The Chair
Arriving at the precinct, Rick was quickly comforted by the sights and sounds of the
familiar. He had just returned from a two week book tour where nameless faces,
numerous flights and drab lonely hotels had taken their toll. It was good to be home.
He approached Kate's desk and stood there in utter disbelief.
"Where's my chair?"
"Good morning to you too." Kate replied.
"Where's my chair?" He demanded again without acknowledging her greeting.
"Where's my coffee?" She demanded.
His brow furrowed and he finally looked her in the eye as he handed over her coffee.
"I was coming back. I mean, I am back. I was only gone on a book tour. You knew that.
I told you, didn't I tell you?"
"Relax Castle, it's not what you think."
"Well then, what is it? What happened to my chair?"
"I think I'll let Esposito explain it to you." She looked across the bullpen to his desk.
He was engrossed in his computer and he hadn't noticed Castles arrival. "Yo! Esposito!" She yelled.
Castle watched as Esposito's look of surprise turned into an awkward smile as he rose from
his chair and made his way over.
'Hey bro, how was your book tour?" He jovially patted the writer's arm trying to lighten his
mood, but noticed that the scowl never left Castle's face.
"What happened to my chair?"
"It, um…well it kinda, there was this…"
Castle moved in closer. "Spill it, detective."
"Adrunkguypeedinyourchair" He blurted out to quick for anyone to understand.
"A what?"
Esposito took a step back before repeating slowly. "A drunk guy peed in your chair."
"What! How the hell did that happen?"
Kate filled in the blanks.
"Swifty here brought in a suspect on last weeks case that was three sheets to the wind and
he had the brilliant idea to try and question him instead of throwing him into the drunk tank
to sober up first…which is standard procedure." She glared at Esposito as she said this. "So
he parks the man in your chair while he checks on an available interview room and when he
returns he finds the guy peeing in your chair."
"You should have seen it." Ryan butted in. He wasn't about to miss this conversation and had
quietly snuck up on the group. "The guy must have just finished off a six pack, cause I swear
to god he flooded half the bullpen, good thing Beckett wasn't here at the time or she'd of
probably had Esposito back on patrol." Ryan laughed, but his partner just glared at him till he
cut his laughter short.
"What am I gonna' do about my chair?"
"I had maintenance save it out back," Esposito piped up. "You know, in case you wanted to have
it reupholstered."
"You've got to be kiddin, right? It'll be the joke of the bullpen. Hey Castle, how do you flush that
thing? What's the matter Castle, you look pissed. Or, I'll come in one day and I'll find a roll of toilet
paper attached to the armrest or maybe one of those disposable paper toilet covers lying in the seat.
Closing his eyes he pinched the bridge of his nose, shook his head, and let out a frustrated sigh. "All
I wanted today was a little normalcy after jetting around the country for two weeks but what do I get
instead? I get home to find my world turned upside down."
Kate laughed at his melodrama. "Come on Castle, lighten up. It's just a chair."
"It was more than a chair." His tone and his face became serious. "It was my place here. It's all I had."
He reached over to the front of her desk. "It's not like I have a desk with my name on it like you guys."
He picked up her nameplate and began waving it at them. "How do you think you would feel if you went
on vacation for two weeks and then came back to find your desk gone? I know how you would feel. You
would feel like you'd just woken up in an alternate reality and discovered that you never existed. That's
how you'd feel because that's how I feel. Your desk is more than just a desk, it's your home away from
home; it defines who you are at work."
Kate leaned forward in her chair and snatched her flailing nameplate from is hand.
"Forget it Castle, you're not getting a desk. In this reality you can either have maintenance bring you
another chair or you can go buy one. In the mean time, borrow one and sit down because we've got
work to do." She cut her eyes at Ryan and Esposito and it sent them hurrying back to their desks.
Castle made a point of sauntering after Esposito and removing the chair that sat next to his desk.
He let its legs drag across the bullpens linoleum floor with a high pitched squeal before setting it
next to Kate's desk.
"Happy now?" She asked.
"No," he replied, squirming in the unfamiliar seat.
…..
One week later, Kate arrived at work to find a pair of legs sticking out from under her desk.
"Castle?"
"One sec…almost done…there!"
Wiggling out from under her desk he sat up quickly and Kate winced as his head banged against the
underside.
"Ow!" Grabbing his head he stood up, albeit a little wobbly and leaned against her desk for support.
"That's gotta hurt," She remarked.
"Yeah, I might have a concussion." His plea for sympathy fell flat.
"Excuse me," was all she said in reply as he was blocking access to her desk.
He moved to the right and she pulled open the bottom drawer and dropped her purse inside. She
closed it with push of her foot. Grabbing her office chair that had been pushed aside, she rolled it
back into place and sank down onto its institutional grey upholstery. She looked over at Castle and
found him engrossed in rubbing the new lump on his head.
"So, do I even want to know what you were doing under my desk?"
He stopped rubbing his head to answer her question. "I was putting in a new surge protector."
"What was wrong with the one I had?"
"It didn't have enough receptacles."
"Enough for what?"
"You'll see." He gave her a knowing smile and left it at that. "Oh, now that you're here, there's
something I have to do. I'll be right back." Kate watched as he headed towards the elevator and
she could only sit and wonder what he was up to.
Twenty minutes later, give or take, he returned…with her morning cup of coffee. She was surprised
when that was all he retuned with, but she accepted it without asking any questions. He paced
beside her desk as she sipped her morning manna. Five minutes later, she'd had enough.
"Would you light somewhere? Where's the chair you took from Esposito?"
"I put it back."
"Well then go sit in it…preferably over there." She nodded towards his desk.
"Fine."
He knew it was best to leave her alone till the first cup kicked in so he spent the better part of the
morning talking trash with the guys. It was about ten a.m. when his attention was drawn to the
elevator. A deliveryman exited wheeling a dolly with a large box into the bullpen. Jumping up from
his seat, he hurried over to the man and directed him to where he needed to go. When the dolly
clanged to a stop next to Kate's desk she looked up in surprise.
"What is this?"
Bringing up the rear, Castle passed around the delivery man, sidled up to the box and placed his
hand on top.
"This…" he paused for the imaginary trumpets that played in his head "…is my new chair!"
He could barely contain his excitement and fumbled with his wallet as he pulled out a twenty to tip
the man. The noise and the box had Ryan and Esposito hurrying over to her desk.
"What did you get us this time Castle? One of those theatre popcorn machines for the break room?"
Ryan asked.
'I didn't get you anything. This is all for me."
He pulled a penknife out of his pocket and proceeded to cut away the thin plastic bands that were
holding the longer top box to the shorter base. Lifting off the top revealed the basic shape of the
chair but it was covered in layers of protective paper and bubble wrap. He knelt down and cut away
some more plastic bands that were holding the chair to the thick cardboard base. Once free, he
picked up the chair and set it on the floor. His audience could only watch and wait as he dragged
the empty cardboard boxes away from Kate's desk and parked them in an out of the way corner.
Returning to the chair, he made quick work of removing the paper and bubble wrap. He removed
all but the paper that covered the back of the chair.
"Come here." He ushered the gang in a group to face the chair. "You are gonna love this!" He ripped
away the remaining bits of paper to reveal upholstery that mimicked his bullet proof vest. It was a
durably constructed deep blue fabric and it had the word WRITER boldly stitched across the back in
thick white letters. "What do you think?"
Nobody had any comments on the similarities. They were too busy asking questions about the odd
pieces hanging from, sticking out of, or attached to the chair.
Ryan was the first one at the chair. "What is this for?" He asked, holding up a cord that dangled
from beneath.
"What's that lever for?" Esposito pointed to the right side.
"And what is that attached to the other side?" Kate asked.
He was somewhat disappointed at their lack of reaction to the upholstery work, but he was eager to
answer all their questions.
"Give me a second and I'll demonstrate." He reached over and took the cord from Ryan's hand.
"I've never seen a chair that had to be demonstrated before." Ryan commented.
"This isn't just any chair. It's a one of a kind chair custom made to my specifications. It has everything
I could need while I'm working here."
"Working?" Kate crossed her arms and snickered.
Hey!…I contribute," he hastily replied as brushed off their snickers. He moved Kate's chair out of the
way again and crawled back under her desk. His hand snaked out from under the desk as he passed
the cord back around the left front leg and pulled it back under the left side. More cord played out
from under the chair as he pulled it further under the desk. When he had enough cord, he plugged
it in to the new power strip and crawled back out, making sure he was clear before he stood up this
time. As he stood, he discovered Ryan sitting in the chair.
"Man, this thing is comfortable."
"It should be, it's padded with a top of the line memory foam." Ryan began bouncing up and down.
"So move it…," He glared at the bouncing detective. "…before it starts memorizing your ass instead
of mine." Ryan leapt up out of the seat and returned to the safety of his co-workers.
Settling into his new chair he rolled it away from her desk.
"Did you notice the retractable power cord? It extends and retracts automatically so there's no excess
cord piled up on the floor." He scooted back towards her desk and the cord retracted.
"So what's it for?" Esposito asked.
'It controls two features." He lifted up the hinged right armrest to reveal several buttons and a switch.
"The switch controls the casters. They can be free wheeling, like they are now, or you can lock them in
place." He pushed the switch and a slight clicking sound was heard. He then tried to roll the chair, but
it wouldn't budge.
"Nice," Esposito commented. "What are the other buttons for?"
"For this." He pushed one and sat back with a big smile on his face.
"What did it do?"
"Touch the chair."
Esposito put his hand on the armrest.
"Oh man, that is so cool."
Ryan moved in and touched the chair. His eyes flew wide. "It vibrates!"
"It what?" Kate reached out and also touched the chair. She could feel it vibrate through her fingers
and up her arm. Letting go, she stood back and shook her head in disbelief.
"And check this out." He pulled out the small lever just under the right side of the seat. It released
a hinged plate which allowed the chair to rock.
"What is this Castle, your version of "Pimp My Ride"?"
"Do you realize how much time I spend in my chair? I think some degree of comfort is in order.
Especially after the three years I spent sitting on that government issued brick."
She rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. "Ok, Pimp Daddy; let's wrap this show up before
I have to arrest you."
"For what?" He protested.
"Interfering with a police investigation. In case you've forgotten, we've got work to do."
"Fuh…nee!" He smirked. "So, the final feature of the chair…"
"Thank god." She muttered.
He glared at her and she threw her hands up in mock surrender.
"The final feature is this." He pulled up on a square rigid surface that was mounted on a hinged
metal arm attached to the left side of the chair. It swung up and over his lap becoming an instant
table top. "It's a desk!" He beamed proudly.
The guys nodded appreciatively, but Kate couldn't help but bust his bubble.
"Come on Castle, having a table top doesn't make it a desk."
"No," he smiled up at her. "But this does."
He pulled out a six inch long angled strip of metal from his breast pocket and set it on the edge
of his "desk." It was a black and gold nameplate emblazoned with the word CASTLE.
