No More Games

This is my first-ever posting for Castle (and my first posting for any fandom in quite some time). I've been having quite the dry spell in regards to writing, but tonight's finale left me feeling inspired (among other things). Here is my follow-up to "A Deadly Game," with these events taking place immediately following the last scene. Enjoy!

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Kate walked slowly back into the break room, not really aware as she was doing it; the image of Castle and Gina sauntering off together was still firmly implanted in her mind. Did that really just happen? She looked up at her colleagues to find them looking at her with concern.

"I'm sorry, girl…" Lanie started in but Kate interrupted her.

"Hey, just… bad timing, ya know?" She shrugged, and briefly looked each of them in the eye before averting her gaze back the beer bottle she'd opened only minutes before. Absentmindedly, she picked at the edge of the label, frowning at it. The sympathy reflected in her colleagues' faces was permeating the air, making the silence that followed her utterance thick and oppressive.

It was suddenly more than she could take, and she was overcome by the urge to get the hell out of the station. "I think I'm gonna call it a night, guys. The party was great," she said, grabbing the bottle and turning sharply on her heel, "I'll, uh… see you tomorrow."

Briskly she walked to her desk, intending to grab her jacket and bag and make a speedy exit. As she rounded toward her chair, her foot snagged unexpectedly on the other chair next to her desk; Castle's chair. A quick double step and she had recovered without any serious problem, but she glared down at the offending piece of furniture just the same. Even when he wasn't here, the man managed to trip her up.

Glad that she could no longer feel the sympathetic eyes from the other room on her back, she slung her jacket and bag over her arm and headed for the elevator. Tapping her foot impatiently in front of the doors, she began replaying the event over in her head.

She felt the color rising in her cheeks. Could he really not see? Though she'd never admit it aloud, Castle was usually really good at reading her. And she was good at keeping herself decidedly unreadable for suspects and most of her acquaintances… but there was something about Richard Castle that seemed to make everything she was thinking play out on her face.

How could he not know what she had been about to say? Yet there had been no hesitance in his face as he told her about his and Gina's summer plans, no appearance of doubt as he'd slung his arm around his ex-wife and walked away.

The more she thought, the angrier she got. Her stare shot daggers at the lighted numbers over the elevator doors. In Kate's experience, the elevator had never moved slower. In fact, she was pretty sure it wasn't moving at all. Where the hell was the stupid thing? Fed up, she headed for the stairs.

She dwelled on one thought: he was good at reading her. There was no way he didn't know what she wanted to tell him. Which led her to conclude that he didn't really care. Something else she would never say aloud was that she'd always felt that their playful banter and oftentimes shameless (on his part) flirting had concealed a spark of something more. Apparently, however, that was not the case.

She fumed to herself as she opened the door to the stairwell and began winding her way to the bottom.

Who knew that his offer for a weekend in the Hamptons, which had seemed completely serious and somehow… important… was just bullshit? That the whirlwind playboy public image he projected was really what he was about? If he had been serious, if he had really wanted her to come with him in the way that she thought he did, he wouldn't have invited his ex-wife. He would've waited for her.

Her anger began to dissolve into guilt at her last thought. Was that really fair? They'd worked together for over a year now, and the flirting had never become anything more. Was it because she'd never let it, like she thought? Was it fair for her to expect him to wait forever?

Or had their flirting never progressed because he had never wanted it to? Was she the only one feeling that spark she'd fought so hard against? Sure, he'd probably have slept with her if she'd let him, but maybe their flirting never got more serious because he didn't want anything more than that from her.

Maybe she had been foolish to think that there was a real attraction. Maybe she had just been deluding herself.

She had finally reached the ground floor, and emerged into the lobby to see a few maintenance workers and several uniformed officers crowded around the elevator doors. She concluded that the elevator had gotten stuck, probably with someone inside, and allowed herself to be momentarily happy that it wasn't her, then momentarily hopeful that it was Castle and Gina, and they would now be unable to go to the Hamptons.

Just as soon as that thought arose, she pushed it away, wrinkling her nose in distaste at the thought of what the two of them would get up to, all alone in a small space while they waited for rescue.

She exited the precinct and headed in the direction of her apartment. She was startled out of her brooding thoughts by a familiar voice from behind her.

"Detective, I do believe you are in violation of section ten dash one-two-five, subsection two-B of the New York City Administrative Code."

She whirled around to see Castle walking toward her. Apparently he had been on the other side of the doors to the precinct.

She couldn't think of anything to say, and settled for, "What?" She silently cursed herself for how startled and uncertain she sounded.

He repeated himself more slowly as he approached her, closing the distance between them and coming to a stop just in front of her. "Section ten… dash one twenty-five… two-B. An open container violation." He gestured downward and she followed his gaze, finally noticing that she was still holding the beer bottle from upstairs.

"Oh. That." She took a quick swig from the bottle and tossed it in a nearby trashcan. "Happy?" And she turned away and resumed her walk.

"Where are you going?" he called after her, and began to follow her.

"Home. Shouldn't you be headed for the Hamptons?" She was stopped in her hasty retreat by his hand on her shoulder, forcing her to turn around and face him.

"No," he said, looking a little surprised. "Look, I… I want to apologize."

"What for, Castle?" She kept her tone cool and neutral, a strange composure arriving with the return of her earlier anger.

"For walking out on you," he was looking at her intently. "I… I knew what you wanted to say to me, upstairs, and I just… was feeling a little vindictive… and a little tipsy," His face broke into a grin. "You know, if Ryan and Esposito and I threw a party together… woo, that'd be one hell of a bash, you know?" At the look on her face, he sobered, and continued. "Beckett… Kate… I was completely serious when I said I wanted you to come to the Hamptons with me this weekend… There's always been this…" He waved his hands as he struggled for the right word "… spark, between us, and I guess I was taking it for granted that you'd always be there waiting for me. And then when you started seeing Demming…"

(Kate took his momentary pause to marvel at how, even though he'd been nowhere near her as she stormed down the stairs, he was still reading her damn mind.)

He grasped her gently by the shoulders. "Kate… gah, you'd think as a writer I could be better with words… Kate, I am so sorry for allowing my jealousy to get the best of me. I never wanted to go the Hamptons, or do anything for that matter, with anyone but you. You… are my best friend, and I think that… that we could be great together. And I think it's something I'd really like to try, so… will you come with me?"

Kate simply stared back at him, maintaining her icy expression until she could sense him getting uncomfortable. When she thought he couldn't stand it anymore, she allowed a grin to spread across her face. "I would really like that, Castle." He smiled, obviously relieved. "I guess we've both been taking some things for granted, huh?"

"That we have, my dear detective." He released his grip on her shoulders, and continued smiling down at her. He extended his arm, "Shall we go get you packed?"

"Certainly." She took his arm, and they resumed a walk, side by side, toward her apartment. A momentary frown returned to her face. "Castle… what did you tell Gina?"

"Oh, well, I was going to tell her I'd changed my mind, and was thinking about how to do it even as we waited for the elevator. Luckily, I got distracted by that line of thinking, and she stepped on to the elevator before me… only the elevator wasn't there. She fell down the shaft to her death."

"Wow," said Kate mildly, "that's awful!"

"Yeah, but she was a pretty expendable character, ya know?" Kate nodded her agreement. He continued, "So I took the stairs, alerted the appropriate authorities, and decided to wait outside for you."

"Well," she said, patting him on the arm. "I'm glad you did." She smiled, and they continued on their walk in silence. She was glad they were done playing games with each other. This, she thought, was the start of something beautiful.

THE END

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In case some of you were unsure, I will say yes, this was meant as a joke, coming out of my intensely emotional reaction to tonight's episode…

I don't really want Gina dead… just… maimed, a little… Ok, maybe that's still too harsh… Hobbled?

In any case, I suppose I must begrudgingly admit that the events of this episode were… for the best. The tension between them is absolutely exquisite, and can only be maintained if they don't get together just yet, you know?

But, in the meantime, there is a large part of me that wanted to reach out to my fellow Casketteers. During the (interminably) long hiatus from Castle, this community will keep me going. For it is in that glorious world that is fanfic… that we still can dream… *looks hopefully toward the future while inspirational music plays*

So, yeah, this wasn't a serious attempt at a fanfic (I hammered it out shortly after the episode ended), but, as it is my first effort at any writing in quite a while, I'd love to know your thoughts. Loved it, hated it, tolerated it? Let me know, if you feel so inclined… :)