Number 10
I will re state the rules
I do not own any part of Castle. Others do
My stories are AU. Completely AU. This series has traveled so afar from the canon
My time line does not agree with the show, so no remarks about time not following show. This sequence never has
Now. This story
Rick and Kate have been married for many years and still are very much in love. I think a couple can do this if they want
There is a murder, of course.
Now let's see who is killed and who is the first suspect
Starting in the Hamptons
She startles awake because of a dream she is having.
She is standing in the precinct, at her desk, watching Richard Castle walking off the floor toward the elevator, carrying a large box for and leaving with the actress, Natalie Rhodes, who has been cast to play Nikki Heat in the upcoming movie about the fictitious detective of the same name.
The woman had just come into the conference room dressed almost identical to the real Nikki, slash, Katherine Beckett and proudly announced her desire to replace Beckett in the life of Richard Castle and do a little late night research into the character.
When Kate hears the noise of a box being dropped and witnessing Natalie shoving her partner inti the wall and pressing herself into him, she feels the green-eyed monster flare in her belly and knows it's time to do something about this situation
As the doors start to close, she runs, yelling in the direction of the pair, toward the elevator only to miss as the doors close and finds herself falling down the shaft.
Instead of crashing to her death at the bottom of the pit, she wakes up with a start.
Her sudden movement draws the attention of her husband who turns over, runs his arm around her, and pulls her into his chest "Don't get up yet. Stay in bed"
His deep soft voice brings her to return to present day and her marriage and not to the nightmare she just experienced. His warm body and loving arm around her is all it takes to assure her continued presence and she will stay exactly where she is, especially as his arm begins to roam across the front of her body making sure she will definitely stay in this bed. At least for the next thirty minutes or so.
The next time she awakes, the sun is creeping up and she rises from the warmth of the bed. Throwing on a robe to cover her body, she moves quietly to the kitchen and begins to make a pot of coffee. Waiting for the brewer to finish, she decides that she will wait for him to get up before starting breakfast so it will not be cold when he makes his appearance
She is alone for the better part of an hour before he joins her in the den where she is standing, looking out the sliding glass doors overlooking the back yard and the beach a few yards away
She feels him more than hears him as he approaches. Her sensitivity of his presence becomes keener with each passing day
His arms slip around her as he moves directly to her back "Good morning, beautiful" he leans down kissing her on the neck
"Hum" softly leaves her lips "good morning yourself, babe"
"What are you doing?" he questions while looking over her shoulder at the coffee cup in her hand and the obvious gentle look on her face like she has been thinking nice
Shaking her head no. but he does not accept her answer.
"I know you too well. What is happening?"
Another noise leaves her throat "Sometimes I just think about how much I have"
"Have?" his question is very open
She leans her head back beside his "Alexis, Jimmy, Alicia…this house…the loft…your mother…" she turns to face Castle
"You" and her smile is gentle and soft
"I'm the one who is blessed. You are my wife and mother of those children, my inspiration, my partner, and the love of my life"
After a brief moment of silence, he finally remarks "what brought this on?"
"Nothing" she quietly responds
"This is not nothing…did something happen?"
"It's silly"
"What's silly? What happened?"
"I just had a dream"
"A dream?"
"I told you it was silly"
"If you had a dream and it made you melancholy, then it must have been a doozy"
"It was just one of our many missed moments from our past" She wraps her long arms around him "and reminds me how long I have loved you. Long before we admitted it to ourselves" she leans in and kisses her husband and before either one realizes, the connection becomes very intimate. His hands begin dropping from her sides to the flare of her hips then he drops them lower and lower causing a soft sound to leave her throat. She pulls back from his face a tiny amount "You ready for round two?"
Thirty minutes later the two are working on making breakfast. Rick watches his wife move around the room as the meal is prepared, recalling his prior statement of how lucky he is
They finish breakfast and he tells Kate he really needs to get a few pages ready for submission or, as he puts it, "Gina will come after me"
With that remark, Kate remarks "well, she missed her chance and you are all mine" thinking about others that wanted him as well "go get you pages done"
Castle moves to his study and Kate gets dressed. When she returns to the home office, Rick is typing away, creating another tale of murder and mayhem from his mind
"Hey, babe…I am going into town to get a couple of things"
"Hurry back" he responds without even looking up
She leans down and kisses him and heads out the door
In the car, Kate travels down the main boulevard and stops at a store she has shopped at many times in the past, Karen's Apparel
As the door chime announces Kate's entrance the owner, Karen, looks up from her stocking a shelf "Hey, Kate! How are you?"
"Great Karen"
"How is that husband of yours? Or should I assume your trip here today is to guarantee that he is doing very well and will be continuing in that condition?"
Kate lets out a chuckle "Well, you know how it is? Keep them interested at home and they never stray"
"So very true. In fact this shop exists on that very premise" she points around at selection of items designed to keep the home fires burning "What do you need today, Kate?"
"Rick and I leave later today to go back to the city and I want to tell him I came here to get something and that alone will just get him wondering what I might have bought"
Karen laughs at that remark "Kate, did anyone tell you that you are a tease?"
"Yes. My husband on several occasions before we got married and repeatedly since"
Kate looks around and selects a couple of very enticing items to add to her lingerie drawer. As she is checking out Karen comments again "You two are heading back home later then?"
"Yeah. I need to go back to the office in the morning and Rick has a planning meeting to schedule another book tour later this month"
Karen seems to be thinking "If memory serves me right, you and Rick have been here at least once a month lately"
"Yes. We make sure to reserve some alone time…you know just him and me." She pauses as if thinking "alone time that we use to, as you put it, keep the home fire burning. Martha or my dad share or trade off keeping the kids giving Castle an me some privacy. So we come here. It is a romantic place and we use it to the best of our ability…that is until the world comes crashing back on us…"
Just as Kate makes the remark, her cell phone rings. The caller id is Esposito
Knowing that Espo will not be calling unless it is really important such as someone is hurt or a case has come up that requires her attention
Placing the phone to her ear "Hey Espo…what's up?"
Kate listens for a minute and her face can be seen falling as if some extremely tragic news is being delivered
Kate grabs her bag and rushes to the door and before Karen can even ask what happened, Beckett is in the car and pulling back out to the road home
Castle is concerned when he hears the sires of the Mercedes sliding on the drive outside. He rises from the desk and is approaching the front door when his wife bursts through then entry
"Kate! What's wrong?"
"We have to get back to the city…right now!"
Rick takes her shoulders to stop her rapid forward motion "Kate! Did something happen to one of the children? Or your dad or my mother?"
She stops in her tracks "No our family is great. They are all OK. It's just Lanie"
"Lanie? What happened to Lanie?"
"She's been arrested for murder!"