Disclaimer: I see this with every story so in an effort to avoid being sued for the very few things I do own I will say that I do not own Castle. I know you are shocked but it's true.
Mayor's Favor
Kate slams the car door and leans back against the car, taking a deep breath before she addresses her partner. The ride to their destination had been tense at best. She didn't sign up for this. She knew from the minute he weaseled his way onto the squad that his fame would cause her problems. She was almost surprised something like this hadn't happened before but she was still irritated. She turns and looks across the top of the car at her partner. Castle had been waiting silently knowing that it would be up to her to break the awkward silence. His few pathetic attempts at it in the car had been painfully shot down. One more deep breath and Kate says, "Let's get this over with." Castle, wisely, remains silent as they walk down the long breezeway into the building.
Upon entering the building they follow the signs to the reception area. As they approach the receptionist the phone begins to ring. The receptionist holds up a finger in acknowledgement of their presence and as a way of silently asking them to wait. Kate looks at Castle and rolls her eyes. This day was frustrating enough without having to wait. The receptionist answers the phone. "Castle Hill Middle School…" Castle smiles at Kate as he hears the name of the school but she ignores him as she continues listening to the receptionist. "I'm sorry Mr. McDowell isn't in right now but I can transfer you to his voicemail…No, I didn't realize his voicemail was full…I will leave him a message to return your call…Your name and number please…Thank you, Mrs. Etters."
Kate examines the receptionist's name plate. Mrs. Smith. It seemed like the perfect generic name for a school receptionist and Kate idly wanders exactly how many Mrs. Smith's there were answering school phones at that very moment. The receptionist hangs up and looks at Kate and Castle. She smiles as she asks, "How may I help you?" Kate answers, "I am Detective Kate Beckett and this is Richard Castle we are here to see Mr. McDowell but since he isn't in we will wait." The receptionist looks sheepish as she explains, "Mr. McDowell is in but he isn't taking parent phone calls this morning…or any mornings." She chuckles at some sort of inside joke within the school. Looking up she notices the serious look on Kate's face and sobers suddenly, "He isn't…he isn't in any kind of trouble is he?" It takes Kate a minute to remember that this wasn't an ordinary day. They weren't here to interrogate a suspect. They were here to serve as guest speakers in a sixth grade classroom. She really was in hell. "No ma'am, we are guest speakers for Mr. McDowell's class today." The secretary immediately picks up the phone and calls Mr. McDowell to tell him that his guests have arrived. After she hangs up from speaking with him she hands Kate and Castle a book to sign in. She then fills out two visitor's passes for them. She looks hesitantly at Kate before she speaks again. "Um…would you like to check your gun in with our school's resource officer?" Kate looks at her incredulously, "No, I will keep my weapon with me." The secretary chuckles again, "Just try not to shoot any of them."
Mr. McDowell walks into the office and Kate is immediately struck by his youth. She knew that the Mayor's nephew wasn't very old but he seemed almost too young to be teaching. He had short cropped hair but a handsome face. He was exactly the kind of teacher that young girls had a major crush on and young boys wanted to be like when they grew up. He was dressed in khakis and a polo shirt with tennis shoes. All of this added to his youthful appearance. As Kate looked at him more closely she realized he was probably in his early 30's and maybe even a little older than she was. Kate gave a cursory glance at the ring finger of Mr. McDowell's left hand and found it bare. It had become a habit that she wasn't exactly sure when it started. She wondered just how many single women did the same thing upon meeting a new man. "Detective Beckett. Mr. Castle. Hi, I'm John McDowell. You can call me John or Mr. McDowell. The faculty all refer to each other by last name here. It is just more convenient when referring to each other around the kids. I don't even know the first names of half the people here. I want to thank you both for this. I really appreciate you coming in today." Kate spoke up for her and Castle, "We're happy we could come in today Mr. McDowell. We have never had the opportunity to speak to students before." Kate hated to lie but what do you say? 'Mr. Castle plays poker with your uncle and somehow I was roped into doing this stupid thing. I'd much rather be standing over a dead body right now.'
Mr. McDowell looked at Mrs. Smith who motioned him over, probably to give him the phone message. "If you guys will excuse me for a minute I need to see what Mrs. Smith has for me." Kate took this opportunity to look around the lobby of the school. It was very clean but empty of everything except for a few plastic plants. It had a chlorine-like smell, almost like the area around an indoor pool. It was not at all like she expected and certainly nothing like her own private school had been like as a child. She would expect a school to be warm and welcoming but this place was really kind of depressing. She wondered why they didn't have a trophy case or anything else you would expect to see in the lobby of a school.
Mr. McDowell joined them and looked around the lobby as if seeing it for the first time. He seemed to have read her mind as he said, "They can't put anything much out here. The kids steal it all." He looked at them and shrugged as if to say he didn't really understand it either. "My first day here I was excited. I thought they had a pool because of the smell. Turns out that kids this age require copious amounts of disinfectant to kill their abundance of germs." Kate couldn't help but notice that he had a different accent than most New Yorkers. She decided to ask, "Where are you from? You certainly don't sound like a New Yorker." She smiled at him to let him know that this wasn't meant as an insult. Mr. McDowell chuckled and said, "I guess I do kinda stick out like a sore thumb around here. I was born and raised in North Carolina. Teachers don't make much there and my uncle encouraged me to come here to teach. It has definitely been a culture shock but I really do like it here."
Castle couldn't help but notice the sparkle in Mr. McDowell's eye when he saw Kate. He couldn't blame the man but he found that it irritated him beyond all reason. Because of this Castle found that he instantly disliked this man. This was neither the time nor the place to be hitting on a woman. He noticed McDowell glancing at Beckett's left ring finger and he knew he had to do something. He stepped behind Kate and put his hand on her lower back before looking McDowell in the eye. He leveled him with a stern gaze in order to show McDowell that despite the fact that her ring finger was bare she was off limits. Instead of backing down as most men would do, McDowell turned to Kate and smiled as he lightly touched her arm. "Detective Beckett, come on and I'll show you to my classroom." He deliberately added, as if an afterthought, "You too Mr. Castle." Castle rolled his eyes in true Kate fashion before following them through the lobby and down a hall lined with red lockers. Castle sighed knowing that today was going to be a long day and he would not let this weasel try to win Beckett over. He hadn't made a profession of his true feelings to her but he knew in this moment that if he didn't soon this weasel or another one was going to take her from him. He couldn't live with that.
A/N This is my first story. I have been an avid reader and love to write so I thought...
I plan for it to be several chapters. Please review and let me know what you think. It would mean a lot to me.
Special thanks to my sister Hannah Smedley! She is my inspiration and mentor in this writing process. She is my hero in life:)