I Dream of You – The Missed Wedding Version
Summary – Castle agrees to go on a marathon book tour in August so they can have the wedding in September, but disappears from the plane on the flight back. I'm sure this is going to be one of many "missed wedding" fics because you just know that these 2 aren't going to have a normal wedding. Where would be the fun in that?
Anyway, this is the sort of sappy, lighter version of my angst-ridden fanfic I Dream of You. I rewrote it based on Deep Cover, which works amazingly well into my story – left over father issues, a book tour, etc. Also, there are no back flashes in this story, so it should be easier to read.
This story takes place the end of season 6, sort of a summer hiatus (What! We just got back from the winter break and now we're headed into the Olympics break!), and can be considered AU at that point, but when isn't most fanfic?
The opening chapter is based on an experience I had when my daughter was flying back from visiting my brother in Washington DC when she was 16. At that age, they are an unaccompanied minor so they are basically treated like an adult and this was before everyone had a cell phone. Anyway, I'm in the waiting area, watching people walk by, but not my daughter. Finally the captains and the flight attendants finally walk out and I ask them if anyone else is on board because I have not seen her and this was the flight she was supposed to be on, but they say no. So I start wondering what happened and what to do – did she miss her connecting flight? Did someone kidnap her at the airport? You know, all of the stuff that parent nightmares are made of. So I go back to the arrival board and check it again to make sure I had the right flight number and notice a woman standing there – her daughter was supposed to be on the same flight, but wasn't either. So now we have 2 missing girls and we're wondering what to do next when they walk up. The connecting flight had been full so the airline (unnamed) bumped them to the next flight which took off about 30 minutes later than the 1st flight. I don't know if the airline thought that it was easier to bump 2 unaccompanied minors to the next flight, but it was a very creepy experience.
So you have your pick – this semi-light version that portrays Hunt as someone who might be invited to the wedding or the more angst-ridden version that portrays Hunt as someone who would never be invited to the wedding.
Disclaimer – Don't own Castle. ABC and Marlowe do. Just playing with the characters.
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Chapter 1 – Anticipation Gone Sideways
The morning had gone perfectly in as so much of a morning like that could.
Castle would be completing the final leg of the multi-city book tour that he had finally managed to coerce Black Pawn into moving up to August so that September would be free for their wedding.
He had been adamant about the date change, making his point not with the hissy fits that he may have thrown occasionally in the past, but with a firm determination that had impressed Gina so much that she decided he had finally grown up. Castle had even done extra press to make up for the date change, leaving on Wednesday morning, flying back Sunday evening to be with Kate at least a couple of days during the week.
The separation had been hard on them both. In anticipation of the amount of work to be done and the fact that he and Beckett had little time to do it in, he had hired the best wedding planner in New York and had put his mother in charge of overseeing the event, a task that she took to with her usual gusto. But as with all weddings, there were still a million things to finish in the 3 weeks before the event.
The morning of his last flight, they had had a quick shower, well, maybe a little longer than anticipated, a cup of coffee, and a light breakfast because they were running so late. Castle had been living out of a suitcase much of the month, always leaving one packed by the front door, so it was easy just to grab it as they raced out the door.
Since the crazy dog days of summer had been kind and not yielded a body drop yet that morning, Beckett decided to drive Castle to the airport personally so they could go through their final list of to-dos for the wedding.
But fate intervened as usual and just as they were driving into the airport entrance, Beckett's phone rang.
"Beckett," she answered quickly, using the hands-free mode.
"Sorry," said Espo, "got a fresh one – well, not so fresh in this heat."
Beckett stuck her tongue out at the phone before responding. "Okay, I'm dropping Castle off now at the airport. I'll call you back in a minute."
She hung up and quickly looked at Castle. "Sorry," she said as she pulled up to the passenger drop-off point rather than parking.
Castle gently caressed the back of her neck. "What do you expect? We live in New York. We'll be lucky not to have a body drop the day of the—"
"Shhh, don't say it," Beckett said quickly, putting a finger on his lips. "You'll jinx it."
"What?" Castle said smiling, somewhat pleasantly surprised. "This from 'Miss I don't believe in jinxes'?"
"I just want to make sure the day goes perfectly," said Beckett.
"And it will if I have anything to say about it," said Castle, giving her a quick kiss and then taking her hand. He had brought the engagement ring that she usually kept in the box on the dresser with him and slid it onto her finger. "And to show you how serious I am," he said, "don't take this off until I replace it with a wedding ring."
Beckett smiled at the ring and then leaned over to kiss Castle.
They were so caught up in each other that the security guard directing traffic finally had to blow his whistle at them to get their attention, with the corresponding sign language that they should finish and move along.
Castle opened the door and got his suitcase out of the back seat. He placed it on the sidewalk and then walked over to Beckett's side of the car.
"See you Sunday," he said, giving her a quick kiss through the window. "And in no time at all, Mrs. C To Be, you'll be Mrs. C for real."
He waved goodbye at her as he walked through the doors of the terminal.
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As had been their usual routine every Sunday evening of the book tour, Beckett arrived early at the airport to make sure she wasn't caught in traffic. She wanted to be the first person he saw when he walked off down the ramp, watching his smile grow wider as he quickly walked toward her and caught her up in a big hug and kiss that nearly swept her off her feet.
The arrival of the flight was announced and she smiled in anticipation, carefully watching the crowd, studying it intently for his familiar visage.
Being in first class, Castle was usually one of the first ones off of the plane, but not this time.
Beckett's smile faded slightly as she watched several of other the passengers joyfully greet loved ones, while others hurried to their destinations, but Castle still did not appear.
She pulled out her phone after several minutes and called him, but the call went directly to voice mail. "Hey, Castle, this is Beckett – did I miss you? Where are you?" she asked.
Beckett hung up and frowned as the number of passengers dwindled to a trickle and then several flight attendants walked out, laughing and chatting.
"Excuse me," said Beckett, walking up to them. "Were you on the flight from LA? Have all the passengers left yet?"
One of the attendants glanced back over his shoulder. "I think there were a couple of strays. They should be out any minute."
"Okay," said Beckett, nodding, looking back down the ramp in anticipation.
She waited a few more minutes and then the rest of the flight crew walked down the ramp.
Beckett immediately spied a familiar face and called out, "Jacinda!" as she walked over to her.
The blonde flight attendant looked around and stopped as Beckett reached her. "Yes?" she asked in a puzzled voice, not recognizing the detective.
"Detective Kate Beckett," she said quickly as a way of introduction. "We met briefly a couple of years ago – Richard Castle?"
"Ah, of course, Detective Beckett," said Jacinda, clearly recognizing the name now. "How can I help you?"
"Castle was supposed to be on the flight. Did you see him?" Beckett asked.
"Richard? Yes, he was in first class," said Jacinda. "But it was a fairly bumpy flight – he may have needed to make quick stop to freshen up, if you know what I mean. Have you tried paging him?"
Beckett shook her head. "No, I tried his cell, but he didn't pick up."
"Probably doesn't have any bars. With all the metal around here, the reception can be terrible," said Jacinda as she led Beckett over to a counter. "Hi, Montrice," she said to the woman behind the counter. "This is Kate Beckett. She's here to pick up her friend but he's being a bad boy. Can you page him?"
"Sure, Jacinda," said the woman behind the counter. "The name?" she asked Beckett.
Beckett cleared her throat. "Castle – Richard Castle," she said simply.
The woman looked at her hesitantly and then at Jacinda for confirmation. "Yes, the Richard Castle," said the flight attendant.
"Okay," said Montrice slowly. She opened the paging system. "Will Mr. Richard Castle please report to the passenger pick-up area? Your party is waiting for you. Mr. Richard Castle," she repeated.
"There," said Jacinda. "He should be out in a few minutes."
"Thanks for your help," said Beckett, smiling and then turning back to watch for Castle.
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As Jacinda reached the front door of the terminal, she heard the fourth page for Richard Castle and then stopped, glancing at her watch. She had a lay-over tonight and didn't really have anywhere else to be, so she turned and walked back to the desk where Beckett stood, once again pulling out her phone to call Castle.
"So he hasn't shown up yet?" Jacinda asked.
"No," said Beckett, shaking her head, turning from Detective Beckett into worried finance Kate. "I was here before the arrival was announced and saw everyone who came out and he wasn't with them. I mean, he couldn't have – I would have seen him…" She frowned again, thinking of possible explanations. "He didn't slip out a back exit, did he?"
If he tricked her into coming to the airport and then beating her home and setting up some elaborate and romantic gesture to make up for the tour, she would kill him. Because as sweet as that was, that would really just piss her off with all the last minute wedding details that needed to be attended to.
Jacinda shook her head. "No – there aren't any back exits since 9/11. It was fairly turbulent towards the end and maybe he had a problem. Let me send someone to check," she said as she waved at a uniformed officer.
"Paul, this is Detective Kate Beckett of the NYPD," said Jacinda as she smiled at the man who walked over to them. "Detective Beckett, this is Sargent Paul Garret, airport security. Listen, her friend Richard Castle was on my flight but he hasn't come out of the terminal yet. Can you send someone to check…?"
"Sure," said Garret, pulling out his radio. After a bad flight, they occasionally had to go rescue people from the bathrooms. "Hey, Marc, can you do a BR check? We've got a missing passenger – a Mr…"
"Castle," said Jacinda. "Richard Castle."
"Castle," Garret said. "Richard Castle." He looked at the flight attendant and said in a stage whisper, "For real? The author?"
Jacinda nodded. "Yes."
As they waited, Beckett tried calling Castle's cell again and got his voice mail.
"You sure he was on your flight?" Garret asked Jacinda.
"Yes, I talked to him before the flight and then served him a drink when the seat belt sign went off."
Garret frowned. "And just how many drinks did he have?" he questioned. The flight from LA could get long at times.
"Only that one," huffed Jacinda. "We ran into turbulence about an hour out so we had to stop beverage service."
"Just have to check," said Garret as his radio crackled.
"It's all clear down here," said Marc.
"That's impossible," said Jacinda. She pulled out her phone and quickly dialed a number. "Sammy, Jacinda. There was a guy in first class – Richard Castle – I brought him a drink when we reached cruising altitude. Do you remember seeing him after that?"
"I think he got up to go to the loo once," came the reply. "But we were pretty busy with the turbulence that last hour and the unrulies so I can't be sure."
"Thanks," said Jacinda. She hung up and looked at Beckett and Garret. "Are you sure he didn't slip past you?"
"No," said Beckett, pushing her hair behind her ear. "There was no way he could have."
"Then let's go down to security, watch the footage, and see what Mr. Castle is up," suggested Garret. "People just don't disappear from a plane."
"Thanks," said Beckett.
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"Tan jacket, dark blue button shirt, fairly new jeans, black polished shoes," Jacinda said to the man running the recognition program.
"And we've got a picture of Castle from the web, so this should be a piece of cake," Tai said. He quickly ran the program and then frowned at the results. "No hits?" he said questioningly. "That can't be right."
"That's impossible," said Garret, sitting down to watch the security footage frame by frame of the people disembarking from the plane.
By the time they had watched it the third time, it was clear that Castle wasn't with the crowd.
"Uh, Sargent Garret," said Tai, "can I talk to you in private?"
"Sure," said Garrett, glancing over at Beckett and Jacinda as they scoured the tape one more time.
"I talked with Mitchell in LA. He's got a count of 231 people boarding the flight – 221 passengers and 10 crew members. But I've only got a count of 230 people disembarking the flight – 220 passengers and 10 crew members."
"Shit!" Garret swore as he pulled out his radio. "Hey, Tony, this is Garret – we've got a passenger still on a plane – flight 5348 from LA to NY."
"Roger," came the reply. "That plane was taken to maintenance after it landed. We'll send someone right over."
Garret walked over to where Beckett and Jacinda sat. "Uh, ladies, you don't see Mr. Castle because it seems he never left the plane. Now I can assure you that this is an extremely rare incident but we've sent a crew over and I'm sure they will find him shortly."
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The wait was shorter than expected when Tony radioed Garret.
"Hey, Garret, you smoking something up there?" came the heavy New York accent. "The plane's been locked up since it got to maintenance and no one is on board."
"No freakin' way," exclaimed Garret. "You sure?"
"Yeah, checked it out myself. Next time you want a funny, don't call me."
Garret ended the call and looked at the two ladies who stared at him. "Look – people can't just disappear from a plane – not with all the security protocols we have in place now. He just got by the security cameras somehow. We'll do a sweep and I'm sure he'll turn up."
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The results were the same each time Tai ran the facial recognition program using the footage from all the security cameras in the airport – they could spot Castle coming into the airport last Wednesday, but after that, there was no match. The ground team reported the same thing – no one matching Castle's description was in the airport.
But there was no way Castle could have gotten off the plane unseen. The only access to the cargo hold was using a ladder behind a locked door and maintenance hadn't seen anyone in there as they removed the checked baggage. There had been no large crates on the plane that he could have hidden in.
And then there was the matter of his luggage – the manifest showed that Castle checked a bag in LA and it had made it on the flight, but it too was missing.
Impossibly, Castle had simply vanished mid-air and there was no trace of him.
Garret was apprehensive as he turned back to look at Beckett, who sat unusually still and pale on a chair, staring at the tape.
"Kate," said Jacinda, kneeling next to her. "Is there anyone we can call for you?"
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