I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING OF THE ORIGONAL SHOW 'CASTLE'!
Chapter 1
"You're going with my mother and Alexis to get the dresses?" Castle asked as they walked towards the yellow tape leading to a large boarded up building.
"Yes, Alexis said she needs help picking a dress to wear and your mother wants to help." Beckett told him.
"Talking about our girls night?" Lanie asked looking up from the body as Beckett nodded as Castle looked at the two women. "Oh cheer up Castle; you'll love the dresses when you see them at the wedding."
"What fun is that?" He asked.
"Who are you taking to the wedding anyway?" Lanie asked and saw him shrug. "Have anyone in mind?"
"I might." He smirked but any retort from the two women was cut off as Esposito walked over.
"She was discovered by a couple of teens wanting some private time. There was no identification on the body. Found this off to the side." Esposito said handing Beckett a letter in a plastic bag.
"See if CSU can get anything off of it." She handed it back. Esposito nodded and walked away with the paper. "What about the body?"
"As far as I can tell it looks like starvation. I'll look closer back at the morgue and I'll let you know what I find." Lanie told her as several assistants began moving the body into the body bag.
"Ryan, get a list of people who has had access to the building." Beckett said before looking back at Lanie. "Let me know what you find." Lanie nodded before Beckett and Castle started back to her car.
"So what do the dresses look like?" Castle asked as he looked off into space pretending to imagine what the dresses would look like.
"You'll have to see at the wedding. There's no way you'll be able to picture them, Castle." She said with a small smile as he looked at her surprised.
That afternoon Castle sat looking through the files of missing persons with the detectives. The prints of their victim were not in the system so it was time for the manual work. Ryan sighed and sat back in his seat, he and Esposito had been at it for two hours before Beckett and Castle sat down to help.
"This is a lot to sift through." Castle said as he pushed another file to the side.
"We don't have another way. Not everyone has your budget, Castle." Beckett said only glancing at him before looking through yet another file. Castle looked up at her for a minute before seeing the little smirk tugging at her lips before he turned back to his files. After another hour, they heard a knock on the doorframe making them all look up.
"Hey sweetie." Castle said seeing Alexis with a girl the same age and an older woman. Alexis smiled and walked over to the table with the two following. Alexis looked at the files all over the table and then back at her father.
"Can't find the victim?" She asked as Castle shook his head. "I thought you could use a computer for this."
"Did you know that, apparently, not everyone has my budget for all the cool stuff?" He asked his daughter with a smirk making her shake her head at him and look at Beckett.
"Gram is going to meet us there. She had to stop off and get something from home." Alexis told Beckett. "This is my friend Sam and her mom, Karen Walker. Sam is going to go with us, if it's okay with you, Lanie and Jenny."
"Wait. Where are you going?" Esposito asked making Beckett smirk as she stood up.
"They're apparently going for a dress fitting." Castle told him. "Did you see the dresses?" Esposito shook his head and both men looked at Ryan.
"I'm not even allowed to know what color they are." Ryan said defensive.
"What store are you going to?" Esposito asked as Lanie walked in.
"Uh-uh. You boys aren't going to know anything until the wedding."
"Well you know we need to be prepared for the dresses." Esposito said. "We need to know if we have to be ready to not laugh or-"
"You keep going with that sentence, imma smack you." Esposito fell quiet. "We should go before they decide to tail us." She told Beckett as she eyed the men suspiciously.
"I can always just ask my mother." Castle tried to whisper to Esposito. Suddenly Alexis had a hold of his ear and twisted a bit.
"Gram won't tell you and if you try to follow us or look at the dresses there will be conciseness. Got it?" She asked sternly as Castle nodded. She let go as the other two men were chuckling at him.
"Javier Esposito. You won't think it's so funny when I smack you." The detective went straight face as Beckett smirked.
"Take a break from this; we'll keep looking in the morning." She turned towards the door then looked back at the men. "Oh, if I find out any of you followed us or looked at the dresses, there will be pain." The men looked at her a minute before Castle stood quickly.
"We were just going to go to the old haunt and wait for you girls to get finished." He said with a shrug and looked at the two detectives as they stood too.
"As long as the drinks are on you." Esposito said.
"I thought the old haunt wasn't open yet." Karen said looking at the three.
"It is when you know the owner." Ryan grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and pulled it on. "Besides it's open just not like a real bar until later."
"You know the owner?" Karen asked surprised as Alexis and Beckett rolled their eyes while Castle smirked.
"Drinks tonight are on me." Castle said. "You are more than welcome to join us." He saw her smile. "Get the most expensive dress there." He told Alexis who only smiled and hugged him.
"I won't spend too much, it's Gram you have to worry about." She saw the confused look on his face. "Remember you told her you would pay for her outfit to the wedding if she would stop taking your liquor to her friends' houses?" Castle made an 'o' with his mouth and nodded. "I'll take care of her. I'll call when we're done." She hugged him again and grabbed her friend by the arm leading her into the bullpen while Lanie told Esposito she would see him later and Beckett waited for her, taking one last look at Castle as he turned to talk to Karen again.
The women were walking around the shop trying to help Alexis find a dress since they knew the dresses the brides' maids would have. Alexis walked into the same isle as Beckett and started looking on the opposite rack. Beckett was silent for a while before glancing over her shoulder at the girl.
"So your dad seems to like that woman." She said making Alexis looked over and nod.
"Yeah. They've been talking for the past few weeks now. Her husband left and the divorce was finalized last month. It's good for her to have dad to help her, Sam said she took it pretty hard when her husband left."
"Was her husband, Sam's father?"
"No, Sam's dad died when she was real little. Her mom married the guy when Sam was like 6. She said that since her mom started spending time with my dad that she's been so much happier."
"She seems really nice."
"Here, look at this one." They heard Martha say as she walked closer. "And who are we talking about that's nice?"
"We were just talking about how dad is helping Ms. Walker." Alexis said as she took the dress from her grandmother and held it in front of her. "I'm surprised dad didn't say anything about her. They've been going out to talk a few nights every week." Alexis said before turning towards the changing rooms. Beckett paused for a split second and blinked before going back to looking at the dresses. Martha didn't miss the look that crossed her face at the mention of Castle spending so much time with the woman.
"You don't have anything to worry about. He's not interested in her like that." She said making Beckett look at her. "You can pretend you don't feel it and you can try to hide it from everyone, especially my son but you can't fool me."
"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Beckett denied.
"Oh, come now. You cannot fool Martha Rogers when it comes to feelings. You might not want to admit it to anyone or even yourself but there is no woman Richard has spent more time with and come home happy, he's never talked so much about any other woman except Alexis. He's put his life on the line to be able to follow you around, and I know it's not about the books any more. If you want my advice. I say go for it, Kiddo." Martha smiled and walked towards the changing rooms to find her granddaughter while Beckett stood in her place thinking.
"Kate." She heard making her walked over to where Lanie was walking out of her changing room with a floor length purple, strapless gown with an organza beaded inset, and a gathered look to the right hip. "The room's all yours, your dress is on the hanger in the bag." Beckett went in, changed into her gown, and stood waiting for her turn at the fitting.
"Wow, you guys look gorgeous." Sam said looking at Jenny in her wedding dress, Beckett and Lanie in their brides' maid dresses and Alexis in her knee length deep blue strapless dress with delicate embroidery across the bust.
"The men aren't going to be able to tear their eyes away." Martha smiled as she looked over the women standing in front of her.
"As long as they keep their hands to themselves." Jenny smiled as Beckett and Lanie glanced at each other then back at her.
"Esposito knows not to mess with Lanie and Castle-" Beckett started.
"Knows you have a gun." Alexis laughed.
"He's smart and respectful when it really counts." Beckett told her and smiled.
"He may act like a 13 year old boy but Richard knows when the joke is done." Martha agreed. "Besides, Ryan is going to have the hardest time." She laughed as the women smiled and nodded. "Alright change back and we'll call Richard." They walked back to the dressing rooms and changed leaving Martha and Sam to talk while they waited.
"I thought they didn't want Mr. Castle seeing the dresses. Why are you calling him to come here?" Sam asked.
"Well he needs to pay for Alexis' dress and as long as the dresses are in their bags he won't see a thing."
"Who won't see?" they heard making both jump and look behind them as Castle smiled and Karen looked at the two.
"Richard Castle." Martha scolded but was stopped.
"Martha-" Lanie started but stopped seeing Castle standing with the woman and the girl. "Castle, what are you doing here? Weren't you told not to follow us or come peeking?"
"I… I wasn't peeking." He stammered looking at the upset ME. "Alexis said you were almost done and told me the place…" Lanie put her hand on her hip as he explained and Alexis walked out of the changing room with her dress in the bag.
"Dad, you're not supposed to be here yet." Alexis said, as he looked at the women confused. "Come on." she said before walking over, taking his hand and pulling him away towards the cash register.
"You said you were almost done…" He trailed off confused.
"But I thought it would take you longer to get here. Beckett's going to be so mad if you were peeking." She warned as he stopped and shook his head.
"I wasn't peeking, I came in and saw Gram talking with Sam." The two glanced back as Karen started talking with her daughter and Martha.
"Why didn't you tell Beckett about you helping Ms. Walker? She seemed upset."
"Upset? Why would Beckett be upset?"
"I don't know she just did." They walked over the register. "And you know if she finds out you're paying for her dress she's going to be so mad at you. You should at least tell her."
"I will… later." He turned as the cashier rang up Alexis' dress. "And I'm also paying for Kate Beckett's dress." The cashier nodded and started flipping through her papers to find the right one before bringing it up.
"How much will you be putting on it today?" The woman asked.
"Whatever the price is." He told her with a smile as she nodded and rang it up. "You really think she's going to be mad?" Alexis looked at him as he sighed. "You're right." He looked at the cashier. "Don't tell her that I was the one who paid." The woman paused and looked at him a minute before nodding. Castle picked up the garment bag for his daughter and turned to get his mother. Castle walked over to her, Karen and Sam with Alexis. Beckett was walking out when she saw the group talking and saw Castle set Alexis' bag down before he put his hand on Karen's back and started leading her and Sam towards the doors talking. She stood still for a minute thinking over what Martha had told her earlier. This scene did nothing to speak Martha's words as true so she took a deep breath and looked up as Castle returned with a smile. Beckett walked over to them with her garment bag in her arms as Lanie and Jenny joined them.
"You weren't spying were you?" Jenny asked making Castle shake his head.
"I am not stupid enough to go up against you women when it comes to dress secrets." Jenny smiled as she, Lanie and Beckett walked towards the cashier to make a payment on their dresses. Castle picked Alexis' dress back up as he walked over with his mother and daughter.
"Good night, Castle." Lanie said as he nodded.
"Good night ladies." He said as they left.
"Name?" The cashier asked.
"Kate Beckett. I'd like to pay two hundred this time." The cashier looked at her a minute confusing the women.
"Your dress has already been paid for." The woman said looking at the confused Beckett who looked at the other two women.
"Who paid for it?"
"I'm sorry I can't say." Beckett stood trying to think before Lanie nudged her out of the way.
"Come on girl, you know who paid for it, and you can't even get mad at him." She looked at the cashier as Beckett sighed. "Lanie Parish." Kate grabbed her dress from the counter and laid it over her arm.
"I'll see you tomorrow Lanie. Night Jenny." She left the two and went home contemplating what to do to Castle for paying for her dress and not telling her. She knew he was rich, but she hated when he would throw his money around as if it was nothing, especially when it was him buying things for her. There were only a few things he bought for her and even though they weren't all that expensive she still hated him spending money on her. After all, it wasn't like they were dating or anything.