He was going to kill her! Maybe not kill her, but hurt her? Yeah, that was more his speed. He couldn't kill anyone. But what she had asked him to do what was almost above the impossible, he should have never agreed to do it in the first place. But being the person that he is, he did agree. She had a way to make him feel guilty and he fell for it. He looks out at the waves that crash onto the edge of the beach and he aches for another beach, one where the waves gently lap up to the sand, but it's another ocean that brings in those waves, one that he's so far away from….
Six days earlier….
"Richard, I don't care what your contract says. You had conveniently decided to cut the San Francisco signing short to make sure Alexis was alright by hopping on a redeye back to New York. As it turns out she only had mono, something that could have easily been taken care of by your mother."
"Gina don't you dare blame this on me! I'm a single father and she needed me to be there for her no matter how old she is. But what would you know about that?" He said with a venom-laced voice.
"Oh no, you don't! This was all your doing Richard. You're the one who jumped on a flight back to JFK in the middle of the night for no reason…"
"Bullshit, I had every reason and the right to be with her. She's my daughter Gina!"
"And that brings us right back to the beginning, where you took it upon yourself to leave before the tour was finished. You need to do this Richard. There will be no weaseling your way out of this. You're the one who decided to cut the west coast signing short without telling anyone and now this will be your make up punishment for doing so."
"After all this, you're still going to make me go there?"
"You're damned right I am Richard, it's an obligation that you blew off and now you are going to be on that plane. No and's, if's or but's about it."
"Gina, that's more than a twenty-three-hour flight. You can't be serious?"
"I am Richard, you will be going to Sydney, or you will forfeit the entire last advance for the last Nikki Heat novel."
"You going to hold me to that? Gina, my daughter was sick she needed me to be there for her, come on! Don't be an ice queen!"
"Don't start Richard. You will be on that plane and then when you get to LA you will stay in the terminal to make sure you catch the connecting flight to Australia…. or else!"
"OR ELSE WHAT? I'm not someone that you have power over anymore Gina we're divorced." He hated her to no end. But he knew that she was right, but couldn't she cut him some slack? He was a father, and he wanted, no he needed to be with his daughter who was feeling so bad. He was going to have to do this even though he will hate every second of it.
"I'm still the one who publishes your books so I still have some power."
"Just give me the flight information out of Kennedy Gina." Rick asked knowing that he'd been beaten and still a bit pissed off.
Gina smiled a deceitful smile, one that she knew he would never see as she pulled up the flight information on her computer for his flight leaving Kennedy.
"Richard your flight from JFK leaves at eight pm. I'll have the car service there to make sure you get to the airport by then. There's no backing out of this. You will be ready by five tonight, so say your goodbyes now and be ready for the car by the time it gets there."
"Don't treat me like a child Gina! I'll be ready to go by five, don't worry."
Rick hung up and thought how bad this was going to be for him. On one hand, his relationship with Kate if you could call seductive looks and electrifying touches, and of course the sex a relationship, would be in risk of falling apart if he needed to go to Australia for a week. On the other hand, he really hated the fact that he needed to tell her about this in the first place. They had made amazing strides in their relationship recently and if he really thought about it he'd think that they have reached the point where he had started to demolish most of her walls and they might have finally come down and stayed down.
"Might as well get this over" thinking to himself as he dialed her number dreading every second that she didn't answer. At first, he thought that she'd be too busy to take his call and he would leave a voicemail, but the phone speaker came alive with her beautiful voice in his ear.
"Beckett."
"Hey, Kate. How are you doing?" he said as she answered.
"Hey Castle, what's going on? You never call me out of the blue in the middle of the day to ask me how things are going with me, what's wrong?"
"I know I don't, but…."
"But what? Rick?"
He needed to get through this and come out on the other end with his manhood intact. He can't believe how she makes him feel so happy just by talking to him. But then again, he is in love with her.
"But, there is something I need to tell you, Kate."
"Okay Rick, what is it?"
"I need to go to Australia to continue a West coast book tour that I left near the end of last month."
"You mean when you came back when your daughter was sick and throwing up her guts and had a fever of a 104?"
"Yep, that'd be the time."
"Why? Who is asking you to do this?"
"It's not exactly asking, she is making me do this more than anything else."
"Let me guess, this has Gina written all over it doesn't it?"
"Right again, give that lady a prize. She says if I don't honor the rest of the tour, I can return the advance for Frozen Heat. I can live without it, but she would do something along the lines of a legal action so I have to go to Australia."
"We had dinner reservations on Sunday. When do you leave?"
"The car service will be here at five on the dot. My flight is at eight tonight."
"Castle! Can't I even see you before you leave? Can't you get out of this? There has to be a way that you can stop by here before you head out to the airport, right?"
"Kate, I wish there was, but I need to leave here in an hour and I still need to pack."
Kate knew that he had responsibilities and they needed to be honored. But just once she just wishes that they could have at least made their dinner reservations for tomorrow night. They had made plans for dinner three times in the last two weeks and something always came up to stop them from going out. His rewrites kept them apart, some of her cases had done the same. She was really looking forward to having dinner with him and some adult alone time afterward. She had something very important to tell him, something that would see her being a more important part of his life. But it appears that it will need to wait until he gets back.
"I'll miss you so much, Rick." Kate told him knowing that he tried to get out of his commitment but couldn't.
"And I will miss you too. I promise I will call you every night I'm away. I should be back within a week so I won't be gone that long."
"Promise me?"
"I do. Just make sure that you are at home and by your phone when it rings."
"I will be. I….lov…I need to finish these DD-5's and file the case with the DA. This will take a while but I will be home by the time you get to LA. So, call me then."
She almost slipped up! She wanted to tell him that she was in love with him and one other small bit of information during their dinner. She was lucky to stop herself before she could. That was what their dinner was going to be for, and it would be perfect. So she could wait another week to tell him. She wonders what his reaction will be when she does finally tell him her news.
"I will Kate. Now I need to pack and get my passport and visa from the safe. Be careful out there okay?"
"I will be. And I'm already counting the days until you get back."
After he ended the call he replayed the conversation in his head. She was going to say that she loved him he knew that but something made her change her mind. Why? Was there more to what she wanted to say? He speculated. He knew that they were getting closer with how they were showing how they felt towards each other and ever since her apartment had been fumigated and she decided to stay with him he felt that she had turned off how she felt while she was there. Maybe she was protecting herself from not being romantic in front of his daughter which he thought was ridiculous because Alexis was always in support of them. He hoped that he did not make things worse between them now by leaving. He had plenty of time to think on the plane because now he needed to pack for his trip.
A/N: Updates will be on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sunday.
