Richard Castle was a deadman.
He didn't get it, he just couldn't keep her out of things involving his book. Yes, she inspired him to write Nikki Heat, but she didn't want everyone in the whole world to be reminded of that fact every time Castle did a goddam interview.
Kate sighed, picked the remote up off the coffee table and pushed the power button. The room dropped into darkness with a soft pop and she pulled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms across them. She stared into the faded darkness, her mind wandering. A sick feeling was beginning to well in the bottom of her stomach and she swallowed hard.
Tomorrow should be fun. Her co-workers gave her a hard enough time about the book, but now suspects were doing it too. Everyone seemed to know that Kate Beckett and Nikki Heat were linked. Hell, she couldn't even go out for a coffee without someone recognizing her. She hated it. Castle knew it bothered her, but he just seemed to get a kick out of it.
"Detective Beckett loves Nikki. In fact, I think she's acting a bit more like Nikki as of late."
That little line got quite a few laughs from the crowd and Kate's cheeks burned. Now she was trying to act like the fictional character? Did he not get how insulting that was? He'd be tortured before he died she decided. She'd make it as painful as she possibly could.
She couldn't sit anymore, and her throat felt dry so she made her way to the kitchen in the dark, her bare feet slapping on the hardwood floor. Going to the fridge she pulled out the milk before getting a glass and filling it halfway.
Leaning against the sink she looked back at the blank TV as it reflected the dim light coming from the windows behind her. She took a sip of her milk and swallowed hard, remembering that stupid grin he had on his face when the audience started to laugh. He was having a grand time, and at her expense. Her jaw tighten at the thought.
Did he really need everyone to know that he based his slutty detective on a real person? Kate was so tired of explaining that it was fiction and that she didn't act like that in real life, but no one seemed to believe her. She gagged as she remembered having to explain that to her dad after the first book came out and her stomach sank as the memory flooded back:
"No dad, I don't have a trainer like—what? DAD! No, I'm not sleeping with Castle… just, stop. Please, just stop. No! Good god no. I know dad and I have had—right, sorry. It's fiction, a product of Castle's overactive imagina—god I hope he doesn't fantasize about me and him. Dad… dad I'm hanging up—"
She sat the glass on the counter and wiped her hands down her face. Why did this have to happen to her? Didn't she suffer enough already? The whole Nikki thing just started to die down and then he had to come out with another book. It was worse than when the first one came out, Nikki was even more popular in Naked Heat than in Heat wave.
Damn him.
The muscles in her face trembled as she tried not to get upset. She had liked Heat Wave, and she enjoyed the copy of Naked Heat he had given her (it was probably one of his best books in her opinion), she just wished he took her feelings into account more. Failing that, she wanted him to leave her out of his interviews. Her reputation had already taken a hit after the first book and she was sure the second would do the same.
She dumped the rest of the milk out into the sink and took a glance out her window. A tree full of multicolored leaves greeted her in the night, back lit by passing traffic. She was overacting she realized, but knowing that didn't seem to matter. He just left. After all the trouble and pain that he caused he just up and left. She shook her head, no point in thinking about that now and banned the thoughts from her head while she rinsed out the glass.
She dried the glass and played with the idea of getting another shower when her cell phone rang. She glanced up to the blue LED clock on the microwave: 12:45. Well, good thing she wasn't tired.
Jutting her hip out to miss the counter she walked from the kitchen and snatched her phone up from the small table by her couch. The Caller ID said Castle. She mumbled a curse as she hit the answer button.
"Beckett," she said, and didn't try to hide that she wasn't happy.
"Hey, did you see the interview?"
"What interview?" Silence came from the other side of the phone and for a moment she thought he hung up. That would be a blessing.
"The interview I told you about this morning. You said you'd watch it."
"I said I'd try to. Don't put words in my mouth."
"You're upset."
Duh, what did you expect, jackass? Is what she wanted to say but she bit it back. "I'm not."
"You are."
"Castle, if you don't stop I will be upset and then we'll have a problem."
"Except that we already have a problem and you are upset. Is it something I did?"
She rolled her eyes. "I'm not upset, Castle."
"You did watch the interview, what did I say that was so wrong?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the part where you freaking tell half the country that I'm trying to be more slutty and act like Nikki Heat?"
He stuttered for a moment and it made her smile. "I said no such thing, Beckett."
"You implied it, Castle. Not everyone is as dense as you are." She moved to her couch and sat down, folding her legs beneath her. "Why do you keep bringing me into your stupid interviews anyway?"
"I—I thought you'd be happy that I mentioned you as the inspiration. You're basically famous."
"What the hell makes you think I want to be famous and famous for a slutty detective at that?"
"She isn't slutty."
"She sleeps with her instructor just to get her heart rate up. She sleeps with Rook even while he's being annoying and childish… by the way nice projection there. Oh, and on top of that, in Naked Heat, you have her sleep with Rook over and over and—"
"What is your problem?"
"Nothing. Look I'm tired and I have work tomorrow, unlike some people. Night, Castle."
"Bec—" She hit the end call button and looked at the screen of her phone. Was that too harsh? No, he deserved so much worse, and he might just get it if he had an attitude tomorrow, and knowing Castle he probably would. She sat her phone down beside her, feeling suddenly tired. The anger, now somewhat dispelled by the talk with Castle, was no longer fueling her and sleep seemed to be taking its chance.
She leaned back into the couch, her eyelids growing heavier by the second and her vision cut in half. It'd be so easy to close them and fall asleep, in fact she'd do just that. A few hours and she'd be better; she'd be able to see clearly.
Her cell rang next to her and she jerked awake.
"Castle, I swear to God…" She mumbled rubbing her eyes before she reached down for the phone. Esposito's name played across the green bar in bold letters. She drew her lips into a thin line and brought the phone to her ear.
"Beckett. Where? Okay, I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Right." She hung up and paused before getting up to get dressed. Should she call Castle? No, screw him. He was the last person she wanted to see at the moment.
She put the phone back on its charger and went to get dressed
