Broken Wings
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. No money is being made off this fanfic.
Prologue: I Quit!
"I remember everything!" Her words seemed to echo in his head, taunting him.
She had known. After all this time…yet she had decided to go on pretending like nothing had happened. Clearly, she wasn't ready to reject him completely or she just didn't want to face him.
He remembered what his mother had said. Deep down, he knew she was right but that made it even harder to accept.
He tried to break it down. Connect the facts, like he used to whenever he was writing to make sure there weren't any plot-holes. Yet, Beckett's behavior didn't connect.
"Sometimes, it just isn't meant to be, Richard…" His mother's voice rang in his head.
He got it. So Beckett didn't like him that way. He could live with that. He could learn to accept it. The problem was what was he going to do now?
His eyes turned to an old bottle of scotch. He tried not to drink heavily when his family was home yet he didn't care about it today.
He wondered if he had gone numb, emotionally detached as his hands reached for the bottle…
"Richard? Richard!" A sharp voice made him open his eyes.
"Whazz goin' on?" He asked groggily, as he looked around. He was on the floor, having fallen off the couch at some point in the night. The empty bottle of scotch lay beside him with a bit of its contents spilled on the silk carpet. Apparently, he hadn't wanted to make it up to his room yesterday and had spent the better part of the night on the floor.
"Are you feeling alright, dear?" His mother asked.
"I am fine." He replied, trying to bite back a sharp cough as he stumbled to his feet. "I gotta go." He said, glancing at his phone.
"I'll get the help to clean that up."
"What help?" He heard his mother shout as he slammed the front door.
Putting on his coat, he hailed a cab from the street.
"Where to?"
"Just drive." He sighed, staring aimlessly at the passing streets until his phone buzzed again. It was her. He let it go to voice-mail.
It was only a thirty-minute cab ride later that he ended up at his favorite coffee shop, which also happened to be the one he used to frequently get coffee for her. It was also opposite the precinct.
He didn't know what brought him here, but he just couldn't stop himself from entering the shop, especially when he saw her standing in queue.
"Castle?" She turned to him in surprise. Her expression changed when she saw his face. "I've been calling you all d- Is something wrong?"
"I quit."