Scene One: October 1987
"Grandpa, there's Drake's Magic Shop!" Nine year-old Kate Beckett exhaled, tugging on her grandfather's jacket in excitement and eyeing a bright-colored fairyland-like store across the street. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon in the middle of October, and there was nothing better for Kate's grandfather to do but to take her to the most exciting and popular magic shop in the city. This time, he succeeded in dragging along her mother with them.
"Oh, I heard they got this new super cool machine that lets you twist your head all the way to the back!" With his imagination running wild, Kate's grandfather took a hold of her hand, about to cross the street to the shop, but stopping upon remembering to ask for permission first. "You don't mind Johanna? It's always important to nourish a child's imagination." He glimpsed back at his daughter with a smirk on his face.
"You mean your imagination dad?" Johanna Beckett shot back with both eyebrows probed and a sincere smile. Secretly, she has always admired her father's inner child.
"Come on mom, let's go!" And with that, little Kate Beckett grabbed her mother's hand and they were off.
The shop was a magical universe. Kate's eyes grew bigger and bigger as she scanned the toys, the colors, the sounds; almost losing the figures of her grandfather and mother among the crowd.
"Ricky, you gotta see this!" The high-pitched voice of a blonde young teenage boy caught Kate's attention. "Rick, check this out, look what Mr. Drake has stored behind the counter!" The boy called out to his friend. Sixteen year-old Richard Rodgers was engaged with a paper pad, scratching across what appeared to be a blank paper with a pencil. His kind crystal blue eyes caught Kate's innocent green eyes as he dropped the paper pad onto the counter and shuffled towards his friend, Damien Westlake. Kate shot him a smile and he returned the smile.
Damien held out a bag of explosives in front of Rick. "My dad's gonna be so angry if we blow these up in the living room, they shoot out fake vomit! I'm buying a whole pack. And after we nearly blow up the house, you can go home and write all about the amazing adventures of Rick and Damien."
"Wicked!" Rick exhaled with widened eyes.
Kate couldn't help an instinctive eye roll at that conversation, a genetic reflex she got from her mother. She quickly turned her focus on the paper pad the blue-eyed boy left on the counter. She picked up the pencil and noticed the letters "App" stood out in white around the pencil scratches. She took the pencil and continued scratching, hoping she'd catch the hidden message. Damien took out his change and handed it over to Mr. Drake. Rick noticed her hovering behind him and turned around.
"Pretty cool huh? I bet CIA agents use this to send secret messages to each other." He told her.
"Apples" She read off the paper. "Did you write this down?" She asked.
"Yup. You use this white pencil to write something on the paper and then someone else uses a lead pencil to scratch over the paper to see the message." He explained whilst holding the white pencil.
"Neat! So why "Apples"?" Asked Kate.
"Ricky let's go!" Damien tapped on Rick's arm and began heading out.
"It's my safe word." He smiled. "Take it." He handed her the white pencil and rushed off. Kate's eyes followed him out the door before immersing themselves back onto the secret message.
"Katie! There you are!" She heard her mother's voice approaching. "Feared you got lost." Johanna caught the pad in her daughter's hand, "What's that?" She asked.
"Oh, nothing. It's a secret." Kate gave her mother an earnest smile.
Scene Two: May 2012
It was that earnest smile that made Richard Castle catch his breath whenever he saw it take form on Katherine Beckett's face. He made it his priority in life to ensure that she always smiled that way. Bringing her coffee was the way to do it. Nothing else in the world made Katherine Beckett smile more than a nice hot cup of coffee in the morning. And so he always thought until today. Because of what happened the night before, the night Katherine Beckett knocked on his door and told him that all she wanted is him, Richard Castle feels that it is now safe to think that perhaps she wasn't really smiling about the coffee, that perhaps it was him that made her smile all along.
He took a moment to indulge the sweet aura of Katherine Beckett that he was so familiar with as she laid next to him in bed. Holding her in his arms whilst she rested on his bare chest sleeping was enough for him, enough of happiness, enough of magic. She was magical. A slight smirk emerged on his face at the thought of this. He laid there thinking about all the moments that happened to him in the past four years that led him here. About all the moments that made him grow to love her dearly. About how much she had influenced him, inspired him, enlightened him. Magic was certainly the only thing Richard can think of to explain what he and Kate have between them. Extraordinary magic. Somehow the universe had brought them together four year ago. The day his life crossed paths with her's is a day Richard Castle will never forget. Little did he know that the universe had them planned for each other many years before that day. Many years, since the day he handed her a magical paper pad twenty-five years ago at Drake's Magic Shop.
Kate rubbed her cheek against his chest and pulled herself closer to him. She slowly opened her eyes, letting the light of day register on her retina. An irrepressible smile took over her face. She knew exactly where she was and knew it is exactly where she has always wanted to be. Richard watched her for a second before interrupting her moment of zen.
"Hey." He looked at her sweetly and smiled. She lifted her head to align her eyes with his eyes.
"Hey." She replied.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Better than ever." She stared at his kind blue eyes wishing the universe would've brought them to her much earlier before. "Were you watching me sleep?"
"Was just trying to seize the moment … that, and you kind of snore a little."
"What? I don't!" Kate's eyebrows frowned.
"No you don't, I'm just teasing you." Katherine Beckett let out a chuckle and Richard Castle couldn't help but think that this was possibly the first time she had ever laughed at his tease instead of giving him an eye roll or changing the subject.
Kate pulled herself up and cupped his face. "Thank you, Castle."
"For what?"
"Everything, just everything. You know I'm grateful for you. I know I don't always make it obvious, but I am."
"Hey, don't say anything, not right now, you'll ruin the moment. All that matters is right now, you and me, here, together."
Kate watched his eyes as he spoke. His pure honesty and love for her shinned through them and she knew there is no other place in this world she would feel any safer than right here, in his arms and with that thought, she knew there was absolutely no risk in saying, "I love you." She watched a genuine smile grow on his face and felt her face mirror it. He lifted his fingers and stroked her cheek and kissed her gently, losing himself to the touch of her lips and her, losing herself to the touch of his. It certainly was magic.