Separation, it was inevitable in their world. Misunderstandings, bad timing, a bullet to the heart, they all seemed to be their summer send-off, now this.
He was just informed by his publisher they wanted him to go on a month long book tour, to publicize his latest Nikki Heat novel and the one that was forthcoming. And guess what? It was during the summer.
Damn it, he thought, as he slumped down in his chair in his home office. This was the worst possible time for this. He and Kate Beckett had just started to finally explore this relationship merry-go-round they had been on for years. The infancy of their couple status even weathered the secrets each were withholding from each other.
Sure, it wasn't easy. In fact, when Castle discovered Kate had lied about remembering the day she was shot, and what he told her, he was furious. But, then he looked into her eyes. He saw the love in her eyes that mirrored his own.
He listened to her sorrow-filled pleas for him to understand what she had been going through. How, even though she shut him out of her life for three months, he has been the only real constant in her life, and she didn't want to lose that by messing up their relationship. She needed time, time to work out her sorted problems and find a way to come to him whole.
Richard Castle couldn't deny Kate Beckett anything, and he couldn't deny her his love and understanding. He pulled her to him, placing her head on his chest and kissed the top of her head. He told her he loved her then and he loved her now, and always would.
That storm was a mild summer rain compared to his secret. When Kate discovered his murder board on her mother's case, she went ballistic. Her eyes grew wide and wild and she accused him of all sorts of betrayal and called him names he promised to file away for his next Nikki Heat novel, if he survived her wrath.
However, when he reminded her about how he had allowed her to explain her actions, and she deserved him the same courtesy, she calmed a bit. He told her about the threats on her life, if she continued to pursue it, and his fear for her safety. He told her had had been trying to continue the investigation in a discrete manner, because he wanted the weight of her mother's murder lifted from her. He said he felt responsible for all that had happened to Kate, the pain, getting shot and her turmoil, after brining all the questions to her mother's murder back to surface.
"Everything that happened to you," he said in the softest voice as he placed his hand on her chest, over the bullet hole scare. "Is because of me."
"No," Kate whispered back as she placed her hand over his. "No," she shook her head and leaned up to kiss him.
To be honest, Castle was surprised her anger cooled so quickly. She went from red hot rage, to red hot passion. After one of the hottest kisses of his life, Beckett withdrew and let him have it for keeping his sleuthing of her mother's murder a secret from her. Now, that is more like it, he thought.
But, they worked through it. She finally understood what he was doing and where he was coming from. They both decided he would continue to discretely look into clues, except now, he would share the information with her. And she promised not to go running full long into traffic with the information.
Now this, he thought again, as he slapped the contract from his publisher on his desk. Then, like a light bulb going on above his head, he had an idea. Take this relationship on the road. He would ask Kate Beckett to go with him. It would be a great chance for them to get away from things and just have time to themselves.
He just had to talk the stubborn, sexy and oft times infuriating NYPD detective, who had stolen his heart, to go with him.
