A/N: I'd like to thank Devon for saying "you don't suck, people will read it" and for nagging me to send her the first draft.
Disclaimer: Castle isn't mine and nor are any characters you recognise. Characters with names like "Gorilla hands" and "the tree-trunk twins" are, and I have no regrets.
The first time I met her was in an abandoned scrapyard.
When I think about it everywhere I saw her was waiting to be taken in the same way.
There was the school no one cared about; where we sat counting hours in plastic chairs scrawled with someone else's name; and later I followed her to the caravan they'd all forgotten. The living-room still decorated with faded photographs and waiting to be wiped out with the forest that grew around it, that'd be a hotel in a few years time.
The last place was her home; the place they tore down when she wasn't looking.
We watched them all fade. Caught up on newspaper articles and silent trips back to our hometown. But the thing we didn't see stolen was the most important thing of all: our innocence. Our hope that we'd discover the world the way we imagined it, that she'd be a lawyer, and I'd be happy with anyone other than her; like I told her one day when I was too angry to realise that everything we had was temporary.
The first time we met I didn't realise the importance of our meeting at a scrapyard, a scrapyard which had in fact been full with the same 200 cars for as long as I could remember. I don't think it would've made much difference if I'd known, except that maybe I would've pointed it out to Beckett who would've rolled her eyes and called me a nerd. Years later I could hear her biting back the words, when she sat smiling over Chinese and the case we never solved; hating me a little for making her feel so ridiculously happy.
Still, looking back I wish I'd known when I looked around with that oblivious confidence that this was one of the most important days of my life, maybe then I'd have thought of something better to say than "do you come here often?" Which, considering I'd walked past the scrapyard about a hundred times on my way to the last school I'd been excused from, was a pretty stupid question to ask.
She'd raised her eyebrows, so high they were in danger of leaving her face, and said "yeah. Which is why I know you walk past every single day."
Kate Beckett was tall even in converse thinly-soled with wear; had an air of sophistication and age clad in ripped jeans and a worn leather jacket. Even now I blame my complete lack of any of these things on her natural grasp of them.
"Noticed me have you?"
At that point a guy who I have always remembered as Gorilla Hands had started to approach us, "you're Richard Rogers, right? I heard you've been expelled from every private school in this area."
Beckett looked almost impressed at this news, taking in my expensive clothing and carefully gelled hair through narrowed eyes.
"You've heard correctly."
Gorilla Hands grunted, crossed his wide arms and turned to bellow something at the cluster of teenagers a stood few paces from us, a short guy with a black-smudged face joined us, "this here is Ricky-"
"Actually I prefer-" Gorilla Hands narrowed his eyes, "Ricky is great."
"He wants to try a jump or two..." He said, grinning a smile that remained me of splintering wood, and leading the way further into the scrapyard, "let's see if you're as tough as you say."
"Actually I-"
"Come on... Ricky." Her voice was smooth like silk when she turned to me, smiling catlike and dangerous, and I found myself following willingly, dragged away by some supernatural force.
Smudges wiped his face with one thin hand, smearing what I assumed was oil until the entirety of his sharp face was an off-ish grey colour, and speaking in a surprisingly high-pitched voice, "you wanna try this one here?"
"'Want' would be a strong word choice..." I mumbled, still pushed on by the hard edge of Beckett's soft green eyes, the way they were made wider still by the thick outline of black liner.
Gorilla Hands thrusted a skateboard into my arms and pushed me towards a spray-canned red line on the tarmac.
"You start here, ride up to that ramp," he said, stretching his arm into the distance, "and over those cars."
"You mean that big pile of sharp metal?"
"There're only 2 cars; it's an easy jump. Unless you're scared?" Gorilla Hands asked, wide mouth hanging open in a scowl.
"Nah, I just wanted to check." I replied confident and stupid, and got on the board. I grinned back at Kate who grimaced.
I made it shakily to the ramp, with their merging voices cheering me on (and suggesting I "run while I still can") when I fell, face down in the tarmac.
Then it was grey and foggy but not quite black, with their laughing voices getting louder and louder until I heard Kate's soft and liquid.
"I told you he couldn't skate! Why'd you make him do that?" She said, punching one of the loudest guys in frustration.
"Woah, Beckett!" He laughed, swaying slightly on size 13 Doc Martins.
"'S alright..." I slurred, lifting my surprisingly heavy head and groaning at the weight of it.
"Shut up you couldn't even jump the Kiddies Castle." She said, turning to glare at Gorilla Hands, Smudges and their large friends who were all still bellowing with uncontrollable laughter.
Sighing she knelt by my side, checking me over quickly, her cold fingers brushing away dirt and leaving flickering sparks. She winced slightly at the minor cuts on my face and hands before standing again.
"You're okay. But I want to get you checked for concision. Come on, I'm driving you to the hospital." I moaned back my protest, but Beckett, ignoring me, nodded at two of the bigger guys who hoisted me up easily and proceeded to wrap one arm around each of their tree-trunk necks.
"Careful felllas yooou droppp iit yooou payyy forit.." I chuckled thickly.
Beckett's Harley was parked at the far side of the scrapyard, propped up neatly away from the mayhem of the wreckage. The short journey there consisted mostly of a Kate determining that I was as stupid as I looked to her lying on the ground, head pillowed by Tarmac.
"Wha's th' kiddiiies cas'le?"
"That's what we call the jump you just missed."
"Whyy?"
"Because even a five year old could do it. And, a five year old who couldn't skate would've left before they ended up with a mouth full of concrete."
My tongue was too thick to reply, and I quickly forgot what I was going to say when we reached Kate's bike. I admired it the way you admire a painting in a museum; you don't understand how it was made; the detail or the time taken, and you don't know what it means to someone who really appreciates it; but you admire it all the same.
"Niicee."
"I'm glad you like it." She muttered sarcastically, throwing a spare helmet my way. I caught it with a fumbling grip and pulled it over my head.
"Think you can hold on?"
I nodded slowly. Kate had taken her place at the front of the bike and was pulling on a pair of thick leather gloves when the Tree-Trunk Twins lifted me to sit behind her. Nearly slipping off I slurred something like "'mm good." and clutched a little too tightly at Beckett's thin leather-clad waist.
"Move your hands so much as an inch and I'll chop them off, 'kay?"
I nodded into her ponytail, the thick-blackish strands of it tickling my nose, the lingering smell of cherries dizzying, and it was all I could do to hold on.
"Good." She slipped on her helmet, clicked the break off, and started the engine; the thick, smooth purr of it filling the air as the bike took off.
It was a short journey with the sound of traffic all around us and the rush of wind against us. Kate was still and confident, her thin frame morphing into the shape of the bike with ease, and as the world blurred into non-existence I felt the fog lift a little, and told her in a clear voice: "This is awesome!" And felt rather than heard her laugh in response.
When we reached the hospital car park Kate got off first, sliding from her seat with practiced skill and looking up in the time it took me to land shakily on the surprisingly solid ground.
I followed her into the hospital where brightly-coloured signs lead the way to the emergency room.
The receptionist was a pretty parent-aged blonde who eyed us warily in the queue, but froze when Kate spoke clearly and confidently.
"My friend fell off his skateboard and I think he might have a concussion."
"A doctor will see you in a minute, sit down and fill out this form please."
"Thanks." Kate smiled and lead me to one of the hard plastic chairs. And I remember thinking; that smile could end wars as well as start them.
The doctor saw us half an hour later. She lead us into a small room smelling of cleaning fluid and flowers and asked me to sit on the bed. Kate crossed her arms and watched me from the corner of the room; brushing the cutting edge of dark hair that slipped from her ponytail out of her eyes.
"Are you feeling nauseous?"
"A bit."
"Are you tired?"
"Kind of."
"Do you feel dizzy?"
"Yeah."
"What's your name?"
"Richard Castle."
She raised her eyebrows at Kate, who muffled a snort behind her hand, and continued.
"What's the date?"
"November 2013."
"I'm treating you for concussion." She said when the questions were over.
"Why?"
"Richard Castle? It says here your last name is Rogers... That, and it's 2014... She smiled sympathetically at me before turning to Kate. "Did you fill this out?"
Beckett nodded. "I used his phone to find the phone numbers. And he helped me with a few details... Maybe you should check those." She added hastily.
The doctor nodded, thanked Kate and went to call my mother.
"You named yourself after the Kiddie Castle, how fitting." She said, grinning from the edge of the room.
I sighed, learning back against the pillow. I realised then that I hadn't taken the time to look around the room. Looking now I saw the reason for the overpowering smell of flowers- potted plants: and lots of them; big and small from cacti to orchids every available surface was dotted with thick clay pots.
I looked at Kate after a moment, the leaves of one particularly large fern skimming her ear. I watched her watch me until she raised one eyebrow in silent challenge.
"So, tell me... what's a nice girl like you doing in a crowd like that?"
"Seriously? That's your line? And what makes you think I'm a nice girl, anyway..?" She said, biting her lower lip hard and smiling like she had a secret.
My eyes were glued to the trapped white flesh of her bottom lip when I blurted out "something in your eyes."
She faltered, blinking too fast, her stance turning liquid for only a moment before she managed to compose herself.
"You can hardly talk about my friends considering two of them peeled you off the ground half an hour ago."
"You make a fair point." I considered. "It just doesn't make sense to me. They didn't brainwash you? Or at least pay you to hang out with them?"
"Like a prostitute?" She said, crossing her arms.
"No. Like an escort." I grinned back.
"No." She said, giving me a look that could turn Medusa to stone. "To be honest it doesn't make much sense to me either. But I have fun with them, and they don't tell me to change." She picked at the edge of one black nail too-casually, opting for bored but I knew better, wrote a novel in the words that slipped away.
"Your parents?" I asked quietly.
She nodded slowly; hesitantly.
"I can understand that."
The swinging door started us both, "your mother will be here in soon. You can wait for her in reception." the doctor said, barely looking up from her files.
I thanked her and we left, closing the thick white door with a click.
"If you're okay I think I'll go. My parents will kill me if I'm not back by eleven." Kate said when we were sat in reception a few minutes later, cringing when she looked over at the blinking desk clock.
"Yeah. I'm good. Thanks for driving me here, Beckett." I said, remembering her name but not mine.
She smiled, shyly almost, and turned to leave, "just never try to skateboard again, okay Castle?"
Laughing at the nickname I replied "deal. And then she was gone, and looking back I can see that I was too.
A/N: I hope this makes your Castleness week a little less painful, (the spoilers are slowly killing me one by one). I have big things planned for this fanfic, and as always your support means a lot!