to welcome your sister back to New York?" He suggested. Kate looked over to Cassie.
"It's up to you kid? If you're gonna crash on the bar, or wouldn't be caught hanging out with your sister and her work mates, just say uncle." Kate told her.
"I resent the implication that we aren't cool enough for a girl in her early twenties to hang out with" Ryan interjected.
"I don't know what she's talking about, bro. We are the life of the party." Esposito added on, before offering Ryan one of their patented high fives.
"That's cute, guys. Do you only paint each other's toenails when other people aren't around, or can anyone join in on the fun?" Cassie quipped with a grin. She looked over at Kate. "Katie, I'm so in. Even if it is only to watch a bromance unfold."
"You think that Lanie will let Alexis off the old ball and chain for tonight?" Kate asked Castle.
"Given the circumstances, I don't think Alexis would forgive us if we didn't invite her along." Castle answered as he tapped out a text to his daughter. Cassie picked up the container of oladi.
"Do you guys have a refrigerator I can stash these in? I'm dangerous if I'm home alone with these babies." She asked. Kate nodded, before scribbling out a note and taping it to the top of the box.
"Break room. Third door on the left." Cassie picked up the box, giggled at the note before trotting off. Kate looked over at Esposito.
"Hey Espo." She waited for him to respond. He eventually looked over at her.
"I see you checking out my sister's ass." She informed him. His slightly glazed eye expression didn't change.
"I think you should stop." She advised in a mock whisper. She suppressed a grin as she watched Esposito shake himself. Cassie returned in the room, and bent over to pick up her gigantic bag. She casually looped arms with Kate as they followed the group out of the Precinct, into a series of cabs to take them to the Old Haunt.
Reviews really would mean the world to me. Alternatively, I will accept Nathan Fillion with a ribbon around his neck. But reviews are good too... you know, whatever's easier.