A.N. This was prompted to me as part of the Castle Flash-Fiction Challenge by fembot77 on Tumblr. The prompt is the title of the fic. The idea was to write a fic within one hour once you've read the prompt. Here is my attempt.
Foreword by Kate Beckett
She bit her lip, smoothed down her creaseless skirt, and crossed then recrossed her legs.
How Castle handled it, she didn't know. He regularly had chapter after chapter of his work scrutinised by his editor, and then read by thousands of people. All Kate was waiting for was half a page of writing to be read by the three people before her.
And then that would be read by thousands of people…
"So what do you think?" she demanded as soon as Paula raised her head from the page.
"It's good," Castle's publicist nodded. "You've managed to capture the man behind the writer. It feels truthful."
One down… Kate turned to Gina.
"There are a few areas where it could read a little better. But it'll work." She reached across her desk to hand over the sheet lined with red notations. "Have the corrections back to me by the end of the week and we'll use it."
Then there was only one person left. And really, the only person whose opinion mattered. "Rick?"
"I love you!" he blurted and she startled with a laugh.
"You like it?" she asked, uncharacteristically shy.
He smiled softly back in response. "Honey, it's beautiful. Reading how you feel about my writing, about us… How could I not like it?" He leaned in then, capturing her lips for a kiss of reverence. It lingered until Paula coughed and flapped her hands at them, encouraging them out of their seats and towards the door.
"Remember, the party's in a month. I expect you both to be there."
Kate nodded and Rick merely flashed them a charming smile which developed into a dopy grin as he strolled hand-in-hand with his wife out of Black Pawn.
"How does it feel?" she questioned once they were outside in the bright spring sun. A silent and mutual decision led them to start with unison toward the nearby park while he replied.
"I feel loved. Who wouldn't be after their wife poured her heart out into a foreward for their book?"
"No, I mean, this is it. The last Nikki Heat. Are you ready to let her go?"
"I'll never have to." He dropped her hand and slung an arm around her waist. "I have her right here."
"Castle," she admonished and he sighed then, letting go of the comedic mask he so often used to armour him against his own emotions.
"Honestly? It doesn't seem quite real. But the book seems like a fitting end to Nikki and Rook's tale."
"Not an end, not really," Kate contradicted, a little desperately it seemed to Castle so he squeezed her a little closer.
"Kate?"
"Nothing," she shook her head, forcing a smile to her lips and softening her gaze from the wide-eyed stare she'd held. "I'm just being silly."
He chose not to reply straight away. Instead, he led her though a copse of trees to a fountain. They were alone in the clearing and the only sound that reached them was the splashing of water droplets. They both stared down at their reflection in the pool of water. Though distorted, their image side-by-side was as recognisable to them both as their singular reflections.
"It can't be the end, not really," she eventually uttered. "I don't like to think there's an ending to their adventure together."
"Of course not. They have their happily ever after now, that's all." He bent to kiss her again, deeper now they were out of the prying eyes of Paula and Gina. "Hey, and of course they'll live on in fanfiction. Maybe I'll even write a few small tales of their future lives."
"So long as you don't sulk for a week if another reviewer says you're a poor imitation of the real Richard Castle."
He humphed at that but was glad the slight diversion served to again brighten his wife's temporary melancholy. And he'd happily allow himself to bear the brunt of her teasing if he continued to have her beautiful smile directed at him.
Her smile suddenly dropped and the levelled him with a steady gaze. "Do you think we'll have our happily ever after too?"
"I think," he breathed, hooking his arms around her though being sure to maintain earnest eye contact, "that we're living it right now. A few bumps and a couple of hiatuses don't take away forever."
And that had been the message of Kate Beckett's foreward for the last Nikki Heat. A few paragraphs had beautifully summed up their journey together, the obstacles, trivial and serious, but how they'd steadily grown closer. And how their mutual love was strong enough to allow them to forgive stumbles and to ultimately, bring them back to again walk the same path through life.
A.N. I'm rarely able to hash out a fic in such a short period of time, so I apologise for the quality of this. But it was a fun challenge and a good exercise which I'd like to try again in the future to try and increase my writing speed and flow of ideas. Thanks for reading!