"Beckett, I'm boo-red,"
Katherine Beckett glanced at the novelist in amusement. "Castle. It's been twenty minutes. And besides, I told you that you didn't have to come in today. Stop complaining."
"But I wanted to hang out with you..." she cocked an eyebrow at him, "...and Gina was making me write." Letting out a dramatic sigh, he flopped his head onto his hands. "Where's a good murder when you need one?"
As the words left his mouth, Detective Kevin Ryan passed by the desk, calling over his shoulder, "We got a fresh one! Pop and drop, 34th and Lex."
Castle's blue eyes widened, and Kate smirked.
"Aw, now look what you did," she scolded, her green-brown eyes dancing under the fluorescents at the Precinct. They had been getting their rhythm back, slowly but surely, laughing, joking, and just enjoying each others presence. The detective knew that her secret was going to have to come out eventually but at the moment, she was just enjoying the camaraderie.
"Wha - you don't thin-"
"Castle. I'm joking. C'mon. You heard Ryan. New case," swiftly grabbing her jacket, she began towards the elevator, but not before swiveling to look at her partner. "After all, you caused it. Probably should be there," with a laugh at the look in the writers eyes, she shrugged on her coat and began striding again towards the elevator.
Castle glared after her for a few seconds before realizing she was boarding without him. "Beckett! Hey! Wait," he yelled, grabbing his coat and hurrying after her. The last thing he saw before the elevator doors closed was her amused expression.
Exactly a week later, the pair was sitting at Remy's and Katherine Beckett was regarding her partner with a similar expression. They had just closed their case, a run of the mill Jack-shot-Jill-over-Phil, and were at Remy's celebrating. Castle was contemplating the menu. "I want...this...and this...oo! Specials!" Kate opened her mouth to point out that he was acting like a child when, "Kate? Kate Beckett? "Kate? Kate Beckett?"
Her and Castle both looked up (when did Castle start responding to her name?) to see an unfamiliar teenage girl, looking about 15, dressed in skinny jeans, beaten up blue converse and what looked like a school sweatshirt, though Kate didn't recognize the name.
"ohmygod," breathed the girl, staring at Kate with wide eyes. "ohmygod. wow. I...uh...wow. Hi."
"Uh, hi. Can I help you?" asked the detective, a small amount of annoyance lacing her voice. She really hoped this wasn't another one of Castle's 'fangirls,' though Kate quickly dismissed the idea, thinking the girl was too young to be reading Castle's books. Still...
"Yeah. Uh. Hi. I said that already," the girl let out a nervous laugh, "sorry. I'm Julia. I can't believe I'm meeting you!" with that, she let out a small squeal then quickly covered her mouth. "Sorry. Sorry!"
Castle was now regarding the girl with interested. There was something about her that peaked the writer in him. He smelled a story.
"Hi. Rick Castle," he said, giving her the grin reserved for Alexis's friends, the 'cool dad' expression. Julia merely looked at him and nodded, "yeah. I'll get to you later," before turning back to Kate, who smirked at Castle's hurt expression at being ignored.
"...may I?" asked the girl, seemingly growing more confident by the minute, motioning towards the empty seat next to Kate.
Kate glanced at Castle and narrowed her eyebrows, giving him the 'I think this girl is crazy' expression. Castle merely grinned and mouthed 's-t-o-r-y' then turned to Julia. "Yeah, go ahead! Do you want anything to drink? Eat? Ooo, wanna try a burger? They're really good here, that actually remi-" Julia cut him off with a laugh. "Cool it, kitten."
Beckett threw back her head and let out a hearty laugh, while Castle narrowed his eyes and glared at them both. "Oh, I get it. This is a joke. Ha ha, very funny Beckett. Had me fooled. Who is she? Neighbors kid?"
"Wait," Kate questioned, giving Castle a strange look, "you don't know her?"
Julia chose that moment to rejoin the conversation "Gu-uys, hello, I'm sitting right here. And no, neither of you know me, but boy do I know you."
Okay, this was getting to weird for Kate. She was about to ask the girl AGAIN what she wanted, when Castle beat her to it. "What do you mean?"
"uh...I guess we should start with this," Julia's expression turned serious and she glanced at Kate, "I'm sorry. You'll understand eventually why I did this," and turning back to Castle, told him in a flat voice, "she remembers everything."