I decided to write this one out while I am working on completing the confrontation scene in A Dose of Reality. I hope you enjoy this one. Gregg.
Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Detective Beckett walked into The Russian Tea Room and went to the reservations desk. The well dressed maitre'd smiled.
"Welcome to the Russian Tea Room," he said formally. "Do you have a reservation?"
"I'm here to meet Martha Rodgers," Kate said with a smile.
"Ah, yes, Detective Beckett," he said, a smile on his face. "Ms. Rodgers is in the Hearth Room waiting for you. If you'll follow me, please?"
Kate had been surprised when Martha had called her and asked her to lunch. She and Castle had spent a long evening the prior weekend and worked a lot of things out between them, and were on track to make their relationship somewhat more than just partners and friends. She had had to spend a long part of that conversation trying to make him understand what had led her to lie to him. She had even offered to let him come to one of her counseling sessions with the psychiatrist, which he had politely declined, being the gentleman he is and not wanting to interfere in something that personal. There was a lot still to work out, but they were trying and he was back working with her and the boys as if the whole ugly incident hadn't happened. Even Gates seemed happy that he was back like before. Well, what passed for happy with Gates, that is.
She took the time to take in the sight of the fabulously appointed Russian Tea Room. She'd only been inside the place once and that was when she had graduated from High School and her Mother took her as a very special treat. Out of all the memories she shared with her Mother, that was the most special as it was when her Mother treated her as a full adult for the first time. She had earned something special, and her Mother was recognizing that. It was a memory she would always cherish.
"Kate!" Martha's distinctive voice cut through the low buzz of the patrons in the Hearth Room.
"Hello, Martha," Kate said with a smile and gave the older woman a hug.
'Thank you for joining me, Kate," Martha told her as she took her seat. She looked up at the waiter. "A sampler of your finest selections of caviar as an appetizer, please, and a bottle of the 2008 Domaine Clos Salomon. We'll order our meal when you bring the wine."
"Right away, Madam," the waiter said and went to enter the order.
"I do hope you enjoy caviar," Martha said with a smile.
"The times I've had it," Kate replied. She didn't let herself think about what Martha was no doubt spending on their lunch. Looking around the room she saw that it had plenty of room for patrons, yet had a cozy feel to it. In a lot of ways it had the same feel as Castle's loft. Loads of room, yet cozy.
"Well, you'll no doubt love this, my Dear," Martha told her when the caviar arrived, along with a bottle of the wine. Once the wine was poured, she took a sip and nodded her approval. "Excellent," she pronounced.
"The three caviars for your enjoyment are the Golden Caspian Osetra, the Sevruga of the Caspian Sea, and the Russian Osetra," the waiter informed them.
"Thank you," Martha told him. "For the main course I'd like the Kulebiaka, please."
"An excellent choice," the waiter confirmed. "And for you, Ma'am?"
"I'll have the smoked salmon Omelette," Kate ordered, having glanced briefly at the menu and wanting to try it.
"Excellent," the waiter told her. "If there is anything else I may be of assistance for, please let me know."
Martha had a small bit of the Golden Caspian Osetra, enjoying the caviar. It was to die for in her opinion. She looked across at Kate Beckett and considered how to say what she wanted to say. Richard, no doubt, would be livid that she was even doing this, but it was for Richard that she was doing so. For one of the very rare times she was going to take her responsibilities as a Mother seriously, and the consequences be damned.
"I guess I should get right to the point of why I asked you here," she began. "I know I'm usually all theatrics and wanting to make a splash at everything, but not today. I know that you and Richard worked a lot of things out last weekend. I want to know if you intend on hurting my son again."
Kate felt a tight clenching deep in her gut. The horrifying realization of what her actions had caused when she figured out what had angered Castle so much had almost ruined her, and her reaction to his briefly returning to his playboy ways had been equally reprehensible. When she called the British agent for a drink it was like turning to Demming, or turning to Josh like she had in the past when things got tough. She'd had a right to be angry at Castle over the flight attendant bit, and he'd even said so, but her behavior had been less than stellar, to say the least.
"Kate, I'm not making a judgment on whether you and Richard should be together," Martha explained. "But my Son was truly hurt by your actions, and I didn't know how to reach him. I guess I've never really known, but this time I felt like my life was flashing before me."
Kate nodded. She almost smiled at the dramatic flair, but she knew that Martha was serious. She let the older woman continue.
"I know Richard can be a handful, and quite over the top, but he cares," Martha continued. "I was probably not the best of Mothers, and he lacked a father figure. I think I will always regret that, but when I look at the man Richard turned into, I can't think of anything other than pride in what he's accomplished. I'm not talking about being a very successful author, Kate. That's given him the fame and money, yes, but not what he does with them. He gives selflessly to a multitude of charities. He doesn't hesitate to help a friend."
Martha paused, seeing if that had any affect on Kate, and saw that it did. She continued.
"He even lets his Mother feel like she's the most talented actress in the world, even when she is causing him to want to sink into a hole in the ground during her autobiographical one woman play."
Both women smiled at that one. Kate well remembered how embarrassed Castle had been, and his reaction to some of the more egregious stretching of the truth. The easy and playful banter at the station and during dinner when Martha was doing the play had been some of the most enjoyable personal time that she had ever shared with Castle. Perhaps because she had never seen him so open and honest, as well as beaming with pride for his Mother, despite her eccentricities. It reminded her of how he always got this wonderful look when he ever thought of Alexis or when his daughter was brought up in conversation.
"I tried to convince him to not come back to work with you when he told me what had happened," Martha said, looking firmly in Beckett's eyes. The shock in the younger woman's expression was telling. It held the hint of fear. Not fear of physical harm, but fear that the formidable influence of a Mother would convince her son that it was no longer worth it. "We were at the memorial for the bombing victims. He made me look and told me that it wasn't for you that he couldn't leave it right then, but for them. The victims. Even though he felt like a victim himself and he was hurting deeply inside, he still put someone else, or a number of people, ahead of his own personal suffering."
"But not me," Kate said calmly. She said it as an observation, and one that she felt was true. Given the talk they had had the previous weekend it was not nearly as painful as it otherwise would have been.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Martha softened a bit. She had no intention of making Beckett feel as if she was unworthy of Richard. But she wanted the younger woman to understand that she was angry at what had happened, and wanted to know that it was not going to be happening again. "He went back, yes, but do you know what he did that evening? He spent most of it in his office looking at your picture on his desk. I could make it sound theatrically dramatic, but it wasn't. It was painful for me to see my son in such an emotional Hell."
Martha paused as their main meals arrived. They had finished off the excellent caviar and were now ready for the main course. When the waiter left she began talking again.
"I think he couldn't leave you, Kate, but at the same time he was hurting too bad to be forgiving," Martha told her. "I for one am glad that the two of you are seemingly seeing what everyone else is and together. But that doesn't mean I am not concerned. For once in my life I am going to act like a mother. I want a promise from you. No matter the issue, no matter the person responsible, I want your word that this is the end of the lying.
"Secrets are one thing, and we all have some," Martha qualified that statement. "A woman of mystery, after all, is an enticing woman. Especially for someone like my son."
Kate laughed at that one and thought of her common reference of Castle as a nine year old on a sugar rush always wanting to solve a mystery, especially if it had to do with her. She was convinced that he had been beguiled enough at the mystery of one Kate Beckett that it had inspired the idea of the Nikki Heat novels. If it hadn't been for his intense curiosity she was confident that she wouldn't have seen him again after that first case.
"But Alexis is going off to college soon, and Richard will be taking that very hard," Martha said, with enough of a hitch in her voice that it was obvious that it would be difficult for her, too. "Then it will be me and my antics that he has to deal with all alone."
"You're not that bad, Martha," Kate told her, not only to be polite, but also because she believed it. She was also not unhappy about this whole conversation, though if it were Lanie or anyone else giving her the what for she would be furious. But Martha reminded her of her own Mother and how she was when concerned for her daughter. Martha was concerned about her son and Kate recognized it for what it was.
"You're too kind, Kate," Martha smiled. "We both know, though that I can drive my son batty quicker than anyone, like when I berated the loan officer at Richard's bank. I'm sure that Richard wanted to strangle me when I began arguing principle over rules with the poor man."
"He was," Kate smiled, remembering when Castle had called her and begged her to take him away from there and then said that the bank was about to be robbed beginning a horrifying state of affairs that day.
"I want my son to be happy, Kate," Martha finally said directly. "I want him to not wonder where he stands with the woman he loves. I want him to have some sense of stability and normality in his life now that Alexis won't be living at home soon. I think he can have that with you, but I want to be sure for myself that you want the same things my son does."
"You don't have to worry, Martha," Kate said succinctly. "He'll always pull my pigtails, and I'll likely make him want to scream in frustration at times, but this is the real thing now. He's my one and done. I'm sure of it, and while it scares me to death, it's not as frightening as loosing him."
Martha smiled widely. This was what she was hoping to hear. Her greatest fear was her son not being happy. He deserved to be happy considering the warm generous man he was in reality, despite some of his past, and sometimes present, flaws.
"That's good enough for me, Kate," Martha said as she reached over and patted the younger woman on the hand. She got a mischievous smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes. "Now how about we have some dessert and then go to the Loft where Richard is working on the final chapters of the new Nikki Heat novel. I think now is the perfect time to break out my favorite photo albums of Richard as a growing boy. It will drive him up the wall!"
"I like how you think, Martha," Kate said and held up her wine glass. "To concerned Mothers. Caring, loving, compassionate, and full of a deliciously wicked sense of humor. I'm glad I can count on you to set us straight when we teeter on the brink, Martha."
"It's a concerned Mother's job, Kate," Martha told her. "But I'm a lot less concerned now."
A/N: I know it seemed abrupt at the end, but I wanted it to end with Martha realizing that it was finally the happy ending for Castle and Beckett that she had wanted all along since meeting Beckett, despite the miscues along the way. I hope you enjoyed this one. I am almost done with the next chapter of A Dose of Reality and should be posting that one this weekend. Happy Easter! Gregg.