a/n: it's a hint of Castle/Beckett. I tried to keep them as IC as possible, of course that was difficult. I threw in Haley, who's a character in my other story Love, Drugs and Good Alcohol, because I feel like she's someone Castle can relate to, or vice versa.
Disclaimer: Castle ain't mine. Beckett ain't mine either. Nor is Esposito. But Haley is.
Haley = my character, from Love, Drugs and Good Alcohol.
Reviews are appreciated!
Phone Lines At Midnight.
"…let's climb those fences that say don't." – Simple Things by Amy Kuney
Richard Castle sat in front of his computer, his eyes fixated on the blinking curser in the top left hand corner of his blank page. Frustrated, he threw his head back and began clicking his tongue. Where was his muse when he needed her?
It was sometime between one and three on a Sunday morning. His neck grew tired, and the clicking ceased, filling the room with an almost silence. The clock by the bookshelf ticked furiously, causing the tension in the dark cave-like room to increase.
Sighing, Castle held the space bar on his keyboard down, watching the curser glide smoothly down the white.
"I wish there was a word to solve all the world's problems…or at least mine." He thought to himself, spinning around in his chair. He allowed his thoughts to wander back to his muse…wondering what she would be doing right now. He brainstormed all the possibilities, but ultimately settled for the most plausible,
"Sl-eep-ing," his fingers flying across the keyboard as he said it. Resentful, he picked up the phone off his desk and dialed some numbers aimlessly.
"Hell-oh." A female voice picked up after the second ring, sounding rather perky despite the late hour, a hint of a British accent in her voice, even though Castle knew for a fact that she wasn't British.
"Haley?" His voice sounded scratchy compared to hers. He wondered how awkward it was to be calling a fifteen, sixteen year old girl in the middle of the night.
"Yeauh?" She replied, waiting for him to say something.
"If there was one word to solve all the world's problems what would it be?" He asked. He could here her laugh slightly.
"Luh-vah, like luh-vah li-fuh. Love going places. Love being you, saying the things you say, and the people around you." She replied, and he could already see her smiling.
Castle smiled too, "What are you doing up at this time? I should be scolding you!" He pretended to be angry.
"I just got home." She didn't hesitate to tell him that she had snuck out – yet again.
"What'd you do tonight?"
"Went swimming." She said, and he laughed, knowing that this girl loved life.
"Hey, is your…guardian…home?"
"Course she's home."
"Is she asleep?"
"She's on the phone…"
"Who's she on the phone with?" Castle was actually genuinely curious to see who his muse, inspiration, was talking to in the middle of the night.
"Donno!" Haley laughed, and tossed her hair back, and falling back onto the soft mattress.
"You think I'm wasting my life?" Castle asked spontaneously.
"Are you acting your age?" She responded with another question
"Well, I play guitar hero first thing in the morning, have ice cream for breakfast…check the closet for monsters…" He trailed off, joking on the last part.
"Well then I'd say you're doing fine, you know what I think?"
"What?"
"Find someone you love. You know how the purpose of life is to like make the world a better place? Well, love someone; teach 'em how to love life, teach 'em how to love every sunrise and sunset and every time they get a chance to smile. …and you're making the world a better place." She said, biting down on her lower lip. Castle was momentarily silent, letting his brain absorb the young girl's words.
"That was cheesy, Haley." He said, laughing.
"Yea-uh, but it's true." She said, cracking up on the other end.
"Seriously, who's Kate talking to?" He asked suddenly, causing Haley to roll her eyes.
In the room down the hall, Kate Beckett sat with a phone, twirling the cord of the phone between her fingers. She was lying on her stomach, one of her hands holding up her head, a clip in her hair to hold her bangs back.
"God…I can't sleep." She said over the phone.
"Where's Haley?" The masculine voice on the other end asked.
"I think she went swimming sometime at like midnight, but she's back, I heard her come in." Beckett shrugged her shoulders, even though she knew the other person obviously couldn't see her.
"K, if there's one word that could solve all the world's problems…what would it be." The man on the other line asked.
"I don't know, Esposito, I don't have time for games." She untangled the phone cord as she spoke.
"Beckett, you call me at like one in the morning and ask me why your life sucks, and I'm trying to help." Her friend rolled his eyes.
"Yeah…well maybe I visited my liquor cabinet before I made the call."
"Hm, Haley hasn't emptied it out yet?"
"She's a troubled teen, Esposito, not an alcoholic."
"She's not a troubled teen, she's swimming at two a.m in the morning, she's a girl who's trying to make the most out of her life, her situation, and maybe you should do the same. You know, count on someone once in awhile, instead of making them count on you."
She ignored some of the comments and asked rather sarcastically, "You want me to go swimming right now?"
"No. Why are you calling me, wait – I have the perfect idea. Hold up." The line went silent for a couple minutes, leaving Kate a combination of upset, frustrated and annoyed.
"What'd you do?" She asked, when the breathing on the other line indicated that he had come back on.
Castle sat spinning in his chair still, listening to her whine about school in two days. There was a 'beep' on the phone, and he knitted up his eyebrows, 'Who is trying to call me at this time.' He wondered to himself.
"Haley, I'm gonna keep you on the line and transfer the call to this line, but you gotta be silent okay and if I cough twice…hang up." He said, not waiting for her response.
"Castle." He answered, hoping that Haley wasn't going to burst out laughing right now.
"Esposito, what the hell?" Kate's voice rang through on the other line. Castle heard a slight chuckle before silence.
"Hey." Castle replied, pretending this was totally normal.
"Don't hang up, Beckett." Esposito said in response to Kate's comment.
"Would it be rude to hang up right now?" Kate asked.
"Yes." Esposito replied.
"Don't worry she wasn't going to hang up anyway." Castle said.
"How do you know that, Castle?" Kate asked back, agitated.
"Because you just asked that question, duh." He added the 'duh' jokingly.
"Oh my gosh, this is perfect!" Haley's voice suddenly took over the conversation.
"Haley?" Kate made the effort stretch her neck and look down the hallway.
"What's perfect?" Castle asked, directing his question at Haley.
"Go and make the world a better place, Castle." She said. There was a click on the phone, and Esposito, Beckett, and Castle knew that she had hung up without clarifying.
"She never seemed like the do-gooder type." Esposito said.
"This is insane. I'm going to sleep." Kate hit her head against her pillow.
"Beckett – make the best of your situation." Esposito said, and hung up without clarifying as well, leaving only Castle and Beckett on the line.
"Goodnight, Castle." Kate said, preparing to put or rather slam the phone down.
"Wait Beckett, you gotta help me make the world a better place." Castle said, smirking.
"What's that supposed to mean, Castle?" She put the phone back up to her ear unintentionally.
"Well you'll see. Please." He said. She sighed.
"How can I help you, Castle?"
"Tell me, Kate Beckett; do you 'luh-vah li-fuh…'?"