What if Castle hadn't left Beckett's house in Tick, Tick, Tick/Boom? What if it had happened differently?
"All of this is my fault," the detective says, dropping her soot covered forehead into her equally filthy hands. She felt a hand gently rest itself upon her shoulder and she looked up to see her co-worker's concerned, but questioning gaze.
When Beckett didn't answer right away, Ryan spoke up, trying to catch her gaze by leaning down. "Becks, how is any of this your fault?"
"I didn't try hard enough," she bit her lip, looking away from his familiar blue eyes, choosing to look at the ground instead, before continuing, "he told me that he wouldn't leave me alone because that damn serial killer is after me. I should've told him to leave and that I could take care of myself."
XxXxXxXxX
"Castle, I don't understand why you don't just leave already." She stands by the doorway, still clothed in the attire she had worn all day at the precinct, and then at the market, where Castle had dragged her to, insisting that she needed to rid of the 'Styrofoam temple' above her fridge. Watching him put away the groceries, she felt an odd sense of domestication and…home; something she hadn't felt in a long time.
"Because I'm here to make sure you don't starve to death, among other things." Castle pokes his head out from behind the fridge door and smiles at her look of petulance.
"I'm the one with the gun, and yet, YOU'RE the one protecting me?" Beckett feels her lips twitch upward at his joking glare he sends her way as he shuts her fridge door, finished with the groceries, then pulling out a bottle of wine from the paper bag, pouring them both a glass.
"Maybe I'm so ruggedly handsome that no one will try to hurt you anymore, swooning over my manliness." His voice and face kept the sincerity and seriousness for all of two seconds before they both started laughing at his statement.
"Keep dreaming, Castle." She rolls her eyes and takes a sip of the proffered glass, setting it down on the table before her before speaking once again. "I'm going to shower. Remember what I sa-"
"Yeah, yeah. You have a gun." Castle speaks in a high, mocking tone, fluttering his eyes as he goes back to sit on the couch. She smacks him on the shoulder lightly as he passes her, watching as he sits down on her couch, making himself at home. Shaking off the domestic feeling once again, she makes her way into the back room.
After scrubbing her body, she heard Castle yelling for her from the living room. Rolling her eyes, she immediately thought that he was playing the role of the 'boy who cried wolf' to annoy her.
"Beckett!" His voice was muffled through the door. "Kate!"
"What, Castle?" Her voice clearly relayed her annoyance at his insistent yells.
"It wasn't Ben Conrad! He wasn't the killer; the killer's still alive!" Her eyes widened, as did his behind the door as they both heard the muffled, yet clear recording coming from somewhere in the apartment.
"Goodbye, Nikki."
Short, but just a little teaser of what may come up next if I get a good turnout for this little part :) Let me know what you think should happen and what I can do to improve it!
Thanks for reading,
Lona