A/N: I saw another photo that reminded me of Beckett, and words started to form. Set during 4x11: "Till Death Do Us Part"
The photo in question is the cover art for this story. Three-shot.
Always The Bridesmaid
"Six?" Jenny repeated, her doe eyes flaring cartoon-wide. "Six times?" she said once more, whether in shock or disappointment or disbelief. It didn't get any better the more times she repeated the tally. It was a lot for anyone but seemed particularly excessive if you knew the no-nonsense homicide detective. The girly fuss, the giggling, the gowns and traditions seemed like something Kate Beckett would have nothing to do with, given any excuse.
"Yup. Still have a couple of dresses to prove it," Kate informed Jenny as she hugged her coffee to her chest.
She smiled when some related memory floated to the surface as she leaned back against the break room table beside her coworker's fiancé.
"Ugly?" Jenny asked, wrinkling her nose when Kate nodded in confirmation.
"Like you wouldn't believe." Beckett laughed. "Lemme see," she began, counting them off on her fingers. "First, there was the pea green prom dress. A color that looks good on no one let me tell you. Even my mom had to be honest about that one. 'Not your best look, Katie,' I remember her saying to me. Ugh, it was ugly! After that came Amber and the bubblegum sheath, followed by a yellow puffball that—"
Jenny burst out laughing and clapped her hands over her mouth. "Yellow?" she squealed. "No way!"
"Honestly," Kate promised. "Cross my heart. Made a great Halloween costume, though."
Jenny's brow knit into an adorable frown. "What did you go as?"
"A cheese puff."
Jenny collapsed against Kate's side, gasping through peels of laughter. "Cheetos?"
Kate nodded, amused by Jenny's near paralytic state. "Yeah. Me and the other bridesmaid, Sam. Ran into the bride at the party, too. Let's just say she wasn't amused."
"Great revenge, though."
The two women gradually began to sober and settle down, their laughter turning to weary sighs and silly grins. Jenny looked timid when she began to speak again, nervously twisting her fingers in her lap. "So…that horror show aside, and assuming you're not mentally scarred, would this be a good time to ask if you'd agree to be my bridesmaid?" Jenny lisped her question like the adorable, innocent bride-to-be she was and then she held her breath.
On hearing this request, Kate's heart began to beat in double-time. She sat up straight on her stool and turned to place her empty cup on the table behind her just to buy herself a moment's grace. She was too surprised by the out-of-the-blue invitation to immediately respond. But Jenny filled the silence with excitable, rapid-fire chatter anyway, giving Kate a little time to process.
"Look, Kate, I know it's short notice and it sounds really bad that you weren't my first choice. But you would totally be helping me out. Ellen's my oldest friend and she's tall and gorgeous, just like you."
Kate frowned. "So…what's the problem? Did you guys fall out?"
"There was falling involved," Jenny admitted. When Kate gave her a quizzical look she went on to elaborate. "Ellen fell off her horse at a gymkhana last weekend. Broke her leg. Now I'm a maid of honor down and the pictures are gonna look weird without her. So, I'm begging you, Kate. Please?" she asked, catching the detective further off guard by taking both of Kate's hands in her own. "Will you be my bridesmaid?"
"Wow!" was all Kate could think to say because this was not how she'd imagined Jenny and Kevin's wedding playing out for her. And she had imagined it plenty of times since the Ryans-to-be had set a date. She and Castle had been getting closer. Both the quality of their friendship and their flirting had jumped up a notch since they'd woken like sleeping lovers, cuffed to one another in that dingy basement. As a result, she had found herself imagining the wedding as a safe space and the perfect catalyst to explore what might come next for them, after the tiger so to speak.
Having an official role in the Ryan wedding had not been in Kate's plan at all.
Oblivious to the detective's inner monologue, Jenny carried on with the hard sell, words like triggers sending flashing images shooting through Kate's brain. They were disturbing scenarios for the things they brought to mind: bad memories and distant hopes alike.
"I promise, no ugly dresses this time," Jenny said as if reading her mind. "You can even choose your own. Kate, you have amazing taste. And I know Kevin would be really grateful, too."
"Kevin would be really grateful for what…exactly?" asked a deep, suggestive baritone.
The voice belonged to an amused-looking Richard Castle, who was lounging up against the doorjamb and had been there for goodness knows how long by the look of him. The weight he placed on the word 'exactly' and the tone he used, full of filthy insinuation that Kate was not prepared to take from him right now, got her back up. Not when she was still processing her own disappointment and feeling boxed into a corner by her love of and loyalty towards her friends.
"Were you eavesdropping?" she demanded, managing to wriggle her fingers out of Jenny's grasp to turn her best menacing stare and all of her frustration upon her partner.
Castle held up his hands as if in surrender. He immediately began the process of backing away. "Wouldn't dream of it."
"You were. You were eavesdropping on our private conversation," Kate accused him.
She got down from the table to poke her partner in the center of his chest. The manly expanse of muscle and bone was unyielding beneath Kate's finger prod, and this fact set a shiver of unbidden want coursing through her body. A flashback to the basement unleashed a shock to her core: a visceral memory of Castle's body draped over her back, her ass buried in the warmth of his pelvis as they did battle with that stupid chest freezer together, both grunting and panting like the soundtrack to a low-budget porno.
Castle reared back theatrically when she poked him. "Ow! That hurt." He clutched the front of his shirt like the faker he was.
"Did not," Kate scoffed, eye-rolling like it was an Olympic sport and she had the gold medal in her sights.
"Did too," the writer argued back, childish both of them.
On the sidelines, Jenny laughed, diffusing the tension a little or at least distracting them from their petty back and forth.
"You guys are so cute," she grinned. "You fight more than Kevin and I. Must be love," she teased, turning to give Castle the biggest, most unsubtle wink ever in the history of unsubtle winking.
Kate spluttered indignantly, while Castle only looked at his shoes. They both knew it was love, in their own ways they knew, but to have it said so plainly, so overtly into the open air of the precinct by someone less invested – at least not in the betting sense – was shocking and confusing and made for an awkward couple of seconds before Castle coughed, straightened his jacket and turned to leave the break room.
He nodded his head at each woman in turn, charm personified, though he failed to meet Kate's eye. "I'll leave you ladies to it. Sorry for the interruption," he apologized as he bowed out.
"What was that about?" Jenny asked as she and Kate watched Castle retreat to the bullpen, his head hanging just a little, shoulders rounded into a slump. "Is he okay? Did you guys have a fight? Is it something I said?" The poor girl looked distraught.
Possibly all of the above, Kate thought, deciding to keep this truth to herself. If only Jenny knew the relationship-interruptus her own fiancé had been party to over the years. Leave it to Ryan and Esposito and she and Castle would never get out of the starting blocks. Maybe Jenny was different.
"He's just…I don't know," Kate shrugged, staring at her hands. "Things are kind of…complicated between us. What with work and everything," she added for good measure as if this vague platitude made anything any clearer.
That their fates seemed roped together, that the universe was determined to launch them at one another in any and every way possible, including yoking them to one another with handcuffs. Well, she kept that to herself too. She watched Castle mope over by her desk, his heart heavy with something unknowable as he dumped his large body into his chair.
Kate finally turned away from this upsetting scene to offer Jenny a brave smile. Taking her hands, she nodded. "I would be honored to be your bridesmaid. And I'm happy for you to choose the dress. I trust you."
Jenny hadn't missed the catalyst for Kate's magnanimous decision. Castle looked thoroughly dejected. But then weddings were supposed to be romantic affairs. Maybe this was exactly what her friends needed to finally push them over the line. She squealed and clapped her hands, jumping up and down on the spot with excitement. "You won't be sorry," she promised Kate, tugging her into a surprisingly fierce and grateful hug.
The relief in Jenny's eyes, the sheer happiness and sweet gratitude was enough to make Kate believe that she could make this work. For everyone's sake, she would make this work. But she flinched over Jenny's shoulder at the look of hurt she saw flash across Castle's face when he turned at the sound of Jenny's noisy celebration to find the two women hugging.
Another plan down the tubes, Castle thought, rising from his chair to leave. As he waited by the elevator, he began to wonder if it wasn't time to give up on his dream altogether.
Thank you for reading.